Radiant: A Conversation By and About Women

Celebrate the closing of By and About Women: The Collection of Dr. Dianne Whitfield-Locke and Dr. Carnell Locke with a stimulating conversation on women and art.

Join us from 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM to hear from some of Charlotte’s finest creatives about how themes of womanhood are woven into their artwork and how they, as professional artists, navigate the business side of the arts. Cultural curator Jasiatic Anderson leads a conversation with artists Bree Stallings, Carmen Neely, Georgie Nakima and Rosalia Torres-Weiner.

Stop by and participate in a pop up installation of A Radiant Revolution, an interactive experience created by Stephanie J. Woods. A Radiant Revolution features a seven-foot diameter hair bonnet, inspired by meditation rooms, that will be installed at the Gantt Center to stimulate dialogue, self-reflection and tranquility. Guests will share their reflection and stories at the end of their visit.

Seating is limited.

About The Artist

Jasiatic Anderson

Jasiatic's creative works extends over various mediums, including but not limited to, creative portraiture and documentary photography. She photographs the beautiful things that make the world go round, her children often at the center of her vision and work that flourishes around womanist thinking, mothering perspective, sexuality, the feminine connection and their intersection.

Bree Stallings

Breanna "Bree" Stallings is North Carolina-native multi-media artist, illustrator, writer and activist.

Bree graduated from Queens University of Charlotte in May 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art and Creative Writing. She resides near uptown Charlotte where she works as a painter, illustrator and muralist. Currently, she teaches adults and children intermediate and advanced drawing and painting techniques at her studio, the Learning Lab. She also serves as the Lead Teaching Artist and Community Arts Coordinator at Behailu Academy, a free non-profit after school program for students in low socio- economic scoring neighborhoods.

Using art as her vehicle, she, along with her creative team and various partners, raises awareness for many causes, such as economic mobility, sexual health advocacy, displacement and homelessness and environmental consciousness. To date, she has helped raise over $500,000 to further development in Charlotte’s arts and humanities scene.

Her works of art, poetry, and mixed-media collage have been covered and published in various print and online magazines including Creative Loafing, Charlotte Viewpoint, Indigo Rising, My City Magazine, MAYO, The Borgen Project, Society Charlotte, Charlotte Magazine and others.

In recent news, Bree’s partnership with the Mecklenburg County Health Department and students at Behailu Academy have provided the opportunity for two large-scale public art murals in designated "food deserts" to highlight the pressing issue of food insecurity in our communities. Bree Stallings has been asked to speak, live paint, read poetry, present and facilitate workshops at the numerous organizations in and around Charlotte including Community School of the Arts, ImaginOn Library, Blumenthal Arts and the Knight Theater, Discovery Place, McColl Center for Art + Innovation and The Foundation for the Carolinas.

Carmen Neely

Since receiving her MFA from UNC Greensboro, Carmen Neely has stayed in the Greensboro area, but her work is reaching audiences in major American cities. In February 2017, Jane Lombard Gallery in New York City presented Carmen’s solo exhibition, It Makes it More So if You Say So, and she has participated in the Prizm Art Fair in Miami.

The NYC show, her first solo exhibition in the Big Apple, prompted an in-depth interview in BLANC Modern Africa magazine and a strong review in Art in America: “Neely has produced a body of work that allows for shifting configurations of authorial presence, and one that far exceeds the sum of its parts.”

While rooted in real-life events and experiences, Carmen’s work is abstract and explores and combines different materials – from paint to plastic to yarn to clay – and found objects, resulting in vibrant colors and richly layered textures.

Georgie Nakima

Georgie Nakima’s journey in creative arts intertwined with biological sciences the day that she entered Winston-Salem State University as a Biology major and Chemistry minor. She found her studies about the gateways of nature and geometrical patterns to be enlightening; but more importantly, they nurtured her sense of wonder and research. Today, Georgie is empowered to plant seeds of art and science together in hopes to carry conversations of well-being, nature preservation, and humanity.

Rosalia Torres-Weiner

Rosalia Torres-Weiner is an artist, activist and community leader in Charlotte, NC. Her art captures the themes, colors and rich symbolism of her native home of Mexico. In 2010, Rosalia shifted the focus of her work from commercial art to art activism, after witnessing the repeated injustices and dysfunction of our immigration system.

Her work is featured in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum and has been exhibited in venues including the McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Levine Museum of the New South, UNCC’s Projective Eye Gallery, the City of Raleigh Museum, the Latin American Center for Arts Gallery, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Her public murals celebrate the rich history as well as the changing demographics of the South. She also uses her art to document social conditions, and to raise awareness about issues that are affecting immigrant communities such as family separation, access to public education, racism and moving beyond common stereotypes. Her story “The Magic Kite” was adapted by The Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, and is also performed as part of her “Suitcase Stories” one-woman show. She has been a featured speaker for the North Carolina ASC, Johnson & Wales University, George Washington University, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, and the Southern Foodways Alliance