Cañada College Art Gallery Presents Claude Ferguson Art Exhibition
Tue, 14 February, 2017 at 9:28 am
Cañada College Art Gallery Presents Claude
Ferguson Art Exhibition
Claude
Ferguson – Recent Paintings
Cañada College
Art Gallery
February 13 –
March 30
The Cañada
College Art Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of multimedia paintings
by the Bay Area artist Claude Ferguson. The exhibit opened Monday, February 13
and runs through Thursday, March 30.
Claude Ferguson
holds a BFA from North Carolina Central University, and an MFA from San Jose
State University. Claude has worked as an arts educator youth and teens since
1984. He has taught with many Bay Area programs and institutions including the
California Arts Council, Santa Clara’s Arts Connect, the San Jose Museum of
Art, and The Community School of Music & Arts. Claude was also the
cofounder of the Genesis Sanctuary for the Arts in San Jose. . He is also an
Afro Jazz musician with the Inner Peace Orchestra.
This exhibit of
recent work consists of 11 multimedia paintings, rich in color and imposing in
their energy and physicality. Claude has written of his work:
“I created this body of work as an attempt
to reconnect with my childhood experiences while growing up in the south in
Freedman, North Carolina. Freedman is a predominately black neighborhood
set in the middle of the white community that is so racist that most of
the stores and restaurants had two ways to enter, and they were labeled
white only and coloreds. Situations such as these have always fueled my
interest in social justice and fragments of those memories occur in some of
these works, but the most important aspect of my work deals with the
metaphysical or spiritual world…Images of my older brother and mother also
appear in several works. They were constantly shielding me from the harsh
realities produced by Jim Crow racism that most black folks faced in the early
sixties. Since they have both moved on I realize more than ever that they have
always been and continue to be my personal spirit guides. As I move through my
senior years and memory becomes vague and somewhat cloudy, it is these images
that are still most profound. What I enjoy most about the act of painting is
that it allows me to fully experience my dream states while being awake. I also
like painting on discarded surfaces, they seem to have a vitality and history
that adds meaning to the works.”
The gallery hours
of operation for this show are Monday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Tuesday
and Thursday, 8:30-11 a.m. and 12:30 – 2 p.m.
