Creative Minds – Hidden Blackness: Uncovering the Art of Edward Mitchell Bannister

Join us for a conversation between Sylvia D. Hamilton and David Woods, Curator, painter, and installation artist, as he details the origins of his passion for art as well as his many adventures creating his newest exhibition Hidden Blackness, the first ever Canadian exhibition of Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901). Bannister was a St. Andrews, New Brunswick born, African American art pioneer who in 1865 became the first artist of African descent, and first Canadian, to win a major art prize in North America (The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition Art Exhibition First Place Medal). 

For the past quarter century, David Woods has been the principal curator of African maritime art bringing to light long ignored artists such as Africville born pastoral painter Edith Macdonald-Brown (1886-1955) and sculptor and craft artist Audrey Dear Hesson (b. 1929-) the first graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art (1951). He also presented the first ever group exhibitions of Black maritime art traditions including In this Place: the first exhibition of Black Nova Scotian art (1998), and The Secret Codes: a touring exhibition of Black Nova Scotian quilts (2012 to present).