KNOWHERE GALLERY HITS SCOPE MIAMI BEACH

WITH GOAL TO ELEVATE AND UPLIFT

MEET ARTIST MARIA-LANA QUEEN

by P. Andrews-Keenan

Pigment International spoke with Val Francis, the owner of Martha’s Vineyard’s Knowhere Gallery and artist Maria-Lana Queen, a Washington based self-taught, abstract artist, who the gallery will be highlighting during SCOPE Miami Beach (Booth C009) alongside artists Charly Palmer and Mohamed A. Yakub. The show opens Wednesday, December 6th.

Below artwork 'Black Girl #9', 'Grass #31' and 'The Church Is Still Standing, Yellow' by Maria-Lana Queen pictured left.

Florida State University’s Civil Rights Institute has appointed its first director. 

Renowned artist Ted Ellis will lead the institute, which commemorates, celebrates, and studies the U.S. civil rights movement to promote justice and equality.  

“I’m very pleased to have such an esteemed, creative historian leading FSU’s Civil Rights Institute,” said Tim Chapin, dean of the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. 

Ellis holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Dillard University and a master’s in museum studies from Southern University in New Orleans. His work includes portraits of civil rights icons such as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks and has been showcased in the halls of Congress. 

Veronica Harrison, author and social media Director for Pigment International, will be a featured speaker at Black Women In Art: The Noir Perspective Part Trois, at the Haitian Heritage Museum on December 8, 2023 at 10:00 AM.

ATLANTIC ARTHOUSE is a powerful creative merge between two creative minds,  Lisa Howie & Vanessa Selk, both committed to elevating understanding of and appreciation for contemporary art from the Caribbean Mid-Atlantic: Atlantic World Art Fair and Toukan-Arthouse.

ATLANTIC ARTHOUSE launches in Miami, December 7-10, 2023. In person and online. Location: Villa Paula,, Little Haiti, 5811 North Miami Avenue, Miami.

Set in the heart of Little Haiti in a historic building designed by Cuban architect Cayetano Freira in the 1920s, Villa Paula will host the first iteration of ATLANTIC ARTHOUSE to echo the spirit and culture of Miami’s long-established Caribbean communities. 

HBCU Art Collections Highlighted During Art Miami

A panel discussion profiling the HBCU Art Collections of Florida Memorial University, Spelman College and University of Virgin Islands will be held at the Art Deco Museum in Miami on Saturday, December 9^th. Panelists are Dr. Cheryl Finley (Spelman College), Dr. Chenzira Davis Kahina (University of Virgin Islands), and Cheryl Wilcher, Florida Memorial University). The panel will be moderated by Valerie Cooper, Community Outreach Consultant for the Smithsonian Museum of American Art (SAAM).