Welcome!
Learn About Us
If you Love Art, Like We Love Art
Come Join Us!
***Popular Workshop ***
Note Card Workshop
Note Card Workshop
The African American Visual Artists Guild (AAVAG) honored National Women’s History Month with an artistic workshop on March 20, 2021 via zoom conferencing. Yvette Walker Dalton, professional artist, conducted the workshop in which participants was guided through a step-by-step process to create 4 notecards. Each notecard will use the picture of a famous African American woman chosen from a selection provided in the supply kit, or a substitute picture can be used. Each participant was provided with the materials necessary to handcraft their set of cards. This workshop was presented to many art lovers in Dayton's "Art In the City" August 7, 2021 on Courthouse Square.
*** Open Studio Drawing And Painting ***
Open to All Artists In the Community
Our "Open Studio Drawing sessions" are open to all artists in the community. Artist
must bring their own materials and sometimes a live model is used, if not a live model we will use a setup for still life drawing or painting.
Various sites are used for each session, sessions have been held at the Dayton Art Institute, Madden Hils Library, Northwest Library and artist's private studios.
If we use a live model, we ask for donations from the artists present to donate $5 to pay the model. The drawing sessions are facilitated by a member of AAVAG.
The drawing sessions are announced in our monthly newsletter, our website and in public information sources.
*** Our Exhibits ***
Producing Exhibits of Emerging and Professional Artists
Not all of our members are professional artists, within our membership are artists that are
amateurs, hobbyists, learners and just lovers of doing art. We guarantee that they will have their art exhibited to the public in our gallery and public displays.
But we also expect them to learn the correct techniques and use the right materials for their chosen craft.
They will also learn how to copyright and catalog their pieces of artwork for the future and also develop their portfolio.
*** Our Sponsors And Supporters***
Sponsors And Supporters That Make Our Free Events Possible
Our "Annual Art Day" is a free event for the community and is made possible by the
City of Dayton's mini grant and the Community Engagement Grant.
Another supporter of our "Annual Art Day" is
Kroger Markets.
Our sister Civic organization, TWENTIG has donated financially and supplied
hostesses for this event since 1995.
The Ohio Arts Council grants have supported our efforts for
the Dayton African American Culture Festival Art Exhibits and our annual National "Black Heritage through Visual Rhythms Exhibits and workshops held during the exhibits.
*** Our Free Workshops ***
Our Way Of Giving Back to the Community
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*** Open Studio Drawing And Painting ***
Open to All Artists In the Community
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aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip
ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum
dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit
augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming
id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Typi non habent claritatem insitam; est usus legentis in iis qui facit eorum claritatem.
Investigationes demonstraverunt lectores legere me lius quod ii legunt saepius.
*** Our Exhibits ***
Producing Exhibits by Emerging and Professional Artists
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna
aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip
ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum
dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit
augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming
id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Typi non habent claritatem insitam; est usus legentis in iis qui facit eorum claritatem.
Investigationes demonstraverunt lectores legere me lius quod ii legunt saepius.
*** Our Sponsors And Supporters***
Sponsors And Supporters That Make Our Free Events Possible
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aliquam erat volutpat.
Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip
. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto augue.
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Welcome to the African American Visual Artists Guild!
Expanding the visual arts rainbow in the Miami Valley
The African American Visual Artists Guild (AAVAG), of Dayton, Ohio, was born out of the need to express visually the African American experience through a wide range of styles and subject matter using many diverse approaches and materials with a focus on communicating the artist's own spirituality.
This organization shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for membership or employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, age, sexual orientation or disability, and shall take such affirmative action as necessary to ensure that applicants are employed or become members and are treated equally during employment or membership.
80 Years Of Art
Save The Dates
The African American Visual Artists Guild invites you to join us on Saturday, September 10, 2 pm to 4 pm at CSUD, 840 Germantown Street for this wonderful opening reception and celebration of the evolution of Yvette's Art over the years.
You can also help celebrate her 80th birthday with music, food, prizes and fellowship. The exhibit officially opens to the general public on September 6 to 30, 2022 -AAVAG Gallery 2nd floor of Central State University Dayton branch, 840 Germantown Street,Dayton 45402. The gallery is open from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4:30 pm, no charge to enter.
"We Wear The Mask"
Plan to join us and please share this information with your network
On Friday, September 9th, 4 pm to 7:00 pm in Brooklyn, New York at the Faurschou Foundation Museum there will be an opening reception featuring the paintings of Curtis Barnes Sr., for friends and family. In honor and love of the "Dream team", Cobalt Blue Fine Art is the concept of the late Curtis Barnes Jr. and sister, Denise Lyons. The name derives from the two siblings witnessing their father's love for the color, as he created art compositions. The inaugural project for Cobalt Blue was to establish a legacy for their father and artist, AAVAG's co-founder, the late Curtis Barnes Sr.(1935 -2019). The exhibition opens to the public from September 10, 2022 to January 29, 2023. The Faurschou Foundaton Museum is located at 148 Green Street (Greenpoint neighborhood), Brooklyn, NY 11222. For more information call Diana Barnes-Cary at 931-472-7055, email: dianamack36@yahoo.com.
We Wear the Mask presents paintings by Curtis Barnes Sr. in New York for the first time. Barnes (1935-2019) spent most of his life as a key figure in the artistic community of Dayton, Ohio, producing a rich body of work that drew on the liberatory frameworks of post-colonial thinkers, free improvisation of jazz music, and enduring friendships and mentorships. Taking its title from an 1895 poem of the same name by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, We Wear the Mask explores the interplay between face and mask in Barnes’ works. For Barnes, the mask as ritual object, image, and emblem of African culture became an effective expression of the African American spirit. By painting African masks into his portraits, Barnes reconnected the masks with the cultural history of Black faces, reclaiming control over representations of his culture and experience. As the artist expressed it, with the mask he could “hold on to the Africanness of the image.” Comprising a selection of Barnes’ portraits and self-studies, We Wear the Mask introduces Barnes as an experimental colorist admired by his students for limited yet powerful palettes. The yellows, blues, and reds in his subjects’ faces speak to the lyricism and freewheeling embrace of abstraction found in Barnes’ work. His mask-like portraits reveal subjects close to the artist who he represented vulnerably and honestly. In these paintings, Barnes opens our eyes to the structures that we find ourselves in, freeing ourselves from the masks behind which we dream, cry and smile.
The President's Club Announces
The Region's 2022 Citizen Legion of Honor Award
The President's Club of Dayton is pleased to announce that Willis Hoke "Bing" Davis will be the 71st recipient of the region's 2022 Citizen Legion of Honor Award. The award given annually since 1951 is the oldest, most continuous and prestigious recognition of volunteer servant leadership in the Dayton region. Bing is a local, state and nationally recognized educator, teacher, professor, artist and curator. Bing has been the driving force of many important cultural and arts projects and initiatives not only in the Dayton region, but in Ohio and beyond. Mr. Davis has been a life long educator who began his career at Dayton Public Schools in 1960 and continued his professional work as a college professor at DePauw, Miami of Ohio and concluding locally at Central State University from 1978-1998. All along the way he continued his passion for arts and culture by teaching our area citizens, of all ages, how to appreciate art and how to cultivate their own talents. His local studio, The EbonNia Gallery, is a collaboration of his work and the Dayton Public Schools and the Victoria Theatre.
Bing is the only artist to have attained all five of Ohio's most distinquished awards given for his continuing service to others and for the arts, including years of volunteer service as Vice-Chairman of the Ohio Arts Council. The President's Club will honor Bing at its annual luncheon event on Thursday, October 6, 2022 at the Dayton Convention Center from 10:30 am to 1:15 pm. Sponsorships and tables are available to honor Bing by contacting Phil Parker at 937-478-3000 or emailing pparker@dacc.org.
Open Studio drawing and painting sessions!
We are scheduling painting and drawing sessions, that will be open to the public; check this page daily for date, place and time.Our Monthly Meetings
We meet the last Saturday of the month, 2 pm to 4 pm at Central State University Dayton at 840 Germantown Street 45402, except for July and Thanksgiving and Christmas. Meetings could be live or by Zoom because of coronavirus restrictions, Call 937-263-9907 for meeting place before last Saturday of each month.
