November 14, 2018: Charmaine Minniefield is an Atlanta visual artist. Charmaine’s journey has taken her from her devout Pentecostal beginnings, back through time and across an ocean connecting her with her African heritage and returning her to present day Atlanta to share those connections with all of us.
Charmaine works in different media from acrylic on canvas to mixed media to public murals. Minniefield is inspired by African and African-American traditions and by the women who served as role models in her life such as her grandmothers. Minniefield’s work celebrates the female angels, deities, mothers and warriors of African traditions. Through her feminist perspective she strive to inspire her fellow Atlantans as an artist and activist for social justice and women’s rights. Minniefield wants to make sure that the black aesthetic is seen and that the black voice is heard. Here are a couple of quotes from Charmaine that give us some insight into her artwork: “My work invokes the power of ancestors by creating visual road maps from the past to the present paved by the history and stories of my ancestors”. “History exists beyond the textbooks, but in the African American culture it exists in the shrines of our actual family archives.”
In 2016 Charmaine was one of three artists chosen to paint murals commissioned by the Baha’i Community Center on Edgewood Avenue in the heart of the MLK historic district. This commission was sponsored by the “Not a Crime” social justice project which uses street art to shine a light on modern-day apartheid. Along with Joe “King Atl” Dreher and Fabian Williams, Charmaine painted the centerpiece of a trio of murals all with an education theme. For her mural Charmaine collaborated with civil rights photographer Dr. Doris Derby. The selected image was a 1969 photograph taken by Dr. Derby of people from the all black town of Mound Bayou, MS where the residents took it upon themselves to ensure their children’s education. Minniefield’s hope is that the citizens of Mound Bayou would serve as role models to those struggling with inequality and as a reminder of the importance of diversity and inclusion.
In 2018 Charmaine was sponsored by DoSomething.org to paint a mural of Adrienne McNeil Herndon who was an actor, professor, activist, supporter of black suffrage and the first woman of color faculty at the Atlanta University Center serving alongside W. E. B. Du Bois. Located on the Westside Beltline trail, the mural calls attention to Herndon as an example of the numerous African-American leaders who have been underrepresented or even erased from our history books.
Minniefield received her degree in fine art from Agnes Scott College. Charmaine served as an arts administrator for organizations such as The National Black Arts Festival, The High Museum of Art, The Fulton County Arts Council, Arts Station in Stone Mountain and The Soapstone Center for the Arts. Charmaine has also worked with Hands on Atlanta and the Marting Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change . She is currently a faculty member at both Spelman College and Freedom University .
Link to Charmaine Minniefield’s Website: http://charmaineminniefield.wixsite.com/ritual
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