Celebrate Blackiful’s book launch and exhibition in Potrero Hill with food, drinks, music, and art
Wonderful Blackiful People by The Blackiful Collective, 2023, digital collage
Join us to commemorate the launch of Wonderful Blackiful People: Bay Area Changemakers A to Z, a newly published book by Blackiful, a cohort of Black artists at CE. The book highlights 26 Black changemakers who, through their remarkable lives and work, have each had a hand in shaping Bay Area history. Blackiful artists created portraits of each changemaker to accompany their biography, recounting the invaluable contributions of these notable Black figures.
The accompanying group exhibition, on view at CE’s second studio in Potrero Hill, features twelve portraits from the book self-selected by Blackiful artists. Portraits include civil rights activist William Byron Rumford; teaching artist and sculptor Horace Washington; educator and former Black Panther Ericka Huggins; queer, nonbinary multimedia artist Ayana “Yanni” Brumfield; pioneering Afro-futurist musician Idris Ackamoor; and beloved San Francisco poet Q. R. Hand, among others.
Taken together, the book and exhibition represent the culmination of more than a year of Blackiful working together, conducting research, writing, editing, revising, drawing, painting, sketching, dreaming, laughing, singing, arguing, talking over one another, and ultimately savoring the countless challenges and rewards of collaborative work. Blackiful strives to reciprocate the gift of these changemakers’ activism, their artistry, their organizing, and their care by amplifying their stories.
Make an appointment to view the exhibition, Monday to Friday through September 1 ▸
“The changemakers provide examples for us to follow. I don’t know what life in the Bay Area would be like without them.”
Book Launch Party and Opening Celebration
Join us for an afternoon of food, music, and art to celebrate Blackiful’s newly published book and concurrent exhibition, Wonderful Blackiful People. The exhibition is on view at Creativity Explored’s second studio in Potrero Hill through September, by appointment only Monday through Friday.
Free, all ages welcome!
Saturday, June 17
12:00 – 4:00 PM
Creativity Explored II
1 Arkansas Street, SF
“We recognize and honor these individuals who have invested in their communities by reflecting it in the care and attention given to each portrait and biography, and by passing it along to you. We hope you enjoy the work and learn something along the way.”
Featured artists: Alissa Bledsoe, Adrianna Simeon, Laron Bickerstaff, Joseph “JD” Green, Joseph Omolayole, and Vincent Jackson.