MAY 2 - JULY 5

The BLACK Gallery is honored to announce The Emancipation of Isaka Shamsud-Din: A Liberated Archives Exploration of Fine Art. This exhibit features unique, never before seen works by the multi-disciplinary artist, showcasing decades of archival drafts, drawings, silkscreens, sketches and prints. Rare ceramics, hand-made clothing, wood carvings and special editions of larger paintings will also be incorporated within the show.

Isaka Shamsud-Din (b. 1940) has devoted much of his artistic career to depicting the lives and histories of African-American people in easel paintings, murals, and prints. But he has also been a civil rights activist, an important member of the Nation of Islam, and a mentor to young people. As a boy, newly arrived from Texas, Shamsud-Din and his family lost all they had to the devastating Vanport flood of 1948. 

A Portland painter and teacher, Isaka Shamsud-Din received his training at the Pacific Northwest College of Art (formerly the Museum Art School) and Portland State University, where he taught art and worked in community outreach. He has received grants from the Metropolitan and Oregon Arts Commissions, as well as a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His many public commissions include murals for the Portland Justice Center, the Albina Neighborhood, the Children’s Museum and Portland State University.