LauraChioma Jones said she’s always had insecurities that have held her back from presenting her work.
“I have struggled with saying that I am an artist, and that’s valid,” she said. Jones is a ceramicist and painter who owns the @harness_urchi brand.
While Jones does come from a creative family that has always supported her, she said her predominantly white art classes at VCU often make her feel excluded and uncomfortable.
“You come to a Black excellence showcase like this and you’re just bombarded with the talent of other minorities,” she said. “This is an amazing space.”
Black Art Student Empowerment (BASE) is a VCU student organization that supports Black artists across a variety of mediums, including painters, designers, ceramicists, singers, musicians and writers. The 7th annual BASE Showcase created a space for artists to sell their work, network and discuss their inspirations for their pieces. While originally planned to take place the last week of Black History Month, the event was rescheduled for March 18th at VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Arts due to a local COVID surge.
BASE’s Spring 2022 lineup kicked off with a fashion show and corresponding artist roundtable. The event featured an artist alley of more than 20 creators and a film festival of recent works by VCU students. The showcase touched on a range of topics central to their artist’s work; including ancestry, queer rights, funeral traditions and divine femininity.
The showcase is not exclusive to VCUArts students but rather seeks to validate and support Black student artists across all creative outlets and mediums.
Junior Zariah Parker, the owner of @Parker.artshop, said it’s not often that artists are encouraged to comfortably discuss and celebrate their work with other artists.
“A lot of times people frown upon talking about yourself,” Parker said. “But this is the one showcase where it’s okay.”
She said the club also provided the participants with a card reader for easier transactions with attendees.
“It’s a family,” she said with a nod. “They’re good at making sure that we get all the help that we need.”
BASE’s emphasis on inclusivity and the necessity of an outside support system
For junior Jalen Harris, a new transfer student to VCU, BASE has been integral in his transition to VCU. Harris said an external support system is necessary to retain Black artists in the field, as promising artists are more likely to choose alternate, more conventional career paths.
“I want to do like a little bit of art education because my little siblings are getting into art more,” He said. “I want to help them out and other little kids.”
Art critics often insist that art is supposed to make the viewer feel something. LauraChioma Jones is planning to study art therapy in graduate school as a way to unite and heal communities.
“I like working with children, specifically with neurodivergent psychology, so people with autism or things like that,” Jones said. “It’s just an amazing thing to use what I love to do to make people happier, more comfortable with themselves and better communicators.”