I'm glad I read the article, and I'll definitely check out the exhibit

Nice touch about Ruby Chow too. She gave my mom her start when she first arrived in Seattle from Taiwan. That was a lady who could definitely spot and cultivate people with potential.

Very nice. I want the art. I also want that outfit!

Shoutout to the curator, Jen?

Beautiful and inspiring.

Coming to Portland, I hope?

Thank you Jen for this Article.

I would like to contribute a few thoughts to this article, if I may,... I come from very Economically Humble yet Culturally Rich beginings in Seattle....

My parents were hard working Blue Collar, some time No-Collar workers... My Mother, (among her many jobs, did professional Domestic Work outside our community). The cultivation of her rural Oklahoma City aesthetic, in beautiful Seattle's town & country, CD neighborhoods, is the first creative inspiration to my Funky Aesthetic.

Followed by the fresh-air, colorful, and I must add, discriminating taste of the African American Homemaking Mothers, of our family of friends, back in the days of my youth.

They adorned their homes with a Classic, Funky Chic, Seattle, African American, Aesthetic, using items carefully choosen; furnishings & textiles, sometimes purchased from the Salvation Army or Goodwill.

They would use their fine skills of the needle to crochet doilies, table cloths, bedspreads and afgans... in their humble, yet elegant way.

They enhanced their homes with a graceful flow that vibrated with homelife and a constant soulful sound of recorded popular African American Music of the day,... or the sound of local jazz and R & B musicians rehearsing that Funky Mellow Madness Seattle Sound, that could be heard from nearby family basements.

I can honestly say... Seattle's African American and surrounding communities, nurture a Soulful Funky Cultural Aesthetic like no other on this planet.

I hope you will all find time to experience my experience, of the evolution of my aesthetic of Funk at the Northwest African American Museum.

Peace & Paradise

Xenobia Bailey

@3: Glad you pointed that out: It got cut in the final draft for space! The curator is Sandra Jackson-Dumont, also a curator and head of education at Seattle Art Museum. She first became aware of Xenobia's work years ago at the Studio Museum in Harlem. (This all got cut.)

Xenobia, thank you for adding your voice here!

I loved this exhibition. Sandra Jackson-Dumont did an amazing job. Also, as always, Barbara Thomas, Brian Carter and the whole crew at the Northwest African American Museum did great too.