Black History Month 2026 marks a historic centennial anniversary, celebrating 100 years of formal Black history commemorations in the United States. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) has designated the 2026 theme as: "A Century of Black History Commemorations".
This year New Elements Gallery looks at some emerging black artists; some with connections to the Wilmington and North Carolina area.
CLARENCE HEYWARD
Clarence Heyward (born 1983) is a Brooklyn, NY-born and raised painter and collagist who explores the Black American experience, cultural truths, and identity, frequently challenging stereotypes through his art. He relocated to North Carolina to study Art Education at North Carolina Central University and continues to live and work in the state.
Raised in Brooklyn, New York, he often draws on his childhood experiences and memories of pop culture, music, and television in his work.
Known for using collage techniques and, notably, a chroma key green skin tone on his subjects to represent the ability to superimpose different realities onto them.
His work focuses on "painting his truth," challenging negative stereotypes, and highlighting the normalcy of black life, often using his own family as subjects.
ARTIST STATEMENT: “Using painting as my primary tool of communication, I make work examining my identity as a Black American man, husband and father; creating compositions documenting my life experiences and examining how the media is used to inform, misinform and shape the perception of Black Americans and our collective culture. Much of my work is influenced by my memories which serve as a database filled with television shows, movies, music, and pop-culture that become metaphors and/or references used in my compositions.
In my imagery, the media's depiction of Black Culture is referenced by the use of green skin. This is a direct reference to Chroma Key, otherwise known as "green screen" technology, the process used for editing and shaping the perception of realities in film and television programming.
Positioning my family as the principal subjects in my work allows me to record our existence, absent of preconceived notions of Black culture and the superabundant depictions of trauma, and instead document the authenticity and realities of our lives from a first person perspective. Consequently, this provides an alternative entry into the conversation of existing while Black in America.”
Heyward studied at North Carolina Central University and became a full-time artist in 2019. His work has been featured at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, The Harvey B. Gantt Center in Charlotte, 21c Museum Hotel of Durham, Art Miami and at the Cameron Art Museum in 2024.
AMY SHERALD
Amy Sherald is an American painter. She works mostly as a portraitist depicting African Americans in everyday settings. Her style is simplified realism, involving staged photographs of her subjects. Since 2012, her work has used grisaille to portray skin tones, a choice she describes as intended to challenge conventions about skin color and race.
In 2016, Sherald became the first woman as well as the first African American ever to win the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition with her painting, Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance). The competition noted that "Sherald creates innovative, dynamic portraits that, through color and form, confront the psychological effects of stereotypical imagery on African-American subjects". Sherald's Miss Everything was selected among 2,500 other entries. As with other paintings, Sherald shot a long photography session to capture the image she wanted to paint from—only after an hour did the sitter relax into the pictured pose. Sherald said the painting was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, noting the dress and the teacup, and said her work often “starts in a place of fantasy”, here lending itself to the possibility of “being seen as more than the color of your skin”.
The next year, she and Kehinde Wiley (who has an amazing website, by the way) were selected by former President Barack Obama (Wiley) and former First Lady Michelle Obama (Sherald) to paint their official portraits, becoming the first African Americans ever to receive presidential portrait commissions from the National Portrait Gallery. The portraits were unveiled together in 2018 and have significantly increased attendance at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
In December 2020, her piece The Bathers (2015) was sold at auction for $4,265,000, nearly 30 times the pre-sale estimate. On November 17, 2021, Welfare Queen (2012), sold for $3.9M in a Phillips New York auction and brought to light the need for more governance around resale royalties for artists.
Sherald has an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD, and a BFA from Clark-Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA.
STEPHEN HAYES
Stephen Hayes is the winner of the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art. He teaches in the department of Art and Art History at Duke University. Hayes’s work has been featured at the National Cathedral, Winston Salem State University, Duke University, CAM Raleigh, Rosa Parks Museum, African American Museum of Philadelphia, and Harvey B. Gantt Center, among others.
Hayes grew up in Durham with his older brother, Spence, and his mother, Lender, who were pivotal in shaping and sparking his creative approach. When Hayes was in the first grade, he broke a remote-control car. His brother took it apart and attached the motor to a battery, bringing it back to life. Amazed, Hayes began breaking all kinds of things to see how they worked and what he could create with the pieces. By second grade, his mother had given him a real workbench; she and Hayes’ brother would also bring home abandoned equipment for tinkering. By high school, he learned to crochet.
He went to North Carolina Central University, aiming to transfer to North Carolina State University to study mechanical engineering. Instead, through a friend, he discovered graphic design. His new major led to a ceramics course, where his enthusiasm and skill led to being allowed as much time as he wanted on the wheel. He threw enough pots to develop a strong portfolio, leading to a residency at the acclaimed New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Hayes earned an M.F.A. in sculpture at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. His thesis exhibition, Cash Crop, has been traveling and exhibiting for nearly a decade.
Frequently in his work, Hayes uses three symbols: a pawn, a corn, and a horse to explore America’s use (or misuse) of black bodies, black minds, and black labor. Artists, he believes, are as much translators as they are creators.
He has an MFA in Sculpture from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Atlanta, GA., a BA in Visual Communication from North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC.
The Cameron Art Museum currently displays Stephen Hayes’ life-size bronze sculpture which features 11 African American men connected to the site and its story – USCT descendants, re-enactors, veterans, and community leaders. Boundless was unveiled November 13, 2021 and is on permanent view in the PNC USCT Park on the museum grounds. The sculpture is connected deeply to the community’s history, its present, and its future. Hayes also works with tapestry, mixed media wall relief, and woodcut prints.
JAMES L. WILLIAMS
James L. Williams is a contemporary American painter and mixed-media artist known for his abstract, layered works inspired by reimagined landscapes and personal identity. He grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and his art explores the concept of "home" and how we define our sense of place.
Williams' work is characterized by the meticulous mapping of dense layers to create multi-dimensional renderings. He primarily works with acrylics and collage, incorporating ink, tape, paper-weaving, and graphite into his pieces.
His subject matter often derives from photographs of buildings, outdoor environments, and interior spaces. His art explores the process of "redefining the term 'home'" as one moves through different surroundings, creating spaces that allow for authentic self-expression.
He has shown at the Neil Britton Gallery at Virginia Wesleyan University, Visual Index in Winston-Salem, and Tidewater Community College Visual Arts & Design Center Faculty Exhibition, and at New Elements Gallery. He was the cover artist for the 'GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter' album, with his work titled "Persistence" featured.
Williams received his MFA in drawing and painting from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro in 2006 after completing a Bachelor’s in Arts and Business from Ferrum College in Ferrum, VA. He was a professor of art at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, NC. Williams has shown regionally in North Carolina including the Contemporary Art Museum and Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art and in Virginia where he and his family currently live.
His art studio website is available at jameswilliamsstudio.com, and he shares updates on his process and exhibitions via his Instagram account, @jameswilliamsartstudio.