Entrepreneurship, Education/Empowerment, Leadership, Service and Art – the foundational pillars of the KBK Foundation, were in full effect during the four-day Inaugural Black Fine Art Fair of OHIO. Local art lovers and art lovers from across the country came to the fair to purchase art in support of the KBK Foundation. The goal was to showcase the incredible talents of participating the artists that had pieces on display and educate the guests with an array of lectures topics on Black Fine Art.
VIP Event:
To kick off the events, the KBK Foundation hosted an intimate VIP reception serving refreshments and live music featuring the Christopher Brown Quartet. Guests were treated with gift bags from the KBK Foundation and partners The Ohio State University, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants and Golden Galleries. The KBK Foundation and board chair, Keith B. Key were honored with multiple recognitions from the Ohio Senate, US House of Representatives, The Mayor’s Office, and The Columbus City Council. There were many special guests that graced the event, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Senator Hershel Craig, Larry Williamson-Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at OSU, Dr. Melissa Shivers VP of the Office of Student Life at OSU, and many other esteemed guests. Once the ribbon cutting ceremony was over, guests walked and admired the beautiful gallery throughout the evening.
Participating artists came from all over the US to showcase their work at the fair, some emerging and some world renown. Aside from just showcasing their work, it was extremely important to the KBK Foundation to give the artist a warm welcome to Columbus, Ohio.
OSU Artist Recognition Ceremony:
Friday, November 13th CEO and Chairman Keith Key of KBK Foundation and Keith Golden of Golden Galleries hosted a Black Fine Art Preview at Ohio State University Hale Hall. Both men gave inspirational speeches and touched on the importance of art and why as a culture its significant to learn our history and black fine art is a resource. The ceremony featured artist; James Denmark, Curlee Holton, Najee Dorsey, Thomas Lockhart, Kevin Nance West and Dana Todd Pope. Each of the artist were given Kente cloth for their participation to the art fair and overall, to African American art.
Live music featuring Christopher Brown Quartet and refreshments were served.
Art Fair:
From Friday through Sunday the fair was open to the public where they were free to roam the gallery space to shop and learn about the art directly from some of the artist themselves. Each fair features educational talking-points, art appraisal information, conservation advice, live auctions, selected works available for purchase, and much more. A very special moment came from Diane Dinkins Carr, one out of the seven black art appraisers in the nation, who spoke on the importance of knowing the authenticity of your piece and the overall value and even offered her professional appraisal services to those interested in the moment.
Special Thanks to our Strategic Partners at The Ohio State University’s Alumni Association, Office of Diversity and Inclusion and The Office of Student Life.
Special appreciation to all of our sponsors: KBK Enterprises, Sports & Spine Physical Therapy Inc, Protagai, Clingman Heating & Cooling, R.H. Brown & Company LLC, and Cameron Mitchell Restaurants.
Last but not least, this could not be possible without the brilliance of Keith A. Golden of Golden Galleries for carefully curating the art gallery and selecting The KBK Foundation as this year’s beneficiary.