"The Night Tulsa Died" / Leslee Stradford

Leslee Stradford  
"The Night Tulsa Died: Black Wall Street Massacre 1921"
  
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, July 15, 2011 6-8 PM
Showing through August 16, 2011

@

Parish Gallery
Georgetown
1054 31st St. NW
Washington, DC 20007
www.parishgallery.com

"The Night Tulsa Died": Black Wall Street Massacre 1921 is a series which tells a story of an event in US history that pitted white Americans against black Americans.  "The Tulsa Race Riot 1921" was a massacre confined to the racially segregated Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa OK,  on May 31, 1921, Stradford is a descendant of victims in that riot.

Leslee has developed a style of making art that includes social, cultural, and historical documentation.  It is some times figurative, sometimes abstract, and sometimes both.  Using new technology and research to create digital images, painted canvases and silks.

After earning her 'Bachelor of Fine Arts' and 'Bachelor of Art Education' from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Stradford became part of the Artist-In-Residence program for the City of Chicago.  She was one of 20 visual artists chosen to create art for the City's collection.  Upon completing her Master of Fine Arts from SAIC, she earned her Doctorate in Art Education and Educational Administration from Illinois State University.

Stradford has been a Dean of Arts, Communications and Physical Education at Berkeley City College and Laney College in Oakland, CA.  She is currently a tenured professor teaching Art History, African-American Art History and Figure Drawing at Laney. Leslee is also the Director of the June Steingart Gallery on campus.