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Internationally-acclaimed artist Johäna was co-founder and
president of the Confederation of Black Artists (COBA) in
Toledo between 1968 and 1975. During that period, he was
also a member of the Toledo Museum Black Arts Committee.
Johäna is an artist and instructor whose work has been
exhibited in Toledo; throughout the United States; and
Africa.
The following is part of our discussion on Johäna’s work and
Toledo’s Black Arts heritage.
Perryman:
Please tell me a little about the Confederation of Black
Artists (COBA).
Johäna:
COBA was formed around ’67 or ’68, but then our Creative
Arts Workshop opened, I think, in 1970. So, we were involved
there until possibly 1978. It was then that they moved from
Dorr Street next to the Mott Library to a location at
Indiana and Hawley.
Perryman:
I think that it is crucial to keep these memories alive.
Please describe the activities at the Creative Arts Workshop
and some of the people involved.
Johäna: The Creative Arts
Workshop was a dream of Russ Charles. He was always into
arts, and he was able to get the funding to bring it to
fruition. The building we had was owned by a guy who owned
some kind of sign or screen-printing company. He was moving
out, and we were able to get it. The Workshop was Russ
Charles’ dream, and he also was the director of it.
Perryman: How did the
Creative Arts Workshop communicate the Black experience?
Johäna: The Workshop was a
center that celebrated the arts from multiple perspectives.
They had a jazz group there. There was an all-music club, a
photography department, and they had a fine arts group that
did paintings and sculptures. There was also a dance
department and a writer’s workshop at that time.
Each art division had its
own department, had its own section in the building. You
could come in any time of day or night if you wanted to go
and perform or practice. So, it was an arts center that
we kept regular hours. Still, it wasn’t restricted just to
prescribed hours; you could come in as you desired to
practice or work on something; as an individual or as a
group.
Perryman: Who were some of
the artists at that time.
Johäna: Vernon Martin ran the
music department. He was a bass player for Rahsaan Roland
Kirk. He then, later, came back to Toledo, where he was
from, and performed with a group called Creative Spirits.
Ronnie King played the alto sax, and Eugene Boggs played
tenor sax.
Perryman: Who were some of
the visual artists?
Johäna: There was me, Marvin
Vines, James Claybrooks, Benny Griffith. We also had a guy
named Jim Bowen, who came down one summer from California.
Barbara Selvey, Willie Tucker who was a teacher and lived on
Woodruff. Ernie Jones was part of the group and he also was
also a teacher at Scott High School. Also, J.D. Jackson and
Richard Rodgers.
Perryman: Performative
dance is an essential element of Black Culture. Who were
some of the dancers?
Johäna: Donna Thomas was one of
two people who headed the dance department. Donna’s older
sister had run it first. The group had a whole ensemble of
dancers, and they took the group to, I think, Philadelphia
or New York one summer.
Perryman: How did the
Creative Arts Workshop fit into the Civil Rights Movement
back then?
Johäna: The Creative Arts was
supportive and parallel to the Civil Rights movement. We
were like the cultural arm of the Movement, really. We were
concerned that imagery and the things being reflected were
the correct philosophical notions of the culture. But, we
also were involved in other things. For a number of years,
we had a Black Arts Exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art, and
we were responsible for that.
Perryman: Please describe
how the Black Arts Exhibit came about.
Johäna: Some African brothers
came through to visit the museum, and they “weren’t
well-received.” So, these brothers came up to the Creative
Arts Workshop and made that fact known. The Workshop then
began to organize and made contact with the director of the
museum. We had several meetings regarding what we felt the
Museum’s response should’ve been versus what it was. As a
result, they began having an Annual Black Arts Exhibit
inside a major gallery at the museum, like they do when they
have any other shows. So, that activism provided us with a
broader opportunity for the arts. Additionally, the Black
artists’ inclusion heightened the whole Black Consciousness
Movement and that of us as individual Black artists.
Perryman: The fact is that
a true, rich, healthy, and diverse Black aesthetic was being
left out of standard perspectives of what constitutes high
quality. So, you stressed that conventionally-accepted
institutions’ collections should also include Black Artists
and their works?
Johäna: Yes! And, I think the
museum actually became a way of moving the whole Black Arts
Movement to another level, broadening its scope, because
then everybody was able to see it in a museum context. I
think it heightened people’s awareness as to what the Black
arts were doing.
(to be continued)
Johäna received a BFA
degree in painting from Miami University (Ohio) and
additional training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, the Columbus College of Art and Design, and the Art
Academy of Cincinnati. He taught African American art
history at the University of Cincinnati, and was
Artist-in-Residence for the Arts Consortium of Cincinnati.
In 1980 Johäna was
nominated for the Corbett Award for work done by an
individual artist. In 1981 he was honored by the NAACP for
artistic contributions and with a feature in the Black
Art International Magazine. In 1987 he was a finalist
for a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1988 he was
nominated for an Award in the Visual Arts (AVA).
Johäna’s work is
represented in numerous public collections including the
City of Toledo, Fisk University, University of
Massachusetts, Price Waterhouse, The Franciscan Hospital
(Cincinnati), The Toledo Museum of Art, Imani Temple
(Washington, D.C.), Ascension Lutheran Church (Toledo), and
Jerusalem Baptist Church (Toledo).
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org |
