Kay Brown was an African American artist and published author. She was also the first woman awarded a membership into the Weusi Artist Collective, based in Harlem during the 1960s and 1970s. The Weusi Collective, named for the Swahili word for “blackness”, was founded in 1965, composed entirely of men. The fact that she was the only female member of this collective inspired her to seek out ways of representing the neglected Black female artists. She is widely acknowledged as one of the founders of the Where We At Black women artists' collective in New York City. Brown’s works are credited for representing issues that affected the global Black community via her mixed media collages and prints. Brown's work was featured in the "We Wanted a Revolution" exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.
Career
Brown coupled with fiber artist Dindga McCannon formed Where We At! Black Women Artists,Inc during the spring of 1971. Topics that were covered through artistic expression within this organization were contemporary social conditions such as the Black female/male relationship, African traditions, and the Black family as a unit to name a few. Brown also wrote a young adult novel, Willy's Summer Dream, which was published in 1989. Ms. Brown was also a published author of two novels. The novel that is largely discussed is the “Willy’sSummer Dream” for which the inspiration was the life of her only son. Her son is also noted in part as the inspiration for the “Back Mother and Male Child” etching. Brown was a staff member at the Medgar Evers College and an assistant professor at the Anne Arundel Community College from 1989-1990.
Works
Kay Brown was a sociopolitical printmaker specializing in the expressions of the Black narrative she witnessed personally. Brown also uses large format collages to help express her agenda.
The Black Soldier, 1969 This piece was inspired by the increased amount of Black men being drafted and volunteering in the Vietnam War from November 1955 until April 1975. Brown uses the images of Martin Luther King Jr. as a central focal point while the images of Black young men soldiers surrounds his image. She states that the reasoning behind this is to convey that the wars reasoning was unknown to its participants and recognize that Black soldiers were just mass casualties and of no value. To support her ideology she places the image of a man representing the Black Panther Party in the lower right-hand corner to represent Americas lack of protection for the Black community and the need for militant self-protection.
Willowbrook, 1972, Brown chooses within this print to convey a sorrowful scene found in the cross hatching along the table and the emphasis on the window that solidifies the solitude felt when caged in and the bewilderedness children and adults find themselves when being throw into failing mental illness facilities. Willowbrook is a mental institution in Staten Island infamously known for the mistreatment, child abuse, and inhumane treatment of its residents that were reveled in the 1970's.
First Kick of Life, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum
Black Mother and Male Child, Brown’s heavy usage of line variation makes this etching dynamic and textured emphasizing the emotional warm worry-ful embrace of a mother embracing her son.
The Devil and His Game, exhibited in the exhibition Tradition and Conflict: Images of a Turbulent Decade, 1963-1973, at the Studio Museum in Harlem, January 27-June 30, 1985.
