NIA Centre to host interview with African American painter

A cultural and arts nonprofit will host a virtual event with a nationally known African American artist this week.

The NIA Centre in Grand Rapids will host a live Virtual Connect event featuring Deborah Shedrick at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Robert Upton Jr., chair of the NIA Centre, will interview Shedrick, an artist who paints with a palette knife and whose works display a combination of realism and abstraction.

“Every color under the sun can be seen in her work,” the NIA Centre said. “Shedrick lives and loves art. What began as painting lessons in 1986, honing her artistic skills through workshops with other prominent artists, has developed into a career of her artwork being used nationwide on book covers, television shows and fundraisers. … She fascinates her audience with a style that is uniquely her own. Expressing herself through acrylic, pastel, clay, mixed media and printmaking, her work is improvisational and innovative. … Her artwork strikes a harmonious chord from a universal perspective, and she is part of collections throughout the United States and abroad.”

Shedrick will be joined during the second segment of the Virtual Connect event by emerging African American artists Esan Sommersell and Chakila Hoskins for a panel discussion.

Registration for the event, which will be broadcast on Zoom and Facebook Live, is available online.

NIA Centre

With roots dating to 2011, the NIA Centre’s mission is to inspire, build, transform and connect people of all ages. NIA is leading an effort to place an African American cultural center that it hopes will be the foremost destination, resource and opportunity for sharing and expressing African American culture.

The NIA Centre provides events and programming in the following six focus areas: arts and entertainment; diversity, equity and inclusion; education; entrepreneurship and wealth building; health care; and research.

NIA Centre’s virtual and physical connect events are designed to connect leaders and the companies/organizations they represent to the African American community.