The Black Art Library, founded by Michigan State University BFA in Art Education graduate Asmaa Walton, is now on display and can be experienced at the MSU Union Art Gallery through Friday, March 8.
A collection of books and other art history ephemera on Black visual art, Walton, who is an arts educator, created the Black Art Library to serve as an educational resource with the mission of introducing and expanding the community’s knowledge of Black art and visual culture.
This living archive of global Black creativity includes more than 600 artist monographs, exhibition catalogs, children’s books, artist memoirs, artist biographies, art history texts, and other art related ephemera. As a mobile collection and interactive installation, the Black Art Library provides a platform for community accessibility and engagement with the rich legacy of Black art, aesthetics, and history.
“I wanted this to be a huge resource that anyone can experience. People who are interested in these materials won’t have to do all of the work that I did to find out about these artists. I wanted to put all the information and the resources in one place so people can easily find it without all the guesswork.”
The MSU Union Art Gallery exhibit is unique not only for its emphasis on generations of cultural production by and about Black visual arts and artists but also because audiences are encouraged to read, touch, and engage with the Black Art Library materials.
Established in 2020, the Black Art Library was born from Walton’s desire to create a tactile means for communities to engage with Black artists and Black art history. She wanted to share the rare and often hard-to-find works she had found with a wider audience.
“I wanted this to be a huge resource that anyone can experience,” Walton said. “People who are interested in these materials won’t have to do all of the work that I did to find out about these artists. I wanted to put all the information and the resources in one place so people can easily find it without all the guesswork.”
Since founding the Black Art Library, Walton has received books and artifacts from donors, as well as funds for purchases through her GoFundMe page. Initially, she paid for everything herself. This past year, the Black Art Library also was selected by the Ruth Foundation for the Arts to receive a $50,000 Core Grant.
Born and raised in Detroit, Walton’s goal is to one day open a brick-and-mortar location for the Black Art Library in her hometown so that it can better serve as a public archive and resource in a permanent space.
Walton received her BFA in Art Education from Michigan State University in 2017. In 2018, she earned an M.A. in Art Politics from New York University Tisch School of the Arts and then joined the Toledo Museum of Art as an Education and Engagement Intern. That same year, she was appointed the museum’s first KeyBank Fellow in Diversity Leadership, a position where she identified opportunities for diversity and equity programming across museums and cultural institutions. In 2019, she was appointed the Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow at Saint Louis Art Museum. When she founded the Black Art Library, she was in the middle of her Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship.
A reception for the MSU Union Art Gallery exhibit is planned for Friday, March 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information about the gallery, see the MSU Union Art Gallery web page.
Written by Kim Popiolek
