Artist Talk: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell

In 1968, Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell founded AfriCOBRA with artists Jeff Donaldson, Barbara J. Jones and Gerald Williams. Headquartered in Chicago, the group gathered in Wadsworth’s studio to develop an approach to art that was inspired by the colors, rhythms and patterns that the artists found in the music, fashion and art of the African continent, creating a style and identity that celebrated the richness of their creative heritage and delivering strong, positive messages for black communities. The couple, who now live in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, will give a talk about their careers.

Wadsworth Jarrell’s work is found in the collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the High Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Art. Jae Jarrell’s work has appeared in several major exhibitions, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s 2014 exhibition Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland’s 2015 exhibition How to Remain Human. Her garments belong to private collections as well as to a permanent collection in the Brooklyn Museum of Art.