2021 Black History Month Art Contest Judges
Thank you to our judges, William Downs, Jamaali Roberts, and Jen Singh for lending their incredibly artistic eyes to this year’s Black History Month Art Contest!
William Downs
William Downs is an award-winning contemporary American artist residing in Atlanta, Georgia. His Multidisciplinary M.F.A comes from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art; prior, Downs received a B.F.A in Painting and Printmaking from the Atlanta College of Art and Design. In addition to his representation by Sandler Hudson Gallery in Atlanta, he was chosen by Artadia as their 2018 Atlanta awardee as well as The Working Artist Project 2019/2020 (Guest Curator Wasson Al/Khudhairi). Downs showed work in the “Art AIDS America” exhibition which toured nationally for a year headed by Rock Hushka and Johnathan Katz. His work was shown for the Black Pulp! exhibition along with 20 other Black American artists.
Downs’ practice, mediums vary from drawing, painting, muraling and printmaking to experimenting with installation and three-dimensional studies. The line is his current notable element which he considers paradoxically fundamental and surreal based on its infinite capabilities. His work expresses truth in common forms turned ambiguous. His use of repetition distorts what one expects to be or be true. Are his forms containers or do they find themselves contained by culture? Time and certainty lose their structure when one looks at figures that reform and deform simultaneously.
Jamaali Roberts
Jamaali Roberts is a visual and musical artist. His colorfully lush and illustrative paintings, drawings, and murals investigate the rich, multi-faceted, and diverse experiences of African-Americans. He is especially interested with the patterns of movement and the musical nature of life. Alongside his visual works, Jamaali is an active part of the community within the greater Portland and Atlanta area sharing African drumming, hosting collaborative drawing events, and directing educational workshops for youth and adults.
Jamaali hails from Atlanta, GA and graduated from Portland’s Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2017 with his Bachelor's degree of Fine Art in Painting and Drawing.
Jen Singh
Jen has always been an artist, daydreamer and voracious reader. The theatre is where she thrived in high school, and creative outlets were what she sought out. Being on stage, playing the piano, singing, and of course art, were part of her daily life.
Fast forward to finding a pathway to art school at Kendall College of Art + Design in Grand Rapids, MI, she graduated with a BFA in illustration. And then she journeyed to the South. Jen dove into the world of freelance illustration, graphic design and art direction in Atlanta, GA. But involvement in the local art scene was important to her as well. Jen took on leadership roles as president of the Graphic Artist Guild Atlanta chapter, followed by president of the Avondale Arts Alliance in her local community as well as logging hours of volunteer efforts in local schools for art initiatives.
After around a decade passed where she got married, traveled abroad and had two kids, Jen began focusing on her own art. Painting and drawing brings her into a meditative flow, and she’s loving this journey of finding her authentic voice.
Jen also runs a brick and mortar boutique and art gallery, Garage Door Studio, that highlights handmade and local art, representing 70+ artists in the region.