Art of Activism Exhibition and Outdoor Banner Display

Aaron Maybin is an Art-Activist and former professional football player from Baltimore, Maryland. He was selected as the 11th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills as a former All-American defensive end at Penn State University. Aaron went on to play in the NFL for the New York Jets and the Cincinnati Bengals in a 5-year career before making the decision to walk away to pursue a career as a professional artist, activist, author, educator and community organizer.

Ashley Milburn received his undergraduate fine arts degree in printmaking and art education training from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. He studied arts administration at the University of Utah and is the former Director of Salt Lake City Arts Council in Utah, 1983. The artist received a Master’s in Education and classroom instruction, with a focus on Multiple Intelligences, from the University of Rio Grande, Ohio in 2003 and a Master’s degree in Community Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2007. Milburn has worked, primarily, around organizing communities through culture and art to produce social change.

David W. M. Cassidy grew up in Compton and Los Angeles, California and graduated from George Washington (Preparatory) High School in 1973. He received a B.A. in Urban and Rural Studies, University of California, San Diego, Third College, 1979. He served in the United States Navy as a Hospitalman, Field Medical Tech, X-Ray Tech, and Emergency Medical Tech. A graduate of the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), C.H. Mason Seminary, 1990, he graduated with honors and received the Master of Divinity (mdiv). Elder Dave was licensed in 1982, and ordained in 1990 by Bishop George Dallas McKinney Jr., Southern California 2nd Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, of the Church of God in Christ. David Cassidy is a published writer and artist.

Nikki Brooks says, “Activism has been embedded within me since the day my mother guided me to understand the origin of my culture and role within this society. Through the years I have sought out ways to find my artistic voice through images of dark skinned portraiture, and non-figurative (shape, line, color) movement combined with photos, words, fabrics, etc. Having acquired more theoretical pedagogy I am now often thinking how to maneuver around institutional boundaries that wish to silence my creative voice."

Born in southern Virginia during the seventies to a family where art was not practiced or encouraged, Qrcky was drawn instinctively to Chuck Jones' cartoons, Norman Rockwell, and Bob Ross' PBS show. Qrcky would try to imitate their art while watching cartoons. Twenty years later and entirely desolated by a bad marriage and subsequent relationships, Qrcky began to paint reverting to the kinds of self-expression he felt closest to as a child. Finding freedom in his art, Qrcky found his voice by exiling himself away from friends and family. He discovered that under emotional distress and displacement he was able to focus and paint at his strongest while feeling content and whole.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Schroeder Cherry is a now Baltimore-based artist who captures everyday scenes of African diaspora life. He earned a bachelor’s degree in painting and puppetry from The University of Michigan; a master’s degree in museum education from George Washington University; and a doctorate in museum education from Columbia University. An award winning artist, his recent Barbershop Series received an exhibition at The Walters Art Museum in 2019 as a Sondheim finalist, and a one-man exhibition at Baltimore City Hall in 2020. He was awarded the 2020 Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City Artist Travel Prize for research in Bahia, Brazil. His works are found in private and public collections across the US.

Comacell Brown, aka Cell Spitfire, is a multi-disciplinary artist from Annapolis, Maryland, specializing in painting, graphic design, entrepreneurial skills, and local outreach through art. He holds an Associates Degree in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Atlanta.

His passion for drawing and painting was cultivated at an after school program provided by the Salvation Army. He later began to manifest his love for art on clothing, turning t-shirts and jeans into his new canvas, creating customized apparel. At the age of 18, Comacell embarked on a custom clothing line called Creative Fashions.

Greta Chapin McGill is from the DMV, having also lived in New York, New Mexico, and Italia. McGill's work is abstractly real. The techniques are driven by classical art “isms”, indigenous tribal art and a mysterious ancestral DNA. McGill spends time reading, studying and collecting mentors to further my art.

Feminism silently and most profoundly influences her work. McGill says, "Women are the species I know best. I'm driven to tell the story of my time through the eyes of a Black American woman, a feminist and global citizen."