Romare Bearden: Artist as Activist and Visionary

In this talk, DiedraHarris-Kelley, CoDirector of the RomareBearden Foundation
will present the early roots of Bearden’s activism through his writing and cartoons and how his personal experiences informed his larger vision for humanity. She willalso discuss how a younger generation of artists speak to Bearden’s artistic influence. Diedra Harris-Kelley is one of the Co-Directors
of the Romare Bearden Foundation, the nonprofit organization perpetuating the legacy of Romare Bearden. Harris-Kelley is also the niece of
Nanette Bearden who founded the Foundation in1990. Harris-Kelley earned her MFA degree fromUniversity of Michigan. She currently teaches a
seminar course on Romare Bearden at BarnardCollege, and has taught studio art at NYU, ParsonsStudio Program, and for alternative high school
and elementary school programs. She also conducts professional development workshopsand lectures on art. Harris-Kelley was a member
of the curatorial team of Jazz at Lincoln Center(2009–2012); and is the author of “Revisiting Romare Bearden’s Art of Improvisation,” published
in Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies (Columbia University, 2004); and “My Life in Movement: Inheriting the Dancing Body” (Scholar &
Feminist Online, Issue 19.1, Summer 2023). HarrisKelley’s artwork has been published on book covers and was last shown in a solo exhibition at
the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Arts in New York.