Marsha Hatcher: Truth, Culture, Story

OPENING RECEPTION

THU Aug 28 | 6pm – 8pm
The reception is free and open to the public. Meet the artists and writers. Enjoy live music and poetry readings. Engage in meaningful dialogue. Light refreshments will be served.

EXHIBIT DATES

Aug 28 – Nov 1

For 50 years,Marsha Hatcher has been creating works of art that emphatically amplify the Black experience. From the intimacy of family interactions to scenes of collective resistance, and from up-close views of the natural world to symbolic figures that seem to hold the world, Marsha is an expert visual storyteller. Although there is hardly a subject that she hasn’t turned her brush, pencil, or carving tool toward, there are dominant themes in her lifetime of work. History. Beauty. Grief. Celebration. Diversity. Connection. Visibility. Truth. Being seen. Bearing witness. And all of these narratives are specifically expressed in the bodies and faces of Black people existing across time and place.

In a time of turmoil, in this country and beyond, Marsha’s work is more timely and important than ever. It is an antidote to the attempts at erasure and censorious actions that are quickly being normalized by a system sowing division and grasping for power. Artists and the works they create are being targeted, as are the institutions that exist to share, document and archive their creations. Universities, museums, performing art centers, libraries, and classrooms are being impacted – limiting our access to knowledge and access to our artistic heritage. Marsha is having none of that! Throughout this exhibition you will find cultural references to literature, justice movements, and histories that are being attacked today.

While many of Marsha’s works call us into a stance of action, there are those that beckon us to linger, remember, look closely, and sit quietly. The offerings provided when we participate in slow observation are abundant – headlines in the seam of a dress, an expression that wavers between strength and weariness, the pattern in a string of beads, the color shifts in the skin of a child, the faces in the bark of a tree.

Robustly rooted in the Black experience, Marsha Hatcher’s paintings, photographs, and sculptures illuminate both history and this contemporary moment. Marsha is a truth teller, culture bearer, storyteller, and a queen amongst us. And, it is a great honor to, again, share her work with our community – as an act of healing, resistance, inspiration, and deep gratitude.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Marsha Hatcher, born in South Georgia, lives and creates art in Jacksonville, her home for the past 35 years. A military wife for many years, Marsha has traveled around the world and much of her art captures these experiences and the people she has met.

Although she works in many media and elevates a wide variety of subjects, Marsha is primarily a painter who incorporates elements from the African diaspora and her own experiences within the Black community. Many of her works reflect a strong commitment to social justice and cultural identity, highlighting historical figures and ideologies important to her. She uses vibrant colors and bold shapes to create powerful messages that speak to the struggles of marginalized communities.

Marsha’s work has been widely exhibited throughout the Southeast, winning many awards. She has shown her work in every major cultural institution in North Florida, including Yellow House (Magic, Mirth, and Mortality, Just Space, and Screams Echo). Marsha has been awarded two Art Venture Grants from The Community

Foundation for Northeast Florida and was recently recognized with the prestigious Ann McDonald Baker Art Ventures Award, which annually honors a regional artist who has made a significant contribution to the arts through a lifetime of work.

Marsha received her Bachelors of Art degree from Albany State University. She is a member of Hopewell Church, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., founding and current board member of Jacksonville Cultural Development Corporation formerly (JCAAA), and one of the founders and board members of The Art Center Cooperative, Inc.