Ernie Barnes From Pads to Palette: Art of a Former NFL Player

Education Connection- Visual Art and Literacy

By Kimberly Harmon

Miami was once again in the world spotlight with the 2020 Super Bowl. Although many came for game, there was a special Art exhibit by former NFL player and artist, Ernie Barnes, on display in Historic Overtown. “Ernie Barnes From Pads to Palette: Art of a Former NFL Player” featured many of the Artist’s famous pieces. His work was often showcased on the TV show, “Good Times.” He was the 1^st American athlete to become an internationally recognized Fine Artist. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said in 1995: “Ernie Barnes is an example to our players, that there is life after football.” Barnes himself stated, “Throughout my 5 seasons in the NFL, I remained at the deepest level of my being, an Artist.” The exhibit was FREE and open to the public and ran through Super Bowl week at The Historic Ward Rooming House in Overtown.

In case you missed it, one of Barnes’s signed  pieces, “Beauty in the Ghetto” can still be seen at  The “Ebony Broadsides: Celebration of the Masters“ exhibit which recently unveiled at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Ft. Lauderdale. Hampton Art Lovers Co-Founder, Darryl Neverson was asked the importance of bringing the exhibit to the Library. He stated, “Ebony Broadsides is essentially a collection of hand signed archival exhibition posters from the masters of Black Art going back to artists from the Harlem Renaissance.

The Hampton Art Lovers organization believes it is important to have this poster collection in one of only three of the nation’s African American Research Libraries because a poster marks; a moment in time, an artist, and the artist’s work, therefore, making the posters an important learning tool. After learning about the art, the lives, and the legacies of the masters of Black Art we can encourage a community to start collecting and hanging art in their own spaces”.

The exhibit features signed works from masters like John Biggers, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks, and Oscar winning “Black Panther” costume designer, Ruth Carter. What’s more exciting is what was uncovered in the archives of the African American Library and Research Cultural Center itself.

Fellow Hampton Art Lovers Co-Founder, Christopher Norwood located many valuable pieces which are now on display. According to Neverson, “The library had a wonderful collection of posters. There were three series of posters which stood out to me the most: the Sistrunk Festival posters which featured art by local Artists like Gene Tinnie and George Gadson, and showcased several years of festivals in Sistrunk, the Charles Mills posters, and the African travel Posters. Exhibition posters are often made in editions of a few hundred, yet grow rarer over time as people do not realize their value.” Artist/Sculptor, George Gadson was present for the exhibition.

The question can be asked, why is Visual Art so important to literacy? Neverson states, “Art & Literacy go hand and hand. Art is so important to literacy because it is a visual manifestation of words. Languages and meanings can be communicated and translated through art and drawing. Emotions that are not easily expressed in writing or orally can be expressed through Art. Handwriting of letters and words are an artform itself, a form that as children we are taught to master to be able to communicate”.

Struggling readers and writers often have difficulty noticing visual cues when reading text. For instance, they might not notice the “s” at the end of a word or visual differences in letters like confusing “b” and “d.” Making Art accessible in the form or posters allows children to become more observant of visual cues in a way that is less intimidating than traditional classroom lessons.

Students who analyze painting, sculpture, photography or architecture have greater opportunities to fine tune their observation, writing, speaking and listening skills. These same skills can then be utilized during reading.

When looking at a piece of Art, ask these questions:

What do I understand and notice about this work of Art? This is also like careful observation of details when reading text.

What is happening in this work of Art? This is similar to identifying elements in texts like characters, setting, etc.

What does the artist’s use of a particular element or style reveal about the Art? (Ex. Use of colors, lines)

What is the essential meaning? Similar to understanding the theme of a text.

How does this add to my knowledge about a specific topic?

Visit the exhibit and approach the pieces of Art with those questions in mind. Practice observing the Art and answering those questions. Using Art is a fun, engaging way to build upon literacy. Overtime, these skills will become an automatic part of the thought process when reading and writing.

The Ebony Broadsides exhibit is FREE to the public and runs until March 31, 2020. It is an excellent way to learn about the history of some of our Master Artists, the history of South Florida, and develop skills needed to improve reading in an unintimidating way.

Read2Achieve Inc is excited to provide additional strategies and techniques integrating The Visual Arts to close the Reading achievement gap. The Hampton Art Lovers organization  looks forward to the feedback form the community and is ecstatic to bring these FREE collections to both Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Providing access to information for the community is our mission at the Education Connections. This month we used showed how Visual Art can be used to build Literacy, and a deeper understanding of the community. Look for us next Month to see how we make, “The Education Connection.”