Miami, FL-May 24, 2017 - The Griots’ Art Gallery invites the public to the opening of In the Spirit of Collaboration: Sam Gilliam and Lou Stovall exhibition on Saturday, June 10, 2017 from 1 – 4 pm with brief remarks at 2 pm.  Griots’ Art Gallery is located at 8260 NE 2nd Ave, inside the Center for Haitian Studies. The show will feature jointly made silkscreen prints by master artists Sam Gilliam and Lou Stovall from their collaboration of over four decades. The show runs through September 30, 2017 with presentations throughout. The opening and all other gallery activities are free and open the public. For more information visit: www.griotsgallery.com.

“Griots’ Art Gallery is delighted and proud to present an exhibition featuring two of the world’s most renowned artists—Sam Gilliam and Lou Stovall,” states Michael K. Butler, MD, Executive Director, Griots’ Art Gallery. “This event would be of singular significance if it was sponsored by any major museum in this country. The fact that we are able to launch a show of this caliber in a neighborhood gallery is a major coup for Miami.”

We are excited about joining with Griots’ Art Gallery for this landmark show of Sam Gilliam and Lou Stovall’s silkscreen prints,” states Marilyn Holifield, Miami MoCAAD.

Together these iconic artists have achieved in silkscreen prints based in the same bold, three-dimensional perspective found in Gilliam’s vibrant, colorful paintings and sculptures. This is the first comprehensive exhibition of prints created by these two artists. A limited number of full-color collectible catalogs will be available for purchase.

Griots’ Art Gallery thanks exhibition sponsors: The Center for Haitian Studies; Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora (Miami MoCAAD); and Workshop, Inc. Additional support provided by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.



About Griots’ Art Gallery
Griots' Art Gallery is a neighborhood gallery that shows African Diaspora artists in a relaxed, informal setting. Gallery Hours: Monday through Friday from 10 am to 6:00 pm, by appointment and some weekends for show-related programs.

About Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora (Miami MoCAAD)
Miami MoCAAD is visual arts platform powered by Miami-Dade North Arts & Humanities Foundation. Focused on contemporary art of the African diaspora, Miami MoCAAD looks to leverage arts and culture as an engine that contributes directly to the vitality of the community. Miami MoCAAD’s global reach combined with innovative local engagement will expand multicultural tourism to benefit local communities and the state.

About Sam Gilliam
Gilliam was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and soon thereafter his family moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Gilliam completed his Bachelors of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Louisville where his first solo exhibition was held. After time in the United States Army in the late 1950s, Gilliam moved Washington, DC and married Dorothy Butler. By the 1970s, Gilliam’s innovations had brought a new vibrancy to abstraction. He and his art have been variously associated styles and movements such as geometric and lyrical abstraction, Abstract Expressionism, and the Washington Color Field School, yet Gilliam’s production is singular.

About Lou Stovall
Stovall was born in Athens, Georgia and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is a master printmaker and a fine draughtsman. The Washington Post once stated that Stovall’s prints enjoin figural and abstract forms, “flowers and birds in truly lyrical combinations of colors characterized by…an exceptional depth of field and imbued with a calm, unshakably positive spirituality.” Stovall’s longstanding commitment to community engagement has been a part of his practice for decades. Stovall and his studio, Workshop Inc., were recognized in September 2016 with a special Lifetime Achievement Award given by Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.