As America prepares for the Juneteenth holiday, Claire Oliver Gallery is pleased to collaborate with OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network to celebrate the day with “OWN Your Shine: Juneteenth Artist Showcase,” a new short-form profile series honoring some of the most prolific Black artists of today. Each vignette spotlights an artist bringing forward the Black experience both past and present through many forms of art and artistic expression. These are Black creators of boundary-pushing work, and the vignettes celebrate their talents and explore how and why these artists do what they do. Claire Oliver Gallery artists’ Bisa Butler and Gio Swaby are delighted to be featured as Showcased Artists.

OWN will present these stories of fine Black artists, both celebrated and emerging, including the stories of:

Bisa Butler, an artist who uses quilting to create portraits that reflect the lives, personalities, and experiences of Black people. She wants people to feel and see the true beauty of Black people through her artwork. “When I look at a piece of artwork as a Black person I should see a reflection of me, and then I should also be learning something about my history,” says Butler.
Link to OWN Your Shine: Juneteenth Artist Showcase - Bisa Butler HERE
More information about Bisa Butler HERE

Gio Swaby, an interdisciplinary textile artist who grew up in a home filled with thread and fabric, saw the time she spent sewing with her mom as an expression of love. As a Black woman, she sees herself on a continuous journey of self-love. “In a system that would prefer to keep us inundated with grief, it is a radical act to find joy,” says Swaby.
Link to OWN Your Shine: Juneteenth Artist Showcase - Gio Swaby HERE
More information about Gio Swaby HERE

Tiffany Alfonseca, a mixed media artist whose art shares intimate moments of Black lives. She wants to be that artist that will no longer deny the existence of people of color. “To see Brown bodies being empowered is beautiful,” says Alfonseca.
Link to OWN Your Shine: Juneteenth Artist Showcase - Tiffany Alfonseca HERE
More information about Tiffany Alfonseca HERE

Hank Willis Thomas, a conceptual artist whose life’s work is getting the world to see that he is a person, and to bring more joy to engagement and the process of making change. He believes everyone is an artist, and it is just a matter of how we frame what we are doing. “One of the most powerful forces in the universe is Black joy,” says Thomas.
Link to OWN Your Shine: Juneteenth Artist Showcase - Hank Willis Thomas HERE
More information about Hank Willis Thomas HERE

View the Our Artists Overview HERE

The “OWN Your Shine: Juneteenth Artists Showcase” features long-form, five-minute featurette introducing several of the artists, then continues with a week-long rollout of original :60 short-form pieces each spotlighting a different Black artist, including primetime airings within the original OWN special “Honoring Our Kings” on June 15, and original series “Ready To Love” and “Black Love” on June 18, plus 20 airings throughout daytime through June 19.