Will Be Interviewed by Art Colleague Sharon Burton of Authentic Art Visions

I had the pleasure of meeting Sharon Burton in Feb of 2008 for a story for East of the River newspaper I was doing on her work in an art exhibit in SE Washington DC. When I arrived at the exhibit and peeped her style-- a wonderful fusion of African-inspired art with womanist themes, I was hooked. I LOVE her art. Being an aspiring collage artist myself, I especially love her mixed media pieces that are modern and fresh but always paying homage to what has come before. Her work brings to mind for me the african word "sankofa" which means to look back. Ironically, Sharon has an identical twin-- a gifted doll artist, Sherry Burton Ways-- who has a doll studio named Sankofa Doll Artistry.

Sharon and I had the opportunity to collaborate, in a sense, when she submitted her work for consideration to be included in Liberated Muse Volume I: How I Freed My Soul
(Outskirts Press, 2009). She submitted her work on the very last day of the call for submissions. I had received a lot of work by then and thought I had selected what would be the cover. When her work came in, I was floored. Her piece "Believe" was the most perfect piece ever to grace the cover. I immediately decided it would be the cover before looking at any of the submissions sent to me that day.
Sharon and I have developed a healthy respect for each other and friendship based in artistry over the past two years and I was honored to be asked this past week to appear on her podcast AAV Artcast. She will be interviewing me tonight to talk about Liberated Muse and our upcoming events. Sharon also is the curator for our Liberated Muse Celebration of Freedom exhibit which will be from Sept. 11 to Dec. 1. Check her out at her online spaces HERE, HERE & HERE.

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