Nexus SF/Bay Area Black Art Week
Moderated by Abram Jackson, Director of Interpretation, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Date & Time:
Sunday, April 20, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location:
San Francisco Art Fair Theater
The inaugural Nexus SF/Bay Area Black Art Week in the fall of 2024 was a whirlwind of artistic excellence, community dialogue and ultimately, bridged Black artists and enthusiasts across the Bay Area. Hear from panelists who helped make this historic and monumental event successful, in addition to getting the scoop on what to expect at this year’s event. These changemakers include NEXUS Art Week founder and director of the Museum of African Diaspora, Monetta White; SF gallerist extraordinaire Jonathan Carver Moore; pioneering multidisciplinary artist Lava Thomas; and polymath artist, author, and designer George McCalman. The panel will be moderated by the director of interpretation at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Abram Jackson.
Abram Jackson, Director of Interpretation, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Abram Jackson joined the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco as the Museums’ inaugural director of interpretation in June 2022. Jackson utilizes ethnic studies theories and DEIA practices in partnership with staff to incorporate more inclusive narratives into didactics. Jackson has supported the inclusive interpretation of over twenty exhibitions at the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor. Moreover, Jackson developed the interpretation partners program, which incorporates local voices into the interpretive framing for special exhibitions whose themes are closely connected to the lived experiences of local communities. Jackson holds a Master of Arts in Ethnic Studies from San Francisco State University and a Master of Teaching in Social Studies from the University of Southern California.
Monetta White, Executive Director and CEO, MoAD (Museum of the African Diaspora)
Monetta White, a San Francisco native, has dedicated her career to preserving African American culture and advocating for the community. With over 20 years of experience in civic engagement, and entrepreneurship, she has collaborated with numerous non-profits, donors, and corporations.
Under her leadership, the museum has played a pioneering role in showcasing renowned Black artists and curators locally and internationally. Additionally, she forged a partnership with SFMOMA to establish a joint curatorial position aimed at nurturing the next generation of BIPOC art leaders.
Guided by her expertise, the museum has achieved remarkable success, including record-setting donor campaigns and art auctions, doubling its budget, expanding its global reach and digital audience, and creating new opportunities for Black curators and artists.
George McCalman, artist, creative director and Co-Principal of McCalman.Co.
George McCalman is an artist, creative director and Co-Principal of McCalman.Co. His background in the editorial world is a foundation of his storytelling, and his fine art practice has reframed his perspective on the importance of design. A culture columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, McCalman’s first book Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen won the 2023 NAACP Award for Outstanding Literary Work as well as profound accolades by The New Yorker’s Hilton Als, NPR, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Fast Company and many others.
Jonathan Carver Moore, Founder and Director of Jonathan Carver Moore
Jonathan Carver Moore is the founder and director of Jonathan Carver Moore, a contemporary art gallery that specializes in working with emerging and established artists who are BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women. As the only openly gay Black male gallerist in San Francisco, Jonathan is dedicated to advocating for the arts and is an active member in the Bay Area’s creative community. Both Jonathan and the gallery have been featured in Cultured Magazine, The New York Times, The Observer, Art News, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travel + Leisure and more. Jonathan has written for Frieze Magazine, Juxtapoz and the Nob Hill Gazette. He is the Development Chair at arts education non-profit Root Division, serves on the advisory board at Black [Space] Residency, Recology and The Palm Springs Art Museum.
Lava Thomas, Artist
Lava Thomas is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is grounded in an ethos of social justice. Her work has been exhibited nationally at institutions such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of the African Diaspora, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, and the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the Cantor Art Center at Stanford University, among others.
In 2024, Thomas unveiled Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman: A Monument to Honor Dr. Angelou for the San Francisco Main Library,commissioned by the City of San Francisco as the first public monument dedicated to a Black woman in the city’s civic art collection.
Lava Thomas has received numerous awards, including a 2021 Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase Prize, a 2020 San Francisco Artadia Award, and the 2019 KALA Art Institute’s Master Artist Award. In 2020 she was recognized as a YBCA100 Honoree and one of the “Women to Watch” by the San Francisco Advocacy for the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Grant for Painters and Sculptors (2015). Nominations include the Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2023) and the United States Artists Fellowship (2019).