OFFICIAL OPENING
MAY 13, 2017>
Signs for Life: William Pleasant, Jr. Retrospective and Community Arts Event

Pleasant Institute, in association with CAT Sparks Art, Inc. presents, Signs for Life: an exhibition and community participation event, May 13, 2017, 7p. The event features the sign art legacy of Southern artist William Pleasant, Jr. Pleasant’s work is a featured part of the Cultural Expressions exhibit in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American Culture and History. Signs for Life will explore Civil Rights and Black Power through the related paintings and signage of William Pleasant, Jr. (b. 1928, d. 1997). While highlighting the appreciation of hands-on analog creativity and engaged participation, a type of direct contact and change, evening events include hands-on community art-making, music making, and readings from the David Sax book, Revenge of the Analog.

David Sax, award winning author-journalist of aesthetic culture says of  Signs for Life: William Pleasant, Jr. Retrospective and Community Arts Exhibition event:

“ To my dear friends at 
the Pleasant Institute and Cat Sparks Art,
 
Keep your fingers on the brushes
 
The paint on the canvas
 
The hands on the clay
 
The film in the camera
 
And the art you create and consume 
in front of your eyes
 
May this spark the emotions and conversations around justice 
and inclusion we need like the 
oxygen we breathe. Love.”-- *David Sax




*Sax., D. (2016). Revenge of the analog. New York, NY: Public Affairs Books