Jennifer Elaine Peete, creator of Orijennal Art, has extended a community-wide invite to the inaugural Friendsgiving Blackout shopping event this Saturday (Nov. 10).
The event will be held at LilyRoze Studio located at 810 S. Main St., beginning at 2 p.m.
Friendsgiving Blackout attendees will get the chance to purchase items from local African-American artists. The featured visual artists are Jennifer Elaine, Leah Williamson, Nardo Franklin and Jernarra Walker, with eight total vendors.
Friendsgiving, said Peete, is her way of giving back to the community. That’s why she decided to make the event free and cover all overhead costs for vendors and artists.
“I want the black community to support each other and generate more sales for their own business,” she said.
Peete discovered that she had a natural talent for painting in 2015. During that year, she was immobile for eight weeks with a fractured ankle. So, she decided to teach herself how to paint.
“I have always known how to draw and sketch, but it wasn’t until I picked up the paintbrush that I fell in love with creating masterpieces.”
Peete describes her art – mainly inspired by her passions and emotions – as internally driven like a gateway to her soul.
“I love big, natural Afrocentric hair and bright engaging colors, so most of my artwork displays the beauty of natural hair accompanied by a beautiful color scheme,” she said.
“I have also been inspired by the ‘Black Girl Magic’ movement by creating phenomenal paintings that illustrate the universal awesomeness of black women by celebrating our beauty, power, dopeness and resilience.”
Building up the platform for black art and increasing the awareness of black artists in America is one of Peete’s goals.
“Black art doesn’t receive as much exposure and publicity compared to other art genres,” said Peete. “I was also inspired to host the Friendsgiving Blackout to not only generate sales in the black community but to encourage others to have similar events to eventually rebuild the Black Wall Street.”
Although the event is free, Chef Symoné with Tasty Creations will cater a full course meal, with complimentary wine for $15.
(For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2Qq4SgY.)
