In the massive lineup of home-improvement and makeover shows, African-Americans are too often overlooked.
B. Smith of “B. Smith Style” certainly fills a niche: “People understand what I do because they call me the African-American Martha Stewart,” she said in an interview last year.
Restaurateur and household-goods designer Smith is a healthy rival to Stewart, but what about the rest of the home-design genre?
“Living with Soul,” which debuted late last year on the TV One network, is a good start. The series visits a different home each week and instructs viewers how to create a variety of culturally inspired decors. Designer and host Phyllis Bowie also explains the home’s history and highlights its Afrocentric style. Guests range from contractors to interior designers and architects.
On a recent episode, Bowie interviewed producer Shirley Neal about her passion for African-American art and how she selected it for her home. “Start small,” Neal advised. “Smaller pieces are more affordable.”
Bowie said that “black art is everywhere.” Fine art and artifacts are back in vogue, she said, and can cost less than a designer bag or shoes. (And accessories don’t appreciate in value, she reminds).
Pointing to examples in her broad collection, Neal said that prints and giclees are another option. According to online art dictionary artlex.com, a giclee (pronounced “gee-clay” and French for “sprayed ink”) is a complex method for printmaking, “often made from photographic images of paintings in order to produce high quality, permanent reproductions of them.”
“It’s a smart and cost-efficient option for collectors,” Bowie said, and buyers can save “upwards of 60 percent.”
She also demonstrated how to matte your own art and find a framer.
This episode of “Living with Soul” didn’t just showcase the works of artists such as Keenyah Brooks, Charles Bibbs, Philemon Reid and Synthia Saint James, but also invited them to discuss their creations.
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Brooks offers layaway as an option for buyers. “I want to make it affordable … and available,” she said. And Saint James, known for her “faceless art,” has extended her exposure by creating book covers for Terry McMillan, who wrote “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” among others.
“We’ve nurtured a market that’s a million dollars strong,” Bibbs said.
“You don’t have to have Oprah [Winfrey’s] money to collect fine art,” Bowie said.
“It’s an addiction,” she said, but “you have to buy what moves you.”
“Living with Soul” airs weekly on the African-American-owned TV One network.
Spud hits the books
– Check out “Style and Grace: African-Americans at Home” (Bulfinch Press/AOL Time Warner Book Group 2003) by Michael Henry Adams. Adams, an expert on Harlem architecture, and photographer Mick Hales highlight striking African-American decor, including that found in the homes of celebrities such as hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.
– Celebrity fanatic Star Jones writes the forward to “Harlem Style: Designing for the New Urban Aesthetic” by Jorge S. Arango and Roderick N. Shade (Stewart, Tabori & Chang 2002).
– And B. Smith is making efforts to revive her lifestyle magazine. Can a competitor to Oprah’s chic monthly be in the works?
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Carmel Carrillo is assistant editor of Real Estate. You may contact her at [email protected], or write to her at baiduhai, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611.