The paintings on the wall

Queen Latifah and Louis Armstrong are there. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are also present. Even Flava Flav, a former member of the rap group Public Enemy, and his famous gold teeth are on hand. People from the past and present with careers in the arts and politics, as well as those with less recognizable faces, meet on the walls of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. The result is an array of colorful paintings and drawings that reflect a spirit of history and diversity. \nProfessor Edwardo Rhodes, IU's vice chancellor for academic support and diversity, said his department has been trying to display art in the Neal-Marshall Center for nearly three years. Now that the artwork has debuted, he said most people love it. \n"They ask why it took us so long to do this," he said. \nRhodes said the colorful paintings adorning the walls add a unique quality to the Neal-Marshall Center that has been missing for quite some time. The walls of the center's third floor now are like a gallery displaying artwork from near and far. \n"It gives the culture center more spirit," Rhodes said. "There was a plainness before, and that wasn't good."\nNow the walls of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center are anything but boring. The colors of \n"Madame Butterfly," a print on the second floor, are especially brilliant. In it, a woman in a shimmering dress gazes at an orange butterfly sitting in her hand while the faces of her ancestors appear in her skirt. \nRhodes said the walls of a place like the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center shouldn't be dull inside, and students have noticed the difference the art has made.\n"The art adds a lot of life to the hallways," said Stephanie Parker, a sophomore at IU who spends time between classes at the Culture Center. \nParker's favorite piece is a painting of Tupac Shakur hung on the second floor. She said the subdued black-and-white sketch shows an "appreciation for the hip-hop culture" and portrays one of its most positive influences. Parker also said the paintings showing the history of slavery made an impression on her. She said they're important because art is the only way to show what happened. In one print, a family with broken chains attached to their wrists runs away from a plantation under a golden sky. \n"We don't know what it was like to be a slave," she said. "We can only go off of the artwork." \nAlthough most of the pieces on display depict famous African Americans, Rhodes said the only requirement for inclusion is that the art must "speak to the theme of diversity." \nOne painting, titled "Solid as a Rock," shows human bodies of all colors supporting each other. The diversity theme is much clearer in this painting than in others. One painting doesn't show any people, instead, shades of purple, green, brown and blue intertwine and fade into each other.\nRhodes said most of the pieces are prints rather than originals because the culture center saves a lot of money by buying prints. Prints also are easier than originals to move around. \n"We're not wedded to anything there," Rhodes said. "We want to see this as a living, changing thing." \nBut Rhodes did say the Jacob Lawrence prints displayed in the stairwell are expected to be permanent. Part of his "Migration Series," Lawrence's paintings tell the story of the African American relocation from the rural South to the urban North. \n"We want to keep with that theme (in the stairwell)," Rhodes said. \nTwo of the center's original pieces were painted by Joel Washington, a local artist and employee of the IMU. \n"I was excited that they purchased my work," he said. "It's such a privilege to have anything displayed at IU." \nWashington's depiction of blues guitarist Sam "Lightning" Hopkins is hung on the third floor by the African American Arts Institute. The almost technicolor painting of Hopkins, with his brow furrowed and a glowing cigarette hanging from his lips, is one of Washington's favorites. \n"I think it has a lot of emotion," he said.\nThe painting certainly has a lot of color, too. Hopkins' yellow hands hold his guitar with its teal strings and blue body, and not one feature of the painting has a normal color. Even Hopkins' face is outlined in all the colors of the rainbow. Washington's portrayal of Hopkins makes it easy to see why he was called "Lightning."\n"I hope to inspire everybody who sees it," Washington said. "I want to share the love I have for art." \n-- Contact Staff Writer Sarah Walden at sawalden@indiana.edu.