| Just Art Greetings |
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How I started Just Art Greetings I started doing greeting cards for people of color back in the late 1980’s before the market began to take the need for multicultural images seriously. It started with just one card, created from one of my African inspired originals for an open studio. I considered it a small item among my more expensive originals that anyone could afford. Little did I know that the need for cultural images in the Black community would propel me into creating an entire line of cards. After the open studio, I took the cards to a gallery in downtown D.C., and when they sold them well and called for more, the idea struck and Just Art came to birth. I was in business about fourteen years as Just Art Greeting Cards, and it grew substantially. I closed the business when I realized I would either need to become a full time businesswoman and sacrifice of my first love, creating artwork, or allow the business to limp along. I decided to close the company and pursue the art. These images are a result of my passion for interpreting and expressing all of life for the Black community, from the sacred to the mundane. Along the way the work of two other artists was included, my son, Jonathan, who is responsible for the verse in the Kwanzaa line, and fellow artist Julie, whose work is seen in the graduation line. Do I miss the business? Yes, I do, but I have seen the gap close where there was a lack of for the Black community, so I’m comfortable to pursue image making exclusively. |
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