Skip Hill Fine Art

Shameka Near Mt. Fuji 2008

6"w x 20"h acrylic and opaque,

metallic inks on canvas

Hodari Collection

Q. There aren't many African-American artists actively working in Oklahoma. Do you ever get questioned by white patrons about the scareness of minority artists?

A. There are plenty of minority artists, Native Americans, Latinos, Vietnamese, Gays and Lesbians producing and showing their art in OKC,... there just ain't many black folk. 

Nathan, man, i don't know...we talk about this a lot.

The resources, grants and support are available from the states' arts community and private arts organizations that seek diversity in the arts. But we see very few Black artists in the circles we inhabit. So, that lack of diversity makes you and i very visible on the local art scene.

Were it not for my white patrons and collectors, I would have little acquisition support amongst "our people" in Oklahoma.

I've been graciously awarded the Marget M. Dabney Award by the Black Liberated Arts Center Inc. and i'm proud and honored to have an original work on the Northeast side, hanging in the Ralph Ellison Library, but there is no history or culture of African-American art collectors established here. I'd love to see that develop starting with my work.

I exhibit a few times in the state, but the bulk of my collectors are in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, D.C. and Dallas.

Q. What has been the biggest challenge you have faced as an artist and as an African-American man in a profesion that is not always respected as a legitimate occupation, especially by black folk?

A. The challenges I face are the same challenges any artist faces,...managing the time, the energy and focus to meditate on art, create art, establishing relations to show it, sell it, and keep some. All while balancing family obligations and planning for the future. Being an Artist is a legitmate profession if you approach it like a professional. i regularly work twelve hour days. As for being an artist of color, I suppose it has its advantages and disadvantages. Race and gender may play a role as far as being repped by a high-end gallery, where the air is already rarified and elite even amongst white, male artists. Socialized as i was, i have limited my self by race, as an excuse to doubt my art, or not introduce myself to a gallery owner or collector, plenty of missed opportunities there. So, rather painfully, i have learned not be limited by someone else's bias, or my own.

Q. Is there an ultimate goal you have for yorself as a visual artist?

A. Man, my goal, my mantra, is "have it, to give it"...whether it be through the art, the licensing deals, the acquisitions by hedge fund managers,and academics, the traveling retrospective, accompanied by the $1200 hundred dollar (retail) coffee table book published by Rizzoli, the foundation that supports creative academies and metaphysical institutes around the world, a home in Harlem, a farm in Africa and finally fulfilling an spiritual, artistic and personal legacy echoed through music, politics, ministry or whatever divine purpose my gifts serve.

Nathan Lee: Thanks, Man.

Skip Hill: Thank you.