to Strange Fruit Arts Center
The mission of Strange Fruit is to connect people with African American art through innovative, unique art, and art education by local African American artists where talents are exposed to the community. In turn, artists share their gift and love of art by educating other art enthusiasts from beginners to advanced classes and pop-up events which would enrich and contribute to the economic development of the community.
Featured Artists
Cyrus Nelson
Cyrus A. Nelson is an Atlanta based artist that sees his compositions as unions of textures, shapes, patterns, and colors that speak to the soul. His use of paint and collage create images that seemingly reach out from his canvases.
Cyrus has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interactive Design and Game Development from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
J. Stacey Grayson
J. Stacey Grayson is a mixed media artist. He combines his natural artistic talents and his extensive creative exploration to produce quality, functional, and beautiful works of art that challenge and inspire. He is starting a new chapter of his life as a full-time artist. J. Stacey was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta. He recently retired from the prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology.
Na'Ziah Goodjoine
Na’Ziah (pronounced na-Zee -ah) Goodjoine is a 15-year-old sophomore honor student from Simpsonville, SC. When not hitting the books, she enjoys reading, writing, listening to music, sleeping and drawing. Na’Ziah began coloring and sketching rather young and says that art is a way to temporarily escape into her own little world.
About Us
The song, ‘Strange Fruit,’ written by Abel Meeropol in 1937, and made popular through the unique voice of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, represents the horrific lynching of black people in the American South during the early 1900’s.
The song exposed the harsh brutality and dirty little secret of racism in America. In stark contrast to the metaphor of the song, the idea of changing the narrative of Strange Fruit was born and transformed into Strange Fruit Arts Center.
Join Our Newsletter
Get the latest news on artists, events, and more.