When Bonnye Brown (née Chamberlain) was a young girl, her older brothers and sisters chipped in to buy their mother a house in what Brown describes as a “Beaver Cleaver” neighborhood. But as Brown grew into a young woman, the neighborhood grew into something else.

 

“What I thought was the best neighborhood in the world became infested with drugs and drug dealers,” Brown said. “And we were angry.”

Brown decided to put her emotions into her paintings.  Each serves up a moment, a positive image of African-American culture, motherhood, friendship or community that is both personal and universal.

 

Read more about Bonnye Brown and see her work here: