Mott-Warsh Collection

"Say It Loud" this Friday night during Flint ARTWALK at MW Gallery 7-8PM. Experience the interactive artwork "Say It Loud" by Satch Hoyt, in which viewers can accend the steps, surrounded by a tower of books on Black history and culture, and speak into a live microphone along with the loop of audio provided by Hoyt: a James Brown song edited to state "...say it loud, I'm __________ and I'm proud". The edit comments on the erasure of Black people and Black culture, but also offers space for self identification and speaking ones own truth.

⭐️ You can participate in this artwork 7-8PM Friday 6/12 at MW Gallery in downtown Flint, MI. 🎥 Catch the livestream of the event here 7-8PM on the Mott-Warsh Collection's feed! ⭐️

Presented in conjunction with MW Gallery's 10th Anniversary Celebration and the current exhibition "Voice and Visibility: 25 Years of the Mott-Warsh Collection", on view at MW Gallery through August 22, 2026.

It’s MW Gallery’s 10th Birthday this month! Join us on Friday, June 12th during Flint ARTWALK: 6-8PM enjoy a performance by Baba Kevin Collins with the Kuungana African Drum and Dance Company and free facepainting by Jallen Arts outside on Saginaw St.; 7-8PM inside the gallery, engage with the interactive artwork “Say It Loud” by Satch Hoyt, with a special presentation by gallery director Stephanie James at 7PM. Gallery open 11AM-9PM. See you Friday, June 12th at MW Gallery in downtown Flint!

Conversations were had and connections were made this May at MW Gallery during Sankofa Project's Bearing Witness Series program "Brutes, Wh**es, Sambos, and Mammies: The Politics of Black Bodies". Here's some snapshots from the evening.

Thank you again to everyone who attended and especially to Sankofa Project's Delma Jackson III, Regina Laurie, and Canisha Norris! See full photo set on our website: m-wc.org/past-programs-events.

Photos by Plain Air Photography

Come celebrate MW Gallery's 10th Anniversary during this month's Flint ARTWALK!

Very special ARTWALK this month: It’s MW Gallery’s 10th Birthday! Join in the fun on Friday, June 12th during Flint ARTWALK for our Anniversary Celebration!
6-8PM Performance by Baba Kevin Collins with the Kuungana African Drum and Dance Company (outside on Saginaw St.)
6-8PM Free Facepainting by Jallen Arts (outside on Saginaw St.)
7-8PM Interactive artwork by Satch Hoyt, “Say It Loud” (inside MW Gallery)
& 7PM Special welcome & thank you by gallery director Stephanie James. (inside MW Gallery)
See you Friday! Flint ARTWALK, June 12th in downtown Flint, MI.

"Alma Woodsey Thomas had her first one-woman show at the age of 68 and developed her style in retirement. Despite her belated start, Thomas went on to have retrospectives at Washington, D.C.’s Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Museum of American Art. She was the first African American woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art and her work has been shown at the White House on three occasions.

[...] Thomas’ early art creations were naturalistic and in the figurative tradition, however at Howard University she became fascinated by abstraction. When she was invited to exhibit her art at Howard in 1966, Thomas decided to experiment with a new approach that would lead to the type of painting for which she is best known today: large canvases filled with dense, irregular patterns made by brushes heavily laden with bright colors. Thomas' mature work has been compared with Byzantine mosaics, the pointillist technique of Georges Seurat, and the paintings of the Washington Color School, yet her work is quite distinctive." - Excerpt from the label of this artwork in the exhibition "Voice and Visibility: 25 Years of the Mott-Warsh Collection" curated by Stephanie James at MW Gallery in downtown Flint, MI, on view Feb. 12 - Aug. 22, 2026.

Featured artwork details: Alma W. Thomas, “Dahlias in the Fall”, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 24 in. x 36 in. © Charles Thomas Lewis

MW Gallery hours: Thursdays 11AM-6PM, Fridays 11AM-6PM, and Saturdays, 11AM-5PM
815 S. Saginaw St. Flint, MI 48502
Admission is always free.

Sankofa Project's program was excellent! Delma Jackson III's presentation was an insightful dive into the dualities racially Black bodies are faced with, and the workshop by Regina Laurie gave everyone an avenue to interrupt the narrative. With this knowledge and the support of Canisha Norris' somatic techniques and the strategies for looking at art provided by MW Gallery's Michaela Mosher, participants of every race are more equipped to step up and move us all forward. Thank you to everyone who joined! And If you weren't able to attended this event, keep an eye out for future programs presented by Sankofa Project at MW Gallery and elsewhere!

Photos by PlainAirPhotography, taken during the lecture and workshop "Brutes, Wh**es, Sambos, and Mammies: The Politics of Black Bodies", part of Sankofa Project's Bearing Witness Series, May 20, 2026 at MW Gallery in downtown Flint, MI. This program was presented in conjunction with MW Gallery's current art exhibition "Voice and Visibility: 25 Years of the Mott-Warsh Collection" curated by Stephanie James and on view through August 22, 2026.

This week the gallery is open regular hours Thursday 5/21 and Friday 5/22 11:00AM-6:00PM, but will be closed Saturday 5/23 in observance of Memorial Day. Have a warm and sunny weekend!

This week we're remembering one of the greats: Mary Lovelace O'Neal, an abstract master known for her large artworks and her giant personality, passed away on May 10th, 2026.

The Mott-Warsh Collection is lucky to have a few artworks by O'Neal, including this monumental piece “Racism is Like Rain, Either it is Raining or It Is Gathering Somewhere", 1993, Acrylic and pigment on canvas, 81 in. x 138 in. © Mary Lovelace O’Neal. The artwork was seen most recently on view at MW Gallery in the exhibition "Beyond the Physical World" curated by Stephanie James, which was up Sept. 13, 2024 through Jan. 25, 2025. These are some snapshots from that exhibit.

Read more on ARTnews: "Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Abstract Painter Who Refused to Conform, Dies at 84" https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/mary-lovelace-oneal-abstract-painter-dead-1234785363/

We've lost another one of the greats - Mary Lovelace O'Neal, an abstract master known for large artworks and her giant personality, passed away on May 10th, 2026.

Read more on artnet:

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Painter Who Defied the Bounds of Abstraction, Dies at 84 After coming of age in the Civil Rights movement, Lovelace O’Neal forged a singular path in American painting that belatedly saw recognition.