KeyBank African-American Arts Festival presents "Visual Voices 2012: The African-American Experience," on display during the month of February at Schuster Performing Arts Center.

According to Ray Gargano, director of education and engagement at the Victoria Theatre Association, the exhibit features unique artwork created by black artists from the area.

The artworks' range of mediums - including collage, oil, sculpture and digital painting - gives a sense of the variety of the work that the community is involved in, Gargano said.

This is Visual Voices' eighth consecutive year as part of the African-American Arts Festival. The festival exists to involve a large part of the Dayton community, Gargano said.

Each year the exhibit has a different theme, this year's theme being the "African American Experience," Gargano said.

Willis "Bing" Davis, owner of Ebonia Gallery in Dayton, curator and contributing artist for Visual Voices, has been with the program since the beginning and plays a key role to the exhibit, Gargano said.

Davis has played an active part in the community for years and is extremely influential in making sure that the artwork of the area is seen, Gargano said.

Junior Cassandra O'Connell, a visual communication design major, said Davis has been important to the art community at the University of Dayton as well. Last year, he was the judge for the annual juried Horvath Exhibition, one of the most important student shows of the year, O'Connell said.

According to a press release from the Victoria Theatre Association, some pieces featured in the exhibit include: "Ytzah: After the Laughter," a collage by Bing Davis; "Prayer," a color photograph by Lloyd Greene; and "Queen King," an oil painting by Erin Smith-Glenn.

Admission to the exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information on Visual Voices, visit http://www.victoriatheatre.com/shows/visual-voices/.



Visual Voices, an annual art exhibit dedicated to showcasing unique artwork from black artists in the Dayton area, is on display at the Schuster Center during the month of February. The above image, titled "Pop Henry" is a digital painting and one of nearly 20 pieces featured in the exhibit.