He's talking to us.
I feel like.
I feel like he's inviting us into his space.
Tiffany Bennett is excited by this artwork.
But it's beautiful.
And this is my first painting and I feel like this is a great first piece.
She says it's extra special to purchase
it from Art Noire, a new retail shop and gallery.
The gallery site is a collaboration with Onyx Fine Arts Collective.
Together, they're putting the spotlight on black artists and makers.
It's good to stand in a space that's for us.
Art is needed. It's important.
I always want to make sure that I purchase
it, support it, and introduce it to the youth.
Tiffany was born and raised in Seattle, Central District.
She lives upstairs here at Midtown Square, above the gallery.
She's thrilled to welcome the building's new anchor tenant
and believes it will bring positive changes to the area.
I feel comfortable coming in here and walking around and purchasing
from someone that looks like me and that even if you don't look like me,
if you're in this space, you understand that this space is important to us.
There was violence in the area
and now with art on the corner, there won't be violence.
This new space is a dream come true for the founder, Vivian Phillips.
There's other stuff, too.
She's been running an online art magazine, which shares the same name
for several years.
This is done by two key awards.
And now it's come to life in a new way that she
hopes will have lasting impact.
Once the thing was developed, which is reverence and discovery
and it for me in it is indicative
of the community's desire to have this space be revered,
but also for us to have some inspiration going into the future.
Phillips worked
with the developers of Midtown Square on several public art installations
outside of the building, which also feature black artists.
When they said to me, What do you think about being
the anchor retail tenant?
And I thought, that sounds perfect because that really gives us
an opportunity to be reverent and honor the legacy.
On the corner of 23rd and Union.
But this new space isn't just another shop and gallery focused on making money.
Art Noire and Onyx Fine Arts Collective are both non profits.
The artists and makers featured here receive 100% of the net proceeds,
something that is rare and refreshing.
Our primary goal is to put money in the hands of these artists and really
uplift them as artists and bring them much more visibility if we can.
And then. I'm proud.
One of the artists whose work is getting a lot of visibility
is Yegisaw Michael, who goes by Yegi.
His unique art is something you can't miss.
What can I say?
I'm like having a space.
Having a home is one of the best things for all artists.
And I'm very honored to be part of this and my work being sold here.
Yegi's creation is called Visual Rhythm
and includes more than 200 ceiling totems, as he calls them.
17 of them are custom designed to represent the first African-Americans
who came to King County roughly 170 years ago.
The team here hopes the idea of uplifting and supporting black artists
like Yegi will grow to other areas and become part of a bigger conversation
about finding balance in communities as they grow.
Some of the conversations that I've had have been really around
how much joy it brings people to drive by our walk by this corner.
Look through these windows and know that it's a black space.
It feels to them and to us like it's
another step in reclaiming some as a community.
That means so much to us.
Because every major American city, if you look at statistics, has suffered
a high degree of decline in African-American residency
in traditional black communities, and that's due to gentrification.
And what happens is we become erased.
It's always about we used to be here.
The same is happening here in Seattle.
And we just really need people to know that we are still here.
This is our book where we feature 74 local artists.
I'm in here as well.
Ernest Thomas has been uplifting black artists for many years.
He's the president of Onyx Fine Arts Collective.
This is their second location in Seattle.
Thomas says he's grateful for this new collaboration, especially since it's
hard to find space for the growing number of black artists in the area.
We began the look for them, started with seven, and now over a 17 year
period of time have identified 550 something on our list.
So, that says the artists are here
and they are.
We see in general there are more artists than there are places to show artwork.
Thomas himself is an artist,
so he understands the mission in a personal way.
Hello, my friend. Come in.
He also happens to be the inspiration behind the painting
Tiffany Bennett is buying.
It's a great example of black artists uplifting one another
in a unique and unexpected way.
That's it. That's my art.
And he says. Yeah.
And then he says, it says, that kind of looks like me.
He said, Yeah, but but I never
I'd never wear that suit.