Columbus native who painted Michelle Obama’s portrait now featured in Black art film
The Columbus native who painted the official portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama is among the African Americans featured in a new film about Black art.
Amy Sherald, a graduate of St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School, is one of the five new-generation artists or curators HBO lists as being interviewed in the documentary titled “Black Art: In the Absence of Light.”
The 1-hour, 25-minute film by director Sam Pollard (“Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children”) can be viewed now for free at HBO.com. It’s scheduled to debut on HBO’s cable TV channel Feb. 25 and HBO’s on-demand service March 17.
HBO describes the documentary as “an illuminating introduction to the work of some of the foremost Black visual artists working today.”
The Columbus Museum has one of Sherald’s pieces in its collection and on view. It’s titled “What’s different about Alice is that she has the most incisive way of telling the truth,” purchased in 2017 with a donation from Aflac CEO Dan Amos and his wife, Kathelen.
The museum’s hours, reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, are:
- Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays noon to 5 p.m.
- Thursdays noon to 8 p.m.
- Sundays 1-5 p.m.
Admission always is free.
