Photograph courtesy of Vanna Black
Courtesy of Vanna Black
Atlanta native Vanna Black, an acrylic painter and muralist, recently experienced a period of creative stagnation, so she visited the now-closed Minnie Evans exhibition at the High Museum of Art. Evans’s art—blending forms and mediums—prompted Black to depart from her regular methods (iconography of paths, brains, and clouds) and adopt a different approach (abstract methods, representational compositions).
“Art is freedom—to express a connection with something outside yourself and inside yourself,” says Black, who is self-taught. “This is the only way I really see honoring myself, my mom, my grandmother, the women who came before me.”
Black’s first solo exhibition, Grace for Ebb, runs from August 8 to September 13 at Cat Eye Creative in Decatur. The title indicates the exhibition’s central message. Black says that in her mind, every aspect of life is shaped by periods of ebb and flow. While the word ebb may connote withdrawing, Black sees it as a time of reflection before moving in a new direction.
This piece, painted in acrylic on a wood panel, depicts blue waves crashing in front of a loosely triangular green form resembling a mountain. Above, an orange and yellow disc floats in a swirl of ecru and blue. Together, they allude to a landscape, but their saturation and patterning are indicative of Black’s new approach.
This exhibition is an appeal, says Black, for viewers to embrace low tides and ask, “Where do we find grace for all those negative moments?”
This article appears in our August 2026 issue.
