Artists
LATIBAH Collard Green Museum attributes its concept and primary installations to the creative hands and brilliant mind of T’Afo Feimster.
Feimster, a native of Stony Point, NC, is one of the co-founders of ADEPT Artists, Inc. a non-profit organization that assists in the development of emerging artists. He has been a Charlotte resident for over 25 years and is a co-owner of the ArtHouse Studios of NoDa.
T’Afo is a 1973 graduate of North Carolina Central University. He is a full-time, self-employed, painter, sculptor, wood turner, actor, cultural educator, and playwright. The full flowering of his artistic career has been achieved since his retirement from IBM in 1992 .
Feimster is the recipient of numerous artistic, civic and humanitarian awards and recognitions, as well as a graduate of Leadership Charlotte and Afro-American Cultural Center’s Roundtable Fellowship. Additionally, he is a loving husband and proud father of 4 adult children.
Contributions by other prominent artists and apprentice artisans, relevant to the Museum’s historic eras, will be included in this major historic initiative.
Artist’s Experience
T’Afo has over 35-years of experience as a visual artist, cultural educator, and playwright / actor. During this time he has mastered many different techniques, creating a wide variety of canvasses. Over the last several decades, T'Afo’s paintings and sculptures have been displayed in shows and galleries throughout the Northeast and Southeast region of the United States as well as the Caribbean, where he lived for three years.
He is a self-taught Artist, co-owner of The ArtHouse Studios and co-founder and executive director of ADEPT Artists Inc., a 501[c]3 non-profit organization whose mission is to assist in the development of emerging artists.
T’Afo conducts creative art workshops on his art forms. As a cultural educator he conducts seminars and workshops on Black History, Kwanzaa celebrations, and a program that relates the arts discipline to its sources and becomes a teaching tool relating the art forms to the curriculum, such as history, science, social studies, environment, culture, math, etc. These programs are taught at the comprehension level of the learner [K-12 through adult]. He also conducts a personal development and retention workshop entitled “TACT” (The Art of Creative Thinking).
As a playwright, T’Afo’s works include:
- “Once Upon A Plantation” a recently completed major performance piece.
- “Collard Green Culture” a book currently in production.
- An acting role in a PBS special “God In America”.
He has been featured in many regional magazines, newspapers and numerous television programs. He has been the opening feature for several internationally known artists, such as the late Selma Burke. His spiritual nature, driven by a deep and sensitive desire to create, has inspired and motivated him to be the diverse professional artist that he is today.
Artist’s Statement
Although my art form takes on different mediums, its influence comes from my life situations growing up in the southern rural foothills of North Carolina in the 50’s and 60’s. Challenged to carve out comfort and ease from the harsh and rugged conditions living off the land without “modern” conveniences, forced us to be efficient and creative. It is those situational images that nudge me to re-create them as I remembered them or express a perception of what I believe they meant. My primary mediums used to express those images are graphite, oils, and wood.
Artist’s Philosophy
"One should make life, as we know it, experiential. Experience all that you are or think that you are. You are the point of power and the world revolves around you. As you think, so are your experiences. You experience your consciousness. This is the power and gift of life that you have. You make your world, consciously or unconsciously!"