Shared Treasures of Bernard & Shirley Kinsey Kicks Off With Delta Sigma Theta Gala

PARTY OVER HERE!

Today marks the first day Tallahasseeans can get a sneak peek of one of the country’s largest private collections of artifacts tracing African-American history.

Tune in to Tallahassee Democrat for live video of the news conference and again at 7 p.m. for the viewing gala.

The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasurers of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey will be displayed at The Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science, 350 S Duval St. on Kleman Plaza. Tonight, Shirley Kinsey's beloved sorority Delta Sigma Theta will be hosting a festive gala that is expecting 500 people. Then it's a non-stop weekend of art, history and fellowship as Black culture comes to Florida

The Kinsey Collection Comes To The Mary Brogan Museum September 11

1854 Letter Still Carries Emotional Punch

It was penned by a slave-owner named A.M.F. Crawford, sealed and given to a 17-year-old chambermaid named Frances, who was a slave. She was told to deliver it to a fellow by the name of Dickerson. He was a slave trader.

"She does not know that she is to be sold," Crawford wrote to Dickerson. "I could not tell her; I own all her family and the leave taking would be so distressing that I could not. Please say to her that that was my reason, and that I was compelled to sell her to pay for the horses that I have bought, and to build my stable."

The antebellum letter is now called "A slave carrying her fate in her hands" and is included in the new exhibit "The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey" that opens Friday at The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science. The show features more than 100 artifacts, documents, paintings, sculptures, rare books and other ephemera that focus on the black American experience.

"These are the kinds of stories we strive to tell with our collection," avid art collector Bernard Kinsey said Tuesday morning at the Brogan. "This is the history they didn't teach you in high school.

"We want them all to come to life for the people who visit. This is the real history — not 'his story.' "

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What Bloggers Are Saying About The Kinsey Collection

A couple of years ago, I was sitting in the waiting room of my doctor’s office reading magazines and I came across an article on Bernard and Shirley Kinsey. The article shared how the Kinseys amassed a historical art collection, primarily reflecting the black experience and their philanthropic work. So, I talked the receptionist into letting me take the magazine home so I could learn more about this amazing couple and to get pointers as I’m a budding art collector myself.

For nearly 40 years, the Kinseys have traveled the world, collecting artifacts for their collection, which includes over 240 African American documents, rare books, sculptures and letters.

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With The FAMU Marching Band Leading Way, The Collection Scores A Touchdown At The Norton

Charles Alston's 1940 Oil "Portrait Of A Girl" Just One Of Many Works On Display

The African-American Experience In Art And Artifact

Nearly 20 years ago, a man was clearing out his late aunt's homestead in Alabama and discovered a letter that startled him.

It was dated 1832 and told of the sale of an 18-year-old slave for $550. The man knew what to do with it. He called his friend Bernard Kinsey.

"My white friend Wally was a little embarrassed to tell me about it, but I wanted to see it," recalled Kinsey. "It arrived on my desk the next morning. When I held this document in my hand, chills just went through me. It was like entering into another person's fate."

Kinsey, a Los Angeles business consultant and West Palm Beach native, and his wife, Shirley, already collected all sorts of objects. But this letter "changed our view about what we should do as collectors."

The Kinseys began to seriously collect African-American art and artifacts.

The result can be seen at the Norton Museum of Art, where the exhibition "In the Hands of African American Collectors: The Personal Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey" is on view through July 20.

For Bernard Kinsey, the collection is a way to tell a story that will "inspire people about their possibilities," he said.

The Palm Beach Post story continues...

You Better Wake Up Running!

A Florida A&M alum returned to his alma mater last month to share with students how the story of Africa's lion and gazelle compared to their lives.

Bernard Kinsey, president of KBK Enterprises — a management-consulting firm — told students being featured at FAMU's honors convocation that every morning the gazelle wakes up and knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be eaten.

Conversely speaking, every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

"The motto of this is: It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or gazelle. When you wake up in the morning, you better be running," he said.

The story continues...

The Kinsey Collection To Be Featured At The Norton Museum Of Art

In the Hands of African American Collectors: April 19 – July 20, 2008

Organized by the California African American Museum, this exhibition offers a roadmap to the journey encountered by these collectors as they embrace and acquire art and artifacts. The over 90 objects offer only a sampling of the treasures held.

From slave owner’s documents, to brilliant expressions in paint and glimpses into nineteenth-century private lives, the Kinsey Collection reflects a rich heritage which they have been driven to capture and sustain for future generations.

Story about the exhibit from The Palm Beach Post

Personal Treasures includes works of art by important African American artists such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett and Sam Gilliam as well as historical documents, artifacts and books representing the history of African Americans.

This exhibition and its associated catalogue were made possible by funding from the State of California and Friends, The Foundation of the California African American Museum and lead sponsors Northern Trust and Toyota Motor Sales.

Local sponsorship of this exhibition is made possible in part through the generosity of Northern Trust, Melvin and Claire Levine and Starbucks Coffee Company.

Media support provided by The Palm Beach Post , Palm Beach Daily News and WPTV NewsChannel 5.

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