Yolanda Ward
Photo credit C. Nancy Evans for HSM
Using the power of art, Historic Strawberry Mansion hopes to correct a record.
By Denise Clay-Murray
When most people go on vacation and look for souvenirs to remind them of their trip, they’ll buy a t-shirt. Or some jewelry. Or something else that commemorates the trip.
But when Yolanda Ward goes on a trip, she looks for something that most of us take for granted.
Paper.
“I have stacks and stacks of paper,” she said. “And then, I’m sourcing paper too. I’m looking for paper in China. I’m looking in Japan. I’m looking in Korea. I’m looking in France. I’m always looking for paper.”
With that paper, and even some she’s made herself, Ward creates visuals that tell the stories of Black people. Her latest collection, which is currently on display at Historic Strawberry Mansion, focuses on her mother’s first apartment, which was actually a Southern sharecropper cabin, and the ways that Black people have made a way out of no way.
“The entire collection is sharecropper cabins done in different ways, all with paper,” Ward said. “I have the picture of my mom there in front of her first apartment on one of my panels. Once we hung the show, I ran across my mom’s cousin, who grew up down there. And when he and his wife saw it, they said that is exactly how it was down South. Because each one of my mom’s siblings had a cabin, and they were all lined up like that. It was just like mind blowing.”
Ward is among the 12 Philadelphia-based artists whose work will be featured at Historic Strawberry Mansion from now until Nov. 8 as part of “From Invisible to Invincible: Honoring The Art Of Color.” The art show and sale, a co-production of the Mansion and the Committee of 1926, will also include chances to meet and talk with the artists and learn what inspires their art.
Richard Watson
Photo credit C. Nancy Evans for HSM
Back in 1926, the Mansion, which was the summer home of prominent abolitionist lawyer Judge William Lewis, hosted an arts show to commemorate America’s sesquicentennial, or 150th birthday. While there was lip service paid to making sure that the selection of artists was diverse, the resources didn’t follow suit and for the most part, Black, Jewish and Catholic artists were on the outside looking in, said Constance Ragsdale, the current president of the Committee of 1926.
This exhibit in celebration of America’s 250th birthday hopes to correct the record, Ragsdale said.
“We decided that we were going to undo that wrong,” she said. “We were going to include African Americans, Jewish, Irish Catholics, and other people who were not recognized then, like the Latino people and the LGBT community.”
In addition to Ward and her paper-based artistry, the show includes sculpture, painting, mosaics, and photography from local artists including Henry Bermudez, Barbara Bullock, Syd Carpenter, Martina Johnson-Allen, Tim McFarlane, Tom McKinney, Pedro Ospina, Ron Rumford, Sherry Shine, Steven CW Taylor and Richard Watson.
Three panel images for the HSM Art Show 2026
At a time when America and the place of communities of color within it is being discussed by some and hidden by others, this show is important, said Watson, the artist in residence at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
“It’s that kind of show,” he said. “African American and Latino artists…you know, we’re emerging now politically, socially, and dogmatically. Beyond politics, we’re talking about the aesthetics of a changing world, and some of us are on the side of documenting some of those things that we don’t want to have forgotten and buried.”
To get some more insight into the art from the artists who created it, there will also be a series of gallery talks held on Saturdays at 2 p.m. at Strawberry Mansion.
“From Invisible To Invincible” will be open on Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Admission is pay as you wish. For more information, including the schedule of artist talks, visit: HistoricStrawberryMansion.org.
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