(sold out) 6:00 PM | FREE, Ticket Required

Location: Bernard Osher Foundation Auditorium

Join us for the 2025 Barnet Scholars Lecture, a special evening honoring the lasting influence of David C. Driskell as artist, mentor, scholar, and visionary collector.  

This program offers a deep dive into Driskell’s multifaceted impact on American art, exploring his work as both a creator and a collector whose vision transformed the art world. Attendees will learn how his legacy continues through mentorship, community building, and multigenerational creative exchange.  

Presented in conjunction with David C. Driskell: Collector—a landmark exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art (August 29, 2025 – March 1, 2026)—the lecture highlights Driskell’s role in expanding the narrative of American art and supporting generations of Black artists. The exhibition showcases works from the David C. and Thelma G. Driskell Collection alongside his own art, revealing the deep connection between his collecting and creative practices.  

A panel discussion will feature recipients of Indigo Arts Alliance's David C. Driskell Fellowship, which exists to assist foundational growth for Black and Brown artists who are seeking development within their artistic career. 

An introduction by Daniel Minter and Marcia Minter (Co-Founders, Indigo Arts Alliance), will be followed by a panel discussion with former David C. Driskell Fellows sharing how Driskell’s values continue to shape their artistic journeys through storytelling, cultural connection, and creative exchange.  

Moderator: 
Jordia Benjamin, Executive Director, Indigo Arts Alliance  

Panelists:  
Rosalba Breazeale, Rikiesha Metzger, Benjamin Spalding, and Kevin Xiques.

This program is generously supported by the Will Barnet Foundation. 

Panelists

Ben Spalding

Benjamin Spalding (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist and DJ based in Portland, Maine. His work explores rhythm and the pageantry of the body, blending influences from club culture, sports, local ecology, with personal family narratives. Spalding earned his MFA from Maine College of Art & Design in 2017 and currently serves as an assistant professor in Sculpture. 

Rosalba Breazeale

Rosalba Breazeale (they/them, b. 1989) is an artist, property manager and studio director at 205 Ocean Ave based on the traditional lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, so-called Portland, ME. They hold an MFA from the University of New Mexico and BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Their multidisciplinary art practice encompasses alternative process photography, fiber sculpture and installation with an emphasis on regenerative practice and ecological care. Breazeale’s identity as a Queer, Jewish, transnational adoptee from Peru forms the foundation from which they create work addressing connection to land, diasporic experience, European colonization and related environmental issues. 

Breazeale's work has been exhibited widely across the United States and internationally. They are the recipient of Shared.Futures and David C. Driskell fellowships, the Hewnoaks artist residency and made Photo Lucida's Critical Mass top 200. Breazeale was an invited speaker at the 2025 Society for Photographic Education conference and spent the past summer working as project coordinator with Daniel Minter on the large scale art project, In the Voice of Trees. Breazeale is currently preparing for a forthcoming exhibition at the Maine Jewish Museum and heading to Sustainable Fashion week in New York City to celebrate a collaboration with Asherah Cinnamon. 

Rikiesha Metzger

Rikiesha Metzger is an artist-philosopher whose work amplifies the voices of Black women artists and thinkers. With a PhD in philosophy, aesthetics, and art theory from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, she explores the spiritual in art, specifically through her framework, Black Artistic Thought. This framework illuminates how these women use multidisciplinary art forms to express the spiritual through their lived experience. 

Metzger’s practice spans wire sculpture, installation, performance, and visual storytelling. Through participatory projects, exhibitions, and residencies, she engages communities locally and globally, creating spaces for education, narrative storytelling, and dialogue. Her work emphasizes the transformative power of art to celebrate marginalized voices and creates connections across diverse audiences. 

Kevin Xiques

My name is Kevin Xiques and I am an artist based in Queens, NY. My paintings are collections of impulsive intuitive mark making that echo the electricity of the human experience. The concept of each work is the reflection of the viewer’s present consciousness. 

link to artist interview