“Proud 2 Be American” exhibit


Joseph Diggs stands with his painting “Chalk Line Baller” from the exhibit “Proud 2 Be American.”

Brattleboro-The paintings that make up Joseph Diggs’ “Proud 2 Be American” celebrate and memorialize several generations of the artist’s African American and Cape Verdean family. The exhibit is on view at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) through June 16.
Diggs was born in France as an Army brat; his father was in the military before settling down on the family’s property in Osterville, MA. Diggs’ ancestors were originally crop workers in the cranberry bogs, but they were entrepreneurial and bought the land that Diggs continues to live on today. Baseball, service to country, and Joe’s Twin Villa, the family’s once-celebrated bar and jazz club, feature prominently in Diggs’ paintings.
One of the paintings in the exhibit is a memorial to James Byrd, Jr., who was dragged to his death behind a pickup truck in Texas in 1998.
Diggs has had solo shows at the Guyer Art Barn, Cotuit Center for the Arts, and the Cape Cod Museum of Art. He is an art instructor for Cotuit Center for the Arts and for the Brewster, MA, Department of Youth Services, where he teaches painting to incarcerated young men. He is represented by Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown and Wellfleet.
The Museum’s galleries and gift shop are open every day except Tuesday, 11-5. Regular admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $4 for students. Members and children 18 and under are admitted free of charge. Located in historic Union Station at the intersection of Main Street and Routes 119 and 142, the museum is wheelchair accessible. For more information, call (802) 257-0124 or visit www.brattleboromuseum.org.

The Deerfield Valley News

797 VT Route 100 North
Wilmington, VT 05363

Phone: 802-464-3388
Fax: 802-464-7255

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