Born into two pioneering historical Black families, Joan Tarika Lewis has often been described as a Renaissance Woman. Graduate of Cal State East Bay and the Academy of Art in San Francisco.
Ms. Lewis's artistic abilities include portrait, landscape, still life, fashion illustration, greeting card design, stagecraft construction, prototype design, fictional character development, and mural design. By popular demand visual arts consultant at several Bay Area school teaching stagecraft, visual arts, and music. She was the lead designer of the Old Oakland 9th street to Comic Con's visit to Oakland acknowledging the contribution of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Thus entitling the exhibition 'I Wish It Were All Just A Marvel Fantasy.' She also contributed to in Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green's 'The Black Woman is God exhibitions not only with paintings Musical performances and Genealogy Workshops. For the Oakland Fine Arts Summer school, she annually teaches painting, stagecraft designs and beginning violin. Last year her musical was performed based upon West Oakland's vibrant Black community 1939. Students collectively built props featuring West Oakland's 16th street Train station, Slim Jenkins Club, Phoenix Boxing Gym, and the World Boxing Championship between John Henry Lewis and Joe Lewis.
Ms. Lewis is a Jazz Violinist having toured nationally and internationally with the legendary saxophonist John Handy with Class and the Bobby Young Project. She currently co-directs the Oakland Spirit Orchestra with Alison Streich with performances with the Prescott Circus and community performances. Ms. Lewis also participated in Jessica Care Moore's 'Black Woman Rock' concerts held at the S.F. YBCA.
Ms. Lewis has also exhibited her artwork at Joyce Gordon Gallery, Eastside Alliance, Malcolm X Jazz Festival, East Oakland Black Cultural Zone.
Being that art is life, Ms. burning desire to find clarity in her life and African origins inspired her to pursue genealogy research. This passion led to some amazing discoveries and ended up on Prof. Henry Louis Gates 'Finding Your Roots' TV series. Through TBWIG Ms. Lewis has facilitated several Genealogy Workshops on how to navigate DNA testing services, finding family documents, building family trees, and best of all finding live African distant relatives.
The Last Thing I Remembered...
I can't remember exactly when I first heard African music. It was between Mama Africa's Click Son', the trumpet call of Hugh Masekela, or Babatunde Olatunji's 'Drums of Passion'. Summertime during the 60;s when the world changed, we changed, woke up...birthed a fresh Black Conscious movement.
Mr. and Mrs. Claude Clark brought us authentic African art history and painting classes at the old Merritt College. Dr. Ruth Beckford brought us African Dance and Deborah Vaugh's Dimensions Dance Ensemble was born. So was the first Black Studies Dept. As the '60s slowly unfolded I got my first African dashiki, read They Came Before Columbus, World's Great Men of Color, 2000 Seasons, and participated in Amiri Baraka's 'Slave Ship' play. We renamed ourselves...Black and Proud...and clueless to what that entailed.
Ms. Lewis's art is about that next level of self-acceptance...becoming African again. re-assimilation..with many many layers more to peel back and wounds to heal. Equally important piecing together a shattered past of scattered family histories, lineages, and origins.
Village scenes and dancers, musicians are glimpses, partial memories. Hearing African music on vinyl was minimal compared to experiencing live music from Senegal, Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana. Ms. Lewis cried experiencing djembes played by Abdulai and Baba Malonga Casquelord, Kora played by Morikeba Kouate. My feet and bodyknew what to do. However, it took some time for my entire person to reset, re-program muscles to respond and clear my mind of racist propaganda. My next foal is repatriation. I now know where my ancestors came from...Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Congo, Senegal., Benin Togo. Through DNA testing miracles do happen. I have 10 living African distant cousins...with names Okorley, Ejimofo, Diakite, Amoah, and a few others Ms. Lewis don't know how to properly pronounce....yet
The Last Thing I Remembered are paintings Ms. Lewis sees as 'Blood Memory'. Glimpses into those dormant DNA cells awakened by vibration and ancestral names. She proclaims...
I am no longer a loose generalization
I am the living manifestation of African Unity that Malcolm X talked about
I am becoming whole again..connecting with living African distant cousins
I am happy
I remember...
The last thing I remembered...I am African
