By Maya J. Pope-Chappell

The Blues is an African American cultural expression rooted in celebration, struggle, and affirmation. It has not only been used to articulate a sense of pride, strength, and resilience in African Americans in the face of racism, discrimination, and violence, but it has served as the foundational musical form for many other genres, including jazz, rock & roll, and hip hop.

In recognition and exposure to the rich history of the blues, James Gayles will present an exhibition titled Blues Masters, which will feature paintings, drawings, and large digital prints highlighting Oakland Blues artists and the history of the blues in Oakland.

The exhibit will feature artists such as Etta James, Sugar Pie DeSanto, and Jimmy McCracklin, in addition to the history of 7th Street and surrounding areas in West Oakland where more than 30 clubs, music stores, and recording studios served as the center of the Oakland Blues scene in the 1940's and 1950's.

James Gayles was born in Newark New Jersey and moved to Oakland in 1980. He attended Pratt Institute in New York where he studied under prominent painters such as Jacob Lawrence and Audrey Flack. He has worked as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator, becoming the Assistant Director of Graphics at NewsCenter 4, NBC-TV, and has won a number of awards for his art work. He currently works as an illustrator and graphic designer for ANG Newspapers and teaches Fine Art and Computer Graphics at the Online CyberSpace Prep School Academy in West Oakland.

Q. How did this project come about?

A. "I'm interested in all types of music actually. I'm a drummer. The blues was not my favorite form of music but I got interested in the music through Ronnie Stewart, Executive Director of the Bay Area Blues Society. He has a vast knowledge of Bay Area Blues and what went on and the stories he would tell me would fascinate me including the culture here in Oakland, performances, and artists. All the talents that were either born here or got their start here, performed here, lived here died here. So as I began to do more and more research, I became [more interested]. So I decided to use the Bay Area Blues, particularly the Oakland Blues as the subject for my project for the individual artist grant. So I did a proposal and it got greatly accepted and I got the grant to do the exhibition.

Q. What was one of the stories that Ronnie Stewart told you about the Oakland Blues?

A. One was about a man named Bob Geddins who I didn't know about before. He is called the 'godfather of Oakland Blues.' He was a record producer that went around to all the different record plants and would go through their trash that they were throwing out and he would gather up all the equipment and fix them up and he started his own record company on 7th street at Center in West Oakland where the BART station is. He started about three or four record companies with the labels, [one being Big Town Records]. He gave a start to a lot of musicians like Etta James, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Jimmy McCracklin, Lowell Fulson. A lot of them recorded their first record at his record studio in the early 1940's.

Q. What's your favorite piece of art work in the Blues series?

A. Ohh, that's kind of hard. That's like saying ‘who's your favorite child?' I like Jimmy McCracklin, Sugar Pie DeSanto is another favorite one. Etta James is one of my favorites. Lowell Fulson. There's just so many, its hard to pick a favorite. W. Stoval is another one of my favorites who came by the gallery and will be performing Thursday. My [exhibit] representative who was there said that when [W. Stoval] came in and looked at all the work she just sat down and started crying. [Although] I did not meet any of the artists [prior t do the pieces], I will meet some on Thursday including Jimmy McCraklin and Sugar Pie DeSanto. I'm very excited. I'm interested in their reaction to my work.

Q. Where do you draw your inspiration?

A. "My art in general draws from life, human emotion and how it manifests itself and facial expressions. Because I do a lot of faces in my art work. What I try to convey to the viewer is the emotion the subject is feeling. Blues is a great vehicle for this because there's a lot of emotion in the Blues. A lot of times they show it on their faces."

Q. How did Blues find a home in Oakland?

A. The Blues [came to the West Coast because] a lot of [African American] people migrated to the West, some by the [Transcontinental] railroad. A lot of the musicians after they served in the armed forces, moved out to the West coast area. Many of them brought their form of music here and they developed their own style. It was different from like the Chicago Blues. It was rooted in the Mississippi Delta but it was a little more up-tempo and electrified. It was called Jump Blues because it was the kind of Blues you could dance to.

Q. Do you have a ritual that gets you ready to create art?

A. I don't have any rituals. I just get into it. Coffee helps. Usually it has to be a pretty relaxed day and while I'm working I just kinda get into a meditated state. I have a full time job too at ANG Newspapers where I'm an illustrator. That takes up a lot of my time. So with my paintings, what usually happens is I usually create before or after work and on weekends. A lot of times, I just have to paint fulltime. Sometimes, I kinda force myself to get into this mood to paint. But it comes really easy. It's not like a real force. I've always had this talent from as far back as I can remember. And I did take classes. It's always been with me even from a young age, I knew I was going to be an artist when I grew up.

Q. What was it like studying under Jacob Lawrence and what did you learn from him?

A. It was good. At the time, I didn't know how great he was. He was very inspiring, especially because of the fact that there were only two or three African Americans in my whole graduating class and Jacob Lawrence was one of the only African American teachers. Pratt Institute [in New York] was a very prestigious school at that time, one of the best art schools in the country. I remember that he emphasized developing you own style [and] don't be afraid to develop your style and mold it. A lot of the teachers there tried to mold you into the trends of the time and [teach you to] have a particular outlook on art. But he was about developing your own perspective, your own style.

Q. What do you want people, especially youth to take from the exhibit who may not have been exposed or know a lot about the Blues?

A. I expect it to be an educational exhibit on one hand and I wanted to give Oaklanders something to be proud of. One another level, I want to convey the soul and the emotional level of the artists that were involved.

Q. How long did it take you to complete the project?

A. One year. It was about 28 paintings.

Q. How does your art tell or inform the history of the Blues, particularly in Oakland?

A. Along with the pictures in the exhibition, I do have write ups on a lot of the musicians there and their history. That's why this [exhibition] will be educational too, especially for the younger generation. My main style is water color, but I also do collage, acrylic, and digital work. So on some of the pieces, digitally, I've included photos of Old Oakland in the 1940's and1950's. I've included some of the earlier record labels and I rendered the Blues artists the way they look today or recently. In the background of some, I have how they looked in the 1940's and 1950's. Sugar Pie DeSanto is a good example. On that one, I have 7th Street in the background and on the right of her is how she looked when she was a young lady.

Q. Why is this project important?

A. This project is important I feel because it exposes the audience to the culture of the Blues, particualy the Blues in Oakland. I think it's important to Oakland to show that they had this treasure here that a lot of people don't know about.

Q. Where does this project fit in terms of your career?

A. No I'm just beginning. I've been at this a long time but I'm constantly growing. There's no end in sight. After this project, I'm doing a project for Alameda county for their juvenile hall system. I'm going to be doing four paintings to go in there, so right after [the exhibition] I have to get back to work.

Q. With many of the schools around the Bay Area and the nation cutting art programs because their said to be not as valuable as other subjects such as math and science, what is your take on that and how important is art to you and others?

A. Well first of all I think that's crazy. It amazes me the people who run things and make these decisions who don't realize how important the cultural side of person is. So I think it's a bad decision. In the end, it's the students that will suffer and in the end it's the society that will suffer. [Art] is an important part of the human make up and you can't really cut that out.

Q. What do you do in your spare time other than going to work at ANG or painting?

A. Well painting is fun to me, that's how I relax. But I also listen to music, I play music. Lead a family, go to the movies, go to plays and dance concerts. I enjoy old forms of art and I go out [and view it] whenever I can.

Q. How important were women artists to the development of Blues in Oakland?

A. Well women were very important. They were some great artists. Etta James being one and she's still going strong. Sugar Pi DeSanto. They were friends of mine when I was growing up. And you have women like Big Mama Thorton who recorder You Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog, which was stole a couple years later.

Q. What three adjectives would you use to describe your work?

A. Soulful. Beautiful. Poetic. But I'll let the work speak for itself.

Presented by the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, Blues Masters will be held at the State of California Office Building 1515 Clay Street Atrium, in Oakland, now through June.