Ella West Gallery: Where history and art converge in Durham's cultural corner

WRAL'S Lena Tillett sat down with the owner, Linda Shropshire, who says she wants to help redefine who and what makes great art.

Beauty is everywhere at Ella West Gallery, on every wall and in every carefully placed frame.

"For me, Ella West gallery represents a dream realized, not just for me, but for the artist, for our community," Shropshire said.

Shropshire is the visionary behind the state’s only Black-woman-owned fine art gallery, which opened last summer in Durham.

"It is my hope that by doing this, that I will inspire more people to take the leap," Shropshire said.

Her leap is a decades-long journey.

It started in grade school with an art teacher in Charlotte named Winston Fletcher.

"Not only did he share this information about Picasso, Sandro Botticelli and all of these amazing, great artists, but he also taught me about Edmonia Lewis and Elizabeth Catlett," Shropshire said.

Uncertain of her role with art, Shropshire had an impromptu lunch with Fletcher's childhood friend, renowned Durham painter Ernie Barnes.

"To hear his stories to sort of get the understanding of what motivated him the ways that art changed his life," Shropshire said. "I think it was in that place. And at that time, where I developed what I call my servant's heart for artists."

In 2022, Barnes' famous Sugar Shack painting depicting a night of euphoria at the Durham Armory sold at auction for 15.3 million dollars.

"And, unfortunately, he was not around to see that," Shropshire said. "And so one of my goals is to make sure that the living artists of our day don't have to become ancestors, to get the recognition they deserve, and to be compensated in the way that they should be."

Shropshire's research took her to galleries and museums around the world and she paid attention to what she saw and did not see.

"For far too long, the canons of art history have been skewed towards the European male, their stories, their narratives," Shropshire said.

Ella West Gallery, named for her mother, endeavors to tell a different story by centering the work of Black, women, and other underrepresented artists.

This exhibit, called Persistence on Our Terms, features striking paintings from Georgia artist Sachi Rome.

"In her way, she creates sort of this ancestral haven. This field of protection around this little boy's dream and his hopes. It's striking," Shropshire said. "It's so delicate, it's delicate but also resilient."

And an ethereal mosaic-like tissue installation from artist Maya Freelon.

Who's inspiration for this work was born in her grandmother's Durham basement.

"It is audacious. It's fun. And every day I walk in, I consider it a privilege to have her represented here," Shropshire said.

And the location, 104 West Parrish Street, is part of the art too. It sits on a street once known as Black Wall Street. When the location opened, Shropshire immediately knew it was where she wanted Ella West gallery anchored.

"In 1923, exactly 100 years ago, this very building that we are in was the printing press for the Durham Reformer, which was the black newspaper of the time. This street was lined with black businesses," Shropshire said. "And so to be anchored here means that I am fulfilling the dreams of my ancestors."

Dreams realized, dreams yet dreamed.