African American Fine Art Finds Its Way to Marietta

Byrma Braham, co-owner and gallery director of Avisca Fine Art near Marietta Square, may have built a solid name and reputation for herself in Marietta and New York as a top tier art dealer and curator, but she is a long way from home.

Born in Linstead, Jamaica, Braham grew up in a family of seven with two brothers and two sisters. She is quick to note, her parents always emphasized education in their home as they expected she would eventually become a teacher.

Braham’s exposure to art was limited, but the interest was always there in the background.

“I always sketched and drew figures in my book as a child,” she says.

Her creative interest took root in high school where she pursued exploration of the arts more but not enough to consider it beyond that. Braham admits, in a third world country art was considered more of a luxury than necessity.

As a consequence, she secretly hid her artistic ambitions from her parents and family who wouldn’t take her interest seriously; though she says she did have a creative bond with one of her brother’s as they often drew pictures sharing their work with the other.

Upon graduating the University of the West Indies, Braham taught Spanish in Jamaica’s schools for nearly three years. Curious of her potential, Braham wanted more. So, she enrolled in a graduate school program with The New School of Social Research, in New York City, where she learned media studies.

There she maintained a job at a design studio while doing her studies. The studio was across the street from a retail shop owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which sold posters of gallery pieces. Braham fell in love with the shop where she purchased lots of posters. However, something more was at work for which she could not know at the time.

“It (purchasing posters) was really the genesis of my life as an art dealer,” Braham shares.

The newfound exposure to the paintings and posters inspired Braham to explore art galleries and museums throughout the city; though she still hadn’t considered a career in the field.

After some time, she began looking for works by African and Caribbean Americans but found very little. She recalls two artists who were her entrée into Black art.

Earnie Barnes, featured in a write up of Ebony magazine, left a positive impression on Braham. The other artist was Varnette Honeywood, whose work was prominently displayed throughout many episodes of the Cosby Show at its height. Braham says Honeywood’s work was so impactful, that art historians often credit her and Cosby for the popularity of African American art during a time period unofficially labeled as the Golden Age of Black Art.

As fate would have it, Braham reconnected with an old college classmate, Loris Crawford, shortly after graduate school. They shared a common interest, realizing New York lacked full-time commercial venues for Black artists to showcase their works and talent.

They saw a niche in the market to be filled; without professional experience or advanced studies in the arts, Braham and Crawford set out to open their very own art gallery.

With money left over from a scholarship, Crawford brought her share of the investment to the table while Braham convinced her father to give her a loan. And Savacou Gallery was born.

The ladies found an affordable rental space in New York’s popular East Village in Manhattan; however, it was 1985 and the crack epidemic had overrun the streets of New York. Additionally, the gallery scene was shifting to the newly developed, more exclusive SOHO district with the spread of the epidemic into their neighborhoods.

“We were young and naïve, and really didn’t know any better,” Braham acknowledges. “It’s probably the reason we were successful. It (the gallery) was like this little cultural hub.”

Braham says that despite the social conditions transpiring around them, the neighborhood was comprised of a diverse mix of young white professionals and Puerto Ricans; though their patrons were mostly Blacks.

Before long, word spread throughout the city, and they became a focal point for Black art. Braham contributes their early success to the fact that they were a bit of a novelty shop with good press and lively affairs such as live music and poetry readings.

After 10 years of the brutal winters, the Jamaican born art dealer found her way south to Marietta, home to warm winters, trees and green space. Here she reconnected with another old friend as well as a new one. Through a referral, Braham met her current business partner, Lynn Porter, who was working as a dealer for her father, Henry Porter—a well established artist in the Atlanta community.

In 1995, Braham and Porter founded Avisca Gallery, affectionately named after Braham’s mother, with the business model of selling art at exhibits, shows and art fairs. The model was successful allowing them to grow their business to include such celebrity clientele as the 'Big O' (Oprah Winfrey), Gayle King, Deborah Roberts, Bryant Gumbel and Jonathan Demme. 

They opted to expand their business officially opening commercial space for Avisca Fine Art in 2006 on Roswell Street.

“We represent a lot of great local talent with work ranging from the masters and emerging artists,” Braham says of their expansive inventory. She invites you to their forthcoming exhibit of Tamara Natalie Madden’s work from Oct. 7 through 28.

For more information on Avisca gallery contact: www.aviscafineart.com; 770-977-2732 or contact@aviscafineart.com.