Events
-
When: July 14, 2026 - August 15, 2026
Public opening reception July 17, 2026 6-8pm
Where: The Urban Arts Space during gallery hours
The Black Madonna & Other Sacred Spaces is a multidisciplinary exhibition and cultural experience that centers healing, ancestral memory, and sacred creative practice within Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.
Through visual art, installation, and public programming, the exhibition explores the Black Madonna as both symbol and portal, an archetype of protection, resilience, divinity, and maternal power across time and geography. Artists are invited to interpret “sacred spaces” expansively: as physical environments, interior landscapes, spiritual inheritances, and sites of resistance, rest, and restoration.
Presented by The Sacred Spaces Collective in collaboration with community partners like The Urban Arts Space, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Pollen Patch Columbus, and Straight Through, the exhibition will transform the gallery and community spaces into an immersive, reflective environment that prioritizes care, accessibility, and collective storytelling. Programming will include workshops, artist talks, and healing-centered gatherings that deepen engagement beyond the visual experience.
This inaugural exhibition marks the beginning of a larger vision: to build sustainable platforms, resources, and physical spaces that support artists and communities in creating, preserving, and experiencing sacred work.
Both the show and opening reception are free and open for the public.
Artists: Ajanae Dawkins; Alé Sison; April Sunami; Arris’ Cohen aka Sir’ra; Àsìkò; BasSheva (Sonia) Mañjon; Benay L. Walker (BLingual); Chris Hartway; David Butler; Gaye Reisland; Gia Sol; gloria wilson; Hollie Davis; Joni Acuff; Kenny Eaddy; Keya Crenshaw; LeRoyna (Kaiti Skhm n Anx Mdjr) Edwards; Lisa Shepherd; Mark Cardwell; Marshall Shorts; MercuryLion; Michol Childress; Monique McCrystal; Nina “9” Wells; Paisha Thomas; Shavona Little; Sheena Daree Romero; Shelbi ‘SheL10’ Toone; Tiffany Musa; Tyiesha Radford Shorts; Uko Smith; Umze' aka Leslie Battle.
Artwork ©Mark Cardwell.
-
When: Tuesday, July 21, 7:00 PM
Where: The Wexner Center for the Arts Film & Video Theater
1871 N High St, Columbus, OH 43210This is a ticketed event. You must purchase tickets in order to attend: https://wexarts.org/film-video
A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde (Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, 1996)
A Litany for Survival chronicles the remarkable life of Black lesbian, poet, teacher, and activist Audre Lorde, from her childhood in Harlem to her 14-year battle with breast cancer.
A champion of civil rights, the women’s movement, and gay and lesbian rights, Lorde “narrates” the film through recordings of her poetry, prose, and interviews conducted during the final years of her life. Reflections from her children, students, and contemporaries—including Adrienne Rich, Essex Hemphill, and Sonia Sanchez—add to this incredibly rich portrait of one of 20th century’s most influential writers. Sacred Spaces Collective Curator Keya Crenshaw and Poet Tyiesha Radford-Shorts lead a discussion following the screening. (90 mins., digital video)
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition The Black Madonna & Other Sacred Spaces, organized by the Sacred Spaces Collective at the Urban Arts Space.
The exhibition runs July – August 2026. Visit https://uas.osu.edu/ for more information.
Artwork ©Mark Cardwell.
-
When: Thursday, August 6, 6:00–8:00 PM
Where: Urban Arts Space
As artificial intelligence increasingly shapes how images, language, and culture are produced, this panel gathers artists, technologists, and scholars to explore the evolving relationship between creative practice and machine intelligence.
Grounded in The Black Madonna & Other Sacred Spaces, the conversation centers questions of authorship, cultural memory, and power. How do systems built on vast datasets engage with histories that are embodied, ancestral, and often unrecorded? What is created—and what is lost—when sacred and lived knowledge encounters algorithmic logic?
Featuring artists from the exhibition alongside community technologists and academic voices, this dialogue invites a deeper inquiry into the future of creativity, not only what AI can generate, but what it cannot hold.
Moderated by Dr. Terron Banner, Executive Director of Urban Arts Space.
Artwork ©Mark Cardwell.
-
When: Thursday, July 30, 7:00 PM
Where: The Urban Arts Space
Vinyl: Heaven - Cleo Soul
In partnership with Sista Rhythm aka Dr. Adrienne Kennedy, Straight Through is a live, immersive sound experience that collapses time through deep listening. Rooted in Black sonic traditions and experimental practice, this offering invites audiences into a shared auditory ritual—where past, present, and future converge.
Curated by The Sacred Spaces Collective, Atemporal: The Listening Room centers sound as a site of memory, healing, and transcendence. This event is guided by the visionary work of Sista Rhythm and Straight Through.
Artwork ©Mark Cardwell.
-
When: Friday, July 31, 6:30–8:30 PM
Where: The Urban Arts Space
50 W. Town St. 43215This is a ticketed event. You must purchase tickets in order to attend: https://bit.ly/44bOx75. You may also electronically purchase tickets at the door.
In partnership with Sheena Hanscel of the Pollen Patch Columbus, Mystic Sticks is a hands-on incense-making workshop rooted in ancestral knowledge and sensory ritual. Participants will learn to blend, bind, and roll their own incense while exploring the spiritual and cultural significance of scent across diasporic traditions.
As part of The Urban Arts Space Artist Commune series and in collaboration with the Sacred Spaces Collective, these offerings nurture creativity, embodiment, and communal care through intentional making.
Artwork ©Mark Cardwell
-
When: Friday, August 7, 6:30–8:30 PM
Where: Urban Arts Space
This is a ticketed event. You must purchase tickets to attend: https://bit.ly/4eZRJrz
In partnership with Sheena Hanscel of the Pollen Patch Columbus The Care Studio is an interactive wellness experience centered on ritual, touch, and self-devotion.
Through guided practices and plant-based care techniques, participants engage in embodied rituals for skin, body, and spirit. Grounded in traditions of holistic healing, this offering expands care as both a personal and collective practice—inviting restoration, reflection, and reconnection.
Artwork ©Mark Cardwell.
-
When: Saturday, August 15, 2:00 PM
Where: The King Arts Complex Elijah Pierce Gallery 835 Mt Vernon Ave., Columbus, OH 43203
Vinyl: TBD
In partnership with Sista Rhythm aka Dr. Adrienne Kennedy, Straight Through is a live, immersive sound experience that collapses time through deep listening. Rooted in Black sonic traditions and experimental practice, this offering invites audiences into a shared auditory ritual—where past, present, and future converge.
Curated by The Sacred Spaces Collective, Atemporal: The Listening Room centers sound as a site of memory, healing, and transcendence. This event is guided by the visionary work of Sista Rhythm and Straight Through.
Artwork ©Mark Cardwell.