Alicia Brown and Lanaya Pickett. Abiba Biao Photos.
Best friends Alicia Brown and Lanaya Pickett have two very different creative processes—and were excited to display them side-by-side Saturday.
On the left side of a table, Pickett meticulously laid out her resin coasters, the insides decorated with flower petals and gold flakes. Brown, on the other hand, had brought an array of black and white drawings and coloring pages for people to fill out.
That was the scene at Hamden’s third annual Amplify the Arts Festival, a weekend-long exhibition held at the Eli Whitney Barn just over the New Haven-Hamden line. In its third year, Amplify the Arts has continued to grow, largely as a credit to organizer Karimah Mickens and artists she has continued to work with over multiple years.
This year, the festival featured artists Greg Aimé, Kulimushi Barongozi, Amira Brown, Shaunda Holloway, Edward Jefferson, Iyaba Mandingo, Shanna Melton, Linda Mickens, Jasmine Nikole, and Darnell “Saint” Phifer.
Karimah Mickens.
“I want each of the artists to have the opportunity to tell their own stories, so they get to place the art the way that they wanted,” said Karimah Mickens, who also works as Hamden’s Town Clerk. “They get to choose the art that they want. This gives me an opportunity to kind of show people of color, LGBTQ youth artists, [and] give them the opportunity to exhibit in a large way.”
In addition to featured artists, Mickens included the work of 57 students from New Haven, Hamden and Stamford. The pieces ranged from all different mediums from photography and digital design to traditional pen and pencil, oil pastels, paint, and colored pencils.
Around the barn, artists talked to attendees—and to each other—about their work. Along one wall, Saint Phifer said that he was feeling nervous, but was also excited for the supportive nature of Amplify the Arts.
Darnell Saint Phifer.
Behind him, a large canvas reimagined the Disney character Belle as a Black woman, her coffee-colored skin and thick, black hair emerging from a butter-colored silk yellow dress. Against a blue background, the artist had printed the words BLACK BELLE in crisp, block letters, with a gentle pink paint that matched the flower the princess was holding. In the canvas beside it, a trio of Black family members embraced each other.
“This year was, like, a little bit more nerve wracking, kind of like trying to figure it out for the second time,” he said. “Hopefully I can live up to my own hype. Hopefully people appreciate their work, and that's pretty much all it is. I want people to see growth, if they've been here before.”
He added that the work represents a new direction. In the past year, he’s turned his focus from faceless figures (read about that here) to body extremities like hands and eyes and drawing faces. In the future, he hopes to launch into different mediums like fashion and designing furniture, he said.
Outside the barn, Brown and Pickett greeted visitors for the first time, eager to share their work. An avid traveler and the owner of The Art Child LLC, Brown hosts therapeutic art classes for adults, kids and teens, and sells personal creations like commissions, artwork, and coloring pages.
It’s all about giving kids the space to be creative, she said. She stands firm by the motto “process not product.”
Pickett is the owner of Nyx by Nay, selling resin goods and crafts. After getting into the art form during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic—and watching her best friend flourish with her work—she was inspired to start a business. For Pickett, her resin designs take two hours to complete and 24 hours to cure. A fashion designer by trade, she also still hopes to pursue a career in fashion alongside her small business.
Pickett described the event as “eye opening” and said it was “ inspiring to see other artists.”
Returning into the barn after going through the outdoor market, attendees IfeMichelle Gardin, Babz Rawls Ivy, and Markeshia Ricks all praised the festival. No one was leaving empty handed: they all held up their newly bought prints and posters by artist Jasmine Nikole.
All three praised Mickens for growing Hamden’s blossoming art scene—and bringing in food, live music, a DJ and artists to make the weekend officially feel like a vibe. Smiling, Ricks proudly showed off her find, a print from Nikole that showed a Black woman, head tilted towards the sky, in large yellow sunglasses. Ricks said she was drawn to the “funky” nature of the piece.
“[She’s] just always doing beautiful work with beautiful Black women,” she said of Nikole’s work. “And just the way she does things, you will find something for everyone in there and so this piece spoke to me.”
“I wasn't able to attend last year, so I'm super excited to be here this year,” she added.