"Bessie Nickens:  Memories of a Southern Childhood", an exhibition of 30
paintings by this 93-year old self-taught artist has been curated and
organized by Sandra Kraskin, Director of The Sidney Mishkin Gallery/Baruch
College, and is available for bookings. Works in the exhibition portray
recollectins of the artist's childhood in Louisiana and Texas, and provides
a visual record of the African-American experience in the rural South in the
early decades of this century.  A self-taught artist since the age of seven,
Ms. Nickens didn't begin painting her childhood memories until the 1980s
when she was elderly and retired, but her luminous tableaus have an
immediacy that transcends time. Her paintings animate a chapter of
African-American history with a unique, personal vision in the tradition of
Romare Bearden, William Henry Johnson, and Horace Pippin.

"Bessie Nickens:  Memories of a Southern Childhood", is being circulated by
Professionals for NonProfits from May 1998 for approximately 18 months.  For
further information or to secure a booking, plesae contact Geri Thomas,
Professionals for NonProfits, 515 Madison Avenue, Suite 900, New York, New
York 10022; 212/546-9091.