By Dinorah Prevost
During the first two hours at MIZE Gallery’s opening for its latest show, she was the biggest draw.
Lyrik Shikany posed for photo after photo next to a space-inspired portrait of herself. She looks off in the distance while an astronaut in full gear frames her in the background.
Local artist Perry DeVick painted the portrait for the gallery’s February show. The only other portrait in the room was of a starry-eyed James Baldwin, the well-known author and activist.
This month, MIZE, 689 Dr. M.L.K. Jr St. N, is hosting the monthlong show, titled “dreams deferred,” to coincide with Black History Month. The name comes from the opening line of African-American poet Langston Hughes’s work “Harlem.”
The show features portraits, photography, collage and mixed media pieces from 20 artists interpreting their idea of the theme “dream deferred.”
Gallery owner Chad Mize reached out to co-curator Erin Hughes, who helped choose the theme and book the artists.
Hughes said her choice stemmed from a love of Langston Hughes. She did her final research project in graduate school at USF Tampa on his poem, “The Sweet Flypaper of Life.” She attended USF St. Petersburg for a year to study civil rights history.
DeVick, an art teacher at Lealman Avenue Elementary, and Shikany, a St. Petersburg High School student, met at a friend’s house last Thanksgiving. At the time, DeVick was two weeks away from starting the painting and needed a live model.
“I wanted a youth, I wanted something very specific,” DeVick said.
She chose Shikany, 15, at the suggestion of their mutual friend.
“It was just really cool to be a part of it,” Shikany said. “Especially having meaning behind Black History Month, which I connect very deeply with. I’ve done art myself (but) I’ve never done realistic work, which is something I’ve always admired.”
DeVick said she was initially hesitant to do the show.
“When I was invited to do the show, I thought about it and I was a little bit afraid. ‘I’m just a white lady with privilege, I don’t need to be participating in this Black History Month show. What gives me the right to be stepping out of my lane to do this?’” she said. “I’m a teacher, so when I think of anything about civil rights and that struggle, I go, ‘My students, my children.’”
She said the idea was to show a black child “spacing out, dreaming of something big.” Rather than black history, she wanted to show “black future.”
The piece’s title names the six black female astronauts in NASA’s 60-year history: Mae Jemison, Stephanie Wilson, Joan Higginbotham, Yvonne Cagle, Jeanette Epps and Jessica Watkins.
DeVick said students at her school often say they want to be rappers, football players or Beyonce when they grow up.
“I would love to hear one of my students say ‘astronaut.’ One said ‘president’ the other day,” DeVick said.
Dreams deferred runs through Feb. 24. The gallery will host an artists’ talk on Feb. 21 from 6:30 to 8:30pm.
