On Juneteenth, Charlotte FC will host a celebration on matchday Honoring Black Excellence and highlighting barrier breakers in the community: those in the past who paved the way before us, those in the present who are working to uplift others, and those in the future who will continue to forge new paths and reach greater heights of excellence.
To bring this to life, local artist Kalin Devone was tasked with creating a visual representation of the meaning of Black Excellence. This artwork has inspired the creative look for Charlotte FC’s celebration on June 19. Scroll to learn more about Kalin, her vision, and the art that will be seen on matchday.
"I usually brainstorm for a while. I feel like I have an open Photoshop project over in my mind at all times. I sometimes also call on my friends to give me suggestions and help adding to my concepts. When I paint, I try to mainly work when I’m happy, so I’m only putting good positive energy into pieces like this. But I paint really fast, so the way it all comes together is sometimes a blur. I lay out all the colors, get to work, and at some point, I look up, and I’m like, wow, how did that happen."
"Black excellence is the culmination of resilience, strength, and confidence shown by the black community as a whole and by black community leaders. It’s the showing of how beautiful and rich all of the layers of our cultures are, so much so that it influences so many other races and aspects of life globally."
"I wanted to incorporate several aspects at once without making the piece overwhelming. All of the stickers represent some part of the story of black excellence and Juneteenth. We have the crown for power and specifically Charlotte, the Juneteenth flag, peace, love that incorporates the colors represented by Juneteenth."
Blue Base: Represents the Carolinas
Script Pattern: Kalin's handwriting, spells "June"
Flowers: Kailn's signature artistic elements, a reminder of her grandmother and childhood
Purple: A prominent color in the black community and loves the royal symbolism
Fist Bump: A gesture of symbolism for Kalin's culture
Stickers: A core piece of Kalin's artwork. The first crown is her signature. The heart incorporates the traditional Juneteenth/African colors. The far right sticker is the Juneteenth Flag.
"I hope that this continues to push other sports teams, businesses, and larger corporations to continue calling on Black artists to create for them. I want opportunities like this for the black community throughout the entire year not just during Juneteenth. I hope that others see this and open their minds to maybe educating themselves more on Juneteenth."
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Kalin Devone is a multidisciplinary artist who focuses on the ideas of societal influence and social culture. She studied at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she received a Bachelors in Fine Art with a concentration in painting in 2015. She is known for her use of realism and expressive mark-making to create expressive portraiture. Her work displays a technique of using layered short brush strokes and pops of bright and vibrant colors, to add a sense of movement to her portraits and figurative work. Though she works primarily with oil paint, much of her work larger works combine digital and spray painted components. She has collaborated on several projects with corporations such as PGA Tour, Charlotte Hornets,Puma, BET, Modelo and Formula 1. Kalin curated her first solo exhibition in 2019: (Perpetual). Her most recent group exhibitions include The Brooklyn Collective; ‘The Renaissance of Brooklyn’ (2023), ‘Local Street’ (2022 and 2023) at The Mint Museum and ‘My Presence is Present’ (2023),at the Harvey Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture.
Instagram: @kalin_renee
Website: kalin-devone.com
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