Upon walking into the Pauly Friedman Art Gallery, one is immediately drawn by the large variety of prints from a range of artists, all pulled together by a staggering, massive pyramid of basketballs demanding space in the center of the exhibit.
The exhibit, “Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press,” highlighted by artists such as Kerry James Marshall and David Huffman, is centered around the ideal of representing unheard voices and challenging viewers to reimagine the art space.
Dr. Lalaine Little, Art Director, said she likes to choose exhibits that emphasize diverse perspectives.
“These days, I select shows mostly by going online. There are, like this one, shows that were curated by an exhibition company in California. So, when I look for shows like that, I look for a variety of artists. I look especially for artists that are traditionally underrepresented in museums—so people of color, people of different gender orientations,” she said.
One of the stand-out prints in the exhibition is Kerry James Marshall’s “Wishing Well,” a reimagining of Fragonard’s famous painting “The Swing” with Black subjects. Marshall’s work directly addresses historical exclusion in art museums, offering a powerful visual statement on reclaiming space.
“He is trying to reclaim the museum space. Again, when we look at museum collections and what actually goes on display, it’s mostly people from Western Europe,” she said.
In the middle of these empowering prints stands an architecturally stunning pyramid composed of 650 basketballs, inspired by David Huffman’s basketball prints. The structure serves as both an artistic centerpiece and a commentary on societal perceptions of Black athletes.
Little said there were some logistical challenges in bringing Huffman’s vision to life, calling it a “saga.”
“So, as a pinnacle of architectural achievement, the pyramid is just like [a] wonder, right? They’re massive, created with loads of manpower, probably slave manpower. In this case, he’s built a pyramid out of basketballs. He’s really thinking about how we think of people who are not like us and what we think of them as capable of doing and are not capable of doing,” she said.
Beyond its striking visual presence, the pyramid holds deeper significance. Each of the 650 basketballs will be donated to youth groups, connecting Huffman’s artistic message with real-world impact.
“Here’s a 3D basketball, and part of the stipulation that the artist isn’t allowing schools or venues to show basketball pyramid is that the label shouldn’t be showing. So that’s very hard to do with these basketballs, but we tried our best. The labels shouldn’t be showing because we don’t want to brand people as if we own them.”
Little said all the basketballs will be donated to children’s groups after the show is over.
“So we’ll hold basketball clinics, we’ll hold a Special Olympics clinic, and every person who participates in those will get to take home a basketball,” she said.
Constructing the pyramid required careful planning and effort, from inflating each ball to building a sturdy frame for the structure. Even Misericordia’s president wanted to be a part of the effort.
“It takes about 30 seconds to inflate each basketball, and there are 650. We had one air compressor, so I had to buy a second air compressor because it was taking too long. I promised President Myers that he could put the top of the pyramid up, and he couldn’t wait for two straight days for us, so we inflated all of them by hand because they all arrive deflated,” she said.
Little also credited her carpenter, Kenny, as none of this would be possible without his effort.
“He did the math for me because the original pyramid was for a full-size basketball like you see our men’s team play. We wanted to use youth-size basketballs because we’re giving them out to kids, so we had to do the math of like what’s the diameter of a size six basketball, not a size seven basketball. So, then we had to adjust the size of the frame, [and] Kenny did all that,” she said.
This exhibition is not only a room for appreciating good art but for reimagining history, by addressing who is telling it. The exhibit is a way of connecting the lived experience of underrepresented groups with real world artists and athletes alike.
Admission to “Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press” is free for all, and it will be on display through March 29. The Pauly Friedman Art Gallery is open seven days a week, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Monday.