Daisha Board Gallery in Miami

Daisha Board is on the beach. Participating in Prizm Art Fair in Miami this week, it marks the Dallas based gallerist’s first fair. Celebrating its 10th Anniversary year, Prizm’s Vernacular À la Mode investigates artmaking “originating in global African contexts that influence the cultivation of fine art practices worldwide.” 

Board says she never imagined it would happen this soon. “When I applied to Prizm, I didn’t think I would get accepted because I’m so young and I don’t have a huge roster of artists but I’m glad it happened this way.” Board has a way of making things happen and she says Prizm feels like family: “Me coming in as the new the kid on the block and being embraced by so many galleries…” 

Of the artists she works with she believes, “We are partners in this. I am a vessel to share your work with the public. I want your stories to be told through your mouth and through mine.”

Board’s booth features two top selling artists from her roster including Jeremy Biggers and Jennifer Monet Cowley. Of particular interest, Biggers does things big, often painting large-scale murals and oversized canvases. His realist figurative works examine identity. Dots overlayed on portraits are his hallmark lending to a design aesthetic. Award-winning, he is a self-described creator, problem-solver, fine artist, designer, photographer, and filmmaker based in Dallas. A graduate of Booker T. Washington for the Performing and Visual Arts High School, the prolific artist has been making art his entire life. “Code-switching” informs his visual language, and his subjects are sincere and “aspirational.” 

His Defiant series took over Board’s gallery in October. “He’s such a multidisciplinary artist having worked with major brands, but his fine art is just phenomenal.” A “self-made” artist Board says, “He gets Blackness to me. He gets the full complexities and layers of Blackness and it’s a beautiful thing.” 

Painting since the age of five, Cowley holds a BA in Art and Performance from University of Texas at Dallas. An artist and curator, she is presenting mixed media works from her Patchwork series including Keep Your Laws Off My Body!, an abstract acrylic, gold leaf, and embroidery gloss on canvas 24 x 24 inch work along with The Wise Free Man, a larger figurative work on canvas. Board gave Cowley, she describes as humble, her first-ever solo show at a gallery. “She’s so deserving. She is so full of knowledge of the Dallas community, and she was an excellent person to have working with side by side.”

Board is on a roll, and she sure isn’t stopping. She is an American Express: Coalition to Back Black Businesses grantee which has awarded over $10 million to support Black-owned small businesses: The program has helped small businesses meet critical needs and invest in long-term growth through a series of grants and resources, including mentorships and trainings. Co-founded by American Express, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and four leading national Black business organizations, the CBBB has awarded grants to more than 1,000 Black small business owners across the country. 

She was also named to the Dallas Mavericks MBA Business Assist Program which empowers “100 diverse entrepreneurs by giving them free access to the knowledge, tools and support they need to succeed and grow their businesses.” And she was just bestowed COSIGN Magazine’s Creative Entrepreneur of the Year. 

Prizm promises to be a holistic program designed as four sections: Prizm Panels, Prizm Perform, Prizm Film, Prizm Preview, and the fair at large. As to her hope for Prizm says Board, “A lot of galleries got their start there.”

Find Daisha Board Gallery at Prizm located at 4220 N. Miami Ave, Miami, FL 33137

Booth P3.