Founder, October Gallery and Producer of Philly International Art Festival
Mercer Redcross, the owner of October Gallery,
looked like a proud new father as he whisked rapper-actor Ice T and his
wife, Coco, through the throng of art enthusiasts at the Philadelphia
International Art Festival recently. It looked as though he might begin
handing out celebratory cigars at any moment. More than 30,000 people
poured into Temple University to indulge in the largest African
American-themed art exhibit in the country. What Mercer and Evelyn
Redcross started 23 years ago with just 1,000-square -feet and 900
visitors has ballooned into an internationally recognized annual fete
featuring artists from 45 states and six countries.
After opening October Gallery and watching
patrons stream in, the Redcrosses took the show on the road, receiving
mad love at every turn, thereby laying the foundation for the annual,
three-day Philly extravaganza. “They were excited about us [and]
we were excited about them. So we started doing the expo. We sent a
call out to these people since an event like this wasn’t
happening around the country in 1985-86, and they made the pilgrimage
to Philly to check out the art show.”
Award-winning
artists from outposts as diverse as Brazil, Nigeria, Germany and Spain
also made the excursion to showcase their spectacular products.
“I’m very proud that they feel as though this event has
merit [and] it has content. And we’re happy because the people of
Philly have supported this. We got great culture and this culture
manifests itself in the artwork. This is about culture. This is about
art culture and the richness of it and everyone benefits from
it,” says Redcross. –terry shropshire