A Local Black History Lesson in Portraiture

Erin Phillips

The first session of the portraiture project happened in the art space at Collegiate Academy. Pictured are (left to right): artist and project creator Nicholas Cardell Gore, art teacher Tara Shannon, portrait model Gwendolyn Cooley, and Supervisor of Curriculum Megan Hollern.

"You are the most important resource that America has."

Dorothy Smith-Frazier, a 76-year-old advocate, teacher, public servant, radio host, and current masters degree student, repeated these words twice to a classroom full of art students at Erie High and was met with a round of applause from everyone present.

Smith-Frazier's face and life, along with Candace Battles and Gwendolyn Cooley, were subjects of a student art project conceived by a local artist and brought to life by the art teachers, students, and administration of Erie's Public High Schools. The ostensible result of this contest is the current cover art of this issue of the Erie Reader, but the intangible benefits to the students were great: inspiration, validation, creativity, and the true and moving power of art.

The Idea

I was introduced to the art of Nicholas Cardell Gore last year, after a show featuring his work at Glass Growers Gallery, and asked if he would consider submitting his work, Saturn Devouring His Sun, for our Black History Month (February 2025) cover. He enthusiastically accepted and that cover remains one of our most emotionally evocative and striking to date. His piece, which was completed during the COVID-19 lockdown, expressed the dichotomy of emotions he was experiencing at the time.

Gore, now a teaching artist through Erie Arts and Culture, and in reflection upon how he could help facilitate our Black History Month cover this year, had a brainstorming session with his partner – local educator, artist, dancer, and advocate Jennifer Dennehy (Erie's 40 Under 40 Class of 2018) – and together they came up with a community-oriented idea.

"How great an opportunity would it be to combine art students with people making change in the community who aren't larger-than-life saints like Martin and Malcolm and Harriet and Rosa and Toni? My idea became to get kids to know who they're growing up around, because these folks are rich with knowledge and experience and could share something that could help them navigate today's society."

In seeking out these local change-makers, Gore communicated with three women – Dorothy Smith-Frazier, Candace Battles, and Gwendolyn Cooley – who have been influential to his life, as well as the Erie community at large. "I eventually settled on wanting to share Black women's stories because historically in this city, in my view, they have not been as forward-facing. Men have been the faces of GECAC, St. Martin Center, and the MLK Center since their inception, but I know many women supporting our community in less visible or celebrated positions but who are just as qualified, intelligent, and deserving."

Gore's thought was to engage these three women in portraiture sessions within art classes at the two City of Erie high schools, and then select one of those resulting portraits to use as the cover for the Black History Month Erie Reader. When he presented me with his idea, it felt immediately like a perfect fit for our publication and a great way to share a story that is three-fold in effect. First, it helps students learn about Erie's current Black history and to take in the experiences of these women as they are actively shaping the trajectory of our communities. Second, it helps students think about portraiture in a different way – not simply recording the way someone looks, but being able to tell the subject's stories through the images they present. And third, to learn about commercial applications for art, as their design needs to fit within the Erie Reader's cover template, and be bold and eye-catching, and appealing to a large public audience.

So Gore and I met with some folks at Erie's Public Schools including Superintendent Dr. Natalyn Gibbs and Supervisor of Curriculum Megan Hollern. Gore pitched his idea to them and they immediately got to work on making the idea a reality. Looping in eager art teachers Tara Shannon at Collegiate Academy and Stephanie Welser at Erie High, they were able to schedule multiple classes featuring three prominent women making Erie's current Black History.

Dr. Gibbs commented, "This project is the best kind of immersive learning experience, the kind that sticks with you for a long time. Students were able to hear firsthand the stories and lived experiences of people that they might not have learned about or met otherwise and then turned that knowledge into powerful portraits that help immortalize those stories. That benefits the students and it benefits history."

Gore emphasizes, "I've learned that the older generations are eager to share their experiences and impart wisdom and knowledge to us because that is how they got through some of the darkest times in America. Their words are gifts."

This photo gallery shows all of the artwork created by the students of Collegiate Academy and Erie High.

The Portrait Models

Gwendolyn Cooley, Candace Battles, and Dorothy Smith-Frazier all sat for portraiture sessions with Erie School District high school students as the three women told their stories to classrooms full of attentive teens who asked meaningful questions to help inform their portraits of the prominent, change-making citizens.

Gwendolyn Cooley (this month's winning cover portrait) was the first to sit for a classroom of students at Collegiate Academy. Art teacher Tara Shannon had prepared handouts for the students with prompted questions to get to know their subject and to help inform and inspire their eventual portraits. During this session, we got to hear many of Cooley's life stories. Cooley grew up in Erie and cites her parents and the community they helped create as her greatest influences and sources of support, "When I grew up in the Black community, the church was the hub of things – the community raised us. My confidence comes from that community – boldness gets noticed and that can go a long way in life."

At 67, Ms. Cooley, now retired but still deeply involved and active in advocacy in the community, had a career that brought her into decision-making positions, including being elected as director of the Erie School Board. Before that, she attended Academy High School and went on to attend Wilberforce University, a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) in Ohio, to study sociology. She's traveled globally, helping to dig wells in Africa, and is an avid reader who never stops learning and expanding her worldview. When asked what changes she's witnessed since she grew up in Erie, she pauses before responding. "There have been some changes, just a few, but changes come as we break down those old doors that have traditionally been closed to us. We have a woman mayor. We just elected our first Black female district judge. We have a woman in the county executive seat. We have a Black female superintendent."

Overall, Cooley's message was one of togetherness, standing up in the face of adversity, and leaning in to who you are. "There is power in being you; never forget that."

Candace Battles, 78, sat for her portraits at both Collegiate Academy and at Erie High. Her story of community involvement and advocacy also started with her family. Battles reflects, "I've always been involved in the community because I had strong Black women who raised me."

Coincidentally, but unsurprisingly, both Battles and Cooley were given similar discriminatory advice when they were in high school by guidance counselors who were supposed to be supporting their students towards success. In no uncertain terms, they were both told that they were not college material. While Cooley boldly ignored that advice and went on to graduate with honors from an HBCU, Battles stated that her experience "had a tremendous impact on my immediate future and I ended up dropping out of school." After earning her GED while pregnant with her first child, she eventually went on to earn two degrees: a bachelor's from Gannon University in social work and her master's from Case Western Reserve in the school of applied sciences. She went on to have a long career in professional social work in Erie at the Office of Children and Youth.

She emphasizes to the students, "Never let anyone take your joy from you. I allowed that woman to take my joy away from me, but I did recover. I still had some of the strength that my forebears had imparted to me."

And that strength manifested itself again when she had a self-described "hissy fit" at Jack Sims in the office for advancement at Gannon University. Sims invited Battles, who serves on Gannon's alumni board, into his office for a chat one day. Battles reflects, "Out of nowhere, I let him have it! How can Gannon be in this neighborhood, with the highest rate of poverty in the state, and not use its resources to improve the community? I had no idea where that came from. After I left his office, the administration somehow got a hold of the seed I planted that day, and from that seed, we were able to pull together the community to build this organization called Our West Bayfront."

Our West Bayfront is a nonprofit organization serving the neighborhood within the boundaries of the Bayfront Parkway and West 12th Street and east to Sassafras Street. Its mission is to "enhance the quality of life in Erie's West Bayfront neighborhoods through civic engagement, thoughtful development, historical preservation, and neighborhood pride. Our West Bayfront is an inclusive and thriving community where neighbors look out for neighbors, partners work together to preserve and enhance the West Bayfront's unique assets, and mobilized residents are shaping the future of our neighborhoods and our city." Battles is a co-founder of the organization, is on the board, and is actively involved with all of their community outreach initiatives and events.

"And it started because I had a hissy fit one day," laughs Battles.

Dorothy Smith-Frazier began speaking at Erie High with the opening quote of this feature, and continued to inspire the classroom with her story. She notes her ancestry comes from Ireland and Sudan. "I am proud of my heritage," she states. "I was born in Laurel, Mississippi at a time when this would not have ever been possible, for us to sit in a classroom of multi-cultural lineage – so I am proud to be in your presence today."

Smith-Frazier has been an activist, advocate, and community leader for the bulk of her 76 years and feels strongly that it is never too late to expand your worldview. She is a product of the Erie School District, coming to Erie from Mississippi with her 13 brothers and sisters when she was 6 years old. She graduated from Academy High School, and from there became a licensed cosmetologist and cosmetology teacher, and started her own business. "I didn't return to higher education until I was much older. I attended Gannon University majoring in mental health counseling, Penn State Behrend, majoring in workforce management and women's studies, and now at the age of 76 I am again attending college, working towards my master's in biblical studies."

In addition to her pursuit of education, throughout her life, Ms. Smith-Frazier has been involved with the community. She states,"The common thread in all of my accomplishments is to make Erie a better place than it was when I got here and I can say I spent most of my life doing just that."

"I'm a servant to the people and the community," she adds. Along with volunteering as a radio host for over 40 years, starting close to when WQLN did, and famously hosting WERG's Super Soul Saturday Gospel programming, she's served on countless boards and councils including Harborcreek Youth Services, and the Governor's Council on African American Affairs. She served as president of Erie's NAACP for 20 years, serving longer than any other president of the branch. She now serves on the Perseus House board and Charter School board of trustees, having worked for the charter school for 17 years as a program specialist in the middle school. She is the pastor of her church, Bread of Heaven Tabernacle of Praise. She serves on the Erie Regional Airport authority and is a certified notary public.

"I feel strongly that if you touch someone's life with goodness then that goodness will come back to you," she reflects.

Sitting for their portraits in Ms. Stephanie Welser's art class at Erie High, (left to right) Ms. Dorothy Smith-Frazier and Ms. Candace Battles inspired the students' artwork by sharing their incredible life stories with the students. (Photo: Erin Phillips)

The Winner and The Message

As you can see by the cover of the Reader you're holding, the winner of the cover design contest was a portrait of Ms. Gwendolyn Cooley, as drawn, painted, and designed by Rory Gardner, a senior at Collegiate Academy. Gardner noted that she worked to "capture the essence Gwen has." She did so through her use of color, which includes an intentional softening of the colors that Cooley mentioned were her favorites, reds and blues for the background while "keeping her a golden color since yellow is often associated with the sun and happiness. The rays around her play into the idea of the sun and its light. I wanted to give the painting a sort of pop art or Frutiger Metro  look to help her stand out." Gardner likens this choice to the inspiring stories that Cooley shared in the classroom session – that "despite going through many hardships and dealing with discrimination, she smiles and brings joy to everyone around her."

This project has been multidisciplinary in approach. While these students are learning about portraiture, they're simultaneously learning about local Black history and the commercial applications for their artwork. Dr. Natalyn Gibbs, supportive of the project from its beginning, comments: "Interdisciplinary projects like this one are beneficial in that they engage many different types of learners with varied interests and strengths. A student initially interested in history may find a newfound love of art, or experience and interact with a particular discipline in a new way, or with a new lens. We strive to graduate students who are not only curious lifelong learners but well-rounded individuals with a breadth of knowledge across multiple disciplines, and these types of projects help us meet that mission."

She continues, "Learning about current Black changemakers, including these three women in our community, is incredibly empowering. These are real people making a real difference in our community every day, and to see that lets students know what's possible."

Artwork by Rory Gardner

Plans for a display and art show of the submitted student work are underway. Check on the Erie Reader's social media channels for updates.

The work of Nicholas Cardell Gore can be found at nicholascardellgore.com

Erin Phillips can be reached at erin@eriereader.com