A panel of African-American artists gathered Oct. 16 to discuss the portraits of African-Americans in the current exhibition, Looking Ahead: Portraits from the Mott-Warsh Collection at the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum River Campus at Southeast Missouri State University.

Najjar Abdul-Musawwir, associate professor of Fine Arts at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, was one of the panelists at the event. He said he wanted to discuss what the African-American experience and art-making means.

"I also want to discuss their condition and the idea of portraits and what they mean in terms of identity," Abdul-Musawwir said.

According to Abdul-Musawwir, some portraits in the exhibit are not all done by African-American artists.

"Chuck Close is white, but he has a beautiful image captured of this black woman that sinuating intellectualism," Abdul-Musawwir said.

Abdul-Musawwir is the host of the television show "Expressions" which airs on WSIU-TV, a PBS member station. The show is about to go into its second season. Abdul-Musawwir sits down with artists throughout the region to discuss their artwork.

"We have had artists from Missouri. The program reaches a pretty large audience such as Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri," Abdul-Musawwir said. "I get to sit down with these artists, and it's all about them. Who are you? What are you making? Where do you go from here? It's just celebrating who they are."

Malcolm McCrae, artist and entrepreneur, has an exhibit of his airbrush art in the Transition Spaces of Crisp Museum to compliment the Looking Ahead exhibit. McCrae was born in Milwaukee, Wis. and during the panel discussion, he said art not only was a part of his life, but it saved his life.

"I could have taken the wrong turn in life like a lot of my peers," McCrae said.

McCrae said he uses color to describe emotion in his artwork and does not focus on detail.

"Street art, graffiti is how I describe my work," McCrae said.

DeSande R, artist and educator, said she began artwork as a child and was interested in the paintings in her church and the Mona Lisa.

R said that she could never remember people's names, but she always remembered their face.

"I was quiet as a child. I studied people when I was little, studying their face," R said. "You can remember a face, you forget names, but you can always remember a face."

The exhibition, Looking Ahead: Portraits from the Mott-Warsh Collection, will be on display in Crisp Museum until October 21.