Black art is magic!

Columbus, GA artists Najee and Seteria Dorsey certainly seem to think so. They created an entire garden around their love of art after purchasing their home six months ago.

The couple are artists and curators. According to the Ledger-Enquirer, the couple wanted to add a little artistic flair to their new garden. While going through some old works, they discovered some aluminum/ployethylene pieces Najee had created by about 4 years ago.

They thought they'd look nice in their garden, and put them up.

Soon they wondered if other people might like them too. The couple took 20 pieces similar to the garden works to an art show they attended in Washington. The pair are old hands at the art show circuit. A few of Najee’s artwork was featured in a Columbus Museum exhibit in 2014, and one of her pieces was even bought by Aflac.

Still, they didn't expect the type of reception they got in Washington. 

“I sold every piece I had and took some additional orders,” said Najee. “And we were like, ‘Wow, it’s kind of blowing up.’ So we ramped up our production.”

The Dorseys began to make more of the pieces, selling them online. To promote their work, Najee took to social media, posting a video of her artwork on Facebook and Instagram.

At the time of this posting, her Facebook video has reached over 240,000 views!

After all of their social media success, the Dorseys started to get order from all over the country, including Georgia, California, Texas, both Carolinas, Chicago, New York and New Jersey.

“What we found is that there are a lot of people that garden and take pride in their homes that didn’t have any representation of themselves that was available to them,” Najee noted. “When you do a Google search for African American lawn art, you get the old black jockey, you get an angel or two and that’s about it. And so it’s like a ‘who knew?’ kind of thing.”

In an effort to develop a true brand, the Dorseys dubbed their project “Garden Art for the Soul.” Najee says each piece helps to tell the story of black self-identity.“It’s a Southern narrative probably closest to a Gullah Geechee or African-American-Sunday-after-church kind of thing,” Najee said. “These are images that most people can relate to in terms of African American culture.”

Working to keep the objects within the reach of as many people as possible, the couple set a price point of $79 for each piece.  

“It was basically inspired by us recently buying a home and digging deeper roots here in Columbus,” said Najee, on his inspiration to create “Garden Art for the Soul.”

“One of the things that we always wanted to do when we got our own space — after renting lofts and different condos in Atlanta — is to be able to curate and make it our own. Building a garden was one of the things that we were really interested in.”

We love it! What a dope way to incorporate the creative talents of black artists as well as fostering a small business!