Fractured Foundations: Artists in Conversation

Saturday, October 24, 2026 • 12:00–1:30 PM • In Person • Free w/Admission

Join us in the gallery for a panel discussion with artists Akinsanya Kambon and Bianca MacPherson, two artists whose work is included in Fractured Foundations: 250 Years of American History.

This panel, which will take place in the exhibition gallery, will be hosted by Exhibition Manager Pam Aliaga. Both artists will talk about their narratives of Black Diaspora and how their work resonates within history and contemporary life. Of his piece Wall Street, Kambon writes:

The purpose of this work is not simply to revisit history. It is to challenge viewers to recognize the connections between the past and present. Too often, slavery is discussed as though it were a closed chapter, disconnected from contemporary realities. I reject that interpretation. The wealth generated through slavery helped build American institutions, industries, and systems of power. The social and political structures created to maintain that system continue to leave their mark on the nation today.

Bianca MacPherson’s piece Counted, on view in Fractured Foundations, responds to historical census categories and collected data. MacPherson explains:

Counted uses a mirror as both object and metaphor. In gazing into it, the viewer becomes implicated within these systems of classification and valuation and is asked to confront the relationship between recognition and worth: What makes someone count? Who determines legibility, value or belonging? Reflecting both the viewer and the history embedded within it, Counted positions systems of enumeration as systems of imagination, shaping how a nation sees its people and how people see themselves.

The panel will be followed by a brief Q&A. After the presentation, explore the exhibition and mingle with artists and attendees; light refreshments will be served.

This event is free with museum admission, which can be purchased at the door when you arrive. We ask that you pre-register for the artist panel at the link below to reserve your spot and help us know how many guests to expect. You can also join the day of, as space allows.

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RSVP using the button below (it may take a moment to load). If you prefer, you may also register by calling (909) 865-3146.

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The panelists:

Akinsanya Kambon

Born as Mark Teemer in Sacramento in 1946, Akinsanya Kambon is a former Marine, Black Panther, and art professor. Stricken with polio as a child, he turned to drawing for comfort, and ultimately his therapy. He recalls frequent visits to the Crocker Art Museum as a child, which fascinated him and showed him the human potential in creating art. He served in Vietnam with the United States Marine Corps from 1966–1968, and shortly thereafter, created The Black Panther Coloring Book to bring attention to racial inequality and social injustice. Despite being only semi-literate in his youth, Kambon went on to earn his Master of Arts from California State University, Fresno.

Today, Kambon’s work is as rich and varied as his personal history, expressed through drawings, paintings, bronze sculptures, and ceramics. His ceramics are fired using the Western-style raku technique—a challenging, dangerous, and unpredictable process that creates prismatic and iridescent glaze finishes. He performs kiln firings in a ceremonial manner, breathing life into terracotta figures that typically represent African deities and spirits and, sometimes, American history and religious subjects. Drawing heavily on narrative tradition and personal experience, including extensive travel throughout Africa, Kambon’s work celebrates perseverance through hardship, cultural pride, and his gift as a storyteller.

Bianca MacPherson

I work through historical and personal photography, illustration, and archival research to extract and abstract forms, context and hidden rippling patterns from the American landscape. These patterns reflect layered memory and subtle presences, quiet reminders that racial multiplicity has always existed. Engaging with archival materials and my own familial histories, I explore perception, the tension between visibility and erasure, and what we claim as our own. Solidifying these ideas in clay resists that erasure, embedding multiracial narratives and intersections into enduring form.