Jamele Wright, Sr., a multidisciplinary artist from Atlanta, has been selected by a panel of jurors for a solo exhibition at the Albany Museum of Art. His exhibition, Hues of Skin and Earth, will open on May 15 with the AMA’s summer exhibitions.

“Jamele Wright Sr.’s works stood out to our jury because of their dynamism and the way that they have a presence in a gallery space,” AMA Curator of African Collections and African Diasporic Art Sidney Pettice said.

Wright rethinks color associations and hue, placing his body of work in a conversation spanning classical depictions of landscapes from the Hudson River School to the visual world of Technicolor in film in the early to mid-20th century. Hues of Skin and Earth offers an immersive and imaginative experience, bringing about memories, feelings, and experiences interconnected with color, shape, and form

Wright’s exhibition is the result of a call for artists that the AMA issued last July. The selection was made from the Georgia artists who responded during the application period, which closed in January.

“Our first juried open call for artists received an overwhelming number of strong applications, and I’m happy to say that because of this, our open call for artists will occur annually,” Pettice said. “The goal of the juried open call for artists was to highlight the work that artists based in the South are doing.

“With a focus on emerging to mid-career artists, our focus was to give our awardee the opportunity to exhibit their work in an AAM-accredited institution, and for us to engage with and learn about a new working artist.” The AMA has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 1994.

Wright described his work by saying he is interested in the relationship between substrate and medium. “I am building upon the lineage of abstraction and landscape artists that came before me,” he said. “I am interested in the found material, ideas of beauty, color relationships, and making an object.”

The Ohio native moved with his family to Atlanta when he was 22. While raising a family, Wright produced art, jazz, and poetry events throughout Atlanta. Wright started the Neo Renaissance Art House in Atlanta after realizing many young artists were not being represented.

After curating the gallery for over a year, Wright was inspired to pursue his artistic career. After solo and group exhibitions, he graduated from Georgia State University, where he concentrated on African and African American Contemporary Art, with a B.A. in Art History.

Wright then earned his Master of Fine Art from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, N.Y. He completed a residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the Vermont Studio Center, and an artist-in-residence at the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, S.C.

The application period will open this summer for mid-career Georgia artists to apply for a solo exhibition in 2026 at the Albany Museum of Art.