Our guests had a chance to meet the renowned artist and March AIRIE Fellow, Charles Humes Jr.

Miami-born, Humes comes from a rich family heritage of the Grand Turks, Exuma, and the Eleuthera Islands of the Bahamas; a nationally acclaimed painter, print-maker, draftsman, muralist, and educator, Charles E. Humes, Jr. has been a professional fine Artist for over forty years. Influenced as a youth by the Civil Rights Movements of the 70s and 80s in which social perception and status were based on the color of one’s skin or the place one calls home, Hume's early expressions found a voice championing the plight of the homeless, urban conditions and stereotypes predicated on socio-political, educational, economic prejudices and bigotry.

Humes received many national and regional awards for his signature depictions of the African-American condition. Humes's studies included Florida State University, Florida International University, and Miami-Dade Jr, College earning arts degrees in Painting, Printmaking, and Arts Education. A recipient of the State of Florida’s Individual Artist Grant in painting, a Smithsonian Southern Arts Federation Print-making Fellow, an Arvida Bake-House Arts Complex Fellow and Residency, a Florida State Artist Fellow, and is presently a Visual Arts Scholar-Residency at the University of Miami's Center for Global Black Studies. Hume's paintings and drawings have been exhibited in galleries and universities throughout the United States.

Humes has created acclaimed multi- media large-scale mosaic murals for arts in public places throughout the State of Florida and is considered a master technician in the art of glass, shell, and ceramic mosaics. A member of the NCA (National Conference of Artists), NEA (National Educators Association), FEA (Florida Educators Association), DEA (Dade Educators Association), UTD (United Teachers of Dade), and the Kuumba Artist Association of Florida, Inc., the Post-Kuumba Collective Organization and is a founding member of the Liberty City Artist Exchange.