Rain Spann: “Of Silver Roots and a Thousand Hymns”

2025 , BHMVA

Rain

Rain Spann (b. 1998 in Abbeville, AL) is an American Artist, Electrical Engineer, and Graphic Designer based in Virginia. As an interdisciplinary artist, Spann references memories, moments, and symbols that allude to the familial connection he has with the American South. While many are sourced from family photographs, others are often imaginative – contributing to larger conversations within art history. Through a process of blending collage, sewing, painting, drawing, and graphic art illustration, Spann focuses on juxtaposition as a way to depict the similarities and contradictions between industrial, technological, and natural systems. While there are consistent techniques present within the broader scope of his work his process includes, but is not limited to, the layering of organic and geometric shapes and the use of fluid and static mediums. His practice is deeply rooted in themes such as transformation, symbiosis, and renewal. These themes build on an on-going observation of how the ever evolving, and interwoven, relationship between technological, industrial, and natural systems mirrors his life as an engineer and artist.

In 2016, Spann graduated from Landstown High Schools STEM Academy where he developed a curiosity for the relationship between technology and art. In 2019, his debut solo exhibition opened at HOMME D.C. Gallery in Washington, D.C. In 2021, Spann graduated from Old Dominion University with a focus in hardware engineering. Upon graduating he was awarded as an inaugural artist in residence within the CabinDAO residency program. In 2023, Spann’s solo exhibition “Growing Spirit” would become the debut solo exhibit for Richmond’s Southside Contemporary Art Gallery. Spann has participated in several auctions, most notably being the Cabin Fever auction with 1708 Gallery in Richmond VA, the Solstice VI benefit group exhibition/auction with Oakwood Arts, and the CANTemporaries auction/exhibition with the Contemporary Arts Network. He has exhibited work regionally and nationally. Spann not only serves works as an artist, but frequently volunteers to assist organizations in the installation, deinstallation, design, and contribution of pro-bono mural work. In addition, he has held numerous roles as a graphic designer and illustrator, most notably being as a graphic artist for Rachael N. Page-Blackwell’s performance piece: Four Women and an Artist in 2020, held at the Zeiger Dream Theatre in Town Center, Virginia Beach. His work has been collected privately and publicly, most prominently being by the Fresh Prince of Bel Air AirBnB.

Type: Hymns to Hiphop
Material: Acrylic ink, acrylic, oil , Prisma colored pencil, upcycled fabrics, embroidery floss, and aerosol paint on stretched canvas
Dimensions: 48in x 48in x 1.5in

Artist Statement:

Rooted in historical, personal, and collective memory, Of Silver Roots and a Thousand Hymns, reflects the spirit of Church St. in Norfolk, VA and Jackson Ward in Richmond VA two cities famously coined as Harlems of the South between the 1920s and 1945. This work specifically pays homage to the legacy of cultural titans

Maggie L. Walker, the first woman of any race to charter and lead a national bank in the United States of America, and the Attucks Theatre a cultural epicenter of the South, a symbol of Black collective economics, and an instrumental platform that helped propel the careers of major figures in jazz such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Nat King Cole.

Often compelled to use symbolism as opposed to direct visual depiction, Spann paints an abstracted figure seated at the center of a seemingly swamp like setting, alluding to the southern landscape being the literal and metaphorical roots of the Harlem of the South communities. In one hand, the figure holds a silver coin embellished with a rendering of the St. Luke’s Penny Savings Bank, chartered and led by Maggie L. Walker. In the background the Attucks Theatre is depicted with swift and dynamic line work symbolizing the futuristic and energetic spirit the building was said to embody. These references coalesce with the figure, all forming a vivid depiction of the spirit community members recall their cities once having before the detrimental domino effects of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 disrupted the economic vitalities of these neighborhoods.

A testament to the beauty of community that still lives in the hearts of all who remember, Of Silver Roots and a Thousand Hymns, serves as a remembrance of what is possible through collective effort, the uplifting of arts, and economic empowerment. Additionally, this work functions as a point of education not just about our culture, but about the history of how systematic redlining contributed to the decline of cities that were once thriving.

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