He painted portraits to record our Black history, and teach others about | Opinion

I first met CJ Latimore more than 45 years ago when he was a struggling young artist, trying to find his place in the world of art and society.

There weren’t too many celebrated Black artists back then, and he found himself struggling to have his work taken seriously.

Still, Latimore persevered. On Saturday, Latimore will be honored at the Sandrell Rivers Theater in Liberty City, surrounded by many of the people whose life he has documented over the past 50 years. He aptly named the celebration, “Latimore’s Legacy Art Cultural Experience: Celebrating Five Legacy Heroes.”

The celebrants are T. Willard Fair, who retired as CEO of the Urban League of Greater Miami after 62 years; Jo Marie Payton, the actress who portrayed Harriette Baines Winslow in the TV sitcom “Family Matters’’ whose roots are in South Florida; Roosevelt Bradley, developer; Ronald E. Frazier, architect and activist; and Johnny C. Taylor Jr., CEO and president of the Society for Human Resource Management, and the grandson of the late Dr. Von D. Mizelle, the second Black physician in Broward County and civil rights activist.

I recently sat down with Latimore to reflect on what it means for him to have chronicled so many lives, especially Black lives, for over a half century through his iconic art style.

“I have not only painted images of faces … I have also painted the lives behind the faces. Each stroke of my paint brush has carried with it love, struggle, faith and triumph,” he said. “Each portrait tells the next generation, ‘You have come from greatness. You are part of something bigger.’ ”

To Latimore, the story of his people has never been told completely. He said his time on earth would not be long enough to paint the story of his ancestors and the contributions they have made to this country, as well as to the world.

Latimore was born in South Carolina and moved to Miami with his mother Cathy Decosta as a young child. He said his mother always knew he had a gift for the visual arts, having watched him as a child drawing pictures in the sand in the yard outside their Liberty City apartment.

Latimore said his mother predicted that he would be “either an artist or an architect.” He chose to be an artist.

After graduating from Miami Jackson High School, Latimore enrolled at the University of Miami, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. He later earned a master’s in computer education from Barry University.

In addition, he has studied with master artists in the United States, Spain and Africa. He also studied at the Japanese Calligraphy Workshop in Kyoto, Japan, at el Museo Tamayo in Mexico City and has visited the Vatican Collection in Rome to study Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Despite such an impressive background in art, Latimore said he still had to fight hard to be recognized – not just as an artist, but as a Black artist on a mission.

“Early in my career, I realized that art to many people has been more of a want, than a need. People purchased art because they wanted it; not because they needed it.

“One of my goals has been to give people the kind of art that they need. The kind of art that tells their stories – about the changes in society and how they see themselves in the changes. I have tried to produce the kind of art that tells the story about people, places and events,” he said. “That has been my mission.”

Latimore said he doesn’t do art for art’s sake. “I paint the legacy of a community that refuses to be forgotten. For example, each portrait I paint tells the next generation a story about the person in the portrait It does this without anyone having to say a single word.”

You will find Latimore’s work on the wall of the Sandrell Rivers Theater, 6103 NW Seventh Ave; inside Miami-Dade County public schools, including the 125-foot mosaic mural that graces the entryway of Northwestern Senior High School; on a wall at the Audrey Edmonson Transit Village; at HistoryMiami Museum; at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale; and the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, to name a few.

Said Latimore: “Art has a way of keeping us together. My legacy paintings are an investment – not in wealth, but in connection. They tell us that our stories matter, that our elders matter, and that our children need this art because it tells them who came before them. This is important because when our children know where they came from, they won’t doubt where they can go.”

Charmettes anniversary, luncheon

Congratulations to the Miami-Dade County Chapter of The Charmettes on “70 years of Sisterhood, Survivorship and Service.”

A national service organization, The Charmettes raises funds for cancer research and scholarships. The Miami-Dade Chapter will celebrate its anniversary at its annual Pink Luncheon, the organization’s major fundraising event.

The luncheon will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Scott Galvin Community Center, 1600 NE 126th St., North Miami. The event will honor Charmette members past and present.

President Ava Gilley, who heads the local chapter, requests that all attendees wear something pink in honor of Breast Cancer Month. Charmette Cecily Robinson Duffie, a local attorney, is the organization’s national president

Tickets are $70 each and can be purchased by calling 786-803-4443, or by emailing miamidadecharmettes@gmail.com.