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Nehemiah Dixon: A Network of Opportunity by Phil Hutinet
Nehemiah Dixon A Network of Opportunity
by Phil Hutinet
My high school counselor told me I To create the series, couldn’t get into MICA [Maryland In- Dixon tapped into his netstitute College of Art],” Dixon said. In work. He talked to seasoned the end, he would prove her wrong. Not artists like Alonzo Davis and only would he graduate from MICA Alan Binstock. Binstock has with a degree in General Fine Arts, but he would go on created many publicly comto create work purchased by international collectors, missioned sculptures and found his own company and, more recently, direct com- is an expert at using resin munity engagement for one of DC’s—and the world’s— and steel. Resin is a type of most prestigious art institutions, The Phillips Collection plastic that molds easily into in northwest DC. various forms. Dixon began
Dixon’s life journey began on Southern Ave. SE. Born practicing manipulating resat Greater Southeast Community Hospital, Dixon grew in and fabric to combine the up nearby, mainly in Hillcrest. His grandparents lived on two mediums. He even talkCamden St. SE for over 65 years until their recent pass- ed to a chemistry professor ing. He attended Anne Beers Elementary school and lat- to understand how to gain er graduated from School Without Walls. mastery over the substance.
“Attending MICA was always my plan,” Dixon ex- Dixon produced two seplains. However, he started his undergraduate studies ries of final works—a series at Bowie State, and then transferred to Delaware College of “Black Hoodies” and a of Art and Design before finally applying and matricu- series of “White Hoodies” lating at MICA, training as a painter. His mother’s sud- cast from the former works. den passing in 2004 led Dixon to suspend his studies; The sculptures have been he would later finish the two courses he needed to final- shown throughout the rely graduate in 2013. gion at numerous galleries Hoodies Sculpture Biennial in 2018. The works have been purchased by local and internaOn July 13, 2013, George Zimmerman tional collectors including one was acquitted of the second-degree Nehemiah Dixon III in London. charge of murdering Trayvon Martin. In reaction to this injustice, Dixon beand at the Foggy Bottom gan to work furiously to respond to the It Takes A Network outpouring of emotions he felt. After Before reaching his rising staworking on numerous drafts, Dixon tus as an artist, Dixon rememconcluded that the work he would cre- bers the long windy road he ate had to be three dimensional to have took to get there. In 2007, he the impact he sought. showed work in a group ex-
But Dixon was trained as a painter. hibition at the Pass Gallery, a
“Painting was my first passion, but commercial space located off at MICA I found that all of our paint- 16th Street NW while workings looked alike,” Dixon said. If he ing at his first job at The Philwere to do it all over again, “I would lips Collection. There he conhave studied sculpture instead.” Un- nected with one of the installers deterred by hindsight, Dixon’s crit- who worked for a local compaically acclaimed “Hoodies” series, ny called Artex. Dixon was so which earned him local and interna- taken by the work of the intionally acclaim, are in fact sculptures. stallers that he applied for and
Nehemiah Dixon, “White Hoodies”, from East City Art’s “CONFLUENCE Select” exhibition at Otis Street Art Studios, fall 2019.
eventually got hired by the company. He spent several years working on large-scale installations at world-class regional museums like the National Gallery of Art.
His next break came at Joe’s Movement Emporium in Mount Rainier, Maryland. His mother-in-law’s nonprofit partnered with Joe’s which is how he met Brooke Kidd, the organization’s executive director. While she wasn’t hiring at the time, Kidd contracted Dixon to teach a visual arts class and it very quickly led to Dixon being hired full-time as an arts instructor.
Dixon caught the attention of Barbara Johnson of neighboring Art Works Now where he eventually went to work as managing director. He was particularly interested in the arts organization as its mission focuses on social justice. Before Dixon could settle into his new position, major grant funding led to a creative placemaking initiative in Maryland’s Gateway Arts District called Art Lives Here. Once again, Dixon was thrust into a new leadership role. “This is when I learned to become an arts administrator,” he says, as he managed part of the massive year-long project and grant.
