Artist’s Statement: 

My recent art works have been collages and assemblages incorporating vintage photographs of African-Americans. I selected this violin because of its rich character and color of the wood. My great uncle, Robert Keyes, had a restaurant called 'The Libya' on West 139th Street in Harlem, New York. The Libya was a large, two-story house and the ground floor was the restaurant. The 1914 photograph is of the restaurant's band as they posed in the garden with each musician holding his instrument. The women played the piano and sang. The band performed popular songs of the day, waltzes and maybe even a ragtime tune.