Four Seattle artists will have their work on the walls of Arte Noir starting next week, part of a national celebration marking 50 years since Ntozake Shange first performed the choreopoem that would become Broadway's second play by a Black woman.

The exhibit, "Colored Girls for Colored Girls — Evolution of Expression," opens Wednesday, Aug. 19, at the nonprofit gallery and gift shop at 2301 E. Union St., Suite H, in the Central District. It features 33 works by 18 women artists inspired by Shange's groundbreaking "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf," which premiered in December 1974 outside Berkeley, California, and reached Broadway in 1976.

Seattle-based artists Adetola Abatan, Kendria Huff, Larissa Umulinga and Brenetta Ward are among the featured creators. Spokane's Tracy Poindexter-Canton rounds out the Northwest contingent.

Ward is a third-generation quilter, fabric artist and oral historian whose work has appeared at the Northwest African American Museum and Tacoma Art Museum. The Center for Washington Cultural Traditions selected her as one of 36 state artists preserving traditional arts through its 2024–25 Heritage Arts Apprenticeship Program. Abatan, a collage artist and Wa Na Wari residency alum, has shown work at the Seattle Deconstructed Art Fair, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery.

"This exhibit is reflective of the many ways in which Black women across generations remain connected to the life, work, and legacy of Ntozake Shange, and offers a rare opportunity for us to create new communities of Black creatives," Executive Director Jazmyn Scott said in a press release reported by MyNorthwest.

The show is Arte Noir's first major partnership with the Ntozake Shange Trust, connecting Seattle's Black arts community to commemorations happening coast to coast. Chicago's eta Creative Arts Foundation staged a production of the choreopoem this summer, and Lincoln Center's American Songbook series hosted a 50th anniversary concert in April.

An opening reception runs 3–5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23. Paul T. Williams Jr., Shange's brother and managing trustee of the Ntozake Shange Trust, will attend.

Arte Noir was founded in 2021 by veteran arts advocate Vivian Phillips and is led by her daughter, Scott. The gallery operates as a nonprofit where Black creatives receive 100% of net proceeds from goods sold in its shop. Its programming is supported by 4Culture and the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture.

The exhibit runs through Nov. 15. Arte Noir is open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.