Kerry James Marshall paintings sell at auction for millions of dollars. But Minnesota-based curator and collector Esther Callahan has a slightly more affordable plan. When the U.S. Postal Service releases its 49th Black Heritage stamp in 2026, featuring Marshall’s portrait of poet Phyllis Wheatley, Callahan will head to her local post office to buy a stack of sheets.
“I can’t collect an original Kerry James Marshall,” she said. But “I can get a whole bunch of those. I can frame that and be like, I got Kerry James Marshall in my house.”
The project reflects Callahan’s efforts, along with her friend Keisha Williams, to expand what art collecting looks like and rethink who gets to be a collector. Together they are the BLK Collectors, aiming to preserve, reclaim and celebrate Black creativity.
“We’re about finding pathways to enter the world of collecting, which doesn’t have to be buying the million-dollar painting,” Williams said during a recent Zoom interview. “It can be collecting prints, going to local art fairs, building relationships, going to studios, going to sales, going to Art-A-Whirl, and seeing what’s available.”
“Our ancestors knew what it was to build community and support from within,” she said. “So how do we step in at this moment and say, ‘This is where our values are and this is where our money should be going.’”
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Callahan and Williams met at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, when Williams was the curatorial department assistant and artist liaison and Callahan was a curatorial affairs fellow.
They were part of a team that curated Mia’s “Mapping Black Identities,” which opened in 2019. As a part of the exhibition, they invited participants who shared the artists’ cultural and ethnic backgrounds to shape the visitor experience. They saw the project as a model for how museums could strengthen cultural competency and community engagement.
After her time at Mia, Callahan spent five years as co-director of the Emerging Curators’ Institute and now curates independently. Williams is the director and curator at Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s galleries and exhibitions. But the work they did together is still an important connection point, Williams said. “We’re still rooted in being part of a community supporting artists that we live and work with, and really uplifting Black and BIPOC voices in everything that we do.”
When Mia opened “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” (see my piece about it here), something sparked for Williams and Callahan.
Beatz and Keys “flat out said they were told to collect white artists. They were told to invest in Warhol, because it was just about investment, not about a reflection of society, not a reflection of their own culture,” Callahan said. “They’re an influential couple that could do something about it. So they decided to shift what artwork they owned, and who they owned it from.”
Conversations inspired by the show helped crystallize BLK Collectors’ mission. “It was a prime opportunity to say, OK, people are talking now in a more open way than maybe what we’ve seen in the past,” Callahan said. “People are intrigued. So now’s the time.”
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At the June 2025 Soul of the Southside Festival, the BLK Collectors curated an exhibition that featured artwork by local artists of color at affordable prices. More recently, Callahan and Williams are featured in Soo Visual Arts Center’s annual “Collect Call” exhibition, inviting Minnesota collectors to share some of their pieces with the public.
Historically, collectors have made a donation to “pay” for their wall at SooVAC, but Callahan proposed an alternative approach, asking a donor to cover the cost for collectors who can’t afford it.
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Esther Callahan’s wall L to R: Eyenga Bokamba @eyengabokamba, Christopher Harrison @christophereharrisonartist, Stephanie Watts @wattsupvp, Sammy Jean Wilson @sammyjeanw, Yvette Griffea-Gray @7yvelen, and Nailah @just.nailah. -
Keisha Williams’ wall L to R: Anika Hsiung 熊 Schneider @anika.h.schneider, Jill Kittock @jillkittock, Valton Murray #valtonmurray, Lindsey Kusterman @lindseykusterman, Genessis Roxanne Lopez @genlopezart, Suyao Tian @suyaotian
SooVAC director Carolyn Payne liked the idea and offered BLK Collectors two walls.
For hers, Callahan chose to feature prints by Black artists. “It was really important for me to show that you can have and collect really beautiful work that doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg,” she said.
Williams approached her wall as “a story about collecting.” As someone who has been collecting her entire life, from folk art to Snoopy figurines, she wanted to include a true variety. She chose pieces like a ceramic by Annika Schneider and an early watercolor by Suyao Tian to display alongside pieces she’s purchased online. “It’s all about ‘there is no right way to collect art,’” Williams said.
On Nov. 6, SooVAC will host an event led by Payne and BLK Collectors focused on how to start an art collection and become more engaged with contemporary art, including building connections. “We’re talking about background, significance, provenance, and how to support local [artists],” Callahan said.
The idea, they say, is to make collecting more accessible for everyone.
The event takes place Thursday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. at SooVAC, 2909 Bryant Ave. S., Minneapolis (free). Reserve your spot here.
The post Duo aims to make art collection accessible and affordable appeared first on MinnPost.
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