The Medium of Memory: Kenneth Gatewood

August 8 – September 30, 2026 · Arts @ Delicious at The Dunbar

“Watercolor doesn’t forgive mistakes. Neither does memory.”

Kenneth Gatewood paints in watercolor, a medium that doesn’t forgive mistakes and doesn’t let you cover anything up. He’s spent decades using it to hold onto what a neighborhood refuses to forget. This show brings together three sides of his work: portraits of jazz and soul legends who once filled the rooms of this very hotel, tender everyday scenes of neighborhood children, and a smaller set of deeper pieces on civil rights and endurance. Together they read like the movements of a song, each one distinct, all of them part of the same story.

The show runs through the season of the 31st Annual Central Avenue Jazz Festival, where Gatewood appears as the featured artist at the Arts Pavilion on September 19. Every Sunday during the run, The Dunbar’s live jazz showcase (2:30–4:30 PM) brings the room to life the way it once did decades ago, with a fresh voice on the mic each week. No formal opening, no single big night — just a show that unfolds one Sunday at a time, in the building where so much of this history actually happened.

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