\u201cGardens of Huemanity\u201d is on view for free at Axis Gallery through Sunday, March 1. A public reception is scheduled for 5-8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, during which visitors can meet Brown and experience work by other exhibiting artists in the space.<\/p>\n
Brown says the spelling \u201cHuemanity\u201d is intentional and represents identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI paint from a Black lens,\u201d Brown says. \u201cI\u2019m African American. My work comes from that cultural perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
The title also carries a more personal element: a tribute to her mother, who died in 2018.<\/p>\n
An English teacher who worked with underserved and at-risk youth, her mother often invited Brown into her classroom as a guest poet. She tended to her students, Brown says, the way a gardener tends soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a gardener of humanity,\u201d Brown explains. \u201cShe tended to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
That memory is at the heart of the exhibition. Brown\u2019s paintings move through aquatic, terrestrial, and celestial environments. In them you see deep waters, open roads, intergalactic expanses. Black figures appear in places often denied to them historically: in space, in myth, in imagined futures.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, Afrofuturism is spiritual and cultural aesthetics,\u201d Brown says. \u201cIt\u2019s history, and then letting your imagination take over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Water recurs in her work and she explains that it has a powerful meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deeper the ocean goes, the deeper self-analysis goes,\u201d she says. \u201cThe monsters get bigger. The secrets get darker.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Delgreta](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/02092026_LB_Delgreta-Brown-1.jpg\")
Delgreta Brown in the center of Axis Gallery exhibition space with her work, \u201cGardens of Huemanity,\u201d hangs around, Feb. 9. Louis Bryant III OBSERVER<\/p>\n
Everything in her work has a purpose.<\/p>\n
In one recently completed painting, a lone figure walks down a road emerging from clouds, dropping jewels behind him. The piece is titled \u201cDropping Jewels,\u201d slang for sharing knowledge.<\/p>\n
She began the painting years ago but felt compelled to finish it recently as debates around education and truth intensified.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowledge is under attack,\u201d she says. \u201cSo the jewels became important.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another piece still in progress, a half-visible octopus stretches across a circular canvas. Some viewers might question the departure from human form, but Brown sees symbolism.<\/p>\n
\u201cOctopuses are highly intelligent. They feel their world,\u201d she explains. \u201cEven animals have something to teach us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tentacles become neural networks. Deep-sea creatures become metaphors for subconscious exploration. Everything holds meaning.<\/p>\n
Brown describes her creative process as immersive and intuitive. She works on multiple canvases at once, rotating between them as energy shifts. Music plays constantly, often \u201970s and \u201980s soul, rich with live instruments and layered textures.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is frequency,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I\u2019m trying to paint love and beauty, I can\u2019t be listening to something low-vibrational.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Axis Gallery exhibition marks a significant moment for Brown as an artist. After years of youth mentorship, coordinating poetry competitions, participating in public art initiatives, and serving on arts committees, she is consciously redirecting her energy toward her studio practice.<\/p>\n
![\"Delgreta](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/02092026_LB_Delgreta-Brown-50.jpg\")
Delgreta Brown in front of Axis Gallery where her exhibition of \u201cGardens of Huemanity\u201d hangs in Sacramento, Feb. 9. Louis Bryant III OBSERVER<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve given a lot,\u201d she says. \u201cNow I want to give my art the focus it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gallery, a 35-year-old membership-run space, is free to the public, which Brown values deeply.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis space belongs to the community,\u201d Axis President Roma Devanbu says. \u201cSupporting art is choosing vitality, not just survival.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Brown, such an approach matches her goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all sharing this turf,\u201d she says. \u201cNo one owns anything. So why are we fighting about belonging?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her answer is not an argument; it is imagery. Black bodies in space. Roads through clouds. Jewels of knowledge. Tentacled wisdom rising from the deep.<\/p>\n
She sees society at a crossroads, torn between division and unity. She believes everyone has something to offer and that each person can use their own skills to help heal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can be our own version of the Avengers,\u201d she says. \u201cBut you have to want to assemble.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, she paints. She plants color like seeds. And she tends, carefully, to her garden.Artists interested in joining the Axis Gallery can contact Devanbu at romadevanbu@gmail.com<\/a> or Fiona K. Lau at Fionakylau@hotmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Delgreta Brown called herself a painter, she was a teenager making $50 a gig as a youth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[85902,912,85903,121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-181215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-afrofuturism","9":"tag-carousel","10":"tag-delgreta-brown","11":"tag-sacramento","12":"tag-sacramento-headlines","13":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}