Meet The Artist
Olivia Callender has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Hailing from an artistic family, the Brooklyn-based artist is constantly creating. She is practiced in both traditional and digital media and loves how different mediums can express certain emotions and stories in their own unique way. Trained at the Parsons School of Design, Olivia dreams of becoming a children’s book author and illustrator, as visual storytelling is her passion.
“As an athlete and person of color, I understand the importance of preserving Black sports history," said Olivia. "Working on the Black Fives Home Court Collection as a guest artist gave me the chance to help honor that legacy.”
"Our connection with Olivia was through a chance encounter at a Greenwich Village café," said Black Fives founder Claude Johnson. "That sparked the idea for a guest artist collab series, starting with Olivia's visually charming façades, which bring life to these historically important African-American basketball venues, some of which sadly no longer exist."