About No Permission Needed Art
M. Gasby Brown
Television Correspondent for BET & FOX. Nationally known Fundraising Executive. Wife. Mother. Christian. Professor. Harvard Graduate. MIT Trained Communications Expert. These are a few of M. Gasby Brown’s accomplishments. Now add self-taught VISUAL ARTIST.
Gasby Brown has been the New York Correspondent for BET, a reporter for Fox Television’s WNYW in New York, where she was a Financial Correspondent for “The McCreary Report”, host of WNYC-TV’s “Black Viewpoint” and host of “Starz Talk!” a syndicated radio show distributed to 250 stations across the country. She holds an MPA from Harvard University where she specialized in Communications Management. She conducted advanced research in New Communications Technology at MIT and participated in its renowned Media Lab. Brown has served as an adjunct professor at City College, where her highly popular courses in Black Rhetoric, Argumentation and Debate, and Communications enlightened students from a myriad of nationalities and cultures.
Ms. Brown has made her mark as an executive at national organizations such as Greenpeace, National Urban League, and the Washington National Opera, bringing innovative and strategic programs that have remained in place. A natural risk taker, Gasby Brown founded THE GASBY GROUP, INC. in 2002, of which she is the Chairman & CEO.
And yet, with all of this, in July of 2002, she began to paint. “For several months, I had a recurring dream about painting trees and other objects. Even when I was awake, the images of painting were vivid and continued to haunt me” Gasby recalls. She made the courageous decision to align the vision with reality and started her painting journey. She had never painted before. Her first painting was, indeed, a tree.
Entirely self-taught and inspired by visions, dreams, ideas, life experiences, and worldview, Gasby has become a prolific artist, painting over 600 pieces, capturing a variety of genres including abstract, realism, and expressionism. Gasby has drawn particular inspiration from art greats William Tolliver, Annie Lee. and Jacob Lawrence while establishing her own signature painting style with the mixed media works of her “Praise” and “Celebration” series.
Since embarking on her artistic journey, her works have been included in exhibits with artists James Denmark, Joseph Holston, Ted Ellis, Paul Goodnight, Charles Bibbs, and Poncho Brown. Her debut art show in Washington DC, NO PERMISSION NEEDED 2004, was a rousing success and quickly established a broad base of collectors across the country. In addition to being a featured artist at Visions Gallery in Georgetown, Gasby’s art was highlighted on the nationally televised Renovate My Place produced by Al Roker Productions and received coverage in The Gazette newspaper that is published by The Washington Post. She has been selected as the featured “Black History Month Artist” 2 years in a row by Art & Frame Gallery in Fort Washington, Maryland. Gasby Brown has been commissioned by national and international organizations to use her works as images for signature fundraising events and projects. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines invited Gasby to participate in its 5 city auction tour to benefit inner-city arts programs. She was hand-picked by the County Executive of Prince George’s County to be one of five artists to be featured for the Women’s History Month Celebration 2005. In February 2006, three of her works were exhibited by the renowned Just Lookin’ Gallery at the National Black Fine Arts Show in New York City. Her products featuring her art have been carried at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport bookstores where she was featured as an in-person author. She is also represented by The Carlos Reid Gallery. In 2014 Gasby celebrated her 10th year of painting and creating at the famous Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, where she also celebrated her Detroit roots with her Life In a Frame Awards. With over 450 of her pieces owned by people across the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, owners of her art represent an elite group of collectors including art lovers. celebrities, sports figures, as well as corporate, civic, and religious leaders.
Gasby resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, and partner, Kenneth R. Brown.
“There are artists whose work wants to engage your intellect and artists whose work bypasses all that analytical brain activity and goes straight to the heart. M. Gasby Brown’s work comes from, and speaks to, the heart.”
— Pearl Cleage, Award-Winning Playwright & Best-Selling Author
Highlights
February 2006: Works selected for exhibition 10th Anniversary National Black Fine Art Show - New York City
February 2006: Featured Artist - Black History Month Exhibition - "No Permission Needed" 2006 - curated by Petrushka Bazin Art & Frame Gallery, Fort Washington, MD
May 2006: The National Black Leadership Roundtable selected Gasby Brown as the commissioned artist for their TV One television show, "When Black Folks Vote," and the campaign to register 5 million black voters.
June 2006: Gasby Brown completed Art of Praise featuring Bible scriptures and her art.
2007: Art of Praise published, book signing and art show, Key Gallery, Fort Washington, MD
2008: Featured Artist for Black History Month, Prince George's Art Council
2009: Art open house benefitting Art Pieces to Masterpieces, United Cerebral Palsy, WBO Prince George's County
2010: Featured Artist, Amber Tree Art Gallery, National Harbor, MD
2011: Art of Praise Second Printing
2012: Art pieces featured a Michael Hairston Art Gallery, Silver Spring, MD
2013: Art of Praise selected for display at Hartsfield/Jackson International Airport, Buckhead Bookstores, Atlanta, GA
2014: 10th Anniversary Art Exhibition & Tribute to Detroit's, Willard Hotel, Washington, DC Launch of "No Permission Needed" Lifestyle-Home Decor based on original fine art by M. Gasby Brown
2015: Featured Visual Artist, Fuller Theological Seminary 40th Anniversary & Dedication Celebration for the Pannell Center for African American Church Studies
2018-2019: Exhibited at Art Avenue, National Harbor, Maryland
2020: Selected as an artist for The Carlos Reid Gallery-New York, Atlanta
2023: Selected to participate in an art workshop/retreat in the South of France
2024:
Overlook Gallery- Summit, New Jersey; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Gallery, Hanover, New Jersey;
Bethel University, Minneapolis /Saint Paul, Minnesota