Rhinold Ponder '81

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Rhinold Ponder '81

Arts Administrator, Arts Supporter, Curator, Painter, Poet, Professor, Visual Artist, Writer

Me in 50 words or less:
Artivist, lawyer, community leader and founder of Art Against Racism, an organization focused on social equity and justice through art.

Pronouns:
He/Him/His

Undergraduate Affiliations

Department: Politics
Certificates: African American Studies, Teacher Preparation

Bio

Rhinold Ponder ’81 is an artist, writer, activist, independent curator and lawyer based in Princeton, New Jersey. His interests are broad as reflected in his paintings, mixed media collages and most recently his work in wood sculpture. With a wide range of styles, he frequently focuses on humanity’s faith and will to overcome adversity. His most recent in-person gallery exhibit, at the Kehler-Liddell Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, “The Rise and Fail of the N-Word” focused on the language and physical manifestation of racism. The critically acclaimed exhibition made its debut at Princeton University at the Carl Field Center in 2014. Rhinold has exhibited in a variety of galleries, virtual exhibitions and alternative venues, largely on the east coast, over the past 19 years.

At 62, Rhinold has been a founding member of several arts and educational advocacy organizations. In 2020, he founded Art Against Racism, a non-profit organization whose mission is to employ art to inspire others to end racism and build an anti-racist society. He is a founding member of Princeton Makes, a recently established diverse artist cooperative. He also a co-founder of Princeton Parents for Black Children, a non-profit which advocates for equity for all Black children in the Princeton School District. Inspired by the response to the debut of “The Rise and Fail of the N-Word,” Rhinold created the “Beyond Black and White Discussion Group,” a Facebook community of 7200 members to promote critical and civil discussions on issues related to humanity and justice.

A graduate of Princeton University, where he earned an A.B. in politics, Rhinold achieved his juris doctorate from New York University Law School where he was the editor-in-chief of the NYU Review of Law and Social Change – the first African-American to head an NYU law review. He also achieved masters in Journalism and African American Studies while a Martin Luther King Fellow at Boston University.

Featured Project

Art Against Racism

Artist Statement

A viewer’s pained sighs; joyful pauses; thought-provoked headaches; reflexive reconsideration and double-takes. Your tears. These things define my creative practice.

I cry a lot when I paint. Sometimes joylessly; sometimes painfully, but my emotive response in the process always lets me know I have a chance to touch someone else with my work whether it is through a multi-colored painting mixing athletic form with drip and splatter technique or an abstract capturing the real pain of bodies drifting into the ocean during the Atlantic slave trade.

While my painting techniques are constantly evolving – for me the joy of practice is continual growth and experimentation – my current work reflects two strains of thought and provocation. Much of my work, acrylics and mixed media, reflects my love of explosive colorful abstract and expressionist work with a focus on humanity’s faith and will to overcome adversity. I am largely interested in expressions of hope and faith as unifying elements in a diverse society which I find in the human form in motion as in sports, dance, prayer and play.

I would like to share my expertise with:

  • Alumni

  • Students

Contact Rhinold Ponder