{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/m901z43n19/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Ronney Stevens Interview"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/571/original/full-color_2x.png?1735841768","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["The African American Network TV (TAAN TV)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eRonney Stevens talks about growing up in San Antonio and how early on art and drawing were part of his life. He shares how he used his talent “entrepreneurially” as a young person and talks about some of the turning points in his career. He discusses the San Antonio Ethnic Arts Society, how it gives back to the community and offers art scholarships for high school students.  \u003c/p\u003e (summary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eAll materials are for noncommercial educational or research uses only. Please contact SAAACAM for any questions regarding usage rights.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2017-09-27 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Interview"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["MP4"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["San Antonio Ethnic Arts Society","Doc Spellman","John Coleman","The original Carver Library","Cuney Elementary School"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Access Ss"]},"value":{"en":["access_restricted"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eRonney Stevens talks about growing up in San Antonio and how early on art and drawing were part of his life. He shares how he used his talent “entrepreneurially” as a young person and talks about some of the turning points in his career. He discusses the San Antonio Ethnic Arts Society, how it gives back to the community and offers art scholarships for high school students.  \u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eAll materials are for noncommercial educational or research uses only. Please contact SAAACAM for any questions regarding usage rights.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/571/original/full-color_2x.png?1735841768","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/245/322/small/300VoicesLTCollectionRonneyStevens.mp4_1720646305.jpg?1720646309","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2808/collection_resources/131068/file/245322","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - 300_Voices_LT_Collection_Ronney_Stevens.mp4"]},"duration":1026.64533,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/245/322/small/300VoicesLTCollectionRonneyStevens.mp4_1720646305.jpg?1720646309","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2808/collection_resources/131068/file/245322/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2808/collection_resources/131068/file/245322/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-saaacam.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/245/322/original/300_Voices_LT_Collection_Ronney_Stevens.mp4?1720646293","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":1026.64533,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2808/collection_resources/131068/file/245322","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2808/collection_resources/131068/file/245322/transcript/68571","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Ronney Stevens - Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2808/collection_resources/131068/file/245322/transcript/68571/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Transcript\r\nFor\r\nRonney Stevens\r\n09/27/2017\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  0:01  \r\nWelcome to another edition of 300 Voices in 300 Days on TAAN [The African American Network] TV. I'm your host, Vance Bradford, and our special guest today is Mr. Ronney Stevens. How are you doing Ronney? \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  0:14\r\nAll right, fine. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  0:15\r\nYes, sir. Okay. Tell you what, we're gonna jump right into our interview. Is that okay?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  0:19\r\nYes, sir. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  0:20\r\nAll right. All right. Tell me something: where were you born?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  0:22  \r\nI was born at Robert B. Green in San Antonio. Robert B. Green Hospital.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  0:27  \r\nOkay, so you were born and raised right here in San Antonio! \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  0:31  \r\nYes, sir, went to Cuney [Elementary School], all of that.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  0:32\r\nCuney?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  0:33\r\nCuney Elementary in Denver Heights.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  0:34  \r\nOkay. Denver heights, okay, okay. \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  0:36\r\nYes, sir. \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  0:38\r\nAll right. So is there a nickname for Cuney?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  0:43  \r\nIt’s Cuney Elementary. That's where everybody pretty much went there. The motorcycle driver, Duke, he was a traffic officer. He was a crosswalk guard there. So I guess that's where he started liking the badge. But a lot of people came through Cuney Elementary\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  1:06  \r\nCuney Elementary. All right, put– put Cuney out there. All right, tell you what, did you attend college anywhere, or– Tell me something about your education now.\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  1:18  \r\nI went to Brackenridge, I graduated from Brackenridge High in ‘74. Then I moved to Los Angeles and I attended college there. El Camino [College], Cerritos [College], Los Angeles Trade Tech [College], Otis Art Institute [Otis College of Art and Design], and the American Animation Institute where everybody goes and wants to work for Disney or Hanna Barbera, and I decided I like portraiture as opposed to Bugs Bunny.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford 1:50  \r\nOkay. All right. So explain on that portraiture that you just– [inaudible]\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  1:57  \r\nPortraiture, faces. I've done faces in Market Square. Realistic, not the caricatures, the cartoons, I do the realistic.\r\n\r\n\r\nUnknown Speaker  2:11 \r\nOkay. Lifelike?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  2:12  \r\nLifelike, yes sir. The kind where America's Most Wanted can pick you out of a crowd of people. [laughs] The realistic.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  2:21  \r\nSo you detailed? \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  2:23\r\nYes, sir. Yes, sir. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  2:24\r\nOkay. Okay. Sweet. So you– that what you– so tell me something. So what do you do now? What is– What are you doing? \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  2:34  \r\nCurrently, I– I’m a truck driver at 2:30 in the morning. After that, I come back and I converted my garage into my studio. So that's where I do my artwork. I’ve displayed at the– in the State Capitol in the lower Rotunda. I– they asked to look at my portfolio in the Austin Pastel Society, and I had pictures of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. And for some reason, they may have felt that I was a little militant. But then I showed all the portraits that I've done, and I've just– I've drawn African Americans, I've drawn Mexican Americans, and I've drawn Caucasians. So they saw that I could paint all genres and they allowed me, [as Austin Pastel Society] “Oh, well come on in. You could bring what you want to.” And that's how I got in, you know, to show that I was across the board. It just wasn't African Americans. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  3:47\r\nOkay. \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  3:48\r\nYeah, but I currently– the Big Bib’s Event Center, they bring renowned jazz artists in twice a month on Austin highway. So I paint the artists as they perform during the course of two shows. And at the end, the artist signs the picture, the owner keeps the original, and I get giclee prints made from that. And a portion of the proceeds go to making new prints and the other portion goes to local– local entities like the Children's Shelter. We've donated to public broadcasting, PBS, and– but mostly to give back to the community. We are part of San Antonio Ethnic Arts Society, which we do a scholarship for high school students, the duration of them being in high school and they're trained by professional artists that are acting as artists right now. So, yeah.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  4:58  \r\nThat’s very interesting there, Ronney! Yes sir. Yes, sir. Good, good. Now let me ask you this: Is there any way we could go and see some of your work or what– how can– how can we find you?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  5:11  \r\nI have a website. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  5:14\r\nReally? \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  5:15\r\nYes, naturally. Ronneystevensstudio.com.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford 5:19  \r\nOkay, okay.\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  5:21  \r\nI'm a member of San Antonio Ethnic Art Society. That was started by– let me get that right– Doc Spellman [F.L. “Doc” Spellman] and John Coleman. And it was started in Geralyn Williams’ living room, her husband was a judge. And they decided that the African American community needed to be represented in visual arts, and that's where they came up with the San Antonio Ethnic Art Society some 30 years ago. And it’s still going on today in San Antonio. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  6:00  \r\nWow. That’s very interesting. \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  6:01 \r\nYes, sir. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  6:01\r\nYes, sir. Okay, okay. Let me ask you this– well, let me– let me ask you this: What do you feel is your greatest contribution to the San Antonio community?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  6:13  \r\nHmmm. Well, I'm part of San Antonio. I– I grew up on the East Side of San Antonio. I was born at Robert B. Green. And they have a Carver Library across the street here. But originally, if I'm not mistaken, it was on the corner of Hackberry [Street] and Center. That was the original Carver Library and it was also the original NAACP meeting place. And the first time I went in there, I went in there with some cutoff pants, I was barefooted, and I wanted to check out some books. I used to draw comic book heroes like Thor. And because of that, I realized that he was from Greek mythology. So I– it led me to the library, I wanted a book on Greek mythology. The lady gave me the Cat in the Hat, Curious George, Greek mythology, and up under the bottom, she slipped a book that I know I didn't pick out. But it was the writings of Langston Hughes. And I got home and that's where I liked that poem, “A Mother to her Son.” But I am the East Side, from the Sutton Homes to Cuney, Brackenridge [High School], to where I am today. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  7:39  \r\nOkay. Wow, that's tight. That's tight. Now, getting back to your artistry, what– what made you choose that path to?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  7:51  \r\nWell, again, I was born in San Antonio, and I lived on the East Side. And the East Side– not all parts of the East Side, as I mentioned, Sutton Home– but what it was, was, I mentioned that I drew comic book heroes. I would– my money was a little– little challenged. So what I would do is entrepreneurship. I would draw comic book heroes for other kids that had lunch money. So I’d get some of they lunch money so I could buy me lunch. But what I would do was use brown paper bags. And I would draw things that I didn't have. And I had an unlimited supply of art paper. But eventually, it's– it’s really God-given. I've– I’ve had a pencil in my hand since I was actually about three years old. My aunt was a school teacher, she would sit me in a corner with a piece of paper and a pencil. And I could remember, she would give me a letter wrote in cursive. And I could write my name in cursive in the first grade, but they discovered that I was drawing the letters. So it’s God-given. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  9:12  \r\nWow. That’s– \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  9:13\r\nYes, sir.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  9:14\r\nYes. That's special. That is special, yeah. Wow, man. That's– that's great. That's great moves. Tell you what. Why do you think it's important for us as African Americans to tell our story?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  9:30  \r\nIt’s part of history. As a matter of fact, tell me this: Do you know anything about your great grandfather? Do you know anything about your grandmother? Did they ever tell you stories? \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  9:44\r\nYes, yes.\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  9:46\r\nOkay, so that's how they passed history down to you. My grandmother– we didn't have– I didn't have a television till I was like 10 years old. But I remember watching TV over at other people's house. But our entertainment without television was talking. And my grandmother would give me a history of– from picking cotton, how my mother was picking cotton and she picked up, and it was a rattlesnake in front of her. And all she could do was lean backwards and throw the cotton sack in front of her and holler, “Snake!” and other people came and killed it. But stories like that was actually better than television. But this is how our history gets told. But it existed. It's where we came from. And it needs to be told just– just like they told it to us, we need to tell it to our children and grandchildren. I think it’s extremely important. Yes, sir.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  10:51  \r\nSo– so you think marlin tech– excuse me– modern technology, you know, like, say the cell phones and this social media stuff has kind of taken our kids' interests away? And then– and we, as the older generation, you know, they’re trying to learn this, you know, to communicate with the young kids. What do you think? How is– that– that gap was–\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  11:15  \r\nWell, technology. Look at the average young person, they have their cell phone, walking across the street in front of a car. They have they cell phone at the dinner table unless you tell them, “Put it down till we get through eating.” And it's kind of taking the place of– even young kids with iPads– it’s taking the place of conversation and that knowledge. Yes, sir.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  11:42  \r\nYes, sir. What do you feel is your greatest contribution to San Antonio? \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  11:48  \r\nMy greatest contribution? I– well, I was in Los Angeles. And like I said, I lived there for 30 years. And I finally got to the point where I had joined the artist group where they only accept 12% of their– of the applicants every year. And the applicants that join, they get to display artwork in Beverly Hills and what have you. And the [gestures with finger quotes] “powers that be” that were over, you know, determining who could make the group, told me that it would behoove me to submit an application. In other words, I might be a shoo-in. And I was presented with that opportunity. But then a relative of mine had stated the condition of my relatives in San Antonio, one of them being my mother, my uncles, that they were getting up in age. So I was poised [sic] with– with a dilemma of do I try to go to Beverly Hills and be this artist, or do I go back to San Antonio, and take care of my relatives? So I met a young– a older gentleman one day and I told him what I was facing. He says, “Son, well I’ma tell you this. I was faced with that problem one day. My mother was sick, and I was trying to decide whether to move back and take care of her.” And he said, “By the time I decided, I found out I was about 30 days too late.” And that's all it took for me to decide that I needed to move back here to take care of mine. I helped three uncles, a aunt, and a mother. And I raised two of my grandkids with the help of my wife that is– she recently passed last year from breast cancer. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  13:54 \r\nI’m sorry to hear that.\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  13:54\r\nBut it was a blessing. You know, that was a blessing within itself. But by moving back to San Antonio, I was able to do all of those things and my art. I've been able to do everything I thought I could have done in Beverly Hills and more. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  14:13\r\nThere you go. \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  14:14\r\nYes, sir. Yes, sir.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  14:14  \r\nThat's good. Good. Okay, so now we– we in San Antonio. Spurs fan?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  14:26  \r\nI like [Manu] Ginobili. Ginobili– me and Ginobili might give anybody a run for they money. But I was– ironically, when I was in Los Angeles, I would let them know that I was from San Antonio, but I've been a Lakers fan since black and white TV. But it was only because in the late 60s, San Antonio didn't have a team, so there was only Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell on television. So I chose Wilt Chamberlain ‘cause his name was everywhere. But I'm a Laker fan from way back way back when– when Jerry West was a player, you know, he’s the emblem on the NBA [National Basketball Association]. Yeah. Yes, sir.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  15:16  \r\nRight, right, right, right. He's the logo. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Okay. Well, you know, this has been a great interview, Ronney, Mr. Stevens. \r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  15:26\r\nI’ve enjoyed it, I’ve enjoyed it.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  15:27\r\nYes, sir. But before I let you go, is there any one more– You've been dropping nuggets on this all night. So is there anything you would like to say to the people in San Antonio or the young kids and maybe– maybe youngsters out there looking to be an artists one day or trying to become one, what would you– what kind of advice would you give?\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  15:49  \r\nWhat I would say to anyone being from San Antonio, not only African Americans, be it white, Black, even if a Martian came down being green, if you have a desire to do something, just apply yourself. Find out all that you could find out about it. Like, when I wanted to go into art, what I would do is I would go and ask the artists. And I was fortunate enough to meet some artists that would share knowledge with me and tell me how to go to this step and the next step. So that old saying, ask and– and ye shall seek and ye shall find– you got to look for it, you know. Yeah, but it's there. It can be done. Yeah.\r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  16:46  \r\nWell, Mr. Stevens, man, it's been great talking to you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.\r\n\r\n\r\nRonney Stevens  16:52  \r\nIt’s my pleasure. Thank you. \r\n\r\n\r\nVance Bradford  16:53  \r\nWell, you guys have it. It's been another edition of 300 Voices in 300 Days on TAAN TV. I'm your host, Vance Bradford, and our special guest, Mr. Ronney Stevens.\r\n\r\n\r\nTranscribed by https://otter.ai","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://saaacam.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2808/collection_resources/131068/file/245322#t=0.0,1026.64533"}]}]}]}