About Us

David and Dr. Constance Daw are people who love Black People and Black Culture and Black Art.

The couple shares a love for art and the Black American Family. Early in their marriage they discussed the desire to collect Black Art and support Black artists as a means to uplift their community and enhance their knowledge of Black history. As culture bearers of Black American experiences, it is important to them that cultural markers are held, valued and controlled by Black people; they want to be the owners of their own culture, despite to pervasive belief that art collecting is for the wealthy and the white.  

As they raise a family together, it is important to the Daws that their children are surrounded by positive and curated expressions of culture as they develop their unique identities. By growing up around Black Art, the Daws are providing their children with an endowment that is financial, intellectual and spiritual.

The purpose of this website is to share the love of art collecting as a hobby while also providing resources to educate potential collectors and supporting beloved artists represented in the Daw Collection.

David had a love for art at a young age. Wanting to become an artist himself, his mother enrolled him in art classes from master artist Al Doggett at the age of seven. He quickly learned that he had other gifts, and visual arts were not his strong suit. David continued to develop talents of expression as a trumpet player from elementary school through college, and photographer, serving as the photo editor of his college newspaper. 

Dr. Constance Daw has a degree in applied music and is a violinist, painter and poet. She enjoys art of all kinds and frequents theater, art galleries and museums. She taught music at the Stax Music Academy and currently leads an art-focused school. Constance believes that the creative arts bring her closer to the Divine, and seeks to reinforce community wellbeing through artistic expression.

Currently, the Daw Collection includes over 50 pieces of art – including originals and fine prints. The Daws are always on the lookout for impactful and inspiring art. 

The Daw Collection seeks to support and promote Black artists in the Pacific Northwest. There are great artists creating in the PNW, and they are often overlooked because they are not in markets like New York, Atlanta, Chicago or Los Angeles. Roughly half of the collection is dedicated to Black artists of the region. Through this method, the Daws engage and support efforts for Black community building. They enjoy getting to know the artists in their own communities, and learning “the why” behind their pieces. There is a particular joy in following artists and watching them grow over time. Part of the goal of the collection is to support artists financially, but also to encourage them to keep creating new works. It’s about making our cultural networks visible to each other, so that we know we are not alone.