Anita Hill and Mark Bradford pack the Rose

Artist Mark Bradford and Brandeis Professor Anita Hill held a conversation on blackness, art and their life experiences and approaches to their work in front of a standing room only crowd at the Rose Art Museum Oct. 24.

More than 200 people gathered in the Gerald S. and Sandra Fineberg Gallery, its walls covered by Bradford's "Sea Monsters" exhibition, to hear the discussion. Bradford also met with a small group of students for lunch before the event.

"You have to step out of your expertise, and partner and collaborate with other people who have expertise in areas you don't," Bradford said to the audience. "It will humble you and it will give them a sense of purpose and strength."

The conversation was part of an on-going series on art, blackness and diaspora funded by the Brandeis Arts Council and presented by the departments of Fine Arts and African and Afro-American Studies, and the Rose Art Museum.