Our New “Home Courts” Collection Features Guest Artist Olivia Callender
Our First-Ever Guest Artist Collab Came About By Chance
This holiday season, we’re merging art, history, and heritage in a whole new way!
Introducing our first guest artist collab: the evocative architectural façade illustrations of Olivia Callender meet the history of the Black Fives Era in our new “Home Court Collection” for Holiday 2025!
Historic Home Basketball Courts of the Black Fives Era
Olivia’s artwork celebrates a curated series of seven historical pre-NBA venues where early African American basketball teams once played their home games. The Washington Bears played at Joe Turner’s Arena (DC), the Philadelphia Panthers played at Musical Fund Hall (Philly), the Monticello Athletic Association played at Union Labor Temple (Pittsburgh), the Savoy Big Five played at the Savoy Ballroom (Chicago), the Smart Set Athletic Club played at the 14th Regiment Armory (Brooklyn), the Los Angeles Red Devils played at Olympic Auditorium (LA), and the New York Rens played at the Renaissance Ballroom (Harlem). These venues were more than courts, serving as community epicenters where sport, music, and social progress came together in culturally meaningful ways.
From Venues To Capsule
With these venues as inspiration, we transformed Olivia’s artwork into a product collection designed to tell their stories. Each illustration is paired with a corresponding team logo to create a unique capsule that serves as a platform for visual historical storytelling – on canvas prints, long sleeve tees, raglan baby tees, totes, and ceramic mugs.
Meet The Artist
Olivia Callender has been drawing for as long as she can remember, and her ability to render buildings with personality and charm made her the perfect artist to portray these long-forgotten vintage basketball venues. Hailing from an artistic family, the Brooklyn-based artist is constantly creating. She is practiced in both traditional and digital media and loves how different mediums can express certain emotions and stories in their own unique way. Trained at the Parsons School of Design, Olivia dreams of becoming a children’s book author and illustrator, as visual storytelling is her passion.
The project began with a simple conversation that seemed meant to happen. “Our connection with Olivia came about through a chance encounter at a Greenwich Village café,” said Black Fives founder Claude Johnson. “Looking at her portfolio and talking it over sparked the idea for a guest artist collab series. We felt her visually charming façades could bring new life to these historically important African American basketball venues, some of which sadly no longer exist.”
The collection features both a panoramic composition of all seven venues and individual pieces for those who want to spotlight a particular story or location.
“As an athlete and person of color, I understand the importance of preserving Black sports history,” said Olivia. “Working on the Black Fives Home Court Collection as a guest artist gave me the chance to help honor that legacy.”
Bring The Home Courts Home For The Holidays
Explore the entire Home Court Collection now at the Black Fives Online Fan Shop! Check out a few of the items below.
Gifts With A Story
Whether you are a basketball fan, history buff, culture aficionado, architecture maven, or art lover, each of the items in the Black Fives Home Court Collection can serve as its own conversation starter. Bring a piece of basketball history home for the holidays!
Make History Now!