Jay Hawkins Sr. (aka Cashis Green)

Jay Hawkins Sr. (aka Cashis Green) is a Buffalo-based artist and hip-hop emcee. Taking up painting and drawing from the age of two, art has been a way of life for Hawkins. In addition to the visual arts, he has channeled his creative energies into barbering, clothing design, and working as an emcee, rapper, and event coordinator in Buffalo’s hip-hop scene. He shares his gift and enthusiasm for art at community events and through a wide range of involvements in youth education, mentoring, and public speaking. He is the head of his own artistic brand, Revolutionary Strokes, LLC, youth director for the WNY Urban Arts Collective, and Director for Buffalo's Own, Inc. Hawkins is also co-founder of The Dopeness Project, which supports artist development by cultivating opportunities for collaboration and connection through events and art presentations. 

Hawkins has exhibited his visual art internationally and nationally, including in numerous galleries throughout the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls. In 2020, he participated in the Buffalo AKG Art Museum public art project Works, From Home. The collaborative mural project on West Chippewa Street was conceived during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic; participating artists were asked to create work in response to the early pandemic lockdown requirements. The final quilt-like installation speaks to both individual and collective experiences and "represents an even greater sense of community than the individual experiences and creative expressions could have captured in their distinct parts."[1]

[1] "Works, from Home," Buffalo AKG Art Museum, https://buffaloakg.org/community/ak-public-art/works-home