Ford Foundation Gives a Major Contribution of $3 Million to African Art Museum

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by:Elsie McCabe Thompson



NEW YORK, N.Y.- Elsie McCabe Thompson, president, the Museum for African Art, announced that the Museum has received a major contribution of $3 million from the Ford Foundation. The grant supports the final stage of construction of the Museum’s new building, which is located on Fifth Avenue at 110th Street and has been designed by the New York City-based Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP.

In recognition of the Foundation’s generosity, the Museum will name the lobby of the building—which opens in fall 2011—the “Ford Foundation Lobby.” With its contribution, the Foundation joins other generous private donors to the Museum, including David Rockefeller, John Tishman, and the Walt Disney Company, among others, and brings to $76 million the total raised for the $90 million project.

Mrs. McCabe Thompson stated, “The Museum for African Art is thrilled to find in the Ford Foundation a partner that shares its commitment to bringing the full spectrum of Africa’s arts and cultures to diverse audiences in New York City and beyond. We are deeply grateful to the Foundation for this generous and important gift, which provides critical support for completion of our new building. Ford’s vision and generosity will be a compelling example for others.”

Ford Foundation President Luis A. Ubiñas adds, “The Ford Foundation is delighted to support the Museum for African Art in this important and timely project. The Foundation is committed to nurturing art and education initiatives that reflect the cultural richness of our society. The Museum has advanced broad understanding of that richness through its exhibitions, publications, and programs, which have reached millions of people. The Ford Foundation is proud that its name will be among those welcoming visitors to the new Museum for African Art.”

Building Project

The Museum for African Art is internationally recognized as a preeminent source of exhibitions and publications related to traditional and contemporary African art and culture. Since opening to the public in 1984, it has operated from three different locations in New York City: on the Upper East Side (1984–92), in the SoHo district (1992–2002), and in Long Island City, Queens. In 2002, it closed its gallery space in Queens in order to focus on developing plans for its new, larger facility. Today, as it prepares to move into its new quarters—the first that it will own—the Museum is expanding the size and scope of its programs in anticipation of larger and more diverse audiences.

The Museum’s Fifth Avenue home will link the northern end of Manhattan’s “Museum Mile” with Harlem, one of the country’s historic and contemporary centers of African-American culture. Comprising some 75,000 square feet of space, the public areas of the new building will include about 15,000 square feet of gallery space; the Ford Foundation Lobby, which contains 5,000 square feet of informal exhibition space, in addition to ticketing and information services; a 245-seat theater; an education center; a shop; and a restaurant. An outdoor plaza across from the northeast corner of Central Park will provide additional space for public programs.


Florence Museum celebrates artist Johnson’s 110th birthday

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By DWIGHT DANA

FLORENCE N.C. — The trustees of the Florence Museum are holding a 110th birthday party for the late and noted artist William H. Johnson, a Florence native, Saturday at 2 p.m. on the lawn of the museum.

The trustees also will unveil their most recent acquisition at the party, which free and open to the public.

Never heard of William H. Johnson? Take a gander at some of the accomplishments of the 1918 graduate of Wilson High School:

He is featured prominently in every major American art history text.

He is considered one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century.

Florence is the only city in South Carolina that can boast of such an important native artist.

He could paint as beautifully and realistically as Rubens or Rembrandt, but he made a conscientious decision to paint with the simple, direct intensity of folk art in order to best document scenes of daily life of African-Americans.

His use of bright colors and large shapes, repeating lines, and patterns ultimately sparked a new movement in modern American painting.

He was celebrated as a major American artist in New York’s “Harlem Renaissance.”

He played an integral role in creating opportunities and acceptance for other black artists.

He was hugely successful in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s.

Johnson’s work was strongly influenced by Van Gogh, Cezanne and Soutine.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has more work created by him than any other individual artist. It houses over 1,000 of Johnson’s works.

First lady Michelle Obama selected a William H. Johnson painting to hang in the White House.

But in recognizing and studying the work of William H. Johnson, the impression he leaves on children is the biggest deal of all.

Dr. Hunter Stokes is the chairman of the museum’s board of trustees. He became involved with Johnsonwhen he was serving on the state museum’s board of directors.

“Not many people have a 110th birthday party,” he said with a laugh. “William Johnson is probably the best known person to come out of Florence one of the three most outstanding black artists in the country. I’m looking forward to the party and hope we have a good turnout.”

Stokes said the acquisition that will be unveiled Saturday “is by far the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen” and among the top three he ever did.

Johnson recognized early that his aspirations were to become an artist. After graduating from Wilson High School in 1918, he moved to New York City, where he was admitted to the National Academy of Design, a prestigious art school. He excelled in painting, studying with noted artist Charles Webster Hawthorne.

Johnson graduated in 1926 and with private funds raised by Hawthorne he departed for France to further his studies.

Johnson met Danish artist Holcha Krake in 1926. She was skilled in weaving and ceramics. They were married in 1930 in Denmark and spent most of the 1930s in Scandinavia. Here Johnson’s interests in primitivism and folk art began to have a noticeable impact on his work.

Johnson returned to New York in 1938 and set up a studio in Harlem. His French-inspired European landscapes and portraits attracted the attention of the New York art world.

His fame soon spread when he received a Harmon Foundation gold medal. News of his award appeared in major newspapers across the country and even his hometown of Florence

He had visited Florence in the early 1930s. During this visit, Johnson was given the chance to exhibit his work for one day at the Florence YMCA.

Johnson’s search for home and heritage was grounded in his Southern roots. The South was the source of his deep-seated memories of endless fields of cotton and tobacco, one-room wooden shacks, rickety wagons pulled by powerful mules and oxen, and stoic, denim-clad farm workers.

Johnson’s paintings repositioned the standard folk narratives about rural people and the South along an incredibly modern style by using simplified, colorful forms.

Johnson’s first major solo exhibition in New York opened in May 1941 – the first time most of his African-American, folk-inspired paintings were shown. The exhibition was reviewed by the two major art journals and by all the large daily newspapers in New York.

Johnson said his personal philosophy “is to express in a natural way what I feel, what is in me, both rhythmically and spiritually, all that which in time has been saved up in my family of primitiveness and tradition, and which is now concentrated in me.”

Johnson’s wife died in 1944. He was hospitalized at the Long Island’s Central Islip State Hospital in the late 1940s. He spent 23 years there before his death in 1970.

The Florence Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.The museum is located at 558 Spruce St. and the website is www.florencemuseum.org.

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Resonate! Afternoon Series Explores Culture in African Diaspora

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This April, Lincoln Center’s Meet the Artist joins New York University’s Institute of African American Affairs to present Resonate! African America in Sound and Story, four, FREE, Wednesday after-school programs that will explore the cultural connections of the African Diaspora today. Each hour-long (4-5 p.m.) program features a performance by a noted African or African-American artist, followed by discussion and questions and answers moderated by Meklit Hadero, Artist-in-Residence of New York University’s Institute of African American Affairs. Tom Dunn, Director of the David Rubenstein Atrium said, “Lincoln Center is delighted to be partnering with NYU to present this series which is geared towards teens and college-aged students. ‘Resonate’ is an outgrowth of Lincoln Center’s long-running Meet the Artist School Series’ and the newest addition to on-going initiatives at the Atrium to bring free arts and events to the community.

“On April 6 African-American vocalist Chanda Rule and African vocalist Somi perform Listening to Roots & Voicing Branches, a multi-media work combining video, story and song that attempts to redress intra-racial tensions in the African Diaspora by exploring the cultural memory of various strands of the Black Atlantic experience.
April 13 features acclaimed singer/songwriter/guitarist Toshi Reagon, whose unique sound reflects a distinctive approach to rock, blues, R&B, country, folk, spirituals and funk, with a message that reaches deep into the heart and soul.

The April 20th program offers a solo dance performance by visionary dancer/choreographer, Zimbabwe-born Nora Chipaumire, (pictured) in work that breaks down all sorts of boundaries as it explores the meanings of identity in a complex world. The award-winning artist has performed and collaborated with Urban Bush Women, Anna Deveare Smith, and Thomas Mapfumo and his band.

The concluding program on April 27, And Lay Duo, is a special collaborative project by two members of the internationally-renowned Ethiopian funk and groove collective, Debo Band-Ethiopian-born saxophonist Danny Mekonnen and Boston percussionist Adam Clark. The two will premiere traditional Ethiopian folk songs and original compositions.

Now in its 31st season, Lincoln Center’s Meet the Artist School Series gives New York area students in grades Kindergarten through 12 the opportunity to learn about the performing arts and experience the arts first-hand from professional artists in diverse artistic disciplines. The series serves more than 20,000 school children annually with programs at Lincoln Center that combine a performance, participation, and carefully-prepared curriculum materials for teachers, as well as an optional tour of Lincoln Center.

In addition to the Meet the Artist School Series, Lincoln Center has introduced a number of Free community programs as offshoots of the series. Meet the Artist Saturdays, a family program, takes place on the first Saturday of each month in the David Rubenstein Atrium; the Meet the Artist Library Series, a program geared for audiences of all ages, takes artists into public libraries in the outer boroughs in the spring and summer; and this spring, Lincoln Center brings specially-designed Meet the Artist programs for seniors, children and teens to the Lincoln Square Community Center. All of the MTA programs are designed to introduce audiences to the arts through intimate, live performance, paired with the opportunity to engage with artists. Performers hail from diverse artistic disciplines, including music, dance, theater, and spoken word. For more information about Meet the Artist programs call Lincoln Center Visitor Services, 212-875-5370, 212.875.5289 or e-mail: hmcandrew@lincolncenter.org.
Ethiopian-American singer and songwriter Meklit Hadero, who will moderate the post-performance discussions for Resonate! African America in Sound and Story, is Artist-in-Residence at New York University’s Institute of African American Affairs for six weeks this spring. “She sings of fragility, hope and self-empowerment, and exudes all three,” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle about one of her performances. Meklit’s music has a wide range of influences, from the jazz and soul favorites she grew up on; to hip-hop and art-rock; to folk traditions from the Americas and her forebears’ East African home. She was named a TED Global Fellow in 2009, and has been artist-in-residence at the De Young Museum and the Red Poppy Art House. Meklit is an Artist Consultant for the Association of Arts Presenters. For more information visit: Meklithadero.com

The Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA) at New York University was founded in 1969 to research, document, and celebrate the cultural and intellectual production of Africa and its diaspora in the Atlantic world and beyond. IAAA is committed to the study of Blacks in modernity through concentrations in Pan-Africanism and Black Urban Studies. For its spring 2011 artist-in-residence program, the IAAA presents “THE AFRICAN DIASPORA AND/IN THE WORLD,” a unique space of artistic collaboration between two great talents of the African Diaspora Meklit Hadero, (musician), and John Akomfrah, (filmmaker).

The Lewis Gallery says Goodbye, For Now

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By Elana Pici


For years, the Lewis Gallery has been a local go-to spot for custom framing and African-American inspired art. The gallery gave the community a chance to appreciate culture and tradition.

“Growing up, I don’t remember much imagery of people of color,” said Gwen Lewis, owner of Lewis Gallery. “Then I went to school and learned about the Harlem Renaissance and the flux of African-American artists and poets. I opened this gallery wanting to be a part of a new renaissance. We’re a very talented people!”

For years, the gallery did just that– welcomed the community inside, not only as a customer, but also as place to learn, discuss and experience art. The gallery, which just celebrated its 21st anniversary in February, will be closing its doors at the end of March.

“This has definitely been the roughest year, people just don’t have the funds to spend on art right now,” said Lewis.

Lewis, who went to school for fashion design, fell in love with manipulating paper with pen, pencil, watercolor and other mediums to create art. In the beginning, she and her husband would sell their art at flea markets on the street.

Then, one day a woman asked Lewis if she could frame some work for her. Lewis nodded enthusiastically, and from that day on immersed herself in the art behind framing. She learned her trade from other framers. In 1990, the shop opened: Their work had found a home, and Gwen had found a place to foster her talents.

“The best part sometimes is interacting with all of the different personalities,” said Lewis.

She has had the opportunity to meet the daughters of Malcolm X, politicians like Al Vann and Senator Montgomery, a handful of actors and actresses and many unsung heroes from the surrounding neighborhood of Bed-Stuy.

However, September 11th, 2001 was a real turning point; seeing that other people needed help awakened an urgency to do something herself. Over the years Lewis has helped Black Operators of McDonald’s, Brooklyn Chapters of Links, Bridge Street Preparatory School, Brooklyn Chapter AKA, Brooklyn Chapter Delta’s, Urban League and NAACP to name a few.

Her most recent volunteer efforts have been with the DIVAS for Social Justice, an organization devoted to encouraging young women of color to break boundaries and become leaders in the fields of new media and information technology.

Lewis has donated time and supplies to help fundraise for the girls, but also to educate and inspire them in something she knows well: Framing. Over the summer Lewis trained the older members of DIVAS how to frame their own artwork for an upcoming exhibition.

“The girls liked the idea of seeing themselves working with tools, seeing their inner beauty and feeling confident using screw guns and hammers and nails,” said Clarisa James, one of the founders of DIVAS.

“Framing is a male dominated job that I think women can be a real asset to. Gender shouldn’t be a part of the requirement, as long as you have the drive and the passion, women can do all of the same things,” said Lewis.

“Gwen is a dynamic, kind soul. She has this great relationship with so many people; she’s such a welcoming personality. It’s easy to bond with her and she’s so encouraging; with Gwen anything is possible,” said James.

Gwen says her last legacy will be with the DIVAS on March 25th, from 6-9 pm, where she will host a fundraiser giving the DIVAS 50 percent of the proceeds from all store sales that night.

And although the store is closing, Gwen has no intentions of fading away. She plans on doing street fairs and holiday markets and will stay in contact with all of her customers via email.

“I will miss having this home away from home, but running a business is a 24/7 job, and I’m looking forward to not having to be tied down to one location.”

As Gwen Lewis enters her new phase, she plans to continue running workshops and showing young entrepreneurs the tricks of the trade.

Though the doors of the Lewis Gallery may be closing, the spirit that kept the store going for all these years will be reborn in all of the girls who have learned under her creativity, ambition and guidance: “I’m going to teach, pass along my knowledge and give girls the freedom to create!”

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Liquidating L.A.’s heritage

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By Tim Rutten

The artworks by famed black artists Charles Alston and Hale Woodruff should stay here, not be sold to the Smithsonian.

The Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building on West Adams Boulevard is one of Los Angeles’ too-often-overlooked historical and cultural treasures.

It was designed in the late 1940s to house what was then the largest African American-owned business west of the Mississippi by one of the city’s storied architects, Paul Williams, certainly the most important black American architect of his generation. The building is a wonderful example of his singular capacity to meld utility and livability with an approach to design that wrung every ounce of expressive elegance from whatever style he engaged — in this case, Moderne.

The Golden State headquarters lobby also contains — and not by happenstance — two of the most significant works of art ever created here by African American artists, a complementary pair of murals titled “The Negro in California History” that comprises Charles Alston’s “Exploration and Colonization” and Hale Woodruff’s “Settlement & Development.” Both men were heavily influenced by the great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, with whom Woodruff studied.

Whether these unique and uniquely important murals remain in Los Angeles, where they have hung since their completion in 1949, will be decided in court hearings that get underway in downtown Monday. Unless the current owners of the Williams building can persuade a judge to intervene, the murals will go to the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture.

How the city finds itself on the verge of losing treasures it barely knows it has is a complex story characterized by, at least, reasonable intentions on all sides.

From the start, the Alston and Woodruff murals, which were commissioned for specially designed spots high on either end of Williams’ elegant lobby, were considered the building’s chief spiritual as well as physical ornaments. As Golden State’s own description of them put it: “More than mere murals … these priceless panels incorporate documentary material, much of which appears in no annals of American history. California … her early black settlers, historical events, and physical terrain, dominate these murals.”

Like many historic black firms, however, Golden State found itself ill-equipped to compete for the business of an increasingly dispersed African American middle class. The company foundered for years and finally was seized by the state insurance commissioner, whose Conservation and Liquidation Office is in the process of disposing of Golden State’s assets, including what remains of its collection of African American art. The liquidation office contends that the murals, which were executed on canvas in consideration of seismic issues, are part of that collection. Therefore, it proposes to sell both to the Smithsonian for $750,000.

As Golden State failed, however, its headquarters was sold twice, most recently to Community Impact Development II LLC, the real estate holding arm of a nonprofit that provides a variety of social services in South L.A. That organization contends that the murals are an integral part of the building it purchased, and it is going to court to prevent their sale by the liquidator.

“These murals are part of the historic fiber of the community and a significant part of Los Angeles’ history,” said Marcos Velayos, the nonprofit’s attorney and a leading specialist in planning and land-use issues. “We think there is no better way to celebrate this history than by keeping the murals right here, where they always have been.” Velayos also points out that First American, the title insurer on the sale, has agreed to defend Community Impact’s claim in court.

The Los Angeles Conservancy also supports the claim and has asked the city to grant historic landmark status to the building with its murals. “Paul Williams selected the subjects and the artists for those murals,” Linda Dishman, the conservancy’s director, told me this week. “They’re absolutely integral to the building’s design. This is a quintessential building in terms of the African American experience in this city. It’s hard to imagine another situation where the most important black firm, black architect and black artists were all involved in a collaboration of this kind.”

For its part, the state’s Conservation and Liquidation Office is just doing its job, though in a narrow-minded sort of way. It’s hard to see which public interest is served by stripping Los Angeles of a cultural treasure. The Smithsonian can’t be blamed for wanting the murals, though it might keep in mind that, while the Elgin Marbles look fine in the British Museum, they’d look a lot better back on the Parthenon.

The Alston and Woodruff murals were commissioned and executed as a unique reflection of the African American culture that flowered here. They ought to remain in Los Angeles.

Philly tour highlights African American murals

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By Matt Korman





The thousands of murals famously dispersed throughout Philadelphia have become an iconic backdrop to a diverse city. Portraying pride, culture and a rich history, the size and scope of the murals continues to expand, correlating with the city’s ever-changing landscape. In celebration of the murals, the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program has announced the Robert M. Greenfield African American Iconic Images Collection. The collection is curated in partnership with the African American Museum in Philadelphia. It includes 47 of the city’s most famous murals portraying African American imagery and can be seen either by tour or through the Mural Arts Program’s website muralarts.org/iconicimages. “(The program) uses public art for social change,” said Cari Feiler Bender, spokesperson for the Mural Arts program, noting the organization’s unofficial moniker: “Art saves lives.” Bender also said the mural program aims to educate students around the area about the city’s art history. As part of the collection’s multimedia features, including online lesson plans, an audio tour — narrated by Roots drummer and Philadelphia native ?uestlove) — and video, the program will provide monthly public trolley tours of the city’s murals. The trolley tours will take place on the last Saturday of each month with the first scheduled for Saturday, March 26.

The tour will feature 21 of the city’s most famous murals, including several from Philadelphia native David McShane. McShane, a LaSalle University and Pennsyvania Academy of the Fine Arts graduate, has been working with the Mural Arts program for 16 years. McShane’s artwork has also been exhibited in France and Ireland. “I’ve done about 80 to 90 projects for the Mural Arts Program,” McShane said. Two of his prominent works, “Legendary Blue Horizon,” a four-square mural depicting legendary boxers against contrasting floral patterns, and “Jackie Robinson,” a black and white grid mural showing the baseball icon famously stealing home, are both on the tour. “I love a figure in motion,” McShane said. “Looking at figures in motion is almost like a beautiful ballet.” Tours for the program will begin at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch St. Tickets range from $17 to $27, with special discounts for seniors, students, and children, and include a general admission to the museum the day of the tour.


Getting to Know the Real Muhammad Ali at the Michener Art Museum

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By: Michener Art Museum

DOYLESTOWN, PA– Join Dr. Michael Ezra for an illustrated lecture on the story of Muhammad Ali, a now iconic figure in the hearts and minds of people around the globe, at the James A. Michener Art Museum, March 20, 3 to 4 pm. Ezra is guest curator of Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon, a photographic exhibit on view at the Museum through May 15.

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) has always engendered an emotional reaction from the public. From his appearance as an Olympic champion to his iconic status as a national hero, his carefully constructed image and controversial persona has always been intensely scrutinized.

A specialist in the African American experience and Civil Rights, Ezra is the author of Muhammad Ali:The Making of an Icon (Temple University Press, 2009). Ezra considers the boxer who calls himself “The Greatest” from a new perspective. He writes about Ali’s pre-championship bouts, the management of his career and his current legacy, exploring the promotional aspects of Ali and how they were wrapped up in political, economic and cultural “ownership.”

The book increases our understanding of how difficult it is to know the real Ali, a simple man paradoxically imbued with great complexity. “Michael Ezra’s rigorously researched and engagingly written book at once illuminates and liberates one of our towering national figures. Stripping away the cant and fuzziness that has grown up around Muhammad Ali, Ezra delivers a fresh, intellectually challenging and ultimately invigorating understanding of the fighter and the man,” writes Richard O’Brien, Boxing Editor, Sports Illustrated.

Ezra’s incisive study examines the relationships between Ali’s cultural appeal and its commercial manifestations. Citing examples of the boxer’s relationship to the Vietnam War and the Nation of Islam—which serve as barometers of his “public moral authority”—Ezra analyzes the difficulties of creating and maintaining these cultural images, as well as the impact these themes have on Ali’s meaning to the public.

Ezra also is the editor of The Civil Rights Movement: People and Perspectives (ABC-CLIO). He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and chairs the Department of Multicultural Studies at Sonoma State in California. Copies of Dr. Ezra’s book, Muhammad Ali:The Making of an Icon, will be available for purchase in the Museum Shop and for signing by the author following the program.

See the full press release for Ali and Elvis: The Making of an Icon here: http://www.michenermuseum.org/press/?item=2010-12-15

The James A. Michener Art Museum is located at 138 South Pine St., Doylestown, Pa. Museum hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 am to 4:30 pm;

Saturday 10 am to 5 pm; Sunday noon to 5 pm. Curator’s Exhibition Lecture and Book signing: Dr. Michael Ezra, March 20, 3-4 pm, $20 ($10 members). Admission: Members and children under 6, free; adults $12.50; seniors $11.50; college student with valid ID $9.50; ages 6-18 $6; under 6 free. For more information, visitwww.michenerartmuseum.org or call 215-340-9800.

Annual support for the Michener Art Museum is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Bucks County Commissioners and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

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The ’Wave of the Future

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Now in the middle of its first fund-raising campaign under the new name ArtsWave, the organization formerly known as the Fine Arts Fund wants to pioneer a new approach to valuing the role of the arts in our community. But with that might come controversy. Some worry that in trying to broaden its mission, ArtsWave will be spreading its dollars thin.

The nonprofit Fine Arts Fund was founded in 1949 to raise money for Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Taft Museum. In 1978, it added Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Ballet, Playhouse in the Park and the May Festival. It has been increasing its reach, even as it fights to raise money during the recession, and last year collected just under $11.1 million on behalf of 100 groups. That includes the traditional arts giants, but also groups like the Lebanon Symphony Orchestra and Oxford Community Arts Center.

ArtsWave officials are proud of their outreach.


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“We’re at the head of the curve — we were the only locally based organization invited to participate in a meeting the National Endowment for the Arts held in Washington last June,” says Mary McCullough-Hudson, longtime head of the Fine Arts Fund and now ArtsWave CEO/president. The meeting considered means of measuring the impact of arts and culture on communities.

“National bloggers are paying attention to what we’re doing,” she adds, an indication of new media’s role in the new ArtsWave. “We are on the leading edge nationally in showing how the arts make a community more livable, more exciting,” says Margy Waller, who left her Washington, D.C., job two years ago to return to her hometown as Fine Arts Fund’s vice president for strategic communications and research. Work already was underway in revamping the Fund’s approach; the name change was announced last September.

Some people still ask why.

McCullough-Hudson says the impetus came five years ago when the Greater Cincinnati Foundation convened a group of leaders from various sectors to consider a two-pronged question. It was this, she says: “Who is really paying attention to sustainability for the extraordinary array of arts in this community? And are we doing enough to leverage it in attracting visitors, in aligning with corporations to attract and retain the 21st-century worker?”

The Fine Arts Fund eventually decided to take the lead in exploring these issues.

“We had been very focused and successful (as a fund-raiser),” McCullough-Hudson says. “We could have continued doing that and let somebody else take on the broader role. But the leaders (at the meeting) felt the stature of the Fine Arts Fund made it the choice. In the fall of 2007 the board agreed we should explore what the community wants from arts and culture.”


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Local African American artists present work; honor heritage

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by: Joseph McMillan

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB Fox 41) — Dozens gathered in Central High School’s auditorium today to celebrate African American history.

Art and music filled the room for the first ever African American History, Heritage and Family Celebration.

The ceremony was highlighted by several dance, drum and musical performances, as well as poetry and story readings.

The Arts Council of Louisville wanted the event to bring a sense of family to the community, and foster new enthusiasm about African American heritage.

“I think that it’s always a good time for starting new, what I call, initiative, and we wanted to have something that would bring all aspects of our community together,” said Nana Yaa Asantewaa, Founder and Administrative Office of the Arts Council of Louisville.

The event also recognized the late-distinguished U of L Professor Joseph McMillan.

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PS 31 students spent school year immersed in African art and crafts

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – NEW BRIGHTON – Lucky third-graders at PS 31, along with some children from fourth- and fifth-grade classes at the New Brighton school, embarked on an exciting exploration of African art, crafts, and music last October – thanks to the creativity and enthusiasm of Emily Ellison, a West Brighton resident who is employed by Sundog Theatre to teach art and music.

“Once a week, we make art and music, sing songs, dance, and study some of the culture of the vast, varied and beautiful continent of Africa,” Ms. Ellison said. Her rich, Africa-themed curriculum continues until the end of the school year.

Ms. Ellison is hopeful that these creative classroom activities will inspire in her young students “a life-long interest in African culture and customs.” She also wishes that what they learn inspires them to enjoy future opportunities to visit the continent and see everything for themselves, first-hand.

AFRICAN MASKS

The students visited the Brooklyn Museum in October, on a tour that focused on the African masks exhibition.

“They investigated wood and fiber masks from Burkina Faso, Liberia, and other countries,” said Ms. Ellison, “and learned that artisans use readily-available materials – wood, fiber, and paints and pigments from plants and minerals. Some of the children designed masks of their own on paper that day.

“Back at school, each class spent three art-periods designing and creating their own African masks out of paper, yarn, fabric, raffia plant fiber, and glue,” she reported. “They cut out the eye-holes themselves, and made important design decisions, such as ear shape, mouth placement, and opting for symmetrical or asymmetrical masks.”

Last week, Jordan Montgomery, 9, proudly pointed out the mask that he had designed. It symbolizes “the combination of a guerrilla, a bird, and the teeth of a cheetah,” he said.

Raniyah Lockley, 8, explained that her mask – fashioned with pipe cleaners, yarn, and feathers, in a palette of blue, purple, pink, red, and orange – was designed to represent “a person from Africa.”

Another intricate, colorful mask by Max Butler, 9, was crafted to incorporate “a guerrilla, antelope horns, tiger whiskers, and a lion’s beard,” said Max, who noted that his father, Julius, “is a sculptor and an artist.”


WEAVING

The students also created textile pieces, “inspired by Kente cloth from Ghana,” Ms. Ellison said. “They learned about weaving, embroidery, and dying fabrics.”

She taught one class first to weave on paper, “and then I moved them on to creating beautiful weavings on plastic looms that I built out of discarded, corrugated plastic campaign signs from local political races.”

Two classes of students traveled to the Newhouse Center at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden in Livingston to watch, up close, weaving of Kente cloth from Ghana.

Inspired, the students produced striking fabric-strip weavings from scraps of material that Ms. Ellison provided. “I gave them lots of strips, and they had to plan and work in groups. This was not easy,” she said.

The students were also instructed to title their works, which are destined for permanent exhibition at the school.

The pieces include: “My Little Sister’s Birthday Cake from my Dad,” a creation of Jahda Page and Bernard Faulkner; “Red Clothes” from Karmel Blake and Darsee Joe; and “Blue Sky,” a design of Richard Joya and Luis Soto.

EMBROIDERY

After learning about embroidery from South Africa, 23 third-graders worked on projects last Thursday morning, at Ms. Ellison instruction to “continue with or edit your design.” She explained that the students could choose to use metal or bobby-pin needles, and any sewing technique they preferred, including chain and cross-stitching. She distributed chalk to students who wanted to reconfigure initial design schematics.

Each student’s individual embroidered burlap squares will be combined into a class quilt, Ms. Ellison explained. And then she challenged them:

“What kind of design represents you the best? What if someone found our quilt 500 years from now? What will your design say about you? Pick your designs and colors carefully,” she advised.

The youngsters paid attention, and got to work. Alissa Walton, 9, from New Brighton, had chosen a piece of red burlap. Her design? “A heart with the word ‘love’ inside it, and I’m going to embroider flowers around the heart,” she said.

Her classmate Jadalise McGee, also 9 and from New Brighton, was designing “a rocket ship, because I like space,” she said. “Space is interesting because it has all the planets.” Her favorite planet is Mars – “because it’s so rocky and red,” she said.

The students learned about African-American quilt-making during a visit to Sandy Ground, according to Ms. Ellison. That art form derived “from needlework and quilt traditions in Africa,” she said.

Ms. Ellison is hopeful that the months-long experience will stick with her young charges for a lifetime. “I hope that the children will continue to pursue any of the wonderful arts and crafts they learned, and grow as artists, dancers, singers and musicians,” she said with a broad smile.

Arts calendar

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by: Daily Press


Authors to lecture at Jamestown Settlement – “From Africa to Virginia” Theme Month. 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27. Linda M. Heywood, professor of history and director of the African American Studies Program at Boston University and author of “Contested Power in Angola,” will speak on “Queen Njinga: Legacy, Memory, and Nation in Contemporary Angola.” Jamestown Settlement, located at State Route 31 and the Colonial Parkway, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is $15.50 for adults and $7.25 for ages 6-12. A combination ticket is available with the Yorktown Victory Center. Information: (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838 or visit http://www.historyisfun.org.

Boston University Professor Linda Heywood to Speak. 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27.Heywood will present “Queen Njinga: Legacy, Memory, and Nation in Contemporary Angola.” Dr. Heywood, professor of history and director of the African American Studies Program at Boston University and author of “Contested Power in Angola,” will explore the question of how and why Queen Njinga, who waged war against the Portuguese in the 17th century, became a figure of memory and a power political icon in contemporary Angola. The lecture is presented in conjunction with Jamestown Settlement’s “From Africa to Virginia” theme month and is included with museum general admission of $15.50 for adults and $7.25 for ages 6 through 12. Jamestown Settlement, State Route 31, Colonial Parkway in James City County. Information, call (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838.

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A Strange Anomaly: David Hammon’s ‘Homeless’ Art on the Upper East Side

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By Adam Lindemann

In 2003, artist David Hammons presented “Which Mike Would You Like to Be Like,” three vintage microphones standing alone in a room, representing three Michaels: Jackson, Tyson and Jordan. It was an ironic commentary on role models for African-Americans, a funny play on words, a great pun, all of the above; that’s the magic we’ve come to expect from David Hammons. He’s given us several memorable art moments: shoes slung over a Richard Serra sculpture, trees decorated with winos’ empty bottles; he famously sold snowballs outside an art school. A conceptual artist in the style of the great Marcel Duchamp, he even once re-bound Duchamp’s Catalogue Raisonne as the Holy Bible.

Mr. Hammons is arguably the most famous living African-American artist, and a serious cult figure in the art world. It’s not that the second half of the 20th century doesn’t have others, like Martin Puryear, Kara Walker, Glenn Ligon or Mark Bradford. But face it, they are far too few: The art world is sadly still a white man’s world.

So walking into a David Hammons show at the very grand L&M Gallery on the Upper East Side is a weird anomaly on a few fronts. Since he makes objects and avails himself of “ready-mades,” the notion of a Hammons painting show is a question mark in itself. And this show of paintings, by an artist who doesn’t paint, relates quite literally to homelessness. I braced for a lecture: artwork that revolves around issues of race, politics and inequality can get didactic, reductive and really boring. David Hammons has been working since the late ’60s, but, today, I’m living in the age of Obama.

To be frank, why would collectors like me, who are for the most part wealthy and white, want to buy work that tells a story that’s not their own? Too often, we, the “oppressors,” are supposed to come into a gallery, understand the work’s importance and collect it because it’s “meaningful,” and perhaps as a way to show compassion. I’m really not into buying self-indulgent work by artists who are going to lecture the bourgeois society about the realities of life. That’s stuff that dealers can pawn off on some overeager naif or stick back in storage.

But when I walked into this show, a very familiar room took on a completely different vibe. The work hung with tremendous gravitas, and I could feel something important was happening in this building. The new show at L+M is indeed a show of Hammons paintings, but very unusual ones, because each painting is draped in a dirty plastic tarp, to the extent that one cannot see the picture and can only glimpse at it through the tears and the rips and the dirt. Think of them as paintings draped in dirty plastic, the kind of objects a homeless person rolls up in on a cold night before they go to sleep near a subway grating or a church stoop.

Mr. Hammons is no painter and doesn’t care to be; he’s making fun of painting altogether, because when you lift the tarp, you find the same kind of splashy colorful inane gestural painting that you can find hanging in many Chelsea galleries right now. He is indifferent to them; he covers them and gives them shelter, but what convinced me was the beautiful effect the ripped and dirty draped plastic creates as it cascades over the canvas and rolls down the wall, spilling onto the floor.

There are plenty of art historical references we can find here, from Alberto Burri’s “Plastico” masterpieces, to the plastic sheets in Robert Rauschenberg’s combines, and yes, I did detect a little Steve Parrino and a touch of Rudy Stingel, too, but the homeless, dirty, discarded, left-out-in-the-cold painting hanging in this Upper East Side gallery is all Hammons.

The work is about class, and the strange intersection of the aesthetics of poverty with Arte Povera and Abstract Expressionism. The whole concept of art and money and class is a phenomenally complex one, too often over-sensationalized and oversimplified. Mr. Hammons gives it to us in its full complexity, presenting the queasy idea of paying six figures for a painting that hangs under a dirty tarp while nearby on 65th Street, homeless people are showing up in real dirty tarps and getting fed dinner in the basement of the Park Avenue Armory.

Of course, it may be be perverse to begin with for an artist to use this entire socio-art-gallery system to make a lot of money. Unlike most artists who produce work and consign it to their gallery for sale, Mr. Hammons reportedly makes the dealer buy the whole show for cash up front, so he makes out whether it sells or not. This all might be viewed as a part of his perverse and complex relationship with the art market, or perhaps he just can’t bear the idea that something he makes doesn’t sell. But it doesn’t much matter, because the work and the show, for those who are willing to think it through, puts him at the very top of his generation.

That’s not what other people I spoke to took away from it. One well-known collector told me he hated the show because it required too much explanation—but Mr. Hammons’ work speaks for itself. A savvy dealer even told me he didn’t like it because he couldn’t see the encased pictures—but you weren’t supposed to. All of this leaves me to conclude that David Hammons has to be one of the most misunderstood artists working today.

This is definitely going to be considered one of the best shows of the year, so go see it (It’s up through Feb. 26). One of the show’s triumphs is that it makes me think perhaps we should all also stop in at a homeless shelter and learn something there, too.

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Art Notes: Black history celebration, performances, lectures and more

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Art that’s loved American artist Edmund William Greacen painted the oil on canvas “Brooklyn Bridge, East River” in 1916, This view of the Brooklyn Bridge was probably painted from the roof of Greacen’s building on East 18th Street, the first apartment building erected in all of New York. Born in 1877, Greacen studied painting at the Art Students League in New York, then lived for several years in the early part of the 20th century in France, studying the works of the French Impressionists, particularly Claude Monet. Greacen returned to America and opened the first of two art schools in New York and exerted great influence as a teacher. He died in 1949. The painting was give to the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens by Mr. and Mrs. Rene Faure in 1972. Nan Greacen Faure was Edmund Greacen’s daughter. As part of its preparation for its year-long 50th anniversary celebration, the Cummer asked visitors last year to vote for their favorite items in the Cummer’s collection. A book, “50 Favorites for the Fiftieth Postcard Book,” which includes detachable post cards featuring images of the 50 favorites, is available from the Cummer gift shop for $14.95. The 50 favorites are also featured on a 50th anniversary website, www.cummer50.org. The Times-Union is publishing one favorite each Saturday during this year.



Quintet combines music and art

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by: Roberto Rodriquez

African/Caribbean/American music, Rodriguez, composer/percussionist and one of today’s most versatile performers and intriguing composers, brings his Mulato Insurgency Quintet including Roberto (drums), Igor Arias (congos, vocals), Matt Munisteri (banjo), Bernie Minoso (bass), and Andy Ezrin (organs) to the Puffin to perform selections from his multi-media work-in-progress “Manos Piadosas/Devout Hands.” Set to poetry by Cuban poet Omar Perez with a backdrop of visual art by Puerto Rican-American artist Juan Sanchez, this inclusive work seeks to preserve the cultural and ethnic identity of the three groups while creating a wholly original blend of their art, music and poetry.

Both the creative process and the final work will ultimately be recorded in digital, DVD, CD and vinyl formats.

There is a $10 suggested donation. Reservations recommended: tix@puffinfoundation.org. The Puffin is located at 20 Puffin Way. Call 201-836-3499 or visit www.PuffinCulturalForum.org.

The Puffin Foundation, Ltd. underwrites this and all other events and programs to make it possible for everyone to attend.

African masks on show in New York

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by: Yaella Biro

Our first stop is New York where the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the new home for creative re-imaginings of the African mask. The exhibition, “Reconfiguring the African Icon: Odes to the mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents,” is a collaboration between the Museum’s departments of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art and Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

African masks are often thought of as carved wooden artifacts. But these five artists detail the masks with infinite potential for reinvention.

Yaelle Biro, Assistant Curator, said, “I think it’s important to expose artists with different backgrounds. We have artists from Africa from Benin. We have American artists. We have one artist in particular from the beginning of the century. We have other artists who are from the 21st century. We are trying to show how the mix of these artists – each with their own unique personality and experience – are finding ways to explore the mask and African masks in particular.”

Alisa Lagamna, Curator, said, “What Man Ray does in that photograph is what we’re addressing with all the works in this exhibition. Taking the masks out of Africa in a sense elevating it as a work of sculpture and playing with it as a source of inspiration in it’s right.”

America artist Willie Cole has three pieces on display, in one he uses bicycle parts to interpret the historical significance’s of the African mask.

For Cole, being a part of the exhibition is meaningful.

Willie Cole, Artist, said, “I am standing, straddling I guess the past, present and the future were I am pulling forth some sort of spiritual connection I like to believe with my accent past, you know before Western world. But I am also, and I’ve been told by other curators, tapping into modernism as well as contemporary conceptual art.”

The works will be on display in New York until June.

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