An absence of tributes to black leaders

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, to be dedicated Sunday, is the first monument to a black leader on the National Mall, a landscape devoted to American cultural and …

Motown songwriter Nick Ashford dies

Nick Ashford, who along with wife Valerie Simpson helped set the gold standard for R&B duets, both as songwriters and performers, died of throat cancer Monday in a New Yorkhospital. …

‘Porgy & Bess:’ Tweaking A Classic For The 21st Century

“Summertime,” one of the most recorded songs in music history, has been reinterpreted by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, to Brian Wilson and Janis Joplin. But the lullaby …

You Must Remember This

Kevin Jerome Everson’s short films about ordinary African-American life are completely unordinary. Yet despite their frequent appearance in film festivals and on museum film programs, they have yet to sink …

‘Runway’ designer right at home on ‘Porgy and Bess’ set

Emilio Sosa is making it work. The 45-year-old “Project Runway”-finalist landed the plum role of costumer for “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” which opened last night at American Repertory Theater …

African-American art in Savannah, fests, more in store

Savannah steals a little thunder this fall with the opening of a major showcase for African-American art, but Atlanta doesn’t lack for big cultural events of its own. Here’s a …

Ohr museum tickets free on holiday

All Mississippi residents with proper identification will be admitted free to the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art on Labor Day, Sept. 5. Come and visit Phase I of the Frank Gehry-designed …

Whiff of African heritage in capital’s artscape

The historic stone art of Tengenenge, a region located in northern Zimbabwe, may be barely 40 years old but it is breaching high-end ethnic boutique art and home accessories bastions …

‘Material Girls’: 8 African American artists update a tradition

They collect discarded objects, such as tiny glass medicine bottles. One dyes tissue paper and creates floats of color. One goes to a quarry and uses volcanic rock to make …

Lake Wales Arts Council presents unique show

The Lake Wales Arts Council presents Against All Odds: The Art of the Highwaymen, an exhibit organized by the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, opening on Sept. 1 …

U.S. Postal Service to honor 20th Century artist Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden, the 20th Century master of collages capturing the African American experience, has long been a popular artist. Now everyone can have a tiny bit of his expressive art …

Edith M.S. Ingram, artist, writer concerned with black history; at 89

Edith Marie Stanton Ingram relished meeting people and often incorporated what she learned from their stories in her writing and artwork. Mrs. Ingram, an accomplished artist and writer who published …

Take Away Project #12, Monroe Reeves speaks with Jeffrey Ratner

What is Art? Ask anyone this simple question and see how many unique answers you will get. I had the opportunity to interview self-taught artist, Monroe Reeves from Baltimore, Maryland …

Park Ave Summer Art fest opens

Park Ave Summer Art fest opens View works from more than 300 artisans at the Chrysler Park Avenue Summer Art Fest. The event also features entertainment, food and activities from …

Women’s Civic Improvement Club celebrating 75 years as anchor in Oak Park Share

Framed by African American art, 18 local poets celebrated women at the Women’s Civic Improvement Club in Oak Park. The “Poetry and Spoken Word Explosion” on Wednesday night was a …