Recollection: Lorna Simpson / Artist Talk

Recollection: Lorna Simpson is on view in the Medtronic Gallery of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota through July 18, 2010. Visit the Walker Art Center at: http://www.walkerartcenter.org/. 


This exhibition, Recollection: Lorna Simpson, “highlights the Walker’s longstanding commitment to this important Brooklyn-based conceptual artist. It features six major works from the collection that spans a wide variety of media, including pieces from the early 1990s on paper and felt, a film commissioned as part of Simpson’s 1998-99 artist residency at the Walker, and a new acquisition being exhibited for the first time.” The artist talk was presented at the Walker Art Center on Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 7:00 pm.

Black Art Project (BAP): Booklist

BAP Booklist, the latest feature from the Black Art Project, will highlight recently published books that have an African American art focus. Identifying titles as they are recently published or in pre-publication status is crucial for those building a library that has some focus on African American art. Publishing trends are such that these titles are generally released in small runs, numbering from a few hundred to no more than 2,000 copies, so it is better to purchase the title sooner rather than later to be assured of securing a first edition copy. Once the title is out of print and the main source of securing a copy becomes the secondary market, then the price escalates. African American art books are usually published by smaller presses, academic presses, or museum/gallery presses, and are generally not mass distributed.  The marketing strategy for these books is not as extensive as books that fall within the social sciences or humanities, and certainly not to the degree of fiction books.

Although there has been a continuation of the trend to publish more fine art books, focusing on African American art, those numbers are still not large and may be considered dismal in relationship to publications focusing on American art. However, their numbers have increased, and the following are a few of the latest titles to consider for your book shelf:

• Chapin, Mary Weaver. The Prints of Warrington Colescott: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1948-2008. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin  Press in collaboration with Milwaukee Art Museum, 2010. $85.00             

This exhaustive catalogue covers every known print work of Warrington Colescott through 2008."The catalogue documents and depicts all 354 of Colescott’s editioned prints, providing title, date, media, dimensions, and selected exhibition history and collections for each print, along with comments and anecdotes by Chapin and Colescott." The 352 page catalogue has 415 color illustrations. The Prints of Warrington Colescott...is a rarity in the field of African American art where very few titles (a catalogue raisonné) of this nature exist. This catalogue is the companion to the Milwaukee Art Museum's exhibition, Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy, and Satire, which is on view through September 26, 2010. For more details on the exhibit, visit http://www.mam.org/.  

SWANN Auction Galleries / Out of the Blue: Modern Art and Jazz / June 24, 2010

Swann Galleries launched a new department exclusively focused on African-American Fine Art in February 2007. To date, they are the only major auction house to conduct regular sales on African-American art, and auction benchmarks have been set for works by both important and lesser-known artists. Thus far, there have been seven auctions occurring twice a year in February and October. 

Swann Galleries' African-American Fine Art department will offer their latest sale entitled Out of the Blue: Modern Art and Jazz (Sale 2219) on June 24, 2010. This appears to be their first theme based auction, focusing on works of African-American artists inspired by blues, jazz and improvisation, and it includes both figurative and abstract art that speaks to the theme. Three examples of works featured in this auction are included in this release.

Charles Alston, Untitled (Cityscape at Night), Oil on canvas, 20" x 24",

circa 1950-55, Lot 17

Hughie Lee-Smith, Fugue, Color lithograph (16/175), 1996, Lot 65

   

Out of the Blue includes property from a number of estates or collections, including the estates of Nanette Bearden, Claude Clark, Hughie Lee-Smith, Walter Augustus Simon, Dox Thrash, Moneta Sleet, Jr., Hartwell Yeargans; and the collections of Samuel and Sally Nowak, Peter Passuntino, Elaine Plenda, George and Joyce Wein, and E.T., Auldlyn Williams, and the family of Moneta Sleet, Jr. Out of the Blue, Sale 2219, consists of seventy-six (76) lots; and a catalogue accompanies the auction.

There is a wide variety of selections that should meet the collecting goals of the novice to the experienced collector as evidenced by looking at the auction estimates, the artists, and media choices composing the 76 lots.

A sampling of some of the artists included are as follows: Ben Jones, Sam Gilliam, Hughie Lee-Smith, Faith Ringgold, Reginald Gammon, Joe Sam, Anthony Barboza, Hartwell Yeargans, Romare Bearden, William T. Williams, Ernie Barnes, Norman Lewis, Vincent D. Smith, Benny Andrews, Bob Thompson, Charles White, Charles Alston, Moneta Sleet, Jr., Dox Thrash, Hale Woodruff, Frank Stewart, Claude Clark, Joseph Delaney, and etc. An equal depth of media include representations in oils, ink wash, woodcuts, lithographs, etchings, pen and ink, pastels, photography, gouache, aquatint, mixed media, watercolors, and etc.

For more information, see: http://www.swanngalleries.com/full.cgi?index_id=467&sch_id=490            

Hartwell Yeargans, Bass and Guitar Musicians,

Oil on canvas, 24" x 18", 1964, Lot 32 

Lillian Blades at the Cameron Art Museum: Artist Talk

This is the third in the Artist Talk series, featuring "A Conversation with Lillian Blades." Ms. Blades is one of three artists in the Cameron Art Museum's Recollection: The Past is Present exhibition that will be on view in Wilmington, North Carolina through June 20, 2010. Visit the Cameron Art Museum at: www.cameronartmuseum.com/

"The exhibition connects the art work of Amalia Amaki, Beverly Buchanan, and Lillian Blades to the historical-tinged quilts by African American women in the exhibition. The use of textural materials, color, found objects, building shapes, and cultural images balance delicacy and strength while evoking the individualized stories and shared histories of the diaspora of African Americans, Africa, and the Caribbean."


A Conversation With Lillian Blades from Cameron Art Museum on Vimeo.

Milton 510 and the FIVE TEN EXPERIENCE

Between activities celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States  (January 2009), I had an opportunity to spend an afternoon with the artist, Milton Bowens (Milton510). It was during this very engaging and issue-filled conversation, on that afternoon, that I was given a verbal outline of what to expect with the upcoming Five Ten Experience project which would prove to be an ambitious undertaking. 

According to Milton, "this project has been a long time coming, and the thoughts have floated in my mind for the past three years." It was obvious from that initial exchange in January 2009 that Milton had given the Five Ten Experience much thought, and the details had been edited in his head, if not yet put on paper. As he spoke, I could see the birth of the ...EXPERIENCE being masterfully created to its finest. The concept of the five simultaneously curated exhibitions were clearly defined; themes for each of those exhibitions were mentioned with the importance of each and how the separate parts would roll-out as a unified whole; which venues would be involved was sketchy at that moment, but ideas were thrown out. The need for funding was discussed and possible alternatives to approach that end were mentioned. The five exhibitions, an educational component, development of an artist statement for each exhibition, and documentation of the events were all elements of the plan. The finished product would require the artist to complete enough work to accommodate five distinct shows; in addition, to collaborating with a host of other individuals, businesses, and organizations to develop a series of artist talks and any other supporting programs; creating a marketing strategy; dealing with contractual obligations; and any other necessary details for the ultimate success of the exhibitions. Concepts, ideas, and strategies were clearly formulated.

The concept of this project to partner with 5 venues is deeply layered. As Milton explains, "May being the fifth calendar month of 2010 is synonymous with the personal brand Milton 510 that Eye, as an Artist, worked extremely hard to establish. Instead of doing the traditional retrospective, Eye chose to do a new very personal yet universal celebration. Truly the first artistic event of its kind, this ground breaking exhibition is not to be viewed as merely 5 separate shows. It was conceived and intended to be engaged as one multi-layered experience."

Moving fast-forward, fifteen (15) months later from our January 2009 discussion, the dream and plans of the EXPERIENCE have become a reality. The Milton 510 and the Five Ten Experience is a realized comprehensive exhibition of 5 series of New Works that make up one fine art collection to be presented in Northern California during May 2010: “Oakland-A Love Supreme,” “Echoes of the Sweetest Sound,” “The Memoirs of Mr. Radio,” “Soul in Acrylic Stereo,” and “Oh Happy Sundays”.  As Milton states in his exhibition statement, "the 5 partnering venues for this experience will bring together more than 50 new works forming one of the most unique surveys of urban culture, community, family and faith ever mounted by a single artist for a single show."

This is an art event that can only happen once in a Century and the five selected venues present five new fine art series simultaneously: 

MILTON 510 and the FIVE TEN

EXPERIENCE 

May 1st

May 8th

May 15th

May 22nd

May 29th

 

For further details, including an artist statement for each of the exhibitions, and samples of the artist's work, follow this link: http://www.milton510.com/index1.html.

Nick Cave Lecture at Fowler Museum: Artist Talk

Soundsuits      Recycling      Lawn Jockeys      Raffia      Masks    

Spinning Tops     Fiber      Noise Makers      Needlepoint

Pot Holders      Abacus      Remixing      Socks

Sweaters      Buttons      Formulating    

Low Craft     Green Art

On January 9, 2010, Chicago-based artist, Nick Cave presented a lecture at the Fowler Museum about his Soundsuits. The lecture is followed by a conversation between Cave and Marla C. Berns, Director of the Fowler Museum at UCLA, focusing on the "global resonances in the artist's work." This dialogue is in conjunction with the current exhibition, Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth, at the Fowler Museum until May 30, 2010.


Meet Me at the Center of the Earth "is the largest presentation of work by artist Nick Cave, featuring thirty-five of his ‘Soundsuits’—multi-layered, mixed-media sculptures named for the sounds made when the ‘suits’ are performed." A catalogue accompanies this exhibition.



Nick Cave Lecture at Fowler Museum, Jan. 9, 2010 from Fowler Museum on Vimeo.

21st Annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art

Established at Howard University in 1990 by Floyd Coleman, the James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art is named in honor of James A. Porter (see photograph), the pioneering Art Historian and Professor. Porter's 1943 publication, Modern Negro Art, laid the foundation for the field of study. Floyd Coleman will be one of the 2010 Honorees at the Annual Colloquium Benefit Gala.

The Theme for the 21st Annual James A. Porter Colloquium is FEARLESS: Risk Takers, Rule Breakers, and Innovators in African American Art and Art of the African Diaspora. This is an excellent opportunity for art historians, artists, critics, curators, collectors, interdisciplinary scholars, museum professionals, gallery owners, librarians/archivists, students, and the general public to support and be engaged in the documentation of African American art and visual culture.


The three-day program, sponsored by the Howard University Department of Art is presented in conjunction with The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora and the Howard University Gallery of Art, will examine the theme - FEARLESS - by focusing on “issues and ideas that reveal how this drive, impulse, and attitude often propel artists to break the rules, invent new aesthetics, and resist reductive categories that seek to marginalize them and their work. Papers and presentations will interrogate and re-contextualize the critical roles of courageous resistance and willful exuberance in spite of political, economic, and social realities.”

Dates: April 15 – 17, 2010

Place: Howard University, Armour J. Blackburn Center, Washington, DC           General admission is free, but registration is requested.


Register: http://jamesaportercolloquium.org/docs/Registration.html

Honorees: The Annual Colloquium Benefit Gala will honor Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Elizabeth Catlett, Floyd Coleman, and Jeff Donaldson (posthumously). 

Keynote Address: Renee Cox

Speakers: Jacqueline Francis and Okwui Enwezor

Contact: Portercolloquium.org@gmail.com

Telephone: 202/ 806-6171

For the full Colloquium schedule and highlight information on honorees and speakers, follow these links: http://www.jamesaportercolloquium.org/program.html and


http://www.jamesaportercolloquium.org/gala.html

Cancellation Update: The Distinguish Lecture in the Visual Arts in Honor of David C. Driskell with Elizabeth Catlett has been canceled. See NEWS at the David Driskell Center: http://www.driskellcenter.umd.edu/

Further Readings: This brief section provides additional selective information regarding James A. Porter and his accomplishments, and reviews from the time period that Modern Negro Art was published. There is a short biographical sketch on James A. Porter at the Black Renaissance in Washington, 1920-1930s Web site; a site that was created through a Carnegie Foundation grant awarded to the District of Columbia Public Library. 

The following three reviews, which were written during the time period that Modern Negro Art was published, are reflective of its immediate positive reception. The first review, written by Carter G. Woodson, appeared in "The Journal of Negro History," (volume XXIX, No. 2, April 1944). Woodson states "This book, on the whole, well deserves the designation of being one of permanent value. It comes to support the Negroes' claim in art just as works like those of Maud Cuney-Hare and other productions have established beyond a doubt the rightful place of the Negro in music. ...The Negro's heritage...will eventually influence those of esthetic bent to greater achievement. It does not matter so much what the medium of expression may be, the impression has been made through the years of the ordeal through which the Negroes have borne their trials and tribulations, and from the portrayal of these afflictions will come masterpieces."

Allan Freelon, in his role as Special Consultant in Art, Philadelphia Public Schools, reviewed Modern Negro Art in the spring 1944 issue (vol. XIII, no.2) of "The Journal of Negro Education." Freelon states that "Mr. Porter's research has been painstaking and thorough, bringing together in one volume, personalities, who generally were unknown beyond the limits of their immediate locale until the appearance of this volume. He skillfully integrates these artists and artist craftsmen into their time and place in the American scene; the economic and social development of the period under discussion always being shown as influencing their development or arresting their growth." In closing remarks of his review, Freelon praises the book as a
"scholarly work, fully documented with profuse footnotes...that should prove valuable to all students of Negro art and culture. Modern Negro Art is a must for all Americans interested in the cultural development of their country." 

The final review by Constance H. Curtis (New York Amsterdam News, November 6, 1943) has foresight in its expressed assessment that "Porter has written a workmanlike and unprejudiced volume, which will serve for a good many years both as a guide and a commentary on Negro art."  These were simply a few of the reviews praising this publication.

Be a part of the continual dialogue on African American art by attending and supporting FEARLESS: Risk Takers, Rule Breakers, and Innovators in African American Art and Art of the African Diaspora at the 21st Annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art at Howard University.