Welcome To My Global Hood

How does one create a blueprint for urban environmental activism through art that appeals to inner-city youth? The blueprint for achieving that goal was successfully realized and accomplished by Oakland, California artist, Milton Bowens in his 2009 Artist in Residency Program, Arts Change.

Can environmental justice and fine art work together to empower youth, community, and the world abroad? This is simply one of the questions posed and eventually answered during Bowens' Artist Residency. The success of the program was based on Bowens being an attentive listener in his conversations with the youth and through that listening he found the ingredients to map out a story line that would lead to the blueprint for his urban environmental artist activism that led to Welcome To My Global Hood.

As a result of being a part of this program, a group of 15 inner-city youth were motivated and excited about creating art and being a part of a global movement towards environmental change. They were empowered and the tangible outcome was the creation of a body of work by both Bowens and his students that spoke to the issue of environmental justice and the creative use of fine art as an effective tool for change through activism. Testimonies from a number of the students will appear on YouTube...stay tuned for that release.

An on line catalogue was produced for Welcome To My Global Hood and will be featured on http://www.milton510.com/, www.facebook.com/milton510bowens, and http://www.artschange.org/.

Listen to EPISODE 14 - Go Green Sangha Radio-"Art and Environmental Justice" with artist Milton Bowens: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/21325

© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

The Black Exhibit

The Black Artists of DC (BADC) and the District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC) are sponsoring a juried art exhibition, The Black Exhibit, beginning November 20, 2009 through January 10, 2010. The description, as outlined by the sponsors, offers many opportunities for creativity, activism, or simply afford participating artists an opportunity to be a part of an exhibit that will embrace, celebrate, and document the Black experience.

According to the promotional material, artists are asked to "reach deep into the emotional, theoretical, spiritual, cultural, intellectual, or physical aspects of blackness. The objective is not the absence of colors; it's the predominance and use of the color black in your creations. Relish in the concept and color of black...its elegance, depth, and dizzying sensation of infinity... ."

For details that include submission guidelines, fees, deadline; delivery of materials; notification of selected artists; delivery of work to DCAC Gallery; and other particulars, see images above.

Visit the DCAC at the following address: http://www.dcartscenter.org/

Validate Yourself...Question 8

This is a continuation, part 8, of the series of questions posed by the Black Artists of DC (BADC). In the art world how does one authenticate works of art?

The easiest way to establish authenticity is to buy directly from the artist or make purchases from a reputable and established gallery that is proven to be the representative of that artist. A current practice with limited editions is to secure a letter of authenticity that often comes with the purchase. If purchasing directly from the artist or a gallery, you should expect a contract for the sale of art work. This full receipt with date of purchase, title of work with brief description that includes medium, cost and artist’s signature will serve as documentation. Feel comfortable to write any personal descriptive notes, in pencil, that you deem necessary on the back of this contract; these dated personal notes along with the actual contract will create the beginning of the provenance of the work.
For posterity, some collectors even have a photograph of themselves with the artist and artwork to show their connection to the artist. Beyond having a work authenticated by the artist, one has to rely on the gallery or have authenticity validated by a personal property appraiser with a specialization in African American art. Be very clear on this matter…the specialist needs his/her credentials in personal property appraisal with a focus on African American art/artists.
© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

Don Griffin Selected for Rauschenberg Tribute Exhibition

Don Griffin, Baltimore artist with Washington, DC roots, has been notified that his work, "Port Arthur," was selected for inclusion in the upcoming Rauschenberg Tribute Exhibition. The exhibition will be on view in the Dunn Gallery at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, Texas from August 30, 2009 to October 22, 2009.Please View Announcement at Link Below :http://www.comzee.com/RauschenbergTributeDonGriffinAnnouncement.html

In a discussion, with Don regarding the competition, I posed two questions to him. What was your intent as you prepared the piece for competition? Share with me any feelings or words about the piece and/or the competition.

Don's responses follow: "When I first heard that Rauschenberg had passed, I was very sorry to hear it. He was probably my favorite artist. I believe I own 3 books on him. In the 1990's I was working on assemblages from time to time when I wasn't painting. There was a need for works in 2D & 3D that compelled me to seek a solution where in I could do both disciplines. I was moving out of my soft sculpture period, which was my primary method for making statements in art.

During this period, I was represented by HENRI GALLERY in Washington, DC. Henri had an Avant Garde stable of artists, and they worked in the sculpture field. I didn't realize at the time I was also creating sculpture, until she enlightened me! When she passed in 1996, I was left to start all over again in the search of new representation. This also was a turning point leading out of soft sculpture exclusively. About this time, I began working with assemblages in wood. Not too long afterwards, I began incorporating elements of soft sculpture with the assemblages.

One day I visited a Book Store in Towson, Maryland to browse though the art books section. I came across a book on Rauschenberg, whom I had not been aware of, and discovered he was working in a similar manner, which he described as combines. I was totally in shock! I skimmed through the book for a while and left. The book was like haunting me to go back and purchase it. The $75 price tag was the evil that kept me from going back. I later lost the fight, and purchased my first $75 Art Book! Ever since that time, I have been a fan.

When hearing about the loss of Rauschenberg, I almost immediately began thinking about creating a piece in homage to him. Nothing was evident at the time, so it slipped in the recess of my mind. Then one day as I looked at art calls, I discovered a competition that was being organized by the Gulf Coast Museum in Port Arthur, Texas. I told my friend Diana about it, and how I would like to be a participant. I mean, how could I not be included in this exhibition? I told her. This is my arena, this is what I do. Its the perfect time to create that piece that I consider reflective of the artist I admired so much.

I determined after some time that the piece would contain card board as an element in the piece. This size gave me a problem, because I wanted it to be larger than the criteria dictated. Later, I put the size issue behind me and stretched a 37"x 48" canvas. Diana assisted me in locating a collection of boxes from various sources for the composition which was developing.

Elements were being collected which I considered connective to Rauschenberg. He thought a lot of the newspaper. So, there would be evidence of it somewhere in the composition. I settled on a hot topic at the time...The Automakers. Then there was the Presidential Photo Strip I created with the First Black President, some controversials such as Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Bush Jr, etc. A reverse positive photo of Rauschenberg with a bicycle, and a reverse positive of a cow. It has always intrigued me the way farm animals reacted when approached. In unison, they all stop and turn their heads to look at you...like what's up?

The card board element had a real need to be in Port Arthur. Many various type boxes were collected for this purpose, and I think the one that most said Rauschenberg for me...was the kid. I wanted the top layer of the card board and it was not particularly easy to separate it from the corrugated section. It was a very physical struggle to do it, especially for the hands and the effects of discomfort traveled to my back."

I appreciate that Don agreed to allow me to share his experience with you.

© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

Crossing the Border: Russian Research Librarians and the Black Art Project

On June 8, 2009, George was involved with a Congressional funded program through the Open World Leadership Center that included representatives from various types of libraries in Russia. This project was proposed and led by Kristen Regina, Host Coordinator and Head Librarian at the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens (Washington, DC). The goal of this program was to help art librarians create a broader audience by incorporating the study of specialized art libraries with general and public libraries, ultimately crossing the border of traditional art readership to inspire new readers. George, as an art librarian, was involved because of the successful grass root strides that he has made in documenting the efforts and accomplishments of black (African American) artists through the publication of the Guide to Black Art Exhibitions.

It was an enlightening and engaging experience for the visiting delegation, as well as the presenter and the American host. George demonstrated in his talk/presentation how the Guide to Black Art Exhibitions evolved as a publication, focusing on the use of technology and particularly the Internet to explore new ground in discovering untapped information and culling it together into some meaningful way to create the annual Guide. Further discussions centered on a marketing strategy that included how to reach out to a broad audience via simple and low-cost means such as email and the web.

Although, the topic was not based on Russian culture or history, the template used for the success of the Guide could be replicated in any culture. There was engaging dialogue during and after the presentation. This was yet another way to develop a network of contacts between Russian and US art librarians for professional collaboration, problem solving, and possible future joint research.

The delegation was presented copies of the Guide to Black Art Exhibitions and they presented George with a copy of Alexander Pushkin's In Hopes of Fame and Bliss to Come.

© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

Validate Yourself...Questions 6 and 7

This is a continuation, parts 6 and 7, of the series of questions posed by the Black Artists of DC (BADC). Why did you start collecting black art exhibition catalogues? Why did you establish the Guide to Black Art Exhibitions?

Collecting black art exhibition catalogues was a gradual and evolving process. As a collector of black (African American) fine art, I strongly believe that a collector of art should be familiar and knowledgeable about the literature surrounding that art. I'll refer to this as the history and documentation of fine art. Very early on, I had a keen interest in learning about the fine arts and became very active in the gallery and museum world. As a learning experience, I slowly began collecting catalogues, simply by purchasing them from the various exhibits I attended locally and when traveling. The main purpose was to learn more about black art and artists and to be knowledgeable and able to speak intelligently on the subject. The more I read and learned, the more I wanted to know. There was a natural curiosity of how individual artists fit into the whole picture of American art.
As my knowledge base increased, my library skills kicked in and I recognized that there was a gap in the literature focusing on black art/artists. There simply did not appear to be enough information out there in the key journals and monographs, and in a naive sense, I wanted to attempt to fill that gap by creating a repository containing documentation of ephemeral materials, monographs and exhibition catalogues. In comparison to other cultural fields, including the performing arts, I recognized that printed material in fine arts literature was less available. I began to refer to these gaps in the literature as the missing links in our black cultural heritage. As I began to study and use the collections in the various black repositories and even major libraries in general, I realized that so much was missing in those collections. Even when books and catalogues had been published, they seemed not to exist in many of our libraries. A great part of the problem probably stems from the fact that most of the catalogues are published in small runs, usually no more than 3,000 copies and are usually available only at the actual exhibition venues. There is not a mass distribution plan, unless the exhibition is national in scope, meaning that it is a traveling exhibition. Consequently, the exhibition catalogues are acquired on a more regional basis rather than national.

Collecting became a passion and I aggressively scoured standard bibliographies to identify what had been published by decade, starting in the 1980s and moving backwards to the 1950s. So, the basic strategy was to see what was available on the secondary market based on a list of titles that had been published. I created my own list of definitive or must have titles and began the search from that point. The Internet was an invaluable resource, introducing me to the secondary market of book dealers. I was able to locate titles from across the country and many for a nominal cost, particularly those in smaller cities and less urban locations. It was not until recently that there has become competition to acquire the literature focusing on black art/artists. Even among collectors of black art, there may not be a concerted effort to collect the print materials relating to the art or the artists. I refer to these materials: books, exhibition catalogues, show announcement cards, press releases as part of the documentation of black art/artists. Because of my interest in documentation, I wanted to acquire as much as I could afford in terms of primary and published materials on black art/artists.

The Black Art Project publishes the Guide to Black Art Exhibitions, and the Guide has gradually evolved to where it is today. When I began the publication, it was born from one of those ah ha moments. For years, I collected exhibition catalogues and each year in the process of looking for the latest exhibition catalogues, I would discover exhibitions with and those without catalogues. Consequently, each year I had amassed all of this information on black exhibitions and literally did nothing with it; it was raw data. After about 3-4 years of having accumulating then destroying the information after I purchased the catalogues, I realized that the data collected was not available in any single source, so I came up with the idea of pulling the information together in some meaningful way. That meaningful way took the form of the annual Guide to Black Art Exhibitions. It is such a good feel to know that others might benefit from these efforts and black art/artists are documented in some tangible sense. I strongly believe that there are many small ways that many of us can contribute to this documentation and preservation of our visual arts culture. The immediate use of the Guide is apparent; but the Guide, in some small way, does its part to document. My hopes are that it will or can be a tool that others will use, at a later date, to write a part of a bigger story.
© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

Validate Yourself...Question 5

This is a continuation, Part 5, of the series of questions posed by the Black Artists of DC (BADC). What are the tools available at the library for research on Black artists?

There are some tools that are related specifically to Black artists and then there are other tools that may not be race specific, but will contain information on a small number of established Black artists. In seeking information on those artists who may not be widely cited in the literature or who have yet to appear in indexed print sources, we still have ways to capture information on them, but the challenges are greater. A brief discussion such as this does not lend itself to in-depth coverage of the literature, but allows me to touch upon some classic tools that readily come to mind. However, keep in mind that there are many other sources and the ultimate selection of any resource is based on the level and depth of information that one seeks. I will mention just a few historical and current sources that can get the average person to biographical information and samples of an artist’s work and these sources will appear in most library collections. Keep in mind that the local public library, an academic library if services are extended to you, and the local museum libraries are all points at which you can explore and discover the world of Black art/artists. As your needs expand, there are other sources to which your local librarian can direct you.

Afro-American Artists: A Bio-bibliographical Directory by Theresa D. Cederholm is a 1973 classic source that lists personal information, including exhibition history, selected works, print sources with reviews and other information on artists.

250 Years of Afro-American Art: An Annotated Bibliography by Lynn Moody Igoe (1981) is a comprehensive source that consists of 3 bibliographies: The Basic Bibliography is an annotated bibliography of books, exhibition catalogs, and periodical/newspaper articles that refer to more than one artist or Afro-American art in general. The Subject Bibliography is an annotated bibliography of references to selected subjects in Afro-American art. The Artist Bibliography contains individual bibliographies for artists and it includes references to specific artworks that are reproduced in the literature cited in this particular book.

St. James Guide to Black Artists is a biographical source (1997) that includes personal information, a biographical sketch, exhibition history, publications that include the artist, collections in which the artist is a part of, and in some instances there may be a few illustrations.

In order to locate the most recent information about an artist, one can explore general as well as art specific databases such as the following:

• Biography and Genealogy Master Index is one of the best sources to begin a search for information about individuals from any field. It's an index to current, as well as important retrospective works, and it is international in coverage.
  
• Art Index is in both paper and electronic formats. The paper format is a monthly publication. The electronic database, which is updated daily, provides ease of use and can cover an extensive number of years based on your search parameters. This is a critical resource for any type of art research. Its broad coverage of contemporary art around the world includes new artists, exhibition reviews, non-western art, feminist criticism, and Black artists when they are featured totally or part of an article. Currently, over 377 international art publications are indexed. Art Full Text (electronic) offers full text plus abstracts and indexing of publications, covering 1984 to the present. Also, there is Art Index Retrospective (electronic) that is an accumulation of citations to Art Index volumes 1-32 of the printed index, covering the years 1929 through 1984.

The Local Artists File is a file created by the Art Division of the District of Columbia Public Library in which they collect supplemental and ephemeral material about artists of the Metropolitan Washington area, especially those associated in some way with the District of Columbia. The file consists of exhibition catalogs, pamphlets, gallery announcements, newspaper clippings, and any other information that is located in the literature or donated by artists. This is a particularly strong source for information on individuals who are not yet published in standard books, etc.
Another important feature when researching art/artists is to determine the auction history or ascertain whether an artist has had any auction history. It is this history that will often determine cost on the secondary market.

• AskArt http://www.askart.com/ The uniqueness of this electronic resource is its accessibility to auction records for those artists who have auction history. In an unfortunate sense, the records from this source do not include prints or photography. This is a fee for service site.
  
• Gordon’s Print Price Annual has a vast number of international auction results, covering 50,000 prints (2005 ed). Also, there is a Gordon’s Photography Price Annual International.
• Davenport’s Art Reference and Price Guide is easy and fast to use with a very comprehensive artist index. There is price information for over 275,000 artists. However, keep in mind that the prices are an approximate indicator based on an average of what an artist’s works are worth.

To get the up to the minute and accurate auction prices, consult the auction house where the artist’s works were sold. As an example, if one is looking for the current auction value of artists who appeared in the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company auction at Swann Galleries (October 4, 2007) visit their web site to see the online catalog: http://www.swanngalleries.com/full.cgi?index_id=347&sch_id=375 and see the actual results of the auction http://swanngalleries.rfcsystems.com/asp/RealtimeResults.asp .

Finally, for artist’s who are deceased, there are sources to consult to authenticate the artist’s signature. The most widely known of these are in a series by John Castagno. There are the American Artists Signatures and Monograms from 1800 (two editions) and Abstract Artists: Signatures and Monograms, an International Directory.
These sources should get the researcher started on his/her path to explore and discover Black artists. For more specific questions, see your local art librarian. Start your search at the public library and the experience itself will be a reward. That starting point for District of Columbia residents at the DC Public Library would be by phone at 202/ 727-1291, or visiting at 901 G Street, NW (MLK Memorial Library), Room 209. If the information is not readily on hand, the librarian will make appropriate referrals.
© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.