TONI MORRISON'S OPERA: MARGARET GARNER NYC & (RE)POSSESSED EXHIBIT @ JERSEY CITY MUSEUM 3/20/08

I found these beautiful images from Toni Morrison Opera MARGARET GARNER on Sheree Renee Thomas's blog. Check out this HARD WORKIN UPTOWN SISTAH'S blog if you get a chance

http://blackpotmojo.blogspot.com/
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Today I had to slow down with the preparations for the exhibit at the Jersey City Museum. I was getting a little over whelmed with the details. Once this exhibit is up, I will be a lot less nervous about it.

Everything is coming together really well, One of the reasons I was moved to do this traveling exhibit on the development of a contemporary African American aesthetic, is because of the memorialization of the historic trauma that is laced into the African American Culture. This is the same reason that I retired from designing costume for Black Theater.

In the 1970’s when I was still living in Seattle, I belonged to a very unique African American community theater group named Black Arts West…

Copy-paste- and open the link below for a very interesting view of the history of this small but very special black repertory theater group that was started in the 1960’s, in the Pacific Northwest.

(Be sure to “Brows to Next Essay” to read all 5 pages of the essay, I was part of the scene of this theater group, so I can honestly say, it is very well documented)

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3921



…I was a costume designer for Black Arts West for a few plays from 1971-73. I was also a student of Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington.

I took a few theater costume design course because I thought it would be helpful for me with my work at the theater. That was the beginning of my culture shocks.

During this class is when I noticed that the costumes that I was designing for the productions of Black Theater, were all run-away slave costumes or used urban wear.

I was not able to beautifully design the dramatic costumes of my imagination that came from the pages of The African American Play writes, like the other students in the class were able to do that were designing costumes with European Play writers,

If I had designed the costumes that I envisioned it would have altered the mood of trauma that was being dramatized in the writing. The students that were working with plays by European Playwrights. Were able to buy wonderful satin brocades and decorative lace fabrics of wonderful colors & textures to aid their vision to take the characters they were working with into a magical experience.

I,… “On the other hand” was in the “salt mines” going to the Salvation Army or thrift store to find what ever I needed. I was ripping the clothes up, “on my hands and knee’s” rubbing the fabric on ruff edges to create worn holes, putting grass stains, perspiration stains and tea stains on the garments to look like blood stains… I could go on with this description, but, like the experience with designing costumes for black theater,… I had to leave,… I was tired working so hard to preserve the trauma of the culture, I had to move on to something that tells another part of our story, and I had to go to The High Road at The Cross Roads of my culture. Where I could express from my personal vision.

Now, this brings my story to a few months back when I saw Toni Morris’s Opera Margaret Garner at New York City Opera Sept 2007. It was an amazing production, I totally enjoyed it, and it was definitely a high point of my theatrical experience. I love Toni Morrison’s writings; I especially loved watching the film Beloved, which inspired an exhibit that I did at the Caribbean cultural Center in 2006 in New York City.

But… The costumes of the Opera Margaret Garner, we were still enslaved and running. This is one of the reasons that I am doing this exhibition project titled (RE)POSSESSED, that will open March 20th at the Jersey City Museum.

So… to help everyone get into the spirit of this exhibit, until it travels to a gallery near you, I have curated10 youtube video’s that are required viewing before visiting the exhibit (RE)POSSESSED.

Check them out and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH1wyH3WaI4&feature=related
Supremes: Some day we will be together


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI03UJEbwqg&NR=1
Diana Ross: in Central Park Opening


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXIIR6vJa44&feature=related
Diana Ross: Central Park, Reach out and touch, aint no mountan high enough, home


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORSzfw8FE-o&feature=related
Nina Simone: I’ll put a Spell on you.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0abdSOlcsQ&feature=related
Supremes: Forever came today (bad ass black dresses


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUcXI2BIUOQ&feature=related
Nina Simone I ain’t got


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wioNRRrVA4s&feature=related
Nina Simone: Zungo


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAtMEsIVLVo&feature=related
Nina Simone: What you Gonna Do? (In a sexy crochet pant outfit, she is totally styled her as far as I’m concerned)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdg4xeK9F9Q&NR=1
Tina Turner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koshAexeNpI&feature=related
Aretha Franklin Sings Opera - Nessun Dorma White house

THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN ABOUT FOLKS!!!!...
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XENOBIA BAILEY

EXHIBIT
(RE)POSSESSED

JERSEY CITY MUSEUM
OPENING MARCH 20 2008

http://www.jerseycitymuseum.org/

VISITING THE MAUSOLEUM OF JACOB LAWRENCE & GWEN KNIGHT LAWRENCE

Today was a nice sunny day, No big winds, just a calm blue ski, not nice enough to take all of my winter layers off, but it was nice enough to do a lot of out door walking around, and not be uncomfortable.

I started out early, The art handlers came to pick up my work for the exhibit in Jersey City, after they picked up my work they went downtown to pick up Dorian Webb’s Chandeliers, then they went to Chelsea to the Gallery that represents me, The Stux Gallery to pick up my tent.

I have to call the Jersey City Museum Friday to see if everything arrived all right. I e-mailed the Sistah Paradise folktale that I wrote to be edited by the Curator Dr. Rocio Aranda, it's going to be installed on the wall in the exhibit. I'm still working on the wall text. I will finish it tonight.

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A couple of day ago, I thought it would be a good idea for me to pay a visit to the mausoleum of the Artist Jacob Lawrence and his wife Gwen Knight Lawrence. They are interned together at the Cathedral of St John The Divine.

I go there every once in a while, I bring them a white 7 day candle, that I light in their memory and the memory of my parents Mommy & Daddy Bailey, and my best friend from high school, college and forever Joyce Sims Niles, who are interned in Seattle Washington.

(On an artist budget, they understand me sharing everyone’s memory on one and the same candle.)

Every time I visit The Lawrence's, I think back when I was a student at Pratt Institute in New York. I would go home to Seattle during my spring break, and I would go to the University of Washington and visit Mr. Lawrence in the art class he was teaching. He used to let me set in on his still life drawing classes, I really appreciated that, He used to use my charcoal drawings for examples for the class on how I used my lines, he was very encouraging to me. And after class he, his wife and I would go to his office and just talk, he used to teach at Pratt so he was asking about how thing were going for me on the campus.

I used to use examples of his oil paintings for my color exercises, in my light, color and design class in my freshmen year. The color and design compositions of his oil paintings were so well worked out, no space was wasted, or color unbalanced,

I remember talking to him about his painting classes and he told me that I would only be able to use five colors of paint in his class, he wanted his students to learn how to mix all of their colors from, red, yellow, blue, black and white.

When I left Seattle to come back to New York to finish at Pratt, He gave me his home phone number, I used to call him and his wife and tell them all about my dreams about being an artist in New York, and he was always so excited about what ever directions my dreams would take. I remember telling him when I first arrived in New York and I saw the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade live for the first time. I told him that I wanted to design floats for that parade. He really got a kick out of that.

So. I walk up the hill to St John the Divine Church, and visit them from time to time, with my one white candle for the both of them and my folks.

I remember after the memorial service when they both were intern at the church after Mrs Lawrence past, when we were leaving from the reception, these two white peacocks were just a prancing & parading around the church yard grounds together with there feathers all up in the air behind them... I had to smile at that.

VISITING THE STATUE OF JOAN OF ARK: MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS/HARLEM

When ever I visit Saint John the Divine Cathedral Church, I love to visit all the smaller chapel, one chapel that I find very moving is the Chapel dedicated to Joan of Ark.

The lighting in this chapel just a little afternoon is dramatic, The sun light beams through the stain glass windows, casting soft pastel colors around the top of the statue and lights up the full statue perfectly, but, this lighting only happens for a few minutes as the sun is setting (you can see that I arrived a few minutes late, because the sun light and the soft colored lighting is already moving off of the statue).

This is a very beautifully executed sculpture, The artist was very successful in rendering a very peaceful/calm into the full body of the sculpture.

What adds a final touch of grace to this sculptural installation, is that one of the stones from the prison that she was held in before she was burned at the stake, is at the feet of her statue.... VERY SPECIAL EXPERIENCE.

LILLY SMUUL'S MAGICAL IRISH CROCHET

Today was a nice sunny mild weathered day, mild enough to take my gloves off, but nothing else.

I had an appointment today with the photographer Barron-The-Magnificent, to take my portrait for the publicity shots for the Exhibit (RE)POSSESSED, that is going to be at the Jersey City Museum, opening March 20, 2008. I wore the Sistah Paradise Regalia and a black glittery mask. I hope the shots turn out alright, Barron is a brilliant photographer, and so, I should not worry.
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I belong to a International Freeform Crochet Yahoo Group, there are over 14,000 members in this group, The members are from all around the world, I can be in contact with someone from this group any 24 hrs in a day, I believe just about any form of crochet or needle arts that has ever been created, someone in this group knows something about it. For example, I was trying to find out how to make the stitch that is used to make a baseball, I call it the baseball stitch, a stitch that is used to pull two side together, I like the embroidered look of that stitch, and it's not just decorative, it's functional. evidently, someone else in the group was interested in sharing that stitch, and they posted instructions to that stitch and about four other stitches.

Every question that I have had, about a stitches, or yarns, was answered before I could ask it, either someone asking the same question, or the question was answered in a previous post. This yahoo group is amazing. When I went to London this past October; to attend the Knitting and Stitching Show, I met up with a couple of the members, very creative group.
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I have always admired and wanted to learn Irish Crochet, to me, this is the most magical of all crochet stitching. Finding someone that knows how to Irish Crochet had turned into a major mission for me, I really thought the art form was dying out, but, through this amazing crochet yahoo group, I found an amazing Irish Crocheter named Lilly Smuul, who lives in Kenmare, Ireland. I have never met Ms Smuul, but I was introduced to her work through the Yahoo Freeform Crochet Group.

I have posted one of her Irish Crochet Neck Pieces, To share the beauty of this decorative style of this crochet, This work is unbelievably beautiful, the quality of the stitch the choice of the yarn, the composition, in one word…. MASTERFUL/

The Irish Crochet below Lilly Smuuls Irish Crochet is an antique piece, created by a Nun in Ireland; there is no specific date to this piece.

Any time I see work like this,... IT HUMBLES ME.

THE FREELON GROUP: ARCHITECTS BUILD THREE AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTERS

Philip G. Freelon
Principal
The Freelon Group Architects
Research Triangle
Park, N.C.

A native of Philadelphia and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Philip G. Freelon founded his own practice in 1990. The Freelon Group has grown to a staff of 50 with a portfolio that includes corporate, institutional and cultural commissions. Among them are three African American cultural centers. The Freelon group has also honed its collective skills in construction documentation, project management, and construction administration.

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Click link to download and hear Podcast interview with Principal Architect Philip G. Freelon. The volume is kind of low on Philip G. Freelon, so you will have to turn the volume up.

http://enr.construction.com/people/multimedia/podcasts/2007/070503.asp

AFRO-AMERICAN QUILT INSPIRES ARCHITECTURE IN CHARLOTTE NC.

I found a really inspiring story on African American Quilts that inspired Architect Phil Freelon in The Charlotte Observer by Richard Marchal. You can read the full story in the link below.

http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/519576.html

NEW HOME, NEW NAME

Begun at a 1974 festival on African American culture and history, the Afro-American Cultural Center since 1986 has been in the former Little Rock AME Zion Church on North Myers Street, near McDowell and East Trade streets.

The new building at South Tryon and Stonewall streets will have 46,490 square feet, more than four times the current space.

When the building opens next year, the center will become the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture, in honor of the former Charlotte mayor and civic leader.

It will house the Hewitt Collection, 58 works by 20 African American artists, including Charlotte native Romare Bearden, purchased for the center in 1998 by Bank of America.

Both the current home and the new one are in Brooklyn, a predominantly black neighborhood that filled Second Ward, which extends southeast from Trade and Tryon streets.

Beginning in the '60s urban renewal flattened a neighborhood now home to government buildings and Marshall Park.

THE HARVEY B. GANT CENTER FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTS + CULTURE

BUILDING IN CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINA 

 FRONT VIEW

NOTES: THIS IS ONE OF THE FUNKY-EST  ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURE THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN. YOU CAN HEAR THE LATE ANTHROPOLOGIST ZORA NEAKE HURSTIONS WRITING ALL THROUGH THE ANGLES OF THIS BUILDING.

 RIGHT SIDE VIEW

NOTES: A TRUE CONTINUUM OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN AESTHETIC. INSPIRED BY THE COMPOSITION OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN QUILT.

 BACK RIGHT SIDE VIEW

(((SERIOUS NOTES))): I HAVE PLANS TO CONTACT THE ARCHITECT AND THE STRUCTURAL ENGINEER WHO DESIGNED THIS BUILDING.

 MURAL:

 BACK LEFT SIDE VIEW

NOTES: THERE ARE A GREAT DEAL OF BREAK THROWS WITH THIS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MATERIAL CULTURE. 

 FRONT LEFT SIDE VIEW

NOTES: THIS BUILDING IS PURE AFRICAN AMERICAN, DISPLAYING A SUBTLE MEMORY OF A EVOLVING AESTHETIC OF THE AFRICAN LIVING IN NORTH AMERICA.

 FRONT LEFT SIDE VIEW

NOTES: A COMPOSITION THAT IS TOTALLY OFF THE GRID...!!!

 FRONT VIEW

NOTES: INTERIOR PHOTOS COMING SOON...!!!

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER: SCHOLARSHIPS

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP: ELLIOTT BAY BOOK COMPANY SEATTLE WA. DONATION
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Unfortunately, I was not able to post this information at the correct time so that folks could support this wonderful writers project. I thought it would be inspiring to post it anyway, it could serve as food for thought for other scholarship drives or community fund raisers.
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In June, 2006, the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle donated 20% of their proceeds from the sales of certain books to the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Carl Brandon Society. Books had to be purchased in person or over the phone, during the month of June. Online purchases did not qualify.

The donations were of Elliott Bay's "Books for a Change" program. Titles for June included Dark Matter II, edited by Sheree Renee Thomas; Fledgling and Kindred by Octavia E. Butler; The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan; Cinnamon Kiss, The Wave, and Fear Itself by Walter Mosley; Zorro and City of Beasts by Isabelle Allende; and many, many more.

For a complete list of the books that where part of the June donation program, please call the store at (206) 624-6600 or (toll free) 1-800-962-5311, or check the online list. Then, you could either have placed an order for any of these books over the phone, or you could have bought any of them at the store to make your selection count towards our total.

The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund will support writers of color attending the Clarion and Clarion West Writing Workshops, beginning in 2007. It is administered by the Carl Brandon Society, a nonprofit organization focusing on the presence and representation of people of color in the fantastic literary genres. For more information about the Carl Brandon Society and the scholarship fund, please visit our website.


Elliott Bay Book Company: "Books for a Change" — Toll free orders: 1-800-962-5311

Octavia E. Butler's Website

Carl Brandon Society

Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund

HANK WILLIS THOMAS: SPELL-BREAKER

Beautiful Sunny day,... but still Winter in America,... very chilly day,... young blood spilt on college campus…

I made it to the Black Fine Art Show at the Puck Building downtown Manhattan last night 30 minutes before it closed. I ran through the first part of the show real quick. The Art work was beautifully hug. The crowd looked like a serious buying crowd even though it was a very thin crowd, it apeared people were consulting with the dealers and buying ART (I saw art being wrapped up and carried out the door).

My friend Diane had told me that the director of HEARNE FINE ART GALLERY, Garbo Hearne from Little Rock, Arkansas wanted to meet me. I introduced myself to Ms Hearne and we had a very exciting New York–half-a-Minute-Meeting with her and Dealer Yolanda. Really wonderful and warm folks. Our meeting is still open, we exchanged info.

While at this years Fine Art Show, I did not see the “Heavy-Hittin” Art Work like works by the strong & brilliant artist Hank Aaron… Oop’s, excuse me,… I mean Hank Willis Thomas. This artist pounds out classic icons each and every heart felt time he swings. Check out and read about his Fine Works of Art on his website.

http://hankwillisthomas.com/splash.html


His Spell-Breaking, clean & precise images gets “all-up-in” (y)our face, in (y)our mind, in (y)our spirits, in (y)our past & present, in (y)our pockets & purses and into Corporate Business. He really knows how to “Call-it” as he see’s it,... You got a real Fine Eye Brother-Man!!.

His work brings to mind one night I accompanied a friend to Harlems, St. Luke Hospital Emergency Room. We had to stay in the emergency room through the night, I will never forget the activity that was going on in the early morning of the ER.

Around 3:00am, a multitude of New York City Police Officers rushed into the hospital, escorting 3 gurney’s with African-American Male Youths, unconscious and handcuffed to the side poles of each gurney,

I had my digital camera with me and I was trying to find the right time to capture a photograph, if I was seen taking photographs I would have been put out of the ER, I was unable to find that moment. But, I will never forget the impact of that too common scene as the gurney’s were rolled closer to where my friend and I were waiting, the MULTITUDE of POLICE OFFICERS, the HANDCUFFED, UNCONSCIOUS AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALE YOUTH’S and the NIKE SNEAKERS.

“THIS IS MADNESS”

The Last Poets

In one word, this lean, mean, art making machine Hank Willis Thomas is "SLAMMIN" and should be a household name. (ok, that's more than one word, but,... can you blame?... I got over taken by the art work,... This work is right-on-the-Money!!... Ok,... I'm going to stop now.)

CROCHET DIVA DENIZE ROBIN

Happy Valentines Day... Bright sunny day today, but don’t let it fool you, it's as cold as... ice is standing up on the ground, cold. But I'm not complaining, it could be worst.

I got a call from Diane Smith this morning, she said she had a extra ticket to the Black Fine Arts Show at the Puck Building Downtown, she asked me if I wanted to go, even though I have tons of work, especially getting ready for my exhibit that opens next month at the Jersey City Museum, I said yes, I need to go, there will be a lot of local and out of town dealers that I need to network with.

I got a e-mail from Michelle Bishop last night, the founder of Harlem Needle Arts, she sent me this wonderful myspace link,

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=163311847

that belongs to this exceptionally talented and stylish, Crochet Designer from Riverdale Georgia, I think her name is DENIZE ROBIN, I tried to send her a contact e-mail or a response in her myspace, but I'm still learning this cyberspace jungle.

I just love DENIZE ROBIN style, She looks like she is really having a good time, creating these wonderful garments and adorning herself by her own creative hands, I am not sure if she designs her own patterns, but even if she does not, the execution of the garments, The way she drapes her body with the crochet, the choice of yarn colors that accent her golden complexion is masterful. The weight of the yarn, I think it is 4 ply, really works great with the eye catching large lacy double crochet stitch. Oh yeah, and I must say again, the lady knows and expresses her own original style that makes me want to speak in a unknown lanquage, and she really, truly knows how to "work-out" with her crochet hook, “I’m scared of you!!!…”,

“Aaaaah Sookie Sookie Now!!!”

THE YOUNG DREAM CATCHER

"PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF THE 7th GENERATION WHEN WE VOTE, GIVE THE FUTURE A CHANCE.!!!"

Dianne Smith: Art, Commerce & Job Force

The Giants won the Super bowl and it snowed in New York this morning (but it stopped by noon), one day before the presidential primary and I want to go out and get a collection of the historical presidential button, no matter who I am voting for, these buttons are a good historical keep sakes.

Culture & Commerce in the Communities. The need and the purpose of the artist in the community, I have to keep repeating this to myself, It really takes many mature, creative minds to resurrect any communities on the cultural & economic down slide. One of the area’s I get a great deal of inspiration from and pride myself on is my circle of family, family-of-friends & friends. I could go on forever about each and everyone of them, and I am sure I will during the development of the notes of this Journal blog.

Dianne Smith gets the award from me this week for The Enhancement of Culture, Commerce and the Community,

(TO BE CONTINUED), (STAY POSTED, THIS IS A REALLY BRILLIANT PROJECT THAT DIANNE SMITH CREATED FOLKS)

EXHIBIT: "RE-POSSESSED" (NOTES)

Strang weather today, it started out heavy grey clouds, windy, cold and rainy. Now it bright sun, windy and cold,... that said, my skin is so very dry… real “Ashville”

As the sun is setting, I am racing trying to tear myself away from this computer so that I can get to the Whitney Museum and see Kara Walkers exhibit tonight. This exhibit is going to close in a few days, so I really have to make a effort to see it.

It's a month and a few weeks before the opening of my exhibit titled RE-POSSESSED at the Jersey City Museum March 20 2008 – Aug 15, 2008, it looks like it is going to be a exciting installation. This is going to be a interactive, 7 year traveling installation, with a very small but brilliant group of artist and designers,

I was working on the press release draft today, I already submitted it to the museum public relations, but, I will post the content of the release to save the time of explaining the project.

This project is the next stage of the project that I started in 1999, when I was a artist-in-residence at The Studio Museum of Harlem, Titled “PARADISE UNDER RECONSTRUCTION IN THE AESTHETIC OF FUNK”. That was a 7 year crochet meditation on the aesthetic of Funk, From that project is when the crochet artifacts from RE-POSSESSED came from.

So here’s the press release, I will update it later with the time, date and direction to the museum. This release is going to be edited.


(PRESS RELEASE STARTS HERE)


“Like water, be gentle and strong. Be gentle enough to follow the natural paths of the earth, and strong enough to rise up and reshape the world.” –

Brenda Peterson


RE-POSSESSED

The Jersey City Museum is hosting the eve of the dawning of “THE RE-POSSESSED TEA SANCTUM”. A Ceremonial Mystical Environment in the Aesthetic of Cosmic Funk,

This Enchanting installation is reclaiming the valuable cosmic properties of the aesthetic of Urban Funk, through the formal practice of a reinvented Tea Ceremony.

RE-POSSESSED is a Cultural Rehabilitation Project conceived and created by Fiber Artist Xenobia Bailey,
With invited artist & designers
1. Chandelier Designer: Dorian Webb,
2. Tea Set designed by Lifestyle Creator: Barbara Garnes,
3. African Tea Collection by Caranda Fine Foods,
4. Soundscape by Jazz Musician Rene Mclean.

RE-POSSESSED is an “aesthetic-remix” works-in-progress, an assemblage of reconstituted artifacts, reflecting the dynamics of a Neo African aesthetic and the cultural impact of the European & Early American colonial experience of African-Americans, This aesthetic was unconsciously continued to some degree, into the aesthetic of the southern rural lifestyle of the newly emancipated African-Americans in the mid 1800’s. Which evolved into a Pop Culture of the Urban African-American lifestyle near the end of the 20th Century and into the present 21st Century.

RE-POSSESSING the culturally stripped is a ceremony that maintains a responsible relationship with Culture, Community, Commerce and the Cosmos.

This installation includes hand crocheted wall Mandala’s, A Crochet Revival Tent and The Tea Masters Crochet Ceremonial Garments. This is a body of invigorating, hand crochet & embroidered Cosmic Tapestries, created for meditative practices:

The space is graced by a stunning collection of custom designed crystal chandelier and sconce lightings. These masterful works of art are beautifully composed assemblages of multilayered dazzling crystal prisms, colorful semiprecious stones and splendid miniature Venetian Glass sculptures of nature.

A classic porcelain Tea Set of indigo and white decoratively patterned toiles of pre-colonial, African village pastoral life.

A luxurious Tea Collection of fines blends of Black, Green, White and Herbal Organic Teas from the continent of Africa.

With a beautifully haunting soundscape created by jazz musician Rene Mclean incorporating sound tracks from performances of him and his Father the Late Great Jackie Mclean.

This is an inspirational environment created for the ceremonious tea, prepared to aesthetically strengthen, enhance, and enlighten. So that one can reap the benefits of a journey into long periods of Deep Fulfilling Meditation in the Cosmic aesthetic of Funk for the Culturally RE-POSSESSED and for those who can relate.

(END OF PRESS RELEASE)

There is going to be a website built for the exhibit that will contain more information a contacts with the artists.

REMEMBER A KING, REHAB A KING

What a way to start this memorable "DAY FOR A KING"!!!.... I just had an amazing telephone conversation with a New York Performance artist named Rha Goddess, who has created a powerful performance piece (that I just missed) at the Public Theatre, The project she is working on really hits right on the “HEALING ELEMENT”. She is working with Mental Health Issues of Communities of Color.

This touring project was just launched Jan. 15, 2008 at The Public Theater in New York. Artist-as-Cultural-Activist, working for the community…. That’s what I’m talking about.

Check out the details of the project in the Link below.

http://www.rhaworld.com/LOW-SpecialEvents/index.html

Try and get on the mailing list to stay connected to this vital project.


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TAXPAYERS MORE WILLING TO PAY FOR REHABILITATION THAN FOR INCARCERATION, REPORTS FIND.

Posted on January 21, 2008

Taxpayers More Willing to Pay for Rehabilitation Than for Incarceration, Reports Find

The American public supports the rehabilitation of youth offenders and is more willing to pay for rehabilitation than incarceration, two new reports funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation find.

Based on data from a poll performed by the Center for Children's Law and Policy, Potential for Change: Public Attitudes and Policy Preferences for Juvenile Justice Systems Reform (executive summary, 12 pages, PDF) found that more than 70 percent of Americans believe that incarcerating youthful offenders without rehabilitation is the same as giving up on them. Ninety percent of those surveyed believe that "almost all youth who commit crimes have the potential to change."

Based on research conducted by the MacArthur Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice, the second report, Rehabilitation Versus Incarceration of Juvenile Offenders: Public Preferences in Four Models for Change States (executive summary, 17 pages, PDF), found that the public is willing to pay an average of nearly 20 percent more in taxes for juvenile rehabilitation than incarceration.

During the 1990s, state legislatures across the country enacted statutes under which growing numbers of youths could be prosecuted in criminal courts and sentenced to prison, often because policy makers assumed popular demand for such action. But youths in the adult criminal system are at greater risk for assault and death, receive less in the way of rehabilitation and treatment services, and are 34 percent more likely to commit crimes than youths retained in the juvenile justice system. The MacArthur Foundation is working to address these issues through its Models for Change initiative and by supporting action networks designed to develop systemwide changes in Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Washington that can serve as national models for reform.

"Momentum is gathering across the nation to replace harsh, ineffective measures with programs that address the welfare of young people while preserving safe communities," said MacArthur Foundation president Jonathan Fanton. "The public understands that youth in trouble with the law are not lost, and that working with them to solve problems is a better approach to public safety than just locking them up."

“Rehabilitating Juvenile Offenders.” John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation 1/15/08.

REHABILITATION PROGRAMS LINKS BELOW

http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1074781/k.D7EC/In_Focus.htm

http://www.modelsforchange.net/

FREEMAN OF COLOR, PORTRAIT ARTIST: JOSHUA JOHNSON 1763-1832, BALTIMORE MD.

JOSHUA JOHNSON was a FREE AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTIST — THE FIRST "KNOWN AND DOCUMENTED" AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARTIST IN AMERICA TO EARN HIS LIVING AS A PROFESSIONAL PORTRAIT PAINTER. He worked in Baltimore for over 30 years, from 1795 – 1825. Painting during decades of dramatic growth in Baltimore, Johnson produced more than 80 portraits of sea captains, shopkeepers, and merchants. By accepting commissions from Baltimore’s newly affluent families, Johnson produced portraits in oil in the years before the camera was invented. No other artist except Johnson painted so many portraits of parents with their children during this period in Maryland.

Although we know a great deal about the people who posed for Johnson’s paintings, we do not know much about Joshua Johnson himself. Few clues survive to help us piece together the puzzle of his life and career. Like most members of Baltimore’s free black community, he remains an elusive figure. Joshua Johnson’s BALTIMORE MD. HAD A LARGE POPULATION OF FREE AFRICAN-AMERICANS. By 1810, Free African-Americans outnumbered enslaved African Americans by more than two to one.

The Maryland Historical Society now owns a 1782 court record regarding 19-year-old Joshua Johnson, a slave in Baltimore County who was apprenticed to a blacksmith. Previously purchased by his own father, the record orders that Joshua be freed as soon as the term of his apprenticeship ended or when he arrived at his 20th birthday, whichever came first. No further records appear about Joshua Johnson the blacksmith, but in 1796 the Baltimore City Directory has an entry for Joshua Johnson the portrait painter. Are these two men one in the same? We are not sure, but it is possible. With each new clue or intriguing suggestion regarding Joshua Johnson’s life, the mystery only deepens. But in the best traditions of historical scholarship, the quest will continue. Perhaps you will someday be a part of it! If you would like to see some of Joshua Johnson’s paintings, come to the Maryland Historical Society. We have several of his paintings in our permanent collection.

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Competition among artists during the late 1700s and early 1800s was not unusual in a city the size of Baltimore. In 1798, Johnson placed a newspaper advertisement in the Baltimore Daily Intelligencer. In it he describes himself as a "self-taught genius," and offers to provide "the most precise and natural likenesses" of his subjects.

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BEHOLD: THE GEE'S BEND QUILTERS

From a bend in the Alabama River, a small, rural community is taking the art world by storm with a unique style of abstract quilts. The Gee’ Bend quilters have refined a distinctive, sophisticated quilting style that is gaining critical acclaim worldwide.

The quilts reflect the geometric sensibility of modern art and the works have been compared to those of important artists like Henri Matisse and Paul Klee. The New York Times called the quilts "some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced." The sensational compositions, colors and innovative designs of the quilts of Gee’s Bend have an aesthetic impact that transcends the medium. Unlike the square patterns of other American quilt styles, these works reflect inventive, personal perspectives inspired by surroundings, history and the fabric’s origins.

Quilting in Gee’s Bend is an art that spans at least four generations. The community began in the 1800s as a cotton plantation owned by Joseph Gee and Mark Pettway. After the Civil War, freed slaves continued to live in the area, working as tenant farmers and then buying pieces of the land in the 1940s. Quilting here, as in most of America, was as much a necessity as an art. The community was isolated by its river border which made self-sufficiency essential. Well into the second half of the 20th century, the community lived in unheated homes without running water or electricity. The women of Gee’s Bend pieced strips of available material together to keep their families warm and some made hundreds of quilts throughout their lifetime.

Their work is infused with imaginative design. Such creation is often presumed a luxury of leisure of patron sponsored artists or sufferers of self-inflicted torment. But the women of Gee’s Bend earned everything the hard way. Gee's Bend men and women survived slavery, grew and picked crops, lived without modern amenities, survived the Depression, and lived through the raucous environment of the South during the Civil Rights movement. In the 1960s, the lifeline ferry across to Gee’s Bend was shut down and people in Alabama who registered to vote in support of or march with Civil Rights protesters were systematically persecuted through loss of their jobs or repossession of their homes.

Despite the toll of history, the quilters of Gee’s Bend continued producing their quilts gathering inspiration from continuing struggle as well as from the love and peace they distilled in their own lives. Quilts were made from faded work clothes, textile scraps and any other usable fabric. Some were inspired by loved ones who had passed, others by backyard scenes and some by the freedom marches that brought Martin Luther King, Jr., to Gee’s Bend in 1965.

In 1998, social historian and art curator William Arnett stumbled across a photo of a “work-clothes” quilt by Annie Mae Young. The stunning original design prompted him to find the quilt and its creator. He succeeded and after buying several quilts from Young, he became known as the crazy man in town “paying good money for raggedy old quilts.” Arnett promptly began to promote the work of the Gee’s Bend quilters. The impressive artistry and originality led the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to organize an exhibit titled The Quilts of Gee’s Bend in 2002.

The exhibit of 60 Gee’s Bend quilts then traveled nationwide to museums in twelve cities including the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The impressive list of institutions that displayed the Gee’s Bend quilts rank among the most sought after spaces by artists.

In 2003, after the success of the first exhibit, women of Gee’s Bend formed the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective with help from Arnett and a non-profit he formed called the Tinwood Alliance. The Collective was founded to help market the magnificent quilts. Some quilts sold through the collective have fetched more than $20,000. The funds are distributed between the quilt’s creator, the collective and its other members.

A second exhibition is currently making waves across the United States. Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and opened in June. The exhibit features work spanning fifty years of Gee’s Bend quilters and includes work from the newest generation of quilters, signifying the continuation of this long tradition. Many of the quilters of Gee’ Bend are elderly but have children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren who have taken to learning the art of quilt making.

The current exhibit will grace the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Orlando Museum of Art, The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY, the Denver Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, just to name a few, and will run through October 2008. Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt is changing the way we think about modern art and recognizing the amazing collective talent from a small, rural community in Alabama.

The Collective has their own website which provides further details on where you can see their art or purchase your own piece. There are also two books about the women and the art: The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, and Gee’s Bend: The Women and Their Quilts (available through Tinwood Media, Tinwood Alliance or the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston).