Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Craig Wilkins
As a graduate student in Cultural Studies at the University of Minnesota, Craig Wilkins was struck by how people define space at hip hop raves. In the midst of dance, human presence defines architecture, not the other way around.An avid dancer, Wilkins hung out at raves in the Minneapolis area when Prince was rising in popularity. He was fascinated with how music and dancing creates an identity and function for space. "No matter how many different kinds of people come to a rave, there's a moment in that rave where everybody's on the same page. Everybody's in the same place, whether that place is in a warehouse, an open field… I'm like, man that's a phenomenal, wonderful thing. Are there any other ways that can happen? How might I be able to make that architectural? Basically what architects do is shape space. If music can help create space and can help create identity, what kind of identity would a hip hop space make?"Fast forward 20 years, Wilkins is in Detroit, a professor of architecture at the University of Michigan and the director of the university's Detroit Community Design Center. He dances less, but retains an appreciation of hip hop and the notion that human activity defines architecture, not the other way around.
Wiley World
Here's a great article from the latest Advocate magazine about one of my favorite artists.
His paintings might resemble portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds or Thomas Gainsborough, but little else is traditional about Kehinde Wiley’s approach to urban male culture.
From The Advocate June 2009
From The Advocate June 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Tracing the Threads
I’ll admit my expectations are pretty low when it comes to new architecture in the nation’s capital.
True, Norman Foster completed a pretty little canopy for the National Portrait Gallery’s central courtyard in 2007. But over all the crop of monuments and museums that have risen along the National Mall in recent decades have been so mediocre that it seems to be only a matter of time before this sacred strip of land becomes a national embarrassment.
So the first reaction to the announcement that the team of Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup has been selected to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture should be a big round of applause. David Adjaye, the project’s 42-year-old lead designer, is a rising star in the architecture world.
The design’s strong, somber exterior — a stack of zigzagging blocks clad in shimmering bronze mesh — could be the most important addition to the mall since I. M. Pei’s East Building at the National Gallery of Art opened three decades ago.
It is also a history lesson. Mr. Adjaye, who was born in Tanzania and lives in London, says that the museum’s form is based on late 19th- and early 20th-century tribal Yoruban sculpture.
The sculptural reference is an obvious attempt to express the frayed cultural threads that link black America and West Africa. Yet it also carries subtler cultural associations: the stacked wood blocks, which evoke an African version of the Parthenon caryatids, remind us that Washington’s neo-Classical buildings represent only part of a vastly more intricate cultural narrative. The new design’s ziggurat-shaped form evokes the work of Constantin Brancusi, one of many Western artists who were profoundly influenced by African tribal art.
This effort to broaden the narrative of Classical Washington — and to challenge how many Americans still view their history — continues inside. Two huge stone canopies extend out from the building to the north and south, fudging the boundary between the formal world of the museum and everyday life outside. The lobby floor, which slopes down from the Mall toward Constitution Avenue, is a reversal of the conventional grand stair. Instead of lifting art up onto a pedestal, it allows the public to flow right through the building.
For museumgoers, however, the design’s greatest strength lies in the delicate balance struck between the need to move crowds and the stillness that is so vital to the experience of viewing displays. A dense forest of wood columns is suspended from the lobby ceiling. The columns dip down at the center of the lobby, gently pushing the crowds toward the edges of the room. From there, visitors will climb a broad staircase to the main galleries, which are on the second, third and fourth floors.
In a cheeky inversion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Guggenheim rotunda, Mr. Adjaye clusters all of the galleries at the center of these floors. To get to them, visitors will follow a series of stairs, corridors and walkways that will spiral up around the building’s perimeter.
The layout allows Mr. Adjaye to isolate the main circulation route from the galleries, which should give them a wonderful calm. But it also lets him forge a strong relationship between the inner world of the museum and the city outside.
Big windows — reminiscent of the trapezoidal ones at the Whitney Museum of American Art — will angle out toward carefully framed views of the city’s monuments. Rather than puncture the building’s bronze mesh skin, Mr. Adjaye gently stretches it to allow people to see through it. At other points the pattern is denser, so that the light filtering in will have a mottled, bronze glow, as if it were streaming through a canopy of trees.
(The changes in the density of the bronze mesh should have a powerful effect on the building’s exterior at night, too, giving it an eerie, uneven pattern, like a lizard’s skin, when it is lighted from within.)
Still, expect plenty of nail-biting moments in the months and years to come. The design is still in the earliest stages, and the high degree of refinement in Mr. Adjaye’s work means that its success will depend on the kind of details that have yet to be fully worked out. These include the precise layout of the galleries and the position of a number vertical cuts through the building that will be used to bring light into the lower levels.
What’s more, Mr. Adjaye has never designed a cultural building of this scale. Nor has he ever worked with a bureaucratic culture as byzantine as Washington’s. Finally, he will have to find a way to work with a sprawling team of associate architects without diluting the power of his original vision.
It will now be up to the museum’s director, Lonnie G. Bunch, to ensure that he will have the kind of creative freedom necessary to thrive in this former swampland.
True, Norman Foster completed a pretty little canopy for the National Portrait Gallery’s central courtyard in 2007. But over all the crop of monuments and museums that have risen along the National Mall in recent decades have been so mediocre that it seems to be only a matter of time before this sacred strip of land becomes a national embarrassment.
So the first reaction to the announcement that the team of Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup has been selected to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture should be a big round of applause. David Adjaye, the project’s 42-year-old lead designer, is a rising star in the architecture world.
The design’s strong, somber exterior — a stack of zigzagging blocks clad in shimmering bronze mesh — could be the most important addition to the mall since I. M. Pei’s East Building at the National Gallery of Art opened three decades ago.
It is also a history lesson. Mr. Adjaye, who was born in Tanzania and lives in London, says that the museum’s form is based on late 19th- and early 20th-century tribal Yoruban sculpture.
The sculptural reference is an obvious attempt to express the frayed cultural threads that link black America and West Africa. Yet it also carries subtler cultural associations: the stacked wood blocks, which evoke an African version of the Parthenon caryatids, remind us that Washington’s neo-Classical buildings represent only part of a vastly more intricate cultural narrative. The new design’s ziggurat-shaped form evokes the work of Constantin Brancusi, one of many Western artists who were profoundly influenced by African tribal art.
This effort to broaden the narrative of Classical Washington — and to challenge how many Americans still view their history — continues inside. Two huge stone canopies extend out from the building to the north and south, fudging the boundary between the formal world of the museum and everyday life outside. The lobby floor, which slopes down from the Mall toward Constitution Avenue, is a reversal of the conventional grand stair. Instead of lifting art up onto a pedestal, it allows the public to flow right through the building.
For museumgoers, however, the design’s greatest strength lies in the delicate balance struck between the need to move crowds and the stillness that is so vital to the experience of viewing displays. A dense forest of wood columns is suspended from the lobby ceiling. The columns dip down at the center of the lobby, gently pushing the crowds toward the edges of the room. From there, visitors will climb a broad staircase to the main galleries, which are on the second, third and fourth floors.
In a cheeky inversion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Guggenheim rotunda, Mr. Adjaye clusters all of the galleries at the center of these floors. To get to them, visitors will follow a series of stairs, corridors and walkways that will spiral up around the building’s perimeter.
The layout allows Mr. Adjaye to isolate the main circulation route from the galleries, which should give them a wonderful calm. But it also lets him forge a strong relationship between the inner world of the museum and the city outside.
Big windows — reminiscent of the trapezoidal ones at the Whitney Museum of American Art — will angle out toward carefully framed views of the city’s monuments. Rather than puncture the building’s bronze mesh skin, Mr. Adjaye gently stretches it to allow people to see through it. At other points the pattern is denser, so that the light filtering in will have a mottled, bronze glow, as if it were streaming through a canopy of trees.
(The changes in the density of the bronze mesh should have a powerful effect on the building’s exterior at night, too, giving it an eerie, uneven pattern, like a lizard’s skin, when it is lighted from within.)
Still, expect plenty of nail-biting moments in the months and years to come. The design is still in the earliest stages, and the high degree of refinement in Mr. Adjaye’s work means that its success will depend on the kind of details that have yet to be fully worked out. These include the precise layout of the galleries and the position of a number vertical cuts through the building that will be used to bring light into the lower levels.
What’s more, Mr. Adjaye has never designed a cultural building of this scale. Nor has he ever worked with a bureaucratic culture as byzantine as Washington’s. Finally, he will have to find a way to work with a sprawling team of associate architects without diluting the power of his original vision.
It will now be up to the museum’s director, Lonnie G. Bunch, to ensure that he will have the kind of creative freedom necessary to thrive in this former swampland.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
What do you think?
What do you think about this recent letter to the Chicago Tribune? It reminds me of conversations that I'm constantly having with Black artists and performers about developing audiences of color and how we are often lacking in coverage of the arts. Hmmm . . . What do you think?
Art coverage complaint
April 28, 2009
Art coverage complaintWhen I saw the cover of the April 19 Chicago Tribune Magazine, I was happy to see it was titled "Art in Chicago." My eyes and ears are always tuned to buzz about my fellow creative travelers. Being an African-American artist, in a city where black folks comprise a third of the population, I assumed there would be at least token mention of the vibrant scene of black artists, galleries and collectors. But after browsing the pages for some visual evidence of our existence, I started again, more carefully, looking for at least some typed reference to that fact. After going back a few more times, I reluctantly concluded the Trib had managed to do something I thought impossible in the year 2009 in the city of Michelle and Barack. Its staffers had written a whole magazine titled "Art in Chicago" without a single image of or by a black artist. In fact, even the ads, which can usually be counted on for some token of diversity, were curiously for this issue "uncolored" (if you know what I mean). (To be totally accurate, there was, in a listing of shows, the name of Richard Hunt, the internationally known sculptor "of color." But there was no clue for the uninitiated that he was black, if only in hue.)
-- Lowell Thompson, Chicago
April 28, 2009
Art coverage complaintWhen I saw the cover of the April 19 Chicago Tribune Magazine, I was happy to see it was titled "Art in Chicago." My eyes and ears are always tuned to buzz about my fellow creative travelers. Being an African-American artist, in a city where black folks comprise a third of the population, I assumed there would be at least token mention of the vibrant scene of black artists, galleries and collectors. But after browsing the pages for some visual evidence of our existence, I started again, more carefully, looking for at least some typed reference to that fact. After going back a few more times, I reluctantly concluded the Trib had managed to do something I thought impossible in the year 2009 in the city of Michelle and Barack. Its staffers had written a whole magazine titled "Art in Chicago" without a single image of or by a black artist. In fact, even the ads, which can usually be counted on for some token of diversity, were curiously for this issue "uncolored" (if you know what I mean). (To be totally accurate, there was, in a listing of shows, the name of Richard Hunt, the internationally known sculptor "of color." But there was no clue for the uninitiated that he was black, if only in hue.)
-- Lowell Thompson, Chicago
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
RIP
Barnes is regarded by art historians as one of the premier figurative artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries and one of the nation's foremost African American painters.He's also one of the most collected artists in America.
Barnes' famous "Sugar Shack" dance scene, which appeared on a Marvin Gaye album and the closing credits of the "Good Times" television show, has been widely imitated.
For five years beginning in 1959, Barnes played in the AFL for the New York Titans (Jets), the Baltimore Colts, the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos.
According to Barnes' website, "In 1965, New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin recognized Barnes’ artistic potential and replaced his football salary for one season so he could devote himself 'to just paint.' One year later, Barnes made his debut in a critically acclaimed solo exhibition at Grand Central Art Galleries in Manhattan and retired from football."
Luz Rodriguez, who was Barnes' personal assistant, told City News Service that Barnes died Monday night at Cedars Sinai Medical Center after a brief illness.
Copyright City News Service
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
New Bibbs Sculpture to Chattanooga
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 22, 2009) − Garry R. Bibbs, associate professor at the University of Kentucky Department of Art, has won a commission for his sculpture "Family Revolution." The commission was awarded to Bibbs for his sculpture proposal by the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga.The sculpture commission was made possible by the Urban League's participation in the program "Art in the Neighborhoods," a new matching grant initiative funded by the Lyndhurst Foundation and administered through Chattanooga’s Public Art Program. The sculpture is funded by the foundation grant and matching private funds."Family Revolution" is a stainless steel sculpture that will stand 20 feet tall. The sculpture proposal submitted by Bibbs competed against ones from professional artists in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, as well as Kentucky. "Family Revolution" will be installed near the offices of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, located on M.L. King Boulevard in Chattanooga. Installation is scheduled within the coming months.“This sculpture shows the new found pride we are seeing in the M.L. King neighborhood," said Urban League of Greater Chattanooga President Warren Logan. "It is exciting and gratifying to see change as it occurs and makes sense to celebrate empowerment through the installation of 'Family Revolution.'”Bibbs' distinguished exhibition history includes showings presented through the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.; the Ruschman Art Gallery in Indianapolis; the Hertz Gallery in Louisville and the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.The Kentucky sculptor is also an active member of the Pew Civic Entrepreneur Initiative, a coalition group in Lexington whose goal is to confront and solve issues relevant to the community on race relations and leadership.“Through my art, I want to share honesty about my human experience, my African-American heritage, and my environment, whether it is good, bad, or indifferent," commented Bibbs. "Life is so precious, so it is important that my viewers feel enlightened, uplifted, and free. They should be made aware that there is an answer, a power, and a glory. So live a good life and be gracious in God’s creative beauty which is given to us through the arts.”The "Art in the Neighborhoods" Program is administered by the City of Chattanooga's Public Art Program through the Department of Parks and Recreation. The program is designed to assist community groups with generating unique public art projects in neighborhoods throughout Chattanooga. Matching funds are made available through a grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation and can be used for the temporary lease, purchase or commission of one or more works of art.
Charles Franklin Moss
On Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at noon, Ruth Hodge, a retired archivist from the Pennsylvania State Archives will talk about the life and work of Charles Franklin Moss. Moss was a turn of the century African-American artist and photographer. Ms. Hodge will chronicle the 83-year life of Charles Moss, a man of multiple artistic talents and accomplishments. The program will be held at 21 North Pitt Street, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Please call (717) 249-7610 for more details. This lecture is in conjunction with our exhibit An Enduring Gaze: The Portraits of Cumberland County which is now through October 31, 2009 supported by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.Charles Franklin Moss (1878-1961) is believed to be the first African-American inducted into the National Association of Professional Photographers. Moss was a graduate of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art. He was in business in Carlisle for about twenty years starting around 1908.
This activity and exhibit has been generously supported in part by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Federal-State Partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Visit the newest exhibit at the Cumberland County Historical Society entitled An Enduring Gaze: The Portraits of Cumberland County. This exhibit will be free to the public and will run from now until Saturday, October 31, 2009. It will feature the evolution from early portraiture until today’s digital images. Some of the portraits will include: a self-portrait of prolific local artist Holmead Philips, a newly conserved portrait of President Thomas Jefferson, Admiral John Berrien Montgomery, and a scandalous 1920s flapper.
The Cumberland County Historical Society is an active history center with an award winning museum, library, photo archives, educational center, museum shop, and historic Two Mile House. The Historical Society’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and promote research of Cumberland County history. Anyone interested in local history is invited to become a member. Call 249-7610 or visit our web site http://www.historicalsociety.com/ for more information and to see the museum virtual tour. Cumberland County Historical Society is located at 21 North Pitt Street, in Carlisle Pennsylvania. Hours are Monday 3 to 9 pm, Tuesday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm, and Saturday 10 am to 3 pm. Admission to the museum is free.
More on Franklin Moss at AfroLumens.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Barbara Jordan Statue to Grace UT Campus
Barbara Jordan was a woman of firsts: She was the first African American woman from the South to be elected to Congress, the first black elected official to preside over the Texas Senate and the first freshman senator named to the Texas Legislative Council. Next week, in the vein of her trailblazing legacy, her statue will be the first of a female personage on the University of Texas campus. The statue will be unveiled among the Battle Oaks northwest of UT's Main Building.Jordan died in 1996 at age 59. The statue of the beloved lawmaker and UT professor has been in the works since 2002, when members of the UT community started discussing the need for greater ethnic and gender diversity in the statues on campus. Jordan's sculpture will join 15 others on campus, including a statue of the Roman goddess Diana located in the quadrangle formed by Andrews, Blanton, Carothers and Littlefield dormitories.
Joycelyn Jurado, 27, was a member of the Orange Jackets, the service-oriented group of students, who developed the idea.
The upcoming unveiling will be "amazing," Jurado said. To see "someone who looks like me being displayed as art on campus and to experience that community is very much needed in our time."
The Barbara Jordan Statue Advisory Committee, headed by Sherri Sanders, deputy to the vice president for Diversity and Community Engagement, raised about $447,000 for Jordan's statue. In 2003, university officials and students approved a $2 per semester student fee to raise money for the Cesar Chavez and Jordan sculptures. The Chavez statue was unveiled in October 2007.
The artist fee for the Jordan statue is $274,000, and the overall cost of the project is about $690,000, including landscaping and transportation.
Bruce Wolfe, the same artist commissioned to create the sculpture of Jordan located in the main terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, created the UT's bronze statue, which is more than eight feet tall and weighs 850 to 900 pounds.
Dedication activities started last week and will culminate with the unveiling ceremony at noon April 24.
"Joining the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez is this statue of a great female leader, not only in our state but in our nation," Sanders said. "The statue is a testament to the can-do spirit of Barbara Jordan and to the students involved in making the statue a reality."
joshundasanders@statesman.com; 445-3630
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