Art

Black History Month: Art at Fisk University Galleries

NASHVILLE PRIDE — For Black History Month, visit the art galleries at one of the world’s greatest educational institutions, Nashville’s own historic Fisk University.

Published

5 years ago

February 26, 2019

Oakland Post

By Cass Teague

For Black History Month, visit the art galleries at one of the world’s greatest educational institutions, Nashville’s own historic Fisk University. Their 2019 exhibitions and programs reflect the long and rich history of Fisk University’s impact within the Arts both past and present. Three exhibitions run through March 19, 2019, before giving way to new ones for the Spring.

-SCAPE: 20th-century African-American Artists Inspired by the Built Environment, is located on the upper level of the Carl Van Vechten Gallery. This exhibition features works by Walter Williams, Stephanie Pogue, Aaron Douglas, Romare Bearden, Beauford Delaney, Richard Hunt, Sam Middleton, Leon Hicks, and others alongside Hughie Lee Smith’s The Walls, 1954, on loan from Art Bridges.

The Prophet’s Library Vol. II, is a solo exhibition of works by Wesley Clark. It is located on the lower level of the Carl Van Vechten Gallery. Built around a narrative construct of a curated private collection of objects, The Prophet’s Library unabashedly delves into dialogues concerning Black Americans in the only land they’ve known — yet a place hard to call home.

“Identity and reparations are two prominent recurring themes<“ says Clark. “Reparations delineates reconciliation of what is owed Black Americans to be a regular and prominent thought leading toward action in American society. Identity responds to my recognition of how intentionally the Black image has been co-opted & distorted; the devastating effects of those actions; and the need to counter those maneuvers. Each mingles with economics, government, value of life, and history, intertwined and layered throughout the individual works creating a subtle yet well-established thread between the objects.:
Echoes of the Harlem Renaissance, curated by Fisk Museum Leadership Program students Genevieve Antoine, Zakiyya Beasley, Ambar Gonzalez, Taryn Nurse, Stephane Prieto Ponce, Robert Riojas, ArJae Thompson, Michael Marie Thomas, Dominique Williams, and Jordan Wright, is on view at the Aaron Douglas Gallery (third floor of the Franklin Library). Fisk Museum Leadership Program students curated this exhibition during their orientation week, selecting works from the Fisk permanent collection by Henry O. Tanner, David Driskell, William H. Johnson, Malvin Gray Johnson, and others.

In the year 2019, Fisk will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Carl Van Vechten Gallery, 75th anniversary of Fisk University’s Department of Art, and 90th anniversary of the Spring Arts Festival with two new shows opening this spring: 615 North + Artists in Residence 1888-2019: Fisk Faculty & Alumni Show. These two exhibitions will reflect the long and rich history of Fisk University’s impact within the Arts both past and present.

With support from the Fisk University administration, faculty and students, community, and Friends of the Gallery, over the last 3 years they have opened 15 exhibitions, recruited and trained over 60 Gallery Ambassadors, welcomed over 20,000 visitors from across the world, and developed and sustained partnerships with museums, academic and community organizations. Their team has also given over 50 talks and participated in panels and conversations in the United States and abroad. Fisk University Galleries has been fortunate to secure funding from the Tennessee Arts Commission, Walton Family Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Andy Warhol Foundation, among others.

This article originally appeared in the Nashville Pride.

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Art

Marin County: A Snapshot of California’s Black History Is on Display

The Marin County Office of Education, located at 1111 Las Gallinas Ave in San Rafael, will host the extraordinary exhibit, “The Legacy of Marin City: A California Black History Story (1942-1960),” from Feb. 1 to May 31, 2024. The interactive, historical, and immersive exhibit featuring memorabilia from Black shipyard workers who migrated from the South to the West Coast to work at the Marinship shipyard will provide an enriching experience for students and school staff. Community organizations will also be invited to tour the exhibit.

Published

1 week ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

Early photo of Marin City in the exhibit showing the first department store, barber shop, and liquor store. (Photo by Godfrey Lee)

By Post Staff

The interactive, historical, and immersive exhibit featuring memorabilia from Black shipyard workers who migrated from the South to the West Coast to work at the Marinship shipyard will provide an enriching experience for students and school staff. Community organizations will also be invited to tour the exhibit.

All will have the opportunity to visit and be guided by its curator Felecia Gaston.

The exhibit will include photographs, articles and artifacts about the Black experience in Marin City from 1942 to 1960 from the Felecia Gaston Collection, the Anne T. Kent California Room Collection, The Ruth Marion and Pirkle Jones Collection, The Bancroft Library, and the Daniel Ruark Collection.

It also features contemporary original artwork by Chuck D of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Public Enemy, clay sculptures by San Francisco-based artist Kaytea Petro, and art pieces made by Marin City youth in collaboration with Lynn Sondag, Associate Professor of Art at Dominican University of California.

The exhibit explores how Marin City residents endured housing inequities over the years and captures the history of plans to remove Black residents from the area after World War II. Throughout, it embodies the spirit of survival and endurance that emboldened the people who made Marin City home.

Felecia Gaston is the author of the commemorative book, ‘A Brand New Start…This is Home: The Story of World War II Marinship and the Legacy of Marin City.’ Thanks to the generous contribution of benefactors, a set of Felecia’s book will be placed in every public elementary, middle, and high school library in Marin.

In addition, educators and librarians at each school will have the opportunity to engage with Felecia in a review of best practices for utilizing the valuable primary sources within the book.

“Our goal is to provide students with the opportunity to learn from these significant and historical contributions to Marin County, California, and the United States,” said John Carroll, Marin County Superintendent of Schools.

“By engaging with Felecia’s book and then visiting the exhibit, students will be able to further connect their knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of this significant historical period,” Carroll continued.

Felecia Gaston adds, “The Marin County Office of Education’s decision to bring the Marin City Historical Traveling Exhibit and publication, ‘A Brand New Start…This is Home’ to young students is intentional and plays a substantial role in the educational world. It is imperative that our community knows the contributions of Marin City Black residents to Marin County. Our youth are best placed to lead this transformation.”

The Marin County Office of Education will host an Open House Reception of the exhibit’s debut on Feb. 1 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.. All school staff, educators, librarians, and community members are encouraged to attend to preview the exhibit and connect with Felecia Gaston. To contact Gaston, email MarinCityLegacy@marinschools.org

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Activism

Alternative Outcome to Slayings by Police Explored in One-Man Play

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira. Set against the backdrop of a presidential election, the play explores how political and cultural leaders wield the myth of the dangerous Black man to manipulate the masses for personal gain. Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour.

Published

2 months ago

February 16, 2024

Oakland Post

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira.

Special to The Post

What would happen if police officers who have gotten off for killing unarmed Black people started turning up dead?

Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour.

“My wife and I had been talking about it for years,” Ferreira said. They had taken their three children to Brazil several times and West Africa but had yet to explore their history as Black people in this country. “It was Juneteenth last year and I realized we had a few weeks to make it happen, so we just jumped in the car and left” Piper said.

Three weeks later the family had seen everything from the African American Museum of History and Culture in Wash., D.C., to the phenomenally preserved Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. They’d stood outside of the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., and paid their respects at the Africa Town cemetery – where the passengers of the Clotilda (the last known U.S. slave ship to smuggle captured Africans into this country) were buried near Mobile, Ala.

“We had the kids keep a journal of the trip and my wife and I took notes, but once we got back home, I knew I had to make the pen move,” he said.

Ferreira plays 21 characters in the 60-minute emotional roller coaster ride; personalities we all know. While brilliantly weaving in themes of revolution, treachery, and revenge, “Black Men Everywhere!” is surprisingly — more than anything else — a love story.

“I wrote the play for Black men and everyone who loves us,” Ferreira said. “The play is narrated by a sistah and performed in front of the deeply spiritual artwork of Nedra T. Williams, an Oakland priestess of Olokun. It’s called ‘Black Men Everywhere!’ but we don’t exist without the Black woman.”

For tickets, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/5dm3mhra

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Art

City of Stockton Seeks Applications for Public Art Murals

The City of Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) has announced the opportunity for artist(s) and/or artist teams to apply to design and paint original artwork on City-owned property through a Public Art Mural Program. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

Published

3 months ago

January 24, 2024

Oakland Post

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

City of Stockton

The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

This program has $50,000 in available funds for artist(s) and is also available for those who have already identified funds and would like to complete a mural project on city-owned property. Applications will be reviewed on a competitive basis and selected by the SAC.

To learn more about the Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) or qualifications and eligibility for Public Art Mural Program, please visit www.stocktonca.gov/publicart or call the Community Services Department at (209) 937-8206.