Art

Mighty Mighty Art Installation is Centerpiece of Barbershop Project at THEARC

THE AFRO — The barbershop has long been a safe space for certain parts of the Black community – particularly Black men. Artist Devan Shimoyama wanted to take an in-depth look at that relationship in his art installation “Mighty Mighty,” which is the centerpiece of “The Barbershop Project,” a decked out fantastical barber shop offering free haircuts to the community.

Published

5 years ago

May 23, 2019

Oakland Post

By George Kevin Jordan

The barbershop has long been a safe space for certain parts of the Black community – particularly Black men. Artist Devan Shimoyama wanted to take an in-depth look at that relationship in his art installation “Mighty Mighty,” which is the centerpiece of “The Barbershop Project,” a decked out fantastical barber shop offering free haircuts to the community.

The installation a collaborative effort by Shimoyama, barber Kelly Gorsuch and furniture maker Caleb Woodard, and will run until August 24 at the ARC, 1901 Mississippi Avenue SE.

“Mighty Mighty,” was spun off of a previous body of work, Shimoyama had done in 2017.

“There were all these portraits from young boys to adult men receiving haircuts in a highly aestheticized barbershop with various materials like glitter, rhinestone,” Shimoyama said. “All of that was me, kind of in response to this conversation around toxic masculinity in certain spaces, and thinking of the barbershop where that is certainly present.”

Shimoyama said he had a conversation with friends who expressed frustration with having to “closet” themselves when going into some barbershop.

His work was an attempt to make barbershops “accessible to all of us,” he said.

This time around Shimoyama said the installation is using the same, “material, but creating an immersive experience as if you walked into one of those paintings. So there’s a lot of silk flowers holographic vinyl, rhinestone, glitter.”

“What’s nice about this is it’s also like a social practice or contextual practice version of my paintings,” Shimoyama said. ”They are more accessible to people who may not feel comfortable going to white box gallery spaces and this is planted right in neighborhood right by a community that has this other type of draw for them, and to be able to think of art in a less conventional maybe less elitist way. You can engage it.”

“So that’s really exciting for me.”

Shimoyama said the work’s intent and it’s audience has grown over time.

“So when i made the first iteration I had hoped to spark a dialogue on these issues on all sides of this issues,” Shimoyama said. “Not just queer people, but people who run or work at these spaces who are maybe straight Black men and see this work, and maybe rethink some of their actions in those spaces and help to make a comfortable or safe space for all to enter to.”

“S it ended up as a call to people who identified similarity to me with me. But it didn’t directly interact with people outside of that community which I was hoping to reach out to. So this iteration of that protect already seems more successful at that.”

In addition to “Mighty Mighty” and “The Barbershop Project,” CulturalDC will also offer a slate of summer programming at THEARC all centered on the cultural significance of the barbershop.

“CulturalDC has been looking forward to bringing the Mobile Art Gallery to THEARC for a long time,” said Kristi Maiselman, executive director of CulturalDC in a press release. “The Barbershop Project provides an opportunity to engage with both the wide-ranging resident organizations based at THEARC, and future-minded East of the Anacostia River communities that are informed by D.C.’s rich artistic history. Devan’s work offers a great platform for relevant conversations and engagement around barbershop culture.”

For moe information on the art installation and barbershop hours please go to www.culturaldc.org.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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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.