FROM TABOO TO ICON: Africanist Turnabout
January 10, 2008 – February 10, 2008Opening Reception: Thursday, January 10, 2008
Reception and Curator/Artist Talk: Friday, February 1, 2008, 6-9 PM
Ice Box Project Space
1400 N. American St.
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Crane Arts
www.cranearts.com
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Curators:
Sophie Sanders, PhD candidate, Art History Department, Tyler School of Art, Temple University; MA, Slade School of Art, University College London
Shervone Neckles, MA Art Education, Columbia Teacher’s College, MFA Queens College
From Taboo to Icon: Africanist Turnabout is a part of African Impressions / Contemporary Art, a series of symposia and events that explore modern and contemporary art from the perspective of African influences and voices. This exhibition presents artwork in all media that explores the concept of Africanist aesthetics and the taboo or iconic aspect of these influences in contemporary western culture. Contemporary artists from diverse origins respond to the censoring, impact, and celebration of Black and African Diaspora cultural aesthetics, which have been considered taboo in some historical contexts and iconic in others. These artists also re-investigate the omissions in history and contemporary American culture by questioning appropriation and what is seen and unseen in popular culture and fine art.
From Taboo to Icon: Africanist Turnabout will transform the Ice Box gallery into what philosopher bell hooks terms as a “Learning Community,” which invites the public to become active participants in action and reflection. The exhibition will be engaged to think about how all forms of visual representation have the ability to become iconic when they achieve prominence and familiarity through frequent repetition. Some works deal with preserving relics, memories, history, and tradition which are often associated with the sacred and venerated, while others connect with ancestral heritage of the African Diaspora and honor the individuals who are often less visible in fine art contexts. A number of works in the show will also challenge or complicate the very notion of traditional African aesthetics in a changing global context.
Participating Artists:
Sophia Ainslie, Ruby Amanze, Terry Bodie, Kimberly Camp, Syd Carpenter, Colin Chase, Sonya Clark, Sahar Coston, Jamal Cyrus, John Dowell, Maya Freelon Asante, Earl Fyffe, Lonnie Graham, Theodore Harris, Melvina Lathan, Lucy Lau, Franky Laude, Betty Leacraft, Simone Leigh, Ghariokwu Lemi, Heather Marie Davis, Tyrone Mitchell, Ayanah Moor, Keith Morrison, Karyn Olivier, José Ortiz, Pepón Osorio, Nadine Patterson, Agnes Poitevin-Navarre, Debra Priestly, Roy Reid, Juana Valdes, Deborah Willis, Hank Willis Thomas, Emna Zghal
Major funding for the exhibition provided by the Provost’s Commission for the Arts/Office of the Provost of Temple University and the Joan Mitchell Foundation, Inc. Other funding provided by the General Activity Fee and the Art History Department, Tyler School of Art. Additional support donated by the Exhibitions and Public Programs of Tyler School of Art, Crane Arts in Philadelphia, and an anonymous donor.
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African Impressions / Contemporary Art Fist & Foot: Black Dance in Visual Art
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 , from 5:30PM - 8:30PMTemple University Main Campus
Conwell Hall Dance Theater, 5th Floor of Conwell Hall
(click to image enlarge)
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African Impressions / Contemporary Art is a series of symposia and events that explore modern and contemporary art from the perspective of African influences and voices. The aesthetics and social history of the African Diaspora have had an impact on many visual artists, yet this remains under-represented in art historical scholarship. Each event brings a multi-faceted and holistic experience of art and art criticism to the university audience and to the broader Philadelphia public by including established artists, scholars, curators, and performers.
This third symposium in the series presents artists who are investigating the powerful impact of dances of the African Diaspora in popular culture and contemporary art. Following the talks, there will be a performance by Kariamu & Company: Traditions of The Museum Piece. The event is curated by Sophie Sanders, PhD candidate in Art History, Tyler School of Art of Temple University with support from Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Professor and Dance Department Chair, Boyer College of Music, Temple University.
Conference Participants:
Dr. Brenda Dixon Gottschild, Author/Performer & Professor Emerita, Dance Studies, Temple University is a cultural historian and performer. Gottschild graduated from the Performance Studies Department of New York University. She performs with her husband, choreographer Hellmut Gottschild, in collaborative work for which they have coined the term, "movement theater discourse.” Dr. Gottschild is also a senior consultant and writer for Dance Magazine. She is author of The Black Dancing Body (2003; winner of the 2004 de la Torre Bueno Prize for excellence); Waltzing in the Dark (2000; winner of the 2001 Congress on Research in Dance Award for Outstanding Scholarship); and Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance (1996).
Odili Donald Odita, Artist, is an Associate Professor of Painting at Tyler School of Art, and formerly a Visiting Critic in Painting at Yale University School of Art. Odita was a critic for Flash Art International, and a writer and consulting editor for NKA, Journal of Contemporary African Art. Odita has exhibited extensively including representing North America in 2004 at the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Senegal, and he is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery, New York and Haunch of Venison, Zurich. In November 2006, Odita had his one-person exhibition, Fusion at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. Odita was selected by curator Robert Storr to participate in the 52nd Venice Biennale in summer 2007.
Dr. Gaynell Sherrod, Assistant Professor of Dance, Florida A&M University studied dance with Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Pearl Reynolds, Joan Meyers Brown and other acclaimed choreographers. She earned a BA in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, after 15 years of performing with such companies as Philadanco and Urban Bush Women, she earned a M.Ed. and Ed.D. in dance education from Temple University in Philadelphia. A Fulbright-Hayes scholar, Dr. Sherrod taught at Florida A&M University, New Jersey City University, and New York University. She has served as Director of Dance Pedagogy for New York City Department of Education and Executive Director of Touring for the Philadelphia Dance Company.
Robert Farris Thompson, Col. John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art, Yale University is among the most respected scholars of African Art. He has organized several major exhibitions, including The Four Moments of the Sun (1981) and The Face of the Gods: Shrines and Altars of the Black Atlantic World (1985) at the National Gallery of Art. Dr. Thompson has received many research grants, including support from the Ford Foundation (1962-1964) and the National Gallery of Art (1977, 1979, 1980) to name a few. He has produced an immense number of catalogues and books; several recent works include: Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. (New York: Vintage, 1984); with Georges Meurant, Mbuti Design: Paintings by Pygmy Women from the Ituri Forest. (London: Thames and Hudson, 1995); Tango: The Art History of Love. (Vintage, 2006).
Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Artistic Director of Kariamu & Company: Traditions and Professor and Dance Department Chair, Temple University received her Doctorate of Arts from New York University and her MA.H. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has written extensively on African and African Diasporan dance. Dr. Welsh was the founding artistic director of the National Dance Company of Zimbabwe and she has choreographed works for the African American Dance Ensemble, Seventh Principle, Philadanco and her own company Kariamu & Company: Traditions. Dr. Welsh has received numerous grants and awards including the Pew Artist Fellowship and the Simon Guggeheim Fellowship. Dr. Welsh is also on the registry as a Fulbright Specialist in African Dance.
Symposia Moderator:
Dr. Leslie King-Hammond, Dean of Graduate Studies, Maryland Institute College of Art, Scholar, Curator, and Artist received her doctorate in Art History from The Johns Hopkins University in 1976. Some of Dr. King-Hammond’s recent exhibitions and publications include Three Generations of African American Women Sculptors: A Study in Paradox; Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence (University of Washington Press, 2000); Sugar and Spice: The Art of Bettye Saar (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 2003); “Aminah Robinson: Aesthetic Realities/Artistic Vision” in The Art of Aminah Robinson (Columbus Museum of Art, 2003); and “Inner Being/Altered States: Painting the Life-Worlds of Beverly McIver’s Realities” in The Many Faces of Beverly McIver (40 Acres Gallery, 2004). King-Hammond is Chairperson of the Collections and Exhibits Committee at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.
Performance:
Kariamu & Company: Traditions is a collection of professional dancers who seek to broaden and deepen the genre of African dance with contemporary choreography, music, and poetry. Using the Umfundalai technique, Kariamu & Company: Traditions reaches its audiences with political, social, and cultural commentary situated in African Diasporan contexts.
Kariamu & Company has been creating soul-stirring dance works since 1970, the birth of Umfundalai. In its thirty years of excellence, the base of the company moved from Buffalo, New York to Zimbabwe, South Africa to its current home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current Traditions company was started in 1996 in preparation for Kariamu & Company's home season concert and its inception demarcates the third generation of Umfundalai dancers, singers, and poets.
The Museum Piece
Choreography by Kariamu Welsh
Africans have literally and metaphorically been placed in an exhibit for centuries. From the auction block to mounted wall “art” to the “smiling jockey” that graced a good number of lawns during the past century, the African on exhibit is a nostalgic part of Americana. The Museum Piece inverts and hopefully subverts the idea of inspection, introspection and exhibit. This work examines as it is being examined and finally begs the question, “Who are you looking at and why?”
Major funding for the symposium and performance provided by the Provost’s Commission for the Arts / Office of the Provost, Temple University. Other funding provided by the Temple University Alumni Association. the Dance Department of the Boyer College of Music and Dance, the General Activity Fee, and the Art History Department of Tyler School of Art of Temple University. Additional support donated by Exhibitions and Public Programs of Tyler School of Art, the Graduate Art History Organization, and an anonymous donor. Special thanks to all individuals who made this possible.
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African Impressions / Contemporary Art Program II: From Taboo to Icon: Images of the Black Body
Tuesday, February 27, 2007Temple University Main Campus
Tuttleman Learning Center, Room 105
1809 North 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
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African Impressions / Contemporary Art is a series of three symposia that explore modern and contemporary art from the perspective of African influences and voices. The second symposium in the series, From Taboo to Icon: Images of the Black Body, presents artists who are reflecting on entrenched racial constructs and shifting attitudes in popular culture and contemporary art. The symposium is curated by Sophie Sanders, PhD candidate in Art History, Tyler School of Art of Temple University.
Conference participants:
Naomi Beckwith, Whitney Lauder Curatorial Fellow, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania Naomi Beckwith joined the ICA in 2005 after completing the Whitney Independent Studies Program, where she was the Helena Rubenstein Critical Studies Fellow. She focuses on identity and critical practices in contemporary art. In addition to curating exhibitions at the ICA and Artists Space, Beckwith has worked in publishing and arts administration at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Black Dog Publishing, ArtMedia Group, Inc. in New York and the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London. Beckwith holds a BA in History from Northwestern University and an MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, where her thesis on Adrian Piper and Carrie Mae Weems earned Distinction.
Allan L. Edmunds, Artist, Educator, Founder and President, Brandywine Workshop Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Allan L. Edmunds studied abroad at the Temple University Rome Campus in Italy and Cardiff Art School in Wales, UK. As an artist, he has received numerous distinctions such as National Endowment for the Arts and Pennsylvania State Arts Council fellowships and a Certificate of Honor as a distinguished Alumnus of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, where he received both his Bachelors and Masters of Fine Art degrees. His prints and collages are represented in public and private collections across the United States. As a teacher, Mr. Edmunds has dedicated more than 25 years to Public Schools in Philadelphia and has extensive experience as a visiting artist and lecturer at colleges nationally and internationally. As an arts administrator, Edmunds is credited with the founding of the now acclaimed Brandywine Workshop in 1972. He is a 1997 Fellow of the Getty Museum Management Institute. The International Review of African American Art cited Edmunds in 2001 as one of the "25 Who Made A Difference" in the advancement of African American art during 1976-2001 for his efforts in directing the Brandywine Workshop, assistance to African American institutions and the development of artists of all races and ages.
Lonnie Graham, Artist, Cultural Activist and Professor of Visual Art, Pennsylvania State University Professor Lonnie Graham of Pennsylvania State University is the former director of Photography at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, in Pittsburgh, PA, where he developed after school programs cited by The White House as a National Model for Education. Professor Graham is the recipient of the 1999 Creative Achievement Award from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Pennsylvania Governors Award for Artistic Excellence. He is a three time Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Fellowship winner. A Pew Fellow, Graham has extensive teaching experience, including his position as Professor of Visual and Integrative Arts at Pennsylvania State University and Instructor of Special Programs at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania. He is a Visiting Instructor of Graduate Studies at San Francisco Art Institute and was Visiting Professor at Haverford College. His work is in local and national collections including the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the Schomburg Center in New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Delaware Museum of Art the Museum of African American History in Detroit; and the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts.
Emily Hage, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow of Modern and Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art Emily Hage is an Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow in the Modern and Contemporary Art Department at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She received her Ph.D. in the History of Art from the University of Pennsylvania, where she wrote her dissertation on Dada art journals. She has published articles in a number of catalogues, journals, and anthologies, including The DADA Reader: A Critical Anthology (2006), and delivered a number of papers, including one at the most recent College Art Association annual conference. She has also served as a juror for art exhibitions in the Philadelphia area. Before coming to Philadelphia, Dr. Hage worked at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as a Curatorial Associate, as well as at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. She co-curated the Philadelphia presentation of the exhibition, “Beauford Delaney: From New York to Paris” (November 2005-January 2006) at the PMA and has since been involved with a number of exhibitions at the museum, including “Ellsworth Kelly in Resonance” (October 2006-February 2007), and “Out of Words” (November 2006-June 2007), which includes an installation piece by Benin artist Georges Adéagbo.
Deborah Willis, Artist, Scholar, Chair and Professor of Photography & Imaging, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University Deborah Willis was a 2001 MacArthur Fellow and a 1996 recipient of the Anonymous Was a Woman Foundation award. She has pursued a multi-faceted professional career as an art photographer and as one of the nation's leading historians of African American photography and curator of African American culture. Exhibitions of her work include: Regarding Beauty, University of Wisconsin 2003; Embracing Eatonville, Light Works, Syracuse 2003-2004; HairStories, Scottsdale Contemporary Art Museum, Scottsdale 2003-2004; The Comforts of Home, Hand Workshop Art Center, Richmond, VA 1999; Re/Righting History: Counternarratives by Contemporary African-American Artists, Katonah Museum of Art, 1999; Memorable Histories and Historic Memories, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 1998; and Cultural Baggage, Rice University, Houston 1995. Curated Exhibitions include: Imagining Families--Images and Voices and Reflections in Black. Notable projects include The Black Female Body A Photographic History (with Carla Williams) from Temple University Press, 2002; A Small Nation of People: W. E. B. DuBois and the Photographs from the Paris Exposition, 2003; Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers - 1840 to the Present, 2000; Visual Journal: Photography in Harlem and DC in the Thirties and Forties, 1996; Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography, 1994; and VANDERZEE: The Portraits of James VanDerZee, 1993.
Symposium Moderator:
Dr. Susanna Gold, Lecturer, Tyler School of Art, Temple University Susanna Gold is a faculty member of the Art History department at Tyler School of Art, Temple University. She studies 19th- and early 20th-century American Art, with a focus on the post-Civil War era. Areas of particular interest include issues of race and social relations, exhibition theory, and the rich cultural history of Philadelphia. A postdoctoral fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported her current book project titled, The Performance of Memory: Art, War, and Nation. In this project, Dr. Gold investigates the role of visual imagery and its presentation in reflecting, establishing, and problematizing a collective national memory of the Civil War at Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exhibition.
Major funding for the symposium marketing and post-event dinner provided by the Temple University Graduate School; other major funding provided by the Temple University Alumni Association, the General Activity Fee, the Art History Department, and the Office of the Dean of Tyler School of Art. Additional support donated by Exhibitions and Public Programs of Tyler School of Art, the Graduate Art History Organization, the Faculty Senate Lectures and Forums Committee of Temple University and an anonymous donor. Collaborative assistance provided by the African American Studies Department, Temple University. Special thanks to Keith Morrison, Dr. Gerald Silk, Sharyn O’Mara, Judith Stein, the entire Art History Department at Tyler School of Art, Greg Murphy, Ingrid Spangler, Sheryl Conkelton, Ellen Napier, Kelli Cavanaugh, Maureen Gordon, Louis Cook, Erika Schneider, David Hicks, Joseph Feagan, Ariel Pierce, Matt Palczynski, and all who made this possible.
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African Impressions / Contemporary Art Program I: Mining History for African Voices
Tuesday, November 7, 2006Temple University Main Campus
Anderson Hall, AL14 1114 West Berks Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
(215) 204-7837
(click to image enlarge)
(click to image enlarge)
African Impressions / Contemporary Art is a series of three symposia curated by Sophie Sanders, a PhD candidate in Art History at Tyler School of Art, Temple University. The conference series will explore modern and contemporary art from the perspective of African influences and voices. Many visual artists have been impacted by aesthetics and social history of the African Diaspora, yet this remains under-represented in art historical scholarship. As a more global outlook develops, there is an opportunity to explore the ways in which cultural fusions occur. Each event brings a multi-faceted and holistic experience of art and art criticism to the university audience and to the broader Philadelphia public by including established artists, scholars, and curators.
The first symposium in the series, Mining History for African Voices, will focus on artists who respond to and interpret history and contemporary culture. It will take place on Tuesday, November 7, 2006, from 5:30 - 8:00PM at Anderson Hall, Lecture Hall 14 located at 1114 West Berks Street at Temple University's main campus in Philadelphia. The event is free. For further information, please call (215) 204-7837 or fax (215) 204-6951.
Conference participants:
Kimberly Camp has served as President and CEO for The Barnes Foundation, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit; and Director of The Experimental Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. An artist in her own right, Ms. Camp has received numerous awards including two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, the Kellogg National Leadership Program Fellowship, Visiting Scholar for Gedai University and Roger L. Stevens Award for Contributions to the Arts and Culture from Carnegie Mellon University. Camp’s work has been shown in over 100 exhibitions here and abroad and she has lectured internationally.
Ayanah Moor Born 1973 in Norfolk, Va., Ayanah Moor graduated with a Bachelors degree in Fine Art from Virginia Commonwealth University in Painting and Printmaking. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking at Tyler School of Art. She has exhibited nationally and earned residency awards from Women's Studio Workshop, Blue Mountain Center, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and Vermont Studio Center. Currently, Ayanah Moor is Assistant Professor in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.
Tumelo Mosaka is Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum and previously Co-Curator for the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina. Mosaka was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and currently lives in New York. He received his undergraduate in South Africa and MA in Curatorial Studies from Bard College. Mosaka has curated numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally and contributed to several catalogues.
Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw is an Associate Professor of American Art at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her PhD in art history from Stanford University, was Assistant Professor of American Art at Harvard University, a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Ford Foundation. Her book, Seeing the Unspeakable: The Art of Kara Walker, was published by Duke University Press in the winter of 2004.
Odili Donald Odita, Symposium Moderator, is an Associate Professor of Painting at Tyler School of Art, and formerly a Visiting Critic in Painting at Yale University School of Art. Odita was a critic for Flash Art International, and a writer and consulting editor for NKA, Journal of Contemporary African Art. Odita has exhibited extensively including representing North America in 2004 at the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Senegal. Odita is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery, New York and Haunch of Venison, Zurich. In November 2006, Odita will have his one-person exhibition, "Fusion" at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.
Major funding for the symposium marketing and post-event dinner provided by the Temple University Graduate School; other major funding provided by the Temple University Alumni Association, the General Activity Fee, the Art History Department, and the Office of the Dean of Tyler School of Art. Additional support donated by Exhibitions and Public Programs of Tyler School of Art, the Graduate Art History Organization, the Faculty Senate Lectures and Forums Committee of Temple University and an anonymous donor. Collaborative assistance provided by the African American Studies Department, Temple University. Advice and support supplied by Dr. Gerald Silk, Chair of Art History; Matt Palczynski, PhD candidate and many other faculty advisors and student volunteers.
