|
 African
American Art Alive in the District:
Partnerships, exhibitions help the Black Artists of D.C.
In a city with a changing art
scene, 10-year-old organization Black Artists of D.C. fosters
a community of support and inspiration.
Amber Robles-Gordon is an African
American artist who teaches yoga and pilates, organizes
art workshops, and writes an art blog.
“[My work is] colorful,
intuitive, and abstract,” Robles-Gordon said of her
art, which includes three-dimensional pieces, collages and
paper mosaics.
Robles-Gordon’s work was
recently featured in an exhibition at the D.C. Arts Center
called “Black” that focused on artists’ personal
perceptions of blackness. Her work personifies a growing
black art movement in the District that is often overlooked.
A Supportive Art Family
Since 2004, Robles-Gordon, 32,
has been active in Black Artists of D.C., a growing art
organization with about 400 members.
“I just jumped in, and at
that time there was a wonderful group, but there wasn’t
a whole lot of structure,” she said of the organization,
which elected her president in 2009.
Robles-Gordon has been a leader
in the group since she joined, curating exhibits and publicizing
the organization. She cites Black Artists of D.C. as a major
support system.
“My family’s not here,”
she said of relatives in her native Puerto Rico, “so
I was searching not only for artists; I was also searching
for family, and it was like I inherited an artistic family.”
The group, which partners with
other organizations and has strong ties to Howard University,
provides inspiration to Robles-Gordon and other members.
“Beyond what they gave me
in terms of love and support, I also learned so much,”
she said.
Read more and view interviews
with artists Amber Robles-Gordon and Michael Platt, Janell
Blackmon,art history professor at Howard University and
Norman Parish owner of the Parish Gallery in Georgetown...
http://onlinejournalismworkshop.com/artists/story.html
!!!!!!!!!!!Exhibitions !!!!!!!!!!!!
Reclaiming Those Negative
Images:
Mixed Media Reflections Exhibit at The Corner Store Gallery
Amber Robles-Gordon's "Cosmic
Black 2" is one of the works on display at the Corner
Store Gallery"
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Reclaiming Those Negative Images
Feb. 16, 2010
By Kristin Coyner
Roll Call Staff
Oftentimes, there’s more talent under
our noses than we realize. That’s certainly true when
it comes to “Mixed Media Reflections,” a new gallery
at the Corner Store, a multiuse arts space at 900 South
Carolina Ave. SE.
Alec Simpson and Tray Patterson, both Washington
artists, are acting co-curators for the gallery. Simpson,
who often deals in abstract art, is one of 12 Washington-area
African-American artists whose works are on display.
The idea for the show started rather simply,
over a meal between Patterson and Simpson.
“We just got together over lunch one
day and decided to put on a show last fall,” Simpson
said.
In light of Simpson’s own success last
year with a one-man show at the Corner Store — Simpson
sold all his small works in “Flashback/Fast Forward”
— it followed that the planners focused on small works.
“In view of what people were saying about the economy,
we just thought that maybe we’d stick with that concept,”
Simpson said.
All works at the gallery are on sale for $240
to $1,000.
“We didn’t have any idea how many
artists there would be in it, how many pieces there were
going to be, how big they were going to be, but we did know
that we didn’t want them to be priced out of the market,”
Simpson said. With the theme of Black History Month, the
mixed media motif pulls everything together.
Stepping into the front room of the Corner
Store, where the works are on display, is a treat. The front
space is warm and beautiful, with colored walls and exposed
brick. The artists’ works are accentuated by the lack
of a modern white-walled space.
As for the works, some pieces use found objects,
others use silk, some are on ceramic and still others are
on paper. One artist, Alonzo Davis, even uses bamboo poles
and fabrics.
The show is a mixture of materials and artistic
styles, but the works manage to tie to the theme of Black
History Month in a compelling way. All the artists in some
way touch on the African diaspora, from clear visual images
of brutality to parodies of mockery of black personhood
to abstract works that offer the chance to create new meaning.
Works by Aziza Gibson Hunter, “Prayers
to Haiti,” were a late addition to the show. Gibson
Hunter composed a series that incorporates elements of African
cloth and other found objects, including Haitian money,
to offer homage to the small island nation devastated by
an earthquake a month ago. Gibson Hunter intends to donate
all proceeds to Doctors Without Borders.
One wall in particular seems to deal most
directly with ancestral issues and imagery, which are most
readily visualized through Anne Bouie’s “Ancestry
5,” “Ancestry 6” and “Ancestry 8.”
Bouie incorporates Aunt Jemima and Uncle Tom figures but
creates new meaning with the images.
And that, to Simpson, underscores a driving
theme of the entire show. “It’s a matter of transformation,
transforming it into something different and new,”
he said. “It’s about seeing new things in what
wasn’t necessarily good.”
Patterson added: “It’s also reclaiming
it. Reclaiming a negative stereotype that was out there
to turn it.”
The breadth of artistic techniques that individual
artists have perfected is another striking aspect of the
show. For example, artist Juliette Madison uses mixed media
clay pieces by transferring images onto clay using ink that
she created.
Madison’s “Lord Why” displays
the technique with a veritable gut punch. The work shows
the archival photograph of a lynched woman who, along with
her son, was accused of theft. The significance of the story
is made clear with the phrase “Lord why is my seed
in the wind?” emblazoned on top of the image.
“African-American artists don’t
feel backed into a corner,” Simpson said. “They
create and let the chips fall where they may. There’s
an authenticity to what you see.”
The exhibit, which opened Feb. 5, will run
until the 28th. The Corner Store doubles as an art space
and home to Kris Swanson, a sculptor who for the past eight
years has welcomed any variety of art events into her home,
including author readings, CD release parties and theatrical
performances.
Because the space functions as a home, the
Corner Store isn’t open for regular hours. However,
Swanson makes appointments at webmaster@cornerstorearts.org
or 202-544-5807.
The Corner Store Gallery
900 South Carolina Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 544-5807
www.cornerstorearts.org
Metro: Within 2 blocks of the Eastern Market
Station
Orange and Blue Lines
|
www.artomatic.org
Featuring
the C-Wire Piece on 2nd floor