PLEASE JOIN US TOMORROW FOR A CONVERSATION WITH DR. KELLI MORGAN AND AMBER ROBLES-GORDON STREAMING ON INSTAGRAM LIVE.
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THESE AMAZING AND ACCOMPLISHED THINKERS WILL BE ENGAGING IN A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE IMPRESSIVE VISUAL PRESENTATION AND CRITICAL INVESTIGATIONS PRESENT IN AMBER’S CURRENT EXHIBITION ON VIEW AT OUR GALLERY, SOVEREIGNTY: ACTS, FORMS, & MEASURES OF PROTEST & RESISTANCE
AMBER ROBLES-GORDON lives and works in Washington, D.C., and is a key advocate and participant in the arts community there. She is a member of the Delusions of Grandeur Artist Collective and Black Artists DC (BADC). Her artwork has been exhibited extensively nationally and internationally.
Most recently, her work has been featured in exhibitions at Galleria de Arte, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, (Sacred Heart University), in her birthplace of San Juan, Puerto Rico, (PR), by Tafeta Gallery in 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, England, American University, Katzen Art Center, by the Royal Academy of Arts Sumer Exhibition in London, England, and more.
She has created numerous site-specific commissions, including a public installation with the D.C. Creates Public Arts Program. Her work has been extensively covered in publications such as The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, Art Daily, Puerto Rico Black Art Blog, Bmore Art, Culture Type, and more. She has been selected for various teaching residencies internationally, including the Centro Cultural Costarricense-Norteamericano, in Limon, Costa Rica, and Washington Projects for the Arts and DC Public Schools.
DR. KELLI MORGAN is a Professor of the Practice and the inaugural Director of Curatorial Studies at Tufts University. A curator, educator, and social justice activist who specializes in American art and visual culture, her scholarly commitment to the investigation of anti-blackness within those fields has demonstrated how traditional art history and museum practice work specifically to uphold white supremacy.
Besides her own curatorial experience, she mentors emerging curators and regularly trains staff at various museums to foster anti-racist approaches in collection building, exhibitions, community engagement, and fundraising. Over the past year, Dr. Morgan has become a leading and influential voice in bolstering anti-racist work in art museums. She has held curatorial positions at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and teaching positions at Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and the Tyler School of Art at Temple University
She earned her Ph.D. in Afro-American studies and a graduate certificate in public history–museum studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2017
“Guam Political,” Amber Robles-Gordon
Amber Robles-Gordon’s Polemic Quilts Balance Form and Content
SoveREIGNty: Acts, Forms, and Measures of Protest and Resistance is currently on view at Tinney Contemporary
By JOE NOLAN / JUN 15, 2022
Tracking art-world trends often means simply noting the shifting balance between form and content over time. Midcentury American painting was formalist, elemental art for art’s sake. It was interested in line, shape, space, form, tone, texture, pattern, color and composition. An important work of art was something, but nowadays an important work of art is oftenaboutsomething: politics, social causes, various identity expressions.
Midcentury art favored abstraction over figuration, but contemporary art is full of figures along with the narrative content they inevitably inspire. Luckily, no matter how the trends swing, we can always look back to the Greeks and remember that there is beauty in balance. And it’s not surprising that some of today’s best art manages to message and signal and narrate after first capturing the eye, drawing attention, and igniting the imagination of the viewer.
Even the title of Amber Robles-Gordon’s Tinney Contemporary exhibition — SoveREIGNty: Acts, Forms, and Measures of Protest and Resistance — expresses an activist message. And it’s emblematic of a display of large-scale, mixed-media quilts brimming with signals and symbolism interrogating U.S. policy toward — and governance of — its populated territories and the District of Columbia…