WTF is happening with all the text on my blog?

Argh!!!!!!!!!!!! It has disappeared.

Saturday, MARCH 1st - 5:30-7pm Join us for an artist talk with Myra Greene & Sama Alshaibi Free and open to the public! WHERE: Peer Gallery 526 West 26th Street, #209 New York, NY www.peergallery.com Nueva Luz will be available for signing Photo: Myra Greene -------------------------------------------- Monday, MARCH 3rd, 6-8:00pm Join us for the OPENING RECEPTION of their work! WHERE: Umbrella Arts + Projects 317 East 9th Street, between 1st & 2nd Avenues New York, NY www.umbrellaarts.com EXHIBITION ON VIEW FROM MARCH 1 - APRIL 5, 2008 --------------------------------------------- About the Artists Both artists have been published by En Foco, in Nueva Luz photographic journal. Palestinian-Iraqi photographer Sama Alshaibi uses her body as a symbol to understand the impact of war and exile, and the implications for her child and future generations. CLICK HERE for more information on Sama. African American artist Myra Greene poses the question, "what do people see when they look at me. Am I nothing but black?" Using a photographic process popular during the times of slavery, she creates close-ups of her features to explore perceptions. CLICK HERE for more information on Myra. Photo: Sama Alshaibi

Dear SavetheInternet.com Blogger,

Video: Comcast tries to buy our silence

SavetheInternet.com just caught Comcast Corp. stacking a FCC hearing with paid (and apparently sleepy) seat-fillers.

The hearing was set up to investigate Comcast's recent blocking of the Internet. But Comcast packed the room so that the public couldn't get in to voice their support for Net Neutrality.

Fortunately, we caught Comcast in the act. But we need you to alert your readers and make sure that Comcast doesn't get away with this ever again. Here's what you can do:

1. Blog about this
2. Post our action ad on your blog or Web site
3. Embed this video on your blog or Web site
4. Urge your readers to take action at SavetheInternet.com

Comcast is blocking the public debate just like it is blocking the Internet: it wields its substantial political and market power to shut out debate and shut up people.

The picture above (which you can redistribute as you wish) tells a part of the story. Comcast paid people to fill space who were so disinterested in the issue that they took the opportunity to nap. Meanwhile, more than a hundred people with legitimate concerns were left out in the Boston cold. (read more about it on our blog and the links below)

Tens of thousands of people have already protested Comcast by writing the FCC a or urging their elected officials to support the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act" a bipartisan bill that would re-establish Net Neutrality protections as a foundation of communications policy.

For too long, media policymaking has been rigged against us. By taking action, we're sending a wakeup call to phone and cable lobbyists that they will no longer set the agenda.

Whether it's on the Internet or at public hearings, we will stand up for everyone's right to connect and be heard.

Thank you,

Timothy Karr
Campaign Director
SavetheInternet.com

P.S. You can read more about Comcast’s tactics here:

1. Grassroots Support? Or Astroturf at Portfolio.com
2. Allegations Fly in FCC Hearing Aftermath From Associated Press
3. A View From Outside the Hearing at SavetheInternet.com
4. Seat filler admitting he is being paid

---

Take action on this important campaign at: http://free.convio.net/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=241

Tell your friends about this campaign at: http://free.convio.net/site/Ecard?ecard_id=1161

UPDATED: Swann Galleries African-American Fine Art auction

ANOTHER RECORD-SETTING AUCTION OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN FINE ART AT
SWANN GALLERIES ON FEBRUARY 19

Artist Records Set for Aaron Douglas, Elizabeth Catlett, Beauford Delaney, Hale Woodruff and
Other Well-Known Artists

New York—Swann Galleries' third auction of African-American Fine Art on February 19 was their largest and highest-grossing sale of that category to date, bringing in more than $2.7 million. Once again benchmarks were set for works by important and lesser-known
African-American artists.

The top lot, Building More Stately Mansions, an oil painting by famed Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas, sold for $600,000—an auction record for the artist's work. It was purchased by the Rhode Island School of Design Museum where it will be exhibited in their new galleries of Twentieth Century art and design. The RISD Museum faced fierce competition from other bidders in the auction room and on the telephones, including other museums.

This previously unknown work is a variant of Douglas's famous larger painting with the same title, which is in the Fisk University collection. It employs the artist's signature combination of Art Deco and African forms in a visionary scene of soaring architectural achievement. The painting had been purchased directly from the artist by a colleague at Fisk and passed down in the family of the original owner. It had never been on public exhibition.

Another newly discovered work by Douglas in the auction was Emperor Jones, a black gouache drawing from 1926. One of few known studies for the artist's celebrated woodcut series, it sold to a private collector for $90,000.

Nigel Freeman, Director of Swann's African-American Fine Art Department, said, "We are thrilled with the results achieved by these important works and others in the sale."

An auction record price was also set by Elizabeth Catlett's Torso, Portrait of Joan, a painted terra cotta sculpture from 1960, which brought $216,000. The previous top price for a work by Catlett was for Nude Torso, a 1976 carved mahogany sculpture, which sold at Swann in February 2007 for $120,000.

Also surpassing earlier artist records were Hale Aspacio Woodruff's Europa and the Bull, oil on canvas, circa 1958, $120,000; Beauford Delaney's Untitled, a heavily impastoed abstract oil on canvas, circa 1958, $102,200; Ernie Barnes's Pool Hall, oil on canvas, circa 1970, $19,200; Alexander Skunder Boghossian's The Bark of the Hanging Tree, acrylic on bark-cloth, 1977, $19,200; and James Denmark's Untitled, mixed paper, fabric collage and oil on masonite, circa 1980, $24,000.

Highlights among many fine prints included William H. Johnson's Self-Portrait, woodcut, circa 1930-35, $36,000; Catlett's Negro Woman, lithograph, 1945, $24,000, a record price for a print by the artist; John Wilson's Straphangers, lithograph, 1947, an artist record $10,800; Romare Bearden's Uptown Looking Downtown, photostat print mounted on masonite, 1964, $24,000; and Charles White's Missouri C., etching, 1972, $24,000, a record for a White print.

Finally, James Van Der Zee's Eighteen Photographs, a portfolio with 18 mounted photographs, from an edition of 75 numbered copies, 1905-1938, brought a record $26,400.

Once again, the sale presented works by many artists appearing at a major auction for the first time and the strong prices served to establish public benchmarks for them.

For complete results, an illustrated auction catalogue with prices realized is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

For further information, please contact Nigel Freeman at 212-254-4710, extension 33, or via email at nfreeman@swanngalleries.com.

# # #

Title: AFRICAN-AMERICAN FINE ART
Date: February 19, 2008
Time: 1:30 PM
Exhibition: Wednesday, Feb. 13, 10-6
Thursday, Feb. 14, 10-6
Friday, Feb. 15, 10-6
Saturday, Feb. 16, 10-4
Monday, Feb. 18, 10-6
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 10-noon

Contact Person: Nigel Freeman
nfreeman@swanngalleries.com

View Online Catalogue

Sale 2136 Lot 45

ROY DECARAVA (1919 - )
Pickets.

Color screenprint on thin wove paper, 1946. 260x325 mm; 10 1/4x12 7/8 inches, 1/8- to 1/2- inch margins. Signed in ink, lower right. Numbered 8 in pencil, lower margin. A very good impression with strong colors of this scarce print.

Roy Decarava is known today as an important African-American photographer. But until the late 1940s, he was a painter and printmaker who had trained in screenprinting during the WPA. Another impression is in the collection of the Library of Congress, exhibited in Creative Space: Fifty Years of Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop; Blackburn and DeCarava met at the Harlem Community Art Center.
Estimate $3,000-5,000

On Tuesday, February 19 Swann Galleries will conduct the third auction organized by our new African-American Fine Art department. The sale offers 250 paintings, drawings, collages, prints and sculpture by notable African-American artists—from Henry Ossawa Tanner to Faith Ringgold. Many of the works are recognizable because they have been included in important museum exhibitions and illustrated in catalogues and monographs.

Varied sale highlights include three stellar examples of Elizabeth Catlett's sculptures, among them Sister, a green marble bust of a woman, 1971 (see top illustration); several paintings that span the length of Hale Woodruff’s career and display his varied styles, including the stunning, modernist Woman by the Sea, 1930, painted while the artist was living in France (second illustration); Beauford Delaney’s Portrait of a Youth, oil on canvas, a gift to James Baldwin, painted in Istanbul in the summer of 1966 (third illustration); a monumental charcoal and crayon drawing by Charles White, Lo, I am Black, 1978 (fourth illustration); and Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach II, color screenprint on quilted fabric, 1990-1992 (see final illustration).

Open Door Contemporary Art Projects,Crossroads in the African and Black Diasporas

ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
February 22, 2008
www.odcap.com

:::a content-oriented social-networking interactive collaborative site offering a novel approach to accessing art and culture:::

It’s our one-year anniversary this month and in OD-CAP’s effort to explore themes that are valued by our contributors and users, this issue continues to consider works of art that engage us. Most of the uploads deal with race and/in digital space—defined as the historical use of digital formats, contemporary Black youth and digital media, digital platforms that have transformed communication in African nations, digital graphic and design remixes, and access to video works through YouTube.

Like a collage, we “cut and paste” our way through these digital platforms, while also exploring other interests. Several of our writers are “foodies” and we are drawn to artists who focus on food. As an on-line community of volunteer writers, we are also keenly aware of navigating the job market with an art degree and the necessity of having to put food on the table while we sustain our artistic lives and communities. So, subsequent issues will continue to explore some of these themes and present new conversations with artists, articles, and galleries in June and September. Frequent blogs will continue to appear in our Voices link.

We appreciate your comments and email lists too, so that we can continue to broaden our audience!

Cheers,

Lizzetta
A Project of LeFalleCuratorial

Received this from Laylah Amatullah Barrayn. I'm dying to get back to New Orleans myself. Can't wait to see the new work!

Peace, everyone.

How are things? Fine, I hope. Well, I'm back from New Orleans and it was certainly a powerful trip. As many of you know I'm working on my next solo exhibition opening this summer. It's a photography project based on jazz culture and communities in select American cities - NYC, New Orleans, Chicago, Washington, DC and a few others. Everyone knows I love jazz so as you can guess, I'm having a ball producing this series. During this trip I was able to connect with, identify and photograph some very important 'jazz folks' in New Orleans. My project will include portraits of Ellis Marsalis, Jason Marsalis, Terrance Blanchard, Willard and Suzan Jenkins, Harold Battiste, Kid Merve, Kermit Ruffins, plus more - and that's just from the New Orleans community. And, these portraits all have a little twist, I'll tell you more about it later.

Another reason for my New Orleans visit was to support my good friend, Shantrelle Lewis, who is the executive director of the McKenna Museum of African American Art (http://www.themckennamuseum.com/) Last Friday the museum had their grand re-opening. It was a great event. Below is a link for picture slideshow from the reception. On view now at the museum are shows by painter J.Renee, "A Glass Menagerie" and the "Santiago de Cuba: Rebirth & Congas en la Calle" works by various photographers of the CubaNOLA collective.

Enjoy the pictures!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nightqueen/sets/72157603978992598/

Best

Laylah

SIMONE LEIGH

"If you want fo' lick old woman pot. You scratch him back."

(The masculine pronoun is always used for female. Use flattery and you will succeed.)

This is a Jamaican proverb recorded be Zora Neale Hurston in her anthropological journal "Tell My Horse" written in 1938

RUSH ARTS GALLERY PROJECT SPACE

526 West 26th Street, 311, Open Feb 1 - March 29th

Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm, Saturday 1-6pm

212.691.9552

Sheila Pree Bright is one of my favorite photographers--so smart and her work is so thoughtful and interesting.

Check out her upcoming exhibition, "Young Americans" (and her mySpace page)

And hey all you publishers out there--why are you sleeping on this artist?! Publish her!

The High Museum of Art, Atlanta

May 3 - August 10, 2008

Lisa Henry and Julian Cox, curators

UPDATED: Here's the press release: SheilaPreeBrightRelease.FINAL.pdf

Traveling to:

The Amistad Center for Art @ Culture at The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art before touring nationally.

Project Statement:

The Millennial better known as Generation Y, born in or after 1982 in the 20th century are the most influential generation since the baby boomers. Market research suggests Generation Ys who are in their mid 20s and younger are civic-minded and socially conscious as individual consumers and employees. They have been pressed for their vote, sought for their purchasing power and watched closely by sociologists and historians for insight into the way this generation will shape the future. As a group, they are unlike any other youth generation. They are more affluent, better educated, technologically savvy, blunt and expressive, image driven, and the most ethnically diverse. This is a rising generation who has grown up on the war on terror and the 1st Gulf war and who will be the next leaders to run this country.

In Young Americans I am exploring Generation Y's (between the ages of 18 to 25) thoughts and feelings about America, giving them a platform for their voice to be heard thru portraiture. I chose to use the American Flag as part of their apparel, because it represents liberty, freedom and pride in this country.

Before they come to my studio each individual was asked to think about how they would see themselves with the American Flag. Once they arrive at the studio we would sit down and talk about America and then shortly after they would write a written statement. Once they finished we began the shoot.

What I am experiencing as the observer/photographer so far is that this diverse generation is much more aware of the world because of the national tragedies such as 9/11 terrorist attacks, hurricane Katrina, and the immigrant issues which have given them their own brand of social consciousness. In Shawn's statement--who was born in Guam--he asked the question, “America…… wants to be on top of the world. I just wonder, when it comes time to fall, who will want to help?"

joy and pain

Okay, maybe that's overstating it, but as I continue to research publications of/by black photographers, I've had some hits and misses. Twice now I've purchased books I believed to be by black photographers, only to discover I had a case of mistaken identity (one was easily returnable, luckily; the other, an import, will cost as much to return as the book itself cost, so I'll have to swallow that one. Damn exchange rate). Sites like amazon.com with their aggressive marketing recommendations based on your previous searches/purchases has proven to be a tremendous help in identifying titles; it's been less easy so far to then take names and identify the race of the photographer, which of course leads to the inevitable question--how important is the race of the photographer if you're interested in the subject, especially with regard to photographers who don't find that useful for the success of their work? To which I answer, very, when there have been fewer than 300 books by black photographers ever published.

Case in point: this weekend I went to Portland, Oregon, so of course I went to Powell's Books, where I picked up a stack of tax-free titles, including Soul Sanctuary: Images of the African American Worship Experience with images by Jason Miccolo Johnson. It was inexpensive, and I'd never heard of it/him, so I was excited to add it to the list. Searching that title on amazon (in order to "borrow" the cover scan) I discovered that Customers Who Bought This Title Also Bought Messengers: Portraits of African American Ministers, Evangelists, Gospel Singers and Other Messengers of the Word with photographs by Nicola Goode. Though white photographers photograph this subject all the time, I always check, which led me to Nicola's website, where she includes her bio:

Nicola Goode, born and raised in Los Angeles, received her BFA in fine art photography from Yale University. For nearly 20 years she has been documenting street life and youth culture throughout the U.S, Central America, Europe, Africa and Cuba. A member of the Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers and the Cinematographer’s Guild she has worked on numerous feature films and documentaries. Her work has been published in magazines and books and exhibited around the world. She collaborated with author Hillary Carlip on the groundbreaking book Girl Power, published by Time Warner in 1995, which documented American teen girl culture. Most recently she worked with celebrated writer David Ritz on Messengers, portraits of African American ministers, published by Random House in 2006. When she is not elsewhere, Nicola can be found in Venice, California with her husband Sean and son Dylan.

I can't tell from this, and of course I'm wondering if she's black how I could not have heard of her, with the Yale degree and all, even if she is primarily a commercial photographer and she received her degree 20 or so years ago--that's actually my educational era. But based on the work on her site I was hopeful, especially because she has 3 publications to her credit. So I did a little web sleuthing, and I finally found this artist's statement on Fotofest's site:

Artist Statement
On a vacation to Brazil with my husband and two year old son last year, I was struck by the openness of Rio de Janeiro’s transgender ‘women’. I was less interested in the showgirls and performers but drawn instead to the ones who led regular lives that dressed for themselves, on the job, in the street, at home rather than on stage. I made some portraits in Rio and when I returned to Los Angeles was inspired to continue photographing transgender people.

The exploration of gender identity and gender perception has certainly been well covered in contemporary photography but I find transsexual portraits are often an exploration of the subject as a sexualized fetish or object. A different cultural climate exists now than the one 30 and 40 year ago when some of the seminal photos of drag queens were made. I believe there is a movement toward greater assimilation and acceptance of transgenders in our society as the trans community redefines its goals and place. There is less emphasis on becoming a surgically imperfect woman that living, dressing and being acknowledged as a woman. The issue ahs become less about sex and more about gender and acceptance.

It is our appearance that gives the world the initial impression and information of who we are and what we are. The desire by many transgenders ‘to pass’ in order to assimilate struck me as a shared obsession with the black community trying to find its place in white society in the 1950s. As a person of a mixed race background I have always been fascinated by plurality. I’ve gotten used to being asked ‘what are you’ even though the answer of being Black and mixed (Native American, Spanish, French) never seems to satisfy; I’m all of the above yet not representative of one thing in particular. [emphasis mine] As color lines have blurred, so do the boundaries and stereotypes surrounding gender.

I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to look into the eyes of my subjects and experience the discovery of so much more than the first glance, the first impression. The transformation exists within the individual as well as the ability to embrace aspects of both male and female in a changing cultural climate.

Clearly she identifies as part black, so I will add her publications to the list. The fact that I had to dig pretty deep to find any reference to her ethnicity, though, gives me pause. Why do I feel like I'm "outing" her? (I'm not suggesting at all that I have any idea how this woman identifies herself, knowing nothing at all about her, so it may well be a moot point.) Does her ethnicity matter in terms of her work, or is it simply that for my purpose here it's necessary to name and claim, so to speak? Yes, I just read An Illuminated Life, the biography of Belle daCosta Greene, J.P. Morgan's librarian who spent almost her entire life passing, so these questions are on my mind. It just feels a little weird.

Fernbank Museum Hosts New Photo Exhibition

Daufuskie Island: Photographs by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe

ATLANTA (February 15, 2008) — Nearly three decades ago, photographer
Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe took her camera to Daufuskie Island, off the
coast of South Carolina near Hilton Head, to document the lives of the
Gullah culture, whose way of life and language is an enduring
synthesis of African and American elements.

In 1982 Moutoussamy-Ashe, wife of the late tennis great Arthur
Ashe, published her photographs in Daufuskie Island: A Photographic
Essay (University of South Carolina Press, 1982). Now, 25 years later,
this rare community has changed irrevocably. The arresting photographs
capture a local culture on the verge of dissolution and displacement,
now preserved primarily through pictures and memory.

A selection of these photographs is featured in the special
exhibition, Daufuskie Island: Photographs by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe,
on view at Fernbank Museum of Natural History from February 21-May 25,
2008. Sponsored by Merrill Lynch, the exhibition highlights the rich
cultural legacy of the island's Gullah community in conjunction with
the national celebration of Black History Month.

"Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe has captured the people and places of
Daufuskie Island in a way that brings not only the physical beauty of
the island and its people to the observer, but layers of emotion and
spirituality as well. Jeanne challenges us to not only look at the
photographic emulsion forming lush imagery, but to see and read into
the spiritual layers of this vanishing way of life," said James Hays,
Vice President of Exhibitions at Fernbank Museum.

More than 60 black-and-white photographs taken from 1977 to 1981
provide a documentary-style glimpse into the daily life of the Gullah
people. Invited into the community by these descendants of freed
African slaves who had purchased the land from the original plantation
owners, Moutoussamy-Ashe found herself enraptured by the people of
Daufuskie Island and recorded their lives through this emotional
photography project.

Combining photographs originally published in her book and newly
released original prints, the exhibition transports visitors back in
time for an intimate look into this group known for preserving more of
their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other
community in the United States.

At the publication of Daufuskie Island: A Photographic Essay, Alex
Haley wrote, "The emotional reaction of an artist to what she saw,
heard and felt is why you and I can now hold in our hands the quite
special evidence of Jeanne's mastery of her profession…" In the
preface to the book's new edition, which was honored with an Essence
Literary Award for African-American literature in early 2008, the
exhibition's guest curator, Deborah Willis, writes, "these photographs
have a special connection to history and memory—the history of a place
and the memory of the subjects documented. These portraits of
African-Americans, whose ancestors preserved a unique culture through
foodways, religion, storytelling and work, were made at a specific
time in African-American history."

Moutoussamy-Ashe's photographs delve deeply into an aspect of
American culture often forgotten. Today her images represent the only
documentation of many of the homes on Daufuskie Island, which have
largely been replaced by commercial redevelopment. Although the Gullah
still have a smaller presence on Daufuskie Island, the residents'
lives have been forever changed by modernization and development.

Having published four books, Moutoussamy-Ashe has displayed a
proclivity toward exploring the African-American experience and the
history of African-American photography. Over the last 30 years she
has had frequent group and solo exhibitions at museums and galleries
around the world including New York's Museum of Modern Art, Whitney
Museum of American Art and Brooklyn Museum of Art; Washington, D.C.'s
Smithsonian and National Portrait Gallery; and other prestigious
institutions around the world. Publications such as Life, The New York
Times, People and the Associated Press also have featured her work.

Daufuskie Island: Photographs by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe is
included with Museum admission. Tickets are $15 for adults, $14 for
students/seniors, $13 for children ages 3-12, and free for members and
children 2 years old and under. The exhibition will be on view
February 21-May 25, 2008.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located at 767 Clifton Road
NE in Atlanta. For information call 404.929.6300 or visit
fernbankmuseum.org . To reserve tickets, call 404.929.6400.

This Thursday at Temple University in Philadelphia:

Mendi + Keith Obadike

8:00, Room 222, Temple Center City Campus, 1515 Market
All events are free and open to the public.
Temple University Poets & Writers Series
Public readings by Recognized and Emerging Authors

The Poets & Writers Series is sponsored by the Temple University Graduate Creative Writing Program, with the assistance of the Richard Moyer Fund. Each year a number of poets and fiction writers are invited to speak (usually on Thursdays) to members of both the Temple community and the local Philadelphia arts scene. Joining each invited writer is a writer from Temple's graduate program in Creative Writing.


MENDI & KEITH OBADIKE make music, art, and literature. The Washington Post calls their work “daring, funny and innovative.” A series of Mendi and Keith’s media works are featured in the anthologies Re: skin and in the forthcoming Sound Unbound (both from M.I.T. Press). In a 2001 performance work they offered Keith’s blackness for sale on eBay with a list of benefits and warnings. In 2004 Mendi’'s book of poetry Armor and Flesh (Lotus Press) received the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Prize and Keith received a Connecticut of Critic’s Circle Award for Outstanding Sound Design for work at the Yale Repertory Theatre. Recently they completed Big House/Disclosure, a 200 hour house song/sound installation about slavery for Northwestern University for which they received a Pick-Laudati Award. Keith is an assistant professor in the College Arts and Communication at William Paterson University. Mendi is a Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University.


***
Keith @ the New Museum

Vito Acconci (with Sarina Basta and Daniel Perlin), Anthony Burdin, Trisha Donnelly, Paul Elliman, Andy Graydon, Language Removal Services, Ulrike Müller, Nautical Almanac, Keith Obadike, Pauline Oliveros, Susan Philipsz, Seth Price, & Stefan Tcherepnin.

“Unmonumental” is an exhibition about fragmented forms, torn pictures and clashing sounds. Investigating the nature of collage in contemporary art practices, “Unmonumental” also describes the present as an age of crumbling symbols and broken icons. The third part, “The Sound of Things: Unmonumental Audio” (February 13, 2008 – March 30, 2008), carries the theme of unmonumentality into the realm of sound. Audio collages by thirteen artists, reflecting diverse techniques including found recording, spoken text, and manipulated noise, will play throughout three of the Museum’s galleries. The compositions are broadcast at three-minute intervals, transforming the experience of “Unmonumental” into one in which sounds and images dramatically mix and overlap. The New Museum is located at 235 Bowery (at Prince Street between Stanton and Rivington Streets, one and a half blocks south of Houston)
Subway: 6 to Spring Street or N/R to Prince Street.

2.13.08-
3.30.08
2.21.08
The New Museum (NYC)

Temple University Poets & Writers Series (Philly)
3.04.08 Tribeca Performing Arts Center (NYC)
4.25.08 The Ringing Ear at New York University (NYC)

A Williams College Museum of Art / Clark Artist Symposium

March 1, 2008
9:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., The Clark, 225 South Street, Williamstown, MA; WCMA

This day-long symposium invites five acclaimed artists -- sculptor Willie Cole, multi-media artist Maria Magdalena Compos-Pons, British filmmaker Isaac Julien, photographer Hank Willis Thomas, and installation artist and MacArthur Fellow Fred Wilson -- to discuss the Black Atlantic aesthetic. Through transatlantic connections among Africa, Britain, the Caribbean, and the United States, Black intellectuals and literary figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Richard Wright fashioned a Black Atlantic culture that made a central contribution to the modernist aesthetic. Today this Black Atlantic aesthetic extends into the realm of the visual as international artists critically engage cross-Atlantic migration as a principal focus of their work.

Admission: $20 per person, $10 for members of the Williams College Museum of Art and The Clark, students. Free to Williams students, faculty.

For more information please visit www.wcma.org or www.clarkart.edu/research_and_academic This program has been organized by the Williams College Museum of Art and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; it is presented in conjunction with related exhibitions at the Williams College Museum of Art.

talk amongst yourselves

This is from the site Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre by Wilhelm Staehle. I don't know if seeing the rest of the images in the series helps put this particularly piece and its humor in context. Is it funny? Dumb? There's no info about the artist or series on the site.

The Howard University Department of Art proudly presents	April 17-19
The 19th Annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art This year's Colloquium will be held April 17, 18, and 19, 2008 at Howard University's Blackburn Center. During the three-day program art historians, artists, and interdisciplinary scholars will examine the theme, noting the multiple meanings and histories of international exhibitions and their impact on artistic production and reception of the art of African Americans and the art of the African Diaspora. Since its founding in 1990, the Colloquium has dealt with issues in the historiography of African American art and will continue this tradition this year by focusing on developing new strategies of analysis and interpretation that are anti-hegemonic, that reveal the changing realities and the efficacy of new narratives. The colloquium presenters will interrogate and recontextualize historical and contemporary developments in art and visual culture production by considering the dynamic process of change in ideas, cultures, values and technologies within the context of major international venues. This year's colloquium continues last year's discussion of globalization by examining the impact of exhibition, presentation and critical exchange in international forums. What are the expanded meanings of migration and globalization? What strategies might be used to explore traditional concepts of identity, continuity and change, context and chronology? These and many other issues will be examined during the Colloquium. This year we are proud to honor the pioneering achievements of interdisciplinary scholar Richard A. Long, Professor Emeritus, Emory University and art historian Leslie King-Hammond, Graduate Dean, Maryland Institute College of Art. The Porter Colloquium sessions will benefit art historians, interdisciplinary scholars, artists, educators, collectors, students, museum professionals, and the general public. On behalf of the Department of Art, Division of Fine Arts, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Colloquium Executive Committee, We cordially invite you and your colleagues to join us for the 19th Annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art. Floyd Coleman Coordinator Bennie F. Johnson Associate Coordinator Admission to all Colloquium sessions and lectures is free and open to the public. Register Today! For registration, gala reservations, and/or more information on the Porter Colloquium, you may register online, download thecolloquium registration and gala registration forms in pdf format, or you may contact the Colloquium Committee, Howard University Department of Art at 202.806.7072 or 202.806.7047. Support the Porter Colloquium James A. Porter Colloquium Endowment Fund Established in 2002, the James A. Porter Colloquium Endowment Fund is designed to support the continuation of the Colloquium program and encourage the development of scholarship and leadership in the field of African American art history. We sincerely thank you for and encourage you to continue your generous support of the colloquium, your contributions help to ensure the Colloquium's scholarship, program, and activities for years to come. Contributions may be made throughout the year to: The Porter Colloquium Howard University Department of Art 2455 Sixth Street, NW Washington, DC 20059 ATTN: Floyd Coleman Contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law	At a glance Register Support Porter Colloquium The Porter Colloquium continues its tradition of boldly promoting innovative perspectives, ground breaking scholarship and open critical dialogue on African American Art. During this year's three-day program, scholars, artists, and cultural critics will examine the ideas that influence how works of African American artists are viewed, interpreted and valued. Portercolloquium.org
James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art Howard University Department of Art 2455 Sixth Street NW, FAB Washington, DC 20059 +1.202.806.7072 tel For more information on the Porter Colloquium visit us at www.portercolloquium.org Copyright 2008. James A. Porter Colloquium. All Rights Reserved.

You are Invited:

DAWOUD BEY & CARRIE MAE WEEMS

Dialogue at Aperture Gallery

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

6:30 p.m.

FREE

Aperture Gallery

547 West 27th Street, 4th floor (between 10th and 11th Avenues)

New York, New York

(212) 505-5555

Dawoud Bey’s teenage subjects defy stereotypes of American youths during this complicated age. For Class Pictures, an Aperture exhibition and book, Bey photographed young people from all parts of the economic, racial, and ethnic spectrum in both public and private high schools across the United States. Artists Dawoud Bey and Carrie Mae Weems will discuss Dawoud’s most recent project, Class Pictures, in honor of the exhibition on display now at the Aperture Gallery.

I love this idea

Check out the website 20x200. I think it's a really terrific idea. I had known of it last year but seeing it again today made me wonder if there are any black artists involved in similar projects (none of the 34 artists involved in this are black), or if there is or could be a similar project for black artists. Does anyone know of anything? Is anyone interested to try to create a similar thing?

Here's a statement from the site about what they do:

As we see it, there are a lot of people out there who want to sell their art and a lot of people who'd like to buy it. They just have a hard time finding each other. The internet is the perfect place to bring those people together, and we're exactly the right people to make it happen. We're passionate about art and the internet at 20x200. We're really excited about creating a place where almost any art lover can be an art collector.

We introduce two new pieces a week: one photo and one work on paper. Each image is available in three sizes.* The smallest size is reprinted in the largest batch – an edition of 200 – and sold at the lowest price – $20. Hence the name 20x200. (200x20 just didn't sound as good.) We also offer bigger prints for bolder collectors - medium-sized editions of 20 for $200, and large-sized editions of 2 generally for $2000 (some of the large sized editions will actually be original pieces of art and prices will vary a bit). Every single print is delivered with a certificate of authenticity numbered by the artist.

That's what we're all about.

Dear Friends,

I hope this email find you well.

I will be participating in the conference, "Race, Sex, Power: New
Movements in Black and Latina/o Sexualities" @ the University of
Illinois in Chicago, presenting my American Exotic Photographic
series. Registration is now open for the conference and the tentative
schedule can be found at: http://condor.depaul.edu/~rsp2008/ There are
several panel discussions, performance pieces and arts exhibitions
that will take place over the course of two days.  Please take a
moment to check out the schedule and I hope to see any of you there
who may be available!


Ifé
--
Ifétayo Abdus-Salam
www.iasalam.com

the only film I ever liked; the only film I used

I spotted this on the Photo History listserv. Unlike all the others, this one truly represents the end of something special to me:

Like Polaroid film? Better start hoarding

Sat Feb 9, 2008 6:02 am (PST)

Like Polaroid film? Better start hoarding

February 8, 2008

Polaroid, famed for photographic prints that develop within moments,
is getting out of the film business. The company is shutting down two plants in Massachusetts used to make film for professionals and artists this quarter, The Boston Globe reported Friday. A similar plant in Mexico and one in the Netherlands for making consumer film packages will close by the end the year, and the company already has stopped making instant-film cameras, Polaroid said.

The Massachusetts-based company is interested in licensing its film

technology to others, but if it doesn't happen, its film will likely run out in 2009. Meanwhile, Polaroid is making a go of selling flat-panel TVs and digital photography.

SPENCE GALLERY WILL BE AT THE NATIONAL BLACK FINE ART SHOW

Puck Building, 295 Lafayette St. (at Houston)

February 14-17

Drop by Booth 17 and discover the eclectic collection of works by

African, Latin American, Caribbean and African Canadian artists

Email us at spencegallery@sympatico.ca or call (416) 795 2787 for further details.

www.spencegallery.ca

Kindly share this invitation with your family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances across the U.S. especially in the New York Tri-Stare and ask them to pass it on.

http://spencegallery.free.fr/Paintings/Index.html

Spence Gallery Gallery Hours

588 Markham Street Wed - Fri: 5 - 8 pm

Toronto, ON M6G 2L8 Sat & Sun: 12 - 6 pm

416 795-2787