It's Our Art

Watts Riot, by Noah Purifoy 1966 

“Places of Validation, Art and Progression” opened at the California African American Museum on last Thursday September 29, 2011 as part of Pacific Standard Time , the museum-wide collaboration highlighting the birth of the Los Angeles art scene. their newest exhibition on display. This exhibit, on display from September 29, 2011, to April 1, 2012, takes viewers on a connected journey of
personal stories and creativity to discover the people and places throughout Los Angeles that
made it possible to experience the visual expression of African Americans in art during the
1940s – 1980s. 

A video of interviews with the artists plays at the entrance of the gallery and sets the tone for the exhibit.

“It’s our art. It’s not anybody else’s art,” says painter Samella Lewis. “We have to validate ourselves if it’s going to be authentic. White folks tend to only validate in terms of their vision.”

Former civil rights activist, now senior lecturer of both African American studies and communication studies at UCLA, is one of three co-curators for the “Places of Validation, Art & Progression” exhibit. According to Von Blum, “Places of Validation, Art & Progression” aims to explore the history of the African American struggles and attitudes that resulted from being excluded from the mainstream art community in Los Angeles. The works in the exhibition span from figurative to political.

For more information on the California African American Museum visit

www.caamuseum.org or call (213) 744-7432. Admission is always free.

Read the press release.

http://www.intersectionssouthla.org/index.php/story/new_exhibit_opens_at_california_african_american_museum/

http://negroartist.com/negro%20artist/noah%20purifoy/pages/Noah%20Purifoy,%20Watts%20Riots,%201966,%20mixed%20mediums,%2036%20x%2050%20in_jpg.htm

Black Women Who Rule the Art Scene

Tweet from @blackartdepot - The Most Influential Black Women in the Art World: http://ht.ly/4p8Ei [Very interesting information and photo gallery] #art #blackgirlsrock

 

From Faith Ringgold to Betye Saar, from Lorna Simpson to Thelma Golden, these women are having a big impact on the world of art.

Leslie King Hammond

King-Hammond, a foremost authority on African-American art and culture, is graduate dean emeritus of the Maryland Institute College of Art and founding director of MICA's Center for Race and Culture. The center invites scholars, doctoral candidates, artists, critics, musicians, actors and historians to research or create events that focus on the aesthetic dynamics of race and culture in order to break down racial barriers, build bridges of cultural understanding and prepare students for leadership roles in the international art world. 

Valerie Cassel Oliver

Oliver, senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, has become a powerful force in contemporary art. She made indelible impressions while co-curating the "2000 Whitney Biennial" and curating the "Double Consciousness" show, which explored the conceptual-art practices of African Americans -- a shout-out to Du Bois' theory that blacks don't need to look at themselves through the eyes of others. Her achievements earned her the coveted 2011 David C. Driskell Prize for original contributions to African-American art.

See the full slideshow here:  http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/influential-black-women-arts-culture



Pictures Don't Lie

Tune into CNN on Sunday, February 20 for 'A look at 'Pictures Don't Lie' the life of photography Ernest Withers: http://bit.ly/ehf3v4%20#cnn



Ernest Withers (August 7, 1922 – October 15, 2007) was an African American freelance photographer famous for his black and white images of the segregated South in the 1950s and 60s, Negro league baseball, and the Memphis blues scene.

His images captured America for nearly 60 years, preserving the good and the bad, in particular, racism. He traveled with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his public life. Withers' coverage of the Emmett Till murder trial brought national attention to the racial violence taking place during the 1950s in Mississippi, among other places. Withers appeared in a TV documentary about the murdered 14-year-old entitled The American Experience: The Murder of Emmett Till.
http://www.wikipedia.org/