VIEWS

There were “gallery crawls” (tours) that carried the curious from the home base, Renaissance Hotel to see art all over the city. Institutions such as The High Museum, which featured the exhibition “Faces & Places: Picturing the Self”; the Auburn Avenue Research Library which had three solo shows “45 Expressions: The Art of George H. Whitehead”; and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Malaika Favorite and The NAC Revisited: photographs by Jim Alexander documenting events at Atlanta’s famed Neighborhood Arts Center.

There was a Visual Arts Conversation Series that included lectures and demonstrations by the artists, curators and art historians. Exhibit Existencia: Black Bodies, Black Masks, Black Arts featured poet Carl Hancock Rux, and photographer Renee Cox, each taking an in-depth look at the black body in art, culture and society, as well as its relationship to sexuality, politics, and literature. Rux read excerpt from his essay, “Eminem: The New White Negro” and Cox discussed her photographic recreation of The Last Supper, which stirred controversy in the Catholic Church. This is just a taste of the hundreds of happenings that included film, theatre, music, dance as well as the fore mentioned visual arts.

Stephanie S. Hughley’s National Black Arts Festival, a 10-day event, is the nation’s largest Black arts celebration that literally takes over the entire city of Atlanta, Ga. From the opening ceremony and daily artists market at Underground Atlanta, and its Readers Cafe author events to major institutions such as the Auburn Avenue Research Library, the Alliance Theater, Abernathy Arts Center, the Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries, the Loft at Underground Atlanta, Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts, Rich Auditorium, Spelman College, the West End Performing Arts Center and on and on an on. Greenbriar Mall hosted an Artist's Market.

Clark Atlanta University, the birthplace of the National Conference of Artists (NCA) used their magnificent art gallery to presented twentieth century black masters from their archives and “Remembering the Atlanta University art Annuals: Hayward Oubre.” Hammonds House featured “40 Acres” an exhibition by Richard Mayhew and also an exhibition of the works of Romare Bearden and the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts at Georgia State University showed “From Mali To Peru” an exhibit by Parisian photographers Phillippe Salaun and Gilles Perrin. Atlanta’s Arts for All Gallery presented “Herein Lie Buried”; the Atlanta History Center is exhibiting “Rising Above Jim Crow” paintings by Johnny Lee Gray’; City Gallery Chastain has “Sistagraphy - A 10 Year Retrospective”; and the Atlanta College of Art show, “The New Black Is Black” by Tony Gray.

Clark Atlanta University is the birthplace of the National Conference of Artist. Atlanta University and Clark College were consolidated as one university in the 1980. Their world class galleries are a part of a truly beautiful campus.

The festival’s theme was The Souls of Black Folk honoring the 100th anniversary of the publishing of the book by that title by eminent scholar and founder of the NAACP, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois.There were several events discussing his life and legacy, including a reading by Thulani Davis, a documentary film, W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices by Louis Massiah, “Souls”, a new work by jazz composer and trombonist Craig Harris, a panel and conversation with noted scholar Playthell Benjamin and writer Stanley Crouch, authors of a new book “Rediscovering the Souls of Black Folk; W.E.B. Du Bois and Black Expressive Culture” with Dr. Richard Long, Dr. Cheryl Wall, and novelist Guy Johnson and “The Politics of W.E.B. Du Bois and Global Consciousness” with Dr. Manning Marable.

The Honorable Shirley Franklin, Mayor of Atlanta presented award to NEC founders Geraald Krone, Douglas Turner Ward and Robert Hooks at The Living Legends tribute to the legendary theatre company. NEC alumni attended from across the country. Some of the notables shown here include NBAF Director Stephanie S. Hughley, Hattie Winston, Anna Marie Horsford, Arthur French, Ed Spriggs and Kojo Ade.
	Clark Atlanta University is the birthplace of the National Conference of Artist. Atlanta University and Clark College were consolidated as one university in the 1980. Their world class galleries are a part of a truly beautiful campus.


	The festival’s theme was The Souls of Black Folk honoring the 100^th anniversary of the publishing of the book by that title by eminent scholar and founder of the NAACP, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois.There were several events discussing his life and legacy, including a reading by Thulani Davis, a documentary film, W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices by Louis Massiah, “Souls”, a new work by jazz composer and trombonist Craig Harris, a panel and conversation with noted scholar Playthell Benjamin and writer Stanley Crouch, authors of a new book “Rediscovering the Souls of Black Folk; W.E.B. Du Bois and Black Expressive Culture” with Dr. Richard Long, Dr. Cheryl Wall, and novelist Guy Johnson and “The Politics of W.E.B. Du Bois and Global Consciousness” with Dr. Manning Marable.

Collector Blair Barfield views works of the permanent collection at CAU Galleries

At Greenbriar Mall, artists Dudley Vaccianna and Louis DelSarte share a moment. Sikolo Brathwaite selects a basket made by noted crafts celebrity Jery B. Taylor, of South Carolina, one of the few remaining experts in “Sweet Grass” basketweaving.

The National Black Arts Festival’s Signature Series that connects artists, audiences and art in unique dynamic explorations of artistic expression presented The Living Legends Celebration, From the Artist’s Eye, Cultural Connections, and The Innovators provide an exciting array of performances, films, stage events, digital media, and lectures that celebrate our legacy, our global connections, and our future. This year’s Living Legends Celebration honored The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) the legendary theatre company that was founded in 1967 by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, actor Robert Hooks and theater manager Gerald Krone. NEC in its heyday, produced many of the finest Black plays of the past 30 years including Charles Fullers’ “A Soldier’s Story”; Lonnie Elder, III’s “Ceremonies in Dark Old Men; Joseph Walker’s “River Niger”, and “Home” by Samm-Art Williams among others.

It was like a homecoming, with many of the star performers, some who have become internationally known TV personalities, appearing at the gala celebration. After opening greetings by festival chair, Commissioner Nancy A. Boxill, and Helen Smith Price, Assistant Vice President Corporate Contributions for the Coca-Cola Company, a major sponsor of the event, Hughley opened the evening with a selection from “Day of Absence”. The evening featured Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Lynn Whitfield, Hattie Winston, Anna Marie Horsford, Barbara Montgomery, Arthur French, Latanya Richardson, Taurean Blacque, Michelle Shay, Charles Weldon, Hooks, Ward and alumni of NEC performing scenes from some of their most memorable productions. The Honorable Shirley Franklin, Mayor of the City of Atlanta made a special presentation to the founders, Ward, Hooks and Krone.

If you missed this year’s festival, I’d advise you to book your reservations right now for next year. It is truly a great way to combine a vacation, shopping spree and educational cultural experience for the entire family and experience one of America’s truly great cities.

To contact the festival:
National Black Arts Festival
Studioplex, 659 Auburn Avenue, NE, Suite 254,
Atlanta, GA 30312.

Paper Power! Take Control of Your Art Career
© Deborah SingletaryVision Carriers

To fully summon and focus their muse, most artists work in isolation. Then they also attempt to tackle alone the paperwork essential to making a viable financial living with their art. Many artists lack the skills and time to create and maintain the systems and rituals that create order. They miss deadlines, lose slides, and are unable to locate the documents needed to apply for grants or file taxes.

So much to do! Artists might know that sending thank you cards are vital to attracting abundance, but never get around to sending them. Unopened bills clog the opening to efficient, pleasurable and prosperous lives as artists and entrepreneurs. Business correspondence goes unanswered. You long for an agent, gallery, or lover who will take this mess off your hands. But help does not simply appear because you think you’re ready.

When overwhelmed by paper and the details of growing your life as an exhibiting and selling artist, hire help! Artists frequently protest that they can’t afford such a service. But, in actuality, you can’t afford not to get help if you want to prosper.

It’s not as costly to hire help as you might think. You can start by hiring someone for one day a week from three to five hours and get something meaningful accomplished. The suggested minimum pay is $7 to $10 for a minimum of three or four hours—that’s $21 to $40 a week. Consistent repetition can be more important than large amounts of time spent only every now and then. Rhythm creates the efficiency, productivity, and the preparation that entices Lady Luck. In only one hour you can manage to sort mail or slides, draft two letters, add 50 names to your mailing list, or gather all the mail and paper stuff into one location so that you can see your way clear.

The process of moving paper is still the method by which business gets done. Paper represents opportunities to be seized and decisions to be made. Piles of paper scattered here and there signal sloppy thinking and unfinished business. Paper is power. Adhering to a regular schedule of taking the action your papers call for, will over time lead to dominion.

The results of working continually over time are accumulative. Your results grow exponentially—according to the full amount invested. The work gets easier and easier—the results come ever more quickly. If you are a talented artist with a great body of work, but your paper/administrative life is in chaos, you are not living up to your potential. You do not have dominion.

The wonderful woman I hire as an administrator and writer magically produces the work of two. When she is working, so am I. Otherwise I might be sneaking off to the TV or some easy breezy, but non-productive telephone chat.

When you have invested time and money in your own career, you feel empowered and your future decisions and actions are an outgrowth of your perception that you are powerful.

Deborah Singletary is an exhibiting artist and founder of Vision Carriers
which was conceived to help creative people nurture their visions to fruition
(718) 398-4616, visioncarriers@aol.com

Soul Stage @ Strivers Café & Lounge (formerly the Sugar Shack),
presents Poetry Open Mic every Wednesday at 9 pm. This is one of the best poetry nights in New York produced and hosted by sister Fisiwe and featuring the No Restrictions Band with Brother Ngoma, on didjeridu, violin and bamboo flute, Ras Tschaka Tonge, thumb piano, conga and shekere, Butch Ballard, guitar and Alonzo Coombs III, on bass and other fine musicians. They are now in their sixth year of regular weekly sessions. I just happened by this past Wednesday, and caught the tail end of it just as host Fisiwe was singing which lured me in. She then introduced the last poet Brother Earl “the Wordsmith Warrior”. He alone, was worth the show. He presented an excellent series of socio-political poems and closed with his “Romantic Erotica” that really had had the crowd going. He is one of the finest writers of poetry around. He has two self-produced CDs out which are available wherever he performs. Highly recommended.

(212) 491-4422
On view thru September 28th

Studio Museum in Harlem
Kara Walker: Excavated from the Black Heart of a Negress (excerpt)

Kara Walker is an artist concerned with the perpetuation of the notions associated with slavery in the realm of the collective unconscious. Her work relies on social stereotypes during the pre-Civil and post-Civil War era. Appropriating the art of paper silhouetting, a craft tradition popular during the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe and America, Walker creates evocative and provocative scenes and silhouettes of slaves and masters from the antebellum South. She represented the United States in the 25th International Bienal of Sao Paolo, Brazil in 2002, and currently has a major traveling exhibition originating at The Tang Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, entitled, “Kara Walker: Narratives of a Negress.” Walker works in drawing, watercolor, and other media, but is best known for her large-scale installations. The Studio Museum in Harlem will present an installation by Kara Walker in the main gallery.

Hands on, Hands down

This annual exhibition will feature the work of the 2002-2003 Artists-in-Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem: Louis Cameron, Deborah Grant, and Mickalene Thomas. Conceived at the formation of the Museum over 30 years ago, the A-I-R program and exhibition remain central to The Studio Museum's identity. Distinguished alumni include Chakaia Booker, Leonardo Drew, David Hammons, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Alison Saar and Nari Ward. Catalogue brochure will be available.

Harlem Postcards Summer 2003

Throughout the twentieth century, Harlem has been regarded as a beacon of African-American culture. Sites such as the Apollo Theater, the Abyssinian Baptist Church and Malcolm X Corner at 125th Street serve as popular postcard images that identify historic moments and places. Today, Harlem continues to expand as a center of cultural and historic activity, and in the fall of 2002 The Studio Museum in Harlem launched an ongoing series that invites contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds to reflect on Harlem as a site for artistic contemplation and production. Installed in the lobby and available in the bookstore, these postcards will represent intimate views and perspectives on Harlem. Artists in this series include Stephanie Diamond, Howard Goldkrand and David Levinthal.