HOME ATA BLOG & ARCHIVE HISTORY

ANNUAL EXHIBIT SCHOLARSHIP ART IN THE SCHOOL

2012 LECTURE SERIES:

Photographer: O. Florian Jenkins

Celebrating the Origins of African American Art & Craft Traditions
In conjunction with ATA's 20th
Anniversary Celebration,
the Morris Museum will host
the following lecture series

with
Artist and Educator:
Rosalind Nzinga Nichol MA, BFA
Adjunct Professor of African American Traditions
at Bloomfield College
Bloomfield, New Jersey

Free with Museum admission
RSVP: Morris Museum | 6 Normandy Heights Road | Morristown, NJ 07960 | RSVP: Phone: 973.971.3718
E-mail: info@morrismuseum.org

Session 1
Saturday Feb 4, 2012, 1 - 2 pm:

CRAFT TRADITIONS: Survey of African origins of
African American art and craft traditions.
Guest Lecturer Onnie Strothers

The rice industry and its fanners coiled baskets, shotgun houses, woven and appliqued textiles, metal and wood works, Africans brought more to American culture that their lovely dark skin. Recent growing scholarship over the past thirty years is stripping away layers of misconceptions of an unwritten past to reveal the brilliance of African American art and culture in the context of its African origins. Exploring these “Africanisms” are what some call an "alternate history." Come celebrate the legacy of these traditions as ATA celebrates its twentieth year.

Portrait by Joshua Johnson of
Grace Allison McCurdy and
Her Daughters, Mary Jane and
Letitia Grace, ca. 1804

Session 2
Saturday Feb 25, 2012, 1 - 2 pm:

FINE ARTS & ARTISTS: From early African American Masters to the Harlem Renascence and mid twentieth century artists.

It was not until 1939 that the identity of the painter of elite 19th century Baltimoreans was brought to light by art historian and genealogist J. Hall Pleasants. The son of a white father and a black mother, Joshua Johnson was born into slavery around 1763 and freed in 1782... By the time 306 West 141st Street became the defining address of energy and creativity of the Harlem Renaissance, African American artists had been conducting a silent but very visual revolution for more than a century. This second session will survey some of the most noted artist of these eras, from Joshua Johnson through ATA's 2012 featured artist Norman Lewis.

Session 3
Thursday Mar 8th, 2012, 7:00 - 8:00 pm:

PANEL DISCUSSION: Collecting African American Art

with art consultant, gallerist and Guest Curator, TARIN M. FULLER
and art adviser, appraiser and speaker HALIMA TAHA,

Tarin Fuller and Halima Taha

Interested in starting an art collection but don't know how to start? Or just fine tuning the collection you already own. Bring your questions to an open forum panel discussion. A wonderful opportunity to hear art discussed from the artist, adviser/appraiser, and a gallery owner's point of view. Panelist will include: mixed media artist and educator Rosalind Nzinga Nichol, an artist working in various mediums and communities across the country for over forty years; adviser, appraiser and speaker Halima Taha, author of "Collecting African American Art Works on Paper and Canvas" (1998, Crown Publishers); and artist representative, galley owner, and guest curator of the 20th Anniversary Exhibition Tarin Fuller, daughter of this upcoming year's featured artist celebrated Abstract Expressionist Norman Lewis (1909-1979). Today is the day to start building your own legacy by building a collection of arts and crafts to pass through the generations of your family, while supporting the ARTS at the same time.

*Additional funding for this series by The Links Incorporated, and Craig & Pickett Esqs.