The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine / Spring 2005

From the Director This spring The Studio Museum in Harlem presents two stellar exhibitions that exemplify the richness and variety of art created by black artists globally. Bill Traylor, William Edmondson, and the Modernist Impulse organized by the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, features the works of two major figures of the self-taught genre who came to the attention of the art world during the 1930s and 40s (at a time when modern art circles were infatuated with folk and self-taught idioms as expressions of a true American art.) Curators Josef Helfenstein (now Director of the Menil Collection) and Russell Bowman, former Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum have explored the careers of these two artists, not only in the context of their own communities, but also within the broader context of American and European culture of the first half of the twentieth century. In the contemporary realm, Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995-2005, presents a selection of 175 watercolors created over the last decade by the renowned and ingenious black British artist. These unexpected and engaging works are imagined portraits of African male and female archetypes and demonstrate Ofili’s skill with the watercolor medium and his special sense of color. This exhibition was organized by SMH Chief Curator Thelma Golden, and is the first time this work is being shown as a body. We thank New Yorker magazine staff writer Hilton Als and artist and critic Beth Coleman for their beautifully poetic contributions to the catalogue. I wish to acknowledge the support for the Studio Museum’s presentation of the Traylor/Edmondson exhibition provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation 2004-2005

Exhibition Fund, Gayle Perkins Atkins and Charles N. Atkins, and halley k. harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld.

SMH Board Members

Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995-2000 has been made possible through the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation 2004-2005 exhibition Fund, Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy, and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

Carol Sutton Lewis

On a sad note, we recently lost two of our greatest friends and champions: long time trustee Bobby Short and artist Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence. Don’t miss my special tributes to them in these pages. This edition of STUDIO marks our first magazine. Over the past couple of years, we’ve truly appreciated your e-mails, calls and letters expressing your love of our attempt to bring you more of the world of artists of African descent. With this publication, beautifully designed by 2x4, and masterfully executed by Editor-inChief (and PR Manager) Ali Evans, we give you even more. This is the last time I write to you as Executive Director of The Studio Museum in Harlem. As of July 1, 2005, Thelma Golden will assume the position of Director and Chief Curator of the Museum. I have been appointed President by our Board of Trustees and will work on special projects, including our strategic plan, re-accreditation and the permanent collection. I know you join me in congratulating Thelma. As always, I look forward to still seeing you at The Studio Museum.

Raymond J. McGuire

Chairman Vice-Chair Reginald Van Lee

Treasurer Gayle Perkins Atkins Kathryn C. Chenault Paula R. Collins Gordon J. Davis Anne B. Ehrenkranz Susan Fales-Hill Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Sandra Grymes Joyce Haupt Arthur J. Humphrey, Jr. George L. Knox Nancy L. Lane Dr. Michael L. Lomax Tracy Maitland Rodney M. Miller Eileen Harris Norton Corine Pettey David A. Ross Charles A. Shorter, Jr. Ann Tenenbaum John T. Thompson Joyce A. Wein Michael Winston Karen A. Phillips

Operation of the Studio Museum in Harlem is supported with public funds provided by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation through the office of Sen. David A. Paterson. Major funding is also provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and The Carnegie Corporation of New York, with additional support from The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, J. P. Morgan Chase, LEF Foundation, The Scherman Foundation, Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., Credit Suisse First Boston, The New York Times Company Foundation, Pfizer, Inc., The Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, Inc., The Cowles Charitable Trust, The Moody’s Foundation, and Young & Rubicam Exhibitions are made possible in part, by: The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation 2004/05 Exhibition Fund, Altria Group, Inc., Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and TishmanSpeyer Properties. Education and Public Programs are funded in part, by: The New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, Elaine Dannheisser Foundation, MetLife Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Wachovia Foundation, Citigroup Foundation, Fleet Boston Financial, The Center for Arts Education, Helena Rubinstein Foundation, Morgan Stanley, Jerome Foundation, ARTS Intern, The Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, The David Rockefeller Fund, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, and public funds from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation made available by the office of Assemblyman Keith L. Wright

The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine / Spring 2005

whats up Chris Ofili / Traylor / Edmonson / Collection in Context / Harlem Postcards 06 / upcoming exhibitions Scratch / Frequency / Energy / Experimentation / Africa Comics 10 / elsewhere Kara Walker / Issac Julien / Back to Black art Cinema / PS1 Greater NY / H.O.A.S.T / Afro Pop 12 / feature Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence 16 / profile Montgomery Harris 17 / artist commission Robert Pruitt 20 / feature Bobby Short 24 / catalog excerpt Ofili / Traylor / Edmonson 28 / 3 questions Laylah Ali 29 / profile Stacyann Chin 30 / playlist Ofili / Robinson / Simmons 31 / check out 33 / public programs 42 / profile Chris Myers 43 / coloring page 45 / studio visit 46 / overheard 48 / 3 questions Daniel Roumain 49 / harlem: where we’re at 54 / store 56 / benefit 01 /

ex-officio Hon. Kate D. Levin

ex-officio

Studio Ali Evans

Editor-in-chief Samir Patel

Copy editor Kristia Moises

Editorial assistant Design

2x4, New York Printing

Cosmos Communications, Inc.

above: Len Irish above left: Robert Hale

Wardell Milan Tropicks / 2004 / Collection of the artist / New York

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what’s up

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Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995– 2005 April 27—July 3, 2005

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SMH is pleased to present this rare, solo, U.S. museum exhibition of watercolors by British painter Chris Ofili. Ofili, who is considered one of the most significant and innovative painters of our time, was the 1998 recipient of the Turner Prize and represented the United Kingdom at the 2003 Venice Biennale. This project brings together for the first time a series of more than 100 of Ofili’s iconic watercolors created over the last decade. Known for his aesthetic daring and his passion for painting, Ofili has always seen the watercolors as an important extension of his painting practice. Like some of his paintings and pencil drawings, these watercolors are imagined portraits of treasured archetypes and present Ofili’s acute sensitivity towards portraiture and his exuberant use of color. Mostly portraying women but also some men, they are created in vibrant color with precise and bold lines. This project, Afro Muses, has been selected by the artist and SMH Chief Curator Thelma Golden and is accompanied by a full-color catalogue. Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995-2000 is presented with the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation 2004-2005 Exhibition Fund, Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy, and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

01—06 / Chris Ofili Untitled 1995—2005

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what’s up

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Bill Traylor, William Edmondson, and the Modernist Impulse April 27— July 3, 2005

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Bill Traylor, William Edmondson, and the Modernist Impulse is the first large-scale exhibition focusing on the works of two major figures in American art history: Bill Traylor (1854 –1949), a draftsman, and William Edmondson (1874 –1951), a sculptor. Although Traylor and Edmondson are often defined as “folk” or “outsider” artists that reflect the roots of AfricanAmerican culture, their work was actually discovered and first discussed in the broader context of modernism during the1930s. This exhibition includes more than fifty drawings and paintings made by Traylor, and twenty-five sculptures by Edmondson, along with photographs of them by taken their contemporaries, drawn from private collections and museums across the country. Organized by Josef Helfenstein, Director of the Menil Collection and Russell Bowman, former Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, this exhibition opened at the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before traveling to the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama and The Studio Museum in Harlem, and will be on view at The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas from July 22—October 2, 2005. Bill Traylor, William Edmondson and the Moderrnist Impulse is organized by Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and sponsored in part by Fox Development Corporation, Krannert Art Museum Council, Ruth and Bob Vogele, A.G. Edwards & Sons, Hickory Point Bank & Trust, Hampton Inn and the Illinois Arts Council. The Studio Museum in Harlem’s presentation of this exhibition is made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation 2004-2005 Exhibition Fund, Gayle Perkins Atkins and Charles N. Atkins, and halley k. harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld

01 / Bill Traylor Untitled (fighting couple), 1940–1942 Birmingham Museum of Art 02 / Bill Traylor Untitled, 1940–1942 Private collection 03 / Bill Traylor Turtle Swimming Down, 1939–1942 Private collection 04 / William Edmondson Crucifix, ca. 1940 Robert A. Roth 05 / William Edmondson Angel, ca. 1940 Robert M. Greenberg

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06 / William Edmondson Miss Louisa, ca. 1933 Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of Paul W. McCloskey in memory of Maris 07 / William Edmondson Dove, 1933 –1940 Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Marion Stratton Gould Fund

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what’s up

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Collection in Context: Selections from the Permanent Collection April 27– July 3, 2005

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Harlem Postcards Spring 2005 Petra Lindholm Born 1973, Karis, Finland Lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden Rare Bird, 2005

A friend of mine told me that while he lived in New York he often went to the upper parts of Central Park to spot birds. He has seen the most spectacular birds in this particular part. I can’t remember what kind they were but they sounded exotic to me. With this in mind I started to plan for my postcard photo. Some weeks before arriving in New York a thought about a bird sitting down in front of my camera, I was focusing on this every day for a few seconds. Then finally here on the right spot I moved around slowly thinking about the bird, and suddenly over my head and down on a three landed a red bright bird. It sat there and let me come close. I took three photos and it flew off again.

Jennie C. Jones

Julie Mehertu

Untitled, 2004, Museum Purchase with funds provided by the Acquisitions Committee

This installment of Collection in Context: Selections from the Permanent Collection continues our presentation of the formation and development of the Museum’s collection and its critical role in tracing the history of the institution. The collection at the Studio Museum in Harlem began 30 years ago when the museum began to accept works from generous artists and donors. Today the collection numbers over 1600 objects and continues to grow in exciting directions from gifts and acquisitions. The Collection in Context series uses new strategies to highlight the key holdings and to expand the conversation around African-American art and artists of African descent. This exhibition, organized by the SMH Curatorial Team, features gifts and acquisitions and includes works by Gwen Knight Lawrence, Isaac Julien and Julie Mehretu, among others. Collection in Context is a testament to the Museum’s longstanding commitment to the presentation of diverse works by black artists at different points in their careers and provides a point of reference and entry to exhibitions on view.

Born 1968, Cincinnati, OH Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY One Note, 2005

Minton’s Playhouse opened in 1938 on the ground floor of the Cecil Hotel on 118th Street. Over the next decade it flourished as a late night jam session spot for young musicians, an incubator that allowed a vast amount of experimentation to occur. If Modernist jazz had a place associated with its birth, it was Minton’s. Interested as I am in examining, locating or commemorating collective cultural experiences in historic moments of creative transition, particularly as related to modernism, a visit to Minton’s seemed appropriate for this project. As suggested by the title and the image itself, One Note at Minton’s emphasizes the desire for a kind of “reductive mythology.” Thelonious Monk best summed up this particular Harlem fable as such: “It’s true modern jazz probably began to get popular there, but some of these histories and articles put what happened over the course of ten years into one year. They put people all together in one time, in one place. I’ve seen practically everybody at Minton’s, but they were just playing. They weren’t giving lectures.”

Michelle Lopez Born 1970, Manila, Phillippines Lives and works in San Francisco, CA Then girl ran one block to her apt. building, 1590 Madison, 2005

My concept found its genesis in the notion of the “absence” of the Harlem streets. I was interested in the absent bodies within a landscape, the uncanny presence in the memory of the streets. My project focused on documenting sites where people have laid down and died as a result of accident, injury, or petty crime. I combed through homicide police reports both recent and historical. My photo documentation seeks to explore the questions of space absorbing violence, and death how the act might resonate within the environment and memory and knowledge inflecting our ways of seeing space. It also explores my own interest in the representation of body and how to codify it simply without it, via the invisible man. Then Girl Ran One Block to Her Apt. Building, 1590 Madison Avenue, represents the death of a young girl who was caught in the crossfire between two men.

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upcoming exhibitions

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Scratch (skraˇch) William Cordova, Michael Queenland & Marc Robinson July 20–October 31, 2005 The Studio Museum in Harlem Artists-in-Residence 2004–05 scratch v. tr. to make a thin shallow cut or mark on (a surface) with a sharp instrument; to use the nails or claws to dig or scrape at; to rub or scrape (the skin) to relieve itching; to scrape or strike on an abrasive surface; to write or draw (something) by scraping a surface: scratched their initials on a rock; to write or draw hurriedly: scratched off a thank-you note; to strike out or cancel (a word, for example) by or as if by drawing lines through; Slang to cancel (a project or program, for example), to withdraw (an entry) from a contest.

hasty scribble; a sound made by scratching; Sports the starting line for a race, a contestant who has been withdrawn from a competition Games the act of scratching in billiards, a fluke or chance shot in billiards; poultry feed; Slang money. adj. done haphazardly or by chance; assembled hastily or at random; Sports Having no golf handicap. Idioms: from scratch from the very beginning; scratch the surface to investigate or treat something superficially; up to scratch Informal meeting the requirements, in fit condition. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

\v. intr. to use the nails or claws to dig, scrape, or wound; to rub or scrape the skin to relieve itching; to make a harsh scraping sound; to gather funds or produce a living with difficulty; to withdraw from a contest; Games to make a shot in billiards that results in a penalty, as when the cue ball falls into a pocket or jumps the cushion. n. a mark resembling a line that is produced by scratching, a slight wound; a

Simon Mbumbo

(Cameroon) Tom Lloyd

Marokan 1965

Energy /Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980 April 5-July 2, 2006 In the Spring of 2006, the Studio Museum will present Energy /Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980, group exhibition guest curated by Dr. Kellie Jones.

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Frequency November 9, 2005 – March 12, 2006 Commonly referred to or mistaken as as Freestyle II, Frequency will feature art work by thirty of the hottest emerging, black artists of 2005! Living and working in the United States and ranging in age from 27 to 42, their inspirations and influences range from hip hop videos and folktales, to baseball stars and Abstract Expressionism, to tattoo design and non-western aesthetics.

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Mark An

In painting, drawing, museum sculpture, photography, video, digital animation and new media, the will be abuzz with new works by new artists for Studio Museum audiences. The artists hail from cities around the country such as St. Louis, Memphis, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and for many of them, Harlem is a totally new. Frequency is organized by Thelma Golden and Christine Y. Kim, and will be accompanied by a full-color catalogue.

Energy/Experimentation explores the strong voice of abstract artmaking that developed during the second half of the 20th century. Working in both painting and sculpture this group of artists committed themselves to innovation in structure and materials. While figuration of the 1960s and 1970s is well known through the works of Romare Bearden, Betye Saar or artists connected with the Black Arts Movement (focus of the groundbreaking SMH show Tradition and Conflict (1985), less explored abstractionists such as Sam Gilliam, William T. Williams, Al Loving, Joe Overstreet and Howardena Pindell, were steadfast in their use of non-objective visual language. Energy/ Experimentation will present the painting and sculpture of 15 artists whose work challenged artistic technical, and social boundaries and assumptions during this period.

Kola Fayemi

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Africa Comics The Studio Museum in Harlem in conjunction with Africa e Mediterraneo, (Bologna, Italy) will present the first exhibition of African comic art in the United States.

Africa e Mediterraneo, a non-profit cooperative, was created in 1997 to foster intercultural education between Italy and Africa, and developed the first serious contemporary investigation of comic art in Africa today. With narratives engaging humor, social awareness, history and myth, African comic art has achieved a wide-range of recognition both as an art form and as a valuable medium of cross-cultural communication. The Studio Museum in Harlem will present a selection of recent work in support of this vital art form that is omnipresent on the African continent.

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elsewhere: art beyond SMH

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Completely Biased, Entirely Opinionated Hot Picks By SMH’s Chief Curator, Thelma Golden Here’s a couple of must-see exhibitions that I’m not going to miss this Spring:

Don’t Miss

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Greater New York @ PS 1 / 22-25 Jackson Ave / Long Island City / www.ps1.org / thru September 26, 2005 04

Back to Black, Art Cinema and the Racial Imagery @ White Chapel Art Gallery / 80 82 Whitechapel High Street, London, England / www.whitechapel.org / June 7-August 2005

PS 1 does it again with a big exciting sprawling survey of contemporary artists.

We are thrilled that former Artists In Residence Deborah Grant, Adia Millett, Wangechi Mutu, and William Villalongo; as well as Derrick Adams, Rico Gatson, Wardell Milan, Karyn Olivier, Clifford Owens, and Saya Woolfalk are on view. Showcasing more than 160 artists from the New York area, the work explores both this specific time period, during which New York City has radically changed; shows strength, energy, and exciting undertake; and anticipates fresh artistic directions.

For the past decade there has been a resurgence of interests in Greater New York 2005 is jointly organized by P.S.1 and The Museum the black exploitation era, and in understanding the potency of the of Modern Art. visual impact of that time. 02

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A Beautiful Thing: Kara Walker @ New Issac Julien / True North @ The MAK School University / Arnhold Hall, 55 West Center/Schindler House 835 North Kings 13th Street Road / West Hollywood, CA / www.MAKEvent Horizon, a site specific work by artist Kara Walker, is her first center.org / July 17-October 16, 2005

public art installation, and is one of several works the University London based film and video artist Isaac Julien has once again crehas commissioned in recent years. ated a work about place and race.

The mural is on view in the main lobby or Arnhold Hall, located at 55 W. The 2004 film installation, “True North”, is based on the story of www. 13th St., where it joins a recent commission by the artist Sol LeWitt. matthewhenson.com Matthew Henson, the first explorer to reach the North Pole with pearyhenson.org/robertepeary Robert E. Peary in 1909. Julien uses beauty as a way to recognize cultural mistakes. He sets up his films, not so much as a political act, though they frequently feel that way, but as a means of re-interviewing a misunderstood past.

01 / Kara Walker Event Horizon, 2004 Courtesy New School University

02 / Issac Julien Untitled (True North Series), 2004

03 / Issac Julien Untitled (True North Series), 2004

04 / Gordon Parks 05 / Adia Millett Eldridge cleaver and Wife, I Love You., 2005 Kathleen with Portrait of HueyNewton, Algiers, 1970, Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Back to Black which is organized by London based curator David Bailey and Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art historian at Duke University. The exhibition explores the work and influence of black artists working in America, Britain and Jamaica in the 1960s and 70s, through seven main themes including black consciousness in art; the ghetto; black fashion; popular culture; and politics. The work of Elizabeth Catlett, Barkley L. Hendricks and Robert Senstacke show how the trends and hairstyles of the time were used as vehicles for social concealing and self-invention. Political works of art on show include several large sculptures and a crucial body-printon-paper by David Hammons. Finally, the impact of black music on the Black Arts Movement is revealed through the melodic and painterly works of artists such as Jeff Donaldson and Margo Humphrey.

Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour (H.O.A.S.T.) @104 W 119th St., NY, NY 10026 / www.hoast.org / Saturday, April 30 from 10am-4pm & Sunday, May 1, 2005 Afro Pop / from 1pm-5pm Check out our Harlem neighbors. This two day event opens the doors to 95 visual artists to the public.

Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with the artists and purchase original works of art directly from the artists. The cultural diversity and the essence coolness, flawlessly represents the heart of Harlem today. This event is open to the public. A shuttle tour service is provided, to receive an event map go visit www.hoast.org.

I’ve been completely thrilled to see African references on the fashion runways this season. Much has been made (in writing) about these references and how the influences have come to light as designers travel and safari across the continent. While it is true that many designers have traveled throughout the continent, I suspect that that they are truly taking cues from the brilliant infusion of Africa in the work of contemporary artists of African descent, such as Seydou Keita, Yinka Shonibare, and Malick Sidibe among others.

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feature

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Harlem Was Always on Her Mind

Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence c Lowery Stokes Sims

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01 / Gwen Knight

New Orleans, Orleans, 2001 2001 200

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The White White Dress, 1999 1999 Collection of the Studio Studio Museum in Harlem

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On February 18, 2005 the Harlem community lost one of its most elegant and catalytic figures with the death of Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence. She was 91 years old.

Lawrence’s life and career exemplified that of many black artists who emerged in the 1930s and 40s. A native of Barbados, she was part of the West Indian migration that so enriched the character of black life and culture in Harlem and the United States. She arrived at the age of 7, living first in St. Louis and then Harlem where she attended Wadleigh High School for Girls. After studying for two years at Howard University, she returned to Harlem and became involved with a group of young artists around legendary sculptor Augusta Savage at the Harlem Community Art Center. Eventually, Lawrence became part of the burgeoning art scene, meeting painters Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, and Charles Alston, as well as writer Claude McKay. Gwen and Jacob married in 1941 becoming a dynamic couple within the art world. They lived in the first integrated co-op in New York, traveled to the South spending time in New Orleans and Black Mountain College in North Carolina where Lawrence was invited to teach by Josef Albers. During the 1960s, the Lawrences spent time in Nigeria and then moved to Seattle in 1971 where they established their final home. While Gwen Lawrence was recognized during her lifetime as her husband’s able collaborator particularly on major public commissions, she pursued her own work throughout the six decades of their marriage. Her paintings and graphic works show her interest in form and color and abstraction and figuration. Her subjects included intimate domestic scenes, portraits, still life compositions, and later in her career, evocative studies of animals, especially horses. Gwen Lawrence often reminisced about her life in Harlem: dancing with friends at the Savoy, attending concerts and vaudeville shows. Her family lived in the same building as actress and singer Ethel Waters and Billy Strayhorn, the inimitable collaborator of Duke Ellington. While the Lawrences never realized their dream to return to this community which had nurtured them in their formative years, after her husband’s death Gwen Lawrence was determined to impact the education and mentoring of young artists in Harlem. She established a foundation in 2000 and in 2004 awarded Studio Museum a grant of $45,000 over three years to support the ARTLooks Program for high school students. Upon her death, she bequeathed $2million to the Studio Museum to create and endowment to support this program and our signature Artist-in-Residence program. Harlem, it would seem, was never out of her heart or her mind. 01

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profile

Montgomery Harris

photo: Roncallo, 2005

Studio / Spring 05

A woman with a vision can not be stopped. Let’s go back. One woman’s ambition transported her from St. Louis to Paris, where she overcame racial limitations becoming one of the world’s most versatile entertainers. One woman’s talent and striking beauty carried her from tragedy to triumph as the ‘first’ nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress. And one woman’s ingenuity opened a fashion-forward boutique that caters to all shapes and sizes with only one prerequisite—wear it well!

Stepping into Montgomery Harris’s boutique, Jolinda, Inc., is entering a space that is luxe and feminine but edgy and unique—all the same words that you might use to describe this dynamic powerhouse after meeting her. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, and educated in exhibit display and fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Montgomery’s first memories of stylistic inspiration are arts and crafts activities during her youth. Now with a store in Harlem and clientele including style mavens, such as Halle Berry, Nia Long, Iman, Erykah Badu and Oprah Winfrey, Montgomery is extending her reach by collaborating with the Studio Museum on an inaugural installation located in the Museum Store. Partnering with Sean Rush (www.seanrush.com), interior artist and collaborator on her store’s whimsical yet mature décor, Montgomery is sure to “create joyful visual expressions.”

These expressions will be launched by several additions to the Montgomery brand. She will soon unveil t-shirts for men. Her well recognized iconic signature, Jolinda—a round black face with a red polka-dot turban and gold hoop earrings—will also evolve. Taken by the social implications of black caricatures created during the early1900s, Montgomery reclaims, redefines and remixes the image “with a wink and a smile,” making it a unique testament to the resiliency and power of the imagination. Based on that creative vision, she has extended Jolinda’s family of to include Baby Child, the family’s adopted white daughter. Reflecting on her business and creative progression, Montgomery says that throughout those times “you give yourself permission to shine.” And shine she does.

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artist commission

For More Information Jolinda Inc. 2312 Seventh Avenue, Corner of 136th Street 212.690.2166 Open MondaySunday 1-7 PM Makeba Dixon-Hill, Education and Public Programs Coordinator

Commissioned / Robert Pruitt Robert Pruitt was born in 1975 in Houston,Texas and lives and works there today

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Robert Pruitt / Drop Rule (Welcome 2 the Struggle)

Robert Pruitt / Sunra-moon and Stars

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BOBBY SHORT Lowery Stokes Sims

Long-time Studio Museum trustee, singer and performer Bobby Short, who passed away on March 17, 2005, was celebrated as a national treasure and a living legend. During his long career he made his reputation as an unparalleled interpreter of the music of Cole Porter, George Gershwin and, Rodgers and Hart. His performances were distinguished by his delivery and personal elan, which made the music accessible to new audiences for cabaret music.

child star, Bobby performed in and around Danville, Illinois, and joined the vaudeville circuit, where he teamed with Louis Armstrong. He soon became known as the “Miniature King of Swing,” headlined in nightclubs in Manhattan and at the Apollo Theater. Before continuing his career, Short returned home to finish high school and then worked in Los Angles, London and Paris. Success overseas led to an album contract with Atlantic Records.

Born September 15, 1924, Short was the ninth of 10 children in a musically inclined family. By the time he was four, he demonstrated a prodigious talent for playing by ear and taught himself to play the piano. As a

By the mid 1950s Short’s recordings had earned him loyal audiences and universal acclaim in the press. In 1968 he appeared at Town Hall with Mabel Mercer and subsequently appeared in major concert halls all over

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His performances were distinguished by his delivery and personal élan, which made the music accessible to new audiences for cabaret music. Photo credit: Bruno of Hollywood

Bobby Short joined the board of trustees of The Studio Museum in Harlem in 1986 and generously brought his talents and resources to the support of the institution in a significant way. His 1999 benefit evening at the Café Carlyle earned the Museum $75,000 and in 2001 he brokered a relationship between the Studio Museum and the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation. This relationship resulted in an initial grant of $450,000 to support general operation expenses between 2002 and 2005, and a renewed commitment in 2004 of $800,000 over four years. This grant continues to support general operations, exhibitions, and the education program, Expanding the His reputation as a performer often overshadowed his Walls: Making Connections between History, Photogracontributions as a writer and chronicler of contempophy and Community. rary American music. He frequently contributed to various periodicals, and published two memoirs: Black Bobby short left an indelible mark on this institution and White Baby in 1970 and Bobby Short: The Life and and American culture. He will be greatly missed. Times of a Saloon Singer in 1995. He has received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Bloomfield College, New Jersey, and was appointed Laureate of the Lincoln Academy in Illinois. On the 100th Anniversary of Cole Porter’s birth, Short was recognized by the composer’s family for his work to preserve Porter’s musical legacy. He was also known for promoting the music of African-American composers, such as Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Fats Waller and lyricist Andy Razaf. the United States. It was at this time that he began his long and legendary run at the Cafe Carlyle in New York City. Short performed many times at the White House and expanded his repertoire as a performer and dramatic actor on stage, and in television and in film. He appeared in the movies Hannah and Her Sisters and Splash, as well as in the television miniseries Roots and the on the television drama In the Heat of the Night. Short was nominated for a Grammy for Late Night at the Cafe Carlyle in 1993, and again in 2000 for You’re the Top: Love Songs of Cole Porter.

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catalogue excerpt

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from Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995—2005 From She & He by Thelma Golden

The path that led to this exhibition began a few years ago when I had the opportunity to be to preview the paintings in progress in Ofili’s studio for his presentation in the British Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. While speaking of these paintings that eventually became the phenomenal exhibition Within Reach, we spoke about his watercolors. In a conversation about his process, he explained to me the progression and interconnectedness of his work on paper and his work on canvas. Throughout his career Ofili has concurrently produced several bodies of work simultaneously, linked by image and theme, separated by formal strategies and media. The watercolors in this exhibition are primarily depictions of men and women, with some images of birds and flowers. They are created within a strict, unwavering compositional format. The women are rendered straight on or in a three-quarters pose, with a view from the top of their heads to mid-torso filling the page. What distinguishes them from the others and creates their individuality, is their hairstyles and dress. Ofili uses the brush and the watercolor to lovingly adorn these women with fantastical hairstyles, coquettish eyelashes, dazzling jewels and dresses formed of patterns made with colorful calligraphic lines. Ofili has described his process in making these works as both pleasurable and challenging. The watercolors began as a meditative ritual, a way to get started in the studio, an exercise–quick, without pressure. Generally, his process starts with a single sheet of paper carefully divided into eight pieces. Some of the watercolors have delicate, almost imperceptible pencil under-drawings that function as an outline or a guide, and in other drawings, these lines morph into patterns from which the figure emerges. Ofili speaks of all of these choices as deliberate ones, and simultaneously acknowledges the artistic pleasures created by the lack of pressure that more formal processes require. In time, practice became oeuvre. Because of the viscous quality of watercolor, the imagery demands quick resolution. Ofili converts this challenge along with the transparency of the medium into a foundation for the works themselves. Thus, Ofili has created a unique visual vocabulary out of medium and process. While some of the works were the starting point for larger paintings, overall the watercolors are not created strictly as sketches or studies, but as fully realized works of their own. Thelma Golden is Chief Curator & Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs at the Studio Museum.

photo: Courtesy of Chris Ofili

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catalogue excerpt

Studio / Spring 05

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from Bill Traylor, William Edmondson and the Modernist Impulse by Joseph Henestein

From the Sidewalk to the Institution: The Transformation of Meaning

More than for most “modern” artists, the site of production and the relationship with the local community add an important dimension to the meaning of Traylor’s and Edmondson’s art. First, the division between self-taught and academically informed art-making is of much less importance in the African American community. For both Traylor and Edmondson, their work had little (if any) “artistic” value in the formally aesthetic sense. Comments of both artists about passersby or visitors who bought their works “without needing them” make it clear that both men attributed a practical or utilitarian rather than an “artistic” value to their pieces. Knowing little—if anything—about the mainstream art world, neither Traylor nor Edmondson consciously responded to the traditions of art; however, there can be no doubt that the experience of the aesthetic existed in the everyday life of their respective culture— in the churches, bars, homes, and streets.38 Obviously, their view of art was different from the dominant concept of established European and American culture. Like any other contemporary artist, Traylor and Edmondson drew identity from different sources: from dominant American popular culture by which they were surrounded, from their African American community and its cultural traditions, and, on a deeper, unconscious level, on the African legacy, whose remnants still survived. Both Traylor’s and Edmondson’s art is located in the modern tradition of hybrid non-Western culture and in the precarious territory of “subculture,” the ghetto at the margins of American consumer society. The question, who actually created meaning for Edmondson’s sculptures and Traylor’s drawings, is crucial, since both artists’ work was catapulted into a context virtually unknown to black artists in that period. Meaning was created first by those who discovered the work and decided to show it in the framework of modern art: white artists, white photographers, white curators, and later on white critics and white collectors. Unlike most “professional” artists, Edmondson and Traylor had little or no control over the process of the production of meaning. Both men’s statements were publicized by reporters unprepared for and unfamiliar with the work. These comments suggest that neither man considered his works as “art” in the strictly Western, modernist sense. The museum displays further enhanced the process of appropriation, classification, and the transformation and redefinition of meaning inherent to objects becoming part of the institutional art system. The removal of Edmondson’s sculptures from his yard and of Traylor’s drawings from the sidewalk, where they were created and first presented, changed their meaning. The display of each man’s work in an institutional environment unknown to that artist also altered and redefined their content more than is usually the case. The consequence was a reduction and a stripping away of meaning.39 On the other hand, Edmondson’s and Traylor’s artistic ambitions, their creative passion, their interest in showing and selling their works, are fundamentally similar to those of mainstream artists. Most academically trained artists struggle economically and artistically, and even relatively established and successful artists constantly search for the precarious balance between acceptance and independence. When Traylor presented himself to an unknown photographer on the sidewalk surrounded by his drawings (fig. 8), there was no division between art and life. David Hammons repeated that situation forty-four years later, selling snowballs on the sidewalk in Harlem (fig. 9). Like Traylor, Hammons used the sidewalk— the place of the beggar, of the street vendor, of the lowest chain in the capitalist trade system— as his platform. Yet, what was natural for Traylor, the use of the sidewalk as the environment for his work, became a conceptual decision for Hammons, based on his profound suspicion of institutional culture. However, both Traylor and Hammons delineate the same status for the artist as a nomad, an independent, highly vulnerable outsider in modern consumer society. The receptions given both Edmondson’s and Traylor’s work illustrate the inability of the dominant culture to provide the framework to present, discuss, and understand their work. But despite almost insurmountable disadvantages (poverty, old age, and no access to education), Traylor and Edmondson created a highly personal, idiosyncratic work that represents a unique contribution to the visual history of their time. I am very grateful to Jonathan Fineberg and Jordana Mendelson for their reading of this essay. Many thanks go to Gisela Carbonell-Coll for her excellent research assistance. For endonotes see catalog pg. 65.

Reprinted with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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3 questions

Studio / Spring 05

Laylah Ali

Staceyann Chin the figures are wearing helmets, headdresses or goggles. Who are these characters and what are their narratives?

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CYK: could you please describe your studio environment?

Laylah Ali: The new characters are drawn from warriors, pilots, sad soldiers, war re-enactors, self-help gurus, evangelists, chieftains, and olympic interrupters... People who have been blown up but are still alive. They are half and quarter breeds, gifted liars, and naked vulnerable people.

LA: two large drafting tables; many bright spot lights; a photo of john brown without a beard; a photo of serena williams in a daring tennis outfit; a photo of me in tight swimming goggles; old, big stereo speakers; cd cases piled on the floor; yogurt tops with mixed paint; half-finished pieces tacked to the walls.

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Interview by Christine Y. Kim Associate Curator at the Studio Museum

CYK: why have you moved to a slightly larger dimension for these works?

Christine Y. Kim: Laylah, in your most recent work, you’ve moved away from scenes of “greenhead” figures and toward more traditional bust-portraits. Some of

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LA: I wanted to see what happened if I worked a bit larger and, for me, slightly looser.

New Acquisition / Laylah Ali Untitled / 2004 / Gouache on paper 10 3/8 x 8 3/8

Studio / Spring 05

I turned on the television to Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam and there she was a phenomenal powerhouse with a wild afro nearly as big as her body with words shaped by passion erupting from her small frame like oil spurting from the earth. Smooth, uncompromising and full of intent, Staceyann Chin jumped out of my television and into my heart.

She wrapped her body around her words that as she indicted the history of lesbian oppression and celebrated the complexity of biracial identity. She commanded my attention I was arrested.

In the vein of a litany of literary inspirations, including Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, T.S. Elliot, Zora Neale Hurston and James Baldwin, Chin’s introduction to the panoramic collection of poetry edited by June Jordan and first published in 1970, soulscript: A Collection of African American Poetry has firmly placed this woman among some of the greatest voices to emerge from a passion for socially relevant writing.

Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Staceyann Chin is black and Asian, an activist, performance poet, an original cast member of Def Poetry Jam on Broadway and a steadfast supporter of the spoken word movement. She lives and works in Brooklyn. For once in my like, I thanked god for television. Sandra P. Jackson Director of Education and Public Programs

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playlist: what artists we love are listening to Gary Simmons

Studio / Spring 05 Chris Ofili

Nadine Robinson

CHRIS OFILI PLAYLIST »» 01 ALICE COLTRANE »» 02 MOS DEF »» 03 TALIB QUALI »» 04 JILL SCOTT »» 05 ERIKA BADU »» 06 THE ROOTS »» 07 COMMON »» 08 DEAD PREZ »» 09 OUTKAST »» 10 WAITING FOR OTHER NADINE ROBINSON PLAYLIST »» 01 I WAYNE..THE CD ALBUM »» 02 THE GIFT OF TONGUES (GLOSSALALIA) »» 03 HANDEL’S HALLULUJAH CHORUS(MESSIAH) »» 04 BEN, BY MICHAEL JACKSON »» 05 MAHAGONY, MOVIE SOUNDTRACK »» 06 I LOVE AMERICA, BY THE LIBERTY BAPTIST COLLEGE SINGERS »» 07 NADINE EXPERT, ALBUM CALLED “EXCUSE ME MONSIEUR”, SONG “TAKE IT EASY NADINE” »» 08 GAG BALL BREAKS..BREAKBEAT “POACHER” PRODUCED BY FUNKSHITUP RECORDS »» 09 “MUSIC TO LIVE BY”, MOOD MUSIC PRODUCED BY MERCURY GARY SIMMONS PLAYLIST »» 01 LEE SCRATCH PERRY VERSUS I-ROY - SENSIMILLA SHOWDOWN »» 02 KING TUBBY’S IN FINE STYLE »» 03 BEANS - SHOCK CITY MAVERICK »» 04 NAS - STREET’S DISCIPLE »» 05 THE LIBERTINES - DON’T LOOK BACK INTO THE SUN »» 06 RAZORLIGHT - RIP IT UP »» 07 THE CLASH - THIS IS RADIO CLASH »» 08 PIXELTAN GET UP/SAY WHAT (DFA MIX) »» 09 AUDION - INVOKE THE SWARM »» 10 M.I.A. - GALANG »» BONUS TRACK ALL THINGS NINA SIMONE!!!!

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check out

Romare Bearden Conjur Woman and the Virgin-Mecklenberg /1978 / Collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum Purchase, 97.9.14

Wardell Milan Tropicks / 2004 Collection of the artist / New York

Studio / Spring 05 Alma Thomas Space / 1966 Collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum / Purchase and gift from E. Thomas Williams and Audlyn Higgins Williams / 97.9.19

Mike Cloud Slow Drying / 2004 Courtesy of Max Protetch, New York

Norman Lewis Bonfire / 1962 Collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem, Gift of the Estate of Norman Lewis, 81.1.2

Xiomara De Oliver Javelinas / Gentiles & Neophytes / 2002 Courtesy of RARE, New York

If you like...

check out

Romare Bearden

Wardell Milan (born in Knoxville, Tennessee, lives and

If you like...

check out

Alma Thomas

Mike Cloud (born in Chicago, Illinois, lives and works in

If you like...

check out

Norman Lewis

Xiomara De Oliver (born in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada, lives and works in New York)

(1912-1989)

(1895-1978)

(1909-1979)

work in New York)

New York)

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Dialogue 7 PM Artists, Modernists, Craftsmen: Bill Traylor and William Edmonson

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Dialogue 7 PM (off-site) Folk Art Influences: Contemporary Perspectives

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Neighbors Night out at the Studio! 5–7 PM

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Books + Authors 7 PM Nelson, Jill. Finding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island.

Watercolor Works! June 4

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Books + Authors 7 PM soulscript: A Collection of African American Poetry.

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Artists-in-Residence Open Studio 2–6 PM

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Tours for Seniors! 2 PM Modern Folk! 10 AM Exploring the Bill Traylor, William Edmonson and the Modernist Impulse exhibition

Poetry @ SMH 7 PM

Hoofers’ House 7 PM

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Inside/Out Gallery Tour 11 AM

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Sunday Salon 3–5 PM

Artlooks: A day in the life of an artist 10 AM – 1 PM The 2004-2006 Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Gift

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Soul Muses 7:30 PM

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Watercolor Works! 10 AM Exploring the Chris Ofili Architecture Walking Tours 11 AM Tours for Seniors! 2 PM

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Books + Authors 7 PM Marberry, Craig. Cuttin’ Up: Wit and Wisdom from Black Barber Shops.

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Craig Harris and friends performing Souls within the Veil 7:30 PM

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The Joanne Brackeen Quartet 7:30 PM

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Books + Authors, Kids 11 AM –1 PM Featuring Veronica Chambers Community Art Jam 11 AM – 3 PM Juneteenth Celebration!

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Romare Bearden Untitled (Tropical Scene) / 2004 Collection of the Studio Museum in Harlem 97.9.9

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Hoofers’ House 7 PM

Books + Authors

evolving the practice

Studio / Spring 05

At the Studio Museum, performance is considered as important as a work of art. The live experience plays a critical in the expansion and comprehension of contemporary art and culture. In his work curator, academic, art critic and consultant, Joshua Decter often refers the discursive museum—a site for discourse; the notion of a museum as a place that serves as a platform and catalyst for discussions about contemporary issues. This understanding is fundamental, critical and timely in this moment of our educational practice at The Studio Museum in Harlem. For many years, the Museum has been a site used by some of the most compelling voices to experiment with new ideas—functioning as a studio for black artists across artistic media. Last season, Lyle Ashton Harris presented his experimental performance at the Museum. During the summer of 2003, we hosted a rare public conversation between highly acclaimed contemporary artist Kara Walker and SMH Chief Curator Thelma Golden. For two years, the galleries have been the home for tap dancers that have created original choreography in response to a work of art on view. Audiences have been graced in our space by the voice of late legendary activist, actor Ossie Davis during a reading of Zora Neal Hurston’s, Now You’re Cookin’ With Gas (hand-picked for him by noted visual artist Betye Saar). And years ago the brilliant musical sounds bellowed from the horn of jazz impresario Miles Davis and filled the galleries. The efforts of the Museum’s educational program are driven by our desire to serve as a point of entry or vehicle for dialogues. We navigate our role as cultural producers of contemporary art by asking difficult questions and taking the required risks to support new works. Our educational mission is to redefine how Museums exist in the world; to foster experiences that invoke a range of emotions and interactions that reverberate within and outside of the Museum context.

Credit: Anthony Barboza

Ossie Davis 1917 – 2005

“I think movies are important because they engage us at an emotional and imaginative level that is important to our mental activity. That’s the inside of it. But…movies are important because they are made important. Movies belong to the culture of mass communications and mass communications are subject to mass manipulations. Movies are the one instrument by which mass manipulation can most easily take place. Movies are a great source of distraction. Movies help trivialize the culture and help make us become shallow thinkers so when we’re faced with great crisis we respond like children. Movies can be different. Movies are entertainment but movies also can be art. Entertainment trivializes and distracts. Art confronts and tries to lead you to truth. …My great disappointment with movies has always been that this great power to communicate has been used in a way that does not enlarge the human spirit but it tends rather to minimize it.” “My expectation is that this young generation here entering movies now, like the musicians of the last century. The blacks first

Sandra D. Jackson Director of Education and Public Programs

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introduced by t he slave masters to the music and to the instruments learned the instruments. They had to learn fingering. They had to play around with it until they got familiar. Somebody put the trumpet in Lois Armstrong hands and Louis changed music forever, somebody gave Duke Ellington the keys to the piano, and he changed music forever. I live for the time and I look forward to seeing it when these young creators will have finished their fingering exercises and catering to the mass market and begin to do in movies what Louis and Duke and the others did in music so that we have an art form that enables and ennobles the human spirit and not pushes it down.” The late Ossie Davis in conversation with George Alexander author of Why We Make Movies: The magic of Cinema at the Studio Museum’s Books + Authors program [Insert date].

Adult Programs The Studio Museum has a long tradition of presenting programs that address prevalent issues in contemporary art by artists of African descent. Through the Department of Education and Public Programs, we offer a range of activities and programs that engage a diverse crosssection of artists of various disciplines, writers, scholars and critics who share diverse perspectives with our audiences.

Public Programs

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Poetry@ SMH FRIDAY, MAY 13, 7 PM

Don’t miss this evening of poetry and prose as Cave Canem poets read work thematically related to the ideas and issues presented in our current exhibitions. Noted poets Derrick Weston Brown, Toni Brown, Christopher Stackhouse, and Sheree Renée Thomas will present new compositions inspired by the work of artists Bill Traylor, William Edmonson and Chris Ofili. Poetry @ SMH is FREE. Space/seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Authors will be available to sign books after the program. Books are available in the Museum store. The Studio Museum in Harlem is proud to offer this program in collaboration with the Cave Canem Foundation, Inc. Poetry @ SMH is presented with public funds provided by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Cave Canem Foundation, Inc. programs and collaborations are made possible by a grant from the New York Community Trust. For more information about Cave Canem visit http://www.cavecanempoets.

Soul Muses FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 7:30 PM

This evening of soulful music is a testimony to the beauty of blackness seen in Chris Ofili: Afro Muses. Come out and hear some of NYC most riveting songbirds and let them take you on a journey.

Inside/Out Gallery Tour SATURDAY, MAY 21, 11 AM

A best kept secret amongst artists, Long Island City is now the focus of many in the artworld. Put on your walking shoes and explore a few of the hottest exhibitions in New York City with SMH Associate Curator, Christine Y. Kim. Participants will take a look at the work of some of today’s most compelling emerging black artists. Space is limited and available on a firstcome, first-served basis. Pre-registration is required and early registration is encouraged. Please call 212/864/4500 x264 to register. Registration ends May 18. $20 (general public), $15 (members, seniors and students).

Vital Expressions in American Art: Performance @ SMH

Artists-InResidence Open Studio

For more than 20 years, the Studio Museum has presented art and humanities programs that enhance, interpret and supplement exhibitions on view. Vital Expressions introduces and illuminates connections between the visual arts and other disciplines through concerts and theatrical and dance performances.

The Joanne Brackeen Quartet

Craig Harris and Friends performing Souls Within The Veil

Featuring Ravi Coltrane (Tenor Saxophone) With Rodney Green (Drums) And Ugonna Okegwo (Bass)

Composed to commemorate the centennial of The Souls of Black Folks – W.E.B. DuBois’s seminal work – Souls Within the Veil is musician Craig Harris’ endeavor to capture the timeless social commentary as well as the compositional craft of DuBois’ writing. This original composition is written for “10 souls using musical instruments” (consisting of four saxophones, two trumpets, one trombone, one bass, and two percussions). Combining improvisation and composition into one sound, this performance will be presented before a backdrop of images organized by artist, curator, and scholar Deborah Willis, Phd. This is one you’ll surely not want to miss!

THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 7:30 PM

One of the long-time sites of the JVC Jazz Festival, the Studio Museum has hosted some of the greatest jazz talents the world has known. This year is no exception as we welcome the Joanne Brackeen Quartet to the stage. Declared “a visionary of extraordinary depth” by Tony Bennett and “a pianistcomposer of phenomenal capacity” by the late Bill Evans, Brackeen is consistently ranked by critics and jazz magazines as one of the best jazz pianists in the world. Her playing is virtuosic and wholly unpredictable, dense and richly detailed, rhythmically advanced and consistently, effortlessly swinging. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Pre-registration is required and early registration is encouraged. Please call 212/864/4500 x264 to purchase a seat. $20(at door), $15(advance, seniors and students), $12 (members) The JVC Jazz Festival is presented by George Wein and Festival Productions, Inc. (insert jvc logo)

Save A Seat Have you noticed the crowds of people gathering in SMH’s lobby? We are thrilled that the exhibitions and public programs have become increasingly popular! If you’ve ever attended a program, you may have noticed that the activities take place in the Museum’s galleries or courtyard. As a result there is limited seating. Please be sure to check the program schedule to see if registration is required. In almost all cases, seating is limited and available on a firstcome, first-served basis. If you ever have a question, please call 212/864/4500 x264. Someone will get back to you within three business days.

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2 – 6 PM

You met them in the fall, and now they have settled in. Join 2004-2005 Studio Museum Artists-in-Residence: William Cordova, Michael Queenland and Marc Andre Robinson, and be among the first to see their progress as they prepare for the year-end exhibition. Conceived at the formation of the Studio Museum more than 30 years ago, the A-I-R program remains central to the Museum’s mission. Free and open to the public.

FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 7:30 PM

Seating is limited and available on a firstcome, first-served basis. Pre-registration is required (early registration is encouraged). Please call 212/864/4500 x264 to purchase a seat. This program is co-produced by the Nation of Imagination.

Hoofers’ House

Tours For Seniors!

In honor of the important place of tap dancing in Harlem’s history, SMH now serves as a new home for hoofers. Tap dancers – elders and young people alike – are invited to take the floor at these quarterly jam sessions, accompanied by live music!

SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2 PM / SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2 PM

Host: Rashida Bumbray FRIDAY, MAY 20, 7 PM

Talented beyond her years, SMH curatorial assistant Rashida Bumbray will be at the helm of this jam session. As usual, Rashida’s roster of fellow dancers will include some of New York City’s most compelling talents working today.

Host: Omar Edwards FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 7 PM

Some know him from hit Broadway productions like Black and Blue and Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk, and others know him as the young tap dancer on Showtime at the Apollo. Come out to Hoofer’s House and you’ll feel like you know him yourself as he pounds the stage creating unforgettable rhythms and beats. Hoofers’ House is FREE. Space/seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Are you an elder? Do you like meeting and having conversations with new people? Well … then it’s time to get out and socialize! Spend a Saturday afternoon at SMH during these exclusive tours that explore our current exhibitions. Seats are available and light refreshments will be served. Program for Seniors are FREE. Space/seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Preregistration is required. Please call 212/864/4500 x264 to reserve a space.

Architectural Walking Tours SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 11 AM

With arrival of spring comes many blue skies and sunny days! Explore Harlem with architectural preservationist and Harlem resident John Reddick. Participants will go on an intimate tour of Harlem beginning in our galleries and extending to the streets where Reddick will illuminate how many of the concepts seen in our current exhibitions are ever-present in Harlem’s historical landscape. Space is limited and available on a first-come, firstserved basis. Pre-registration is required and early registration is encouraged. Please call 212.864.4500 x264 to register. Registration ends June 1. $20 (general public), $15 (members, seniors and students)

Sunday Salon Featuring Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, writer SUNDAY, MAY 22, 3 – 5 PM

Referencing Harlem’s rich artistic legacy, Sunday Salon is dedicated to highlighting local musicians, poets, singers, writers, thinkers and performance artists. Inspired by the vast talent just outside of the Museum’s doors, this program celebrates the spirit of Harlem’s historic parlor scene. Join us for an intimate reading and dialogue on new work by an exceptional emerging talent. Join Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts as she reads her original short stories about Harlem. Exposed to the arts at an early age, Sharifa grew up performing as a dancer, making experimental films and writing. Working as a freelance writer and editor, she has published work in the The New York Times, Transitions Magazine, Africana.com and The Nation, among others. Currently, Sharifa is working on a book about Harlem. Sunday Salon is FREE and open to the public.

Dialogues: Seminars on Contemporary Intersections in Art This series of conversations will have you talking about the work of Bill Traylor and William Edmondson—two noted artists whose work has been well received simultaneously in the modern, contemporary and self-taught art worlds. Session I:

Session 2:

Artists, Modernists, Craftsmen: Bill Traylor and William Edmondson

Folk Art Influences: Contemporary Artist Perspectives

TUESDAY, MAY 10, 7 PM

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 7 PM (at the American Folk Art Museum)

Join Lowery Stokes Sims (Executive Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem), Eugenia Carter Shannon (a collector and supporter of Bill Traylor) and Rusty Freeman (Vice President of the Plains Art Museum in North Dakota and a William Edmondson specialist) for a critical discussion about the work of Bill Traylor and William Edmondson. Focusing on the position of self-taught art, also called folk art, in modern art and the art world as a whole, this discussion will interrogate assumptions and illuminate connections across cultural and academic landscapes.

In this panel discussion three artists, Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold and Alison Saar, will talk with Brooke Anderson (Director and Curator of the Contemporary Center at the American Folk Art Museum) about how the work of African-American, self-taught artists has informed their work. This program will continue the conversation from Session I on how the work of contemporary trained artists and that of self-taught artists intersects in purposeful and often unexplored ways.

Space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Pre-registration is required and early registration is encouraged. Please call 212/864/4500 x264 to register for Session I.

Space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Pre-registration is required and early registration is encouraged. Please call the American Folk Art Museum at 212/265/1040 x160 to register for Session II. Each session: $10 (general public), $8 (members, seniors and students) Both Sessions: $16 (general public), $12 (members, seniors and students)

Bill Traylor

Untitled (red bird on structure), 1939-1942

This seminar series was co-organized by The American Folk Art Museum and the Studio Museum in Harlem on the occasion of the Bill Traylor, William Edmondson, and the Modernist Impulse exhibition on view at the Studio Museum thru June 26, 2005, and the Ancestry and Innovation: African American Art From the Collection exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum on view through September 4, 2005.

Books + Authors: Evenings with Writers & Others THURSDAY, MAY 19, 7 PM

Be sure to arrive early for this already legendary program featuring some of today’s most compelling authors. Packed to capacity, Books + Authors is designed to introduce works by literary masters, established living authors and emerging writers. This program also features new titles that explore black culture locally, nationally and internationally. Sometimes it’s a performance and other times it’s a straight reading, but there’s always a discussion filled with rich, diverse perspectives. Each program is followed by a book signing. Books + Authors is FREE. Space/seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Authors will be available to sign books after the program. Books are available in the Museum store. SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 7 PM TITLE: soulscript: A Collection of African American Poetry, Jordan June, ed. SPEAKERS: Poetic powerhouse Staceyann Chin will host an evening of poetry and spoken word dedicated to the work of noted and celebrated political poet June Jordan on the occasion of National Poetry Month. Leslie “ButtaFlySoul” Taylor and others poets will come together for this rare occasion.

About this book: First published in 1970, soulscript is a poignant, panoramic collection of poetry from some of the most eloquent voices in the art, edited and organized by the late, revered poet June Jordan. Selected for their literary excellence and by the dictates of Jordan’s heart, these works tell the story of both collective and personal experiences. soulscript features works by Jordan and other luminaries like Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Gayl Jines, James Weldon Johnson, Audre Lorde, Claude McKay, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez and Richard Wright, as well as the fresh voices of a turbulent era’s younger writers.

TITLE: Nelson, Jill. Finding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island. Doubleday: New York, 2004. SPEAKERS: Jill Nelson

About this book: Finding Martha’s Vineyard is about the power of place in our lives. A rich treasury of reminiscences, excerpts from news articles documents from Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society, recipes and glorious photographs, it brings the sights, sounds, celebrations and social importance of the island community brilliantly to life. TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 7 PM TITLE: Marberry, Craig. Cuttin’ Up: Wit and Wisdom from Black Barber Shops. Doubleday, New York, 2005. SPEAKER: Craig Marberry and other special guests.

About this book: Crisscrossing the country from Detroit to Orlando, and Brooklyn to Houston, Craig Marberry listened in on conversations that covered everything from reminiscences about the first haircut— a sometimes comic rite of passage—to spirited exchanges about women, to serious lessons in black history and current events. His collection of wit and wisdom of patrons and barbers brings together an irresistible and often touching chorus of voices. Books + Authors is free and open to the public.

Carl Hancock Rux reading from Speak, So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Nora Neale Hurston at The Studio Museum Books + Authors program 12.02.04

Books + Authors: Excerpts

Excerpt from Cuttin’ Up: Wit and Wisdom from Black Barber Shops. Doubleday, New York, 2005. By Marberry, Craig African-American men commune at the barber shop. It’s where we get to be among ourselves, to be ourselves, to unmask. More than even the church, where reverence for God’s house curbs one’s enthusiasm, the barber shop is where we gather for true fellowship, for a respite from a society where black men are often scorned and excluded. Barber Reginald Attucks called the barber shop the last frontier. It’s the last public place,” he says, [where] black men can go to be separate.” We come for a haircut, of course, but we also come to connect, to converse among brethren—sometimes in spirited debate, sometimes in jovial accord. We spice our dialogues with braggadocio, poured so generously that the air hangs heavy with witch hazel and testosterone. Governing most exchanges in black barber shops is an unwritten rule: comments shared with the group must both entertain and enlighten. Proverbs must merge with punch lines, comedy with profundity. Those unskilled in the art of being one part humorist and one part sage bite their tongues and play the role of audience. From the Author’s Note (page 3) of Cuttin’ Up: Wit and Wisdom from Black Barbershops by Craig Marberry

Youth Programs

Jordan, June, ed. soulscript: A Collection of African American Poetry. Harlem Moon: New York, 1970.

Nelson, Jill. Finding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island. Doubleday: New York, 2004.

In her essay “Do You Do Well to Be Angry,” published in the collection of Some of Us Did Not Die (Basic Civitas Books, 2003) she (June Jordan) invites us each to admit: Sometimes, I am the terrorist I must disarm.

We come to Martha’s Vineyard in search of as many things as there are visitors: some of these overlap, many do not. Yet I am convinced that we all cross the boundaries of race, class, age, religion, and geography to come to this island in search of home. For black Americans, this search for home is perhaps most profound. Most of us have no specific, tangible ties to our ancestor’s homeland, the vast continent of Africa. For the most part, we do not know what region or country our ancestors came from, have no inkling of what name or address to put on the envelope if we wanted to send a letter home. Sometimes I think a yearning for home was implanted in the molecular memory of each person chained in the holds of a slave ship as it pulled away from the shores of Africa, to be passed down through generations. Language, history, family and stories may have been destroyed or forgotten, but this desire for a home place abides. Our yearning for home is both greatest and least defined. We know we’re looking for it, can’t describe it, but will know it when we get there.

...Three years after September 11, 2001, the allegations and explanations were still a wet muddle of half-truths and conspiracy theories gone wild. I had just, months before, left the Broadway cast of Russell Simmons’s Def Poetry Jam. I lacked direction. My fingers were still quiet from the year I had spent becoming thirty, dealing with the massive changes in my body, my career, my relationship with Jamaica, and the fact that I had yet to do anything with the almost three hundred pages of a memoir I had been nursing for at least four years by then. Alone and silently clawing at myself, for not sleeping enough, not eating enough, and not writing enough, I mourned the buildings and the bodies that had perished there. To make sense of my own tacit listlessness, I decided to read what June had written of it. And wham! Broad as daylight−there, sat the ultimate challenge. I had to rewind and read it again. Sometimes, I am the terrorist I must disarm.” From the newly added introduction to soulscript written by Staceyann Chin. Chin will be the host of the Studio Museum’ Books+Authors program featuring a running list of poets paying homage to June Jordan on Saturday, April 30 at 7pm.

The Studio Museum is dedicated to creating a safe environment for youth to express themselves creatively. The Museum hosts free programs for high school age students outside of the school environment. These programs offer students the opportunity to meet and converse with prominent visual artists, express their ideas in discussions, facilitate tours and hands-on workshops and develop important communication and critical thinking skills.

Artlooks: A Day in The Life of An Artist The 2004-2006 Jacob And Gwendolyn Lawrence Gift SATURDAY, MAY 21, 10 AM – 1 PM

Hang out and talk with some of New York City’s contemporary artists and hear what they have to say about creating work that reflects your world. You’ll also get feedback on your own work in one-on-one portfolio review sessions specifically for teens. Don’t miss your chance to meet working artists while chillin’ with your peers! Refreshments will be served. Visit www.studiomuseum.org for updates on artists who will attend! Call 212/864/4500 x264 with questions or to reserve your space!

At Home Activity! Kitchen Watercolors Ever wonder where you can get great art supplies? Try your own kitchen cabinet! Here’s a quick, safe and fun recipe for making WATERCOLOR PAINTS! Step 1: Gather your ingredients 1 tbsp. vinegar ½ tsp. glycerin 2 tbsp. baking soda 2 drops food coloring 1 tbsp. cornstarch 1 tsp. water Step 2: Mix them. In bowl mix baking soda and vinegar. When the mixture stops foaming, add the cornstarch and glycerin, then the food coloring to make the color you want. If the mixture is too thick, just add few drops of water. Store the paint in a tightly covered jar when you’re not using it Step 3: Paint your heart out! Now that you’ve made your own watercolors, it’s time to use them! Ask a family member to sit while you paint their portrait. Be sure to use thick paper (so that it doesn’t rip). When you’re done, create a frame and give your paintings as gifts! This recipe was adapted from foodfunandfacts.com

Expanding the Walls

Jordan Cook 2003

Student Exhibition Every year the Studio Museum conducts a search for 15 high school students to participate in Expanding the Walls: Making Connections Between Photography, History and Community. In turn, the Museum becomes the most personal venue for teenagers to engage contemporary artists and develop their own artistic practices while investigating the concept of community. By exploring the work of James VanDerZee—Harlem’s pre-eminent photographer—and learning 35-mm photography, the students discuss how community can be defined and redefined through personal identity, social history and contemporary imagery. These explorations

take concrete form as the students develop and provide public tours to seniors, families and their peers. At the culmination of the program, the participants organize a group exhibition of their photographs alongside those of James VanDerZee. The images in this exhibition will reflect subjects that investigate representations of identity, family tradition, cultural influence, the effects of gentrification and the symbolism of portraiture. This presentation of black and white photographs will highlight the participants new-found understanding of imagery and how it can expand the definition of community.

Family Programs The Studio Museum in Harlem acknowledges the need for families to spend time together. Nurturing bonds between parents and their children through art, the Museum offers programs and activities that allow families to share in the creative process. Bring the family and explore our exciting exhibitions. Become an artist in a hands-on workshop and create works of art with your kids! Family programs are designed for families with children ages 5 -10 years old. These programs are FREE. Pre-registration is required.

Modern Folk! William Edmondson

Jack Johnson 1934-1941

Books + Authors, Kids Featuring Veronica Chambers SATURDAY, JUNE 18 FROM 11 AM – 1 PM

When Celia Cruz was a girl growing up in Cuba, she could never hear the magic others claimed was in her voice. When she opened up her mouth to sing, she heard a girl like any other. But when she sang… Her father heard thunder. Her cousins heard the call of the sea. Her neighbors heard a hummingbird.

this wonderful artist. But more than that, this story encourages young people to recognize their greatness, even when they have doubts. Meet the author and illustrator, learn salsa dancing and have your book signed! Then hang out in our galleries or across the street at the State Office Building Plaza for our Juneteenth Celebration. Azúcar!

Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa is a wonderful new children’s book by author Veronica Chambers, and a great addition to any child’s library. Vibrantly illustrated by Julie Maren, it traces Señora Cruz’s life from a young girl in Havana, Cuba, to an international songstress. It’s a great way to introduce children to geography, history and politics through the life of

This is a special session is offered in conjunction with the Third Annual Juneteenth Celebration.

Watercolor Works! Exploring The Chris Ofili: Afro Muses Exhibition

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profile

Christopher Myers

Studio / Spring 05

Family photoYou can say that Christoper graphs were Myers’ interest also important, especially a in the arts particular black and children’s & white image books is a family tradition. of his grandfaHis father, Wal- ther. “He was a ter Dean Myers, storyteller. His thick, dark, is a famous children’s book calloused hands told author, and stories,” ChrisChristoper’s toper says. interest in “My father tells images came stories. I tell from objects stories.” and photos his parents found at auctions and flea markets.

A storyteller dad (and granddad)—no wonder Christoper became an artist and children’s book illustrator! Christoper began his first art classes at 13. His introduction to children’s books came when he helped his father with research for one of his books. Christoper illustrated his first book, Shadow of the Red Moon in 1996, when he was 20, and in 1998 he partnered with his father to illustrate Harlem.

If you look at any of Christoper’s books, it’s easy to see how his past, especially his childhood interest in found objects and old photos, affects his work. Instead of drawing or painting to illustrate a story, he makes collages of photographs, cut paper, bits from magazines and objects to take children on a journey. For all his hard work, Christopher has won many awards, including a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor, but his creative energy doesn’t stop with children’s books. Christopher is also a fine artist and clothing designer.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 10 AM

Activity: Wacky Watercolor Works Paint + Water + Chris Ofili = fabulous portraits! Take a look at Ofili’s watercolor paintings and then try your hand at painting in our experimental watercolor workshop. There’s so much you can do with a brush and your imagination!

Exploring The Bill Traylor, William Edmonson, and The Modernist Impulse Exhibition SATURDAY, MAY 7, 10 AM

Activity: Carved Sculptures Do you have to go to art school to be an artist? Bill Traylor and William Edmonson didn’t think so! Come out and explore the work of these self-taught artists, and create your own “folk” inspired sculpture! Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

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add color!

Studio / Spring 05

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from the collection

Studio / Spring 05

Martin Puryear Avey / 2000 Collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem 01.8.7 Created exclusively for The Studio Museum in Harlem © Christopher Myers, 2005

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studio visit

Studio / Spring 05

Kwabena Slaughter Brooklyn, New York March 26, 2005

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overheard

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“...our survival skills through aesthetics and adornment have made us feel good on the inside and helped us stand a little taller on the outside...How do you connect what makes us feel so good with what could become a prison of sort?”

Noted fashion expert Lloyd Boston on blacks and style at the Studio Museum Books + Authors program in conversation with Carol Tulloch, scholar and curator of the Black British Style exhibition at the Victoria an Albert Museum in London 11.11.05

01 / Kwabena Slaughter

Dancing in Yellow, 2004 Courtesy of the artist

02 / Kwabena Slaughter

Water Street, 2004 Courtesy of the artist

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Slaughter also photographs outdoors using unique camera techniques. On a typical sunny afternoon in DUMBO, Slaughter can be found on Water Street with his handmade, mechanical, 35-mm camera on a tripod. In one long exposure using daylight slide film, he manually pulls the length of the film through the camera, capturing pedestrians, motorists and bikers in one long shot. The single transparent image extends the length of an adult’s arm span.

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In a windowless studio at an alternative gallery space called Smack Mellon, Kwabena Slaughter builds stage sets out of wood, paper, rugs and other materials. They serve as backdrops for his enigmatic photographs of moving figures and flying carpets. The oddly flattened perspectives and colorful, storyboard scenes suggest a strong interest in non-western perspective and narrative structure. “My work,” explains Slaughter, “is motivated by a historical question: if photography is an outgrowth of the development of linear perspective in Renaissance painting, how would the medium be different if it grew directly from pre-Renaissance painting?” Jumping from Medieval and non-western perspectives to modern photography, the angled theater sets, curved skateboard ramps, and skewed figures are part of a scientific inquiry and sociological conundrum.

An obsessive notekeeper and hero of trial-and-error mechanical processes, this 29 year old artist has studied theater, performance and visual arts. He received his BA in Fine Arts from Oberlin College in Ohio in 1998 and his MFA from the University of Chicago, in 2001. He has been living in New York since 2003. Christine Y. Kim, associate curator

“One of the problems that African American artists, or I would say non-white artists in general, have to deal with is the notion that their work always has more social relevance than it has aesthetic relevance.”

Artist Kerry James Marshall on the challenge of developing a black aesthetic during the Studio Museum Artist’s Voice public program 11.19.04

“We’re constantly trying to express ourselves and understand who we are. So we’re constantly trying to pull all of these pieces from everywhere, just to say this is who I am. Unless you’re trying to say, this is who I’m not. For me there is a

black aesthetic, but it’s a part of trying to find that expression of who I am.” Dancer & Choreographer, and Artistic Director of Evidence, Ronald K. Brown on the black aesthetic at Studio Museum pubic program Intersections: Conversations on Art + Culture in conversation with and SMH director of education + public programs, Sandra D. Jackson 1.6.05

“Black space is a state of mind related to the environment.” Victor Body-Lawson, Principal, Body Lawson Associates, in panel discussion “Black Space: Architecture, Race and Cultural Identity” at New York Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Design 2.17.05

“The written poem and rap and all these kinds of things are the attempt to get close to and near poetic expression. They are not in my opinion the thing that is poetry--that is fleeting, and slippery and disappearing and moving at every second. Dance is an attempt at poetry. The poem... is the swing of the back.”

Thomas Sayers Ellis reading from The Maverick Room at the Studio Museum Books + Authors program 2.11.05

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from the collection

Studio / Spring 05

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3 questions

Studio / Spring 05

Dr. Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) These Few Favorite Things Composer Musician / www.dbrmusic.com

my work since I moved here in January 1997. In Harlem, we walk differently than anyone else that I have known or seen. We walk with pride and a sense of place and purpose. We walk as though we know where we are going and where we have been. We walk with an infinite sense of direction. In this, as a composer, Harlem has given my music that same sense of pace, direction, and trajectory. My music isn’t just faster or funkier—it has a form and clarity that was missing before I lived in Harlem.

02 Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

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Rashida Bumbray: What is the influence of Harlem on your work and practice?

Daniel Bernard Roumain: Harlem’s history, rhythms and spirit have informed and influenced

RB: What do see as the connection between the visual art and music?

DBR: Both require a frame. Both have lines. Both acquire a captive audience. Both reflect and record history. Both have meaning beyond words. The visual arts and music are both immediate and require time and attention to be appreciated. Both change and can change you.

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RB: What are your influences?

DBR: My influences are as open and varied as any country or any place that I have been to or hope to travel to. I could easily list several names that might give meaning to this question but a list can’t convey the feeling of a wonderful, fluid conversation; the warm chill of mutual attraction; the instant recognition of an elder’s prophetic words; the simple beauty of pedestrian movement; the first time you hear that new album or see that new video by an old favorite; the necessity of a substantive conversation; and icecream, chocolate and sugar smacks at midnight. These few favorite things, and everything more, influence me and the music. Rashida Bumbray, curatorial assistant Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) has been commissioned to compose a sound work for the lobby of the Studio Museum. This sonic experience can be heard throughout the exhibition season.

DEFINED (so you know) afro af·ro: Perfectly round, lopsided partially braided, tightly curled or loose, the afro gained widespred popularity in the 1970s. For some it was simply a fashion statement, while for others it was an expression of cultural identity. folk art fo¯k ärt: A term originally used to categorize works of art made by artists or artisans without formal or academic training in fine art; pertaining to the aesthetics of early 20th-century art for or about one’s community. Words such as untrained, outsider, folk and naïve are often improperly used to define these artists or their work. modernism mod·ern·ism: An art movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries associated with artists who made conscious decisions to depart from traditional forms and practices of art-making by exploring innovative uses of materials and forms of expression. Shanta Scott, Museum Educator/Internship Cordinator

Robert Colescott Auver-sur-Oise / 1982 Gift of Raymond J. Learsy and Gabriella DeFerrari, New York 88.5

Mickalene Thomas, Mama Bush triptych (detail), 2003 Courtesy of the artist

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harlem: where we’re at

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harlem: where we’re at

Studio / Spring 05

the Exclusive Eight Social Club (8 number runners), which threw some of the best dances in Harlem along with the top-notch acts of the time, including King Curtis while his hit song, Soul Twist, was on the radio. “I bought the Lenox Lounge in 1988 out of a commitment to Harlem—a commitment to my upbringing in Harlem. I also had the insight to know that Harlem was going to come back. My goal was not money. My goal was to keep history alive—to keep the experience alive and create opportunities for people to meet people. These things are what make memories. This year has great significance for Mr. Reed and for the Lenox Lounge—both turn 65 and both look better than ever.

The Art in Commerce By John T. Reddick

Photo by Michael Queenland

Coming Of Age:

The Lenox Lounge and its Owner Turn 65 More than likely, anyone who visits Harlem, regularly will spend a few hours at the legendary Lenox Lounge. Whenever I visit this historic bar, I make it my business to talk to its Harlemite Mr. Alvin Reed. I confess, my motivation is selfish —I love stories – but, Mr. Reed is one of the most engaging urban griots around.

From dancing at some of the most influential nightclubs in Harlem’s history and listening to some of the best jazz musicians play live, to posing for Harlem’s preeminent photographer, James VanDerZee, Mr. Reed has life long love affair with the streets of Harlem, and a lot to say about it. Mr. Reed has incredible memories such as joining the service just to get an ID that can make anyone stay at the Lenox Lounge for hours on end. As I walked down memory lane with Mr. Reed his recounted his days as a member of

Staff Picks Makeba G. Dixon-Hill / Education and Public Programs Coordinator

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they take difficult but necessary steps: from mom and dad’s house to dorm room to best friend’s couch and finally to your first apartment! Now that I have theoretically checked that off my “now you’re grown” list, was for me to explore my neighborhood. Since I work, play and eat in Harlem, I am all too aware of its charm and ability to merge hustle with serenity, extravagance with bargains, North with South and old with new.

There are few establishments in Harlem that rival the distinctive facade and graphic signage of the Lenox Lounge, located at 288 Lenox Avenue just south of 125th Street. Constructed in 1939, its exterior and interior design are hallmarks examples of the Moderne style, and owe much to the streamlining theories of designer Raymond Loewy and the design currents of 1939, which ranged from the architecture of the New York World’s Fair to Cedric Gibbons’ sets for the “Emerald City” in the film The Wizard of Oz.

The white neon letters of LENOX LOUNGE sign are set against panels of chrome and maroon, a trendy combination that was seen in classic Cadillacs and, Studebakers. The durable panels and their glossy baked enamel finish are borrowed from automobile and diner construction technologies of the era. The interior light columns that frame the lounge bar and banquettes are composed of frosted glass fins that conduct light from a hidden source to their glowing. The lounge’s music and dining area, dubbed the Zebra Room offered a certain brazen chic when the lounge “appropriated” a distinctive zebra pattern wallpaper reminiscent of the famed downtown club, El Morocco. The pattern was such a signature backdrop in countless newspaper photos of socialites and celebrities that El Morocco sued to prevent its use. John T. Reddick works on architectural preservation, planning and public art in New York City. He serves on Community Board #9 in Manhattan and is the Director of the Central Park Conservancy’s Cityscape Program.

Walking into Aunt Meriam’s 435 West 125th Street / 212.531.0322 transports me to a time of handmade petticoats and donning your Sunday’s best to go to the movies. This vintage thrift store offers a unique selection of goods that range from a signed Purlie handbill, handstitched linen handkerchiefs and 60s-era cameras to metal keepsake boxes, gold charm bracelets and crystal decanters.

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harlem: where we’re at

Studio / Spring 05

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harlem: where we’re at

Studio / Spring 05

The recent opening at Harlem Vintage 2235 / Frederick Douglass Boulevard/ 212.866. WINE / www.harlemvintage. com signaled a shift in what could be a successful business in Harlem. And successful it is! This wine shop, which bills itself “Harlem’s wine experience,” not only offers a varied selection of libations appropriate for that celebratory dinner or quiet evening at home, but also, and more importantly several of the wines come from black-owned vineyards. Be far warned: the nu-

merous options can leave you overwhelmed. But before beads of sweat set up shop on your brow, the helpful and friendly staff will answer all your questions, and make fine recommendations—cheers! Whether looking for the right outfit for a night on the town or that hot item to make your daily uniform of shirt and pants funky, all roads lead to Seventh Avenue! With feminine dresses in bold colors and one-of-a-kind handbags, Montgomery 2312

Seventh Avenue/ 212.690.2166 / jolinda-nyc.tripod.com/jolinda. html / jolinda-nyc.tripod.com/ jolinda.html offers many answers to the one question every woman has: what should I wear? While, Hats By Bunn 2283 Seventh Avenue / 212.694.3590 / www.hatsbybunn.com gives the secret ingredient that will shift your look from blah to ahh with creatively chic creations that will get your friends (and admirers) talking.

And while we’re speaking of secret ingredients...the Louisiana Bean Soup at (Soupman Café 2046 Seventh Avenue/ 212.666.7551) will have you coming back for morelong after you’ve left smiling from the bright décor, lighthearted conversation and cornbread that’ll make you want to...well you know the rest.

Photos by Ray Llanos

Photos: John T. Reddick

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from the collection

Studio / Spring 05

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shop!

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Museum Store Looking to create the definitive collection of volumes about artists of African Descent? Visit the Studio Museum in Harlem Store! Jamie Glover, our store manager, and his team keep on top of all the new titles. Stop in often to see what’s new.

the the mines a x – from e t s r ic a fl e n y Co ten d n and nning the en a o p t s n s o Traditio t age pth hing ant im n in-de n Was a o s h e c r signific id a ov tics ent al M am – and p r ry poli a r o n p m onum t Vie ontem war in ct of c a p of the im ts n artis t of the a n ic u r o e c ac f Am orks o w e h t on

We nd! mme o c e R

William Pope. L

Black People are the Tie that Binds / 2004 - 2005 Courtesy of Projectile, New York

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shop!

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benefit

Studio / Spring 05

Spring Benefit 2005

Folk Art

The 2005 Contemporary Friends Spring Benefit is just around the corner. Have you reserved your tickets yet?

Sister Gertrude Morgan Item# 3596 Price: $35.00 Members: $ 29.95

Dox Thrash Item: 1445 Price: $ 50.00 Members: $ 42.50

Souls Grown Deep Vol.1 Item# 1924 Price: $ 100.00 Members: $ 85.00

Bill Traylor Item# 3305 Price: $ 48.00 Members: $ 40.80 Souls Grown Deep Vol.2 Item# 1434 Price: 100.00 Members: $85.00

Every spring the Contemporary Friends SMH’s young professional membership group host an annual Spring Benefit to raise awareness of the Studio Museum in Harlem and funds to support the Museum’s education and public programs. Don’t miss out on this see and be seen evening of dancing and lounging at New York City’s newest hot-spot, BED New York! This year’s Honorary guests are Tracy Reese and Hill Harper and Benefit coChairs include Corey Baylor and Racquel Chevremont Baylor, Marsha Guess, Idris Mignott and Holly Phillips and Jose Tavarez.

Comtemporary African Photography

As of April 1, 2005 our sponsors include Uptown Magazine, Mercedes Benz, Fendi, Katrina Parris Flowers and W Hotel.

Malik Sidibe: Photographs Item# 3542 Price: $ 70.00 Members: $ 59.50 Insight: African Photographers Item# 3021 Price: $ 35.00 Members: $ 29.75

Flash Afrique Item# 2793 Price: $ 19.95 Members: $ 16.95

Samuel Fosso Item# 3559 Price: $ 39.95 Members: $ 33.95

Journey Of The Spirit Item# 3976 Price: $ 22.00 Members: $ 18.70

To purchase tickets for this event or for information about joining Contemporary Friends, please contact us at 212.864.4500 x221 or [email protected].

Photos by Ray Llanos

Hip Hop

Ask the Volunteers: Christopher Beck

All City: The Book About Taking Space Item# 3659 Price: $ 18.59 Members: $ 15.80 Where’d You Get Those Item# 3152 Price: $ 35.00 Members: $ 29.95

Yes Yes Y’all Item# 4021 Price: $ 29.95 Members: $ 25.45 Back in The Days Item# 1512 Price: $ 35.00 Members: $ 29.95

Auto Graf Item# 3631 Price: $ 29.95 Members: $ 25.45

Subway Art Item# 3592 Price:$ 22.00 Members: $ 18.70

VX: 10 Years of Photography Item# 3155 Price: $ 40.00 Members $ 36.00

And It Don’t Stop: Hip-Hop Journalism of The Last Item# 3899 Price: $ 16.00 Members: $ 13.60

Hip Hop Files Item# 3882 Price: $ 39.95 Members: $ 33.95

The Art Of Getting Over Item# 3591 Price: $ 29.95 Members: $ 25.45

As a contemporary artist, I feel the unique connection that the Studio Museum has with living artists. The artist-in-residence program provides a fantastic opportunity and foundation in the development of up and coming artists.

Doreen A. Malliet

Ann Jackson

The Studio Museum in Harlem represents the arena in which black artists in America and actually throughout the world are given a center stage and not just a corner, a wall, or a room. The Museum is about black art – the interpretation of our world view. As a Studio Museum in Harlem volunteer, I get to enjoy the art as well as the people behind the scenes who pull it all together.

The Studio Museum’s exhibitions, Artists-inResidence Program, school programs, lectures, acclaim recognitions, social nights enrich not only the lives of thoses living in the Harlem Community, but those living in the community at large. Serving as a volunteer at The Studio Museum in Harlem has contributed in a large measure, to my life long interest in and knowledge of art.

Ask a Museum Guard: Norris Robinson What’s been your favorite exhibition since you’ve been at the Museum?

Challenge of the Modern: African-American Artists 1925-1945 What’s the most interesting thing someone has said to you at the Museum?

A visitor once told me I have a good voice for radio. If you could organize an exhibition, what would it be?

Jacob Lawrence with William H. Johnson

Department of Cultural Affairs New York State Council on the Arts

Lee C. Bollinger

The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation $99,000 to $50,000

Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic

Madeleine & William Johnson

Preservation made available by the office Senator David A. Paterson

Nancy L. Lane

$49,999 to $25,000

Melva Bucksbaum & Raymond Learsy Elaine Dannheisser Foundation MetLife Foundation National Endowment for the Arts New York Times Company Foundation Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz/ Werblow Foundation

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1 year

renewal

gift

Family/Partner $75

Gordon & Peggy Davis Anne B. Ehrenkrantz

2004/2005 Exhibition Fund

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Mary & George Campbell, Jr. Consulate General of the Netherlands, New York

Public funds from the New York State

Peter Jay Sharp Foundation

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The Leonard & Evelyn Lauder Foundation

NAME OF MEMBERSHIP HOLDER

N A M E O F A D D I T I O N A L M E M B E R ( FA M I LY/ PA R T N E R L E V E L M E M B E R S A N D A B OV E )

Supporter $100

Jane K. Leonard Dr. Michael L. Lomax Merrill Lynch Matching Gift Program Gregory R. Miller Victoria Sanders & Associates LLC Warsh-Mott Funds Public funds from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation made available by the office of Assemblyman Keith L. Wright Anonymous

ADDRESS

CITY

S TAT E

WO R K P H O N E

HOME PHONE

ZIP

($200 tax deductible) All the preceding benefits, plus: • Special SMH gift. • Free admission for one guest when accompanied by an SMH member.

Special Membership Groups

Director’s Circle $2,500

Curator’s Circle $1,500

Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence

Contemporary Friends

TishmanSpeyer Properties

Couple $300

Wachovia Foundation $24,999 to $10,000

Benefactor $1,000 Donor $500 Associate $250 Supporter $100

Citigroup Foundation Jerome Foundation LEF Foundation Nathan Manilow Foundation Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam

Individual $200

General Membership Groups

The Center for Arts Education

Family/Partner $75 Individual $50 Student $20

Donor $500 ($425 tax deductible) All the preceding benefits, plus: • One complimentary copy of an SMH catalogue. • Four guest passes for friends and families. • Annual invitation to a behind-thescenes tour of an SMH exhibition led by a Museum Curator.

Payment Method

I have enclosed my check (make check payable to The Studio Museum in Harlem)

Corine Pettey Pfizer, Inc.

Please bill my American Express

Helena Rubinstein Foundation Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation

MasterCard

Visa

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$9,999 to $5,000

Kathryn C. Chenault

($70 tax deductible) All the preceding benefits, plus: • One complimentary ticket to an education or public program.

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NAME OF CARDHOLDER

Pippa Cohen ADDRESS

Marty & Rebecca Eisenberg Eileen Harris Norton and the Peter Norton Family Foundation Holly Phillips & Jose Tavares

CITY

WO R K P H O N E

S TAT E

ZIP

HOME PHONE

Barbara Shuster Joyce A. Wein

CARD NUMBER

E X P. DAT E

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The Studio Museum in Harlem offers the best way to explore African American culture and the latest trends in contemporary art!

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212 864.4500 x264

Directions subway: A

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to125TH Street. bus:

M-2, M-7, M-10, M-100, M-102, or BX-15. Parking is available at the Municipal Garage at 126th St between Malcolm X and Adam C. Powell, Jr. Blvds.

135 TH ST

Individual $200 ($175 tax deductible)

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Couple/Partner $300 ($250 tax deductible) (For two people at the same address)

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Matching Gifts Do you work for a company that has a matching gift program? If so, you can increase your gift to The Studio Museum by simply requesting a matching gift program form from your employer.

For gifts of stock or other contributions, please call the Development office at 212.864.4500 x223.

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125 TH ST

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Thank you for your support and welcome to The Studio Museum in Harlem!

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Contemporary Friends (ages 21–40) Contemporary Friends is a dynamic membership group of young professionals who contribute to many new and exciting initiatives at SMH. The Contemporary Friends represent the future in charitable giving at the Museum. Members host an annual spring benefit to raise funds to support SMH’s education and public programs. In return for their support, Contemporary Friends receive Individual members benefits, plus: Discount tickets to Contemporary Friends Spring Benefit Guided galleries tours An exclusive program of activities and special events. Behind-the-scenes tours of SMH exhibitions.

www.studiomuseum.org

Public Programs Info

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Student $20 (Fully tax deductible) A copy of valid student ID must be submitted with membership application of renewal. Free admission to SMH for one. 15% discount on all Museum Store purchases. Members’ only discount shopping days. Members’ discount on select education and public programs. Invitations to opening reception of exhibitions.

($1,285 tax deductible) • A visit to private collector’s home and/or tour. • Behind-the-scenes tours and talks with art connoisseurs and curators. • Annual dinner with SMH Chief Curator. • Advanced announcement of special travel programs organized by SMH.

1st Saturdays are FREE!

212.864.4500 x213 [email protected]

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Jide J. Zeitlin

Benefactor $1,000 ($835 tax deductible) All the preceding benefits, plus: Special invitations to Benefactors behind-the-scenes tour of SMH exhibitions led by the show’s curator. One complimentary catalogue from a major SMH exhibition. Two complimentary tickets to an education or public program. Free admission for two guests when accompanied by an SMH member.

Curator’s Circle $1,500

Suggested donation: $7 (adults), $3 (seniors and students). Free for members and children (12 and under).

Media Contact

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Young & Rubicam Milton & Nancy Washington

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phone: 212 864.4500 fax: 212 864.4800

Admission

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Ehrenkranz Family Foundation

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Associate $250

EMAIL ADDRESS

J.P. Morgan Chase Richard J. Schwartz Corporation

(Fully tax deductible) All the preceding benefits, plus: • Free admission for two adults at the same address and children under eighteen years of age.

Director’s Circle $2,500 ($2,135 tax deductible) Visits to private collectors’ homes and/or viewings of their collections. Behind-the-scenes tours and talks with art connoisseurs and curators. Annual dinner with SMH Executive Director. Advanced announcement of special travel programs organized by SMH. Invitations to unique events for Director’s Circle only.

General Info

The Museum is closed on Monday, Tuesday and major holidays.

LEXINGTON AVE

Daniel & Judia Black

144 West 125th Street New York, New York 10027(between Malcolm X and Adam C. Powell, Jr. Blvds.)

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Altria Group, Inc. New York City

Address

Wednesday–Friday, 12–6pm Saturday, 10am–6pm Sunday, 12–6pm

MADISON AVE

$4,999 to $1,000

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Members of the Director’s Circle and Curator’s Circle are the highest level of Individual membership and the starting point for people with increased interest in access to artists and the art world. These exclusive membership groups have been instrumental in contributing to the success of SMH and provide vital support for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs.

Museum Hours

5 TH AVE

$100,000 and above

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Visitor Information

MALCOLM X BLVD

(Gifts of $1,000 and above only).

Individual $50 (Fully tax deductible) Free admission to SMH for one. 5% discount on all Museum Store purchases. Members’ only discount shopping days. Members’ discount on select education and public programs. Invitations to opening reception of exhibitions. New! Discounts at select Harlem restaurants.

Special Membership Groups

ADAM CLAYTON POWELL JR. BLVD

The Studio Museum in Harlem thanks the following funders for their generous support during the last two quarters.

General Membership

FREDERICK DOUGLASS BLVD

Special Thanks

Yes! I want to be a member of The Studio Museum in Harlem for:

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Spring/Summer 2005 Donors

James Van Der Zee

At the Beach, 1920s courtesy Donna Mussenden Van Der Zee