For your consideration . . .
This page will be dedicated to select images / visual texts that relate to the topics, events, and themes we discuss in the classroom.
U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera Visits UW-Milwaukee
“You have a poem to offer. it is made of action.” -from “Poem by Poem”
Celebrating Black History Month: African-American Artists
Lorna Simpson, American, born 1960, Untitled (Two Necklines), 1989, 2 gelatin silver prints and 11 engraved plastic plaques, Gift of the Collectors Committee, 2005.44.1 Original Source: http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/features/slideshows/african-american-artists-collection-highlights.html#slide_17
Overview
The Gallery's collection of American art includes nearly 400 works by African-American artists. This online tour offers commentary on a selection of twenty-three paintings, works on paper, and sculpture ranging from a still-life painting by Robert Seldon Duncanson to modern and contemporary pieces by Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Alma Thomas, Sam Gilliam, Barkley Hendricks, Willie Cole, Kara Walker, and Lorna Simpson.
Romare Bearden, American, 1911 - 1988, Tomorrow I May Be Far Away, 1967,
"The title of this collage could refer to several of its details. In the top right quadrant a nearly camouflaged passing train with billowing smoke travels to an unknown location. The central figure, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, appears lost in thought. A woman stares at the viewer with a disproportionately large eye, her hand on the windowsill. In the "background" (at right), blue birds fly. These elements and others recall Romare Bearden's childhood in rural North Carolina and personify journeying, a central theme in African-American history. The train suggests the Underground Railroad—the network of abolitionist-run safe houses that secretly transported slaves—and the post-slavery migration of African-Americans, primarily northward, to seek better lives.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and raised primarily in the surrounding Mecklenburg County, Bearden eventually settled in New York City to finish college at New York University. He was a social worker there for several decades, during which time he spent nights and weekends on his art. Originally an abstract painter, Bearden began creating collages in the early 1960s using images from photo-magazines such as Life and Ebony. He came up with the idea after suggesting it to the other members of Spiral, a group of New York artists formed to create art based on African-American issues. In addition to his unflinching, faceted images of black life, Bearden is remembered for his published books on art and aesthetics and for his political energy on behalf of black culture."
Romare Bearden, American, 1911 - 1988, Tomorrow I May Be Far Away, 1967, collage of various papers with charcoal and graphite on canvas, Paul Mellon Fund, © Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. 2001.72.1
Pinterest: Art Project Ideas for Black History Month: https://www.pinterest.com/pbarrier/black-history-month-art/
Learn about influential African American collage artist Romare Bearden: http://www.beardenfounda_tion.org/index2.shtml
A Celebration Of Black History, Yesterday And Today, In 12 Jaw-Dropping Photos (link to article from The Huffington Post Black Voices Series)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/then-now-black-history-photos_n_6663004.html?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000051
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/then-now-black-history-photos_n_6663004.html?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000051
Celebrate Indigenous Peoples on Monday, October 12
In the news: 9 cities abolish Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day
https://www.rt.com/usa/318178-cities-abolish-columbus-day/
http://www.upworthy.com/what-is-indigenous-peoples-day-and-why-should-it-replace-columbus-day
National Hispanic Heritage Month: September 15-October 15
A Panorama of Latino Arts http://www.nps.gov/history/heritageinitiatives/latino/latinothemestudy/arts.htm Check out this link for book recommendations: 20 Books that Reflect the Latino Experience Click on the following link to learn about a Princess story based on the artist Frida Kahlo! "The Typical Princess Story Just got an Awesome Latina Makeover" Ester Petchar, Young Frida, Pointillism, 14” x 14”, 2008
|
Click on the link below to view 28 images, one for each day of Black History Month, by the Associated Press:
"Untitled. (History of The Black People)" Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1983.
Read more about the artist and this painting here: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/basquiat/street-to-studio/english/forum_heritage.php
a brief introduction to the structural roots of racism:
'Timeless' Themes & Symbolism -- Hamlet
Rene Magritte, "The Treachery of Images"
1928-29
Oil on Canvas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
--> in English: "This is not a pipe."
1928-29
Oil on Canvas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
--> in English: "This is not a pipe."
Powerful Images in the News Media
#iftheygunnedmedown
Erik Drooker, "Ferguson, Missouri" (New Yorker Magazine, September 1, 2014)
Background on Image:
As quoted from web source,
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/cover-story-eric-drooker-ferguson-missouri :
“The police shooting of Michael Brown resonates on a personal level with me,” Eric Drooker says about next week’s cover, which was inspired by images from the scene.* (One of the most iconic was by Scott Olson, a Getty photographer, who was detained by police there.) “An artist friend of mine was killed by a cop in lower Manhattan, back in 1991. He happened to be black, and the police officer was never indicted.” Drooker continues, “As a resident of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, I witnessed the blurring distinctions between the police and military during the Tompkins Square riots of the eighties. I’ll never forget the day the N.Y.P.D. showed up in a military tank to evict nonviolent squatter friends from buildings on Avenue B and Thirteenth Street, where I grew up. This incident triggered a vivid childhood memory of the police driving a similar armored tank on East Fourteenth street, in 1968, to quell possible ‘disturbances’ after Martin Luther King was assassinated.
“Of course, rubber bullets, tear gas, and Tasers have been used for a while—on nonviolent anti-war protests at the dawn of the Iraq invasion, not to mention Occupy—but the U.S. media has often chosen to ignore these images. Now that billions have been spent and the equipment is in place throughout the country, the intensive militarization of America’s police forces is finally being acknowledged after the horrors of Ferguson.”
Erik Drooker, "Ferguson, Missouri" (New Yorker Magazine, September 1, 2014)
Background on Image:
As quoted from web source,
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/cover-story-eric-drooker-ferguson-missouri :
“The police shooting of Michael Brown resonates on a personal level with me,” Eric Drooker says about next week’s cover, which was inspired by images from the scene.* (One of the most iconic was by Scott Olson, a Getty photographer, who was detained by police there.) “An artist friend of mine was killed by a cop in lower Manhattan, back in 1991. He happened to be black, and the police officer was never indicted.” Drooker continues, “As a resident of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, I witnessed the blurring distinctions between the police and military during the Tompkins Square riots of the eighties. I’ll never forget the day the N.Y.P.D. showed up in a military tank to evict nonviolent squatter friends from buildings on Avenue B and Thirteenth Street, where I grew up. This incident triggered a vivid childhood memory of the police driving a similar armored tank on East Fourteenth street, in 1968, to quell possible ‘disturbances’ after Martin Luther King was assassinated.
“Of course, rubber bullets, tear gas, and Tasers have been used for a while—on nonviolent anti-war protests at the dawn of the Iraq invasion, not to mention Occupy—but the U.S. media has often chosen to ignore these images. Now that billions have been spent and the equipment is in place throughout the country, the intensive militarization of America’s police forces is finally being acknowledged after the horrors of Ferguson.”