Dedication of “Interlaced” – Sculpture Represents the Spirit of Stillwater
Dedication of “Interlaced” – Sculpture Represents the Spirit of Stillwater
Murrow Indian Children’s Home Brick Fundraiser builds hope for the future
MUSKOGEE, Okla.- The Murrow Indian Children’s Home is hosting a brick fundraiser for their non-profit organization. The organization serves as an inter-tribal children’s home. The fundraiser’s initial goal is to sell at least 1,000 bricks.
Executive Director of the Murrow Indian Children’s Home Betty Martin (Cherokee) started the brick fundraiser project. It began when she decided to place bricks around the eagle sculpture on the mound outside the home. The sculpture was made by Native artist Parker Boyiddle (Kiowa/Wichita/Delaware/Chickasaw).
When it came time to add on to the statue with a brick pathway, the home needed to turn to someone who could create a design that would complement it. Kenneth Johnson (Mvskoke/Seminole) is a well known artist who came up with the layout and design with these bricks. Johnson has designed many Indigenous sculptures, jewelry, as well as arts and crafts that have been used during many events.
According to Martin, Johnson will be at the Murrow Indian Children’s Home in April to start the project. She is hoping he will be able to attend the dedication ceremony. Purchasing a brick is not only a great way to support the home, it is also a way to become embedded in the it’s legacy.
“Not only is it a fundraiser but those people will become part of history because down the road people will come and look at those. There will be all these names of people who helped support Murrow Indian Children’s Home,” Martin said.
When choosing where to place the bricks, Martin thought it would be a great idea to put them around the eagle sculpture in order to enhance it.
Bricks will be available for purchase until the end of December. Payments can be made online or by mail. For those that live locally near the home, donors are welcome to drop off donations in person.
Daily Life
“Our mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for American Indian children and provide a home placement. We provide them cultural experiences and spirituality,” Martin said.
The home takes in any Native child within the state of Oklahoma who are in tribal custody. Family placement is allowed if both parents are deceased. Placement within families depends on if a family member is available to take in the child, and if they can provide them with a safe home environment. According to Martin, the home currently houses 15 children, but they can serve a capacity of up to 30 children.
The home has two programs. One is for younger children who are in tribal custody, the other is called a transition program. This is for children who are about to age out of foster care.
Each child at the home attends a public school nearby. While the home is similar to a boarding school, Martin clarified its purpose is to provide a home for foster children.
The transition program is for children who are 18 years old, or who are about to turn 18 years old. The program helps direct them to lead an independent life. The home’s gift shop helps fund the transition program.
The transition program helps students find employment, become responsible in handling documents, budgeting, finding resources and making doctor appointments.
“To me budgeting is always a big deal because if you can’t budget, you can’t survive. Budgeting is critical to learning to live independently,” Martin said.
When the transition program first began it provided six bedrooms within each of its cottages. “In my opinion I believe that when the kids are transitioning, they should have their own space, they all need their own bedroom,” Martin said.
Overall Martin wants to see each child succeed, have fun and be able to live life independently.
Activities
While children stay at the home they take part in different activities in order to stay spiritually and physically connected to their culture. Some have been to a ceremonial ground, some have been to a powwow. The home tries to incorporate as much culture as they can into the lives of their tenants.
Before the Covid-19 Pandemic the home provided cultural activities taught by members of the community. One of those activities included crafting stickball sticks. Now post Covid, the home does not see as many people coming in to teach these activities.
One of the classes still provided includes a ribbon skirt class taught by a women’s group called Red Spirit. They currently have three girls involved, however Martin hopes to see them come back so that every girl at the home can learn how to make their own ribbon skirt.
According to Martin each child has different talents, whether it is beading, art, basket weaving, sports or playing in a band. “I always tell them you’re Native, every Native person has talent somewhere,” Martin said.
Martin recognizes the unique struggles within younger and older children. Regardless, she tries her best to make them comfortable and provide a place that feels like home.
“There are so many Native American children that are homeless, especially the ones that have been in custody and then they end up homeless. Well I just don’t want that to see that happen,” Martin said. “Also there’s a very high incarceration rate of Natives that has got to stop, we have to break that cycle.”
Making the Transition
After the children grow up and follow their own path, Martin tries to stay in touch. One former child from the home includes a young man who now works on a cruise ship, another, a young woman. They both call Martin to keep her up to date on their current whereabouts.
For children past and present, Martin wants them to feel that they are meant to be here, and are worthy to do anything they set their mind to.
“I know a lot of the kids, they just think well I could never be a nurse or I couldn’t be a doctor or things like that. But they can, they just got a slow start that’s all,” Martin said.
For more information about the Brick Fundraiser or about the organization, the Murrow Indian Children’s Home can be contacted at 918-682-2586. They also have a Facebook page, Murrow Indian Children’s Home (The Official Home Page).
Why Small Businesses Matter: Treja Nicole Photography
Why Small Businesses Matter
Shop small, do big things for your community
Why Small Businesses Matter puts a spotlight on the local merchants who donate their time, talent, goods, and services for the betterment of our community. The shop local movement spreads virally as local businesses who are “tagged” have the opportunity to share their story!
You’re IT Treja Nicole Photography!
Four questions with Tréja London, founder of Treja Nicole Photography.
Why did you start your business?
I started my business out of passion and enjoyment of photographing people. I knew I wanted to make a career out of it ever since I was gifted a camera for my 16th birthday. Once I graduated college and worked for a large photography company it made me realize this was something I wanted to pursue as a business. It has now been 5 years of business and 11 years of photographing.
What is your best-selling product/service?
As of right now, brand photo sessions are the most popular. I enjoy helping other small businesses make an impact with professional images.
How many local businesses do you use to support your business (products and services) and can you name them?
The local business I use is Union Savings Bank for business banking. Molten Java I enjoy their hot teas while I edit photos.
Have you reimagined your small business?
For the past 8 years, I would travel with backdrops, lighting, etc to set up in Client’s homes. I recently partnered with Visage Beauty & Creative Studio in Danbury, CT, and also have opened a photo studio space in Meriden, CT for people to have their photos taken as well as offer workshops.
Visit Treja Nicole Photography online here, and make sure to check out their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter pages as well!
HamletHub thanks Fairfield County Bank for making our Why Small Businesses Matter series possible!
The B-52s x Save The Chimps, the Best of Miami Art Week and Beyond
Dozens of fairs. Hundreds of galleries. Thousands of artists. Tens of thousands of artworks. Hundreds of thousands of spectators. Too many shows and parties and lunches and brunches and diners and toasts and hosts and installations and “activations” to count. Miami Art Week, held the first full week of December each year, is the Super Bowl of contemporary art in America.
How can any one thing possibly stand out amidst all that commotion?
Most don’t, a rare few do.
One of those for 2023 is an interspecies art project pairing the legendary pop music group The B-52s with artsy chimpanzees from “Save the Chimps,” a rescue sanctuary located in Ft. Pierce, FL. The collaboration can be seen at this year’s Spectrum Miami art fair, taking place December 6 through 10 at the Mana Wynwood Convention Center.
The group has collaborated over the last six months with 16 creative apes from one of the largest chimpanzee sanctuaries in the world, developing an art collection entitled “Wild Planet,” named after the band’s second album. Comprised of 52 acrylic on canvas paintings in various sizes, the artworks, ranging in price between $1,000 and $5,000, will be available for purchase at the fair. Interested parties should act fast, nearly half the collection has already been scooped up by fans prior to the exhibit’s opening.
The B-52s’ interest in animal advocacy goes back years. The group has a decades long association with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and their first hit, 1979’s “Rock Lobster,” is an animal rights anthem.
In a conversation with Forbes.com, The B-52s lead singer and co-founder Kate Pierson explained how she was introduced to “Save the Chimps” by the organization’s events director and friend Dan Mathews. “Save the Chimps” supplies its animals with art making materials as an engagement tool. Not all of them are interested any more than all humans are interested in art making, but for those individuals who are, their pursuit is keen.
Kate Pierson from The B-52s with a canvas she’s readying to send to Save the Chimps for completion … [+]
Save the Chimps
Remove images of uncontrollable primates swinging in cages throwing paint around and rolling in it. Man’s closest genetic relative in the animal world gives thought and consideration to its compositions. Pierson visited the sanctuary in summer of 2022, amazed by the intensity and artistic intention of the chimps painting there.
Pierson was wowed by the brush handling, their focus, and the obvious joy and interest they take in artmaking. The idea for a collab was hatched.
Band members paint the base canvases in various background colors recalling their most popular album covers. They also select the color combinations for the chimps to finish each artwork in their own style during their leisure time. Each piece in the collection has been named after a B-52s song or lyric and is signed by the band.
A limited-edition poster from the collection will also be available to purchase for $50 during the fair. All poster and artwork sales proceeds go to “Save the Chimps” in support of its life-long care for chimpanzees rescued from research laboratories, the pet trade and the entertainment industry.
Beyond Art Week
After the crowds have left Art Week, Miami remains one of the top destinations in the world for contemporary art. Highlighting this winter’s presentations is “Gary Simmons: Public Enemy,” opening at the Perez Art Museum December 5 to coincide with Art Week and running through April 28, 2024. “Public Enemy” marks the first comprehensive career survey for Gary Simmons (b. 1964, New York) and features nearly 70 sculptures, paintings, photographs, works on paper, and installations, as well large-scale wall drawings created on-site.
This is not pink flamingo, rum drink, party artwork. Miami may be known for good times, but Simmons philosophy is that the job of an artist is to take viewers out of their comfort zone.
“Art isn’t always a pretty, nice thing,” he says. “Sometimes it needs to punch you in the face.”
Put your mouthpiece in because Simmons’ work does just that.
Gary Simmons, Step into the Arena (The Essentialist Trap), 1994. Wood, metal, canvas, Ultrasuede, … [+]
Whitney Museum of American Art, 2007
Since the late 1980s, Simmons has played a key role in situating questions of race, class, and identity at the center of contemporary art discourse. Notable for his early application of appropriated pop-cultural imagery, Simmons’ work aims to analyze and expose histories of racism in visual culture. Over the course of his career, he has revealed traces of these histories in sports, cinema, literature, music, architecture, and urbanism, while drawing heavily on genres such as hip hop, horror, and science fiction.
“Public Enemy” references early hip hop and the iconic group of the same name, and also the target Black men carry on them in America as an imagined “public enemy” in the minds of many.
Speaking of hip hop, the next must-see on a Miami arts crawl is Art of Hip Hop, an exhibition opening in Wynwood (299 NW 25th St.) December 5 spotlighting the visual unsung heroes of Hip Hop culture including photographers, album cover artists, graffiti visionaries, and logo designers.
The inaugural exhibition, From the Bronx to the Beach, will showcase rare vintage ephemera ranging from hip hop’s first New York City DJ, Kool Herc, to Miami’s own pioneer Uncle Luke. On display are the works of famed hip hop photographers alongside hip hop album covers. The exhibition also shines a special spotlight on Miami’s own hip hop history, capturing it through the lenses of local historian and photographer Derick G and photographer Esdras T. Thelusma.
More local history comes alive at the Historic Hampton House Museum of Culture & Art, located within a former Green Book hotel. The Green Book was a travel guide for African Americans during Jim Crow with information on what restaurants, hotels and attractions were safe for Black travelers.
The museum debuts “Gimme Shelter,” its first art exhibition, on December 5. Featuring over 25 artists including superstars Derrick Adams, Nick Cave, Charles Gaines, Howardena Pindell and Carrie Mae Weems, the show highlights how shelter and safety are integral to cultural production and collective creation.
MIAMI, FL – MAY 12: The restored Historic Hampton House is seen where in the 1960s, the Hampton … [+]
Getty Images
Also opening just in time for Art Week, an all-new Museum of Sex housed in a 32,000-square-foot converted warehouse in the Allapattah district. The Museum of Sex New York flagship debuted in 2002, and its first satellite location promises to bring the same commitment to preserving, presenting, and celebrating the cultural significance of human sexuality to Miami.
The Museum of Sex in Miami opens with the first U.S. solo museum exhibition for pioneering Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama, a retrospective look at the design and marketing of sexual health products from the 1920s to today, and an enhanced edition of the museum’s blockbuster installation “Super Funland: Journey into the Erotic Carnival.”
Lastly, enjoy Miami’s perfect winter temps by perusing art along The Underline, another idea imported from New York.
Meg Daly founded The Underline in 2013 after a bike accident with the purpose of transforming the underutilized land below Miami’s Metrorail into a 10-mile linear park, urban trail, and public art destination recalling New York’s High Line. The Underline has become the fastest moving project of its size in the country, raising over $140 million in support, and one of the most visited and appreciated sites in Miami as a real effort in making the city more resilient and connected.
Enjoy The Underline’s developing art trail beginning at the Brickell Metrorail Station North Entrance (SW 1st Avenue & SW 10th Street, exit north).
Brickell, FL, USA – September 26, 2021: Photo of the new Underline Brickell Miami Downtown
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Charles City Arts Center’s Karl Haglund: Holiday Art Market; Spoken Word; December Art Classes & More
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS BROUGHT TO YOU BY FLOYD COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER
Charles City Arts Center Assistant Director Karl Haglund joined the morning show for Community Conversations where he spoke about the upcoming Holiday Art Market, along with December after school art classes and more.
For more details on Arts Center events and activities, go to CharlesCityArts.org.
Watch: Richard Poulin on His Extensive Career + the Work of Rudolph de Harak
Design Milk is happy to share the second lecture of the 2023/2024 academic year of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies Design Conversations Lecture Series featuring the multi-hyphenate, Richard Poulin. The Southern California designer, artist, educator, and author discusses his extensive career which has been divided between professional practice and academia. Having spent over 30+ as Design Director and Managing Partner at the multidisciplinary practice Poulin + Morris, he’s well-versed in all aspects of design, including graphic, environmental, interior, and exhibition. In the talk, Poulin discusses his “organic” and “fluid” generalist approach to design, and how he’s constantly evolving his approach in order to accommodate the ever-changing world.
His love of books and sharing design with the world led him to release, Rudolph de Harak Graphic Designer: Rational Simplicity, a tribute to one of the most influential graphic designers of the mid-twentieth century. Poulin goes on to talk about de Harak’s life and work, and the importance of history and why every designer should know about it in order to be successful.
Richard Poulin speaking at The Vignelli Center for Design Studies
Watch the full talk below to hear more about Poulin’s career, the life and work of Rudolph de Harak, and more!
WATCH:
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Richard Poulin and Massimo Vignelli
Metropolitan Museum of Art shopping bags designed by Rudolph de Harak and his team
127 John Street, New York: Project by Rudolph de Harak and Emery Roth & Sons, 1968
To learn more about The Vignelli Center for Design Studies at RIT, they have launched digital access to the archives through Google Arts & Culture, joining over 2000 cultural institutions from around the world. The initial launch includes nearly 900 high resolution images of artifacts from the archives so that now anyone with access to the Internet and Google Arts & Culture can search the Vignelli archives or browse it by color or chronological order.
This lecture is presented with the support of RIT’s MAGIC Center.
This lecture series is made possible in part by the generosity of RIT Alumnus, Chris Bailey, and Bailey Brand Consulting.
The Ten Best Photography Books of 2023
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This year’s list includes The Horses, Still Life, Believable: Traveling with My Ancestors, and more.
Illustration by Emily Lankiewicz
The world of photography has left an indelible mark on this year through a stunning array of captivating books. These visual narratives have transported us across cultures, captured the essence of moments and unveiled the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Among the standout releases of the year, Believable: Traveling With My Ancestors by Lola Flash emerged as a poignant exploration of our shared humanity that, at the same time, embraces our rich differences. The juxtaposition of vibrant colors and intimate portraits within its pages is a testament to the power of visual storytelling. Eugene Richards’ In This Brief Life reminisces 50 years of social documentary photography, skillfully allowing the viewer to step back in time. From fleeting glances to transient landscapes, the book beautifully underscores the temporal nature of existence. And Keith Carter’s monochromatic masterpiece Ghostlight uses stark contrasts to convey profound emotional depth. The interplay of light and shadow within its frames serves as a silent poetry, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the quiet narratives embedded in each photograph.
As we close this chapter, these photo books are representative of the artistry and diversity present in the field of photography today. They provide a visual odyssey through the collective stories of our global community, and as we eagerly anticipate the work of this coming year, these books leave an enduring legacy in the ever-evolving tapestry of visual arts.
Believable: Traveling With My Ancestors by Lola Flash
Lola Flash
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Lola Flash
Lola Flash
Lola Flash
Lola Flash
Lola Flash
New York City-based photographer and LGBTQIA+ activist Lola Flash’s long-overdue first book is a striking collection of portraiture embracing individuals of all ages, genders, orientations and colors. Flash brings out the beauty within their subjects and ensures that they are truly seen. “Queerness, in Flash’s multiverse, is bathed in color, imbued with love, an embrace: infinitely generous and open,” writes Renée Mussai, artistic director and chief curator of Germany’s Walther Collection, in the book’s introduction.
Believable: Traveling With My Ancestors spans four decades of Flash’s work. “It’s pretty much my whole life stuck in there,” they said during a talk at New York City’s School of Visual Arts earlier this year. It begins with Flash’s potently electric “Cross Color” series, documenting queer Black life as an ACT UP member during the AIDS crisis. Visually, Flash played with viewers’ expectations, printing their images on negative paper, creating a saturated world where colors were reversed (blue is printed as red, for example). That’s followed by Flash’s “LEGENDS” series: portraits of LGBTQ+ individuals who lived their true selves, regardless of societal norms or homophobia, paving the way for others to do so later. And their series “Salt” features highly accomplished women over the age of 70 who still have an impact on society—all heroes in the photographer’s eyes. Believable reaches right up to Flash’s ongoing Afrofuturist self-portraiture series, “Syzygy, the Vision,” an exploration of the past, current and future oppression of people of color through the artist’s orange-jumpsuit-clad avatar.
Looking back over the arc of a career’s work on these pages, Flash observes “a wonderful cohesion of powerful themes.” They tell Smithsonian, “As a queer person who grew up with a huge lack of LGBTQ+ visual resources, I am grateful to be part of the necessary change toward fairness and inclusion.” —Jeff Campagna
In This Brief Life by Eugene Richards
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© Eugene Richards
© Eugene Richards
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© Eugene Richards
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© Eugene Richards
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© Eugene Richards
The acclaimed Eugene Richards dove into his archive of 50 years of social documentary photography to showcase mostly unseen work in his latest book, In This Brief Life. Before the idea for the book was born, on his son Sam’s suggestion, Richards posted the photographs to his Instagram, something he had previously avoided. “The Instagram experience became a kind of revelation, as viewers sought to know more about the people in the pictures while also expressing wonder at the diversity of my subjects and their experiences,” Richards tells Smithsonian. The experiences are vast, from intimate moments in hospital rooms showing births, injuries and recoveries to scenes in the wetlands of northern Nigeria and the harsh farming landscape of South Dakota’s Gann Valley. “What prompted me, in most cases, to choose the photographs in this book was an emotional response,” says Richards. —Donny Bajohr
Remember Me by Preston Gannaway
San Francisco-based photographer Preston Gannaway’s book Remember Me is a project 17 years in the making. At its heart, this beautiful, meditative work focuses on themes of love, loss, memory and the inevitable passage of time. In 2006, Gannaway, then a photojournalist at the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire, began working on a story about the St. Pierre family, whose mother, Carolynne, was dying of liver cancer. Gannaway grew close to the St. Pierres, and her images led to five stories in the newspaper and a 2008 Pulitzer Prize. A few years later, she returned to the family to continue photographing the youngest son, EJ, who had been only 4 when his mother died.
“There was this looming question: Would EJ remember Carolynne?” Preston tells Smithsonian. “How would she echo throughout his life after she was gone?” Remember Me includes photographs from Gannaway’s time with the family, documenting EJ’s gradual maturation and preserving important memories along the way. “Preston’s always been there, so I don’t really remember a time when she wasn’t there,” EJ, now a senior at the University of New Hampshire, told the Concord Monitor this year. “She’s always been pretty much just close as family.” —J.C.
Wires Crossed by Ed Templeton
© 2023 Ed Templeton
© 2023 Ed Templeton
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© 2023 Ed Templeton
© 2023 Ed Templeton
Artist, photographer and former professional skateboarder Ed Templeton’s Wires Crossed is an insider’s look at the subculture of skateboarding, blending personal memoir with a documentation of the DIY, punk-influenced sport from the 1990s to the early 2000s. While some photographs capture skateboarders executing seemingly impossible tricks, Templeton’s work shines best in the quiet moments behind the scenes, like his shot of someone strumming a guitar in a hotel room and his collages of polaroid portraits of characters he met traversing the United States on skateboarding tours. “I really wanted to make a photography book for photography fans. I knew the skate world would embrace it. But I needed to not alienate the art world by being too ‘insider,’” says Templeton in a recent Document Journal interview. —D.B.
Shark: Portraits by Mike Coots
The waves were particularly good off the coast of Kauai that fall morning in 1997, and 18-year-old surfer Mike Coots never saw it coming. A tiger shark bit his lower right leg, clamping down, shaking him violently, only letting go after he punched it in the head. Coots managed to get back to shore, but his leg was gone. “I felt no pain whatsoever,” Coots said in a recent interview with Surfer. “It happened very fast, the attack itself must’ve been less than ten seconds.”
Despite challenging circumstances, Coots didn’t give up the activity he loved, learning how to surf using a custom prosthetic leg. Surprisingly, the shark attack survivor became an advocate for the conservation of sharks, bringing a unique credibility to conversations. Coots helped pass Hawaii’s 2010 ban on the possession and sale of shark fins, even speaking at the United Nations and the U.S. Capitol. During his recovery, Coots discovered photography, a hobby that has since become his profession. His photographs capture the sea and human interactions with it.
Coots’ new photo book, Shark: Portraits, shows off his striking images of sharks—tiger sharks, great whites, lemons, oceanic white tips—in Hawaii, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Maldives and beyond. He isn’t afraid to get up close and personal with what he considers the “greatest muse on earth,” free diving and scuba diving, often with no cage. “The first thing you notice while diving with sharks is how beautiful they are, with some even having individual personalities,” Coots tells Smithsonian. “The goal of my shark photography is to show sharks in a beautiful, authentic light.” —J.C.
Painting Photographs by Alice Wong
Alice Wong
Alice Wong
Alice Wong
Alice Wong
Artist Alice Wong mines her archive of found images and puts paint to picture in her first monograph, aptly titled Painting Photographs. Taking a variety of vintage photographs of strangers from the past, such as an actress’ headshots, a couple happily cheesing for the camera at a cocktail bar, postcards of horsemen and cutouts from old magazines, Wong uses acrylic markers to add bold color and liveliness. Not all the overpaintings are of people; some feature dogs, landscapes and close-ups of flowers. All of the ubiquitous images of the American experience are given new life with the colorful palette of Wong’s whimsy. In the book, Bruno Decharme, pioneering French collector of Art Brut, says she “invites us on an inner voyage” and “creates a different kind of narrative, a truth that is her own.” —D.B.
Sneaker Freaker: World’s Greatest Sneaker Collectors
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© Canicio Fotografia
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© Wanf Chen Wei
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© Tommy Rebel
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© Julia Schoierer
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© Darren Hirose
Sneaker Freaker: World’s Greatest Sneaker Collectors is a feast for your eyes. Or, perhaps more accurately, your feet?
Vintage footwear, skate shoes, basketball high-tops, and more are on gorgeous display in the seven-pound, 752-page anthology of sneakers. It even has a glossary for the uninitiated, with all the terms you’ll need to become a sneakerhead—or, a “footwear obsessive with a vast knowledge of history and likely to spend of their money on fresh sneakers.” For the already initiated, it’s still worth reading, as it covers essentials for the shoe collector, like the best ways to photograph, clean, repair and store your kicks (keep those original boxes, folks!) and to sniff out fakes.
Sneaker collecting is about quality, not quantity, Simon “Woody” Wood, the editor in chief of Sneaker Freaker magazine, tries to argue in the book’s introduction: “This is not just about putting big numbers on the boards, though accumulating hundreds—and sometimes thousands—of pairs is the natural progression.”
World’s Greatest Sneaker Collectors introduces readers to an interesting cast of characters—from Elliot Tebele, with his unbelievable compilation of game-worn Air Jordans, to Lee Deville and his obsessive quest to collect every Asics collaboration ever made. German sneakerhead Julia Schoierer, known for her love of Adidas high-tops, has nearly maxed out her apartment’s shoe capacity thanks to her passion for the hobby. “When I go to bed, I’m not praying for better health—I’m praying that I won’t be buried underneath a collapsing shoe rack next to my bed,” she says in the book. —J.C.
Ghostlight by Keith Carter
“I don’t mean to sound melodramatic, but I’m pretty sure there are ghosts here,” says American photographer Keith Carter about Southern wetlands, in his latest book Ghostlight. I would have to agree after looking at the more than 100 black and white photographs in the book. Traversing swamps, marshes, bogs, fens, bayous and baygalls across Georgia, Louisiana and his home of East Texas, Carter creates haunting photographs that invoke the imagination. The collection includes mysterious portraits of locals, but it’s the animals and landscapes captured in macabre detail that make the book. Photographs of alligators popping just above the surface, endless moss hanging in the water, and deceased woodpeckers put on display only hint at the secrets of this harsh environment. —D.B.
The Horses by Gareth McConnell
The Horses is a beautiful, candy-colored acid trip of a book. Irish photographer Gareth McConnell began this equine series when he was sent on assignment for the New York Times “Voyages” issue to Skeidvellir, a town about 50 miles east of Reykjavik, to depict the diminutive Icelandic horses. Visually, he wanted to make it abundantly clear the series wasn’t documentary work, opting instead for a more psychedelic approach. McConnell photographed his pony-sized, poofy-maned subjects both indoors and outdoors using flashlights, colored gels and, at times, an analogue film camera, creating highly saturated, dreamlike imagery. The title of McConnell’s book is derived from an Edwin Muir poem, “The Horses,” and the only line of text in the book, the highly appropriate, “Late in the evening the strange horses came,” is a quote from that poem.
“I didn’t want to impose any didactic reading, there is no text other than one line … so it can be: ‘Wow, it’s a book of unicorns and psychedelic My Little Ponies,’” McConnell tells Smithsonian. “Or it can be a darker reading—horse as a metaphor for man’s will imposed on others, for the broken bond with nature and with him/herself with the great creating force.” —J.C.
Still Life by Doan Ly
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Still Life is a photographic celebration of the work of New York City-based florist, artist and photographer Doan Ly. Her blend of skills is on full display in floral arrangements masterfully photographed in playful and surprising ways.
The book begins with a quote from the artist: “I want to be caught off guard. I want to see anew. I want to experience a quiet moment that is larger than life. I want to learn something, but mostly, I want to share beauty and bring joy.” As you flip through Still Life, the moments of beauty and joy are instant; flowers posed for portraits with a human-like quality delight. While much of her work suggests inspiration from Old Masters’ still life paintings, Ly’s work feels current with her masterful usage of color and lighting. Ly also finds muses in the people around her. For instance, her driver for a photo shoot once gleefully joined in the fun, posing intensely with a flower arrangement draping down her back as if it had been a part of her for her entire life. —D.B.
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The Ad Council’s 69th Annual Public Service Award Dinner Celebrates Extraordinary Progress of Social Impact Efforts and Inspires the Media and Marketing Industries to Come Together for Tomorrow
Honoring JPMorgan Chase’s Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon and hosted by actress and comedian Cecily Strong, the event raised a record-breaking $8.2 million for the nonprofit’s national social impact campaigns
NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On Thursday, November 30, the Ad Council, America’s leading organization harnessing the power of communications for social change, held its Annual Public Service Award Dinner. Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, was honored for his exceptional contributions to corporate citizenship, including his support for numerous Ad Council campaigns. Grammy Award-winning artist Brittany Howard was recognized by the organization as a “Champion of Good” and performed “You’ll Never Walk Alone” at the event hosted by actress, comedian and “Saturday Night Live” alum Cecily Strong. The Dinner also featured live performances from the Brooklyn United Evolution Drumline and the LA CAN Freedom Singers from “America’s Got Talent.” The Annual Dinner was held at the Glasshouse in New York City and raised a record-breaking $8.2 million to support the Ad Council and its national social impact campaigns.
Attended by prominent executives from the media, marketing, advertising and technology industries, the Annual Public Service Award Dinner recognizes the organizations and individuals who support the Ad Council and its social impact efforts. This year’s dinner theme was “Together for Tomorrow” and was co-chaired by Carla Hassan, Ad Council Board Member and CMO of JPMorgan Chase, and Diego Scotti, Ad Council Chair and General Manager, PayPal Consumer Group and Global Marketing. JPMorgan Chase and Verizon were Diamond sponsors for the event. Platinum sponsors included Adobe, Amazon Ads, Disney, Google, IPG, Meta, TikTok and WPP. Gold sponsors included Comcast Advertising, NBCUniversal, Netflix and Publicis Media. Silver sponsors included Art & Science, Deloitte, Droga5, Fox, GroupM, Huntsman Mental Health Institute, iHeartMedia, Johnson & Johnson, MediaLink, Northwell Health and Salesforce. In addition, Art & Science, iHeartMedia and NBCUniversal served as the evening’s Entertainment Sponsors and Adobe as the Creative Content Sponsor. TikTok sponsored the “For You” Carpet, Google sponsored the Cocktail Reception and Meta sponsored the After-Party. Spirits were donated by Diageo.
“The Annual Dinner is an amazing opportunity to not only celebrate the impactful campaigns that have ignited positive change across the nation, but also honor the incredible individuals behind them,” said Lisa Sherman, President and CEO of the Ad Council. “As we come together to recognize all that we have accomplished, I look forward to the future, where we will continue driving meaningful progress with the compassion and purpose that define our work.”
Jamie Dimon was presented with this year’s Public Service Award for his role running a healthy and vibrant company while helping to create a more inclusive economy for their company’s employees and the customers and communities they serve. JPMorgan Chase has been a trusted and active partner of the Ad Council since 1960, helping to drive significant impact on key issues such as skills development, COVID-19 vaccine awareness, saving for retirement and more. Additionally, under Dimon’s leadership, JPMorgan Chase has used its business expertise and resources, philanthropy and the skills of its more than 300,000 employees to make investments and develop business solutions that help to create a stronger and more inclusive economy. This includes a historic investment in Detroit’s comeback from bankruptcy that has become a model for how business, community and government leaders work together to solve challenges; helping people with criminal backgrounds through hiring and public policy; a significant business investment to advance racial equity; and employee and community programs that underscore why the future of work is about skills, not just college degrees.
The event also highlighted partners who not only have been impacted by the issues the Ad Council addresses, but who are also on the ground, working alongside the Ad Council to create an impact on those issues. These individuals included:
- Christian Heyne (Gun Violence Survivor and Chief Programs & Policy Officer at Brady)
Heyne is a gun violence survivor and the Chief Officer of Policy and Programs at Brady, a longtime valued partner nonprofit of the Ad Council’s gun violence prevention work. He is instrumental in furthering Brady’s comprehensive approach to preventing gun violence by changing laws, reforming the gun industry and reshaping how Americans think about responsible gun ownership. He has successfully developed, lobbied and helped implement a variety of local, state and federal policies proven to prevent gun violence. He leads Brady’s Combating Crime Guns initiative, which holds the gun industry responsible for reckless behavior that contributes to gun violence. And in partnership with the Ad Council, he oversees Brady’s End Family Fire campaigns, which are work to change attitudes and behavior around safe storage. Heyne ensures that survivors’ voices are genuinely reflected in each stage of Brady’s work and that survivors are leaders at the forefront of the broader movement.
- Tonja Myles (Executive Director, Set Free Indeed Ministry and Certified Peer Counselor)
Myles has championed mental health rehabilitation throughout her career. She promotes mental health awareness by sharing her experiences recovering from addiction, surviving sexual abuse and suicide attempts, and being diagnosed with PTSD. Myles has testified on Capitol Hill numerous times and was recognized by President Bush during his 2003 State of the Union for her expertise in faith-based recovery. She serves on multiple boards in Baton Rouge and Louisiana, is a founding board member of The Bridge Center of Hope and advises on the new adult mental health campaign from the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council, “Love, Your Mind.”
Videos of Christian Hayne and Tonja Myles were shown at the event, produced by emotion studios and directed by Bryan Rawles, spotlighting the impact they are making within their communities and connection to the Ad Council’s purpose-driven work. This partnership was secured thanks to Adobe.
Cecily Strong is an actress and author best known for her work as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” from 2012-22. For “SNL,” Strong received back-to-back Emmy Award nominations in 2020-21 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Critics Choice Award nomination. She earned rave reviews for her notable Judge Jeanine Pirro, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Melania Trump impressions. Strong co-hosted “Weekend Update” alongside both Seth Meyers and Colin Jost. Strong recently starred in the second season of Apple TV+’s hit musical series, “Schmigadoon!,” on which she also serves as a producer. Her memoir, This Will All Be Over Soon, was released in 2021. That same year she made her New York stage debut at The Shed in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and returned to star in the production at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 2022. She also co-stars in the upcoming animated feature “Garfield.” Strong has appeared in the films The Female Brain and Paul Feig’s reboot of Ghostbusters, as well as Melissa McCarthy’s The Boss, The Bronze and The Meddler. Additionally, Strong emceed the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Strong was raised in Oak Park, IL and has a B.F.A. in theater from the California Institute of the Arts.
Galvanizing, cathartic, and wildly soul-expanding, Brittany Howard is one of the most essential artists of our time. With five Grammy Award wins and sixteen nominations, Brittany catapulted from her start with Alabama Shakes to a solo career that sees her as a radically idealistic commentator on the state of the human condition. There is a reason that when major artists, awards shows, films and brands look to create a bold cultural moment, they turn to this trailblazing and generous collaborator. Her next record, entitled “What Now” will be released February 2, 2024.
The Brooklyn United Music and Arts Program (BU) is a community-based organization that serves New York City youth. As an art form, marching band combines the elements of musicianship and pageantry and allows each student to participate in an all-encompassing and life changing activities. Brooklyn United is focused on the development of youth through Academic Support, Character Development, Skills Building and Performance Opportunities. It is through these pillars that we strive to build strong, well rounded, healthy, confident and capable young people.
Born in the heart of Skid Row in Los Angeles, the LA CAN Freedom Singers have united to deliver a powerful message that “art has no address” and can be a driving force for generating ideas and solutions to combat homelessness. The LA CAN Freedom Singers have taken their message of hope and endless potential to audiences across the country, captivating them with spirited performances and heartfelt discussions. Their magic was recently on full display on their journey to the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent. Guided by the transformative vision of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, the LA CAN Freedom Singers provide a prominent platform that dispels and reshapes the negative narratives that often overshadow communities like Skid Row.
The Ad Council’s Public Service Award Dinner is the organization’s largest fundraising event, with the last Annual Dinner in 2022 raising more than $7.1 million to support the Ad Council’s national social impact programs. Having just completed its 69th year, this event has been honoring corporate leaders for their contributions to public service since 1953. To learn more about the Ad Council, visit adcouncil.org.
The Ad Council
The Ad Council convenes creative storytellers to educate, unite and uplift audiences by opening hearts, inspiring action and accelerating change around the most pressing issues in America. Since the non-profit’s founding, the organization and its partners in advertising, media, marketing and tech have been behind some of the country’s most iconic social impact campaigns – Smokey Bear, A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste, Love Has No Labels, Tear the Paper Ceiling and many more. With a current focus on mental health, gun safety, the opioid epidemic, skill-based hiring and other critical issues, the Ad Council’s national campaigns encompass advertising and media content, ground game and community efforts, trusted messenger and influencer engagement, and employer programs, among other innovative strategies to move the needle on the most important issues of the day.
To learn more or get involved, visit AdCouncil.org, join the Ad Council’s communities on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X, and view campaign creative on YouTube.
SOURCE The Ad Council
The Art Angle Round Up: A Buyer’s Market, Italy’s J.R.R. Tolkien Tiff, and the Blackest Black
Well, we made it to the end of the year (almost!), and we are back at the Art Angle with our monthly Round Up, where we bring together some of our esteemed reporters to talk about the big stories that are swirling in the air.
Joining host Ben Davis this week to chat are senior editor Kate Brown and senior market reporter Eileen Kinsella.
As always, there is a lot to talk about this month. First up, we’ll discuss the the state of the art market as evidenced by the recent art auctions in New York, ahead of the final crash of art fairs of the year taking place in Miami. We’ll also talk about the state of politics and culture in Italy, which interestingly enough, now involves a conversation about J.R.R. Tolkien, the beloved author of Lord of the Rings. Finally, we discuss artist Anish Kapoor and his Vantablack, ultra-black artworks, which are on view now at Lisson Gallery in New York.
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GN Group teams with creatives for a digital art campaign aimed at ‘demystifying’ hearing loss
Denmark-based hearing aid med tech GN is teaming with Design Cells and Soundly in a new campaign that explores the inner workings of the ear through “vibrant visuals.”
This consumer-based education campaign is directed at boosting awareness around hearing wellness, showing the complexities of the ear and how we hear, as well as the often-unknown side effects of losing your hearing.
This includes potential neurological deterioration, as untreated hearing loss has in a recent study been linked to an increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline.
That study, called Achieve, was published in The Lancet this year and found that using hearing aids could reduce the risk of developing dementia by up to 48% in high-risk individuals. There are also social implications, as losing hearing can severely impact communication, as well as safety issues on situational awareness.
To highlight all of this, and implicitly plug the need for hearing aids, such as the ones GN markets, the med tech, anatomy animations specialist Design Cells and consumer hearing marketplace company Soundly are joining forces to run “Inside the Ear,” a digital art campaign aimed at “demystifying hearing loss and hearing health,” according to a press release.
The campaign showcases a series of educational videos created by Design Cells to illustrate the complex inner workings of the ear.
The videos show elements of hearing, such as how sounds reach our brain; what noise-induced hearing damage looks like; and what hearing loss looks like inside the ear.
“At GN, our mission extends beyond providing innovative hearing technologies,” said Mirjam van Oort-Lohuis, chief marketing officer at GN Hearing.
“Through campaigns such as “Inside the Ear” we are dedicated to educating and empowering individuals, enabling them to make informed decisions about their hearing health and inspire proactive steps toward achieving better hearing.”
