About

Posts by :

Baltimore artists to inspire conversations on campus

By in Native

Baltimore artists to inspire conversations on campus

By
Emily Gaines Buchler

/

Published

Nov 7, 2023

Ask students about the bronze horseman perched upon the galloping stallion in Mudd Hall, and many will call to mind not only the statue’s title, Rumors of War, but also the horseman’s distinct hairstyle (dreadlocks) and attire (a hoodie and Nike tennis shoes).

“If you’ve had coffee in Mudd Hall, you’ve likely talked about the sculpture and perhaps gone on to read or learn about it,” said Maureen Marsh, senior vice president and secretary of the board of trustees at Johns Hopkins University. The 7-foot-tall equestrian statue by world-renowned artist Kehinde Wiley—an original smaller-scale version of his 27-foot bronze monument that now stands in Richmond, Virginia—is on long-term loan to the university from its owner Bill Miller, an investor, philanthropist, and JHU trustee.

“The statue brings people together and inspires conversation,” Marsh said. “It makes people stop and think.”

Now, the university has the opportunity to purchase and display new contemporary works of art on its campuses, positioned in places that both the public and the Johns Hopkins community can enjoy, gather around, think about, and discuss. In keeping with the aims of the university’s Diverse Names and Narratives Project, the goal is to select artists and artwork representing a broad range of perspectives, with many pieces created by local artists of burgeoning acclaim and reflecting some aspect of Baltimore.

“By bringing some of this art to Johns Hopkins University, the institution can serve as a local venue that showcases Baltimore art, while supporting artists as they grow and evolve in their careers.”

Editor-in-chief and publisher, BmoreArt

A committee made up of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and trustee representatives will work in partnership with Cara Ober, the editor-in-chief and publisher of the independent art magazine BmoreArt, to identify and select artwork to buy and install on campus in 2024.

At the first committee meeting, Ober provided an overview of collecting art in Baltimore. Her story started with sisters Etta and Claribel Cone, who bought paintings and other art from Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso in the early 20th century, before bequeathing more than 3,000 art objects to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Included in the BMA’s Cone Collection are 600 works by Matisse and 114 by Picasso, plus hundreds of prints, drawings, jewelry pieces, furniture pieces, books, and other items.

“For me, the most interesting and inspiring aspect of [the Cone sisters’] work is that they were not collecting famous artists at that time, and they were not collecting because they formed friendships with these artists,” Ober explained. “They were collecting artists they believed in … [and] saw value in, when others did not.”

Investing in and collecting art involves more than amassing material goods of high aesthetic—and financial—value, Ober indicated. “A lot of collectors are uncomfortable using the word ‘invest,’ but in my way of thinking, investing means giving artists resources because we value what they’re doing, and we’re giving them the opportunity to grow their practice and buy food,” she said.

The vibrant art scene, creative energy, and affordability of Baltimore make it an ideal place for ambitious, emerging artists to live and work. But Baltimore-based artists looking to make it in the international art world tend to exhibit their work outside of Charm City, booking shows instead in global art meccas like New York City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, London, Tokyo, Istanbul, Berlin, Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Shanghai.

“By bringing some of this art to Johns Hopkins University, the institution can serve as a local venue that showcases Baltimore art, while supporting artists as they grow and evolve in their careers,” Ober said.

To lend diverse thoughts and opinions to the project, the selection committee consists of individuals with varied interests and experience.

Krieger School faculty are among the arts and culture scholars in the group, including Daniel Weiss, A&S (MA), ’92 (PhD), an art historian and Homewood Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins, who previously served as the president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Mia Yinxing Liu, an assistant professor in the Department of the History of Art at Johns Hopkins, who specializes in modern and contemporary Chinese art and media culture; and Karen ní Mheallaigh, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and chair of the Department of Classics at Johns Hopkins, whose work focuses on intersections between literature, art, and astronomy (among other sciences) in the ancient world.

“I’m interested in connections between art and science, and how art can help us get over our entrenched boundaries,” said ní Mheallaigh. “I’ve been thinking about these connections largely in disciplinary terms, and that’s why I’m here—I’m just really interested in how art can shift the way we think.”

Alicia Wilson, a university trustee, Baltimore native, and managing director and global head of philanthropy for the North American region for JPMorgan Chase, is also on the committee. “Art is such an important part of life, and I’m honored to join this exciting program focused on my hometown,” Wilson said.

For student committee members, the chance to learn about Baltimore art and influence the selection is exciting. “I’ve learned in my classes about the role of museums in society and how people question how museums should display art—and what art, in particular, should be displayed,” said Eric Smith, a committee member and sophomore majoring in international studies. “I look forward to exploring more on this committee.”

The committee is meeting throughout the fall and plans to make final selections by the end of this semester.

Olga Prinku Grafts Blooms and Branches Into Expansive Embroideries

By in Art World News

Olga Prinku Grafts Blooms and Branches Into Expansive Embroideries

All images © Olga Prinku, shared with permission

Using a vibrant array of real flowers and foliage, North Yorkshire-based artist Olga Prinku (previously) designs intricate embroideries that explode with natural colors and textures. The artist embraces experimentation at a large scale, challenging the traditionally more intimate surfaces of embroidery.

In addition to blooms and leaves, Prinku has recently focused on branches in a new series called Graft. Using primarily silver birch, she describes the works as “a reference to the horticultural process of transferring twigs from one setting to another but also a nod to the slang meaning of ‘hard work’—it takes a lot of time and patience!”

Prinku’s embroideries are currently on view in a group exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts in London through November 18, and a piece selected for the SCAF Emerging Artist Award is on view until January at Lawrence Batley Theatre Gallery. She is currently working toward a major exhibition for Hidcote in the Cotswolds next year. Find more on her website, and follow her on Instagram for updates.

 

A delicate embroidery piece made with real yellow flowers on a transparent screen.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface.

Detail of embroidery made with real flowers.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface, with a wooden frame.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface, hinting at the shape of an eye.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Olga Prinku Grafts Blooms and Branches Into Expansive Embroideries appeared first on Colossal.

Photographs from South Africa and Nigeria shine light on the rapid growth of megacities

By in Photography

Photographs from South Africa and Nigeria shine light on the rapid growth of megacities

In the heart of the Aguda neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, a single electrical pole bears a cacophony of wires, perched at the top like a frantic bird’s nest. Although the neighborhood may have changed, and this pole might not be there, photographer Akinbode Akinbiyi preserved this moment in time.

“[The pole] is on the edge of falling apart, and yet it’s like so much about resilience and capability and communication and connection, and it has all of these things in such a simple image, in some ways,” said curator Carol Magee, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who specializes in African contemporary art. “It’s just wires but it says all of those things.”

Akinbiyi’s photograph is part of “Urban Cadence,” a traveling exhibition of photography and video now at the Weisman Art Museum that reflects the rapid growth and landscapes of megacities Lagos and Johannesburg, South Africa. The show is from Gund Gallery at Kenyon College in Ohio, and was originally scheduled to open at the Weisman in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed it.

The exhibition hosts more than 60 photos and videos by nine African artists, each offering a different perspective into Lagos and Johannesburg. Since many of the photos were shot at least 10 years ago, in the 2000s and early-to-mid 2010s, these pictures also serve as an archive of sorts.

Nigerian photographer Akintunde Akinleye’s powerful photo “Each Passing Day,” 2006, captures a man walking across a bridge. Behind him, loads of people are squeezing through a road packed with buses and cars in a densely populated urban area of Lagos.

“When you get to that place right now, the bridge has been redesigned, it’s expanded, the place has completely changed,” Akinleye said. “Of course, you still have a lot of people around that place, but the bridge, the road, everything in that place has been redesigned. But how do we tell the history of that place? Of the landscape?”

In Uche Okpa-Iroha’s “Molue Bus” series, he captures closeups of Lagos’ modes of transportation from the Bolade bus stop, near Oshodi, where men pack into yellow buses. Sometimes people stare back at the camera, but other times they’re unaware of the picture being taken.

In Sabelo Mlangeni’s black-and-white pictures of Johannesburg, he often captures scenes of the city in transition. In “Casa di Arbiter on Rissik Street (Big City series),” 2009, we see a street being repaved and blocked from traffic.

South African photographer Jodi Bieber shoots vivid color photos, often capturing the vibrancy of life in Soweto. Her vibrant photo “Giramundo Flame Grilled Chicken, Diepkloof,” 2010, shows a chicken joint painted yellow, its sign in simmering red, and a pink car parked in front.

Similarly in her photo “Orlando West Swimming Pool, Orlando West,” 2009, children fill the blue pools and a woman in a pink bathing suit gazes down, as if she is posing. Once an area known for clashes between anti-apartheid protesters and the government, Orlando is now a symbol of “new South Africa.”

Magee’s impetus for this exhibition about street photography came out of her research into photography from Africa.

“When I first began studying photography that was coming out of Africa, there was a lot of studio portraiture,” she said. “And I kept thinking there has to be some other type of photography. … I was interested in place and how people represent their connection to place, so I became interested in looking for photographers who were [doing that]. The most visually engaging were photographers from Lagos.”

Indeed, one of the most striking photos in the show is Akinleye’s “Quiet Lagos,” where a completely empty street is framed with a sign above promoting “Fashola is Working, Lagos is Working.” (Fashola refers to Babatunde Fashola, who was the former governor of Lagos State.) The picture was shot in 2011, during a time when, once a month for three hours, the bustling city shut down for a mandatory street cleaning, but photojournalists were allowed on the streets.

“The pictures I am going to take today, in 20 to 25 years’ time, are going to be more valuable to me because what they do is they keep my memory — they allow me to remember,” Akinleye said. “Because once that time has past, memory is always very short.”

‘Urban Cadence’

Where: Weisman Art Museum, 333 East River Road, Mpls.

Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Wed., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thu. & Fri., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. & Sun. Ends Dec. 31.

Info: Free, wam.umn.edu or 612-625-9494.

A Win-Win ‘Loophole’ Giving Artists Space to Create

By in Art World News

A Win-Win ‘Loophole’ Giving Artists Space to Create
image

A London-based nonprofit takes empty commercial spaces and offers them as studios. Artists get a free place to work, and landlords save some money, too.

On a recent afternoon, in a ground-floor retail unit in one of London’s many vacant office buildings, a pair of flame-red platform heel boots with what looked like tentacles growing out of them and a multimedia sculpture of a coffin-like object circled by plastic shark fins were on show.

“I’m against empty space,” said Camilla Cole, the founder of Hypha Studios, a London-based nonprofit that persuades commercial landlords to let artists work and exhibit for free in unoccupied stores and offices. Cole had organized MELT, a group exhibition showcasing works by 32 recognition-hungry artists who work with Hypha and a fellow studio provider, Creative Land Trust. The show opened in Euston Tower, an empty 1970s high-rise in the city center, on the same day as the V.I.P. preview of the nearby Frieze London fair.

Founded in 2021, Hypha Studios provides free working space for more than 300 artists at nine sites across Britain. “I’ve found a loophole,” said Cole, 38, a curator who dropped out of Goldsmiths College, in London, without completing her degree. She noted that British businesses can pay lower property taxes if they allow nonprofits to be tenants. “Landlords save money by me being in their space,” she said.

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, online shopping and remote working have created a blight of shuttered storefronts and empty office buildings in towns and cities across the world. Allowing artists to infuse life into these vacant commercial spaces, even on a temporary basis, has become one way landlords can address the issue. (They can also burnish their corporate responsibility credentials.)

Chasing after the perfect shot as Post photographer for 34 years

By in Photography

Chasing after the perfect shot as Post photographer for 34 years

My love of photography started at school, in the 1980s, and led to an eventful career with the South China Morning Post, spanning 34 years.

My first camera was a Nikon FM2. It cost me HK$1,800. In those days before the digital revolution, everything was done manually, from focusing to setting the aperture and shutter speed. We used 35mm film.

After a spell with the Hong Kong Standard, first as a darkroom technician and then as a photographer, I was hired by the Post in 1989. I was delighted to join because leading Post photographers, such as Yu Chung-ying, were my idols. It was fascinating to work with them.

image
Robert Ng on assignment in earthquake-hit Beichuan county, Sichuan province, in 2008. Photo: Robert Ng

My first office was in Tong Chong Street, Quarry Bay. We had to be ready for anything and were expected to take on assignments ranging from news to sport and portrait shots.

The night of the handover in 1997 is one of the most memorable of my career. I was at the Convention Centre, where the ceremony was to be held, at 7am to get a good position and stayed until after midnight.

A story that spans 120 years: the history of the South China Morning Post

There was a lot of tension, because we all wanted to get the best angle and the best shot. We were still using film back then, so I had to rush to the office after the ceremony to process the pictures. My shot was used on the front page. I was so proud.

image
Two Vietnamese brides head to Sha Tin Town Hall with the help of a refugee camp supervisor in 1995. Photo: Robert Ng
Another unforgettable assignment, for very different reasons, was the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. I vividly recall the scenes of devastation I witnessed, including collapsed schools.

I had never seen anything like it in my life. Parents were searching for the possessions of their lost children. It was heartbreaking. I had tears in my eyes, which made it difficult to get the pictures in focus.

Facing distressing scenes is part of my job. I have covered plane crashes, the 2006 bus crash in Egypt and the tsunami in Phuket in 2004. I had to keep a sense of detachment and remind myself I have a job to do. I am there to record the events and to act as an eyewitness.

The Post is still dedicated to journalism, 120 years later

Top sports events presented a different challenge. I have covered the Asian Games and, in 2008, the Beijing Olympics. It was an opportunity to go up against some of the world’s best photographers. You had to carry a lot of equipment. I enjoyed covering the swimming and diving and remember United States champion swimmer Michael Phelps giving his mother a celebratory hug.
image
US swimmer Michael Phelps (right) and Brendan Hansen (left) react after a race at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where Phelps won eight gold medals. Photo: Robert Ng

Over the years, I have seen the tools of my trade change dramatically. In the old days, I needed to take a portable darkroom with me for assignments abroad, processing the pictures in the toilet.

Why the South China Morning Post is one great melting pot

Now, with digital transmission, it is so much easier. At night, we would have to change the flash after every shot. With digital cameras, shooting in the dark is a joy. Everyone has a smartphone and can take pictures these days. But people still like to see the work of professional photographers.

Much as I enjoy video, I believe the still image retains its power. Nothing can compare to that killer shot. Our mission is to capture the decisive moment. That has not changed.

image
Police try to extinguish fire ignited by a protester on Lockhart Road during an anti-globalisation demonstration while Hong Kong hosted a World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in 2005. Photo: Robert Ng

I became a photo editor many years ago and now lead the Post’s photo desk. The job comes with heavy responsibilities. But I still shoot. Photography is not only my work, it is also my hobby. Every week I spend one of my days off taking photographs.

It has been an honour to work for the Post over so many years, recording history through my photographs. I look forward to the future and believe pictures will continue to tell a thousand words.

Farmers market and arts market bring food and crafts to Westville

By in Art World News

Farmers market and arts market bring food and crafts to Westville

The CitySeed Farmers Market and Westville Arts Market joined together in Edgewood Park on Sunday morning.

12:43 am, Nov 07, 2023

Agomoni Saha, Contributing Photographer

Art, food and puppets blended on the grass of Edgewood Park on Sunday morning.

The Westville Arts Market hosted its third joint market with the CitySeed Farmers Market at Edgewood Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 5. The Westville Arts Market featured 15 local artisans selling products ranging from jewelry and clothing to ceramics. The CitySeed Farmers Market included 16 businesses selling fresh produce, fish and other foods. The event also featured a puppet parade, a longstanding tradition of the Westville community arranged by the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance, a Westville neighborhood association that creates community events including the arts markets. 

Kate Stephen, owner of Kate Stephen Jewelry and a vendor at the market, is one of the market’s coordinators. Stephen and others were inspired to arrange a more frequent arts market by the annual Westville Arts Walk hosted every May. Stephen said the goal of the arts market is to cultivate a space where artists and the community could come together and support artists.

From her experience as a vendor, Stephen appreciates the small, warm environment with familiar faces at the arts market.

“It’s fun to vend here because you feel like you’re vending with a group of friends,” she said.

CitySeed, a nonprofit founded in 2004, works to increase accessibility of fresh produce in the New Haven community through farmers markets and other events.

Sandy Flores, a New Haven local and the Assistant Farmers Market Manager for CitySeed, said she had grown up going to the farmers market, and volunteered with CitySeed in high school. She makes sure to reach out to the Latine community to engage them in these farmers markets. She highlighted the farmers markets’ program that allows residents who have Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits to receive more produce and make the markets more affordable. 

Flores is also a Volunteer Coordinator for the Sanctuary Kitchen that helps refugee women who are resettling in New Haven gain economic opportunity by cooking and baking. 

Elizabeth Donius, the Executive Director of the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance, said that the mix of events contributed to high attendance.

“When there’s a critical mass of stuff going on, you end up getting more people out,” she said. 

She added that the traffic was heightened because the families attending the puppet parade were able to step out and peruse both markets. 

Dooley-O Jackson, an artist and vendor at the market, was the third event coordinator alongside Stephen and Donius.

Alanna Gilbert, a Senior Farm Staff at Massaro Community Farm, a certified organic community farm, is a longtime vendor at the CitySeed Farmers Markets. She echoed Donius’ sentiment of an increased turnout at the joint arts and farmers markets. 

“[The collaboration between the markets] makes [the environment] feel like more of a place where people will come to shop but also hang out,” she added.

Allison Chew and Chris Chew, the co-founders of Chew–Chew Designs, a crafts company selling a variety of accessories and products, were invited by Connectic*nt, a local arts zine, to be vendors at the arts market. Allison Chew appreciated the wide range of local vendors at the market, selling products from candles to more “whimsical” objects. 

Chew added that vending alongside a farmers market brings a new clientele. 

“Usually, when people go to a farmers market, they’re not looking for art specifically. But it’s nice that [they] can walk [down the venue] and maybe they’ll find something they weren’t exactly looking for,” she said.

Downtown Westville, or the “Westville Village Historic District” is on the National Register of Historic Places.

«< 1596 1597 1598 1599 1600 >»