The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine Winter/Spring 2015 Studio Magazine Board of Trustees This Issue of Studio Is Underwritten, Editor-In-Chief Raymond J

Winter/Spring 2015 Winter/Spring Magazine Harlem in Museum Studio The

The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine Winter/Spring 2015 Studio Magazine Board Of Trustees This issue of Studio is underwritten, Editor-in-Chief Raymond J. McGuire, Chairman in part, with support from Elizabeth Gwinn Carol Sutton Lewis, Vice-Chair Rodney M. Miller, Treasurer Creative Director Teri Trotter, Secretary The Studio Museum in Harlem is sup- The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine Winter/Spring 2015 The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine Winter/Spring 2015 Thelma Golden ported, in part, with public funds provided Dr. Anita Blanchard Managing Editor by the following government agencies and Jacqueline L. Bradley Dana Liss elected representatives: Valentino D. Carlotti Kathryn C. Chenault Copy Editor The New York City Department of Cultural Joan S. Davidson Samir Patel Affairs; New York State Council on the Gordon J. Davis, Esq. Arts, a state agency; National Endowment Design Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for the Arts; the New York City Council; Pentagram Sandra Grymes and the Manhattan Borough President. Arthur J. Humphrey Jr. Printing George L. Knox Allied Printing Services The Studio Museum in Harlem is deeply Nancy L. Lane grateful to the following institutional do- Original Design Concept Dr. Michael L. Lomax nors for their leadership support: 2X4, Inc. Bernard I. Lumpkin Dr. Amelia Ogunlesi Studio is published two times a year Bloomberg Philanthropies Corine Pettey by The Studio Museum in Harlem, Booth Ferris Foundation Ann G. Tenenbaum 144 W. 125th St., New York, NY 10027. Ed Bradley Family Foundation John T. Thompson The Ralph and Fanny Ellison Reginald Van Lee Copyright ©2015 Studio Magazine. Charitable Trust Ford Foundation All rights, including translation into other Hon. Bill de Blasio, ex-officio The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation languages, are reserved by the publisher. Hon. Tom Finkelpearl, ex-officio Jerome Foundation Nothing in this publication may be Lambent Foundation reproduced without the permission of the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation publisher. MetLife Foundation Surdna Foundation 1 2 Target Titus Kaphar Trenton Doyle Hancock The Andy Warhol Foundation for Jerome IV, 2014 …And Then It All Came Back to Me, 2011 the Visual Arts Courtesy the artist and Jack Collection KAWS, New York Shainman Gallery, New York Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery, Joyce and George Wein Foundation ©Titus Kaphar New York Wells Fargo The Winston Foundation Letter from the Director

Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu and Me and Sam Gilliam at the U.S. Department of Glenn Ligon at his opening at the Camden Arts Hank Willis Thomas in London, October 2014 State Medal of Arts award ceremony in January Centre, London, October 2014

We publish Studio magazine twice a opening celebrations for high- of these challenges; I am truly year, and each time we prepare to profile exhibitions celebrating some impressed by artists who are on go to print I like to take a moment of the most prominent artists work- the front lines of social change to reflect on the prior six months. ing today, including Kerry James and artists who offer moments of A half-year can encompass a lot, but Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, David quiet contemplation in a compli- it’s especially incredible how much Hammons, Glenn Ligon and Steve cated world. has happened—in the arts and the McQueen—all of whom have deep The life of the Studio Museum world as a whole—since our last ties to the Studio Museum and all to date has spanned an incredibly issue was published in summer 2014. of whom are of African descent. meaningful, complex and difficult In the same vein, it’s amazing how And on January 22, 2015, I had the time in history. I hope that our much has changed since the Studio great honor to be present as Secre- existence, exhibitions and activi- Museum was founded in 1968 by a tary of State John Kerry awarded ties—and, especially, the artists diverse group of artists, philanthro- the U.S. Department of State Medal that we support—have in some pists and civic leaders. These vision- of Arts award to a selection of bril- way played a part in the progress aries drafted a proposal for an alto- liant artists, once again including we have made, and can offer us gether new model of museum, one many names familiar to Studio hope and inspiration for the work “with the ability to respond more Museum audiences: Mark Bradford, that is yet to be done. And thanks directly and immediately to the cre- Sam Gilliam, Maya Lin, Julie Mehretu, to all of you for your help along ative climate.” Committed to expand- Pedro Reyes, Kehinde Wiley and the way. ing the resources, opportunities and Xu Bing. All this exciting activity institutional attention paid to black exemplifies the great progress the artists, the Museum’s founders wrote, art world has made in the past “We have chosen Harlem as the half-century. place for this more experimental, But as we all know, our world, Thelma Golden less institutionalized Museum because our country, our city and our neigh- Director and Chief Curator of the sense of newness, strength borhood continue to face many and change which is present there.” challenges. I am continually inspired Last fall, I had an incredibly ener- by the ability of artists to draw our All photos from my Instagram. gizing trip to London for a spate of attention to and help us make sense Follow me: @thelmagolden

Winter/Spring 2015 2

The Studio Museum in Harlem is at the forefront of black contemporary art and culture and we want you to join us!

facebook.com/studiomuseum twitter.com/studiomuseum instagram.com/studiomuseum Museum Features

What's Up: Exhibition Schedule 5 Artist × Artist: Mark Bradford 46 Winter/Spring 2015 and Samuel Levi Jones

Introducing the 2014–15 6 125th Street: Time in Harlem 50 Artists in Residence My Harlem: Amanda Hunt 54 Kianja Strobert: Of This Day in Time 10 Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey 56 Titus Kaphar: The Jerome Project 11 Studio Art × Studio Museum = 58 Harlem Postcards: Summer 2014 12 Studio Squared and Fall/Winter 2014–15

Trenton Doyle Hancock: 16 Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing

Salon Style 20 Studio Jr.

In Profile: Portraits from 22 Art Work, Two Ways: Godfried Donkor 61 the Permanent Collection

DIY: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow 64 Concealed: Selections from 24 the Permanent Collection Coloring Page by 66 Trenton Doyle Hancock

ETW Spotlight 68 Beyond Book Picks: Walter Dean Myers 70 Hamer Time 71

Maya Angelou: Harlem Hopscotch 27 Mini Curator! Maya Evans × 73 Toyin Odutola Elsewhere 28 Talk Back! #MyStudio 75 In Memoriam: Geoffrey Holder 34

Studio Visit: niv Acosta 36

Shout Out to Africa! Film Picks 38

William Greaves: 40 A Documentary Revolutionary Friends

Studio Visit: Tony Lewis 41 2014 Joyce Alexander Wein 77 Remembering Gilda Snowden 43 Artist Prize

Gala 2014 78

Members 82

Member Spotlight: 88 Sarah and Derek Irby

Supporters 89

Membership Info and Form 93

Visitor information 95

Lea Kari Green (1974–2014) 96 Museum Museum 5

What’s Up Exhibition Schedule Winter/Spring 2015

Check studiomuseum.org for the latest on our exhibitions and programs.

Through March 8, 2015 Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art Kianja Strobert: Of This Day in Time Titus Kaphar: The Jerome Project Under Another Name

March 26–June 28, 2015 Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing Concealed: Selections from the Permanent Collection Salon Style In Profile: Portraits from the Permanent Collection Samuel Levi Jones: Unbound

Always on View Harlem Postcards Glenn Ligon: Give Us a Poem Adam Pendleton: Collected (Flamingo George) Winter/Spring 2015 6

Introducing the 2014–15 Artists in Residence

Organized by Alani Bass, Communications Assistant

In October 2014, the Studio Museum was thrilled to welcome Sadie Barnette, Lauren Halsey and Eric Mack as our 2014–15 artists in residence. During their year-long residency, these bright young artists will immerse themselves in the legacy of Harlem and the Studio Museum, cultivate their unique visions and join a lineage of more than a hundred participants of the Artist-in-Residence program. We’ve asked Sadie, Lauren and Eric to introduce us to their creative processes and give a little insight into the work they will be making in the coming months.

Sadie Barnette

My artwork is not based in any one medium or output, Midwestern kindness, dearly protected optimism and but instead conforms to and absorbs many formats. I use humor. I am the Oakland 1980s-baby celebration of drawing, photography, installations, West Coast vernacu- the radical and armed movement of love, revolutionary lar, subcultural codes, text and abstractions to construct vision, the interracial and disco idealism. I am the a visual language system. What is at stake here, for me, daughter of a Black Panther, of a Vietnam vet, of politi- is the gravity of the urban as fantasy, extralegal econo- cized factory workers. The soundtrack is amazing. mies, luxury as drug, counterfeit capitalism, glitter as I make art from a place of humble urgency. My hypnotic, outer space as head space, the everyday as artistic endeavors are moments of criticality, multiplicity, gold, family and lived-identity experience, and the party. transcendence, addiction . . . little exponential art I am named for those my parents lost along the way, actions unfolding in The Now, The Living Room, digital and I am named for those who named my parents, and space, from Oakland to Compton and now (with love so it goes. I am here as the improbable evidence of my and thanks to the Studio Museum) Harlem! parents’ acts of resistance, gender-defiant grace, fierce

Sadie Barnette Sadie Barnette Untitled collage, 2013 From Here, 2010 Courtesy Sadie Courtesy Sadie Barnette Barnette Museum 7

Sadie Barnette Untitled photograph, 2013 Courtesy Sadie Barnette Winter/Spring 2015 8

Introducing the 2014–15 Artists in Residence

Eric Mack Lauren Halsey

Currently, in the studio, I am working on a piece with “Kingdom Splurge” is an infinite project of endless accumulated value. This fabric collage has acquired becoming that entails liberation through Funk, fantasy meaning in its use of many materials: silk that has been architecture and the experimental development of bleached to a point of varied degradation cascades space: gardens, lawns, vacant lots, churches, liquor into a hanging rectangle of green cotton mounted to a stores, parking lots. The Kingdom is interested in the brass curtain rod. The use of an Air Berlin blanket drapes collective well-being of the neighborhood in which it with the symmetry of the rectangle towards the floor. lives. The Kingdom constitutes a fantasy-scape for peo- The central draping is where silk meets cotton and cot- ple and creatures (i.e., fish, butterflies, birds, etc.) to ton meets canvas, where polyester meets palm leaves. inhabit in complete freedom—spatially and creatively, The billowed rectangle is held to the brass curtain alongside representations of moments in nature, crys- rod with distinct zip ties. The rectangle is organized in tals, LEDs, lasers, iridescents and nomadic sculptures. speckles of paint, speckles that allude to a grid beholden In the Kingdom’s early stages I, Pharaoh, high-voltage to a process of pigment dispersion. Funkateer and Master Architect, Lauren Danielle Halsey, The cascade exists not only in the form of Claudine will engage as Kingdom Planner of the habitat, con- (2014), but also in the paper documents used. The paper structing micro-neighborhoods (kingdoms) within is a fragile map and tangential point of reference. Pages preexisting neighborhoods for Funk cadets (you and from a yellow legal pad sit against a concert photograph your folks) to ponder and actualize new images and of Prince, fashion editorial from an Urban Outfitters cata- possibilities for a freer, Funkier and more optimistic logue and a photocopy of a Basquiat, images have seem- tomorrow. Kingdom Splurge is a space of hypothesis ingly no relation. However, they are placed on the same for proposing new beginnings that are articulated surface and questioned equally—under the condition of through sculptures and environments built with what the orange slices. is already there. The goal is community-building—to This piece received a name based on the 1974 movie revalue ephemera and existing forms (architecture, local Claudine, the title character of which was played by businesses, gang tags, signage, etc.) as a method of Diahann Carroll. I have been invigorated by this movie, restyling space. The Kingdom is interested in collabora- which is set in Sugar Hill. A narrative about a mother and tion with those who have a passion for the future and six children sustaining life on welfare, Claudine’s love are interested in stretching their imaginations to create interest is an optimistic garbage man played by James grand visions of and for working-class neighborhoods. Earl Jones. The couple is apprehensive about getting married for fear that they would not be able to support the children without welfare. I am interested in Carroll’s undeniable glamour even under the class-specified narrative of the film. The inher- ent dignity and pride involved in her image speaks to the complexity of identity. I am also interested in Diana Sands, who was originally intended to play Claudine Top: Eric Mack but died of cancer and gave the part to Carroll. Claudine, 2014 I desire for the work to be a container for multiple Courtesy the artist narratives made through recognition in materials and Bottom: allowing abstract painting to be central as a persistent Lauren Halsey Kingdom Splurge, 2014 project. I covet poetic relation in everyday spaces. Photo: Fumikazu Ishino

Winter/Spring 2015 10

Kianja Strobert Of This Day in Time

by Naima J. Keith, Associate Curator

Kianja Strobert Kianja Strobert Untitled, 2012 Untitled, 2011 Collection of Lonti Ebers Collection of Jacky Aizenman

In a career spanning nearly a decade, New York–born, selection of paintings and drawings made over the Hudson-based artist Kianja Strobert (b. 1980) has be- last five years. Contemporary exhibitions have come known for her dynamic and energetic works on posited abstract painting as a continuous dialogue, paper. By layering and building up her material with both between artists and historical traditions of thick, unrefined brushstrokes and nebulous swaths of abstraction, and among artists of current and prior color, Strobert puts the viewer’s eye in constant motion generations. Throughout its history, the Studio around the canvas with compositions that appear to Museum has examined the intersections of abstract be in flux. Many of Strobert’s paintings and drawings art and subjectivity in exhibitions such as Energy/ are inspired by the work of the abstract painter Alma Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction Thomas, rooted in what the older artist, who turned to 1964–1980 (2006). The most recent addition to this art late in life, called a “day in time,” or a commitment lineage, Kianja Strobert: Of This Day in Time, presents to the artistic practice of the present moment. an artist whose unique consideration of universal Kianja Strobert: Of This Day in Time, the artist’s first human emotions provides a fresh take on the legacy solo museum exhibition in New York, brings together a of twentieth-century abstraction. Museum 11

Titus Kaphar The Jerome Project

by Naima J. Keith, Associate Curator

Titus Kaphar Titus Kaphar Jerome XIX, 2014 Jerome XXXIII, 2014 Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York ©Titus Kaphar ©Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar’s (b. 1976) paintings, drawings and installa- prison-industrial complex and its use by the U.S. tions initiate a contemporary dialogue with history. government to address economic, social and political Merging nineteenth-century American portraiture with problems. The panels in this exhibition are based on modernist gestures, Kaphar creates paintings that are police portraits of the men named Jerome that Kaphar manipulated with contemporary modes of analysis, found online. Although each work depicts an individ- deconstruction and reconstruction to question the ual, this series represents a community of people, original contexts of the figures and re-present history. particularly African-American men, who are overrepre- By collaging, crumpling, ripping, cutting and sewing, sented in the prison population. Kaphar reconstructs objects from the canon of art The Jerome Project draws on iconic historical art- history. But in a marked departure in his practice, Titus works as well. With gold-leaf backgrounds and central Kaphar: The Jerome Project is composed of small-scale figures, Kaphar’s portraits visually parallel Byzantine works that engage with contemporary social issues, holy portraits, specifically those depicting Saint particularly the criminal justice system. Jerome, the patron of librarians and scholars. Although In 2011 Kaphar began searching for his father’s the panels reference religious artworks, they are not prison records and found, on a website containing pho- meant to carry any assumption of innocence or guilt. tographs of people who have recently been arrested, Instead they allude to the notion of forgiveness, dozens of men who share his father’s first name, which is central to many religions. The artist views the Jerome. The artist was influenced by the writings of inability to offer forgiveness as a shortcoming of the Michelle Alexander and William Julius Wilson on the current criminal justice system. Winter/Spring 2015 1212

Harlem Summer Postcards 2014

Albert Vecerka the whole. I have continued my Heather Hart Born 1969, Sremska Mitrovica, examination as the neighborhood Born 1975, Seattle, WA Yugoslavia has changed. In this case, looking Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY Lives and works in New York, NY at and learning about what was in front of me enabled a theme to Build-A-Brother Workshop (The Paper Untitled (from “The Harlem Project” emerge and defined the future Doll Barbershop Poster), 2014 series), 2014 direction of the project. © 2014 Albert Vecerka/Esto It is a slippery position between exploiting the black male archetype Delphine Diallo I have always been interested in the and honoring that same black male- Born 1977, Paris, France built and natural environments in ness. In this illusion, between control Lives and works in New York, NY which we live. I believe that taking a and care, I want to begin to unpack closer look at our immediate sur- power relations around race and Harlem, Winter 2014 with roundings and the forces that shape gender. Through interaction, humor “l enchanteur”, 2014 them is valuable: Places that were, and material, I encourage viewers to places that are and places that will relate to my work not only through Delphine juxtaposes reality with be speak about our humanity. physicality, but also by opening a imaginary conscience, fashion I learned the basics of photogra- dialogue that depends on their per- with documentary photographs, phy as I studied electrical engineer- ceptions. “Through aesthetic styliza- and tradition with modernity. ing in the former Yugoslavia. My first tion each black hairstyle seeks to subjects were mostly street scenes. revalorize the ethnic signifier, and When I moved to the United States, Kelvin De Leon the political significance of each I studied both architecture and Born 1997, Bronx, NY rearticulation of value and meaning photography, and when I decided to Lives and works in Bronx, NY depends on the historical conditions pursue photography, architecture under which each style emerges.”1 became a natural subject. Forgotten, 2014 Spaces of oral histories are cen- In both my personal projects and tral to my work. This piece was assignment work I look to tell stories “Desolate” and “forgotten” are but inspired by the timeless barbershop about places: neighborhoods, build- two words that can be used to posters I find all over Harlem, and by ings, rooms. As an artist I look for describe the barbershop located at the safety zones, educational spaces visual cues and elements, and then 424 Lenox Avenue. Even though the and playful social realms that black try to assemble them in composi- barbershop gives off a feeling of barbershops provide. I want to cata- tions, just as a writer composes sen- loneliness, I could not help but be lyze such a space through my work. tences or paragraphs. Looking for drawn to it. I could only imagine the the right light, right day or right time site in its heyday, with the conversa- 1. Kobena Mercer, “Black Hair/Style Politics,” of day is a part of that narrative. tions had, the stories told and all of new formations 3 (Winter 1987): 115. “The Harlem Project” is about the special moments that occurred. the evolution of a neighborhood, To see the place that harbored all a place where I’ve lived for twenty of those special memories to be years. I examined pieces of the allowed to go to naught is saddening, old Harlem, and how they relate to for me at least. Museum 13

Delphine Diallo Albert Vecerka

Kelvin De Leon Heather Hart Winter/Spring 2015 14

Pamela Council So Yoon Lym

Yashua Klos

Youssef Nabil Museum 1515

Harlem Fall/Winter Postcards 2014–15

Pamela Council So Yoon Lym Youssef Nabil Born 1986, Southampton, NY Born 1967, Seoul, South Korea Born 1972, Cairo, Egypt Lives and works in New York, NY Lives and works in Paterson, NJ Lives and works in Miami, FL, and New York, NY Tumbleweaves on the Frontier, 2014 Harlem Window Display, 2014 Tina Early Morning, Harlem, 2014 “Tumbleweaves” are hair balls from This photo was taken at a barber- Hand-colored gelatin silver print lost extensions and hair clippings shop on Malcolm X Boulevard. Courtesy the artist and Nathalie that blow around on city sidewalks. The owner allowed me to tape up Obadia Gallery, Paris/ Brussels These bits of detritus are temporary, my poster of cornrow paintings and site-specific little sculptures that are take some photos of the storefront. I call this work Tina Early Morning, indices of artistic process, financial There was a big empty spot on the Harlem because Tina’s is the first face exchange and passing styles. In an window, no doubt so that window I see every morning. She works at the ongoing project, “#pctweave,” the watchers can see the barbers at front desk of my building in Harlem artist documents chance encounters work. The photo shows a window and I am always so impressed by the with tumbleweaves and shares them reflection of a building in Harlem. fact that, no matter how early she has digitally, live from Harlem, a place That, in and of itself, for me, identi- to come to work, she’s always very that some newer residents see as fies the place as Harlem, which elegant and creative with her hair. a kind of frontier town. was what I wanted, though the bar- When The Studio Museum in Harlem bershop could be from any given asked me to make a postcard work urban environment. But it is “The about Harlem, I immediately thought Yashua Klos Dreamtime” poster, which repre- of her! Born 1977, Chicago, IL sents my series of acrylic-on-paper Lives and works in New York, NY paintings of cornrow-hair patterns depicting Paterson teenagers, that GardenHarlem, 2014 brought the series international attention and notice, and ultimately Harlem transforms. This corner of the invitation to Harlem Postcards. 125th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is the site of a pop-up jungle: there one day and gone the next. We remain camouflaged in the terrain. We are natives, transplants, guests and tourists, and Harlem is the destination. Winter/Spring 2015 16

Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing by Lauren Haynes, Associate Curator, Permanent Collection

LH: In addition to drawings on gutters between the images, the paper and canvas, Skin and Bones viewer is expected to make leaps in contains your first animation piece time. It takes a certain proactivity to and a wallpaper work. How do process comics. Animation moved these various aspects of your draw- way too fast for my purposes and ing practice fit in within your overall wasn’t applicable to painting in a artistic practice? one-to-one way. Processing animation is a more passive experience and TDH: Animation has always been a I wasn’t interested in incorporating huge influence on my artistic sensibili- that lazy gaze into my practice at the ties, but my engagement with the time. I’ve changed my tune now form has changed drastically from though. Truly observing and absorb- decade to decade. As a kid, cartoons ing animation is anything but lazy. Trenton Doyle Hancock Photo: Lauren Haynes were visual pacifiers and extended It’s quite challenging! It wasn’t until I toy commercials. I didn’t pay too collaborated on a ballet and saw my much attention to the quality of what characters moving around that I even I watched. In a way, it was all the same started to think about the possible to me. Even though I wasn’t terribly translation of my work to animation. Lauren Haynes: Trenton Doyle discerning about animation, I never That was in 2008. Six and seven years Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years put it in the same category as comic later, I’m finally trying to deal with it. of Drawing is your first mid-career strips. I also knew that comic strips I’m dabbling at this point. It’s fun and drawing survey, so I think it makes serve a different purpose than anima- new for me, and a little addictive. sense to start from the beginning. tion and even comic books. Intui- Textile design is an integral compo- When did you first begin to draw? tively, I knew these forms were mov- nent of my practice and identity. I’ve ing at different speeds with different been producing wallpaper for over Trenton Doyle Hancock: When I concerns. It wasn’t until college that twelve years now, and in my practice was about three years old. In 1977, I was able to articulate these differ- it serves as a vehicle for narrative I spent a lot of time with my elderly ences. The common denominator of forms, icons and looping vignettes. aunt, Fannie Rollerson. I affection- the forms is line and time. There’s a Wallpaper also creates a continuous ately called her “Fan Fan,” and she certain calligraphy—line—involved in ground to quickly immerse the specta- babysat me every day when my all of these formats, and the idea of tor in the richness of a story. I’ve also mother went to work. To amuse me, trans-itioning from moment to mo- executed large wall drawings to Fan Fan drew simple line drawings ment—time—is central to their read- achieve this immersive effect. of farm animals on the backs of ing. For me, I had to figure out how However effective it is to write all envelopes. She wasn’t an artist, to utilize “time” in painting. The “line” over the alls, wallpaper incorporates but somewhere along the way, she part was easy. I think in terms of my interest in printmaking and the learned how to make these great drawing, so that was never a huge aesthetic of mechanical reproduc- little animal drawings. For me, at age challenge. The problem I saw in the tion. It’s a hybrid of my interests in three, this was magical! That’s when 1990s was that there were a lot of drawing, printmaking and environ- I began to identify as an artist. It’s all “cartoony” painters focusing on the mental installation. I ever wanted to do. I spent hours perfect line, but very few focused on Trenton Doyle Hancock trying to copy her animals. These the element of time. This is more the Buff and Britches, 2010 were my first drawing lessons. I wish stuff of comics. Comics deal with Collection Sloan and Carli Schaffer, Los Angeles Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery, that I still had those drawings of hers. time in a very specific way. In the New York Museum 17 Winter/Spring 2015 18

Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing

LH: You created an activity page that the lessons were about either David my mind to new diverse things. has comic elements for this issue of or Samson, and I thought Bruce Lee I started to lose faith in superheroes Studio magazine. Can you talk a little was the greatest. That said, the rea- as the world around me seemed to bit about how your interest in comics son I first got into comics was to crumble and become less stable. developed and how it’s influenced learn more about my favorite super Between my problems at home, and your artistic career? humans. When I graduated high images broadcast in the media, school, I was going to start showing I wasn’t seeing a lot of superheroes TDH: When I was a child I was fasci- my portfolio to major comic compa- to believe in. The style of comics I nated by humans who could do nies in hopes that I could get work read began to reflect my changing extraordinary things, especially if drawing Spiderman or something worldview. I started reading the more they displayed superhuman strength. like that. Life and college took me in confessional comics of Robert Crumb I paid extra attention in church when different directions, and I opened and Dan Clowes, and the psychodra- mas of Gary Panter. It just felt more honest to me. This renewed interest in comics bled into my painting, and I came up with my own brand of anti- heroes and weirdos complete with backstories. It’s something I wasn’t seeing in art at the time, aside from Henry Darger. Darger wasn’t quite accepted into the art world conversa- tion in the mid-to-late 1990s.

LH: There are several site-specific drawings in Skin and Bones. How did these develop?

TDH: There’s a ton of work in the show under varied categories and subcategories. I thought that it would be effective to draw visual bridges between the groupings. Also, in the spirit of my practice, it seems appro- priate to create fields of wall-drawn information that extend the boundar- ies of the framed works. These wall drawings arise from the desire to create an environment or context for the works.

Trenton Doyle Hancock …And Then It All Came Back to Me, 2011 Collection KAWS, New York Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery, New York Museum 19

Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing

LH: Skin and Bones was organized by LH: Who are some artists who LH: You were raised in Texas. Valerie Cassel Oliver for the Con- inspire you? Has Texas played a role in your work? temporary Arts Museum Houston and then traveled to the Akron Art Museum. TDH: James Ensor and Otto Dix are TDH: Yes, I’ve spent most of my life The Studio Museum will be the exhibi- a couple of my favorite painters. Philip in Texas. There is a lot to celebrate tion’s third venue. How has it been to Guston is great too, but Ensor and and explore there, but also there’s see different iterations of the show? Dix have sharper edges. Terry Winters plenty of negativity and strangeness is always unstoppable. Hilma af Klint to react against. There is a lot of TDH: Because each space is differ- painted some of the most “ahead of space as well. The sprawl has helped ent, the shows end up being radically its time” work to ever be made. In shape my attitude and allowed me different from one another. Each terms of animation, Richard Williams the space to nurture not only my col- new venue provides an opportunity and Ralph Bakshi are gods. The toy lecting habits but also my anger. to highlight different aspects of the designers that excite me are Lou Marx I would imagine that’s why someone show by responding to architecture and Marvin Glass. Marx and Glass like Erykah Badu maintains connec- and other particularities of the space. were considered the Walt Disneys of tions with Texas. toy design in the 1950s and 60s. LH: It’s obvious that text and language play a huge part in your artistic practice. What are some things you read for inspiration and enjoyment?

TDH: I have a daily routine of reading various articles that pop up on my browser or things recommended to me by my peers. It’s my version of reading the newspaper, and it keeps me somewhat plugged in. When I enter a new phase of my work, I usu- ally read a ton about new subjects. This year I started producing toys based on my characters, so I’m reading a lot about toy developers, the history of toys and how to make my own toys. Last year, it was animation and animation history. Being a notori- ously slow reader, I don’t have the attention span to get through most novels. I always feel like I can perform Trenton Doyle Hancock a million other useful tasks in the time Mom Said to Share, 1998 it would take me to finish a book. I Courtesy the artist, James Cohan Gallery, New York and Hales Gallery, London should try books on tape, I guess. Photo: Paul Hester Winter/Spring 2015 20

Salon Style

by Hallie Ringle, Senior Curatorial Assistant

As Senior Curatorial Assistant, I’m often tasked with Outside of the permanent collection, artist Pamela fielding questions about the permanent collection. I have Council (Harlem Postcard artist, fall/winter 2014–15) to sift through the collection records, looking for artists, makes works created out of acrylic nails and clippings of years, titles and courtesy lines, which gives me the hair found on the street that she terms “tumbleweaves.” opportunity, however fleeting, to examine the Museum’s In one series of works, Council engages with the mass collection. During one of my recent searches, I noticed and commercial production of cosmetic goods. In her that many artists highlight hair and fingernails in their “Flo Jo World Record Nails” (2012) sculptures and post- work as both subjects and media. I realized that hair and ers, she replicates in excess the fingernails of Florence nails are universal venues for self-expression, where iden- Griffith-Joyner, the Olympic athlete who was well known tities and personhood are asserted, however temporarily. for her long, colorful nails. In the sculpture, 2,000 acrylic Though continually in flux, a hairstyle can help identify nails form a 200-meter running course, referencing the wearer’s values, religion, class, race and even politi- both one of Griffith-Joyner’s strongest events as well as cal beliefs. On a smaller scale, the manipulation of finger- the processes and people involved in the manufacture nails is equally indicative of the self. They can be artifi- of these products, specifically factories in Korea, Hong cially elongated, cut, shaped and painted to reflect the Kong and China that create beauty products for wearer’s interests and aesthetics. American consumers. A beauty/athlete connection is I was especially drawn to several works in the collec- well represented in the permanent collection as well. tion that reference hairstyles using found materials. In looking at nails as representative of womanhood, Chakaia Booker’s Repugnant Rapunzel (let down your Deborah Willis’s photograph, Bodybuilder #4 (1998) cap- hair) (1995) reimagines the fairy tale princess’ long, tures the beauty and power of bodybuilder Nancy Lewis. blonde hair as a thick, asymmetrical sculpture made out Highlighting Lewis’s painted nails against her pro- of tire rubber. In the style and material of the hair, Booker nounced muscles pairs the beauty of her atypical form identifies and confronts economic, social and global with more traditional femininity and beauty. Both Council issues. Another artist in the exhibition, Mark Bradford, and Willis use fingernails as sites of gender expression uses hair accessories as a medium. In Enter and Exit the alongside bodies that have been commercialized as New Negro (2000), Bradford creates a minimalist, grid- female athletic icons. Whether using tires to create hair like abstract work out of singed endpapers, the transpar- or photographs of athlete’s hands and bodies, Booker, ent rectangular papers used by hairstylists to perm hair. Bradford, Council and Willis use hair and nails to demon- Though neither Booker nor Bradford literally use hair, strate the political, commercial, economic and cultural both reference political discourses surrounding hair. value of these sites of self-expression. Museum 21

Chakaia Booker Repugnant Rapunzel (let down your hair), 1995 Gift of Friend and Family of Chakaia Booker 96.7

Meschac Gaba Mark Bradford Lipstick Building, 2004 Enter and Exit the New Negro, 2000 Purchase made possible by gifts from Anne Ehrenkranz, Purchase with funds provided by the New York and Nancy Lane, New York 05.5.1 Acquisition Committee 01.9.1 Winter/Spring 2015 22

In Profile Portraits from the Permanent Collection

by Amanda Hunt, Assistant Curator

In Profile points to works in the Studio Museum’s permanent collection from Top: Jules Allen particular sub-genres of portraiture: self-portraits, Greek busts, cameos, Black Eyes / Light Series three-quarter commissioned portraits of elegant society women or flâneurs (Children playing in trees), 1978 Gift of the artist 80.4.8 and slices of social life documented with photography. One specific image (seen here, Black Eyes / Light Series (Children playing in trees) [1978] by Jules Bottom Left: Martin Kane Allen), for example, recalls to me Georges Seurat’s infamous pointillist ren- untitled (artist seated in studio), 1980 dering of French society enjoying a summer’s day in the 1884 Un dimanche TD06.4.3 après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte (A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Bottom Right: Grande Jatte). Gwen Knight The White Dress, 1999 The concept of the exhibition borrows from a term coined by literary theo- Gift of Francine Seders Gallery, rist Stephen Greenblatt in 1980, “self-fashioning,” which he used to define a Seattle 00.4.1 sixteenth-century phenomenon in which European noblemen developed an increasing awareness about their ability to shape their own identities for public consumption. In this context, self-fashioning refers to a cross-section of the Museum’s collection that highlights black individuals’ conscious creation of their own images and personae. Where Greenblatt’s terminology refers to the kind of portraiture traditionally commissioned by its wealthy sitter to assert position and status, the portraits sourced here were created specifically to enforce the sitter’s presence. In a global history in which, at the height of enslavement and discrimination, peoples of African descent were often not afforded complex identities, and their histories remained largely undocumented, it is essential that the portraits contained in the Studio Museum’s collection exist as primary exam- ples of the black community having agency through images. In Profile is an affirmation of a long line of black members in our society who have contributed to various facets of American life—medicine, industry, art and culture— and perhaps also manages to represent, in some small way, those who have gone unnamed in ledgers and history books. Museum 23

In Profile Portraits from the Permanent Collection Winter/Spring 2015 24

Concealed Selections from the Permanent Collection

by Hallie Ringle, Senior Curatorial Assistant

During one of my most challenging final projects at the was shared by a number of artists who either create University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I found masking rituals of their own or employ masks from differ- myself dressed as a textbook. I wore two pieces of yellow ent African peoples as part of larger works. For example, posterboard with a crest mask from the Cross River Robert Pruitt’s Pretty for a Black Girl (2005) features a region of Nigeria and big blue letters proclaiming that drawing of a woman, perhaps a beauty queen, in strappy I was A History of Art in Africa (2nd edition) by Monica heels, a bikini and a sash, and carrying roses while wear- Blackmun Visonà, Robin Poynor and Herbert M. Cole. ing a Nimba mask. Pruitt adds recognizably African This wasn’t an elaborate attempt to cheat on my final masks to his subjects to reference the duality of his sit- exam. Rather, it was my final exam. The professor of my ters as African and American, while collapsing and class, Carol Magee, tasked our class with turning a ritual questioning what many people see as the African past or ceremony into a masquerade. Some people chose and American present. graduation or tailgating. My group chose finals: a slow Some interpretations of masks in the collection refer- masquerade ceremony that began with the subject ence the style of masks. For example, Willie Cole’s embodying the spirit of a stressed-out college student Domestic ID II (1991) features iron scorches on two dou- who must interact with several different peripheral mask- ble-panel window frames. The imprints left by the hot ers on the way, including the textbook (me), notes and iron closely resemble the minimalist marks of masks such a blue book. The ceremony culminated in a dance as those used by the Pende and Dan peoples. Viewing between the student and the computer (another masker, these as anthropological objects, which masks are who periodically froze to reflect the slow condition of the sometimes considered, Cole even labels the manufac- laptops we all used). Much like our own fates that day, tures as “General Electric” or “Sunbeam,” as if those were it ended with a grade. cul-tures with masking practices of their own. I still see masking rituals in the people and culture Whether artists fuse mask-like objects with contempo- around me. When I started searching the Studio Museum’s rary consumer objects or mask their own subjects, it’s clear collection, I was happy to find that my interest in masking that I’m not the only one who sees masking everywhere.

Robert Pruitt Pretty for a Black Girl, 2005 Purchase made possible by a gift from Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, New York 05.20.1 Museum 25 Winter/Spring 2015 26 Beyond Beyond 27

Maya Angelou Harlem Hopscotch

One foot down, then hop! It’s hot. Good things for the ones that’s got. Another jump, now to the left. Everybody for hisself.

In the air, now both feet down. Since you black, don’t stick around. Food is gone, the rent is due, Curse and cry and then jump two.

All the people out of work, Hold for three, then twist and jerk. Cross the line, they count you out. That’s what hopping’s all about.

Both feet flat, the game is done. They think I lost, I think I won.

In memory of Maya Angelou (1924–2014), we are honored to reproduce her poem, Harlem Hopscotch.

Reprinted with permission from Random House.

Maya Angelou Photo: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images Winter/Spring 2015 28

Elsewhere

by Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator

Jacob Lawrence The Migration Series, 1940–41 Panel 1: “During the World War there was a great migration North by Southern Negroes.” Courtesy The Philips Collection, Washington, D.C. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Beyond 29

Elsewhere

One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Other Visions of the Great Movement Don’t miss some of our favorite Migration Series and Other Visions North features sixty tempera paint- traveling exhibitions! of the Great Movement North ings Lawrence completed in 1941 April 3–September 7, 2015 depicting radically new visions When The Stars Begin to Fall: Museum of Modern Art of the black American experience. Imagination and the American South New York, New York Other accounts of the Great February 4–May 10, 2015 moma.org Migration—including novels and Institute of Contemporary Art poems by Langston Hughes, music Boston, Massachusetts This April, MoMA marks the centen- by Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday, nial of the beginning of the Great photographs by Dorothea Lange Archibald Motley: Migration of African Americans from and Gordon Parks, and paintings Jazz Age Modernist the rural South to the urban North by Romare Bearden and Charles March 6–August 31, 2015 with an ambitious exhibition high- White—contextualize the landmark Chicago Cultural Center lighting the ways in which painter masterwork. One-Way Ticket also Chicago, Illinois Jacob Lawrence and others devel- encompasses an extensive program oped a set of innovative artistic of events, performances, digital Charles Gaines: strategies to offer perspectives on resources, publications and commis- Gridwork 1974–1989 this crucial episode in American sions exploring the Great Migration’s February 7–May 24, 2015 history. One-Way Ticket: Jacob wide-reaching impact on American Hammer Museum Lawrence’s Migration Series and culture, politics and society. Los Angeles, California Winter/Spring 2015 30

Elsewhere

Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic February 20–May 24, 2015 Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn, New York brooklynmuseum.org

This spring, our friends at the Brooklyn Museum will present the first museum survey of Kehinde Wiley’s illustrious fourteen-year career. A Studio Museum Artist-in- Residence alum and the subject of our 2008 exhibition The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar, Wiley approaches the complicated intersections of race, gender, class and power in the politics of representation. Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic will feature an exciting range of the artist’s work, from his early portrait paintings inspired by Harlem street life, to his ongoing “World Stage” series, to recent explorations in female portraiture, stained glass and bronze sculpture.

Kehinde Wiley The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte, 2014 Courtesy Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California © Kehinde Wiley Beyond 31

Elsewhere

Gordon Parks: Segregation Story Gordon Parks: Back to Fort Scott November 5, 2014–June 7, 2015 January 17–September 13, 2015 High Museum of Art Museum of Fine Arts Boston Atlanta, Georgia Boston, Massachusetts high.org mfa.org

I am very excited about two exhibitions presenting the Kansas town he left some twenty years earlier, Parks incredible series by artist and photojournalist Gordon captured photographs that are engaged with personal Parks! Currently on view at the High Museum of Art in memories of his childhood and also document the reali- Atlanta, Gordon Parks: Segregation Story features more ties of living under racial discrimination. Both exhibitions than forty color prints documenting the daily life of are proudly presented in collaboration with The Gordon an African-American family in segregated Alabama. Parks Foundation. As you may recall, the Studio Museum’s 2012–13 exhibition Gordon Parks: A Harlem Family 1967 featured Parks’s photographs of Harlem’s Fontenelle family. The photo- Top Left: graphs in Segregation Story were taken for a moving Gordon Parks LIFE magazine article in the 1950s and offer a look at Untitled, Chicago, Illinois, 1950 Courtesy The Gordon Parks Foundation Parks’s seminal social documentary practice in vibrant, © The Gordon Parks Foundation captivating color. Top Right: At the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Gordon Parks: Gordon Parks Back to Fort Scott is largely informed by the photogra- Untitled, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956 Courtesy The Gordon Parks Foundation pher’s life story. Returning on assignment in 1950 to © The Gordon Parks Foundation Winter/Spring 2015 32

Elsewhere

Project Gallery: Gary Simmons Represent: 200 Years of African Kara Walker no world (from the "An Unpeopled Land in November 14, 2014–October 4, 2015 American Art Uncharted Waters series"), 2010 Perez Art Museum Miami January 10–April 5, 2015 Philadelphia Museum of Art; purchased with the Marion Stroud Fund for Contemporary Art Miami, Florida Philadelphia Museum of Art on Paper, 2010-142-1 pamm.org Philadelphia, Pennsylvania © Kara Walker philamuseum.org

Our colleagues down at the Perez Art An expansive showcase of art cre- silver and textiles, Represent traces Museum Miami have commissioned ated by African Americans since the the multitude of ways African- my dear friend Gary Simmons to early 1800s, Represent: 200 Years of American artists have explored vary- create a work for the museum’s dou- African American Art is a total must- ing notions of identity as their access ble-height project gallery. Taking up see this exhibition season. The exhibi- to artistic training and opportunities the back wall of the gallery—thirty tion draws from the Philadelphia for mainstream prominence have feet high by twenty-nine feet wide— Museum of Art’s outstanding holdings increased throughout American his- Simmons’s mural painting features and ranges from decorative pieces by tory. Curated by Gwendolyn DuBois his signature erasure effect that sug- free and enslaved individuals to works Shaw, Associate Professor of Ameri- gests the inevitable fading nature by prolific figures such as Glenn can Art, University of Pennsylvania, of time, history and personal and Ligon, Carrie Mae Weems and Lorna and John Vick, Project Curatorial collective memory. Simpson. A thrilling showcase of Assistant, Philadelphia Museum of painting, sculpture, photographs, Art, this exhibition will be accompa- drawings, prints, furniture, ceramics, nied by a major catalogue.

Gary Simmons Frozen in Time (installation view), 2014 Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York Photo: Gideon Barnett Beyond 33

Elsewhere

Jean-Michel Basquiat: 56th International Art Exhibition: Okwui Enwezor Photo: Andreas Gebert Now’s the Time All the World’s Futures February 7–May 10, 2015 May 9–November 22, 2015 Art Gallery of Ontario La Biennale di Venezia Toronto, Canada Venice, Italy ago.net labiennale.org

I am thrilled that Canada will host I am especially looking forward to approach-es all his curatorial proj- its first major retrospective of Jean- this year’s Venice Biennale in large ects. Through this year’s Biennale, Michel Basquiat’s work. Jean-Michel part because the inimitable curator, Enwezor will address the way con- Basquiat: Now’s the Time will feature scholar and critic Okwui Enwezor temporary art attempts to establish a thematic installation of close to will curate the 56th International Art new understandings of current politi- eighty-five large-scale paintings Exhibition. Having organized forma- cal, cultural, economic and social and drawings from private collective exhibitions across the world, unrest. Titled All the World’s Futures tions and public museums across including documenta 11 in Kassel, and composed of contributions from Europe and North America, and Germany, the Gwangju and Seville fifty-three participating countries, will be accompanied by an original Biennials, as well as Paris’s La the exhibition will be a multifaceted exhibition catalogue. Triennale, Enwezor has long been pro-ject composed of three “filters” recognized for tackling historical through which core thematic ideas misrepresentations of Africa by will be examined: “Liveness: On epic bringing postcolonial African and duration,” “Capital: A Live Reading” diasporic artists to the foreground of and “Garden of Disorder.” Venice’s contemporary critical discourse. historical identity as a city that His appointment as the Venice looked outwards toward the rest of Biennale’s artistic director marks the world through cultural and com- the first time an African curator has mercial exchange make it an apt Jean-Michel Basquiat organized the 120-year-old exhibi- venue for the broad, global perspec- Untitled, 1981 Courtesy Broad Art Foundation tion, and stands as a necessary tive and understanding that Enwezor © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat (2014) acknowledgement of the vital global will be sure to bring to Europe’s old- Licensed by Artestar, New York Photo: Douglas M. Parker Studio, Los Angeles scope with which Enwezor est contemporary art exhibition. Winter/Spring 2015 34

In Memoriam Geoffrey Holder

by Alani Bass, Communications Assistant

Through an expansive career in the performing and visual arts, Geoffrey Holder Geoffrey Holder Photo: Erin Combs / Toronto Star / (1930–2014) left an unparalleled legacy on American culture. Getty Images Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Holder knew since childhood that he would devote his life to two things: dancing and painting. He made his performing debut at the tender age of seven with the Holder Dance Company, a troupe founded by his older brother Boscoe. By 1952, Holder was not only an accomplished dancer but also a devoted painter. Two years later, he made his New York stage debut in, and contributed as a choreographer to, the 1954 production of House of Flowers. With a persona as grand as the Broadway stage, Holder quickly and unsur- prisingly began a dramatic ascent in the multifaceted world of New York culture. He went on to become a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and establish himself as an actor in roles in Waiting for Godot (1957) and All Night Long (1962). In the midst of performing in and directing his own dance company, painting remained a constant for Holder. Never wanting to be recognized as simply “an actor/dancer who paints,” Holder proved that he could simultaneously master both with grace and ease when he was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship to study painting in 1957. Characterized Beyond 35

In Memoriam Geoffrey Holder

by bright colors, quick brushstrokes and the spirit of his Caribbean home, Geoffrey Holder Portrait of a Woman; Essence of Dignity, c. 1980s Holder’s paintings are enlivened with gentle power and elegance. They have Gift of Maurice C. and Patricia L. Thompson, been exhibited in museums around the country and have also found a home Connecticut 03.12.4 in the permanent collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem. Holder’s award-winning career spanned six decades, including two Tony awards for Best Direction of a Musical and Best Costume Design for The Wiz (1975). He was an artistic visionary and innovator, capable of constructing magical experiences, whether it was through dance, direction or his art. His legacy as a maker blossomed at a moment that was harmonious with the birth of institutions such as the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Studio Museum. Holder later contributed his multitude of talents to these very institutions and established himself as one of many tireless champions of black cultural production. Holder is survived by his wife, the acclaimed dancer, actress and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade, and son Leo Anthony Lamont Holder. He will be remembered in his many roles as a dancer, actor, painter, director and choreographer, but he will be forever cherished as a husband and father. Winter/Spring 2015 36

Studio Visit niv Acosta

by Sable Elyse Smith, Education Assistant

niv Acosta i shot denzel (performance still), 2014 New York Live Arts, January 30, 2014 Courtesy the artist Photo: Ian Douglas niv Acosta is interested in creating a history for himself. archetype that Washington now represents. At a moment Acosta is a dancer, choreographer and artist who is inter- in which the Studio Museum is considering many of ested in exposing the structures of social and artistic the unique ways that artists have engaged Ebony and performance. From 2006 to 2008 Acosta attended Jet in their practices, I became increasingly interested in California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles and during the iconography gracing its covers. A permanent fixture the summers, the American Dance Festival at Duke across the pages of both magazines, Washington stands University in North Carolina. in as the cultural ideal of black masculinity in the main- His performance series, “denzel” (2009–14), was stream media. There is Denzel the man and Denzel the inspired by the trailer to the 1989 film Glory, starring the ideal, and Acosta is interested in interrogating the latter. iconic actor Denzel Washington. The trailer signaled The six performances that make up the series—denzel for Acosta a series of contrasts and contradictions—black (2010), denzel prelude (2010), denzel again (2011), denzel soldiers marching to the drum-heavy crescendo of the mini petite b a t h t u b happy meal (2011–12), denzel German composition “O Fortuna”—imbued with the superstructure (2011) and i shot denzel (2014)—blur the Beyond 37

Studio Visit niv Acosta

lines between dance, music, text and sculpture. Within Acosta is creating a history for himself and delicately these performances, “denzel” acts as a frame within weaving all of us into it. which to question black masculinity and the perfor- In i shot denzel, Acosta implicates the audience mance of such. They suggest the existence of a spec- in a critical moment, when the lights come up. Through trum illustrated by the insertion of Acosta’s own lived lighting design and the configuration of the audience, experience. “Obviously I am of a subversive masculine Acosta chips away at the distinction between performer identity,” niv explains, “I was socialized female and and audience, which makes us all complicit in the rigid then assumed the identity of masculine and then finally binaries his work is deconstructing. We watch as Acosta started passing as male.” exorcises “denzel” from his body by repeatedly throwing Meaning swaps and shifts within these performances, himself against a white wall on stage in a reimagining of which becomes evident in Acosta’s use of music. Stravinsky’s virgin sacrifice scene. Questions of life, For i shot denzel, Acosta employed three distinct musical death and absence permeate Acosta’s work. Yes, there is touchstones: Louisiana funeral processions (“jazz funer- the spectacular, but there is also the delicately poetic. als”); “El Amor De Mi Vida” by Camilo Sesto, a Spanish Acosta is currently working on an even more ambitious ballad about a gender-ambiguous unrequited love; project for the New Museum’s 2015 Triennial, complete and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” a 1913 avant- with disco, sci-fi, astrology and the appropriation of spec- garde ballet that, quite literally, caused a riot in Paris’s ulative narrative as coping mechanism. I must admit, I’m Théâtre des Champs-Élysées when it debuted. The idea quite eager to escape into the aesthetic of disco ideology, of clashing sound or polyrhythm functions as a rhetorical which brings to mind Afrofuturism and the Studio frame for this performance. Similar to the trailer for Museum’s 2013 exhibition The Shadows Took Shape. This Glory, Acosta creates a certain dissonance by juxtapos- current work is concerned with locating a black American ing Western musical compositions with cultural move- experience within astrological phenomenon and narrative, ment based practices such as vogueing. The contrast it’s about carving out a decidedly queer and trans space, complicates idealized performances of black masculinity. it’s about the margins—and maybe writing in them a bit.

niv Acosta niv Acosta i shot denzel (performance still), 2014 Photo: Amos Mac New York Live Arts, January 30, 2014 Courtesy the artist Photo: Ian Douglas Winter/Spring 2015 38

Shout Out Film Picks to Africa! by Malaika Langa, Finance Manager

While my job at the Museum is Finance Manager, I have a great passion for film. I’m particularly interested in the diverse and growing body of cinema created by writers, directors and actors from all over the continent of Africa. Here are some of my favorites! In each, Africans tell their own stories, reflecting a myriad Fela Kuti: Mama Africa (2011) of cultures and worldviews. Music Is the Weapon (1982) Director: Mika Kaurismäki Directors: Jean-Jacques Flori, Stéphane Tchalgadjieff Miriam Makeba embodied Africa’s aspirations and struggles. Mama Pulsating with the pioneering music, Africa offers an intense portrait of political activism and raw energy of the global influence of this artist, Afrobeat creator and legend Fela activist and freedom fighter. The film Anikulapo Kuti, Music Is the Weapon profiles Makeba’s music with tradi- uses live performances and inter- tional South African roots, and also views to document Kuti’s resistance delves into the political firestorms The Legend of the Sky Kingdom to the Nigerian military regime, social created by her resistance to apart- (2004) advocacy and impact as an ambas- heid and support of Pan-Africanism. Director: Roger Hawkins sador for African culture. Courtesy Starhaus Filmproduktion GmbH

From Zimbabwe comes Africa’s first feature-length animated film, an homage to African folk artists. Using “junk animation,” the filmmakers have created the characters and land- scapes from found objects. The Legend of the Sky Kingdom tells the story of three orphans who follow their faith to escape the evil ruler of an underground city in search of Kwaku Ananse (2013) Lumumba (2000) freedom in the legendary, titular Director: Akosua Adoma Owusu Director: Raoul Peck realm.

The fable of Kwaku Ananse, the Raoul Peck’s engaging feature spider, intertwines with the story of captures the international political a young woman, Nyan Koronhwea, crisis that led to the rise of Patrice who returns to Ghana to attend the Lumumba, the first democratically funeral of her estranged father. elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, and the intrigue that led to Lumumba’s downfall and assassination. Beyond 39

Shout Out Film Picks to Africa!

Restless City (2011) Baptiste Black Girl (1966) Train Train Medina (2001) Director: Andrew Dosunmu Director: Ousmane Sembene Director: Dout Mohamadou Ndoye

Djbirl, a Senegalese musician Widely considered the father of Dout Mohamadou Ndoye uses trying to make it in the Restless City, African cinema, Ousmane Sembene paper cutouts, recycled materials connects with Trini, a woman living made Black Girl, a seminal work and sand to reflect on the environ- on the edge, in this dreamlike about colonialism, racism and cul- ment. Using stop-motion animation feature from photographer Andrew tural perception. The story revolves and a soundtrack composed of city Dosunmu. The backdrop for this around Diouana, a young African noises, Ndoye creates a village on a atmospheric film is Harlem, its vi- woman who leaves Senegal to work background of sand. The village brant streets captured with beautiful for a wealthy French couple, only to swells to become a teeming city, cinematography. Mother of George find her expectations of a better life which nature eventually destroys, (2013), Dosunmu’s acclaimed second thwarted and her sense of self and returning the landscape to sand. feature, follows the experiences of a identity degraded. Others films by Nigerian couple trying to conceive. Sembene include Xala (1975), which Courtesy Atelier Graphoui takes political corruption as its Photo: Jenny Baptiste theme, and Moolaadé (2004), Aya de Yopougon (2013) which addresses the practice of Directors: Marguerite Abouet, Call Me Kuchu (2012) female genital mutilation. Clément Oubrerie Directors: Katherine Fairfax Wright, Malika Zouhali-Worrall Via New Yorker Films Aya de Yopougon is based on the graphic novel series by Marguerite Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) Abouet. The animated feature shows advocacy and litigation officer middle-class life in 1970s Ivory Coast, David Kato is profiled in this riveting where the independent Aya, voiced documentary. “Kuchu” is a deroga- by actress Aïssa Maïga, aspires to tory word describing LGBT people become a doctor, while her friends in Uganda. As an openly gay man, aspire to other interesting and Kato lost his life advocating for his humorous endeavors in a bustling community, human rights and an neighborhood known as Yop City. end to discrimination in the form of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. The film offers a rare in-depth look at the everyday lives and struggles of LGBT people in Africa. Winter/Spring 2015 40

William A Documentary Greaves Revolutionary

by Malaika Langa, Finance Manager

William Greaves Courtesy Louise Archambault Greaves

Acclaimed director, producer and Born in Harlem on October 8, techniques that have set the standard editor William Greaves (1926–2014) 1926, Greaves grew up on 135th for documentary films. Greaves won reimagined and revolutionized docu- Street and Lenox Avenue. He first an Emmy as Executive Producer of mentary film by using the medium won critical acclaim as an actor Black Journal, the first television news as a platform for social engagement. with the American Negro Theater, magazine devoted to covering the Greaves’s landmark film Symbio- where he performed with Ruby Dee black community. psychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) is in John Loves Mary (1947). Greaves In 2003, Greaves created Symbio- an avant-garde, cinema verité work studied at the Actors Studio with psychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2 (2003). that challenges notions of reality, Lee Strasberg. In the 1950s, Greaves Executive produced by Stephen narrative structure and temporality. honed his filmmaking skills at the Soderbergh, the film reunites two of Influenced by Arthur F. Bentley’s National Film Board of Canada and the actors from the original and Inquiry Into Inquiries: Essays in Social held staff positions at United delves deeper into the psychology of Theory, Greaves used the interaction Nations Television and United States the two lead characters. As in the first between audience members, actors Information Agency. His films First film, Greaves reveals the process of and filmmakers in Symbiopsycho- World Festival of Negro Arts (1966), the filmmaker and lays bare the subtle taxiplasm: Take One to show the Still a Brother: Inside the Negro nuances and variations of character, interconnectedness of society and Middle Class (1968), Ali, the Fighter story, light and sound that can influ- how individuals can be empowered (1971) and From These Roots (1974) ence audience perception. The fol- to confront authority, through an changed prevailing negative low-up adds another layer of realism allegory of the political and social images of African Americans while and context to the themes first visited movements of the 1960s. pioneering filmic and narrative in his 1968 groundbreaking film. Beyond 41

Studio Visit Tony Lewis

by Dana Liss, Communications Coordinator

Like his drawings, the walls and floors of Tony Lewis’s stu- euphemisms for black people. Like in the wall drawings, dio are covered in graphite powder, a material that is near- in these works on paper, Lewis assigns a material quality impossible to contain. At one point, the Chicago-based to language and text. peoplecol (2013), which was artist—who earned his BA in Psychology and Art from included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial, comingles words Washington & Jefferson College in 2008 and his MFA from and letters with erasures, smudges and meandering lines, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012—had and encourages viewers to move away from reading what worked hard to keep his workspace pristine and drawings is recognizable and toward looking at the forms that make free from marks and smudges. But eventually the graphite up the composition. Another work that samples from powder prevailed, and its presence became a condition Lewis’s statement, dope repoa (2012), posits a different of both the studio and the art made in it. In some ways, iteration of this text-as-image. By breaking down language Lewis’s studio space is indicative of his practice in general, to the level of pure, formal mark-making, Lewis’s works organized by the number of projects that he is working on confound drawing and writing, and generate a host of concurrently. He has long been interested in how lan- interpretations of his text. guage is used to represent race and convey subjectivity, A new body of work that Lewis is currently making uses and each body of work stems from particular textual Gregg shorthand (the most popular form of stenography) sources—or narratives, as Lewis refers to them—some as textual source material. In a 2000 essay on drawing, of which Lewis invented, others which he appropriated. Benjamin Buchloh characterizes drawing practices in the One text that Lewis appropriates is the 1991 coffee twentieth century using the dialectic of matrix and graph- table book, Life’s Little Instruction Book: 511 Suggestions, eme.1 Simply put, according to Buchloh, “matrix” refers to Observations, and Reminders on How to Live a Happy the representation of objects and the perspective of the and Rewarding Life. Drawn to this book’s language, for its picture plane, while the “grapheme” model of drawing is audacious simplicity and matter-of-fact tone, Lewis iso- expressive, a performance of the subject. Lewis’s new lates quotes from the book and re-presents the advice works bring to mind Buchloh’s essay because they pack- in various forms of drawing. To make 362-Know when to age language—the lines and squiggles that make up keep silent (2014), Lewis first drew the statement across a Gregg shorthand—as simultaneously objective and ten-foot wall, and then used nails to outline the shape of subjective, matrix and grapheme. By omitting the familiar each letter and stretched graphite powder–coated rubber Roman alphabet, the Gregg shorthand works further bands around the nails. In this context, the words not only Lewis’s ongoing investigation and deconstruction of have an embedded sense of irony, but they also raise language, and continue to question and subvert funda- questions about authority and voice in language. mental notions of communication. Another body of work starts from a narrative that Lewis 1. Benjamin Buchloh, “Raymond Pettibon: Return to disorder and wrote, a short statement that is a conglomeration of disfiguration,” October 92, (Spring 2000): 37–51.

Tony Lewis 362 - Know when to keep silent, 2014 Courtesy the artist; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago; Massimo De Carlo, London Photo: Genevieve Hanson

Next Page: Tony Lewis peoplecol, 2013 Courtesy the artist; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago; Massimo De Carlo, London Photo: Robert Chase Heishman Winter/Spring 2015 42 Beyond 43

Remembering Gilda Snowden

Gilda Snowden Photo: Bruce Giffin

Remembering Gilda Snowden William G. Boswell (1954–2014) I married Gilda Snowden in 1987 after a six-year courtship. She didn’t take my A celebrated artist, educator and name because hers was already a recognized name in the art community in lifelong supporter of the arts in her Detroit and she was blessed with a healthy ego. I always thought her art was native Detroit, Gilda Snowden (1954– truly original and many times stunningly exquisite. I always hoped she liked 2014) lived a full life committed to my poetry as much. The highest compliment she paid me was that her father investigating the cultural identity of told her, “Don’t ever marry someone who’s not as smart as you," and then she the art world at large. Known for her married me. Our life was a joy of wit and friendly arguments. I watched her robust, figurative paintings and style evolve over the years from construction pieces coated with encaustic in enthusiastic approach to arts educa- earthy reds, browns and black, up to the last of her paintings, a six–by– tion, Snowden taught painting at the twelve–foot landscape of brilliant colors of acrylic that she called a double College for Creative Studies (CCS) tornado. I also watched her interaction with her colleagues, her art commu- for over thirty years, and inspired nity and her students. I had never seen anyone write so many letters of rec- many young artists who’ve gone on ommendation. She constantly informed others about grants, upcoming to be involved with the Museum. In shows, fellowships and awards, and encouraged them to try. At a recent stu- celebration of her legacy, Snowden’s dent show that was a tribute to her, I cried when I read the sincere expres- husband, students and colleagues sions of her student’s praises of her encouragement, teaching style and men- describe her magnificent energy. toring. As one said, “It won’t be the same." One of the most instructive things said to me by an artist colleague was that “she brought people together.” by Nico Wheadon, Gilda was connected to every art organization I had heard of, and I’m sure Public Programs Manager some more I hadn't, but she was always connecting people in the Detroit art community with people and art organizations in and beyond Detroit. Gilda and I have a daughter, Katherine Snowden Boswell, who was and is the center of our lives, but Gilda’s love included us all.

William G. Boswell is a published poet and has worked at the Detroit Repertory Theatre for fifty years as an actor, director and drama instructor. Winter/Spring 2015 44

Remembering Gilda Snowden

Kevin Beasley Sabrina Nelson

Gilda was a believer in the struggles of artists and deeply Edith Warton writes, “There are two ways of spreading understood what it means to support those who embark light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” Gilda on this journey. Her studio practice was fierce and her was a master in creating a life of making and giving. intensity rubbed off on those around her. Gilda’s conta- As a student of hers in the late 1980s, I was lost navigat- gious laughter still rings vividly in my head and reminds ing the maze of art school and art making in the histori- me that to maintain an art practice, one must be open in cally white, male-dominated field. I was upset that, by life—that one can be kind, jubilant, smart, generous and senior year, I had yet to learn about any black artists. respectful without sacrificing the rigor and criticality of Gilda encouraged me to acquire and share the knowl- one’s work. Through these lessons one discovered what edge I sought, and empowered me to develop the class, it meant not only to be persevering artist, but also to be “How Come Ain’t No Brothers on the Wall?," the first of a person living at their greatest capacity. its type in the department.

Kevin Beasley was a 2013–14 artist in residence at the Studio Museum Detroit-based artist Sabrina Nelson is a graduate of CCS and teaches at the and received his MFA from Yale University and BFA from CCS. Detroit Institute of Arts Museum.

Chido Johnson Shani Peters

Detroit’s postindustrial landscape has fueled artists for I had the great fortune and misfortune of meeting Gilda decades in their attempts to grasp its brutal reality: a for the first time in 2013—fortunate for the opportunity physical decay commonly fetishized into ruin porn. The to experience her curiosity, generosity and humility first- recent resurgence of social practice in Detroit shifted the hand, and unfortunate because that opportunity was so large subject of our gaze from its landscape to its peo- short-lived. She sat casually among her students as I ple. In the midst of these experiences, one Detroit artist prepared for the guest lecture I was to give, thinking to looked beyond the gray, foggy environment and saw myself, “Could that possibly be the acclaimed Art- strong colors. Gilda’s vibrant paintings grow as layers Godmother I’d heard so much about?” There was no fan- upon layers of color are pushed, pulled, mixed, poured fare, or air of someone waiting to be impressed. Instead, and shaped. This is how Gilda nourished us and illumi- I found enthusiasm, warmth and love. These qualities nated the brilliant color in our lives. She affected many were evident in her character and in her work. That’s the far beyond Detroit with her great modesty and humility. kind of life that lives on and on.

Chido Johnson is an associate professor and the section chair of Shani Peters is a Harlem-based artist who completed her BA at Michigan sculpture at CCS. State University and her MFA at the City College of New York. Features 45 Features Winter/Spring 2015 46

Artist× Artist Mark Bradford and Samuel Levi Jones

Organized by Naima J. Keith, Associate Curator, and Dana Liss, Communications Coordinator

It's been a big year for Samuel Levi Jones. The Bay Area artist was awarded the 2014 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, and will have his New York debut this spring in Samuel Levi Jones: Unbound at the Studio Museum. We invited his friend and mentor Mark Bradford to interview him at this exciting moment. Jones first met Bradford just over two years ago, when Jones was a newly minted MFA from Mills College in Oakland, California. Jones had been working with encyclopedias as a graduate student he found himself questioning the direction of his work, particularly his choice of material. Bradford encouraged him to continue his investigation of encyclopedias—advice that the younger artist credits as instrumental to his practice today. Features 47 Winter/Spring 2015 48

Previous Page: Samuel Levi Jones Samuel Levi Jones Samuel Levi Jones Brown Sugar, 2014 Promises, 2014 My Search (detail), 2013 Courtesy the artist Courtesy the artist Courtesy the artist

Mark Bradford: You were originally and experiences within and around Yes, there is a great deal of informa- trained as a photographer, but now me. As my ideas have progressed, tion in them, but there is also an entire your work has evolved to disassem- it has become necessary to find new world of knowledge that is excluded. bling objects such as encyclopedias materials, and techniques to work Through my making I am thinking and medical reference books. What with them in an authentic way. The about the existence of this construct precipitated your decision to change camera no longer serves my current and the cultural ramifications of how course? Do you view this transition process. It is my intention to work we respond and react to it. as a change or continuation of with the best possible medium to your interests? express what is going on in my head. MB: How has your relationship to the materials you work with Samuel Levi Jones: The camera was MB: What is your relationship to changed upon further investiga- an entryway into my art practice. these objects? For example, did tion and work? If so, what was most In college, I was introduced to the you grow up with encyclopedias? significant for you? 35 mm film camera and became fasci- nated by the whole process of image- SLJ: I grew up using encyclopedias SLJ: In my initial investigation of making—from composing through for research. I specifically remember the encyclopedia during graduate the viewfinder through creating the using them in junior high school. school, I was thinking about the silver print in the darkroom. Even I remember these reference books power of the encyclopedia and its though my recent work has evolved being considered a true source for reputation as a complete source from photographed images to images information, and that some other of information about the world created from other materials, the forms of source material were we live in. In the process of flipping process is definitely a continuation of considered illegitimate. In my use through each and every page of how I previously executed my work. of encyclopedias, I am considering this first set of books, I became un- Throughout this journey I have always the vast amount of information that settled. I began removing the created as a reaction to personal ideas never makes it into these objects. formal portraits from each page to Features 49 create visual juxtapositions between MB: Your work starts with found SLJ: For the most part, the shape high and low representation. This materials (encyclopedias, reference of the material lends itself to a grid led to 736 Portraits and 48 Portraits books, etc.), which are then trans- format. In some of the most recent (underexposed) (both 2012). As I was formed and abstracted. What would work I have broken the material working with only one, black-and- you say about the push-and-pull that down further to get away from the white encyclopedia set, 736 Portraits exists between the abstract and figu- grid a little. These works that do and 48 Portraits (underexposed) are rative elements in your work? not fall into a grid format are simply without color. It was not too long about pushing the work visually. after school that you and I met, and SLJ: Visually the work is abstract, The conceptual process of breaking you questioned where I was going but the materials are very concrete. down the material is cathartic, and with my work. I mentioned that I was I feel the abstraction is a way of chal- the reconstruction is more playful. considering a complete departure lenging the viewer to spend time with from the encyclopedia material. You the work and the ideas. I attempt MB: You are an emerging artist who challenged me to stick with it and to create the work in such way that has just been awarded the Wein Prize. dig deeper. I quickly realized the the viewer can’t approach it with an How has this newfound recognition rich versatility of the material once immediate reaction of, “Oh, books,” affected your work? Has your notion I began further deconstructing the but rather have a many-layered expe- of your personal success changed or books. The deeper investigation that rience. In 48 Portraits (underexposed), evolved over your career, and does it came from pushing myself to stay I have observed viewers looking at continue to do so? with it has been the most significant the grid and thinking they are seeing part thus far—not allowing myself to only black squares. Only after they SLJ: The recognition has definitely settle for one layer of discovery, but are encouraged to spend more time pushed me to challenge myself more rather continuing to ask questions with the work do they find the figures. and with greater enthusiasm. I feel and looking for answers within. The push-and-pull for me is about that it has created a deeper ambition challenging people to slow down the to continue challenging myself to MB: How do you source your materi- process of experience, and to look push my work. My notion of personal als and what is your process? and question. success has been changing for a long time. I feel as though I have navigated SLJ: A good deal of my material MB: How does your use of the my journey without particular long- is found via the web. I recently modernist grid format relate to your term expectations. That is not to say completed a residency at a waste- materials’ content? If the modernist that I have not challenged myself to management facility in San Francisco grid declares the autonomy of art, do achieve some sort of success. I just called Recology. All the material that you see your work in any way remov- didn’t know the area in which that I used for the work I created there ing its source material from the success would manifest. I would say was reclaimed from someone’s trash. social realm? that my expectations have evolved. I still acquire a lot of my material My passion for art did not begin through purchase, but there is a until I was twenty-three. When I great deal of it out there that is being moved from Indiana to California for discarded. My process consists of graduate school, my expectation was breaking down the source material to have a career teaching photography then reconstructing it into some- at a university. I had little understand- thing visually interesting in order to ing of what it meant to be a successful generate dialogue about the original practicing artist, or that I would even material itself. exist within that context. Winter/Spring 2015 50 125th Street Time in Harlem

by Adeze Wilford, Public Programs Assistant Recently I sat down with photographers Isaac Diggs and Edward Hillel to discuss their new collaborative project, 125th Street: Time in Harlem. The photograph series, beautifully showcased in their book of the same name, highlights the dramatic changes on 125th Street over a remarkably short period. We discussed their process, the importance of black spaces and how one street has become an iconic part of the Harlem community.

Adeze Wilford: What motivated AW: I loved the collaboration aspect have gone. He was very happy to you to start working on this pro- of this project, because when you be involved and to have his grates ject together? think of a photographer you think of memorialized. a singular person making a photo. Edward Hillel: When I met Isaac But you captured the collaborative Isaac Diggs: I think more than other I was involved in various com- effort really well. What were the artists responding, it was about munity groups that were studying responses from other artists when people. We really had quite a dynamic the zoning plan that the city had you were talking about this project? relationship with people on the street offered for 125th Street. There were who saw us working, and they could hundreds of people from Harlem EH: Franco Gaskin is part of the choose whether to participate or not. wondering what the future of the history of 125th Street. In the early street is going to do to the memory eighties, Gaskin began painting the of this community and surround- grates that are on many storefronts. ing areas. So I was concerned about He painted more than eighty of Next Page: those issues and photographing them, and only twenty-five remain. Isaac Diggs, Edward Hillel Woman with tattoos and paint, 2011 125th from that point of view. A lot have been destroyed as buildings Courtesy the artists Features 51 Winter/Spring 2015 52

AW: That’s a huge characteristic AW: In your book, you write about AW: And I think of Harlem as this of 125th Street, the characters that main streets in America and the idea place of blackness and black history populate it. The drummers’ circle of 125th Street functioning as a main and black space that’s important. on Tuesday evenings is always going street versus “Main Street” in other to be there. It’s a constant and people locations. Edward, you addressed ID: And that’s what draws them really respond to the street as a com- 125th as a backbone of commerce and here. You have to understand that munity in and of itself. That seems culture for Harlem. What’s the differ- if you’re not going to damage that like what you were responding to. ence between the flux that’s happen- space as things change. The vibrancy, ing here versus in Detroit? Do you the color, the energy, that’s all here ID: Exactly, and that’s one of the rea- think there’s a comparison to what’s because of those things. sons why this book works. There is that going on in this community? sense of community amidst all of this EH: People talk about gentrification change. You have H&M or Starbucks ID: I’m smiling because our next in Detroit or other places, but Harlem or AT&T, but you’re still going to have project is in Detroit. We’ve already is really very specific—it’s 125th Street your drummers’ circle. I think that ten- started and it’s a very different take and everything around it, of course. sion is really interesting to visualize. from a lot of the photographic books I think what really fascinates me about about Detroit that are simply about 125th Street is that that black space EH: The other aspect is that people ruins. I feel really excited about we’re talking about is almost bigger had time to get to know us because we where Harlem is going. It’s com- than the American experience. were there. We weren’t stealing a pic- plicated but I feel like Harlem will Isaac Diggs, Edward Hillel always be an important community, “Harlem NYC” with grates painted ture. They’re a part of the landscape, by Franco the Great, 2008 so we became part of the landscape. primarily for African Americans. Courtesy the artists Features 53

AW: Can we expand a little on your to being less concerned about the EH: And the challenge is always to work Bling #2 (2002) that was body and more about space. How do make a work that will connect with featured in Frequency? The scenes we take up space and how do we use you, so whatever the medium is or you highlighted are tied to ways space? Thinking about the beach and whatever reality you’re dealing with, people behave as consumers and these public spaces. What does black the challenge remains to figure out performing culture. How do you see space look like? And I think that’s a way to make a picture that will con- the idea of consumerism and the why my interest in working with nect with the audience and open up black body evolving in terms of this Edward dovetailed nicely, because a way for you to tell a story. It’s quite changing community? we can look at how culture is a direct challenging when you’re dealing reflection of the space we can occupy. with just a street. ID: I think in that work I was very In my own work since then, I’ve been much aware and interested in the working in Los Angeles, and trying to ideas of black sexuality and the get a grip on that city and how issues body, and how they are played out in of space are reflected there. public space. During these African- The idea of approaching photo- American beach parties you have graphing 125th from different pers- people almost reenacting scenes pectives and vantage points was very from popular culture—ideas that important to us. I mean, it kind of raises they had about what it meant to be the question of the multiple ways you masculine or feminine on a public can look at something, something as Isaac Diggs, Edward Hillel beach with kids and the elderly and everyday as this building on the corner, Impromptu Michael Jackson wall memorial, 2009 other people. So my work shifted and try to understand it. Courtesy the artists Winter/Spring 2015 54 My Harlem

by Amanda Hunt, Assistant Curator

On September 21, 2014, I attended the 47th Annual African Art is . . . , in which she and other performers led a float, danc- American Day Parade in Harlem. This grand processional ing and carrying around gilded frames in which the people of stretches up Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, beginning at Harlem were encouraged and empowered to contextualize the top of Central Park at 110th Street, all the way to its cul- themselves within an artwork. minating point at 136th Street. Having just returned to New Above all, the African American Heritage Day Parade York—and particularly to Harlem, my new home in was a forum for self-expression. It offered a space for this beloved, unwieldy metropolis—after five years in the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus, the National California, I was set on marking this next chapter in my life Association of Black Accountants, New York sanitation by attending a historic communal gathering and getting to workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local know a few of my neighbors. To my delight, I encountered 237, the Penn & Scroll sorority and Order of the Feather a number of local proprietors and storytellers throughout fraternity, among many others, to march, in community. the day who helped me to paint a picture of Harlem’s past, And to me, that is what The Studio Museum in Harlem, my present and foreseeable future. I live at the very top of new professional home, offers as its most fundamental Harlem, in the Sugar Hill area. and essential platform. Self-expression. Community. It is a richly storied microclimate within what is an A shared space in which to celebrate a specific history. already incredible cultural polestar. Harlem historically At the end of the parade, a friend and I took a break at encompasses a legacy of creative genesis (and genius), of Miss Mamie’s Spoonbread on Lenox Avenue. Shortly after black-owned businesses and financial independence, and finishing our meal, two gentlemen (one younger with the right of black people to thrive in a geographical pocket dreads, the other someone’s elegant grandfather) were dedicated as their own. There is not a day that goes by— seated next to us. They were dressed in beautiful period on my way to work or in quiet moments in my apartment in costumes, complete with muskets and a feather in each cap. a building named after a famed black, turn-of-the-century Before I even had a chance to inquire, the elder offered: poet—that I don’t feel the comfort and weight of its history. “Do you know who we are?” We replied that we did not. The parade possessed a deeply humanizing effect. He proceeded to deliver a history: They represented the There were various fraternities and sororities comprised of lesser-known 26th Regiment United States Colored Troops black, white, Latino, etc., folks marching, many of whom who had served, unrecognized, in the Civil War. These are the people we do not have the opportunity to acknowl- gentlemen had marched proudly in the parade that day, edge or celebrate because their work is, though essential, and their enthusiasm was infectious. largely invisible. I inserted myself into the crowd of bystand- It was a beautiful exchange between strangers, and it ers, and the first group of participants I caught sight of was reminded me of the value of our personal stories. I read a self-identified Scottish faction of the police force playing recently that the great historian and collector of African- “Amazing Grace” on bagpipes. Their somber dirge was fol- American literature Arthur Schomburg’s elementary school lowed by a colorful float filled with municipal workers from teacher informed him that he “had no history.” No child Parks & Recreation, who danced atop a construct that sought should ever endure the pain of being told such a lie. We all to rival those seen at Carnival in Brazil. There was disco, come from something. And for the purposes of sharing there were drums. Then there were corrections officers stories with strangers and celebrating a piece of my own who marched to represent their professional ilk, people history, I choose to live in Harlem. I am home now. who no doubt face horrors in the prison system on a daily basis. Following them was a group of young adults and children who led a step team with a strong sense of skill and self. All were visibly proud to contribute to this massive, historic convoy. Typically, marches are motivated by other forces, such as when people galvanize in protest or to enact change. That very same day, midtown Manhattan was hosting the People’s Climate March in defense of the environment. In recent weeks, we have come to watch or participate in the many acts of protest in the wake of the failures of our justice system in the cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The African American Day Parade functioned expressly as a celebration of the history of black culture and, from what I could Members of The Order of the Feather Fraternity see, incorporated many facets within this unified act. I was marching in the 47th Annual African American Day Parade on September 21, 2014. warmly reminded of Lorraine O’Grady’s 1983 performance Courtesy The Order of the Feather Winter/Spring 2015 56 Romare Bearden A Black Odyssey

by Doris Zhao, Curatorial Intern

Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey Doris Zhao: What inspired you to RGO: Edward Said wrote that the first features more than fifty of Bearden’s pursue this project? stage of searching for “home” is a case collages based on Homer’s epics, of nostalgia, a baby form that we all and examines classical themes in Robert G. O’Mealley: I gave a lecture experience. The next stage is where literary narratives, particularly the in 2005 about Bearden and clas- you feel at home anywhere you go. You heroic search for home and identity. sical themes. Bridget Moore, who can assert yourself in any community Curated by Robert G. O’Meally, Zora owns DC Moore Gallery, attended as you move. He said that the third Neale Hurston Professor of English the lecture and said to me, “Let’s do stage is where you feel ill at ease every- and Comparative Literature and this show.” Working with Moore, where you go. You’re always interro- founder and former director of the I curated that show in 2007, which gating the world and I think Bearden Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia presented almost all of the collages had that. There’s always a question University, and organized by the and watercolors. Marquette Folley, mark. In the “Odysseus” series, he Smithsonian Institution Traveling from the Smithsonian, saw the show gives us a very troubled home—but Exhibition Service, the exhibition and said this should be a national here’s a home where you have to ask has traveled to seven venues so far. traveling exhibition. This is a univer- what is going on. He’s not satisfied On view on at Columbia University’s sal, modern, American and African- with what he’s finding. He wants to Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery American tale. change it. That’s the way to look at through March 14, the works are Harlem. Bearden saw a beautiful, var- being exhibited in New York for the DZ: Bearden’s interpretation of iegated, layered, complex community, first time since their creation in 1977. Homer’s Odyssey emphasizes the but how are we going to maintain the Curatorial Intern Doris Zhao sat search for home as an African- greatest parts of it without closing it down with O’Meally to discuss the American epic narrative. How do down, because that would defeat our exhibition and Bearden’s relationship you interpret “home” in this series? vision of ourselves as global citizens to Harlem. of a global community. Features 57

Romare Bearden Poseidon, The Sea God, 1977 Courtesy Thompson Collection, Indianapolis, Indiana

Romare Bearden Cattle of the Sun God, 1977 Courtesy Ann and Sheldon Vogel

DZ: Could you elaborate on the idea RGO: I grew up in Washington, D.C., Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in of Bearden as a jazz artist? which is an extension of Harlem. cooperation with the Romare Bearden Foundation and Black Washington had conditioned Estate and DC Moore Gallery. The exhibition and its re- lated educational resources are supported by a grant from RGO: Bearden grew up with jazz, so me to want to be here. I feel tremen- the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Art © Romare Bearden it was part of the lingua franca, reflex dous loyalty to Harlem as a beacon Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York. and bone structure of the man. He to the world. Insofar as this place talked about the experience of con- stands for cultural richness, the Romare Bearden: versing with Stuart Davis and having highest standards we can imagine A Black Odyssey Davis urge him to find visual equivalen- for proclaiming black life as whole is on view at The Miriam and Ira D. cies for the music that he loved. It was magnetically alluring and beauti- Wallach Art Gallery from November interesting for me to think about how ful, I identify with Harlem, very 15, 2014 to March 14, 2015. some paintings are not explicitly about deeply. Thank God for The Studio jazz, but are nonetheless improvisa- Museum in Harlem. I’m just hopeful For more information, visit tory or have to do with the victories that somehow there’s a center that columbia.edu/cu/wallach/. of facing the troubles that life brings. will hold as the neighborhood goes Bearden wanted you to feel something through the changes that all cities about the process, the layers, building go through. Bearden as a Harlemite it up and taking it down. was a global citizen who never forgot where he was from. His visionary DZ: What is your own relationship self-definition opens the door for to Harlem? all of us to a future where we can all hang together. We can all be drawn together. I’ll put it that way. Winter/Spring 2015 58

Studio Art × Studio Museum = Studio Squared

by Adeze Wilford, Public Programs Assistant

Whether you are a beginner or highly trained artist, “Numbers and Trees” was an en plein air drawing session you can connect with fellow art enthusiasts and discover at Marcus Garvey Park where guests sketched trees and your creative side through our adult art-making work- made observational drawings. The workshop was influ- shop series, Studio Squared. Studio Squared sessions are enced by the iconic trees throughout the exhibition. The inspired by our exhibitions and designed to explore last session featured musical selections curated by Gaines. various modes of art making and creative expression in Visitors were asked to paint and draw according to themes an informal, relaxed environment. Pulling from thematic in the music. Later on, they traced portions of each other’s elements and techniques on display, these workshops work. These were wonderful ways for audiences to engage have something for everyone. with the exhibitions beyond the gallery space. Our inaugural Studio Squared sessions were inspired by Studio Squared participants paint, sketch or sculpt Charles Gaines: Gridwork 1974–1989. Each program began depending on the prompt for the evening. Each teaching with a brief gallery tour to orient visitors to the work, fol- artist has been trained to give a tour of the works in the lowed by the hands-on activity. “Off the Grid” was a move- gallery, which allows the group to draw inspiration. Future ment workshop hosted by Elliot Maltby for which guests workshops will include watercolor painting, figure draw- created a series of rules to follow as they navigated the ing and walk-and-sketch tours. We hope that no matter street. This was inspired by the systems and formulas that your skill level or interests, you will be able to find a work- Gaines deployed in the “Regression” series. For example, shop that intrigues you. Studio Squared workshops are free participants might have to hold hands, walk in a circle with Museum admission, and supplies and refreshments and photograph every security camera they saw along are provided. the way. The last two workshops, “Numbers and Trees” and “Layers of Listening,” were visual arts activities. All photos: Nico Wheadon Features 59 Winter/Spring 2015 60 Studio Jr. Studio Jr. 61

Art Work, Godfried Two Ways Donkor

by Doris Zhao, Curatorial Intern

Born in Kumasi, Ghana, in 1964, Godfried Donkor cur- and are used as sites of advertisement and commercial- rently lives in London, where he primarily works in ism. By incorporating a layer of lithographed eighteenth- collage and printmaking. Since the 1980s, Donkor has century slave ships, Donkor further examines the evolv- created works that address the commodification of ing history of exploitation and capitalism. In Ebony Accra people of African descent in Europe and America. edition, Donkor uses the central image of Muhammad Ali His mixed-media collages fuse symbols and images of with a band of purple, green and white printed slave the eighteenth-century slave trade with contemporary ships. The work as a whole alludes to a periodical cover, media, such as content sourced from magazines or as the artist added an archival Ebony logo and an image newspapers. Donkor is interested in how black bodies of a Drum cover. Interestingly, Donkor gives Ali a halo, are represented and marketed in various industries, from which alludes to the dual nature of commodification, as sports to music to modeling, particularly in print, as he both exploitation of an individual and ascent to popular views this medium as a common aesthetic space among sainthood or even martyrdom. different communities of people of African descent. Donkor’s Ebony Jo’burg edition, Ebony Lagos edition and Ebony Accra edition (all 2014) address the magazine’s impact as an exported source of African-American life. This idea is significant to the artist, who grew up with no direct experience of African-American culture except that which was marketed, sold and circulated in mass media. In these three works, Donkor explores the relationship between Ebony and Drum, a South African magazine first published in the 1950s. Initially, Drum was designed to mirror Ebony’s aesthetic, and later differenti- ated itself with more politicized coverage of apartheid. Donkor juxtaposes imagery from both publications to examine the role of black Americans and Africans within greater systems of capitalism and globalization. By incorporating elements from both publications into his collages, Donkor visually explores representations of people of African descent in the modern economy. The works are mixed-media collages on paper and are composed as periodical covers. With a sheet of news- print reporting financial news as the base of each work, Donkor layers content from archival copies of Ebony and Drum. He places images of iconic athletes or models at the center of the collages, which form a poignant cri- Godfried Donkor Ebony Accra edition, 2014 tique on how these individuals have been commodified Courtesy the artist

Winter/Spring 2015 62

Art Work, Two Ways Godfried Donkor

by Erin Hylton, School Programs Coordinator

Godfried Donkor Ebony Jo’burg edition, 2014 Courtesy the artist

Introduction Godfried Donkor’s work Ebony Accra edition (2014) provides students with an opportunity to explore the relationship between ideas and materials. Through visual inquiry and collage-making, educators can encourage students to use critical and creative thinking skills to investigate notions of identity and culture, share personal perspectives and further develop understanding of composition, pattern and color. Discussion topics and themes that emerge from Donkor’s artwork connect to New York State Learning Standards that focus on understanding relationships between social, cultural, political and historical aspects of the human experience.

Studio Jr. 63

Art Work, Two Ways Godfried Donkor

Objective Preparation To investigate identity through collage, and creatively 1. Display Godfried Donkor’s Ebony Accra edition and express ideas through layering and juxtaposition lead a visual inquiry to explore the image together. of images. Questions may include: What do you notice first in the image? In what ways has the artist used text in Essential Question the image? What connections can you make between How might you use collage to create a magazine cover the figure and other elements of the collage? that reflects your identity? 2. Introduce vocabulary words and draw connections to ideas that surfaced during the visual inquiry. Materials 3. Set out the newspapers and magazine cutouts as • Newspaper (various sections) collage materials, and provide each student with a • Magazine cutouts (including objects, piece of cardstock on which to work. figures and shapes) 4. Provide each student with scissors, drawing paper • Colored pencils and tracing paper as additional collage tools. • Pastels 5. Consider placing glue on the table only after • Cardstock students have made decisions about their • Drawing paper collage compositions. • Tracing paper • Scissors Methods • Glue 1. Ask students the essential question: How might you use collage to create a magazine cover that reflects Vocabulary your identity? • Identity is a person’s distinguishing characteristics 2. Review the materials students have to work with and or personality; sense of self. encourage them to begin by experimenting with • Collage is an assemblage of different materials layering and juxtaposing cutout images before gluing that form a new whole and may contain items such them down. as magazine and newspaper clippings or pieces 3. Remind students to consider the layout of words and of paper. images on a magazine cover, and how placement of • Print media are portable, disposable publications collaged images may impact the meaning of a work. such as newspapers, booklets and magazines. 4. Once collages are complete, students may apply • Globalization is the process by which the experience additional color using colored pencils or pastels. of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized Closure around the world. Factors that have contributed 1. Display finished collages around classroom. to globalization include increasingly sophisticated 2. Ask students to take a gallery walk and view their communications and transportation technologies peers’ collaged magazine covers. and services, mass migration and the movement 3. Use visual inquiry with the class to discuss student of peoples. artworks. • Capitalism is a way of organizing an economy so 4. Invite students to share the choices they made that the things that are used to make and transport in creating their artworks and challenge them to products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) are address the vocabulary words in connection with owned by individual people and companies rather their work. than by governments. Winter/Spring 2015 64

DIY Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow by Elan Ferguson, Family Programs Coordinator and Teaching Artist

The first exhibition devoted to ways contemporary artists use the magazines Ebony and Jet as resources and inspiration in their practices, Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art features more than thirty works by a multigenerational, interdisciplinary group of sixteen artists. Speaking of People includes photography, painting, sculpture and sound works that will occupy the Museum’s main galleries and project space.

For this do-it-yourself project, “Hair Today Gone Tomorrow,” participants will look at the work of prolific artist Lorna Simpson and her “Riunite & Ice” collage series. In this body of work, Simpson creates collages that reimagine the hairstyle from vintage Riunite Italian wine advertisements using ink and other images from the magazines. “Hair” can mean different things for different people. Outdated concepts of “good hair” and “bad hair” are abandoned for this project. This is a contemporary exercise of hair expression without judg- ment and/or limitations. Participants are to think of beauty in a broader sense, and to allow their portraits to promote an inclusive vision of loveliness.

Lorna Simpson “Riunite & Ice” Collage #6, 2014 Supplies Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York • Magazines or portrait images (color copies of self-portraits are really fun) • Scissors • Glue • 3 to 4 pieces of watercolor paper or heavyweight paper • Watercolors • Collage materials (patterned paper, fabric, yarn, etc.)

Vocabulary Collage, portrait, self-portrait, composition Studio Jr. 65

DIY Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Step 1 Find a female or male portrait that you like. Cut out the face but leave the hair behind.

Step 2 Glue the head down to another sheet of paper and begin to paint a new hairstyle. For children under four years of age, it may be best to let them paint first and add the face later.

Step 3 Repeat the same process, but this time, instead of using paint, use other materials, such as yarn, clay, fabric, paper, etc., to make the hair. Have fun with different styles, compositions and combinations of materials.

Lorna Simpson “Riunite & Ice” Collage #3, 2014 Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York

Studio Jr. 67

Coloring Page Trenton Doyle Hancock

On the occasion of Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing, the artist designed this coloring page featuring four characters from the imaginary world of his work. In Hancock’s artistic storytelling, the evil “Vegans” are the enemies of the half-human, half-plant “Mounds.” Learn more about Hancock’s work in the interview on page 16! Winter/Spring 2015 68

Alani Bass Pride, 2008 Courtesy the artist Studio Jr. 69

ETW Spotlight Interview with Alani Bass, '08

VanDerZee, as a vehicle to access and explore culture and history—a skill that I continued to develop as I pur- sued an art history degree in college. For me, my interest in making photographs eventually evolved into a strong desire to understand the points at which art, culture and knowledge converge.

GL: Thinking back to your experience in ETW, can you reflect on what made the program unique?

AB: One thing that sets ETW apart from other photography programs in the city is its commitment to exposing students to the positive histories within black Alani Bass Photo: Ivan Forde American culture. Recognizing my place in this lineage was a definite confidence booster. Gerald Leavell, Expanding the Walls/Youth Programs Coordinator, recently sat down with ETW 2008 alum GL: You’ve been a part of the Studio Museum family Alani Bass to discuss her experience in the program since you were fifteen, returning multiple times for and what she has been up to since joining the internships and other important projects. What is it Communications Department in August 2014. like working here now that you are pushing thirty?

Gerald Leavell: I recently discovered one of your AB: Hey, I’m pushing twenty-three! photographs from your participation in Expanding the Walls (ETW) 2008 in the Education office. Let’s begin GL: [Laughing] Now that I think about it, that does make with you telling me about your early experiences sense. I guess it’s a level of maturity you seem to have. with photography. AB: I guess so. But to answer your question, working at Alani Bass: I enrolled in my first black-and-white photo- the Museum has been wonderful in terms of allowing graphy class when I was eight at the Harlem School of me to take on projects that interest me. I also feel so priv- the Arts. When I was just starting out, I always seemed to ileged to be able to work with and learn from such inspir- be in programs with students who were older than me, ing people. which I guess is a testament to my love of photography and genuine willingness to learn. I continued learning GL: How do you see yourself growing here at the photography through high school and participated in Museum and what are some of your goals? ETW when I was fifteen. In retrospect, photography was definitely more than just a hobby—it was a tool that AB: I have always known that I want to be involved in the enriched so many other facets of my life. art world in some capacity, and a curatorial career path seemed to make the most sense. However, after just GL: Thank you for raising that point. When explaining three months working in another vital part of this institu- ETW to others, I try to stress that we don’t only focus on tion, as the Communications Assistant, I am definitely students who want to be photographers. beginning to reimagine what my contribution to the art community will look like. I’m eager to see how my AB: Exactly. What I loved about ETW was that we involvement at the Museum will continue to reveal more used photography, specifically the work of James about me. Winter/Spring 2015 70

Book Picks Walter Dean Myers

by Jo Stewart, Education Intern

M y e r s $16.95 Higher in Canada .

“Where are the people of color in children’s books?” inquired Southern-born M y e r s

WALTER DEAN MYERS LANGSTON HUGHES, is a recipient of the Margaret A. Countee Cullen, and James Baldwin Edwards Award for his contribution have sung their songs about H to young adult literature, and a H Harlem Harlem. Now Walter Dean Myers two-time Newbery Honoree for joins their chorus in calling to life A author Walter Dean Myers (1937–2014). Raised in Harlem and always an avid Scorpions and Somewhere in the A the deep, rich, and hope-filled his- Darkness (Scholastic Press). His tory of this community, this cru- R many other award-winning books of R cible of American culture.

poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for L L a poem by young readers include Malcolm X: Christopher Myers’ boldly assem- E By Any Means Necessary, The E Walter Dean Myers bled collage art resonates with M

Glory Field, and Shadow of the M feeling, and tells a tale all its own. Red Moon, also illustrated by Words and pictures together con- Christopher Myers (all Scholastic nect readers—of all ages—to the reader, Myers made it his life’s work to address this very question. When he Press). Walter Dean Myers grew pictures by spirit of Harlem in its music, art, up in Harlem, and now lives in literature, and everyday life, and to Jersey City, New Jersey. how it has helped shape us as a Christopher Myers people.

Come, take “A journey on the A cHRISTOPHER MYERS train / That started on the banks of is a recent graduate of Brown the Niger / And has not ended”. University and has completed the Take the journey of Harlem. Whitney Museum of American Art was a young man, books provided Myers with talismans to entertain, Independent Studio Program (1995-1996). He lives in New York City.

SCHOLASTIC PRESS empower and protect himself. As he grew older, however, he discovered that 555 Broadway, New York, New York 10012

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. . REINFORCED BINDING the characters he found in his favorite stories rarely, if ever, resembled his life or what he saw in his community. “What I wanted, needed, really,” Harlem (1997) is a book-length poem wrote Myers, “was to become an integral and valued part of the mosaic that that recounts the vibrant sights and I saw around me.” Fast-forward fifty years and more than a hundred books sounds of the Harlem community, later, and Myers has written young black teenagers and inner-city youth into illustrated by the author’s son, America’s literary landscape. He wrote poetry, young adult fiction, picture Christopher Myers. books and nonfiction in which he sought to validate and recognize the humanity of the black, the young and the poor—with a sense of urgency Harlem unparalleled in our time. The Studio Museum in Harlem would like to remem- Reprinted with permission from Scholastic Inc./ Scholastic Press ber and extend our sincerest gratitude to Walter Dean Myers for his excep- Cover illustration © 1997 from tional work in enriching a landscape gravely lacking in color. HARLEM: A POEM by Walter Dean Myers

Darnell Rock Reporting (1994) Me, Mop, and the Moondance Kid Monster chronicles the trial of portrays a young man’s attempt to (1988) is the story of how two sib- sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon, placate his principal by joining the lings plan to help their best friend in a victim of greed and bravado who school paper and advocating for her last-ditch effort to get adopted. is facing twenty-five-years-to-life changing the parking lot into a in prison. community garden. Reprinted with permission from HarperCollins © Christopher Myers Studio Jr. 71

Hamer Time 13 Years of Partnership

by Erin Hylton, School Programs Coordinator

Eleventh and twelfth grade Humanities students at FLH made self-portraits by tracing their photographs over a light box and incorporating symbolic images in their drawings.

The Studio Museum in Harlem is proud to celebrate over As we celebrate this evolving partnership, Alison thirteen years of partnership with Fannie Lou Hamer Gazarek, lead English Language Arts teacher at FLH and Freedom High School (FLH) in the Bronx. Four primary a six-year veteran of the partnership, and Traci Molloy, goals shaped what has become a successful model for a a Brooklyn-based artist and social activist who worked long-standing museum-school relationship: introducing as the program’s teaching artist for a decade, share their a variety of visual art experiences to young people, col- reflections on the program’s impact on generations of laborating with teachers to create arts-based interdisci- FLH students. plinary curricula, establishing professional development programs for administrators and educators, and encour- Alison Gazarek: Imagine you are a high-school humani- aging educators to use the arts as a tool for learning. ties teacher in the Bronx. Imagine your students run into Each year, nearly two hundred ninth- and tenth-grade your class asking, “When can we get started with our humanities students from FLH visit the Studio Museum. project?” Imagine the students are so eager to begin that Working with a teaching artist on projects directly con- they reach for materials before you can pass them out. nected to classroom curricula, the students create art- After the project is completed, you hear things like: “Now work that reflects both what they have learned and their I understand what the author was trying to say!” “In this personal perspectives as well. In studying topics such piece I’m trying to demonstrate motif.” “I repeated this as revolution in Latin America and the transatlantic slave image because in the author’s language, he often repeats trade, students have worked in a variety of artistic media, certain words that are important to his message.” “When including printmaking, drawing and painting. do we get to do something like this again?” Winter/Spring 2015 72

Hamer Time 13 Years of Partnership

Students at FLH experiment with painting and abstraction in a unit inspired by the 2013–14 Studio Museum exhibitions. All Photos: Erin Hylton

Far too often, classrooms don’t look like this. Projects like ways. I have seen a school transform visually: from this allow students to delve into English language arts having barren hallways to spaces filled with art in every and social studies skills, including analysis, interpretation available space, including on windows. I have watched and close reading, and explore the meaning of their find- talented teachers challenge themselves and expand ings through art. In our humanities classes, we want our their pedagogic repertoires by utilizing arts integration students to become better readers, writers and speakers. practices to reach students in new ways. Teachers that With the help of the Studio Museum, they have accessed have changed schools continue to use these methods these skills in ways we couldn’t have taught with tradi- in their new positions and introducing projects they tional means. Hopefully we have helped create the next learned during the partnership to new groups of stu- generation of artists along the way. dents and peers. I have seen the enthusiasm the students bring to the Studio Museum, some of whom are Traci Molloy: In the last ten years, I have worked with attending a museum for the first time in their lives. twenty-one humanities teachers and more than 1,500 This program has had a profound effect on me as students, and witnessed the educational impact of arts both an artist and an educator. I am honored that I integration on both. I have watched students that had have been able to help further the artistic and educa- been struggling in class come to life through the hands- tional mission of The Studio Museum in Harlem with on art projects and gain confidence in a multitude of this program.

Studio Jr. 73

Mini-Curator! Maya Evans × Toyin Odutola

“Bring a Child to Work Day” feels so 1999. These days, kids want to flex their creative muscles in more hands-on ways. Such was the case when eight-year-old Maya Evans, affectionately known as “mini-curator,” confidently told me that she’d like to lead a studio visit and interview with artist Toyin Odutola. Sure, I could have simply smiled at Maya’s sassy demeanor and pink bow, but the New Jersey youngster meant business. So in October 2014, Tiana Webb-Evans (Maya’s mother), Maya and I met at Odutola’s downtown studio to talk contemporary art, inspiration and green apples.

—Naima J. Keith, Associate Curator

Maya Evans: When were you born? How old are you?

Toyin Odutola: I am twenty-nine. I was born in Ife, Nigeria, in 1985.

ME: Where do you live?

TO: Brooklyn!

ME: Who was your favorite artist when you were young?

TO: How much time do you have? I have a lot of artists, but if I had to name one or two, I would definitely say Takehiko Inoue, a very well-known comic book artist, and Kerry James Marshall.

ME: When did you become an artist?

Photo: Naima J. Keith TO: That’s a very good question! It wasn’t until someone called me an artist that I thought of myself as an artist. I would say that I really didn’t consider myself an artist until I started showing my work, which was around 2011.

ME: Do you like being an artist and why?

Photo: Naima J. Keith

Winter/Spring 2015 74

Mini Curator! Maya Evans × Toyin Odutola

TO: Sometimes (laughter). I like that I can take something that exists in my head and make it exist in the world. I think that’s really cool. That’s one of the fun parts of being an artist. I think it’s also cool that someone who doesn’t know me very well sees my work and connects with it. The other stuff is not so interesting (laughter). But I love being an artist.

ME: How do you make your pictures?

TO: For some artworks, I make a preliminary sketch based on a photograph I’ve taken, and then I build Toyin Odutola drawing book for me. From that, I got Untitled, 2011 and build until the work is done. Courtesy Jack Shaiman Gallery, really interested in drawing. My style New York is more comic book–like. ME: How long does it take for you to make drawings? ME: How many works have you ME: How many interviews have you made so far? had? Is this your first time being TO: It depends on the drawings. interview by a kid? The pen-and-ink drawings take hours, TO: It’s hard to say. I can make up days, weeks and years (laughter). to thirty, maybe forty drawings TO: No, actually. I just came back The charcoal ones are a little different per year. from a show in Lancaster, where because I am working with a tool that middle school students asked me is softer and allows me to work ME: Do you have brothers or questions. But you’re definitely the quickly. The charcoal drawings take sisters? Are they artists too? youngest interviewer. You win! days and weeks. TO: I have two younger brothers, ME: Do you have any other jobs? ME: Do you make mistakes on whom I draw a lot, and two older your work? half-sisters, but I am the only con TO: Thankfully, I have only one job artist in the family (laughter). now. I used to have several jobs, TO: All the time! There are a lot of but I’m now an artist full-time. As an mistakes in this studio, but I’m not ME: Did you have to practice to artist, I feel like I have multiple jobs, telling you which ones (laughter). become an artist? What did you like but it’s all for one thing now. to draw when you were a kid? ME: What is your favorite color? ME: Do you like apples? TO: Let me tell you a secret, I cheated This is important. TO: Black. . . . a lot. When I was really young, my family moved to Alabama from TO: To eat? I like green apples ME: Where do you do your artwork? California, and my parents bought a a lot (laughter). That is a really Timon & Pumbaa (from The Lion King) im-portant question. TO: In the studio. Studio Jr. 75

Talk Back! #MyStudio

We love to hear from our visitors! At the front desk and in our Museum Store, we invite guests to share feed- back about their experiences at the Museum by filling out our “Talk Back!” form. We’ve shared some of our favorite responses and invite you to draw or write your own ideas in the box below. Share it on social media using #MyStudio so that everyone can see why you love The Studio Museum in Harlem!

My visit to The Studio Museum in Harlem was… Winter/Spring 2015 76 Friends Friends 77

2014 Joyce Alexander Samuel Levi Wein Artist Prize Jones

On October 27, 2014, Studio Museum Director and Chief Building upon the themes found in his earlier work, Curator Thelma Golden awarded the ninth annual Joyce Jones’s work currently consists of deconstructing found Alexander Wein Artist Prize to Samuel Levi Jones. The encyclopedias as a means of creating a medium that Wein Prize, one of the most significant awards given to communicates a feeling of being on the outside, as well individual artists in the United States today, was estab- as to provide a possible resolution to the search, of an lished in 2006 by jazz impresario, musician and philan- outsider, for a place of inclusion and identity. By literally thropist George Wein to honor his late wife, a longtime tearing apart these books—widely published arbiters Trustee of the Studio Museum and a woman whose life of authenticity—and reconstructing them into abstract embodied a commitment to the power and possibilities two-dimensional works for the wall, Jones is able to forge of art and culture. Inspired by his wife’s lifelong support a more personal alliance with the materials. It is through of living artists, George Wein envisioned the Wein Prize this intimate exploration of the materials that Jones as an extension of the Studio Museum’s mission to sup- is able to delve deeper into his behavior and practice port experimentation and excellence in contemporary of omission as he removes and fractures information. art. The $50,000 award recognizes and honors the artis- Jones recently completed the Recology Artist tic achievements of an African-American artist who in Residence Program in San Francisco, which concluded demonstrates great innovation, promise and creativity. with a group exhibition. He has been featured in several Samuel Levi Jones was born and raised in Marion, group shows in California, including The Histories of Indiana. Trained as a photographer and multidisciplinary Technologies (Jessica Silverman, 2014), Open (PAPILLION, artist, he earned a BA in Communications Studies from 2014) and TRANSPORT…Where we go from here (Pro Arts, Taylor University and a BFA from the Herron School of 2013). His work has been exhibited in the Latent Image Art and Design in 2009. In 2012 he completed his MFA Gallery, Indianapolis; the Cal State University Gallery; in Studio Arts from Mills College, Oakland, California. the Branch Gallery, Oakland; the Herron School of Art He currently works and resides in the San Francisco and Design, Indianapolis; Mills College, Oakland; the Bay Area. Jones’s work is informed by historical source Watts Towers Art Center, Los Angeles; and PAPILLION, material and early modes of representation in documen- Los Angeles. His solo exhibition, Black White Thread, was tary practice. He explores the framing of power by des- on view at PAPILLION from November 8, 2014, to January ecrating historical material and then reimagining new 4, 2015. A solo exhibition showcasing his very first site- works. Jones investigates issues of manipulation and the specific work will be on view at the Studio Museum from rejection of control. March 26 to June 28, 2015.

Samuel Levi Jones So Vain, 2013 Courtesy the artist Winter/Spring 2015 78

Gala 2014

Amelia Ogunlesi, Kathryn Chenault, Carol Sutton Lewis, Teri Trotter, Jacqueline Bradley** Friends 79

Gala 2014

George Wein and Samuel Levi Jones

Carol Sutton Lewis, Chirlane McCray, Thelma Golden, Hon. Tom Finkelpearl* Rebecca and Martin Eisenberg

TABLES Patron Supporter Benefactor American Express Douglas Baxter / The Pace Gallery Valentino D. Carlotti – Goldman, Sachs & Co. Frank & Laura Day Baker Bloomberg Philanthropies Kathryn C. & Kenneth Chenault Dr. Anita Blanchard & Martin Nesbitt Susan & Jonathan Bram Mitzi & Warren Eisenberg Jacqueline L. Bradley Gladstone Gallery The Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg Family Frank & Nina Cooper / PepsiCo Joyce & Ira Haupt, II Foundation Darden Restaurants, Inc. T. Warren Jackson, DIRECTV / Charles E. Simpson, Katherine Farley and Jerry Speyer Peggy Cooper Davis & Gordon J. Davis / Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP Carol Sutton Lewis & William M. Lewis, Jr. Venable LLP / Patricia Blanchet Miyoung Lee & Neil Simpkins Amelia & Adebayo Ogunlesi Rebecca & Martin Eisenberg Bernard I. Lumpkin & Carmine D. Boccuzzi Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation Inc. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Iva and Scott M. Mills Keisha Smith / News Corp GenNx360 Capital Partners Verizon Communications Jose Tavarez & Holly Phillips, M.D. / Bank of Agnes Gund Xerox Foundation America Merrill Lynch Mr. and Mrs. John B. Hess Ann Tenenbaum & Thomas H. Lee Marie-Josée & Henry Kravis Teri & Lloyd Trotter / GE Foundation Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s Crystal McCrary & Raymond J. McGuire Rodney M. Miller, Sr. Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley Urban Markets Group Ron Perelman and Anna Chapman All photos by Julie Skarratt except as noted: Target *Matt Carasella / scottruddevents.com Viacom / BET Networks **Ben Rosser / Billy Farrell Agency George Wein Winter/Spring 2015 80

Gala 2014

Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg* Holly Phillips, M.D. Jose Tavarez Tom Finkelpearl, Valentino Carlotti*

Pippa Cohen, Christine Y. Kim Philip and Cheryl Milstein Keisha Smith, Mark Jeremie

Crystal McCrary, Bethann Hardison Daniel Neidich, Brooke Garber Neidich, Duro Olowu Ann Tenenbaum, Dick and Lisa Cashin

Donor INDIVIDUALS Supporter Amy and Joe Perella Charitable Fund Patron Gail & Gilbert Ahye Francisco L. Borges Melva Bucksbaum & Raymond Learsy Ariel Investments, LLC Pippa Cohen Jessica Stafford Davis / The Agora Culture Art Production Fund Joan S. Davidson & Neil S. Barsky David Zwirner Gallery Nicole A. Bernard/ Fox Audience Strategy Con Edison Debbie & Ron Eisenberg Judia Black Elizabeth Davis & Luis Penalver John E. Ellis, M.D. Linda D. Bradley Lisa E. Davis, Esq. / Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz Charlotte Feng Ford Valerie S. Brown EmblemHealth Galerie Lelong Columbia University GCM Grosvenor Denise & Gary Gardner Paula Cooper and Jack Macrae GE Asset Management Jack Shainman Gallery Valerie A. Cooper Donald E. Graham Margaret and Daniel Loeb-Third Point Foundation Fieldstead and Company halley k harrisburg & Michael Rosenfeld Cheryl & Philip Milstein John H. Friedman & Jane H. Furse HBO Shelly & Neil Mitchell Alexander Gray and David Cabrera The James A. & Mary H. Bell Charitable Edward Tyler Nahem Herman Gray Foundation Peg Alston Fine Arts Paul and Dedrea Gray Marcus Mitchell & Courtney Lee-Mitchell David Rockefeller Lea K. Green / Christie’s PepsiCo Randi & Eric Sellinger James F. Haddon / Madeleine Haddon Mr. and Mrs. Timothy D. Proctor John Silberman Steve Henry and Philip Shneidman James H. Simmons III / Ares Management LLC Robert Soros Arthur J. Humphrey Jr. Marilyn & Jim Simons Kathleen M. Tait James Cohan Gallery Squire Patton Boggs Fred Terrell and Jonelle Procope Ms. Julia Johnson Angela Vallot & James Basker George and Gail Knox Reginald Van Lee Nancy L. Lane Bradley J. Wechsler & Patty Newburger Nyssa & Chris Lee Jason H. Wright Friends 81

Gala 2014

Charles Cochrane, Gail Knox, George Knox Kenneth Chenault, Debra Black, Leon Black Laura Day Baker and Kate Bolduan**

Joyce and Ira Haupt Marvin Campbell, Cecilia Carter Nina Cooper, Aisha McShaw, Reverend Al Sharpton, Frank Cooper Katherine Farley and Jerry Speyer Calvin Otis, Alex Otis, Joe Brown** Claire Sulmers, Jeffrey Wright, Steve McQueen, Trenesa Stanford-Danuser*

Marian Goodman Gallery Contributors Marianne Boesky Gallery Salim & Mara Brock Akil Julie Mehretu and Jessica Rankin Ann and Steven Ames Richard & Ronay Menschel Jimmy Arnold Metropolitan Museum of Art Jules M. Bacal & Anne Newman Ruthard C. Murphy II and Anderson Gama C. Edward Chaplin & Karen L. Chaplin Michelle Papillion Felicia N. Crabtree Laura Paulson / Christie’s Jeanine B. Downie, M.D. Kim Powell Melba Farquhar The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Leslie A. Fleuranges Rockwell Group / LeAnn Shelton, Esq., AIA Linda Hill Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn & Nicolas Rohatyn Kiss the Sky Productions, Inc. Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP Dorothy Lichtenstein Sikkema Jenkins & Co. J. Macarena-Avila Marsha E. Simms Movado Group, Inc. Times Square Alliance R & B Feder Charitable Foundation United Way of New York City Daryl & Steven Roth The William and Diana Romney Gray Family Ann and Mel Schaffer Foundation Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP Darryl S. Williams Cindy Sherman Zubatkin Owner Representation, LLC Sophie Crichton Stuart David Teiger Carla and Cleophus Thomas Jr. Franklin A. Thomas and Kate R. Whitney Nancy and Milton Washington Derrick D. Wilder Winter/Spring 2015 82

Members Fall/Winter 2014

The Museum’s Membership Dr. Kenneth Montague Deborah Cates Eileen Harris Norton Jocelyn Charles Program has played an important Ronald and Ophelia Person Andre D. Juste & Vladimir Cybil Charlier-Juste role in the institution’s growth for Lacary Sharpe Chris Cheesman Diane Solomon Ian Christie over forty years. Thank you to all Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner & Paul A. Wagner Robert Clemons the following who helped maintain Lyn & E. Thomas Williams Nancy L. Clipper Patricia G. Coates our ambitious schedule of exhi- Associate Velma L. Cobb bitions and public programs during Daryl & Rodney Alexander Pippa Cohen Peg Alston & Willis Burton Garland Core, Jr. the 2014 season. Barbara E. Anderson Ronald and Linda Daitz Beverly J. Anderson Tyrone M. Davenport CORPORATE MEMBERS Jennifer Arceneaux Carlton Davis American Express Anne Newman and Joe M. Bacal Sasha Dees JPMorgan Chase Peggy & John Bader Ellyn & Saul Dennison New York University Jemina R. Bernard Ellen M. Donahue Pfizer, Inc. Vence Bonham Ryan Drake-Lee UBS Randolph C. Cain Erica Eaton Charles Davis Georgia E. Ellis SPECIAL MEMBERSHIPS Suzy Delvalle Valentino and Ingrid Ellis Studio Society Sally Dill Toni G. Fay Drs. Answorth and Rae Allen Russell J. Drake and Rebecca C. Drake Ruth Fine Valerie J. Blanks, Esq. Thelma & David Driskell Jack A. Fogle Jonathan Caplan & Angus Cook Elaine G. Drummond Patricia Freeman Lisa Downing Arti & Harold Freeman Louis Gagliano & Stefan Handl Barbara T. Hoffman Charlynn & Warren Goins Adriane Gelpi Sarah and Derek Irby Ira Goldberg Richard Gerrig Tina & Lawrence Jones Arthur I. Golden Kristen B. Glen Elizabeth Marks Anne Gorrissen Alvia Golden David Maupin / Lehmann Maupin Lea K. Green, Esq. Herman Gray Helen Stambler Neuberger and Maxine Griffith Joan Greenfield Jim Neuberger Marla Guess Sharon Griffith Ronald Person Robert & Patricia Gwinn Sarah Haga Alessandra Carnielli / Pierre and Savannah and Dion D. John Ira & Carole F. Hall Tana Matisse Foundation Charla Jones Sanjeanetta Harris Dr. Deborah Pilgrim-Graham and Jennie C. Jones Janet O. Henry Dr. Kenneth R. Graham Eungie Joo Marilyn Holifield Brenda & Larry Thompson Phyllis L. Kossoff Dorothy D. Holloway Francis H. Williams Peter D. Lax Barbara Johnson Katherine Wilson-Milne Maureen Mahon Robert M. Jordan Kerry James Marshall & Cheryl Lynn Bruce Mitchell Karp GENERAL MEMBERSHIP Kynaston McShine Alitash Kehede Benefactor Ernest Mensah Wayne H. Kelton Douglas Baxter & Brian Hastings Maryanne Mott Zannoah Kinsman Heather Rae Byer Edward Tyler Nahem Erika Kirkland-Pizzo Agnes Gund Amy and Joseph Perella Mary M. Kresky Sondra A. Hodges Marquita & Knut Eckert Kelli Lane Melva Bucksbaum & Raymond Learsy George Nelson Preston, Ph.D. James D. Lax, M.D. Gwen & Peter Norton Donville and Rashaan Reid Jeffrey A. Leib Connie & Jack Tilton John Silberman Pierre Levai Beth Zubatkin Gwen & Arnold Webb Linda A. Lewis Joyce Lowinson, M.D. Donor Supporter Susan Lui-Jimenez Ellen Brathwaite Daniel Berger, M.D. PJ Maglione Valerie S. Brown Yvonne Bertie Daisy W. Martin Dana Cranmer Robert D. Bielecki Allyson Martinez Mia Enell & Nicolas Fries Ann & Jonathan Binstock Teresa Mason Joshua Guild & Carla Shedd Rosemary Blake Sheila Ann Mason-Gonzalez Angela Jackson Adrienne Booker Laurence Mathews Barbara Jakobson Barbara Boyd Karen McMullen William Bowen King III E. Maudette Brownlee, Ph.D. Lorenzo McRae Elizabeth Szancer Kujawski Wilma Bucci and Bernard Maskit Sal Miele and Max McCauslin Daniel S. Loeb & Margaret Munzer Loeb Edward Blake Byrne Jeanne-Marie A. Miller Robert L. Marcus Tanya Caesar-Waller Cerisa Mitchell Anthony Meier Elaine Carter Daphna H. Mitchell Friends 83

Members Fall/Winter 2014

Anna Miyaji Simone Booker LeAnn Shelton Monique Meloche Gallery Edith Boyd Carla & Edward Slomin Angeline Monroe-Mayo Michèle & Joseph Brazil Marcia Smith & Stanley Nelson Jacob Morris Daphne A. Brooks Leanne Stella Lucienne Muller Cynthia Brown Kristin Pulkkinen & Peter Stepek Madeline Murphy Rabb Nia Chambers Robert and Rosamund Storr Stacia Murphy Deirdre Cooper Owens Cydney & Keith Strand Kay C. Murray Erica Corbin Stan Stuetley Hal Newell Kevin R. Curry & Abdou Seye Laura Sweeney Robert Newman Lynda & Raymond Curtis Michael Taubman & Gabriella Rodriguez Cynthia Orage Alice M. Dear Noreen Tomassi Jonathan W. Parker Kay Deaux & Sam Glucksberg Edith Van Slyck & James R. Hammond Jelena Pasic Cheryl Finley Eva Velasco Pena George D. Patterson Darrell & Helen Forbes Fields Lorraine Warnsley CCH Pounder-Koné Vilma E. France Harriet M. & Charles Weiss Jennifer Prince & Deborah Thornhill James E. Frazier Celia & Landon H. Wickham Martin Puryear & Jeanne Gordon Dolly and Jack Geary Robert & Barbara Willner Jane Ratcliffe Jeanne Gerrity & Ben Petrosky Gerri Woods Sarah Ringle Eleanor & Lyle Gittens Judy Rogers Carol and Arthur Goldberg Individual Mildred B. Roxborough Gayatri Gopinath Ashley Adams Carol & Aaron B. Russell Deborah Pilgrim Graham and Jeanette Adams Frances Savage Kenneth R. Graham Adwoa Adusei Eugene Schiff Tyson and Martha Hall Pia Alexander-Harris Sideya Sherman William A. Harper Sister Khuumba Ama Danielle Siegelbaum Geoffrey Hendricks & Sur Rodney Keith D. Amparado Kenneth Sills Marie Hines Cowan Dianna Anderson Patterson Sims and Katy Homans Brian and Molly Horowitz Valerie Anderson Laura Skoler Gigi Hozimah Andrea Anderson-Hamilton Damon Smith Erica Hunt Mary Ellen Arrington Judith W. Smith Chrislyn Janine Dr. Kenneth Ashley Seton Smith Carmen Jones C. Atterbury Salim I. Talib Denise Jones & Dennis Jordan Jacqueline A. Bailey Julian Taub Sonia Katyal Larissa Bailiff Aziza Taylor Susan Kreitzman Hilary M. Ballon Shawn Hill & Magda Teter Amy B. Kuhn & Stuart L. Rosow Veronica Banks Cambrey Thomas Kimberly P. & Roderick E. Lane Gloria Batiste-Roberts Carla & Cleophus Thomas Nancy Latimer Carolyn Bell Ellie & David B. Tweedy Joshua Leach & John Thomspon Donyisha Boston-Hill Sametta Vick Rosalyn Lee & Beverly Tillery Monica Bowman Clara C. Villarosa Jerome M. Lewine Kim Brandon Margo & Anthony Viscusi Dawn Lille Cynthia D. Brown Carolyn & Ed Wagner Lewis P. Long Matthew Buckingham Joy Wellington Arnaldo J. Lopez Tammi Butler Jacqueline White Sarah Lowing Cal-Poly Pomona Library Periodicals Darryl S. Williams Mari Matsuda Cathleen Campbell Gilbert S. Williams, Jr. Suzanne McClelland Jennifer Carruthers Jeanne Willis Autumn D. McDonald Gulzar R. Charania Hugh A. Wilson Ozier Muhammad Clairesa Clay Mark Worrell Meredith Nickie & Nathan Bennett Valerie A. Cooper / Picture That Paula Wynter Gloria C. Phares & Richard Dannay Art Consultants Kathryn Yale Sean Phillips and Margrit Mateo-Phillips Margaret Daly Douglas Zywiczynski Jerry Pinkney Deborah Daughtry Nancy Delman Portnoy Willie Davis III Family/Partner Tracy Pugh Sylvia de Cuevas Anonymous Kellie Jones and Guthrie Ramsey Dennis Decker Vernona Adams Bill and Georgia Ringle Elizabeth Dee Elizabeth Alexander & Ficre Ghebreyesus Francisco & Hope Rodriguez Bunny Dell Elisabeth Ames Patricia A. Rojas Edward Dew Lisa Applebaum & George Haddad Michael & Esther Rosenberg Kathleen A. Dill Richard Armstrong Hyacinth Ross Louise S. Dockery Eunice Asare Anna & Wolfgang E. G. Saxon Danielle Dowrich Jo-Anne L. Bates Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz Yvonne M. Durant Jane Berentson Abukarriem Shabazz Peter Erickson Yaëlle Biro Jerard Shannon Tabetha Ewing Matthew Blesso Elza Rohan Sharpe Susan Fanshel Winter/Spring 2015 84

Members Fall/Winter 2014

Paul Fearon George McKinley Martin Doris D. White Holly Fetter Karen McMillan L. H. Whitehead Jeanne Fishman Mary B. McRae Michelle Joan Wilkinson Daria Foner Phoebe Morris Avelino Williams Janine Francis Bruce Morrow Dyana Williams Linda Galietti Ernesto Mujica Barbara M. Wilson Ervin J. Garrison Eunice H. Murphy Samuel Wilson, Jr. Lyndon K. Gill Jeanine Myers E.J. Wohlgemuth Michael C. Gillespie Babacar Ndiaye Anita J. Wright Marilyn T. Glater Eileen Newman Missy Wright Stuart Golvin Derek G. Nichols Antoinette Young Jo-Ann Graham Mary Alice O'Connor Kevin L. Young Constance Grey Shawn Outler Angela E. Gumbs Tatiana Pages Senior Janice Guy Dr. Nell Painter Anonymous Cheryl S. Haigler Monica Parham O'Neal Abel Shannon Hales Sandra M. Payne Beverly C. Abisogun Dionne Hansen-Sexton Denise A. Penn Jarrettia Adams Sydette Harry Olivia E. and Paul Bruce Perkins Kojo Ade Michelle Hart John Pfeiffer Sonja Ahuja Monroe Head Steven Pikes Sherli Allen Herbert Henry Princeton University Emma Amos The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Library Periodicals Martha Andujar Kim Hernandez Ann Ranniar Ann B. Armistead Stephanie Hicks Valerie A. Rhodes Jan Arnesen Navindren Hodges Mariama Richards Jimmy Arnold Camara Holloway Mary E. Riley Anna R. Austin Shaunda Holloway Floree Roberson Frederic H. Bacon Karen Hughes Denine Rodney Wanda Baker-Smith Al-lyce Eloise James Richard Rodriguez Nubia Beazer Erica M. James Mia Rogers Dolores H. Bedford DéVon Johnson George Romero Barbara Boggs Preston Johnson Nada Rowand Elizabeth T. Bolden Robert O. Johnson & Ann M. Menting Bobby Savinis Roscoe Born Imara Jones Tigist Selam Herb Boyd Susan C. Joseph Ellen Shaffer Bertha Brandon Cheryl Keeve Regina Shanklin Ruby Branker Rev. Wendy Kelly-Carter Christopher Shaw Lavonnie Brinkley Jane Kirkland Daryl Shore Ava Brown Randy Kroszner Stefanie Siegel Beverly F. Bryer-McLean Lara Land Adelaide E. Simms Marirose Bump Aimee E. Lang Marsha E. Simms Jean Bunce Perrin Lathrop Sippio Small Vinie Burrows Brad Learmonth Paul W. Smith Maryanne Byington Marie LeDoux Joel Snyder Janice L. Bynum Alexander Lee Madelyn Soussoudis Diana Cagle Mary Ann Lee Clara R. Stanton Veronica Clyborn Scott Lisa Lefebvre Emmlynn Taylor Sadie & Roberto Codling Gregory Lenhardt Janet Taylor Milton Collins Lynn Lieberman Ethel Terrell Joyce Conoly-Simmons Carrie Lowery Randy Thomas Aaron Cox David Lucas Roxanna Thomas Charlotte H. Crawford David S. Lucas Susann Thomas Brent Crayton Karen Lumpkin Delmar Thompson Robert Oba Cullins Hellura I. Lyle Lloyd E. Thompson Ruth Curtis Darryl J. Mack Anthony Todman Carl F. Davis Anuja Madar Holly Tomlin Diane D. Dean Andrea Mahon John D. Treadwell Veronica DeLuze Larry Mantello Elizabeth A. Turnock Joan Deroko Stacy Martinez Alia Uduhiri Susan C. Dessel Mehdi Matin Susanna G. Vapnek Gwen Dixon Jennifer Matthews Yolanda Villasante Undagoitia Betty Donerson Roslyn McClendon Neville Ward J.A. Durades Gay McDougall Ernestine Washington B. Nyia Eady Julie L. McGee Gena Watson Joan M. Eastmond Christine McKay Lisa Diane Wedgeworth Charlene Edwards Friends 85

Members Fall/Winter 2014

Gertrude F. Erwin Muriel Z. Pivalo Stephanie Pearson George D. Everette Giselle King Porter Alexis Peskine Lucille Eversley Hortense L. Powell Helen Evan Ramsaran Theodore C. Fair Andrea Ramsey Carstella M. Rutledge Barbara Flemmings Jacqueline K. Randolph Akili Tommasino Eve France Rita I. Reid Sharon Williams-Matthews D. Mercedes Franklin Margaret A. Robbins Nolberto Zubia Marilyn Gailliard Virginia Robinson Pearl Gill Miriam Rosen The Studio Museum in Harlem makes every Gary & Bernice Giscombe Lois Safian effort to ensure the accuracy of its lists of Carla Grant Gloria J. Scott members. If your name is not listed as you Wilhemina Green Merian T. Sherrod prefer or if you believe your name has been Elaine L. Greene Maritza Sigaran omitted, please let us know by contacting the Juliette Hansen Gwendolyn A. Simmons Development Office at 212.864.4500 x221 or Sandra Harper David Simon [email protected]. Susan Harrigan Clara Skipwith Burgess Olivia C. Hector Cheryl Smith Geraldine Hilson Edwin Smith Bonnie Hornstein Thomas Smithwick James Herbert Howell Edward L. Snyder Jon Hutton Thomas Southern Esther Jackson Edward Esty Stowell, Jr. Faith R. Jacobs Tamara D. Tabb Joan James Laura Tandy Olga C. Jenkins Beverly Taylor Elizabeth Johnson Gay Terry Pat J. Johnson Abraham Thomas Patrice Johnson Eileen Thomas Hettie Jones Muriel F. Thomas Ronald June Thelma Thomas Lois M. Kahan Jane Tillman Irving Angela Keiser Inez B. Vanable Ernece B. Kelly David Walters Regina M. King Sylvia Waters Beth M. Lawrence Winona Watson Susan Lawrence Eva Welch Sandra Lee Carol White Dubaka K. Leigh Carol Williams James N. Lewis Patricia D. Williams H. Thomas Lint Aaron Woods III Janice Livingston Ruth C. Wright Eleanor Lowe Martina Yamin J. Macarena-Avila Delores E. Mack Student Susan T. Mackenzie Katie Apsey Susan E. Madigan Claire Brandon Frank B. Marshall III Reginaldo Cerolini Carmen & Herbert B. Matthew Pamela Council Shirley McCain Jodie Dinapoli Rhonda J. McLean Danica Dow Odette McNeil Malcolm Ebanks Sonia Mendez Erika Ewing Michael Metz Tonya Foster Erich Meyerhoff Uraline S. Hager Herman Milligan Alexa Hall James Morton Allison Janae Hamilton C. Moultrie Suzanne Johnson Michael Myers, M.D. Nzingha Kendall Isobel H. Neal Katherine Kuhl Jeanne Nedd Wendy Leigh Curtis Dr. Ademola Olugebefola Kirsten Magwood Oluyemi Omowale Timothy Mangin Benjamin W. O'Nealos Coralina Meyer Paul O'Neil Anthony Monda Claretha Osborne Saretta Morgan Barbara & Stephen Pearlman Layo Olayiwola Hank Willis Thomas Raise Up, 2014 Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York Friends 87 Winter/Spring 2015 88

Member Spotlight Sarah and Derek Irby

Level: Studio Society Members since 2000

Derek and Sarah Irby Photo: Scott Rudd

Do you recall when you first visited the Derek: The Studio Museum is the cultural heartbeat of Studio Museum? the city and is one of the only institutions focused on artists of African descent. The Museum’s focus on pro- Sarah: Former Studio Museum Trustee Joyce Haupt first moting and enriching black culture is what makes it so introduced us to the Museum in 2000 when she invited important to me as a donor. I personally love the Uptown us to an event featuring acclaimed author Susan Fales- Fridays! series. Sarah and I attended one this summer. Hill. It was fantastic. We joined the Museum as members It was such fun. that night and have been involved with the Museum ever since. How would you characterize the Museum’s role in Harlem? Derek: I grew up in New York and had always heard of the Museum, though, admittedly, I had never been until Derek: Even though the Studio Museum is an art institu- that night with Sarah. I also loved the exhibition that was tion, it doesn’t stop there. Over the past decade, I’ve seen up at the time, Images of Harlem: Selected Photographs readings, talks and musical performances at the Museum. by James VanDerZee. The Studio Museum is one of the The way the Studio Museum embraces all artistic media first things we discovered together, as a couple. feels very representative of Harlem itself—and makes for an open and accessible environment. And through the What does it mean to you both to contribute to the Museum, I’ve actually gotten to know Harlem better. Studio Museum and participate in Studio Society? Sarah: The Studio Museum is a gateway to Harlem. Sarah: It’s so important to me to support a Museum dedicated to promoting artists of African descent. I also find the social aspects of Studio Society membership very enjoyable. I love reconnecting with old friends at the Museum and meeting new people who love art. I’ve also enjoyed past events hosted by the Museum, such as panels on the art of collecting and behind-the-scenes exhibition tours. Friends 89

Supporters Fall/Winter 2014

The Board of Trustees and Director Rodney M. Miller, Sr. Karol Thwaites National Endowment for the Arts Alphonso E. Tindall, Jr. / Squire Patton of The Studio Museum in Harlem Mr. Martin H. Nesbitt & Dr. Anita Boggs LLP extend deep gratitude to the K. Blanchard Verizon Foundation New York State Council on the Arts Viacom donors who supported the Museum The Perelman Family Foundation Inc. George Wein from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014. Corine V. Pettey Xerox Foundation Marva Smalls / Viacom Monica Zwirner and Lucy Wallace Eustice / Mz Jerry I. Speyer & Katherine G. Farley Wallace $500,000 & above Tishman Speyer Properties L.P. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Wells Fargo $5,000 to $9,999 Kathryn C. & Kenneth Chenault / The Winston Foundation Anonymous American Express Ariel Investments, LLC The Ford Foundation $10,000 to $24,999 Debra L. Lee / BET Networks The New York City Department of Anonymous Darwin F. Brown Cultural Affairs Douglas Baxter / The Pace Gallery Lisa & Dick Cashin Carol Sutton Lewis & William M. Lewis, Jr. The James A. & Mary H. Bell Charitable Paula Cooper and Jack Macrae Foundation T. Warren Jackson / DirecTV $100,000 to $499,999 Nicole A. Bernard / Fox Audience Strategy John H. Friedman Valentino D. Carlotti / Goldman, Sachs & Co. Susan & Jonathan Bram Diana and William Gray The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation The Boeing Company Sandra Grymes The Institute of Museum and Library Services Citigroup Martin M. Hale, Jr. Raymond J. McGuire The City University of New York Stephanie & Tim Ingrassia Amelia & Adebayo Ogunlesi Pippa Cohen Johnson & Johnson Target The Cowles Charitable Trust Linda Johnson Rice & Mel Farr Ann Tenenbaum & Thomas H. Lee Elizabeth Davis & Luis Penalver Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation Teri & Lloyd Trotter / GenNx360 Capital Lisa E. Davis, Esq. / Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz for the Arts Partners Peggy Cooper Davis & Gordon J. Davis Joy of Giving Something, Inc. Reginald Van Lee Frank & Laura Day Baker Pamela J. Joyner Dedalus Foundation Noel Kirnon & Michael Paley $50,000 to $99,999 David Flemister / EmblemHealth Nyssa & Chris Lee Anonymous Council Member Inez E. Dickens, 9th C.D and Michael Levine The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts The New York City Council Dorothy Lichtenstein Bank of America Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Michael L. Lomax Booth Ferris Foundation GE Asset Management Marian Goodman Gallery, Inc. Ed Bradley Family Foundation / Patricia GE Foundation Cheryl & Philip Milstein Blanchet Godfrey R. Gill Ruthard C. Murphy II Darden Restaurants, Inc. / Jacqueline Bradley Gladstone Gallery New York State Dormitory Authority and Clarence Otis, Jr. Donald E. Graham New York University Con Edison halley k harrisburg & Michael Rosenfeld NYC Board of Education Mitzi & Warren Eisenberg Jerome Foundation Arthur J. Humphrey, Jr. Joyce and George Wein Foundation The Keith Haring Foundation Rusty O'Kelley Nancy L. Lane George & Gail Knox José Tavarez & Holly Phillips, M.D. Morgan Stanley Community Affairs Miyoung Lee & Neil Simpkins Karen C. Phillips News Corp Mark Levine Janelle Reiring The Ralph and Fanny Ellison Charitable Trust Glenn Ligon LaTanya Richardson Jackson Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation Inc. Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Inc. Tracey & Phillip Riese Surdna Foundation Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine Craig & Modupe Robinson D. Boccuzzi Tamara Harris Robinson $25,000 to $49,999 LVMH Moët Henessy Louis Vuitton Inc. Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn and Nicolas S. Bloomberg Philanthropies May and Samuel Rudin Rohatyn Frank & Nina Cooper / Pepsi-Cola Beverages Family Foundation Fiona & Eric Rudin North Americas Henry McGee / HBO Andrew and Nancy B. Simmons The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. Iva and Scott M. Mills Michael S. Smith Joan S. Davidson & Neil S. Barsky Courtney Lee-Mitchell & Marcus Mitchell Ellen & Jerome Stern Rebecca & Martin Eisenberg MJS Foundation Inc. Margaret E. Stokes Lise & Michael Evans Eileen Harris Norton Alessandra Carnielli / Pierre and Agnes Gund Deryck A. Palmer and Mats G. Carlston Tana Matisse Foundation Joyce & Ira Haupt, II Amy and Joe Perella Charitable Fund Fred Terrell and Jonelle Procope Mr. & Mrs. John B. Hess Pfizer, Inc. The Margaret & Daniel Loeb Third Point ING, US / Rhonda Mims Karen M. Proctor Foundation Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Shaun Caley Regen Time Warner Inc. Marie-Josée & Henry Kravis Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc. United Way of New York City Lambent Foundation James H. Simmons III / Ares Management LLC Paulette Washington Macy's and Bloomingdales Marilyn & Jim Simons Nancy and Milton Washington MetLife Foundation The Studio in a School Association Maria Weaver-Watson/ Winter/Spring 2015 90

Supporters Fall/Winter 2014

Interactive One, LLC Charlynn Goins Steven Schindler Dawanna Williams Paul & Dedrea Gray Barbara H. Scott Charles E. Simpson / Windels Marx Lane & Lea K. Green, Esq. / Christie's Jean Shafiroff Mittendorf, LLP James F. Haddon Komal Shah Jason Wright George Haywood LeAnn Shelton, Esq., AIA / Rockwell Group Assemblyman Keith L.T. Wright, 70th A.D. Tom Heman Cindy Sherman Zubatkin Owner Representation, LLC Steven Henry and Philip Shneidman Marsha E. Simms Barbara T. Hoffman Melissa & Robert Soros $1,000 to $4,999 Karen M. Hopkins, M.D. Sotheby's Alexander Gray Associates LLC Carole Hopson Suzanne Slesin & Michael Steinberg Peg Alston Fine Arts Joan & George Hornig Sylvia's Ann & Steven Ames Sarah and Derek Irby Kathleen M. Tait Andrea Rosen Gallery Jack Shainman Gallery Lindsay Taylor Drs. Answorth and Rae Allen Barbara Jakobson David Teiger Nancy Armstrong Julia Joern Franklin A. Thomas and Kate R. Whitney Charles N. Atkins John Silberman Mickalene Thomas The Atlantic Philanthropies (USA) Inc. Julia Johnson Brenda & Larry Thompson Avon Foundation for Women Peter and Maria Kellner Norma & John T. Thompson Corey M. Baylor June Kelly & Charles Storer Toby D. Lewis Philanthropic Fund Valerie J. Blanks, Esq. Hope Knight & Steven Umlauf Tim Tompkins BMO Capital Markets Koplin Del Rio Gallery Angela Vallot & Jim Basker Marianne Boesky Jayme Koszyn Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner & Paul A. Wagner Linda D. Bradley Elizabeth Szancer Kujawski Ted & Nina Wells Michèle Lallemand Brazil Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund Francis H. Williams Valerie S. Brown Richard H. Levy & Lorraine Gallard Janice Savin Williams & Christopher J. Williams Melva Bucksbaum & Raymond Learsy Christina Lewis Halpern T. Merele Williams Alessandra Carnielli / Pierre and Tana Matisse Myrdith Leon Deborah Willis Foundation Loida Nicolas Lewis Katherine Wilson-Milne Burrell Communications Susan & Glenn Lowry Deborah C. Wright Peggy Cooper Cafritz Shirley Madhère, M.D. Carla Camacho / Lehmann Maupin Manhattan Borough President's Office $500 to $999 Jonathan Caplan & Angus Cook Carolyn Mason Anonymous Central Park Conservancy David Maupin / Lehmann Maupin Shelley Fox Aarons, M.D. Phyllis Cherebin Crystal McCrary Elizabeth Alexander & Ficre Ghebreyesus Racquel Chevremont Suzanne McFayden Smith Danielle Austen James Cohan Gallery Mehretu and Rankin Family Clarence & Jackie Avant Coastal Community Foundation of South Richard & Ronay Menschel Yetta Banks Carolina Metropolitan Museum of Art Donnamarie Baptiste Dale Cochran B. Michael Aliyyah Baylor / Make My Cake Columbia University Laura Michalchyshyn Nadja Bellan-White Malaak Compton-Rock & Chris Rock Gregory R. Miller & Michael Wiener Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels / Jack Shainman Jocelyn Cooley Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Gallery Valerie A. Cooper / Picture That Art David Monn Laura Blanco Consultants Isolde McNicholl Motley & Joel W. Motley Holly Block Saundra W. & Donald Cornwell Movado Group, Inc. Jenna Bond-Louden Laura A. & Mark J. Cosgrove Angela Mwanza Berdie & Mairtin Brady Coyne PR Edward Tyler Nahem Alvin & Yolanda Brown Judith & Ronald Davenport, Sr. Helen Stambler Neuberger and Jim Neuberger Reginald Browne & Dr. Aliya Browne The David Rockefeller Fund Jacqueline & Kevin Nickelberry Spencer Brownstone Dawn L. Davis & Mac LaFollette Amber and Charles Patton Judith Byrd Amalia Dayan & Adam Lindemann Laura Paulson / Christie's Tamara Campbell Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Lisa & Richard Perry Jean Carey Bond Janine Dorsett Amy Phelan Midwin Charles, Esq. Lisa Downing Kim Powell Helen & William Covington Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts R & B Feder Charitable Foundation for the Wendy Cromwell Russell J. Drake and Rebecca C. Drake Beaux Arts Robyn Cummings Coles Elizabeth W. Easton Tracy Reese Norma Jean Darden & Joshua Givens The Eugene M. Lang Foundation Erica & Antonio Reid Karlene Dennis Rita M. Ewing Doreen Remen Drs. Keith Downing and Gabrielle Page-Wilson Vicky L. Free The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Thomas E. Dyja & Suzanne Gluck Kathy Fuld Deborah Roberts Marquita & Knut Eckert Galerie Lelong Victoria M. Rogers Louise Eliasof Steven Ganeless The Ronald & Jo Carole Lauder Foundation Alfred Engelberg Darrell S. Gay / Arent Fox Daryl & Steven Roth Susan Fales-Hill Robert Gober & Donald Moffet Jack & Susan Rudin Rita & Waldo Falkener Goethe-Institut New York Ann & Mel Schaffer Susan K. Freedman & Rabbi Jacobs Family Fund Friends 91

Supporters Fall/Winter 2014

Sunny & Brad Goldberg Myra J. Biblowit Vivian D. Hewitt Kathy Halbreich Judia E. Black Gladstone E. Hinds Tiffany M. Hall Rosemary Blake IBM Corporation Matching Grants Program Gia M. Hamilton Mahen & Luca Bonetti Nicole Ifill Sandra Harper Hannah & Sherry Bronfman Stuart Ingle Comer Ingleton Dermatology Erika Irish Brown Thomas Jaffe Dwight C. Johnson Jacqueline Brown Allison Jaffin Kim Johnson Kedma Brown Paula James Nailor Leah C. Johnson Pauline Brown Joan James Dawn Kelly Alexandra Browne Leonade D. Jones Jeanine Liburd Sarah Buttrey Robert M. Jordan Erika F. Liles Peggy Byrd / One Solution Susan C. Joseph Ian B. Mac Callum, Jr. & Lissa Mac Callum Randolph C. Cain Luke Jostins Carol Mack Drs. George Campbell and Mary Schmidt John R. Keene Karen I. Mauersberg Campbell Dominique Kelly Diane & Adam Max Charlita Cardwell Tracey Kemble & Brian Mathis Metropolitan Museum of Art Lydia & Mats G. Carlston Blythe Kennedy Sue Mingus Maggie Cepis Sherri Kent Maryanne Mott Veronica Chambers Klaus Kertess Alondra Nelson Teresa Clarke Ellis June King Nearon Edris Nichols Evelyn Clarke Lorrie King & Edbert Morales Gabriela Palmieri Sadie & Roberto Codling Lucille Kranz Saundra Parks Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Cohen Lara Land Vanessa Y. Perez, Ph.D. Floyd Coleman Terese Laughrey & Eric Suttman in honor of Ronald and Ophelia Person Anita Contini Margarett Cooper A.P. Pickens Felicia Crabtree Beth M. Lawrence Denise L. Quarles CRG Gallery Peter D. Lax Beverly and Raymond Ransom, M.D. Sophie Crichton Stuart Marjorie A. Lewis Donville and Rashaan Reid Monique Cunningham Susan Lewis Caralene Robinson Sarah Curtis-Bey Sonya D. Lockett Schwartz Schulte Roth & Zabel Linda Daitz Sharon Y. Lopez in honor of Erana Stennett Sandra G. Serrant Tyrone M. Davenport Amy Lucas Jack Shainman Carl A. De Brito J. Macarena-Avila Kimberly Ayers Shariff Valerie Deas Doreen A. Malliet Audrey Smaltz Kay Deaux & Sam Glucksberg Alison Mandelker-Burnett William S. Susman & Emily L. Glasser Joan Deroko Roxana Marcoci The Benjamin Slome Charitable Foundation Guy L. deVeaux Daisy W. Martin Candice Taylor-Horvath Brickson E. Diamond Ayana Mathis Connie Rogers Tilton Leah A. Dickerman Lucille McEwen Rima Vargas-Vetter Elizabeth L. Dimmitt Lisa Rose A. McGowan Vinateria Erin Dooley Sandra G. Meehan Wendy Washington Jeanine B. Downie Erica Motley Mark Willis George D. Everette Pamela Newkirk Fred Wilson Josephine Falco & Jeffrey Steinman Leslie Norville Ali Winter Somers & Jonathan Farkas Stephanie O'Toole John Young Cheryl Finley Patricia M. Pates Leslie A. Fleuranges Jane Penn $499 and below Jennifer Francis Olivia E. and Paul Bruce Perkins Ben Abel Vincent Fremont & Shelly Dunn Fremont Howardena D. Pindell Tunji Adeniji James Gara Tamar Podell Khandi Alexander Carol and Arthur Goldberg Dawn Porter Naomi Alston Francis Greenburger CCH Pounder-Koné Emma K. Ancelle Marguerite D. Greene Paul & Melinda Pressler Beverly J. Anderson Constance Grey Patricia Hayling Price Marcellus Armstrong Maxine Griffith Martin Puryear & Jeanne Gordon Jimmy Arnold Vernon W. Griffith Peter S. Reed Susan Austin Elizabeth J. Gwinn Kenneth W. Richardson Anne Newman & Joe M. Bacal Robert & Patricia Gwinn Virginia Robinson Jennifer Baltimore Sarah Haga Al Roker & Deborah Roberts Jamilah Barnes Creekmur Shannon Hales Rudin Management Company Inc. Pamela Baxter Allison Janae Hamilton Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz Joyce & Earl Benjamin Bethann A. Hardison Elza Rohan Sharpe Wayne Benjamin Susan S. Harmon, Esq. Ashley Shaw Scott Adejaye Betsy Berne William A. Harper Buzz Slutzky Christopher Bevans Reginald D. Harris Gena Smith Sayu Bhojwani Kim Hastreiter Judith W. Smith Winter/Spring 2015 92

Supporters Fall/Winter 2014

Nanette Smith Howard & Sharon Socol The Studio Museum in Harlem makes every Susan M. Sosnick effort to ensure the accuracy of its lists of Erana Stennett supporters. If your name is not listed as you Anthony Tait prefer or if you believe that your name has been Charles Tarver, Sr./Black Art omitted, please let us know by contacting the Beverly Taylor Development Office at 212.864.4500x221 or Florence Taylor [email protected]. Candice Taylor-Horvath Ann Temkin Karen A. Toulon Truist Gabrielle and Alex Uballez George Van Amson Inez B. Vanable Kjell M. Wangensteen Monique Ware Ernestine Washington Karen Lynne Watkins Yelberton Watkins Margaret N. Weitzmann Alice Wells Constance White Emil K. Wilbekin L. H. Whitehead Anita Volz Wien Barry Williams Carla Williams Rodney K. Williams Sybil Williams Robert & Barbara Willner Tren'ness Woods-Black Hilda L. Wradge Lamont Wray

In Kind Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Friends 93 Membership Join today! Info Becoming a Member has never been easier.

Photo: Scott Rudd

Individual $50 ($25 for Student/Senior) Associate $250 (Fully tax-deductible) ($220 tax-deductible) — Free admission to the Studio Museum for one — All the preceding benefits plus: — Personalized membership card — One complimentary Studio Museum — One-year subscription to Studio exhibition catalogue — Invitations to exhibition opening receptions — 20% discount on exhibition catalogues Donor $500 published by the Studio Museum ($450 tax-deductible) — 15% discount on all Museum Store purchases — All the preceding benefits, plus: — Invitations to member shopping days with — Invitations to behind-the-scenes tours and additional discount offers throughout the year talks with art connoisseurs and curators — Free admission or discounted tickets — Two complimentary guest passes for to all Studio Museum educational and family and friends public programs — Special discount at select local Harlem businesses — Annual recognition in Studio

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Supporter $125 (Fully tax-deductible) — All the preceding benefits, plus: — Member privileges of the North American — Reciprocal Museum Program, allowing free or member admission and discounts at hundreds of museums across the United States — Free admission for one guest Winter/Spring 2015 94 Membership Yes! I want to be a Member Form of The Studio Museum in Harlem.

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MEMBERSHIP Donor $500 Name of additional member (Family/Partner level members and above) Associate $250 Supporter $125 Family/Partner $75 Individual $50 Address Student $25* Senior $25* City State Zip STUDIO SOCIETY Studio Society $1500

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Visitor Information

Address General Info Museum Hours 144 W. 125th St. New York, NY 10027 T 212.864.4500 Thursday and Friday, noon–9 pm; (between Malcolm X and Adam C. F 212.864.4800 Saturday, 10 am–6 pm; Powell Jr. boulevards) Sunday, noon–6 pm. Media Contact Admission 212.864.4500 x213 The Museum is closed to the public Suggested donation: $7 (adults), [email protected] on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday $3 (seniors and students). but available for school and group Public Programs Info Free for members and children tours by appointment on these days. 212.864.4500 x264 (12 and under). For more information on scheduling [email protected] a tour, visit studiomuseum.org Follow us on social media! Membership Info studiomuseum 212.864.4500 x221 [email protected]

W 132th St

By Bus: 125th Cross-town: W 131th St BX15 M60 M100 M101 W 130th St Up/Downtown: M10 M2 M7 M102 W 129th St E 129th St M1

W 128th St E 128th St Municipal Garage

W 127th St

5th Ave

Malcolm X Blvd

W 126th St A C 2 3 B D Jr Blvd Powell Clayton Adam 4 5 6 W 125th St

W 124th St

W 123rd St

7th Ave

Lenox Ave Lenox

Lexington Ave Lexington

Park Ave Park

Madison Ave

Frederick Douglass Blvd Frederick W 122nd St

Marcus Garvey Park W 121st St

W 120th St

W 121st St St Nicholas Ave Nicholas St Winter/Spring 2015 96

Lea Kari Green 1974–2014

The entire Studio Museum family mourns the untimely Left: passing of Lea K. Green. Lea Green at the Studio Museum’s Spring Luncheon 2012 Lea was the Museum's Director of Special Projects Photo: Julie Skarratt from 2006 until 2011. In this role she contributed so Top Right: deeply to the life of the Museum, but her involvement Lea Green, President Barack Obama and Thelma both preceded and continued after her tenure here. Golden at the Studio Museum, March 29, 2011.

She led the revitalization of our Contemporary Friends Bottom Right: group in the early 2000s and continued as a supporter Susan Wright and Lea Green at the Studio Museum’s Spring Luncheon 2013 and friend of the Museum during her role as Vice Photo: Julie Skarratt President at Christie’s. Most importantly, she was a dear friend and a vibrant, brilliant, strong woman whose pow- erful love for art and artists informed her amazing career and generosity of spirit. We extend deep and sincere condolences to her family, as well as her large circle of friends and colleagues. Her life and legacy continue to inspire us every day. Studio Magazine Board Of Trustees This issue of Studio is underwritten, Editor-in-Chief Raymond J. McGuire, Chairman in part, with support from Elizabeth Gwinn Carol Sutton Lewis, Vice-Chair Rodney M. Miller, Treasurer Creative Director Teri Trotter, Secretary The Studio Museum in Harlem is sup- The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine Winter/Spring 2015 The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine Winter/Spring 2015 Thelma Golden ported, in part, with public funds provided Dr. Anita Blanchard Managing Editor by the following government agencies and Jacqueline L. Bradley Dana Liss elected representatives: Valentino D. Carlotti Kathryn C. Chenault Copy Editor The New York City Department of Cultural Joan S. Davidson Samir Patel Affairs; New York State Council on the Gordon J. Davis, Esq. Arts, a state agency; National Endowment Design Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for the Arts; the New York City Council; Pentagram Sandra Grymes and the Manhattan Borough President. Arthur J. Humphrey Jr. Printing George L. Knox Allied Printing Services The Studio Museum in Harlem is deeply Nancy L. Lane grateful to the following institutional do- Original Design Concept Dr. Michael L. Lomax nors for their leadership support: 2X4, Inc. Bernard I. Lumpkin Dr. Amelia Ogunlesi Studio is published two times a year Bloomberg Philanthropies Corine Pettey by The Studio Museum in Harlem, Booth Ferris Foundation Ann G. Tenenbaum 144 W. 125th St., New York, NY 10027. Ed Bradley Family Foundation John T. Thompson The Ralph and Fanny Ellison Reginald Van Lee Copyright ©2015 Studio Magazine. Charitable Trust Ford Foundation All rights, including translation into other Hon. Bill de Blasio, ex-officio The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation languages, are reserved by the publisher. Hon. Tom Finkelpearl, ex-officio Jerome Foundation Nothing in this publication may be Lambent Foundation reproduced without the permission of the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation publisher. MetLife Foundation Surdna Foundation 1 2 Target Titus Kaphar Trenton Doyle Hancock The Andy Warhol Foundation for Jerome IV, 2014 …And Then It All Came Back to Me, 2011 the Visual Arts Courtesy the artist and Jack Collection KAWS, New York Shainman Gallery, New York Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery, Joyce and George Wein Foundation ©Titus Kaphar New York Wells Fargo The Winston Foundation Winter/Spring 2015 Winter/Spring Magazine Harlem in Museum Studio The

The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine Winter/Spring 2015