Call and Response

As promised, here are some more pics of the Nick Cave exhibition at the Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art on the campus of the College of Charleston. I attended both lectures given by Nick Cave and Phyllis Galembo and I am happy to report that they were well attended and the audience engaged. 

detail of the textures

Nick Cave gallery talk

Phyllis Galembo gallery talk

I know...my pictures are horrible. The back grounds on my painting are looking wonderful and I promised to post a couple images of them tonight. I've been busy on all fronts the past few days. Two days ago, I got a call from a producer of the Spoleto Festival. They needed a moderator for a talk with Henrique Prince, the leader of one of the last black string bands in America, the Ebony Hillbillies. Why me? My good friend Mark Sloan pitched me for the gig and you don't say 'no' to Mark's requests. They are always reasonable and you are guaranteed to have a great time and more importantly, venture into unknown territory and come back with pearls of wisdom and a map to even more knowledge. The talk was at the Avery Center and needless to say, I was nervous at first, but Rique was a talker and I basically asked him question I wanted to know the answers to - questions like, "What's the difference between a fiddle and a violin?" It also helped that Henrique is a walking storehouse of musical knowledge and carries a compendium of ethnic musical history around in his dread covered head. The Ebony Hillbillies play tonight at the Cistern (sold out) and I'll be there. To get more info go to: ebonyhillbillies.com

The Ebony Hillbillies

Woolworth Menu / Call and Response

I placed a reproduction of a Woolworth menu at the time of the sit-in in the hands of Annie Holland and the first thing that jumps out at you are the prices. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and salad for .95¢. Wow. Sorry, Bob, but the times, they are a changed! I guess it doesn't matter how relatively cheap it seems if you couldn't have a seat and enjoy the damn meal. And to answer your question is yes, the menu was a serious pain in my ass to duplicate - took all day.

The SPOLETO Festival started today. For those of you unfamiliar with this most high-brow of arts festivals in Charleston, you can read about it here. Spoletousa.org. 17 glorious days of opera, theater, dance, ballet, jazz, chamber music, etc., but no visual art! WTF!!!!! Fortunately, we have the Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art to take up the slack. Last night, Cathy and I attended the opening of "Call and Response: Africa to America / The Art of Nick Cave and Phyllis Galembo." What a tremendous opening. Here's a description of the exhibition:

Chicago artist Nick Cave creates costume/sculptures that he calls Soundsuits consisting of brightly colored fabrics, elaborate embroidery, beadwork, raffia and natural materials. Phyllis Galembo's photographic portraits feature masqueraders from the West African countries of Benin, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. Call and Response: Africa to America / The Art of Nick Cave and Phyllis Galembo pairs the work of these two uniquely American artists, each of whom explores the contours of West African masquerade through their art. This exhibition highlights the role of ritual traditions within the formation of cultural identity. While Galembo's intriguing photographs document actual masquerade performers in elaborate "costume," Nick Cave's Soundsuits offer a poetic response incorporating a cornucopia of natural and cultural elements rich in associative possibilities.The combination of these two artist's work offers a powerful celebration of creativity, imagination, and cross-cultural communication. Call and Response: Africa to America seeks to draw both the obvious and subtle parallels between the works of Galembo and Cave.

Both artists are having a gallery talk tomorrow from 2-4 and I will be in attendance. Mark Sloan, the Curator of the exhibit and the Director of the Halsey, honored me today by bringing both Nick and Phyllis by my studio to see some of my art. I found out that both myself and Nick were alumnae residents of McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte. We had a wonderful visit and will be exchanging some art. Here's a taste of what I experienced last night and I promise to take my camera and upload some images of this impressive exhibition tomorrow.

Nick Cave

Phyllis Galembo