Category: The Arts

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Mario Moore: A Fellow At Work: Focusing On Black Workers At Princeton University.

There is nothing in the post that is original to me. But I have been spending part of my pandemic quarantine time these past few months attending Zoom lectures from the Princeton Art Museum. In their December email newsletter was a link to this presentation by Mario Moore about his show at Princeton while he was the 2018 – 2019 Hodder Fellow there. It is a year old but still relevant in 2020 and maybe even more so. I found it very intriguing and very rewarding. Here is the video included in the article and I would recommend that you click this link and read the entire story!

“The Work of Several Lifetimes,” an exhibition of new work created over the past year by Moore, presents etchings, drawings and large-scale paintings of black men and women who work at or around campus. Moore was a 2018-19 Hodder Fellow in the Lewis Center for the Arts; the fellowship is given to artists and writers of exceptional promise to pursue independent projects at the University during the academic year.

Moore was one of five Hodder Fellows for the 2018-19 academic year. Moore received a BFA in illustration from the College for Creative Studies (2009) and an MFA in painting from the Yale School of Art (2013). He has participated as an artist-in-residence at Knox College, The Fountainhead and the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. His work has been exhibited at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, and Detroit Institute of Arts, and with the Smithsonian Institution. Moore’s solo exhibitions include Winston-Salem State University’s Diggs Gallery and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts. His work is included in the “Studio Visit Volume 31” (2015) and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s catalog, “Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art” (2014).

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Museums Close As Pandemic Spreads: Art Institute of Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Museum

First, from an email that I received on Tuesday November 17th from the Art Institute of Chicago:

Since reopening in late July, the Art Institute has warmly—and safely—welcomed visitors back to the galleries to experience firsthand the transformative power of art.

However, due to the governor’s new directives for the state of Illinois, the museum will immediately be closed to visitors.

We will continue to work with local and state public health departments and will keep you updated on any new developments, including information about reopening.

In the meantime, please stay in touch through our website and social media channels. We’ll continue to develop content that fulfills our mission to foster the exchange of ideas and inspire an expansive, inclusive understanding of human creativity.

In the meantime take advantage of their online features and information. Their website is: https://www.artic.edu/

And this morning, the Milwaukee Business Journal published an article that the Milwaukee Art Museum would close until January 2, 2021 due to concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Milwaukee Art Museum announced it will close to the public beginning Thursday through at least Jan. 2, 2021, as a result of rising Covid-19 cases in the city of Milwaukee.

While the facility is closed to the public, art museum staff will work from home to continue virtual art museum engagements. The museum is encouraging visitors to view its content online with virtual tours of gallery spaces, interviews with artists and art projects for families.

And so you can keep tabs and utilize their online features, the MAM website is: http://mam.org/

Editor’s Note: this afternoon I also received notification that the Milwaukee Public Museum and the Cleveland Museum Of Art are closing for a period of time due to the pandemic. MPM didn’t provide an anticipated opening date, while CMA hopes to reopen on December 17th, 2020.

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Museum of Wisconsin Art: Wisconsin Funnies: Fifty Years of Comics is extended until January!!!

This is excellent news…this is a show that I dearly want to visit but was having an issue planning a safe trip to West Bend! Well now I have a bit more time to work it out and then do a write up here! Here is some background and click this link for more info on the show and how to see it during the COVID-19 era.

Extended through January 10, 2021

Wisconsin Funnies is the first exhibition to present the rich history of comics in Wisconsin. The nearly two hundred works by twenty-five artists will illustrate the major themes, innovations, and publications that characterize the state’s past half-century of comic art. The exhibition pairs hand-drawn original art with printed material such as comic books, alternative weekly newspapers, and other collectibles and ephemera. 

Wisconsin Funnies is on view at both the Museum of Wisconsin Art’s “mother ship” in West Bend and MOWA | DTN, located in downtown Milwaukee at Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel. MOWA | DTN will feature comics with a political bent; the West Bend location will offer a comprehensive overview of comics in Wisconsin. While California is often considered the birthplace of underground comics (also known as “comix”), Wisconsin began producing independently published, subversive comics at the same time. Beginning in the late 1960s, the Wisconsin comix scene, spearheaded by Denis Kitchen’s Kitchen Sink Press, marshalled the countercultural appeal of comic art to educate, instigate, and entertain a disaffected generation. 

So give this a look see if you have a chance or the inclination. I know that members of my generation will be familiar with a lot of these artists and publications…and fans of graphic novels will see some of the antecedents of their favorite genre and a few of these artists are currently working in this field today.

full disclosure: one of the artists in the exhibit is Dan E Burr…an artist who I have known and worked with in different capacities since the early 1970s…who I haven’t been able to get together with since March…sigh.

“Anyone…interested in the history of comics, politics, and popular culture should visit MOWA and absorb the power of this historic collection.” –Chris Yogerst, Comics Journal