Monday, October 19, 2020

Dindga McCannon. Joel Elgin Athraigh Printmaking Studio

Dindga McCannon was born in Harlem and studied at the Art Students League, working with mentor Jacob Lawrence.

“As a 1960s member of Weusi, Dindga became interested in the Black Arts movement. In the 1970s, she was part of the first group show of professional black women artists in New York City. Dindga has been an artist for 55 years. In addition to her work as a quilter author, and illustrator, Dindga considers herself a costume designer and muralist and a print maker.”

http://www.shadesofnoir.org.uk/creatives/portfolio/dindga-mccannon/

“ … In early 1971, Kay Brown, Dindga McCannon, and Faith Ringgold gathered a group of black women at McCannon’s Brooklyn home to discuss their common frustrations in trying to build their careers as artists… Out of this initial gathering came one of the first exhibitions of professional black women artists: “Where We At”—Black Women Artists, 1971. Adopting the show’s title as its name, the collective began meeting at members’ homes and studios, building support systems for making their work while assisting each other with childcare and other domestic labor. Where We At recognized the power of collectivity—empowering black women by creating a network to help them attain their professional goals as artists…”

https://www.albrightknox.org/blog/exhibition-spotlight-dindga-mccannon-and-%E2%80%9Cwhere-we-%E2%80%9D-black-women-artists-we-wanted-revolution

Dindga McCannon

Morning After, 1973.

Color linocut, block

Dindga McCannon

Revolutionary Sister, 1971.

Mixed media construction on wood,

Dindga McCannon

Georgette. 1972

color linoleum cut

Dindga McCannon

Afrodesia & Mira Gandy, 1971

Woodcut & screenprint

Dindga McCannon

Shackles, Slaves, and Prods, 1972

Woodcut

https://dindgamccannon.world/

https://bombmagazine.org/articles/dindga-mccannon-by-philip-glahn/

https://advantagesofage.com/live/culture/dindga-mccannon-american-artist-feminist-age-aint-used/

Joel Elgin Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/joel.elgin.athraighprintstudio/

https://www.instagram.com/joel_elgin_art_history/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/athraigh

Thursday, October 1, 2020

Betye Saar: The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. Joel Elgin

Betye Saar: The Liberation of Aunt Jemima

African American printmakers/artists have created artwork in response to the insulting image of Aunt Jemima for well over fifty years.

To offer some insight into the long battle with racially offensive images, Athraigh Print Studio offers a few words and a small exhibit of artwork created by brilliant, contemporary printmaker/sculptor, Betye Saar.

https://www.joelelginathraighprintstudio.com/joel-elgin-athraigh-studio-blog/betye-saar-the-liberation-of-aunt-jemima

“…In 1972, the Rainbow Sign Cultural Center in Berkeley put out an open invitation for an exhibition of works depicting black heroes. Saar, who decided that she wanted a heroine, produced The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, … Aunt Jemima was Saar’s response to the rage and helplessness she experienced after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The work also responded to the politics of civil rights and black nationalism. Aunt Jemima was the symbol of black nurturing and black servitude. She was the caregiver for the master’s children, as well as her own. She was also the go between for the house and the field. In Saar’s hands, Aunt Jemima, with her broom and her rifle, is transformed into a freedom fighter…”

https://sculpturemagazine.art/ritual-politics-and-transformation-betye-saar/

In an interview, Betye Saar stated:

“…When Martin Luther King was assassinated, I reacted by creating a woman who’s my warrior: Aunt Jemima. Aunt Jemima is a derogatory image of black women … So I created a piece called The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. I gave her a rifle. It wasn’t that I was advocating violence through weapons, but I thought if you saw a weapon—if you saw a gun—you would know that she meant business. I used the image of the gun to imply that kind of violence, but her true violence was her spirit—that she wanted to overcome, that she wanted to move on from where her position was…”

http://womenatthecenter.nyhistory.org/women-work-washboards-betye-saar-in-her-own-words/

At the same time, Saar created Liberation of Aunt Jemima: Cocktail. Consisting of a wine bottle with a scarf coming out of its neck, labeled with a hand-produced image of Aunt Jemima and the word “Aunty” on one side and the black power fist on the other, this Molotov cocktail demands political change, insisting that full racial and gender equality must be achieved, to borrow the words of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, “by any means necessary.”

https://sculpturemagazine.art/ritual-politics-and-transformation-betye-saar/

The Liberation of Aunt Jemima

Wood, Mixed-media assemblage, 11.75 x 8 x 2.75 in. 1972.

Liberation of Aunt Jemima: Cocktail

Mixed-media assemblage, 12 x 18 in. 1973.

Liberation (washboard)
Mixed media assemblage, 19 x 8.5 x 2.5 in. 2014

For more on the Betye Saar, please go to:

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-betye-saar-transformed-aunt-jemima-symbol-black-power

https://sculpturemagazine.art/ritual-politics-and-transformation-betye-saar/

http://womenatthecenter.nyhistory.org/women-work-washboards-betye-saar-in-her-own-words/

http://www.betyesaar.net/index.html

Joel Elgin Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/joel.elgin.athraighprintstudio/

https://www.instagram.com/joel_elgin_art_history/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/athraigh

Monday, September 28, 2020

Dr. Samella Lewis. Joel Elgin Athraigh Printmaking Studio

SAMELLA LEWIS, born in New Orleans in 1924 is rightfully considered one of the most influential artists/art historians in the United States.

**“… As a young artist, she was drawn to subjects as diverse as police brutality against African Americans, comic books, and characters from her older sister's romance novels…”**

https://hammer.ucla.edu/now-dig-this/artists/samella-lewis

She “…became the first African American to receive doctorates in Fine Art and Art History. Dr. Lewis attended Dillard University, Hampton Institute, and Ohio State University. She taught as a full-time professor at Morgan State University, Florida A&M, State University New York Plattsburgh, California State Dominguez, California State Long Beach, and Scripps College…”

https://www.blackartinamerica.com/index.php/2019/03/11/dr-samella-lewis-the-godmother-of-african-american-art/

Dr. Lewis “…was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, making her a target of government officials who accused her of being a Communist and members of the Ku Klux Klan who shot out windows of her home. Undaunted, she founded a chapter of the NAACP in Plattsburgh.”

https://www.louissternfinearts.com/samella-lewis-bio

“Lewis has changed the landscape of Art History and has become an influential and highly respected voice that has also mentored and bolstered the careers of many African American artists. She is the recipient of a myriad of awards and distinctions and has exhibited in many important galleries and museums.”

http://www.stellajonesgallery.com/samella-lewis

I See You

Linocut. 2005

Migrants

Linocut. 1968

“I fight against segregation, discrimination, racism, brutality and depravity because these things deny people their rights as human beings.” -- Samella Lewis. (Credit: Daily Bulletin)

House of Shango

Lithograph. 1992

**“The title of this piece is an unmistakable harkening to African roots. Shango is a religious practice with origins in Yoruba (Nigerian) belief, deifying a god of thunder by the same name…”**

https://rcwg.scrippscollege.edu/blog/2016/10/02/highlights-of-the-collection-samella-lewis-house-of-shango/

First Phase

hand-colored lithograph. 2005

Please visit the Athraigh Print Studio at:

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/joel.elgin.athraighprintstudio/

https://www.instagram.com/joel_elgin_art_history/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/athraigh

https://www.blackartinamerica.com/index.php/2019/03/11/dr-samella-lewis-the-godmother-of-african-american-art/

https://www.louissternfinearts.com/samella-lewis-bio

http://rcwg.scrippscollege.edu/blog/2008/07/09/samella-lewis/

http://www.stellajonesgallery.com/samella-lewis

https://hearnefineart.com/artists/53-samella-lewis/biography/

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Hughie Lee-Smith

Hughie Lee-Smith

Lee-Smith was born in Eustis, Florida in 1915. Before working with the WPA, he ran track with Jessie Owens and earning a deree from Wayne State, he began to learn printmaking at the Karamu House in Cleveland. Karamu is Kiswahili for "a place of joyful gathering". Karamu is the oldest, producing African American theatre in the nation but has also historically been a home for printmakers, dancers, actors, and writers.

Lee-Smith died in 1999. His prints are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian and the Detroit Institute of Art.

As a printmaker, Hughie Lee-Smith is best known for his series, “The Artist's Life" which dictates, his early life in Cleveland during the Great Depression. Check out the subtle description of his life: a policeman beating a worker, closed factories, etc..

Lee-Smith was a strong drawer and highly experimental printmaker. We could easily spend this time detailing his range as a printmaker, but today lets focus on his portraits and mono prints.

The Artist's Life No.1, 1939

Lithograph

Untitled (Woman's Head) , 1985

Pencil on paper

Untitled (Head of a Woman), 1970

Monotype

Untitled (Head of a Woman), 1970

Monotype

Head of a woman with curly hair , 1969

Monotype

Untitled (Face and figure study) , 1969

Monotype

Please check out the YouTube Version:

Monday, September 21, 2020

“Jacob Lawrence: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture”. Joel Elgin Athraigh Studio

Today's post features the printmaker Jacob Lawrence's series of silk screens depicting Toussaint L’Ouverture, the mastermind behind the Haitian Revolution.

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), is more well known than many of the other printmakers recently featured by Athraigh Studios. We might know his prints in general but let’s take a specific look at his brilliant series, the “Toussaint L'Ouverture.”

Content first: Jacob Lawrence is depicting Toussaint L’Ouverture the mastermind behind the Haitian Revolution. In the last years of the 1700’s Toussaint L’Ouverture won independence from Europe, defeated Napoleon’s army, and brought Haiti out of slavery. In 1804, after the people who were then referred to as “slaves” won their freedom by force, Haiti became the first black republic in the West.

Form: In 1936, at the age of 21, Jacob Lawrence created 41 paintings of the life of L’Ouverture. In 1986, Lawrence produced 15 silk screens inspired by the original paintings.

I’ve included only 3 images from the series for today’s presentation but I encourage you two go to the following link to see the entire series, including a description written by Lawrence of each print.

https://www.davidsongalleries.com/artists/modern/jacob-lawrence/toussaint-louverture/

Strategy

Silk screen on Rising two ply rag paper, 1994

Deception

General Toussaint L'Ouverture

Silk screen on Bainbridge two ply rag paper, 1986

To Preserve Their Freedom

Silk screen on Bainbridge two ply rag paper, 1988

Please check out the video of the exhibition:

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Barbara Jones-Hogu and AfriCOBRA. Joel Elgin Athraigh Studio

In 1968, printmaker Barbara Jones-Hogu was a founding member of the Chicago group, African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA). The artists of AfriCOBRA made visual, the central ideas of the Black Power movement—self-determination, unity, and black pride. They agreed to embrace a style that emphasized strong bold colors, flat shape, rhythm, and text to highlight the heroic and beautiful qualities of black lives in America.

https://americanart.si.edu/education/oh-freedom/barbara-jones-hogu

The prints created by Barbara Jones-Hogu, stand as brilliant works of art and at the same time reveal a glimpse into America’s history of embedded racism and the importance of protest.

Land Where My Father Died

Color screenprint on gold-colored Japanese-style laid paper. 1968,

“…I feel that racism and fascism played a great deal in my father being successful or not successful in his life, so some of these prints’ ideas and content deal with the fact that we and he were not really free to do whatever we and he really wanted to do and could do due to radical oppression and suppression…”

https://never-the-same.org/interviews/barbara-jones-hogu/

Nation Time

Color screenprint on gold-colored paper, 1970,

“…In Nation Time, a dominant figure leads a black ensemble to rise up against the American flag background. Closer looking reveals that the American flag’s stars are Ku Klux Klan members. In this way, the composition acknowledges how racism is deeply embedded in America, while also inspiring hope of overcoming that truth…”

https://blantonmuseum.org/2020/03/womens-history-month-2020-5womenartists-from-the-blanton-collection/

Be Your Brother's Keeper

Color screenprint, 1971

“…The guns and the lights on them and various actions against and between the military and the protesters caused me to think that we should be our brothers’ keeper…”

https://never-the-same.org/interviews/barbara-jones-hogu/

Unite (AfriCOBRA)

Color screenprint on ivory wove paper 1971

YouTube Version:

For further information on Barbara Jones-Hogu and AfriCOBRA:

https://never-the-same.org/interviews/barbara-jones-hogu/

https://www.blackartinamerica.com/index.php/2017/11/16/barbara-jones-hogu-one-of-americas-greatest-artists-has-passed/

Joel Elgin Art Sites:

https://www.joelelginathraighprintstudio.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/joel.elgin.athraighprintstudio/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/athraigh

Monday, September 14, 2020

Ernest Crichlow: Cinque Gallery. Joel Elgin Athraigh Printmaking Studio

Athraigh Printmaking Studio’s series of small exhibitions continue today with its series of exhibits of African-American printmakers. The issues addressed by these artists are still current. I had not learned of many of these amazing printmakers in school and therefore, sadly, I did not expose my students to them. I hope that by bringing these artists to you now, you might have a better understanding of the long battle against racism, artists of color have fought and continue to fight today.

The Cinque Gallery was founded in 1969 by artists Romare Bearden (1911–1988), Ernest Crichlow (1914–2005), and Norman Lewis (1909–1979) to exhibit the work of both new and established African–American artists, and to provide community educational programs. The gallery was named after Joseph Cinqué, the leader of the Amistad slaveship mutiny of the 1830s. For more than three decades, Cinque sponsored more than 300 exhibitions in a number of New York City venues, as well as regional travelling exhibitions before closing in 2004.

https://www.aaa.si.edu/exhibitions/expanding-the-legacy-new-collections-on-african-american-art/cinque-gallery-records

1. Cinque Gallery brochure

Date: 1959-1981

Rendering of the Amistad, slave ship on which Joseph Cinqué led the historical uprising.

Cinque Gallery. Cinque Gallery brochure, 1959-1981. Cinque Gallery records, 1959-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Today’s exhibit will feature Ernest Crichlow (1914–2005) who describes his art:

“… I think I know now that this is valid and this is me and this is all that really counts. As I say, the styles will go by and I will hope that I'll have a place and that is all you can do…”

https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-ernest-crichlow-11459