Dr MLK Jr

from the NJ Transit train...

before yesterday we could fly

 

at The MET, American Wing

on Martin Luther King Jr Day

On this day of remembrance, looking back to the crisp December morning in 2017 on which i traveled by train to Washington DC to discover the bright, bronze-hued National Museum of African American History and Culture.   i was joined there by a talented designer i had worked with a few years prior while curating local finds for the lifestyle store created for Four Seasons Hotel Georgetown.

Jennifer and i shared the journey through the museum and the full range of emotions accompanying it, a physical, emotional and spiritual pilgrimage of sorts from which it was impossible not to emerge changed. 

One aspect of the experience i responded to most were the quotes by legendary African American writers, poets and leaders engraved into the walls of the now iconic David Adjaye designed structure, from Maya Angelou to Langston Hughes to Martin Luther King Jr himself. 

In the grand interior Contemplation Court meant for quiet and reflection, Dr King's words echoed through the force of water raining down into a cylindrical pool from a skylight above:  "We are determined ... to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream." 

We look to the future again this week, looking forward to new hope, to change, beginning with the upcoming inauguration and the first Youth Poet Laureate, and youngest inaugural poet ever, Amanda Gorman, to share her words, and her vision when she reads a poem written at the invitation of Joe and Jill Biden, "The Hill We Climb."   

The mighty legacy of Dr King and so many other courageous men and women, flows on...

national museum of african american history and culture
(photos, mine) 

Peace

at the Jacob Lawrence exhibit, The American Struggle, this vibrant jewel simply entitled Peace stood out to me....

the series demands the viewer's attention to both paintings and accompanying text and given social distancing protocols, requires time and patience to view but is well worth taking in, slowly walking around the room, and then perhaps again, quietly, deliberately, in rhythm with the bold tempera brushstrokes applied by Lawrence to his 30 small masterpieces that lead us through critical moments in our nation's early history as interpreted through the eye of the confident, caring artist...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/arts/design/jacob-lawrence-metropolitan-museum.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/these-missing-jacob-lawrence-paintings-are-finally-in-a-museum--and-theyre-masterpieces/2020/01/23/aec3ffa2-3d21-11ea-b90d-5652806c3b3a_story.html

 

Three Sixes

Three Sixes, Rosie Lee Tompkins,
at The Whitney....

the heart of the matter

discovering amy sherald's solo show at hauser & wirth gallery, through october 26th....

precious jewels by the sea, oil on canvas, amy sherald, hauser & wirth gallery....

https://www.vogue.com/article/amy-sherald-new-york-debut-vogue-august-2019-issue

dance dance dance

studio one eighty nine...

this synthetic moment

attending the panel discussion on the 1960's Black is Beautiful photography of Kwame Brathwaite a few weeks ago at The Museum of the City of New York again led me to Chelsea, where additional photos by Mr Brathwaite are included in David Nolan Gallery's current exhibit, This Synthetic Moment.

to best understand the show, you must read the website and the profiles of each of the participating photographers and the point of view of the curator, David Hartt.

and then you must experience it in person before it closes on March 10th!

http://www.davidnolangallery.com/exhibitions/this-synthetic-moment

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. today...

from And the Pursuit of Happiness, Maira Kalman
http://www.mairakalman.com/books/adult/and-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#1

Prayer Pilgrimage

"Move on with dignity, love, and respectability." Martin Luther King, Jr.

http://artgallery.yale.edu/exhibitions/exhibition/let-us-march-lee-friedlander-and-prayer-pilgrimage-freedom

inspired designs

african influences...
https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhibitions/black-fashion-designers.php

Depression Era

quilt, Tanner Hill Gallery,
Outsider Art Fair
http://www.tannerhillgallery.com

seeing

MASTRY, at The MET Breuer....