Join Dr. Bridget Cooks and Dr. Kellie Jones, two professors combining African American and Black Diaspora studies with Art History, for a virtual program as they spend an evening unraveling the impact and legacy left behind by artist and arts advocate Ruth Waddy. Waddy was a visionary and pioneer for the recognition of Black artists in and across the United States. In 1987, after receiving an honorary doctorate from Otis Arts Institute of Parsons School of Design, Waddy was deemed a “prophet exclaiming the news of Black artists and calling upon the world to embrace them.”

Jones and Cooks will be tracing the life of Waddy and the lasting effects she has left on the contemporary art world, the representation of Black artists and the prevailing doors that remain open from her efforts. This evening will be both history lesson and celebration, both nostalgic and forward-seeking. Please join us from the comfort and safety of your own home.

This program will be taking place virtually via Ring Central, powered by Zoom. This means that anyone interested in attending this program from anywhere in the world is welcome, all you need is an internet connection! Please RSVP (below) and the information for attending the program will be emailed to all of those on the list.

Please note: Program will be recorded and participants may need to download RingCentral software.

Please RSVP here. Admission is always free.

This program is organized on the occasion of Collective Constellation: Selections from The Eileen Harris Norton Collection on view at Art + Practice through August 1, 2020. Collective Constellation: Selections from The Eileen Harris Norton Collection is presented by Art + Practice in collaboration with the Hammer Museum and organized by their Associate Curator Erin Christovale.

Image: https://www.artandpractice.org/public-programs/in-conversation-dr-kellie-jones-and-dr-bridget-cooks/

LeRonn P. Brooks, Lehman College of the City University of New York, The Getty Research Institute will be joined by panelists Courtney Martin, Yale Center for British Art; Krista Thompson, Northwestern University; and Steven Nelson, UCLA African Studies Center for a special session recognizing Dr. Jones as the CAA 2020 Distinguished Scholar.

Art Is an Excuse: Conceptual Strategies, 1968–1983
West Building Lecture Hall

Dr. Kellie Jones will deliver the 2019 Wyeth Foundation for American Art lecture based on a book in progress that looks at international conceptual art networks and the making of global community in the late 20th century. The lecture will focus on performance art, considering moments in its global reach in the 1970s in locales from Mexico City to London to Los Angeles, including projects by artists Felipe Ehrenberg, Lourdes Grobet, Adrian Piper, Senga Nengudi, and David Lamelas.

Watch live: www.nga.gov/live

Image: Senga Nengudi (right) and Maren Hassinger (left) perform Flying (1982) in Los Angeles. Image courtesy African American Performance Art Archive.

What if the history of art were taught as a history of women artists? Explore the timely and fascinating topic in this talk by award-winning curator, professor, and MacArthur Fellow Kellie Jones that considers work by a triad of practitioners: sculptor Elizabeth Catlett and painters Elizabeth Murray and Candida Alvarez. Representing American art though overlapping eras and concerns, these linked case studies provide an opportunity to think about how art history is taught now and the ways that the field might look different in the future.

THIS EVENT IS PART OF CARNEGIE HALL’S MIGRATIONS: THE MAKING OF AMERICA FESTIVAL


Explores the past, present, and future impact of the Great Migration on forms of African American artistic expression with:

FARAH J. GRIFFIN, William B. Ransford Professor of English & Comparative Literature and African-American Studies & African Diaspora Studies - Columbia University

KELLIE JONES, Professor in Art History and Archaeology, Faculty Fellow- African-American Studies & African Diaspora Studies - Columbia University

AYANA MATHIS, New York Times best-selling author, “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie”

Free & Open to the Public - **Pre-Registration is Required for admittance into the Forum Building **

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

On Soul of a Nation's opening day, The Broad will present a day of enriching conversations, artist talks and poetry, organized by UC Irvine professors Bridget R. Cooks (associate professor, Department of African American Studies and Art History, UC Irvine) and Frank B. Wilderson III (professor and chair of African American Studies, UC Irvine). The event will include compelling conversations between artists featured in the exhibition, such as artists Jae and Wadsworth Jarrell and Gerald Williams with Vida L. Brown (visual arts curator, California African American Museum), among others, as well as renowned art historians and curators like Thelma Golden (director and chief curator, The Studio Museum), Phyllis J. Jackson (associate professor, art history, Pomona College), Kellie Jones (professor, art history and archaeology and the Institute for Research in African American Studies, Columbia University), and Naima J. Keith (deputy director and chief curator, California African American Museum). 

A reading will be given by distinguished poet Kamau Daáood, author of The Language of Saxophones: Selected Poems of Kamau Daáood and the critically acclaimed album, Leimert Park. Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, will speak in conversation with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay.

Tickets ($20; $15 student) include one-time, anytime access to Soul of A Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983 and are available here.

SCHEDULE:

10:05-10:30AM

Introductory Remarks

• 10:05-10:10AM- Welcome, Joanne Heyler, Founding Director, The Broad

• 10:10-10:20AM- Mark Godfrey and Zoe Whitley, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983 Organizing Curators

• 10:20-10:30AM- Bridget R. Cooks and Frank B. Wilderson III: Introduction to the Symposium

10:35AM-11:50AM (1 hour conversation / 15 min Q&A)

Panel 1: The Politics of Black Exhibitions

• Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator, The Studio Museum in Harlem

• Kellie Jones, Professor, Art and Archaeology and the Institute for Research in African American Studies, Columbia University

• Naima J. Keith, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, California African American Museum

• Facilitator: Bridget R. Cooks, Associate Professor, African American Studies and Art History, UC Irvine

11:55AM-12:40PM

Panel 2: AfriCOBRA Artists

• Soul of a Nation artists Jae Jarrell, Wadsworth Jarrell, and Gerald Williams 

• Vida L. Brown, Visual Arts Curator, California African American Museum

12:40-2:10PM

Lunch

2:10-3:00PM

Conversation

• Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation

• Ava DuVernay, Director and Filmmaker

3:05-3:50PM

Conversation

• Mel Edwards, Soul of a Nation artist

• Dale Davis, Artist and Co-Founder, Brockman Gallery

3:55-4:55PM (45 min conversation / 15 min Q&A)

Panel 3: Black Power and Politics

• Frank B. Wilderson III, Professor and Chair of African American Studies, UC Irvine

• Phyllis J. Jackson, Professor, Art History, Pomona College

5:00-5:20PM

Poetry Reading

• Kamau Daáood, Performance poet, artist, and community activist

5:25-5:30PM

Closing Remarks

• Bridget R. Cooks and Frank B. Wilderson III

CCS Bard is proud to present a lecture by Dr. Kellie Jones, one of America’s leading art historians and author of such books as EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art (2011), and South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s (2017), which was named a Best Art Book of 2017 in The New York Times, a Best Book of 2017 in Artforum and received the Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award from the American Book Award in 2018.

This lecture will be the third in The Brant Foundation Lecture in Contemporary Art series, and will be given on Wednesday, March 6, 2019 at 5pm at Weis Cinema, Bertelsmann Campus Center, Bard College. The talk “Women and the Dreamwork” will consider work by three women artists: Candida Alvarez, Elizabeth Catlett, and Elizabeth Murray, and is made by possible by the major grant given from The Brant Foundation to Bard College to support The Brant Foundation Fellowship in Contemporary Arts.

Dr. Kellie Jones is a Professor in Art History and Archaeology and a Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS) at Columbia University. Her research interests include African American and African Diaspora artists, Latinx and Latin American Artists, and issues in contemporary art and museum theory.

Dr. Jones has received numerous awards for her work from the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University; Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant and a term as Scholar-in-Residence at the Terra Foundation for American Art in Europe in Giverny, France. In 2016 she was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.

Dr. Jones’s writings have appeared in a multitude of exhibition catalogues and journals. She is the author of two books published by Duke University Press, EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art (2011), and South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s (2017).

Dr. Jones has also worked as a curator for over three decades and has numerous major national and international exhibitions to her credit. Her exhibition Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980, at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, was named one of the best exhibitions of 2011 and 2012 by Artforum, and best thematic show nationally by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). She was co-curator of Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the 1960s (Brooklyn Museum), named one the best exhibitions of 2014 by Artforum.

About The Brant Foundation

The Brant Foundation, Inc.’s mission is to promote education and appreciation of contemporary art and design by making works available to institutions and individuals for scholarly study, examination, and loan. Currently, The Brant Foundation, established in 1996, lends works to more than a dozen exhibitions per year. The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, designed by Richard Gluckman and located in Greenwich, CT, opened its doors in 2009 and presents long-term exhibitions curated primarily from the collection. The collection is remarkable in that scores of artists are represented in depth, including works from the earliest period of their practice through their most recent works. Additional information may be found on the Foundation’s website, www.brantfoundation.org.

Entangled Spirits brings together scholars, activists, artists and practitioners (in a variety of fields) for a series of public conversations; each of which will grapple with a tangled knot of questions and concerns that emerge from the intersection of the arts, religion, and politics.

This first Entangled Spirits event features a dialogue between the artist Mickalene Thomas and writer/ activist Darnell Moore, moderated by Columbia Professor Kellie Jones, with a brief introduction by the series' organizer, Professor Josef Sorett.

RSVP at http://heymancenter.org/events/mickalena-thomas-and-darnell-moore/

Registration is required, and will close on February 4th, 2019. Free and open to the public. First come, first seated.

Dr. Kellie Jones, award-winning art historian, author, and curator, talks with artist Hank Willis Thomas about his new book, All Things Being Equal (Aperture 2018), which surveys Thomas's prolific and extraordinary interdisciplinary career. In the ten years since his first publication, Pitch Blackness (Aperture 2008), Thomas has become known for his ability to critically dissect the flow of images in American visual culture, especially with attention to race, gender, and cultural identity. Presented in partnership with Aperture and in connection with our exhibition Something to Say: Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine, Deborah Kass, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Hank Willis Thomas.

Tickets are $16 and include Museum admission. Member tickets are $14. Not a Member? Join today!

To request accommodations such as assistive listening devices, American Sign Language interpretation, and open captioning, email Brooklyn Museum at access@brooklynmuseum.org.

Image Credit: Hank Willis Thomas (American, born 1976). Counterbalance, 2015; from the series Punctum. Fiberglass with chameleon auto paint finish. (Photo: From Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal(Aperture/Portland Art Museum, 2018). © Hank Willis Thomas)

The Benjamin West Lecture, made possible by gifts from members of the Class of 1905 and other friends of the College, is given annually on some phase of art.  It is the outgrowth of the Benjamin West Society, which built up a collection of paintings, drawings, and prints, which are exhibited, as space permits, in the buildings on campus.  The lecture was named for the American artist who was born in a house that stands on the campus and became president of the Royal Academy.

This presentation revolves around Jones’s book South of Pico in which she explores how the artists in Los Angeles’s black communities during the 1960s and 1970s created a vibrant, productive, and engaged activist arts scene in the face of structural racism. Emphasizing the importance of African American migration, as well as L.A.’s housing and employment politics, Jones shows how the work of black Angeleno artists such as Betye Saar, Charles White, Noah Purifoy, and Senga Nengudi spoke to the dislocation of migration, L.A.’s urban renewal, and restrictions on black mobility. Jones characterizes their works as modern migration narratives that look to the past to consider real and imagined futures. She also attends to these artists’ relationships with gallery and museum culture and the establishment of black-owned arts spaces. With South of Pico, Jones expands the understanding of the histories of black arts and creativity in Los Angeles and beyond.

Dr. Kellie Jones is a Professor in Art History and Archaeology and a Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS) at Columbia University. Her research interests include African American and African Diaspora artists, Latinx and Latin American Artists, and issues in contemporary art and museum theory.

The Vista Foundation supports both the pursuit of the study of art history and the School of Art at DAAP. The Foundation’s annual lecture is held each Fall and brings notable artists, art writers, art curators, and art historians to DAAP.

Dr. Jones will join Kelly Baum - Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Curator of Contemporary Art at The Met - and renowned artists Melvin Edwards, Martin Puryear, and William T. Williams to reflect on the life and work of Jack Whitten. 

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963–2017. 

Image Credit: Jack Whitten (American, 1939–2018). The Tomb of Socrates (detail), 2009. Wild cypress, black mulberry, marble, brass, mixed media, 26 x 20 1/2 x 8 1/4 in. (66 x 52 x 21 cm). Collection of the Artist's Estate © The Estate of Jack Whitten. Courtesy The Estate of Jack Whitten and Hauser & Wirth

Icons in the fields of art history, documentary filmmaking and journalism discuss and explore their visionary work and its intersections with art making, social justice, and history. Addressing current issues of the past and today New York Times investigative reporter, Nikole Hannah-Jones will discuss how her voice is reshaping conversations on education; Columbia University art history professor Kellie Jones, PhD, will present on artist “Charles White, Feminist at Mid-Century,” and Louis Massiah, founder and director of Scribe Video, will discuss the role of video as an artistic tool for change and self-determination in his talk “The Documentary of Utility - A Creative Practice.”

Please RSVP: nyuiaaa-cbvc-events@nyu.edu or (212) 998-IAAA(4222)

Dr. Jones will speak as part of Dia Art Foundation's DiaTalks series, which brings together leading scholars, curators, and writers to consider the work of a single artist currently on view at Dia, in the form of lectures, discussions, and symposia.

Free with museum admission. No reservations required.

Dr. Jones will speak at the Yale History of Art Ninth Annual Distinguished Lecture.

The Katherine Tsanoff Brown Lecture Series, in its inaugural year, honors Katherine Tsanoff Brown, Rice University's first teacher of art history, later the Dean of Undergraduate Affairs, and an ardent supporter of public lectures and visiting scholars in the arts.

A dialogue between Toyin Ojih Odutola, Barnard’s Lida A. Orzeck ’68 Artist-in-Residence, and Mary Sibande, Johannesburg and Venice Biennale artist, moderated by Kellie Jones, Columbia Professor of Art History and MacArthur Fellow. As one of the inaugural events of the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (AFRE), two powerful contemporary artists discuss issues of esthetics, gender, race, and justice.  What political role can artists play today?

Both Ojih Odutola and Sibande have created beautiful and original images of the human body.  By defying stereotypes, their work opens new visions of who we are and could be.  Toyin Ojih Odutola (Ife, Nigeria 1985-) was raised in California and Alabama, earned her MFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco and now works in New York City.  She currently has a show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, To Wander Determined. Mary Sibande (South Africa 1982-) lives and works in Johannesburg. She obtained her Diploma in Fine Arts at the Witwatersrand Technikon (2004) and a B-Tech degree from the University of Johannesburg (2007). Her works have been shown in South Africa, New York, and London.

This event is jointly sponsored by the Orzeck Artist in Residency, the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (AFRE), the Columbia Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS) and the Barnard Art History department.

Information: arthistory@barnard.edu

Join us on Thursday, November 30 at 6pm for an extraordinary conversation between mother and daughter - and celebrated authors and scholars - Dr. Kellie Jones and Hettie Jones discussing life and their books South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s, EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art, How I Became Hettie Jones, and Love, H: The Letters of Helene Dorn and Hettie Jones.

Professor Kellie Jones, Associate Professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology and the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS) at Columbia University, will be presenting a lecture based on her new book, South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s. Her research interests include African Diaspora and African American artists, Latin American and Latino/a artists, and problems in contemporary art and museum theory.  The event will be followed by a book signing.

In South of Pico, MacArthur winner and Columbia University professor Kellie Jones explores how the artists in Los Angeles’s black communities during the 1960s and 1970s created a vibrant, engaged activist arts scene in the face of racism and social upheaval. Building on her work on the Hammer exhibition Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980, Jones expands our understanding of the history of black arts in Los Angeles and beyond. She is joined by UCLA professor Robin D. G. Kelley.

Coffee, tea, and book signing to follow.

Lecture by Dr. Kellie Jones, Associate Professor of Art History at Columbia University, and MacArthur Genius Fellow. Dr. Jones will read from and discuss her book South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s. She will delineate how the artists in Los Angeles's black communities during the 1960s and 1970s created a vibrant, productive, and engaged activist arts scene in the face of structural racism. Integrating histories of African American migration, as well as L.A.'s housing and employment politics, Dr. Jones describes the work of black Angelino artists such as Betye Saar, Charles White, Noah Purifoy, and Senga Nengudi in order to discuss the dislocation of migration, L.A.'s urban renewal, and restrictions on black mobility. Dr. Jones characterizes their works as modern migration narratives that look to the past to consider real and imagined futures. With this lecture drawing from South of Pico, Dr. Jones delves into the histories of black arts and creativity in Los Angeles and beyond.

After the lecture, Dr. Jones will have a question and answer period, as well as a reception.

Co-Sponsors:
Department of African American Studies and the Department of Film and Media Studies

The California African American Museum (CAAM) and Art + Practice (A+P) are pleased to host esteemed author, curator, and Associate Professor in Art History and Archaeology and African American Studies at Columbia University Kellie Jones, who will discuss and sign her new book South of Pico.

In South of Pico Kellie Jones explores how artists during the 1960s and 1970s in Los Angeles's black communities created a vibrant, productive, and engaged activist arts scene in the face of structural racism. Emphasizing the importance of African American migration, as well as Los Angeles's housing and employment politics, Jones shows how the work of black Angeleno artists such as Betye Saar, Charles White, Noah Purifoy, and Senga Nengudi spoke to the dislocation of migration, Los Angeles's urban renewal, and restrictions on black mobility. Jones characterizes their works as modern migration narratives that look to the past to consider real and imagined futures. She also attends to these artists' relationships with gallery and museum culture as well as the establishment of black-owned arts spaces. With South of Pico, Jones expands the understanding of the histories of black arts and creativity in Los Angeles and beyond.

This day-long conference brings together acclaimed contributors from the UK and USA for a series of unique presentations and rich panel discussions that explore the art, artists and social histories featured in the exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. Topics of discussion include the role of key cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York in the development of American art in the 1960s and 70s, the influence of American art on British artists in the 1980s and beyond, and contemporary artistic responses to new forms of social and political change.

Contributors include: Sampada Aranke (San Francisco Art Institute), Celeste-Marie Bernier (University of Edinburgh), Dawoud Bey (artist), Margo Natalie Crawford (Cornell University), Elvira Dyangani Ose (Creative Time and Goldsmiths, University of London), Tuliza Fleming (National Museum of African American History and Culture), Mark Godfrey (Senior Curator, International Art, Tate), Lubaina Himid (artist; University of Central Lancashire), Kellie Jones (Columbia University), Uri McMillan (University of California, Los Angeles), Marlene Smith (artist; Chelsea College of Arts), Zoe Whitley (Curator, International Art, Tate), and Deborah Willis (artist; New York University).

This event has been provided by Tate Gallery on behalf of Tate Enterprises LT

5pm | Gallery Viewing and Public Reception
6pm | Lecture

Kellie Jones, MacArthur Fellow and professor of art history at Columbia University, has been rewriting the history of art to include artists traditionally excluded. Join a discussion of her research and curatorial work about contemporary African-American and African Diaspora artists and racial justice.

Free admission. Presented in partnership with The Amistad Center for Art & Culture.

Complex Issues explores difference, visibility, and representation through recent work by faculty of Columbia University and Columbia University School of the Arts in particular. Conversations invite challenging questions of racial, ethnic, gender, economic, sexual, religious, and cultural complexity, and how they are articulated across discipline and genre today. This event is preceded by a special opportunity to view Living in America: Frank Lloyd Wright, Harlem & Modern Housing, Wallach Art Gallery, 5:30-6:30pm. Co-presented by the Department of Art History and Archaeology; the Center for Jazz Studies; the Institute for Research in African-American Studies; and The Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery.

In her 2017 book South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Kellie Jones explores how the artists in Los Angeles's black communities created a vibrant, productive, and engaged activist arts scene in the face of structural racism. Emphasizing the importance of African American migration, as well as L.A.'s housing and employment politics, Jones shows how the work of black Angeleno artists such as Betye Saar, Charles White, Noah Purifoy, and Senga Nengudi spoke to the dislocation of migration, L.A.'s urban renewal, and restrictions on black mobility.

Dr. Jones, a 2016 recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant," is Associate Professor of Art History at Columbia University, the author of several books and has curated numerous national and international exhibitions, including Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980 and Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties.

This program is held in conjunction with the exhibition A Collaborative Language: Selections from the Experimental Printmaking Institute.

Columbia University professor Kellie Jones, an art historian, curator, and 2016 MacArthur Fellow, speaks about her new book, South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s, and current projects, with School of the Art Institute of Chicago professor Romi Crawford.

Presented with emerge: journal of arts administration and policy, MA Department Arts Administration and Policy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

*Museum admission is free for Illinois residents every Thursday, 5:00–8:00—including during this event.