Community Commitment

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Permalink Reply by Marcella Hayes Muhammad on September 8, 2010 at 11:03am

I was surprised to see this being held in Palm Springs, California! I lived and taught there for 8 years and during that time the city was still very segregated. The majority of Black people lived in the Gateway community across from the Tram. And all the Mexican population lived in the Agua Calliente community. Dr. Samella Lewis was kind enough to let me stay in her condo while I looked for an apartment. She later was Principal at the High School for a year and she invited me to show my artwork in their library for Black History Month. Shortly after, a gallery finally let me show my work. Besides Dr. Lewis, I was the only Black artist in town. It was the first time for both entities to have Black art on display. Now that was isolation! I would have loved to have other African American artists there to show with me and demonstrate the varied applications and views of more that one person from my culture. I also feel that there needs to be that outreach from one part of the country to another. I commend Thelma Golden for reaching out to an audience in Palm Springs and her presentation was wonderful. I sincerely hope that the local art museum finally has acquired a few African American art pieces for their collection.
I would like to see the artists and curators develop more traveling shows for more outreach around the country to museums and galleries.

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Permalink Reply by Gilbert Walker Jr on September 9, 2010 at 9:29pm

I think it's about subject matter. People of the world see other cultures outside of their own as different and have the right to form an opinion about it. They some time sing about it, tell jokes about it,write peoms about it and create works of art about it. These people, artist, may or should have the right to display their works based on what is wanted from the curator no matter what cuture the artist is from. Now if the artist has a one man or woman show then it's about the artist and his or her work. If the curator wants a certain culture or group then it's his or her choice. Should the civil rights movement only be about the African American culture and art work about the movement be only done from their view point and not other cultures involved? Should other cultures involved in the movement not espress their opinions thru art? The artist few point is what the viewer looks for. The curator introduces the subject matter, after all it's call communication.

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