Archive for April, 2010

  • BDNN: Black Design News of the Day – 4/28/2010

    BDNN: Black Design News of the Day – 4/28/2010

    Posted on April 29, 2010 | 1 Comment

    Black Design News Network (BDDN) provides the latest daily briefs of Black Design News across the globe.

    Architecture

    Fashion

    Interior Design

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  • Visual Perceptions: How should Black and Latina Women be depicted?

    Visual Perceptions: How should Black and Latina Women be depicted?

    Posted on April 27, 2010 | No Comments

    by Michele Y. Washington

    How important is it for Black and Latino visual artists to consider race and gender identity in their work? Such concerns were raised over the recent installation of a 92-foot-wide mural by visual artist Sofia Maldonado on the facade of 217 West 42nd Street between 7th and 8th avenues on a stretch once overrun with sleazy movie houses, peep shows and sex shops. Today the block looks more like a placid suburban strip mall. Almost immediately, Maldonado’s work caused a spark on the blogsphere. Even major news networks like Fox News aired commentaries on the public’s visual perception of her work. Additional commentaries were featured on The Huffington Post, The New York Times and ART21 websites. Most of the protests were over the suggestive poses of the young women portrayed.

    Sofia Maldonado is a Cuban and Puerto Rican visual artist who’s vibrant use of color draws from her tropical ancestry. Do the issues surrounding her controversial mural revolve around artistic censorship of an under represented group of visual artists, or the stereotyping of a specific group of young women? Are the protesters contradictory in their beliefs to define the role of Black and Latino women as monolithic? Ultimately, who has the right to only use a mirror to decide how Black and Latina women should look especially in a pro-feminist era? As it turns out, a group of feminist detractors question her portrayals and recently protested in front of her mural.

    The intent of the Time Square Alliance public program is to bring more art to the public realm for people who frequent or work in the revitalized Times Square neighborhood.  What is it about Sofia Maldonado’s mural that has offended some, but been praised by others? One recent afternoon, I decide to observe first hand people’s reactions. I immediately noticed that some passers-by seemed unconcerned as they obviously rushed to their destination. Others stopped to take pictures, or stopped to closely scrutinized the animated cut-out caricatures portraying female hip-hop performers as if for a Broadway theatre.

    I asked two security guards standing off to one side of the mural about the recent groups of protesters. They both replied that, “They had not seen any lately.” I observed the facial expression of another older man black man looking at the mural. I asked what he thought about the mural? “I like it,” he said, “because this shows what young people want. They love lots of bling; and just look a those long fingernails,” he said.

    My most interesting conversation was with a 19-year-old woman, whom I found staring up and down at each figure, as she took pictures with her cell phone. I asked her what she thought of the mural? She found the work amusing, and explained that it was not uncommon to see young girls dressed like these caricatures, in certain neighborhoods in Queens, or the Bronx. She did not find the mural offensive, and noted that these things were a part of some young girls reality, even if not all young girls dressed like that.

    Maldonado’s colorful caricatures pop-out from a bright vermillion red background, and are surrounded by over-sized bluish clouds or raindrops that punctuate their flashy fashions. Their campy poses are full of the attitude expressed by some of the more precocious young women I see in my Harlem neighborhood. In contrast to my reality, Maldonado draws teenage girls—whether gliding menacingly on skateboards, or gossiping in gangs of two, wear jeans, untied sneakers and halter tops, or skyscraper high-heels, skimpy tight-fitting dresses and oversized doorknob gold hoop earrings (inscribed with the artist name “Sofia”). Her work captures all the signifiers of street fashion including long flowing hair weave’s and hyper-stylized long acrylic fingernails. She explains that it was not her intention to offend anyone but to represent a segment of young girls who are not present on any other Billboards in the Time Square area. So what if their dresses cling to their bodies, accentuating the most female parts of a woman’s anatomy. Maldonado points out that these are like the images portrayed in music videos, especially those by Beyonce, who the most adamant protestors seem to love. The artist is silent about specific complaints from the briefcase touting Black and Latino professional women, who tend not to wear skirts that rise high above their knees at least not during the day.

    In order to monitor the flurry of phone calls and emails, the Times Square Alliance has set-up a blog (http://timessquarearts.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/42nd-street-mural-by-sofia-maldonado/) devoted entirely to the public’s response to the mural.

    In his essay, “Offending Images,” W.J.T Mitchell explores some of the reasons the public finds such visual images offensive and the kind power the images have over us. He states: “The psychological forces that lead people to be offended by an image are invisible and predictable. But when people set out to offend an image, to censure, denounce, or punish it, their behavior is out in the open where we can look at it. A kind of theatrical excess in the rituals of smashing, burning, mutilating, whitewashing, egg- and excrement-throwing turns the punishment of images into a spectacular image in its own right.” 1 While Maldonado’s protestors did not go as far as to deface her work, they demanded that the Time Square Alliance take down the mural, even as the President Tim Tompkins stood by the rights of the artist’s and her work.

    In another essay “That’s Not Us,” by Anna Daley, featured on the ART21 blog, the work of prominent and controversial black visual artists such as Kara Walker, Yinka Shinobare and Kehinde Wiley, is discussed. Kara Walker’s silhouetted cut-out paper figures are often criticized by other black artists who feel her historical references to slavery are inappropriate or down-right offensive. Walker depicts the sexual interaction between masters and slaves in ways that force the viewer to question who possess power. Similar questions emerge in the work of Yinka Shinobare, who positions headless figures dressed in Victorian fashion’s made from batik-dyed African fabric. Yinka’s work challenges the viewer to question why all of his figures are headless and again raises questions about social dominance. The European portraiture-style paintings by Kehinde Wiley, positions black males dressed in hip-hop fashions, superimposed against baroque backdrops. Kehinde’s royal “treatment” works against the more common menacing black males portrayed in the media.

    Which leads me back to Maldonado. Standing back from her mural, I began to notice that the facial features of her sassy caricatures reveal no gaze; it’s as if the artist meant to shut out the personalities of her painted figures. The eyes are all closed. Her subjects ultimately evoke a similarly coded message present in the work of Yinka Shinobare, Kara Walker, and Kehinde Wiley. Its all about the power.

    All of these controversy made me think about a similar protest launched over a cover of Publishers Weekly magazine, a publication devoted to books. I received an email about three months ago from Ricardo Gomes, a colleague and chair of the Industrial Design Department at San Francisco State University. Apparently a group of disgruntled Black women complained to Calvin Reid, the magazine senior editor, about the use of an image to illustrate the African American literature annual. A flurry of emails and letters were sent to the editor complaining about the photograph of a young black woman with a huge Afro sculpted from 60s-style Afro-Picks, by a black female photographer Lauren Kelley. The work of Lauren Kelley, a young black female photographer, focuses on issues of race and identity (none of the complaints mentioned Kelley by name but questioned the right of a white publication to “use” a black woman with natural hair.) Reid, quickly responded by posting a letter of apology on the Publishers Weekly website, stating that his position was not to offend, but to use art he felt best represented the topic for this special issue. What this group failed to realize was that Kelley’s “Pickin,” photograph might never even been featured on the cover of Essence a Magazine for black woman, either.

    I cannot help but reflect on the popular TV series, “Ugly Betty,” in which actor America Ferrera plays Betty Suarez, a talented, upwardly mobile member of a working class Mexican American family that lives in Queens, New York. Betty, the first in her family to graduate from College, transforms from a poncho wearing young twenty something to an administrative assistant, to a respected editor. With each season Betty became more confident in her style of dress and more willing to flaunt her shapely body. Contrary to Betty’s character, Vanessa Williams plays a confident, cleavage-wielding co-editor of Mode Magazine, (a riff on Vogue Magazine), who storms through the office in tight-fitting jackets and above-the-knee dresses. Yet, when  “Ugly Betty” ended it’s fifth season, the show had become known for its unprecedented cast of brown-skinned characters presented in a professional setting as well as for addressing real issues that Latinos face in there daily lives.

    Maldonado’s stylish if-not-in your-face characters can also be viewed as empowering Latina and Black figures. I wonder if the same level of protest would have been mounted if the mural graced the walls of buildings in Spanish Harlem, the South Bronx, Brownville, or Harlem. Perhaps the older public is too uptight to contextualize Maldonado’s renderings, or to uncomfortable with the very modern, very powerful beauty of these young women. Contrary to protests, the young women depicted in Maldonado’s mural grew up in a segregated environment, while the protesters are from integrated backgrounds, with different ideas of how beauty is idealized, or exploited in the media, in hip-hop culture, and in art. In the book “Posing Beauty: African American Images,” by Deborah Willis, the images featured examine ways in which the contemporary beauty of Black women has long been captured in photography. The range of images offer still another voice to the historic discourse on beauty as well as to identify new and iconic images of how beauty has been posed over the years. 2

    Maldonado’s work is bold in its use of color, and demands that the viewers stop and look. Frankly, it screams out at you. I enjoyed walking along the street and looking at each character as if they were in some kind of sequential motion, as if they were all playing out the different sides of one fearless but fictitious character. Just as in music videos.

    Beauty is a power. And the struggle to have the entire range of Black beauty recognized and respected is a serious one.3 — Barbara Summers

    1 Unsettling Sensation, by Lawrence Rothfield

    2 Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the present, by Deborah Willis

    3 Skin Deep: Inside the World of Black Fashion Models, by Barbara Summers

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  • Black Design News of the Day – 4/27/2010

    Black Design News of the Day – 4/27/2010

    Posted on April 27, 2010 | 2 Comments

    Architecture

    Fashion Design

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    • Design News of the Day – Black Architects, Fashion and Interior Designers- 4/26/2010

      Design News of the Day – Black Architects, Fashion and Interior Designers- 4/26/2010

      Posted on April 26, 2010 | 1 Comment

      Architecture

      Fashion

      Interior Design

      Integration of African Art into Interior Design – Yoruba Beaded Art

      http://ethnicitidesign.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/integration-of-african-art-into-interior-design-yoruba-beaded-art/


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    • Tracey Reese Wins BDNN Survey on Black Designers and Michelle Obama

      Tracey Reese Wins BDNN Survey on Black Designers and Michelle Obama

      Posted on April 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

      In late January 2010, Black Design News Network (BDNN) launched its first survey on fashion and black designers with the key topic of the blogosphere:

      When will Michelle Obama wear a black designer’s clothing?

      The results showed us that our audience was plugged into the trends.

      Tracey Reese Wins the BDNN survey, 85%  would like to see Michelle Obama in a Tracey Reese Dress.


      Here are the questions:

      1. In 2010, do you think Michelle Obama should wear fashion/clothing designed by a black (African American, African, Caribbean) designer?

      Result:

      • Yes – 90%
      • No – 0%
      • I don’t care – 10%

      2. If you believe she should, which designer would you like to see her in?

      • Tracey Reese – 85.7%
      • Stephen Burrows – 8.3%
      • Rachel Roy – 4.0%
      • Patrick Robinson – 3.0%

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    • Cap Wigington, St. Paul’s architect

      Cap Wigington, St. Paul’s architect

      Posted on April 21, 2010 | 1 Comment

      by Cathy Wurzer, Minnesota Public Radio

      This article was published at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/04/21/cap-wigington/. Listen to Morning edition and see images at this site.

      St. Paul, Minn. — Architecture remains one of the least-diverse professions in the United States.

      Of the approximately 100,000 architects in the United States in 2005, only about 1,500 were African-American, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This fact makes the story of Clarence “Cap” Wigington even more remarkable.

      Wigington would have turned 127 years old Wednesday, and in the early 20th century, he became the city of St. Paul’s lead designer for public buildings.

      He was responsible for designing schools, parks, bathhouses and other structures to meet the needs of a fast-growing city. Using the tenets of the “City Beautiful” movement — which theorized that beautiful surroundings would inspire better citizenship — Wigington designed buildings that were both functional and inspiring.

      Wigington also designed several majestic ice palaces for the St. Paul Winter Carnival in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s.

      The best-known Wigington buildings still standing in St. Paul are probably the Harriet Island Pavilion — which was renamed the Clarence W. Wigington Pavilion after it was renovated in 2000 — the Roy Wilkins Auditorium and the Highland Park Water Tower.

      Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer visited Harriet Island to talk about Cap Wigington’s legacy with Annette Atkins, who teaches history at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. For more information about the life and work of Clarence “Cap” Wigington, Annette Atkins suggests these books:

      • David Vassar Taylor with Paul Clifford Larson, “Cap Wigington: An Architectural Legacy in Ice and Stone” (St. Paul: MHS Press, 2001)
      • Larry Millett, “AIA Guide to the Twin Cities: The Essential Source on the Architecture of Minneapolis and St. Paul” (St. Paul: MHS Press, 2007).

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    • Collecting in Design – Brooklyn Museum Event – April 29, 2010

      Collecting in Design – Brooklyn Museum Event – April 29, 2010

      Posted on April 19, 2010 | 1 Comment

      On Thursday, April 29th from 7-8:30 p.m. the Adult Programs department will be hosting a “Collecting Design” panel discussion in the Glass Pavilion. We will be serving complementary wine as part of the program and the evening will feature the following participants:

      Panelists

      Registration is $20 ($15 for Members). A glass of wine is included. The wine bar opens at 6:30 p.m. To register, purchase tickets online at www.museumtix.com or visit the Brooklyn Community Foundation Visitor Center at the Museum


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    • ARISE MAGAZINE FASHION SHOW, FEB 13TH, 2010, BRYANT PARK, NYC

      ARISE MAGAZINE FASHION SHOW, FEB 13TH, 2010, BRYANT PARK, NYC

      Posted on April 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

      by Tamara Walker

      One of the most sought after tickets during New York’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week is for the Arise Magazine African Collective Show. In its third showing at the Tents, the Arise show features some of the newest and most innovative designers coming out of Africa today. Dedicated to the showcase and “celebration of African achievement in fashion, music, culture and polity,” Arise Magazine prides itself on the positive portrayal of Africa and members of the Diaspora and their continued contribution to society and culture around the world. Originally part of the magazine’s launch back in 2008, the Arise show has quickly become a jewel in the fashion week crown. This season’s showing was no different.

      For the third installment of the Arise African Collective show, the designers hailed from South Africa (Black Coffee), Nigeria (Deola Sagoe) and Tanzania (Loin Cloth & Ashes). When the lights dimmed, the tent was transported the audience into an African landscape that transitioned from day to night courtesy of the show’s producer Jan Malan.

      Opening the show, South Africa’s Black Coffee, headed by design duo Danica Lepen and Jacques van de Watt, drew inspiration from the region’s rich artistic and cultural history.  Lepen and van de Watt found the spark for their collection while viewing the expression and creativity of tribal masks. The architectural structure translated into the lines of the collections coats and other pieces. Oversized and almost cocoon- like, the outerwear’s geometric shapes gave the viewer a feel of structure and femininity. Layered over flowy dresses and blouses, Black Coffee’s color palette was reminiscent of an African day-time landscape with pastel peaches, greens and blues and rich corals and shades of brown.

      Tanzanian designer Anisa Mpungwe of Loin Cloth & Ashes drew her inspiration from her own family history, drawing on her connection with her father’s hometown of Ifakara.  A combination of metallics in gold and silver and the darker greys, blacks and sapphire blues, the collection featured very contemporary twists on the cocktail dress, harem pants, and the bolero jacket. Designed to showcase and enhance the female form, Loin Cloth & Ashes exuded sex appeal and edginess…markers of a great future for the designer.

      Closing the show was Nigeria’s Deola Sagoe.  Inspired by both the Massai of eastern Africa and 18th century European military uniforms, Deola Sagoe collection had a range of color from muted neutrals to darker hues to iridescent golds. The collection featured strong shouldered silhouettes and body-skimming cocktail dresses, cigarette pants and leggings, military inspired jackets with ornate bead work and  evening dresses that were red-carpet ready. An emotion evoking collection, Deola Sagoe received a standing ovation from the crowd…the only one of the evening. It was definitely well deserved. I’ve added Sagoe as definitely a designer to watch.

      Each designer brought a uniqueness and impression that definitely awakened the visual senses and fashion imaginations of the audience. The chaos and the wait prior the show, was definitely worth it. But the Arise show is not only a showcase for the designers, but also an event that draws some of the hottest Black modeling talent in the game today from across the entire African Diaspora. Showcasing Black beauty as well as fashion innovation were some of the industry’s greats including Sessilee Lopez, Arlenis Sosa, Chanel Iman and Oluchi.

      It’s sad that it takes a show dedicated to celebrating African fashion achievement to see so much color on the runway, but then again that was one of the points Arise Magazine was trying to make when creating this show.

      Black Coffee:  http://www.blackcoffee.co.za/

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    • Green Tips for the Homeowner

      Green Tips for the Homeowner

      Posted on April 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

      By Roxanne Ryce-Paul


      There are three basic areas where green strategies can have a tremendous impact on home efficiency. They range from the elemental, to the extensive involving the expertise of professionals.

      1) Energy and Water efficiency

      • • Buy Green electricity/power from your utility, made from renewable energy sources like the sun, wind, water, and earth’s internal heat. This is one of the easiest ways to use renewable energy without investing in equipment or extra maintenance.
      • •  If you have a fuel oil boiler (or car) fill your tank with Biodiesel made from waste cooking oil.
      • •  Reuce or eliminate phantom electricity use, the wasted energy keeping your appliance on “Standby Mode”. Turn off computer, monitor, TV, DVD Player, gaming console; unplug the mobile phone once charged.
      • •  Replace  incandescent lights with LED (light emitting diodes use 10% the power of incandescent) lights/tubes, or Compact Fluorescent lights (CFLs use 30% the power of incandescent).
      • •  When replacing water delivery fixtures, look for low flow and flush fixtures.
      • •  If replacing your hot-water heater, consider a tank-less hot-water heater to save energy and water.
      • •  Consider walking, biking, or using public transport before driving.

      Solar Water Heater

      2) Architecture and technology

      •  Before adopting new technology, examine carefully to see what are your energy gains, in the short and long term. Have a home inspection and an energy audit conducted by a Building Performance Institute (BPI) certified analyst to evaluate the energy efficiency of your home and opportunities for energy improvements.

      • •  When replacing appliances, electronics or making home improvements preference products with ENERGY STAR certification, especially if seeking tax credits.
      • •  Insulate your building envelope and ventilate to expel moisture and for fresh air.
      • •  Generate a portion of your electricity at home, by installing solar panels/photovoltaics.
      • •  Solar Thermal hot-water systems eliminate the use of electricity, oil or gas to generate hot water.
      • •  Bring natural light into your home through skylights, light tubes light shelves.
      • •  Create shade with architectural devices like shutters.
      • •  Renovate a home according to Passive House principles.

      NYC Residential Incentives:

      Personal Tax Credits, Property Tax Exemption and Abatements are available for many energy conservation improvements: Equipment Insulation, Water Heaters, Furnaces, Boilers, Heat pumps, Air conditioners, Programmable Thermostats, Energy Mgmt. Systems/Building Controls, Solar Water Heat, Solar Space Heat, Photovoltaics, Caulking/Weather-stripping, Duct/Air sealing, Building Insulation, Windows, Doors, Biodoiesel purchases for residential space heating or hot water production. Federal, NY State and City Tax benefits are available only when the work is done by a certified contractor. Consult with a BPI certified contractor to work with you through the process to take advantage of these incentives.

      3) Behaviour /Lifestyle

      For most African Americans, African or Afro-Caribbeans, the sustainable lifestyle comes naturally. We learned from grandparents, parents, neighbours and siblings the principles and practice of compost, reuse, recycling, salvage, swapping, regifting- call it what ever you may it was the practice of not wasting, of conserving, preserving, sharing. These concepts are the basis of sustainability and from where all green tips sprout.

      At the end of the day, being aware of the energy consumption of our homes; understanding the difference between necessary energy use and waste, and reining in the waste of energy has the greatest impact on energy and environmental costs.

      _______

      Roxanne Ryce-Paul, Architect, LEED AP holds a BArch from the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; a MS in Urban Planning and a MS in Historic Preservation from Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. She has worked at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and in the private sector in the US and internationally.

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    • Jeh Johnson, Retired Lecturer, Wins Roosevelt Medal

      Jeh Johnson, Retired Lecturer, Wins Roosevelt Medal

      Posted on April 16, 2010 | 1 Comment

      Adapted from an article that appeared in the winter 2010 issue of the Vassar Quarterly.

      by Mally Anderson, ’10

      Photo Credit: Courtesy of Special Collections, Vassar College Libraries

      The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill honored architect and retired senior lecturer in art Jeh Johnson with an Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award on October 18 at the Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park. The award honors people and organizations who demonstrate the values that Roosevelt espoused in her public life, among them helping people in need and inspiring the next generation. Johnson taught architectural design at Vassar from 1964 to 2001. The Val-Kill Award lauded Johnson’s commitment to social awareness in architectural design and his belief that designers must recognize their social responsibilities and promote fairness and humane values through their work.

      “I was very pleased to get this award. I respect the organization and many of the past award winners,” says Johnson, who looks up to Eleanor Roosevelt as an important figure of hope for black Americans during World War II. He cites her resignation from the Daughters of the American Revolution after that organization refused to allow African American singer Marian Anderson to perform in their concert hall as “the kind of symbol that blacks in the South needed to give us hope for future advancement.” At the ceremony, Johnson told the story of his brother Robert, who credited Roosevelt with helping him and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen when they were punished after refusing to leave their table at an officers’ club because of their race. “[Roosevelt] was more than just a mythic figure in my family. She meant a lot to us, and to get an award in her name was very moving to me,” says Johnson.

      Johnson was an early pioneer of urban development, serving on President Lyndon Johnson’s Commission on Urban Problems in 1967. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1977, the highest honor awarded to practicing architects. In his private architecture practice, Johnson has designed various community and college buildings as well as numerous churches. Many of his designs can be seen around Poughkeepsie, where he resides. He designed the ALANA Center and Susan Stein Shiva Theater on Vassar’s campus as well as several buildings in the Poughkeepsie community.

      The award also honored Johnson’s influence in urban development and his advocacy on behalf of young minority and female architects. He cofounded the National Organization of Minority Architects and the New York Coalition of Black Architects.

      In his own practice, Johnson designed over 4,300 high-quality, low-cost housing units for underprivileged groups. “I went into the profession of architecture wanting to invest all my work with some of the understanding I’d gained through looking at groups of people in different situations in life,” says Johnson. “When I got started, I wanted to demonstrate how low-income, affordable housing financed by the government could be more than just holding pens, something that people could take pride in,” he adds.

      When he began teaching at Vassar, Johnson became aware of the difficulties facing female architects, who, in the 1960s, represented only a tiny fraction of practicing architects. “I tried to encourage young women to go to graduate school, and I think I was quite successful in that,”he concludes. “Some of my students went on to be deans of schools of architecture or fellows on the Board of the American Institute of Architects. ”He still keeps in touch with some of his former students—one even attended the ceremony at Val-Kill.

      —Mally Anderson ’10

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