IN THIS ISSUE: . Save the Date "Make Music Day Bridgeport" - June 21, Outworks and Pride in Bridgeport, community arts events and resources.
SPECIAL FEATURE: BAT News Explores the Monuments of Richmond Virginia, featuring “Rumors of War” by Kehinde Wiley, and Confederate Memorials of JEB Stuart and Robert E Lee.
|
|
|
SAVE THE DATE: MAKE MUSIC DAY-BRIDGEPORT
SUNDAY JUNE 21, 2020
|
|
|
|
Fuzz Sangiovanni is mixing up a review of local music videos with greetings and comments from some favorite musicians and sharing how they staying creative during shutdown of musical venues during Covid19. Among the musicians to be featured are Caravan of Thieves, Mystic Bowie, Colorfields, Deep Banana Black Out, Hitch and the Giddy-Up, the Tom Tom Club and the Zambonis. Tune into the Bridgeport Art Trail Facebook page on the hour on Sunday June 21, 2020 to enjoy some of the your favorite local musicians.
|
|
|
|
Save the date. City Lights Gallery Outworks: Greater Bridgeport Pride Online Artful Celebration are preparing a 10 year retrospective and multi-media event. There will also be a new works exhibit at City Lights Gallery.
|
|
A MESSAGE FROM OUTWORK ORGANIZER
RICKY MESTRE
|
|
|
Looking Back Over 10 Years
Looking back and realizing we are in our 10th year is an amazing thing. When I first approached Suzanne Kachmar at the City Lights Gallery about an LGBTQ themed show I really didn't think it would become an annual thing at the time. After an incredible opening reception for the first SAMESEX exhibit I can remember a delighted Suzanne telling me "We gotta do this again next year!". I realized I helped start off something very special in the Bridgeport area that meant so much to a large group of people. After doing it again for the next couple of years I felt a sense of responsibility to not only continue this, but see how we can make it grow.
Blocking off a street for an outdoor fair, arranging an organized Pride March and concluding the march with a variety show of local talent became an extended part of the gallery's opening reception for the art displayed. This whole evening would later be known as "Bridgeport Pride". People credit me with starting this, but it really couldn't have continued this long without all the amazing volunteers who believed in making Bridgeport Pride a worthwhile event. That in itself has meant a lot to me.
Looking Towards the Future
With a global pandemic cancelling events, Suzanne and I had to think about how we can celebrate our 10th year and do so safely. We agreed it was important to provide this for all the supporters who were looking forward to it. We kept our "call for artists" information out there to be able to host another year of queer art in the gallery but the exhibit opening will be handled virtually this year on July 16. The variety show will be a televised special on the same night (the time has still to be determined) played on the Public access channel (88 for Bridgeport, Stratford & Fairfield and 77 for Milford, Orange and Woodbridge) For those in other cities it can watched on soundviewtv.org on their live streaming link. The Pride March and outdoor fair parts of the opening reception, unfortunately, have to be cancelled.
Ending a Decade of Celebration with a New Name
When we first decided to do this exhibit we actually had a team of people brainstorm different names. At the time, same sex marriages had been recently legalized. Writer Lee Steele suggested SameSex as the name of the show and we all liked it. We kept the name for years even when some people questioned it and thought it might be time to call it something different. I was open to a name change but nobody really could come up with something to replace it with. With the success of SameSex I wondered how a name change would affect what it was we had been doing all this time. SameSex was already a bit of a brand for this show and we always made it clear that the art displayed contained themes relevant to ALL members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Two years ago it was brought to my attention again, but this time it was by a member of the transgender part of the community. She explained how the title SameSex didn't feel like it pertained to her. A replacement for it didn't come up in time so we called it SameSex again. I didn't like that members of the community didn't feel like they belonged in this artful celebration so last year we agreed to make it a point to change the name and again had brainstorming sessions. I came up with OUTwork one day. Changing it to OUTwork felt more inclusive and everyone involved liked it and felt it would be a good way to start up our 10th year.
|
|
Pride Month in Bridgeport
In the last couple of years the City of Bridgeport has been hosting celebrations to raise the rainbow flag over the Margaret E Mortan Government Center to commemorate Pride Month. On the morning of June 6, for this year's raising of the rainbow flag, a reporter for the Connecticut Post approached me to talk about OUTwork and Bridgeport Pride.
|
|
|
|
One of his first questions was, "Are you a leader?" For some reason I felt confused by this question. I paused, then told him, "That's not really a title someone can give himself." Local entertainer, Mark Rohrig was nearby listening to the interview, jumped in, "He's a leader" and nodded his head. Soon after I was asked to join Mayor Ganim and a small select group of people to the roof to help raise our Pride flag. In that moment I thought about where this all began and where we are now. I walked in as an artist and came out as a leader. I was proud. - Ricky Mestre
|
|
|
A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE BRIDGEPORT ART TRAIL
|
|
|
|
BAT News Explores the Monuments of Richmond Virginia, featuring “Rumors of War” by Kehinde Wiley, and Confederate Memorials of JEB Stuart and Robert E Lee
Suzanne Kachmar, ED City Lights/Bridgeport Art Trail
|
|
|
I regret that I never saw the Kehinde Wiley sculpture, “Rumors of War,” during the few months that it was in Times Square. What a spectacular installation it must have been, in the hustle-bustle center of art and tourism, surrounded by lights and billboards and crowds of people.
As we know, for a few months the streets are empty in Time Square due to Covid19. The only crowds to be found in New York now are at the protests demanding justice for George Floyd and others that have been victims of police brutality, which has supercharged the outrage and voice of many to the end to systemic racism and the use of excessive force by police.
|
|
|
Wiley’s sculpture has also left Time Square and is now in its permanent installation spot in Richmond VA, on the campus of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. The artist created the monumental sculpture as a response from his experience of seeing the row of Confederate monuments on Monument Avenue, when he was in Richmond to prepare for his exhibit “New Republic” at the VMFA.
Wiley appropriates the visual tropes of Western art history, of nobility, heroes and saints and replaces the historic figures with contemporary black men and women in present-day hairstyles and clothing, depicting them as the epoch heroes. His intension is to rectify the absence of black and brown men and women as hero in the visual, historical, and cultural narratives of American and Western art.
|
|
Individual artworks are directly inspired by a specific historic work. For the “Rumors of War” sculpture, Wiley chose the monument of Confederate General JEB Stuart, who was regarded as a valiant, yet tragic hero, known for his flamboyant dress and as a respected commander. He was mortally wounded at 31 during the Civil War.
Wiley’s large equestrian sculpture is the progression of his series “New Republic” and another series called by the same name, “Rumors of War”. It is the counterbalance to the Confederate sculptures on Monument Ave. The horse in Wiley’s sculpture is in the same pose as the Stuart Confederate sculpture, advancing forward. The artist adjusted the gaze of his figure somewhat to look backwards.
|
|
|
Since I dd not get to see the work in Times Square, my husband and I made 2 visits down and back, when driving South to spend the holidays with our family. I was struck both times. Wiley’s sculpture is on the campus of the VA Museum of Fine Art. The dynamic sculpture of horse and figure seems to be charging towards the Daughters of the Confederacy headquarters, across the way from the museum. The environs are rife with history, pain, and controversy and can offer an epicenter for healing and rectification of centuries of racism. The area around the VA Museum of Art has a reflecting pool, and an impressive sculpture garden. Steps away is a chapel commemorating 260,000 Confederate War dead. The chapel was part of a hospital complex on the property for Civil War veterans.
|
|
|
It is a profoundly important installation. Rumors of War is perhaps the most relevant and important piece of art in America today, for what it is, where it is, who sponsored it, and who created it. Wiley is perhaps best known as the artist who painted the presidential portrait of Barack Obama for the Smithsonian, now touring the country with the Smithsonian portrait of his wife Michelle. These paintings are currently at the Brooklyn Museum.
|
|
|
"There's a type of ceremony that surrounds the valorization of these guys," Wiley said when speaking about his reaction to the concentration of Confederate sculptures on Monument Ave. He said, "I saw a spectacle that felt dreadful. I mean, it almost felt like it was designed to be menacing….To be in a black body walking through the streets of Richmond and to see something that signifies the enslavement of your people, that's a little bit more heavy duty… I think it meant a lot to me to be able to say that in the 21st century, we as a society can say yes to a monument to a young black man in a hoodie."
|
|
Wiley's artwork "presents a powerful visual repositioning of young black men in our public consciousness while directly engaging the national conversation around controversial monuments and their role in perpetuating incomplete narratives and contemporary inequities… We hope that the sculpture will encourage public engagement and civic discussion about who is memorialized in our nation and the significance of monuments in the context of American history." VA Museum of Fine Art
And now the question is, what is the future for the row of Confederate monuments just blocks away from Wiley’s. His monument stands 27 ft high and 16 ft wide. In contrast, the Robert E. Lee monument there has a 40 ft granite pedestal and 21ft tall bronze equestrian sculpture.
During the recent protests, the Lee sculpture was defaced. VA governor says the plans are to remove it. As of July 1, a law that protected memorials to Confederate war veterans will change. There is still controversy and opposition to the removal.
|
|
|
Kehinde Wiley was asked for his opinion about the removal of the Confederate memorials. He is an African American, in his early 40’s, born in LA, and has traveled and worked around the world, and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, and Yale University. Wiley said, "I think that the best thing to do is to respond to them with more statues," he said. "Disappearance is not what I'm asking for. Nor is it keeping sculptures in city centers to horrify people. What I'm saying is, the answer to negative speech is more speech, positive speech. … It makes sense to have something exist on a monumental level, because this is a monumental conversation that this country needs to have."
|
|
|
|
See the opinion piece below written by artist and historian Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, regarding the removal of the Confederate monuments.
|
|
|
|
PUT THE PAST IN THE PAST by Iyaba Ibo Mandingo
|
|
|
In Kimberley South Africa, there is a gigantic hole in the earth called “The Big Hole”, that has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in town next to a drive past the infamous DeBeers diamond mines. It is over 1500 feet wide and nearly 800 feet deep. One of the largest diamonds mine claims in the world, it made DeBeers a household name and Cecil Rhodes(he does not deserve capital letters) one of the most powerful men in the late 19th century world of European, dissection and exploitation of Africa. This hole is so big, it can actually be seen from space. Africans dug it by hand as indentured servants of white prospectors looking to strike it rich, each family was given a tiny piece of land to mine which meant their only direction to dig was down.
There are monuments that mark the reign of white men that are so permanent they cannot be removed; but in Kimberley, where Rhodes the imperialist ruled there are statues everywhere along with his extravagant mansion. There are monuments all over the planet of white men who fancied themselves liberators, discoverers, conquerors, gods and wanted to make sure symbols of their deeds and time on earth remained long after their death.
Now the idea of a statue that honors an important man or woman is not new, from the beginning of time we have been writing our name in the proverbial wet sidewalk concrete, ‘Caesar, was here’. But some of these statues have become haunting remembrances of horrible tribulations, injustices, and death for entire peoples in some cases. Some will counter that these things are a part of history and should be left in place as representations of that time. There is merit there, but what of people whose suffering is triggered by the presence of these statues? A conversation I had with university students while there about the need to remove all the statues of Rhodes and other imperialist, inspired one of them to join a group of students who eventually got the statue of Rhodes removed from the University of Cape Town.
|
|
|
|
Protesters at the Robert E, Lee Monument, Richmond VA
|
|
The same can be said for the statues of confederate leaders that fought to preserve the institution of slavery in America, during the Civil War. Many of them, including one of the most celebrated, general Robert E. Lee, made their fortune from slavery. Their statues are represented in the grandeur of kings along monument row in the once proposed capital of the seceded south in modern day Richmond Virginia. There is a sacredness for white southerners that even the great-grandchildren of their former slaves can feel. White power militias and hate groups use the so-called sacred ground around the statues as inspired rallying points and in some places, as in Charlottesville, are willing to kill to defend the symbols of their way of life.
I think they should be removed from public viewing and placed in museums and in the private collections of the folks who deify them. There is a reason you do not find statues of Adolf Hitler and any of his Nazi cohorts anywhere in Germany, same reason the removal of the berlin wall was celebrated by the planet. Some symbols are so vile and reprehensible in what they represent and induce that their removal becomes a new memorial to a new way of seeing each other.
|
|
|
2019 PROGRAMS REACHED 6000+ STUDENTS. YOUR SUPPORT KEEPS THE CITY LIGHTS BURNING.
|
|
Please make a contribution at www.citylightsgallery.org
Or send a check made to City Lights & Company
Mailing Address: City Lights 130 Elm St Bridgeport, CT 06604
CLICK HERE TO DOUBLE YOUR CONTRIBUTION THROUGH A DOLLAR TO DOLLAR MATCH.
|
|
Sustaining City Lights programs and services for 16 years!
Successes, challenges, generous support and collaboration are the 16-year story of City Lights. 2019 to 2020 is no different. Last year City Lights produced a robust year of programs that reached 6000+ students in Bridgeport and in Fairfield. These outreach programs combined with sales and other work provided $80,000 of critical supplemental income to artists and creatives who are gig-economy workers.
Now in the Covid-19 crisis these opportunities are at risk. City Lights and community partners created a 2020 calendar of programs, partnering with Bridgeport schools, the Barnum Festival and of course Bridgeport’s arts community. Our programs that attract public audiences need to be transitioned to online presentations. Like everyone, we are adapting and finding ways to continue to serve the community through art.
We are collaborating with teaching artists to create engaging online educational programs, relevant newsletters, articles and exhibits shared on social media and our websites. We are working with community partners on public art projects. During this health and economic struggle, we have been a public advocate on TV, radio and social media raising awareness for artists, gig-economy workers, who have lost most or all, of their sources of income, due to the shutdown of venues and the rise in unemployment.
|
|
|
WE WILL MAKE IT WITH YOUR HELP
|
|
|
|
|
We need your help to keep the City Lights burning. Please make a contribution. Any amount is gratefully appreciated and will be matched dollar for dollar, if you donate during our 16th anniversary fundraising campaign ending June 30th. Funds will support arts enrichment programs for youth and general operating support. This will enable us to continue programs to enrich the learning experience for youth and work opportunities for teaching artists.
|
|
|
COMMUNITY UPDATES AND PROGRAMS
|
|
|
|
City Lights Vintage - Reopening Phase I
|
|
|
|
The Writer's Group with Shanna T. Melton
|
|
|
Join Shanna Melton for a nurturing experience of creative writing sponsored by City Lights the first two Saturdays of every month. She is hosting this workshop via ZOOM.
For more info:clgallerybpt@gmail.com
Visit the Writers’ Group Facebook page
|
|
|
BRIDGEPORT ARTS AND CULTURAL COUNCIL UPDATES
|
|
|
All of us at the Bridgeport Arts & Cultural Council hope you're staying safe and following the important Social Distancing guidelines to help keep us safe in these trying times. In response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the BACC and I Luv BPT have decided to cancel our 2020 Downtown Thursdays Concert Series & The Bridgeport Arts Festival. We understand how much of a disappointment this may be but the health and safety of our citizens are our priority. So in place of that, our focus will be on providing opportunities to local Bridgeport artists in the form of streaming programming and scholarships.
We are looking forward to sponsoring The BACC Virtual Creative online Workshops. 16 artists for 8 weeks of online creative programming designed to support our local artist community. We're also proud to present 4 BACC Virtual Scholarships that will be made available to Bridgeport Residents.
|
|
HCC Virtual Student Art Show
From Apr 29 to Sep 30, 2020
|
|
|
For the first time in its history, the Housatonic Community College (HCC) Student Art Show adopted an online-only format. Typically held in the school’s Burt Chernow Galleries each spring, the Art Department created an innovative virtual exhibition while the college’s campus is closed due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The show features over 75 paintings, drawings, pastels, digital images, sculpture, ceramics and more produced by 40 of HCC’s talented student artists, providing an opportunity for art to not only offer comfort but also a chance to come together.
“I could not believe the speed and enthusiasm of the students’ response to a virtual show,” said HCC Art Professor Tom Brenner. “It was like opening a floodgate. I quickly realized that it was not simply a matter of wanting their work displayed, but that the idea fulfilled a need for connecting with their friends and fellow students in HCC’s artistic community.”
“Now, more than ever, people need the arts,” said Dr. Thomas Coley, Acting President Housatonic Community College and Regional President, CSCU Shoreline-West. “The arts feed the soul, and this show is not only a testament to the talent of our students, but also the commitment of our faculty. Bravo!”
|
|
|
WPKN Community Radio Podcasts
|
|
|
|
WPKN is a nonprofit, freeform, community radio station (arts organization) that is more than 50 years old. The vision of WPKN is to build community, a loyal and growing audience, and an engaged and educated citizenry by providing the highest quality of free-form programming that broadcasts entertainment, music, news, thoughts, sounds, ideas and event listings that support free speech, diversity, and the interests of the local and global communities WPKN serves. MORE INFORMATION
|
|
|
Coastal Art Guild of Connecticut - Zoom Figure Drawing
|
|
|
Join us for figure drawing sessions on Zoom. Draw from a live model.
Sessions begin with the model taking short, athletic poses of 1 or 2 minutes to get everyone warmed up. We will progress with a few 5 and 10 minute poses. The remainder of the session will be 20 minute poses.
Cost:
$7.00: Coastal Arts Guild of CT members
$10.00: non members
THE ONLY WAY to get the Zoom meeting link is to register for the session here: https://www.coastalartsguildct.org/figure-drawing-via-zoom.
The meeting is password-protected. The password will be sent in a separate email to all participants who register at the above link. Registration is required. 18 years of age or older. No instruction is provided.
MORE INFORMATION
|
|
This is a difficult letter to write but these are extraordinary times. There is a little something at the end of the letter that I hope will give those of you with kids cooped up at home a break. Yes, there’s a catch!....
Known among our senior staff is ‘The Vault’. Inside of The Vault is 27 archive videos of our award-winning and critically acclaimed Children’s Shows. Not only do the critics and kids love these clever adaptations of classic children’s stories written by our very own in-house playwright Phill Hill, the parents more times than not enjoy the shows much more than they anticipated! What’s the catch to get access to The Vault where you can pick and choose from 27 shows or choose them all with full access for a month? You have to convert your tickets or credits into a 100% tax-deductible donation. That’s the catch. Those of you who have already donated your tickets or made a donation over $100 since March 1, 2020, are eligible to access The Vault. MORE INFORMATION
|
|
|
NEED ART SUPPLIES? OPEN CONNECTICUT ART SUPPLIES
|
|
|
|
Palooza our partner store in Fairfield, CT is open. Palooza has been granted as an essential business in Connecticut for Educational supplies and Art supply hardware for both students and professionals. Operating days and hours are from Tuesday - Saturday 11:00-3:00. They have a full selection of art supplies. Product shipping from New York on Wednesdays and Saturday’s.
Please send us a email of your needs to ctpalooza@yahoo.com with your phone number, You can also call 203-257-3471 or 203-255-3655 for questions or requests. Orders can be scheduled for pick-up. They are allowing 1 customer in at a time, so please no browsing. Gloves are available at the front counter for shopping. The door will be locked so just knock gently. Please follow social distance guidelines. Many of our popular linens and Aluminum Stretchers are available at Palooza along with our full line of professional artist’s materials.
Palooza
1636 Post Road
Fairfield, Ct 06824
203-257-3471
|
|
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT
Stay safe, be prudent, and kind to others and yourself. Stay in touch with us on the Bridgeport Art Trail Facebook Page where we post frequently.
|
|
|
|
SUPPORT DOWNTOWN BRIDGEPORT
|
|
|
|
SUPPORT THE BRIDGEPORT ART TRAIL
|
|
|
|
|
