I'm currently in the process of painting a 4-by-6 foot version of my Lady Day painting on plywood. The painting will appear along with other local artist's work on the boarded up windows of Proctors Theater on 4th Street in Troy. The aim of the Proctors project is to bring some needed beauty and creativity to the neighborhood.
Here's a preview picture of the work in progress.
I'll post more pictures when the piece is finished. The TU recently wrote an article about the Proctor's project.
By KENNETH C. CROWE II, Staff writer First published in print: Saturday, October 31, 2009
TROY -- Proctors Theater's barren plywood boards will have a new appeal in time for the city's Victorian Stroll.
Photographer and gallery owner Debra Lockrow is working with eight artists and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the theater owner, to adorn the 84 Fourth St. building with artwork.
"The whole Proctor's initiative is to make the street look better,'' said Lockrow, who opened Artcentric Art Gallery at 95 Fourth St. in June.
"We're trying to encourage a positive use of the building,'' Lockrow said.
... Kristine Domenichini is one of the eight artists painting 4-by-6 foot murals with a music or theater theme... The other artists recruited by Lockrow to participate are participating are James Staley, Kim Schaller, Jesse Schaller, John Cummings Jr., Marcus Kwame Anderson, Dylan Lockrow-Lindsay and Erik Savage.
Lockrow said the goal is to have the art hung a week before the Troy Victorian Stroll.
If Fox news wants to keep doing what they're doing, they should have to take "news" out of their title. Other possible titles: "Fox Fiction" or "Pundit's Palace," and their slogan should be, "The truth is relative."
My wife and I have a show. Come see our new art at Artcentric Gift Gallery. The opening reception will be a part of Troy's monthly art walk, Troy Night Out, Friday November 27th from 5-9 pm. Artcentric is located at 95 4th Street, Troy NY. We'll be there and we hope to see you.
I've really been feeling like working with mixed media recently. This piece is called Imani, which is Swahili for faith. Being a music lover, I naturally gravitated toward a musical manifestation of faith. I also used Imani for the greeting card design below. I had a lot of fun making it and I'm looking forward to doing more collage/painting work soon.
I just saw this video over at Bold As Love and I had to repost it. In a society where we are constantly bombarded by one-sided negative images and characterizations of black youth, it is refreshing to see videos like this. Do your thing, lil' man!
ahem... please excuse a moment of self promotion...
New on my website marcuskwame.com, greeting cards! All of my cards feature my art and designs and are blank inside so that you can write your own personalized message for any occasion. They are about 4.5" x 7" and come with envelopes. They also look nice in a frame. I will have more holiday cards available soon.
You can order cards directly from my site using paypal. Prices are 1 card for $4, 3 cards for $11, 5 cards for $15, or 10 cards for $15.
Here are some of the cards that I have in stock now:
eight hours or more of every twenty-four spent scratching at the door blending, bent and endless incensed by the senseless suits hovering, buzzing granite faced defenses push papers expressionless
office politics tic-toc thoughts remain gridlocked the clock turns heavy handed free logic reprimanded Lord grant us reprieve from the hold of thieves i’ll reply to my own pleas once i recall the answer
smuggling pens as creative contraband laying freedom train tracks by my own hand plotting better tomorrows painting a broad sky and drawing wings to fly finally realizing my wingspan
writings stashed abruptly upon overseer’s approach reflecting ancestors ghosts i must escape the past i am stronger than this but 9-5 is complicated math minutes burn as i relearn not to block my own path
minutes burn as i relearn not to block my own path ~
The makeup of the American population is undeniably diverse. This diversity is not necessarily reflected in the media, government policy, schools or the workplace, but it exists. Our differences are many, but we also share many common experiences, for better or for worse. One unfortunate experience shared by most people educated in this country is the myth and outright lie of Christopher Columbus' greatness. We are taught that Columbus "sailed the ocean blue in 1492." We are taught that he alone knew the earth's true shape. He is made to seem like a hero, a brave and noble man. These things clearly are untrue. As a teenager I unlearned many of the lies I had been taught early in my education. It was around this time that I learned that Columbus was in reality, a pirate willing to massacre and enslave native people in his pursuit of gold. As adults, many of us know the disturbing truth of Christopher Columbus, which raises some troubling questions. How could our teachers have taught us something so far from the truth? Why would they present a cruel and bloodthirsty man as a hero? I suppose every mighty nation needs an great and heroic origin story. Apparently that great origin story does not necessarily need to be true.
The problem with these creative truths, is that they write entire groups of people out of history, at best painting them as afterthoughts. The version of American history taught in public schools is the story of a select few. Many of us live, as Ralph Ellison observed in the classic novel Invisible Man, outside of history. This is the case when history is written by the conqueror. Obviously, it is not always in the conqueror's best interest to tell the entire story as it occurred. Fortunately there are people like Howard Zinn, who has worked tirelessly to tell the story of those living outside of history.
In his book, A People's History of the United States: 1492 to the Present, Zinn presents the brutal truth of American History, the truth that we did not learn in the classroom. He writes:
"My viewpoint, in telling the history of the United States, is different... The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners.
Thus, in that inevitable taking of sides which comes from selection and emphasis in history, I prefer to try to tell the story of the discovery of America from the viewpoint of the Arawaks, of the Constitution from the standpoint of the slaves, of Andrew Jackson as seen by the Cherokees, of the Civil War as seen by the New York Irish, of the Mexican war as seen by the deserting soldiers of Scott's army, of the rise of industrialism as seen by the young women in the Lowell textile, of the Spanish-American war as seen by the Cubans, the conquest of the Philippines as seen by black soldiers on Luzon, the Gilded Age as seen by southern farmers, the First World War as seen by socialists, the Second World War as seen by pacifists, the New Deal as seen by blacks in Harlem, the postwar American empire as seen by peons in Latin America. And so on, to the limited extent that any one person however he or she strains, can "see" history from the standpoint of others."
Zinn details the truth behind Columbus' brutal exploits. Many of the details of Columbus' cruelties come directly from his own journals. Columbus was shocked by the Arawaks' kindness and quickly sought to exploit it as a weakness.
"The Indians, Columbus reported, 'are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary they offer to share with anyone...' He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage 'as much gold as they need... and as many slaves as they ask... Because of Columbus's exaggerated report and promises, his second expedition was given seventeen ships and more than twelve hundred men. The aim was clear: slaves and gold. They went from island to island in the Caribbean, taking Indians as captives. But as word spread of the Europeans' intent they found more and more empty villages. On Haiti, they found that the sailors left behind at Fort Navidad had been killed in a battle with the Indians, after they had roamed the island in gangs looking for gold, taking women and children as slaves for sex and labor."
And...
"But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death."
This is the "hero" who "discovered" America, and this is only a portion of the ugliness that he set into motion. If you have not read A People's History, I suggest you do. This Monday, as the country pays tribute to a man who is anything but heroic, my wife and I are choosing to celebrate Howard Zinn day. He and so many other American's are more deserving of a day of recognition.
It is sad that Martin Luther King Jr., a true American hero, was refused a national holiday until the 1980's (a day which was not recognized in all 50 states until 2000), while observation of Columbus' journey has been a national holiday since 1934—and celebrated since colonial times. Columbus Day? We can do better. Join me Monday in celebrating true heroes. Whoever your hero may be. So many brave men and women have gone without proper recognition. Columbus is not a hero, so let's give his day to the heroes. Long live the truth.
Here's a piece I did for the autumn, self-portrait themed issue of Poets and Artists, a quarterly literary and visual arts magazine. I'm working on some other new things right now. Stay tuned.
On September 15th, Van Jones addressed his friends and supporters about his recent resignation with the following e-mail message.
Dear Friends:
My family and I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support that we have received over the past week or so. I resigned from the White House on Sept. 6, and I have remained silent since then--in keeping with my promise not to be a distraction during a key moment in the Obama Presidency.
Over the past several days, however, many people have been asking how they can help and what they can do.
The main thing is this: please do everything you can to support both President Obama and the green jobs movement. Winning real change is ultimately the best response to these kinds of smear campaigns.
I ask everyone to:
1. Support President Obama's efforts to fix our nation's health care, energy and education systems. His victory last fall did not represent the "finish line" in the fight to renew America; his election was just the "starting line." This autumn, it is time to make history again--with victories on health care and clean energy.
2. Sign up to support groups that are working for green jobs.
As others seek to vilify or marginalize the movement for a clean energy economy, the leading groups deserve increased support. This is the year to ensure that the clean energy transformation creates good job opportunities for everyone in America.
3. Spread the green jobs gospel. The ideas and ideals of the green jobs movement are grounded in fundamental American values--innovation, entrepreneurship, and equal opportunity. My true thoughts can be found in my book: The Green Collar Economy. Check it out from the library--or order a copy and share it with a friend. See for yourself why clean energy and green jobs are good for our country.
4. Stay connected and speak up for me via your favorite blogs (e.g., Huffington Post, Grist, Jack & Jill, etc.), on message boards and all of your favorite social networking platforms (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Supporters have set up a couple of them, to help you stay engaged, including: I Stand With Van Jones and I Love Van Jones.
In due course, I will be offering my perspective on what has happened--including correcting the record about false charges. In the meantime, I must get my family affairs in order and sort through numerous offers and options.
I want to be clear that I have nothing but love and admiration for President Obama and the entire administration. White House staffers are there to serve and support the President, not the other way around. At this critical moment in history, I could not in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. The White House needs all its hands on deck, fighting for the future.
Of course, some supporters actually think I will be more effective on the "outside." Maybe so. But those ideas always remind me of that old canard about Winston Churchill. After he lost a hard-fought election, a friend told him: "Winston, this really is just a blessing in disguise." Churchill quipped: "Damned good disguise." I can certainly relate to that sentiment right now. :)
Nonetheless, we must keep moving forward. Let's continue our work to make an America as good as its promise. These are historic times. And we have a lot more history to make.
The WWF-type atmosphere that the Health Insurance companies and right wing zealots like Glenn Beck have stirred up under the guise of "grass roots protests" at town hall meetings is embarrassing. The misinformation and simple-minded propaganda are bad enough, but the number of people who buy into the lies are unbelievable. So when I saw this video where Rep. Barney Frank lets one of these misinformers have it, it made my day. Check it out.
My name is Marcus Kwame Anderson. I'm an artist from Albany, NY. I love to paint, draw, write comics, poetry and create whatever else moves me at the moment. Art is my life. This is my blog... I'll be filling it up with thoughts, images, poems and other things. Visit my art website, www.marcuskwame.com
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