Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
From left, Jova Lynne starts at Temple Contemporary at Tyler School of Art and Architecture Jan. 31. | Photo by Clare Gotto; Margaret Vendryes officially joins Tufts University in June. | Photo Courtesy Margaret Vendryes
Appointments
Margaret Vendryes has been appointed dean of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. She is joining Tufts from York College at the City University of New York (CUNY), where she is a professor, director of the Fine Arts Gallery, and chair of the Department of Performing and Fine Arts. An educator, art historian, artist, and curator, Vendryes is the author of Barthé: A Life in Sculpture, a landmark biography of Richmond Barthé. She officially starts at Tufts in June. | More
The Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University named Jova Lynne director of Temple Contemporary, Tyler’s center for exhibitions and public programs. A curator, educator, and artist, Lynne previously served as senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). Her Tyler appointment is effective Jan. 31. | More
Express Newark, the center for socially engaged art and design at Rutgers University-Newark that is hosting this year’s Black Portraiture[s] Conference (Feb. 17-19), announced new leadership. Salamishah Tillet was appointed executive director of Express Newark, and Nick Kline is serving as creative director. Both took on the new roles in summer 2021. Tillet is a Henry Rutgers Professor of African American and African studies and creative writing at Rutgers University and the founding director of New Arts Justice, an initiative for Black feminist approaches to public art in Newark and beyond. Kline is an artist; associate professor of photography at Rutgers in the Department of Arts, Culture, and Media; and founder/director of Shine Portrait Studio in Newark, which is housed in the same space where James Van Der Zee held his first photography job. | More
Art Fairs
Several galleries are presenting solo exhibitions of women artist at Frieze Los Angeles (Feb. 17-20), including Ortuzar Projects where works by Savannah, Ga.-based artist Suzanne Jackson, founder of Gallery 32 in Los Angeles (1968-70), will be on view. | More
Elizabeth Meaders collected about 20,000 African American historic and cultural objects over the past six decades. According to Guernsey’s, scholars say the collection is unmatched by public or private holdings. | Via Guernsey’s
Auctions
Guernsey’s in New York is auctioning the Black memorabilia collection of Elizabeth Meaders on Feb. 28 (postponed to March 15). A 90-year-old resident of Staten Island, N.Y., Meaders acquired about 20,000 African American cultural and historic objects over the years. She began assembling the archive in 1960 when she was a young teacher. Many mediums and prominent figures are represented across a range of categories, from slavery and civil rights to sports, the military, and arts and entertainment. According to Guernsey’s, scholars and historians have praised the depth of the collection and the many stories it tells and knowledge it reveals. The expansive collection is being offered as one lot with hopes that it might go to a university or museum. | More
Biennials
Ghana announced its exhibition plans for the 59th Venice Biennale. Titled “Black Star: The Museum as Freedom,” the presentation will feature works by three artists—Na Chainkua Reindorf, Afroscope and Diego Araúja. The pavilion is curated by Nana Oforiatta Ayim, director of ANO Institute of Arts & Knowledge in Accra and director-at-large of Ghana’s Museums and Cultural Heritage, and designed by architect DK Osseo Asare. The exhibition will be on view in the Ghana Pavilion from April 23-Nov. 27, 2022. | More
Bargain Book
“Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South” by Winfred Rembert is currently available for about $15, half off the regular price. Rembert died March 31, 2021, at home in New Haven, Conn., at age 75. The artist painted and carved on leather vivid scenes reflecting on his life experiences, which he also wrote about “Chasing Me to My Grave.” Published posthumously in September, the highly praised book includes illustrations, was co-authored with Erin I. Kelly, and features a foreword by Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. | Amazon
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