Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture. Highlights from the week of April 30 include: David Hammons documentary, Howard University’s next president, MICA commencement speakers, Black Lunch Table & more
FILMS | Trailer for “The Melt Goes on Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons,” a documentary portrait of the New York-based artist who does not appear in the film. | Video by Greenwich Entertainment
FILMS
“The Melt Goes on Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons,” a documentary about the elusive conceptual artist who has enthralled the art world for decades, opened at Film Forum, making its U.S. debut in New York (see trailer above). On the same day, Drake, a David Hammons fan, announced his company DreamCrew Entertainment was signing onto the film as co-executive producer. Directors Judd Tully and Harold Crooks said the support would help the documentary reach a larger audience. (5/5) | Deadline
New York-based abstract artist Alteronce Gumby announced “Color,” a documentary directed by John Campbell (see trailer below). Work on the film is ongoing and coincides with the artist’s first museum catalog. “Dark Matter” complements his recent exhibition at Allentown Art Musuem, not too far from Harrisburg, Pa., where he was born. Gumby said, both projects “are expressions of my unending fascination with how we experience color as both a visual property, but also culturally, spiritually, emotionally and musically.” (5/1) | More
AWARDS & HONORS
Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore (MICA) announced honorary degree recipients and speakers for its 2023 commencement on May 15, including artist Derrick Adams, a Baltimore native who will address undergraduates, and Myrtis Bedolla, owner and founding director of Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore, who is participating in the graduate ceremony. (5/4) | More
Five winners of the inaugural V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography were announced, including Kenyan British artist and curator Cynthia MaiWa Sitei. (5/2) | More
PUBLIC ART
Frank Bowling debuts “Arrival,” his first digital artwork at Picadilly Lights in London. Presented by the Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts (CIRCA), the installation is a hybrid of two map paintings by Bowling. The project marks a trio of significant events: 70 years since the artist arrived in London from what is now Guyana (in 1953), the 75th anniversary of Windrush, and the coronation of King Charles III. (5/4) | More
Ben Vinson III will serve as the 18th president of Howard University. The historian and academic leaders shares his background and vision for the prominent HBCU. | Video by Howard University
APPOINTMENTS
Howard University in Washington, D.C., announced Ben Vinson III (see video above) will be its next president, effective Sept. 1. A historian of Latin America with a focus on the African Diaspora and Mexico, Vinson will join Howard from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he has been serving as a professor, provost and executive vice president. (5/2) | More
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) named Aaron Myers executive director. A jazz vocalist, pianist, educator, and activist, Myers is the founding board chair of the Capitol Hill Jazz Foundation. He had been serving as acting CAH commissioner since March 27 and was confirmed to a permanent appointment by the DC Council. (5/2) | More
Black Lunch Table announced a new archives director. Keondra Bills Freemyn (pictured at right) is a Maryland-based archivist, published author and poet, and Wikipedian, who founded the digital archive initiative, The Black Women Writers Project. She earned an M.P.A., from Columbia University, is a Society of American Archivists Digital Archives Specialist, and has worked on oral history and archives projects with the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, New York Public Library, and DC Public Library. (5/4) | More
Print Center New York announced Brooke Minto joined its board of trustees, effective in April. Minto was recently named executive director and CEO of the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio, where she officially starts May 15. She previously served as inaugural director of the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums. (5/2) | More
EVENTS
LagosPhoto, the international photography festival, announced its 14th edition will expand beyond Lagos, Nigeria, for the first time, with programming in Cotonou and Ouidah in Benin. (5/4) | More
MUSEUMS
The Alice L. Walton Foundation, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and Pilot House Philanthropy committed $11 million over five years to fund a Leadership in Art Museums (LAM) initiative intended “to increase racial equity in leadership roles such as curators, conservators, collections managers, community engagement staff, educators and other senior leaders…” 19 museums received 2023 awards. (5/3) | More
CT
IMAGE: Above right, Keondra Bills Freemyn. | Courtesy Black Lunch Table
The trailer for Alteronce Gumby’s in-progress film, “Color,” previews the places he has visited (New Orleans, Madura, India) and people he has engaged, including fellow artist Tomashi Jackson. Gumby has plans to explore more sources and destinations before filming is complete and is raising funds to move forward with the project. | Video by Alteronce Gumby Studio
