Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
2024 United States Artists Fellows: Clockwise, from top left, Karen Collins. | Photo by Chris Merchant; Tammie Rubin. | Photo by Essentials Creative; María Magdalena Campos-Pons. | Photo courtesy the artist; Garrett Bradley. | Photo by Blvxmth; Corey Alston. | Photo courtesy the artist; and Maya Bird-Murphy. | Photo by Nolis Anderson
Awards & Honors
United States Artists announced recipients of its 2024 fellowships. Representing the United States and Puerto Rico, 50 artists and collectives received $50,000 unrestricted cash awards. Artists working across 10 disciplines were recognized for their “rich contributions to the cultural fabric of the country.” Selected recipients included: artist, musician, and educator EJ Hill and multidisciplinary artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons (Visual Art); Ifeoma Ebo, Maya Bird-Murphy, and AD–WO – Emanuel Admassu and Jen Wood (Architecture and Design); jewel artist and object maker Tanya Crane and ceramic sculptor and installation artist Tammie Rubin (Craft); artist and filmmaker Garrett Bradley (Film); and narrative miniaturist Karen Collins and sweetgrass basket weaver Corey Alston (Traditional Arts). | More
Artpace San Antonio announced its Spring 2024 International Artists-in-Residence: Melissa Joseph (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Patrick Quarm (Windy Ridge, Takoradi, Western Region, Ghana), and José Villalobos (San Antonio, Texas). Encouraging experimentation and growth, Artpace supports the production of new work by local, national, and international artists. The artists were selected by guest curator Larry Ossei-Mensah. Their residencies commence Feb. 5 and will culminate with solo exhibitions opening March 28. | More
Magazines
Jupiter Magazine is a new quarterly arts and culture publication launched by Camille Gallogly Bacon and Daria Simone Harper. Available online, Issue 001: Worldbending features contributions by five writers: Akwaeke Emezi, J Wortham, Joshua Segun-Lean, Diallo Simon-Ponte, and Rianna Jade Parker. In the editor’s note, Bacon and Harper said the inaugural issue “illuminates our belief in the vital necessity of those who conjure planets of language around the work of artists who reflect our world back to itself with atomic precision and celestial foresight.” Annually, three digital issues are planned with a print edition concluding the year. Bacon is a Chicago-based writer and Harper is a Brooklyn-based writer, a former assistant editor of digital content at David Zwirner gallery, and founder of The Art of It All podcast. Both have contributed to major arts and culture publications. (1/18) | More
From left, James Claiborne. | Courtesy Barnes Foundation; Steve Locke, 2021. | Photo by Ross Collab
Appointments
James Claiborne is rejoining the Barnes Foundation as deputy director for community engagement, effective Feb. 5. Claiborne first joined the Philadelphia museum as curator of public programs in 2021. After a brief stint as senior vice president of exhibitions and programs at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit that commenced in July 2023, he is returning to the Barnes in a reconfigured role. Claiborne is succeeding Val Gay, who is departing after five years as deputy director for audience engagement and chief experience officer.
In 2023, Claiborne co-curated the exhibition “William Edmondson: A Monumental Vision” and co-edited the accompanying catalog. | More
Artist Steve Locke, who attended Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in 2002, is now a member of the Board of Governors. In the intervening decades, he was a program dean at Skowhegan from 2004 to 2009 and served as a resident faculty artist in 2023. Locke Locke’s practice spans painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation. Through his critical engagement with the legacy of the Western canon, Locke interrogates the connections between desire, identity, and violence, ultimately pushing viewers to confront and critically engage with a complicated present and painful past.”Skowhegan has been such a major part of my life as an artist and educator. I’m really happy to have this opportunity to serve and give back to a place that has given so much to me,” Locke said. (1/19) | More
Hammonds House Museum in Atlanta announced Halima Taha will serve as artistic chair for three seasons, overseeing exhibitions and working the the museum’s board on a strategy for the institution’s growth. Taha is a curator and author of “Collecting African American Art; Works on Paper and Canvas.” Opening Jan. 26, her first exhibition at Hammonds House presents the work of textile artist Precious Lovell: “The Fabric Of Our Lives: Ex-Domestication and The Ties That Bind.” (1/19) | More
Lectures
Curatorial and programming plans for the 2024 edition of Expo Chicago (April 11-14) were announced, including details of the three-day Directors Summit, a convening of art museum leaders from across the nation. The keynote lecture will be delivered by Louise Bernard, founding director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum. Participating museum directors include Liz Andrews, executive director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art; Brooke A. Minto, executive director and CEO of Columbus Museum of Art; and Asma Naeem, director of Baltimore Museum of Art. | More
Artist Mickalene Thomas will deliver the seventh-annual Winter/Miller Lecture at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The Feb. 8 event is free and open to the public. (1/18) | More
Symposiums
The White House Domestic Policy Council and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) are co-hosting a national arts summit in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30. “Healing, Bridging, Thriving: A Summit on Arts and Culture in our Communities” will feature government officials and arts leaders, including Second Gentleman of the United States Douglas Emhoff; NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson; Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo), chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities; White House Domestic Policy Adviser Neera Tanden; Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander; and Anna Deavere Smith, artist, playwright, and member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The public may view the event via livestream at arts.gov (1/19) | More
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