Black artists' collection grows at National Gallery of Art

Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955), Great America, 1994, National Gallery of Art, Washington

One month remains to see a spectacular modern show at the National Gallery of Art.

In the tower at the East Building are ten colorful, provocative paintings and more than 20 works on paper, drawn by one of "the finest painters of our time," said a sponsor.

Kerry James Marshall at the opening of his show at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.  Behind him is Our Town, 1995, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Kerry James Marshall, 58, a Birmingham, Alabama native and MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient, spent part of his growing-up years in Watts in Los Angeles which dramatically influenced his art.  When he was a fifth grader, he probably was the only student who decorated his notebook with decals of Gauguin paintings, he said at the opening of the Washington exhibition.

His works at the National Gallery are big and bold, complex, and full of mystery. They represent his first solo show in Washington, and, according to art critic Tyler Green, it's the first show of a living African-American artist organized by the Gallery.

Earl A. Powell III, the Gallery's director, said one of the primary goals at the institution is to strengthen its collection of works by African-Americans which now numbers more than 150 pieces.

Mr. Marshall said the purpose in his pictures is to show "what it means to be a black person" in the U.S. and "how we see ourselves."  He tries "to make art about things that matter" and "confronts the American Dream from a black perspective." The Gallery's curator of the show, James Meyer, associate curator of modern art, calls Mr. Marshall's works "history paintings."

Kerry James Marshall, left, and NGA's James Meyer at the opening of the Marshall show.    Behind them is Marshall's Gulf Stream, 2003, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis/Photo by Patricia Leslie

On a recent Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU with Mr. Green, Mr. Marshall said he inserts black figures in typically American scenes to make viewers aware of the exclusion of African-Americans from much of the nation's history.  

If he intends to heighten awareness of the omission of blacks from common American images and themes, Mr. Marshall succeeds, but the show is more than civil rights and exclusions. 

His figures are flat black, without any shading, skin tone variation, or much facial expression, other than solemnity and a hint of fear in some. Haunting eyes help make the subjects appear doll-like and unreal, sometimes planted like foreign objects which don't belong in scenes which are often ambiguous and provoking, like the woman in a neighborhood in Our Town (1995) who waves from a distance to two black children clamoring to play or get away? 

Is she the children's mother calling out to them?  Or a domestic?  The sun sets in a brightly lighted sky, but over to the right partially hidden behind the trees is a huge fireball.  Things to come?  The label asks:  "Is 'our town' their town?"  Suggestions of slave cabins stand to the left of the house.

The Marshall presentation stems from the Gallery's purchase in 2011 of his Great America (1994) which forms the nucleus of the exhibition.  A brief glance renders the piece as commentary on an American summer pastime:  Two couples ride a boat in an amusement park, but a longer look reveals unsettling components: ghosts in the tunnel of love and a man bobbing in the water.  Are those monsters in the sea?  Another ghost, this one, bigger and veiled, consumes almost half the work.  Do you see it?  Mr. Marshall says the painting represents the Rite of Middle Passage for blacks, traveling from Africa to America, Great America.  The bigger ghost is not as apparent, but it is very real.  Incredible.

Mr. Marshall often uses water in his art which he describes in the show's brochure, as "locus of the trauma" experienced by blacks coming from Africa to America.  Water represents the children hosed by firemen in Birmingham in 1963, he says.

Kerry James Marshall (b.1955), Bang, 1994, The Progressive Art Collection/The Progressive Corp., Mayfield Village, OH

In Bang (1994), a garden hose become a black snake encircling a girl while smoke escaping from a grill looks eerily like a writhing serpent getting ready to strike.

"Happy July 4" is strung in pink clouds at the bottom while a banner interwoven between the words says: "We are One." What is the white ladder along the right side extending up from a white box?  "This way out"?

The more you investigate, the more you find.

Mr. Marshall's works not only depict loss of participation and inclusion, but they serve as lessons in American history, too.  Come and see what you can find.  The paintings represent huge puzzles children will find intriguing, as well.

Dr. Anita Blanchard (above) and her husband, Martin Nesbitt, with Cari and Michael Sacks are major sponsors of the Marshall show.  Dr. Blanchard is the doctor who delivered President and Mrs. Obama's two daughters, Malia and Sasha/Photo by Patricia Leslie

What: In the Tower: Kerry James Marshall

When: Now through December 8, 2013, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday. 


Where: The Tower, East Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215



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Free noon concert and world premiere Nov. 6 at St. John's, Lafayette Square

Bianca Garcia

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The world premiere of a work for flute and organ featuring Native American music will be played November 6 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, and the public is invited to attend at no charge.

Bianca Garcia, a member of the New Hampshire state assembly, will play the flute, and Michael Lodico will play the organ for Stephen Cabell's Kokopelliana, starting at 12:10 p.m., in a First Wednesday Concert Series performance at St. John's.

Also on the program are a special arrangement of the Titanic Theme Song with glass flute, a shepherd song for piccolo and organ by Hans-Andre Stamm, and Frank Martin's Sonata da Chiesa.

Mr. Cabell, Mr. Lodico and Ms. Garcia are graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music.  Mr. Cabell teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, and Ms. Garcia, a recent Fulbright Scholar, has performed in 16 countries. Mr. Lodico, the associate organist and choir director at St. John's, is also a Fulbright Scholar.

The presentation was originally scheduled for last March, but a sudden snowstorm canceled it then. 
 

St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is

often called the "Church of the Presidents" since every president beginning with James Madison (1751-1836)

has either been a member of or attended services at St. John's. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Patricia Leslie

 

 

Who: Bianca Garcia and Michael Lodico performing Stephen Cabell's Kokopelliana

What:  First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., November 6, 2013

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th and H, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

Food trucks: Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-

6265, Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org.







Other St. John's First Wednesday concerts, all starting at 12:10 p.m., are:

December 4: Madrigal Singers from St. Albans & National Cathedral schools directed by organist Benjamin Hutto, performing seasonal music

January 8, 2014 (2nd Wednesday): Organist Richard Fitzgerald improvises on themes from the stained glass windows of St. John's

February 5: Soloists from St. John's Choir perform baroque music for Valentine's Day

March 12 (2nd Wednesday): Virtuoso Organist Dongho Lee performs Charles Ives's Variations on "America" and other works

April 2: The U.S. Air Force Strings conducted by 2nd Lt. Shanti Nolan, with organist Michael Lodico, perform Francis Poulenc's Organ Concerto

May 7: Easter music for trumpet and organ with A. Scott Wood and Benjamin Hutto

June 4: Organist Alan Morrison

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Lesley Gore and guests star at National Museum of Women in the Arts

Photo by Patricia Leslie

You remember Lesley Gore, don't you?  Well, if you are between 40 and 80 (according to an informal survey Friday night), it's likely you do.  She sang at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in a glorious night to celebrate doubling the museum's endowment growth to $50 million during its 25th anniversary year.

NMWA is the world's only museum "exclusively dedicated to showcasing the work of women artists."  Although 51 percent of today's artists are women, only five percent of the art seen in U.S. museums is by women, according to a museum statement. 

NMWA founder Wilhelmina Cole Holladay welcomed guests.

Lesley Gore sang several numbers including two of her top hits, "It's My Party" and "You Don't Own Me" to the delight of the crowd who sang along with her.  Lesley, 67,  said she was celebrating her own anniversary, too:  Her 50th in the music business.  And her voice was no different from way back when/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

 Some of the guests who listened to Lesley Gore drifted back to days of yore. NWMA presented Lesley with its Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Over at Table 14 Claudia Koerbler from the Kingdom of the Netherlands welcomed tablemates and celebrated the beginnings of a perfect meal with the first course of tomatoes, arugula, Camembert, and a choice of breads. Gold trim framed the plates/Photo by Patricia Leslie

650 donors gave to the endowment campaign/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Meanwhile, back at Table 14, women discussed the meanings of surrealism while handsome male tablemates went off to find more bubbly. From the left are Claudia Koerbler from the Kingdom of the Netherlands and third from right is Kathleen M. Burns, a George Mason University professor of journalism/Photo by a handsome lad

 Her gold skirt (left) matched the tablecloths featuring handsewn individual leaves in gilded gold (right)/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A Washington surprise at the museum fete Friday night was the most popular color: black/Photo by Patricia Leslie

There were quite a few "horsepeople" at the museum party including "Andrew" from the U.K.,  "Christopher," a Georgetown commercial investment real estate guru, formerly of Kentucky, "Gladys," a Kentucky farm owner (no relation), "Nancy," and "Liz" who just bought 3,000 acres in North Dakota (?)/Photo by Patricia Leslie

What could be finer than chocolate and champagne?  The dessert buffet overfloweth:  chocolate triangles so rich I almost married them, dainty chocolate cupcakes, chocolate mousse with shavings, fresh fruit (Really? Yes, a few skinny persons were seen placing pieces on dessert dishes to be left on tables, uneaten), and lemon tarts, among other delicacies/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Alas, it's time to say good night and order a coffee for the road/Photo by Patricia Leslie

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Why I travel for candidate Jennifer Boysko

Jennifer Boysko

Letter submitted to the Herndon Patch :

Dear Editor,

In 2003 I joined what seemed like thousands of others to ride shuttles from the West Falls Church Metro Station to a farm in Falls Church to hear presidential candidate Howard Dean speak at a rally.

It was a beautiful fall day, and I was struck by the many members of the press who turned out and filled rows of bleachers to stand, take pictures, and shoot video. I can't remember anything Mr. Dean said, but I do remember meeting Jennifer Boysko, now a candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates from the 86th District.

Jennifer was then, as she is now, a cheerful and enthusiastic volunteer, smart and driven to work hard for those goals in which she believes (which happen to coincide with mine!).

You know when you meet someone, and you know right off the bat he or she is sincere and genuine? That person "clicks" immediately with you? Jennifer is one of those. Her great demeanor and energy are contagious.

Over the past decade I have had the pleasure of working with her on many campaigns. I have met her two daughters, her magnificent husband, Glenn, and have visited in their home.

Without equivocation, I can state Jennifer is a committed public servant who will work hard to represent her constituents. Her dedication and earnestness to work hard in Richmond is why I drive from my district at Tysons Corner (although I love my delegate) to Herndon to work for Jennifer, to canvass and "knock on doors" for her since Virginians need the very best we can find to be our voices in Richmond.

Plus, she is a woman. I believe if we had more females in office, a lot more communication between various parties would get done. There would not be so many turf wars, and increased female perspective would benefit us all, men and women. We women are not so "territorial."

I checked with the Clerk's Office at the House of Delegates who told me fewer than one of five Virginia delegates is female (19% or 19 of 100) and in the Virginia Senate, female representation is only six of 40 representatives (15 percent). The U.S. Census Bureau says women made up almost 51% of Virginia's population last year..

Àin't I a woman? Ain't it time for a change? I urge your readers to elect Jennifer Boysko to the Virginia House of Delegates.

Jennifer Boysko for Delegate/farmteam.org

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President Obama: Please see this movie!

Brave New Films

 

The title is Unmasked: America's Drone Wars, and it tell the heartbreaking stories of Pakistani citizens whose lives have been forever changed by death and dismemberment of hundreds of Pakistani civilians caused by U.S. drone strikes, which the CIA and the White House deny or say is "lawful."

At the American premiere at Busboys and Poets on Fifth Street Monday night, about 100 crowded a screening room to watch the documentary and afterwards, hear three injured survivors, a schoolteacher and his two children, talk through an interpreter about the death of their mother and grandmother, tending vegetables in a field and blasted by a drone strike which injured six more children.

Film director and producer Robert Greenwald, left, poses questions to Rafiq ur Rehman, second from right, and his two children, Nabila, second from left, and Zubair, middle, at the screening of Unmasked: America's Drone Wars at Busboys and Poets. An interpreter is at right/Patricia Leslie

Nabila ur Rehman, left, describes with the assistance of an interpreter, the horror of her grandmother's death caused by a U.S. drone strike which targeted her grandmother out in a field while tending vegetables. The film,    Unmasked: America's Drone Wars, which documents multiple drone strikes and civilian deaths in Pakistan, was screened at Busboys and Poets where Nabila, her brother, Zubair, standing behind her, and her father, Rafiq ur Rahman, described the devastation to their lives and fear caused by drone strikes/Patricia Leslie

Rafiq ur Rahman, the father and teacher who also appears in the film, described the shock and sorrow of finding his mother's shoe in the field and his neighbors holding him back while they placed her body parts in a box. His mother, Mamana Bibi, was a midwife.

Mr. President, if you didn't know the NSA is spying on world leaders, why would you know that the CIA is killing civilians in Pakistan? After all, if the National Intelligence Director, James Clapper lied to Congress while under oath, why wouldn't the CIA lie to you?

Who's in charge of this house?

We treat convicted killers on Death Row better than the innocents in Pakistan who have no opportunities to present their cases in courtrooms for judges and juries to hear.

In grim detail with many photos of dead children and women, the film outlines the cavalier attacks upon Pakistanis while the U.S. military seeks to stop terrorists. A man talks about touching the skin of his dead father, taken out by a drone: "His skin broke like ashes."

The film begins with statements by a former Air Force drone operator, Brandon Bryant, who tells the anguish and turmoil he experienced after training to kill people with the push of a button.

From thousands of miles away "you can see the license tag on a car." He is quoted throughout the movie, along with attorneys, journalists, professors, a former ambassador to the U.K. from Pakistan, and Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Rather than al-Qaeda recruiting terrorists the drones are doing it for them, said one Pakistani leader. Rather than educating its young, the people are afraid to send their children to school, fearing a drone attack, said another.

The film quotes a Pakistani leader: The U.S. goes around the world and decides who to assassinate.

Killings should be the exception and not the rule.

Where is the accountability for all these deaths? someone asks. There is no investigation.

One victim was 16-year-old Tariq Aziz, on his way to play soccer, the target of a drone strike and likely fingered by an enemy who wanted the money the U.S. government offers informers whether they tell the truth or not.

Much like the fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation touched off the Tunisian revolution in 2010, and Khaled Mohamed Saeed, whose beaten and disfigured face by police in 2011 launched the Egyptian revolution, the face of Tariq Aziz is the symbol of the stop drone strikes movement.

Who stands to benefit from drone production and who is lobbying Congress? No surprises: Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon are a few.

Beginning today the film will be available at no charge for all to see. 

After the screening, Robert Greenwald, the film's producer and director, said: "Technology has made it easy to kill. There is no democratic process." These deaths warrant no investigations by the U.S.  There is "no transparency."

Brave New Films, which Greenwald founded, produced Outfoxed, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, and Koch Brothers Exposed.

Rafiq ur Rahman and his children were headed to Congress today for a briefing called by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL). The film is set for screening at the United Nations and then, the British Parliament. Islamabad was the site last Saturday night of the world premiere, and Unmasked is scheduled for broadcast on Pakistani television.

It's time to stand up, brothers and sisters, since the media is again asleep at the switch while our government allows Big Business to operate the controls.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Behind the scenes at Vienna's Halloween Parade

Vienna's Halloween Parade participants got their first fright of the night when they lined up on Berry Street to face a green-headed monster lurking behind a fence/Patricia Leslie

And there to scare him off were library literary creatures (with decorated dog) to weave magic and witches brew/Patricia Leslie

Delegate Mark Keam of the 35th District outsmarted everyone with a horse-drawn carriage to safely transport his family away from scary monsters/Patricia Leslie

A loose cow was spotted drinking something besides milk (!) at the Vienna Business Association's pre-parade party at Jammin' Java.  A property tag claimed the cow belonged to Sean Sinclair/Patricia Leslie

A pretty princess at the Vienna Business Association's pre-parade party/Patricia Leslie

Yeeks!  How can anyone eat with these beauties staring at you?  They were found at a Maple Avenue restaurant and bore resemblance to Vienna librarians/Patricia Leslie

Beware of Vienna ghosts!/Patricia Leslie

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Puckheads at the Capitals

Just take a look at these four guys in fancy headgear, the number which just happens to match the number of goals the Washington Capitals earned last Saturday night v. the Columbia Blue Jackets at the Verizon Center in Washington. The final score:  Caps, 4 and Columbia, 1/Patricia Leslie

The ceiling crowd is a mite rowdier than the more sophisticated audience down below which can afford fancier seats.  This was in Section 411, Rows M and N, not far from the ceiling. Up here we are called "ceiling fans." Yo ho ho and a bottle of beer/Patricia Leslie

Before the game started and pictured on the big screen in the center of the ice was a young cancer victim who was honored while Caps Captain Alexander Ovechkin (8) and a Blue Jacket got ready to play/Patricia Leslie

Pictured on the big screen was Corporal Brandon Tillsonkorona from Raynham, MA, honored for his military service and deployment to Afghanistan.  Fans stand, applaud, and cheer the troops, recognized by the Caps at every game/Patricia Leslie

Bob McDonald sang The Star Spangled Banner before the start of the Caps/Blue Jackets game.  Said Patricia:  If I had been near the ice rather than the ceiling, photos of the game would have been lots better/Patricia Leslie

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