1992 CONFERENCE & PANELS

STRATEGIES OF DISCOVERY, AFFIRMATION & EMPOWERMENT

July,1997

Nkiru Nzegwa, assistant professor of Philosophy and Art History , State University of New York at Binghampton, has conceived and developed the following panel topics to focus on issues of uppermost concern in the lives of the international African artistic community. 

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These panels are intended to share individual experiences, stimulate further discussions surrounding issues pertinent to the collective, and to initiate a dialogue which can later be continued in other venues. Each theme addresses some aspect of the creative force as it relates to preservation, philosophy, empowerment, economics, politics and /or social change in the life of the artist of African descent.

Aesthetics Of The African World

This panel will discuss the nature of the concepts that define an African-based aesthetics. This may be achieved either by reference to indigenous African artistic heritages, or through identifying recurring aesthetic impulses in the arts of various African communities on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Moderator: Russel Gordon (artist, Montreal)

Panel: Samella Lewis (painter, publisher, African-American and African-Brazilian art historian, California), Mary Jane C, Hewitt (Caribbean and African-American are historian, California), Rowland Abiodun (Yoruba art historian, Massachusetts), Chukwuma Azuonye (writer, folklorist, Pennsylvania)

African Legacy In 20th Century Art And World Civilization

African artistic works - both visual and musical - have been appropriated, and have shaped 20th century art and aesthetic. It is important to understand the ways in which the arts of African world have enriched world culture. Panelists will explore the stylistic and aesthetic impact of African art in visual art, jazz, fiber art, dance and film. in addition, the manifestations of African artistic symbols and/ or closely related symbols in diverse cultures will be explored.

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Moderator: Maurice Bryan (gallery owner, curator and researcher on cross-cultural art symbolism, Ottawa)

Panel: Francoise Pfaff (writer, film critic, Washington DC), Terry Jenoure (musician/composer, Massachusetts), Jeff Donaldson (artists, art historian, Washington, DC),  Ousmane Sembene (film director and writer, Senegal)

African American Aesthetics

This panel will address the two general questions of "what is African America aesthetics" and "what do they say"? Since the questions open up numerous lines of investigations, approaches that yield historical, thematic and textual insight are welcomed.

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Moderator: Willis Bing Davis (artist, art historian, educator, Ohio)

Panel:  Cornel West (writer on cultural politics of difference, theologian, Princeton U), Barry Gaither (curator, writer, Afro-American Museum, Boston), Floyd Coleman (artist, African-American art historian, Washington), Tony martin (author, editor, Harlem renaissance historian, Massachutsetts)

African Canadian Aesthetics

This panel will examine the role of art as political and cultural tool of empowerment in the Canadian experience. in defining African-Canadian aesthetics, it will be instructive to look at the impact of the national policy of Multiculturalism on African-Canadian art.

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Moderator: Francine Gobia (artist, administrator, Edmonton), Jim Adams (painter, instructor, Vancouver), George Elliott Clarke (poet, Ottawa), Henry Bishops (curator, Halifax), 

Panel:  

Métissage And Caribbean Creole Constructs

This panel will unravel the multiple cultural heritages of the Caribbean world and discuss the unique character of the art forms that define and shape Caribbean aesthetics.

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Moderator: Austin Clarke (writer, novelist, Toronto)

Panel:  Horace Campbell (Pan African scholar and activist, New York), Leroy Clark (artist, painter, Trinidad), Carlyle Matthew (painter, sculptor, Vancouver)

Art In Cultural And National Identity

In exploring the sorts of cultural issues that relate to art in various national contexts, the issue of access and exclusion will be examined. How does the politics of funding work to exclude/include peoples of African descent from the art establishment; how does it affect the form and mode of artistic representation? What should be the role of museums in breaching this barrier? The panel will discuss how to maximize diverse artistic support systems to highlight the aesthetics of the African world.

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Moderator: Carolyn Maitland (artist, NCA President, New York)

Panel:  Kinshasha Conwill (director, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York), Emmanuel Arinze (member UNESCO panel of museums, Nigeria), Mairuth Sarsfield (writer, United Nations liaison, Ottawa)

Icons And Images Of African Heritage In Art

The format of this panel will be that of a symposium. Here, artists will discuss their works and historians will discuss their works and historians will discuss the work of artists who critically use the icons and images of African heritage in their works. in examining this conscious mode of art production, the cultural and political statement being made by the artists with regard to the promotion of African aesthetics will be investigated.

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Moderator: Napoleon Jones-Henderson (fiber and installation artist, Massachusetts)

Panel: Khadejha McCall (artist, Montreal), Kwaw Ansah (film director, Ghana), 

Feminine Perspectives In Art

This panel explores issues of gender and cultural in art. Since the panelist's work in relation to, or through, feminine analysis, they will discuss the strategies surrounding their art production.

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Moderator: June-Clark Greenberg (printmaker, Toronto)

Panel: Valerie Maynard (sculpture, printmaker, Maine), Chinwe Uwatse (painter, art administrator, Nigeria), Buseje Bailey (visual artist, Montreal), Mikelle S. Omari-Obayemi (artist, Afro-American & Afro-Brazilian art historian, Arizona)

Inspiration, Spirituality and Creativity

This panel explores the deeper meaning of creativity as it relates to art. The focus is on powers, symbolism and metaphors. artists will discuss the dominant impulses that have influenced their art and their creativity

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Moderator: Rosalind Jeffries (sociologist, art historian)

Panel: Floyd Sandiford (artists, sculpture, Montreal), Varnette Honeywood (artists, California), Houston Conwill, Estella Conwill Mojozo & Joseph DePace (artists, installation and performance art New York)

Bridging Continents Embracing Cultures

The focus on this panel is on the model ties for establishing mutually beneficial professional and international linkages with artists and scholars of African descent. The objective is to explore the various modes of cooperation, and to examine ways forging international alliances with artists.

Moderator: Koko Amarteifo (Canada Council, Ottawa)
Panel: Carroll Parrot Blue  (filmmaker, San Diego), Evangeline Montgomery (artist/curator, arts coordinator, Washington), Eric Robertson (curator, African Art gallery owner, New York), Stan Douglas (installation artist, Vancouver)

Faces And Phases: Yoruba Group & Individual Identity 

Faces And Phases: Yoruba Group & Individual Identity 
This panel will examine issues of material culture, identity, power and empowerment among Africans of Yoruba extraction in Africa and the Diaspora. It will look at questions of individual, pan-Yuroba and sub-ethnic identities from sociological, philosophical and historical perspectives.  Panelists will inquire into facial and body marks for personal aesthetic and group identity.

Moderator: A.G. Adebayo (historian, Toronto),

Olufemi Vaughan (sociologist, New York), Femi Taiwo (philosopher, Illinois).
 

Lesbian And Gay Aesthetics

This panel will explore art as a political tool, a communication device and as a record of history in this movement. The ways in which heterosexism and racism deny access to the creation and legacy of African gay and lesbian aesthete will be examined.

Moderator:  Dionne Brand (writer, Toronto), Faith Nolan (musician, song writer, Toronto), Robert Reid-Phair (film and video producer, California), Cheryl Duyne (videographer, Pennsylvania), Marva Pitchford-Jolly (artist, curator, teacher, Illinois).

The PEN Canada Panel

The PEN Canada Panel
This panel address critical issues now facing writers, publishers both nationally and internationally. Questions such as access to publishing, distribution and promotion and development of wider audience for writers from diverse racial and ethnic groups will be discussed.
Moderator: Cecil Foster (writer, journalist, Toronto)
Panel: Jack Mapanje (writer, Malawi/England), Marth Kumsa: (writer, Ethiopia), Dany Laferriere (writer, Montreal), Ademola Olugebfola (artist, publisher, New York)

The Business of Art

This panel focuses on legal and business issues as they relate to the art profession, Topics such as international border crossing and customs, income tax, marketing, and maintaining your own business will be discussed as it pertains to artist.

Moderator: John Harris (director, Harris Institute for the Arts, Canada/US)
Panel: David R. Paget (president International Arts Management, Canada), Brant Frayne (president Pramantha Pictures Inc., Canada), Bob Roper (vice president, Anthem Entertainment Group, US), Paul Sanderson (LLB attorney, Co-founder ALAS, Canada), Sandra Brooks (director, franchising, Manhattan York Financial, London), David Caudeiron (president, Black Music Assoc. of Canada & Cheers Music Pool, Canada)
 

How To Present Your Art Professionally

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The Computer In Contemporary African Art: The works of Acha Debela

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