2024 Exhibits
THE CALLING: The Transformative Power of African American Doll and Puppet Making
Starting June 19th, 2024
In this visually rich exhibit, 26 nationally acclaimed black artists who came of age during the height of the civil rights and black arts movement explore the history of the black community in the U.S. through dolls and puppets.
Working in mixed media, with audio interviews, artists share how their art chronicles the history, identity, and culture of their communities. "Called" to continue the enduring tradition of black doll-making (which is also traced in this exhibit), these artists recognize that their works, like those of the dollmakers who went before them, are healing and transformative -- for the artist and the communities of which they are part.
In other exhibits, Ashley Bryan's Puppets appear courtesy of the Ashley Bryan Center. And found object assemblage sculptor and civil rights artist Kevin Blythe Sampson shows work and invites artists of all ages to Make Something Beautiful!
Danny Simmons is a highly accomplished artist, widely exhibited both nationally and internationally, whose paintings are in several world renowned collections, including those of the Deutsche Bank and Chase Bank. He is also a critically acclaimed poet (I Dreamed My People Were Calling But I Couldn't Find My Way Home) and novelist (Three Days As the Crow Flies, Atria) and co-founder of the award-winning HBO series, Def Poetry Jam. With his brother, record producer and filmmaker Russell Simmons, and hip hop artist Joseph (Rev. Run) Simmons, Danny is also co-founder and chairman of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, which opens up arts education and education opportunities to populations historically facing hurdles to arts education and exhibition.
Ashley Bryan, made his first puppet when he was 11 years old. Through eight more decades he has continued to breathe new life into tattered treasures such as tangled fishing nets, weathered bones, crab claws, a bedpost and create puppets that swell with personality and beauty. Two of these puppets, "Natambu: Man of Destiny" and "Seitu: Artist" are on exhibit and sure to delight visitors of all ages at the Mariposa this summer, courtesy of the Ashley Bryan Center! In addition to his puppets, Ashley is a poet, painter, and creator of dozens of children's books, most highlighting African American or Caribbean or African experience, folklore, and literature. He is the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award among many other honors.
Kevin Blythe Sampson's childhood in a civil rights household and work as a police officer in Scotch Plains, NJ has gave him a wide perspective on issues of civil rights, social justice, and community awareness. After 20 years on the police force, a series of family tragedies propelled him to heal himself by making art. He understood intrinsically that everyday objects can retain the essence of those who touched them before, and that they have stories to tell beyond their surfaces. In his sculpture, found objects are archaeological elements that form a conceptual vocabulary of impermanence and memory. Recently, the creators of the PBS Kids cartoon Arthur! created an episode featuring Kevin Sampson. In the episode, "George Scraps His Sculpture," Kevin (In cartoon form) lets the Arthur! kid character, George, into some of his secrets for making found object sculpture after George's art work is mistaken for trash and taken to the dump.
This season, in our new project, Make Something Beautiful, Kevin Sampson and poet Danny Simmons invite artists and poets of all ages and abilities to "Make Something Beautiful." Stay tuned for a Call for Entries for sculpture and poetry from artists -- including you -- as we launch this project. Photographs of all entries will be featured in a virtual exhibit!