Roni Henderson in Conversation with Michaela Pilar Brown at Sumter County Gallery of Art This Saturday!

It’s just a short distance to drive out to Sumter County Gallery of Art this Saturday to enjoy two of Columbia’s — actually South Carolina’s — most exciting artists in conversation.

From 1 - 2:30 pm SCGA will present Roni Henderson in conversation with Michaela Pilar Brown. The convo will take place amid the art of SCGA’s current exhibition, Out of this World by Bob Warner and Solace by Roni Henderson.

The SCGA website shares that, “Roni Nicole Henderson is a Columbia, SC-based writer, filmmaker, and photographer. She earned her MFA in Film and Television at Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, and film festivals across the country and internationally including Spelman Museum, Atlanta, GA, Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, GA, Blackstar Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA, New Orleans Film Festival, and the Columbia Museum of Art. Roni’s photography was published in the 2018 release, MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora and in 2017, she self-published a memoir entitled Of Grace and Moons: The Making of Grace. Roni was recently awarded a Columbia Mellon Monuments Fellowship by Wideman-Davis Dance and is currently working to accomplish two creative milestones, publishing her first book of poetry with photographs as well as producing her first feature film, Grace. Roni is represented by Mike Brown Contemporary Gallery, Columbia, SC.

Michaela Pilar Brown is an image and object maker. She studied sculpture and art history at Howard University, though she has always been a maker of things. Born in Bangor, Maine and raised in Denver, Colorado, she cut her teeth in the halls of a museum where her mother worked as a security guard, and has been immersed in the culture of objects, their making and interpretation ever since.” She is “an independent curator and multidisciplinary artist using photography, installation, collage, painting and performance.  Brown is the 2018 grand prize winner of Artfields juried art competition.  She is a 2018 inaugural resident artist of the Volcanic Residency, Whakatane Museum, Whakatane, New Zealand. She was one of the six American artists selected to participate as a Resident Artist for OPEN IMMERSION: A VR CREATIVE DOC LAB produced by the CFC Media Lab, The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and JustFilms | Ford Foundation in Toronto, Canada, an Inaugural Resident Artist at the 2016 Sedona Summer Colony and a 2016 Artist in Residence, Kunstlerwerkgemeinschaft Kaiserslautern, Germany and has held residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the McColl Center for Art and Innovation.”

Collage artist Bob Warner, whose work is also on exhibit, “is a native Chicagoan, born in 1947. … Warner attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania as an undergraduate student. He studied history at the University of Chicago. Mentored by the acclaimed historian, John Hope Franklin. Warner’s love for History and Jazz is what inspires him. … Warner’s exhibition Out of This World (the title of one of his favorite John Coltrane song) reflects his love of Jazz, Black Studies, Black culture, life experiences, and family. All inform his art. He creates pieces that extol a time, the players, and events of his people. His fascination with cardboard, cloth, textured materials, and a myriad of other tossed away items have redefined his own visual and conceptual vocabulary. His work has been exhibited in Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA and Sumter, SC.

The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

SCGA is located at 200 Hasel Street in Sumter.

For more information please contact SCGA executive director, Karen Watson.

DOGON KRIGGA presents OMPHALOS - The Converging of Antique Futures with Jeremy Brooks at Sumter County Gallery of Art

So much of Black history is the chronicling of suffering. I'm trying to get back to a place where Blackness isn't under attack but is thriving.”

— Dogon Krigga


The Sumter County Gallery of Art is excited to present two challenging, contemporary artists with unique practices, Dogon Krigga and Jeremy Brooks, September 1st – October 28th. Opening reception September 1st, 5:30-7:30. Both artists will be in attendance.

According to the Sumter County Gallery of Art,

“Dogon Krigga expresses magick with the use of pixel and paper, incorporating divine mysteries, transcribed over time throughout their ancestors’ experiences to connect Black people to the future and the past. Krigga immortalizes modern and ancient traditions, wisdom, and theory into majestic and whimsical digital and mixed media collages that venerate those that came before, those that will come, and those that exist outside of time. Dogon Krigga uses their experiences, techniques, knowledge and training from over a decade as a graphic designer and practitioner of Afrofuturism, along with other African diasporic traditional religions to illuminate the spiritual paths and possibilities for all who receive their creations. Krigga is also a serious practitioner of root (herbal) medicine.

Dogon Krigga currently resides where they grew up, in Columbia, SC. They are primarily a self-taught artist whose visionary aspect is an amalgamation of culture and esoteric references through Afrofuturism. Their creative lineage is connected to legends like Romare Bearden and Tom Feelings. Their background in creative writing, journalism, and music production also lends to their creative perspective. Krigga has exhibited extensively in Columbia, SC including the Columbia Museum of Art, Tapp’s Art venue, Richland County Public Library and the Sumter County Gallery of Art. They have participated as a panelist in several important conversations on Black creativity at the Columbia Museum of Art and Trustus Theatre.

Dogon Krigga artist statement:
The Omphalos is a demarcation of center. In the ancient world, the Omphalos was a stone that represented the navel of the planet. Here, the Omphalos represents the convergence of two points of time, and of perspective. It is here that I share two collections of works that offer my perspectives of the past and the future. My intention is to close the gap between those points and celebrate the timeless beauty of Black thought and Black form in this ever-present now. We see so many images of Black people under duress, especially in art. So much of Black history is the chronicling of suffering. I'm trying to get back to a place where Blackness isn't under attack but is thriving. Our gifts and abilities and how we interact with each other are acts of rebellion and revolution. We are masters of this domain but living in a reality where that can be forgotten, so we address this with Afrofuturism to remind us. I'm attempting to liberate people mentally by reminding them who they are outside of what society tells them they are. Life can be serious but we have to step back, laugh and marvel at how intricate yet how simple the universe can be.

Detroit native, Jeremy Brooks’ Looking Back / Being Forward, a retrospective exhibition, brings together a variety of artworks produced over the past 15 years. The work is largely conceptual and craft based. Brooks investigates a wide range of subjects including ceramic decals, traditional, slightly modified figurines, vessels and pottery forms such as knot pots “knitted” with elasticized porcelain - in a multi-faceted way. His work is often characterized by the use and alteration of found materials, many of which become augmented with details of the odd, queer, and/or eccentric. Brooks examines aspects of language, materiality, and sexual identity in his creative practice by questioning: What forms and concepts are particular to the field of ceramics? What nuances are lost and gained in the translation across boundaries of materiality? What makes something queer?

from Rockwellian Homophobia

Jeremy R. Brooks (b. 1979) received a BFA in art and design from Grand Valley State University in 2001, and a MFA in ceramic art from Alfred University in 2007. He has balanced his career between working as an artist and teaching at the university level. Brooks has exhibited work in over 100 exhibitions and is currently an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Coastal Carolina University. Some of his honors include a residency at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA, receiving the emerging artist award by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), and being selected as a guest of honor at the XXI International Biennial of Vallauris, France. Jeremy currently resides in Conway, South Carolina where he surrounds himself with copious amounts of ceramic figurines punctuated between piles upon stacks of ceramic decals. He identifies as an amiable ceramophile who is afflicted with occasional bouts of decalcomania (the process of transferring designs from paper on to glass or porcelain). He is also gay.

Eric Lachance, SCGA curator notes, “In the discipline of ceramic art, Jeremy R. Brooks weaves clay into recognizable items which code-switch everyday, otherwise innocuous items like socks, fine china, and collectible figurines into playful objects loaded with metaphor and humor. Dogon Krigga utilizes the everyday as well, creating Afro-futuristic scenes which merge studio photography, digital collage, and vinyl applique to surround the viewer. Krigga’s work invites the viewer to participate and absorb the worlds they create. Please join us at the Sumter County Gallery of Art for these two immersive exhibitions."

Dogon Krigga will be in conversation with artist Thomas the Younger (who recently exhibited at the Sumter gallery) Thursday, September 15th, 5:30-7:30 pm.


Jeremy Brooks will be in conversation with SCGA curator Eric Lachance Thursday, October 20th, 5:30-7:30.

Karen Watson observes that these thought-provoking exhibitions would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors - Andrea Williams and Clay Goss, The Deane and Roger Ackerman Family Fund and Sumter County Government & Cultural Commission which receives support from the John and Susan /Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC, the SC Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Flowers courtesy of Poinsett Garden Club & the Council of Garden Clubs of Sumter.


September 1 - October 28, 2022

GENERAL GALLERY INFORMATION
Location: 200 Hasel St., Sumter, SC 29150 (adjacent to Patriot Hall).
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Building Bridges: Artists enable a new conversation within the African-American community at Sumter County Gallery of Art by Jackie Mohan

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Isaac Newton once said, “We build too many walls and not enough bridges.”  The two newest exhibitions opening at the Sumter County Gallery of Art this September work to build more bridges as they explore an important issue: African-American identity and community.  Question Bridge: Black Males uses video to create a conversation among African-American men about issues important to their view of themselves and of their world.  The second exhibition, BLACK, BURST and BOOM! utilizes mixed media to explore these issues even further and the inner conflict these issues provoke.  Together, these exhibits strive to bridge the many gaps that face society today, from social status to age to the issues that haunt the entire community.

An official selection at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Question Bridge: Black Males is a collaborative video project seventeen years in the making by artists Hank Willis Thomas, Chris Johnson, Bayeté Ross Smith, and Kamal Sinclair.  Johnson first imagined the concept in 1996 in San Diego, seeking a way to build a conversation within the African American community across boundaries of socioeconomics, generations, and distance.  All four artists spent the past few years traveling the country, accumulating videos of over 150 black men answering and asking questions across twelve cities.  The result is a compilation of 1,500 questions and answers.  Altogether, these videos form an inner look at black male consciousness and act as a conversation about issues including love, family, community, violence, interracial relationships, and the past and future of black men in America.  Question Bridge is a five-channel video installation that provides a transmedia exchange for African-American males about issues that have often divided but also united.

The Sumter County Gallery of Art is also hosting the exhibit BLACK, BURST and BOOM! by Stacy Lynn Waddell, an engaging complement alongside Question Bridge.  Created using mixed media, the installation features techniques including collage, drawing, and the burning and singeing of paper and fabric.  Through these innovative means, Waddell explores issues in the African American community including inner conflict, cultural history and heritage, and personal identity across generations.

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Karen Watson, director of the Sumter County Gallery of Art calls both installations “two of the most important exhibitions the gallery has ever presented.”  Question Bridge: Black Males and BLACK, BURST and BOOM! open at the Sumter County Gallery of Art on Thursday, September 5, with an opening reception from 5:30 – 7:30 pm, and both exhibits close on November 1.  For non-members, there is a $5.00 charge for the reception.

A Conversation with Stacy Lynn Waddell, with Frank Martin, will be on Thursday, September 19, 6:00 – 7:30 pm.  Panel discussion Question Bridge: Black Males – Blueprint Roundtable between nine local African American men, ages 16 to 91, moderated by Rick Jones, director of the Millican Foundation, with artist Bayeté Ross Smith, will be on Thursday, September 26, 6:30 – 8:00 pm in the Patriot Hall Auditorium.

The Sumter County Gallery of Art is located at 200 Hasel Street in Sumter, adjacent to Patriot Hall Auditorium.  For more information, visit sumtergallery.org.

 

-- Jackie Mohan, Jasper Intern