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Press Release: 10/19/07 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/OPPORTUNITY FOR COVERAGE TO: All News Directors Press Contacts:
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COMMUNITY FOLK ART CENTER OPENS EXHIBITIONS: "Gullah Lifestyles: A Culture Under Attack" November 3 - December 15, 2007 Gullah Artist Reception and Panel Discussion: November 3, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Cinema Thursday: November 8, 7:30 p.m., film: The Gullah Connection Admission to exhibitions and lectures is free; There is an admission fee for Cinema Thursday; metered parking on adjacent streets, paid parking in nearby lots; convenient to Centro, Connective Corridor and SU campus bus routes. "CFAC Hosts Exhibitions Focusing on Gullah Life and Culture and Slave Imagery in Confederate Currency" Syracuse, NY - The Community Folk Art Center, 805 East Genesee Street in Syracuse, is opening two new exhibitions which will be on view from November 3rd through December 15th, 2007: Gullah Lifestyles: A Culture Under Attack - Paintings by John W. Jones and Leroy Campbell and Confederate Currency: The Color of Money - Paintings by John W. Jones. Regular Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The artwork in Gullah Lifestyles: A Culture Under Attack focuses on the culture of the Gullah people of the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. Gullahs are descendants of enslaved West Africans who were brought to America beginning in the late 1600's. In part due to the remoteness of their communities, Gullah people today still maintain a unique culture rooted in African traditions. However, various factors threaten Gullah communities, including developers seeking land to build sprawling housing tracts along with younger generations leaving ancestral Gullah lands for college and not returning. The paintings in Confederate Currency: The Color of Money are based on images of slavery that once were depicted on Confederate currency. Jones transforms the propaganda portrayed in the original black and white bank note engravings into vibrantly colored scenes that confront the realities of an unjust institution and bring the subjects to life. He presents the subjects as they appear on the original currency, not changing the original compositions, which often depicted slaves smiling or with indifferent expressions as they worked. There will be an artist reception and panel discussion on Gullah Life and Culture on Saturday, November 3 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at CFAC. Panelists will include artists John W. Jones, Leroy Campbell, Guest Curator Chuma Nwokike and Gullah educator and storyteller Brenda Bines Jones. CFAC will host Cinema Thursday on November 8 at 7:00 p.m. The Gullah Connection, a film by St. Clair Bourne, will be screened. The film documents the impact of tourism on the Gullah culture of the South Carolina Sea Islands. Admission to the film is $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for students and free for children under age 12. For more information about the exhibitions, panel discussion and film, please call the Community Folk Art Center at 442-2230. The Community Folk Art Center is a program of the Department of African American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University. The Gullah Lifestyles: A Culture Under Attack and Confederate Currency: The Color of Money exhibitions and the Gullah panel discussion are funded in part by a grant from the Gifford Foundation. |
The Community Folk Art Center is a program of the African American Studies Department in the College of Arts & Sciences at Syracuse University and |
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