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Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum Opens “African Presence In Renaissance Europe” Exhibit

By goodblacknews on November 9, 2012

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid “The Three Mulattoes of Esmereldas” (1599) is one of the works in “Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe,” at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

BALTIMORE — In a fall art season distinguished, so far, largely by a bland, no-brainer diet served up by Manhattan’s major museums, you have to hit the road for grittier fare. And the Walters Art Museum here is not too far to go to find it in a high-fiber, convention-rattling show with the unglamorous title of “Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe.” 

Visually the exhibition is a gift, with marvelous things by artists familiar and revered — Dürer, Rubens, Veronese — along with images most of us never knew existed. Together they map a history of art, politics and race that scholars have begun to pay attention to — notably through “The Image of the Black in Western Art,” a multi-volume book project edited by David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates Jr. — but that few museums have addressed in full-dress style.

First Black Sheriff Elected In Richmond County, GA

By goodblacknews on November 9, 2012

The Augusta Chronicle reports in the state of Georgia, Lt. Richard Roundtree beat out Republican Freddie Sanders Tuesday night to become the first African-American Sheriff Elect in Augusta, Georgia, including Richmond County and surrounding counties.

Roundtree’s appointment to top lawman in the county will be a first in the county’s 230-year history.  The lieutenant will be sworn into office in January.

article via newsone.com

Keshia Knight Pulliam Helps Raise $1M For Spelman College

By goodblacknews on November 9, 2012

(L-R) Spelman board member Vickie Palmer, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Rosalind G. Brewer, Dr. Beverly Tatum, Millie Smith

Keshia Knight Pulliam helped to raise more than $1 million for her alma mater, reports the YBF blog.  The former “Cosby Show” co-star, who graduated in 2001 with a B.A. in Sociology and a concentration in film, teamed with Spelman College Board Members to host a Fall Fashion Presentation and fundraiser at SAKS in Atlanta.

Among the attendees: Ne-Yo’s fiancee Monyetta Shaw, Spelman College President Dr. Beverly Tatum,  actress LaTanya Richardson and Andrew Young’s wife Carolyn Young.  The luncheon included a champagne toast and live auction.  The money raised will go toward scholarships to benefit Spelman students who are unable to graduate due to financial hardship.

Read more at http://www.eurweb.com/2012/11/keshia-knight-pulliam-helps-raise-1m-for-spelman/#vdHu0z8vAhHtUhll.99

 

Rihanna Donates $100,000 to Feed Sandy Victims; Holds Benefit Concert

By goodblacknews on November 9, 2012
Rihanna performs during the 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at the Lexington Avenue Armory on November 7, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Rihanna performs during the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at the Lexington Avenue Armory on November 7, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

In addition, Rihanna is donating $100,000 to the NYC Food Bank.  “It’s really difficult to see something so tragic going on and not be able to do anything about it,” she said in a recent interview. “There’s nothing you can control, it’s Mother Nature. It’s really sad what happened here.”

article via thegrio.com

R.I.P. R&B and Delfonics Singer Major Harris

By goodblacknews on November 9, 2012

Major Harris, a highly-respected R&B singer out of Philadelphia, is dead at the age of 65.  Harris was known for his role as a member of the Delfonics, and for later achieving success as a solo artist.   Harris passed Friday morning at a hospital in Richmond, VA.  He died from congenitive heart and lung failure.

Harris started his career singing with doo-wop groups in the 1960s in Richmond, some of which included  the Jamels,the Charmers, Frankie Lymon‘s the Teenagers and Nat Turner’s Rebellion.

In 1974, Harris launched a solo career with Atlantic Records, creating a string of hits, including “Love Won’t Let Me Wait.”  His work has been sampled by quite a few contemporary groups, including Wu-Tang Clan, the Fugees and Notorious B.I.G., and resurrected in films like Quentin Tarantino‘s Jackie Brown.  To learn more about his life and music, click here.

Nigerian Sculptor Nnenna Okore Impresses at Contemporary African Art Gallery

By goodblacknews on November 8, 2012

Raised in Nigeria, now living in the United States, the young sculptor Nnenna Okore makes a strong impression in this solo show of new work in New York’s Contemorary African Art Gallery. Her primary materials are organic recyclables — burlap, jute rope, paper — along with small, cylindrical, fingerlike ceramic forms. In several cases she attaches the ceramic pieces to sheets of burlap that have been stiffened with resin and molded into undulating curves. The effect is decorative, the basic format a reminder that she spent an apprentice year working in El Anatsui’s studio in Nigeria around the time he was developing his pieced-together and draped metal “fabrics.”

More interesting, because more her own, are wall sculptures that take her closer to abstract natural forms. Some are open, seemingly fragile networks made from dye-soaked jute threads that twist and intertwine, like tendrils or root systems.

Other pieces, shaped from handmade paper, have the furrowed texture of tree bark or leathery skin. One extraordinary paper piece, dyed pink and brown, seems to burst from the gallery wall like a giant dried and withered rose. Like all of Ms. Okore’s best work, this is a tough, unlovely image, about when recycling passes into disintegration.

article by Holland Cotter via nytimes.com

Tattoo Artist Imani K. Brown Promotes Creativity and Craft in the Body Art World

By goodblacknews on November 7, 2012
Imani Brown Tuskegee Airmen Tattoo

One of the oldest and most prevalent cultural practices across the globe, tattooing has become increasingly popular in the African-American community. Yet while this group has demonstrated a growing affinity for receiving tattoos, the number of licensed black artists practicing the profession is much smaller by comparison. Add gender to the mix, and the number dwindles even further.

“I want to believe there are more of us [women], but so far, there are very, very few,” African-American tattoo artist Imani K. Brown, 32, told theGrio. ”I know about two in Detroit. That’s it.”  Being a black tattoo professional has placed the artist in a strange caste. “People think we’re on the darker side of life,” said Brown, referring to misconceptions about her line of work.  ”That we’re all rockstars and worship the devil.”

Yet, Brown is a trained artist who hails from Washington D.C.’s Pinz-N-Needlez Tattoo, one of the few black-owned and operated shops in the country. To add further distinction, she is documented as only the second licensed black female tattoo artist in America. She recently learned of the first accredited black female artist, 66-year-old Jacci Gresham of New Orleans, upon watching the new documentary Color Outside The Lines, by black tattoo artist Miya Bailey and filmmaker Artemus Jenkins. Brown is also featured in the film.

Jackie Lacey Becomes Los Angeles County’s First Female and African-American DA

By goodblacknews on November 7, 2012
jackie lacey (Via Pasadena Star News) – Jackie Lacey made history Tuesday night, becoming the first African-American and first female chief prosecutor of Los Angeles County.

Lacey, the chief deputy district attorney, won with a substantial lead over Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson Tuesday in the race to succeed Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley.  By midnight, Lacey had all but officially declared victory and packed up her election night party at Union Station downtown.  As of 6 a.m. Wednesday, with 95 percent of precincts reporting, Lacey had 55 percent of the vote, to Jackson’s 45 percent.

Malawi Suspends Anti-Gay Laws As Parliament Debates Repeal

By goodblacknews on November 7, 2012
Malawi’s President Joyce Banda

Malawi has suspended anti-gay laws and ordered police not to arrest people who commit homosexual acts pending a debate on whether to repeal the legislation.  President Joyce Banda’s government announced on Monday that it had imposed a moratorium on the laws until the 193-member parliament could decide on the highly contentious issue.

Microsoft To Open $100 Million Tech Center in Brazil; Create Jobs

By goodblacknews on November 7, 2012
(Credit: Jim Kerstetter/CNET)
Microsoft is spreading its reach to South America with plans to invest roughly $100 million in a technology center based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to Agencia Estado.

The center will have support from the Brazilian government, but the lion’s share of funding will come from Microsoft. It’s unclear exactly what the center will do, such as develop products, train Brazilians, act as a research hub, or something else.

According to The Next Web, Microsoft also invested $5 million in its Sao Paulo outpost earlier this year but the Rio de Janeiro center is a far bigger project. The software giant also has tech centers in Germany, Israel, and Egypt.

 Microsoft has been involved with Brazil for years. In 2008, it initiated a project that helped expand Internet cafes across the country giving more people access to the Web.  It also added educational and job-training components to that project.

According to Agencia Estado, several other tech companies also have plans to open centers in Brazil, including a new research hub from Intel.