Feb. 16: Betye and Alison Saar are in Conversation at CAAM, Los Angeles | Screen Shot New York Times video
THERE ARE SOME GREAT CONVERSATIONS happening between women this month. Artist Ellen Gallagher with curator Adrienne Edwards. Mickalene Thomas and scholar Beverly Guy-Sheftall. Models Pat Cleveland and Bethann Hardison. Scholar Kellie Jones with social media maven Kimberly Drew. And mother-daughter artists Betye Saar and Alison Saar are in conversation. Of course, there are a number of arts events featuring men too, including artists Hank Willis Thomas, Lonnie Holley, and Theaster Gates. A selection of compelling public talks and other interesting programs, several tied to Black History Month, follow, listed by location.
ATLANTA
Talk: Artist Mickalene Thomas @ Spelman College
Feb. 9, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Atlanta
Coinciding with opening of “Mickalene Thomas: Mentors, Muses, and Celebrities” at Spelman museum, Thomas is in conversation with scholar Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Talk: Highwaymen Artists @ Auburn Avenue Research Library
Feb. 9, 7 p.m., Atlanta
In conjunction with “Legacy of A Landscape” exhibition at the library, three Highwaymen artists discuss working in Floria from the 1950s to 70s
Talk: Artist Lonnie Holley @ Atlanta Contemporary
Feb. 25, 11 a.m.-12 noon, Atlanta
Holley discusses his work and artistic process alongside, “I Snuck Off the Slave Ship,” his solo exhibition at the center
CHICAGO
Talk: Celebrating Poet Gwendolyn Brooks @ Art Institute of Chicago
Feb. 2, 6-7:45 p.m., Chicago
Honoring Brooks’s centennial, five African American Pulitzer Prize–winning poets gather for a conversation honoring her legacy
SOLD OUT, STANDBY TICKETS MAY BE AVAILABLE
Talk: A Feminist Conversation @ MCA Chicago
Feb. 28, 6-7 p.m., Chicago
Womanist, artist, and social practitioner Kamilah Rashied invites arts-focused male guest speakers to consider the feminine condition
CONNECTICUT
Talk: Artist Titus Kaphar @ Yale University Art Gallery
Feb. 9, 5:30 p.m., New Haven, Conn.
Kaphar, Hayden Visiting Artist, MFA graduate of Yale, and New Haven resident discusses his practice and the history of black representation in Western Art
FLORIDA
Lecture: Artist Willie Cole @ Norton Museum
Feb. 12 @ 7 p.m., West Palm Beach, Fla.
Cole discusses his art, which is featured in the museum’s “Spotlight: Recent Acquisitions” exhibition
Feb. 24: Ellen Gallagher is in conversation with Adrienne Edwards at The Broad, Los Angeles. From left, Ellen Gallagher, Photo by © Philippe Vogelenzang | Trunk Archive, Courtesy Gagosian Gallery via The Broad; Adrienne Edwards, Photo by Whitney Browne
LOS ANGELES
Lecture: Scholar Susan E. Cahan @ MOCA LA
Feb. 2, 7 p.m., Los Angeles
Cahan, author of “Mounting Frustration: The Art Museum in the Age of Black Power,” discusses “What is Contemporary?”
Talk: Artists Betye & Alison Saar @ California African American Museum
Feb. 16, 7-9 p.m., Los Angeles
The artists, mother and daughter discuss their artistic journey and collaborative work, House of Gris Gris, on view in the museum’s collection exhibition “Taking Place”
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Talk: Artist Ellen Gallagher @ The Broad
Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Los Angeles
Gallagher, whose work is represented in the museum’s collection, discusses her practice with curator Adrienne Edwards
MASSACHUSETTS
Lecture: Author Edwidge Danticat @ Harvard Art Museums
Feb. 28, 6-7:30 p.m., Cambridge, Mass.
As a Haitian-born writer concerned with political violence and migration, Danticat responds to museum’s “Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning” exhibition
NEW YORK
February Events @ Schomburg Center
Various Dates and Times, Harlem
Programming ranges from a conversation about women in the context of Black Lives Matter, explorations of the legacy of August Wilson, a screening of a documentary about Congressman John Lewis, and an author talk about the history African Americans who have cooked for U.S. Presidents, to a conversation between models Pat Cleveland and Bethann Hardison, who is also a fashion advocate.
Series: Black Artstory Month @ Myrtle Avenue
Feb. 1-28, Various Locations, Brooklyn
Organized by Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, annual series of friday evening events are themed “The Altar: Rituals of Healing in the African Diaspora” this year
February Events @ Brooklyn Museum
Various Dates and Times, Brooklyn
Throughout the month, the museum is hosting a few events, including an Audre Lorde book club, talks about artist Beverly Buchanan’s exhibition, an spoken-word performances honoring Maya Angelou, and a 30th anniversary screening of the film “Eyes on the Prize”
Symposium: Black Fashion Designers @ Museum at FIT
Feb. 6, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Manhattan
Speakers include celebrity stylist June Ambrose, reporter Teri Agins, designers Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs, and models Bethann Hardison and Veronica Webb
SOLD OUT, LIVE STREAM AVAILABLE
Conversation: Kellie Jones @ Brooklyn Historical Society
Feb. 7, 7-9:00 p.m., Brooklyn
In a conversation titled, “Black Voices, Black Art: Upending Convention,” Jones discusses her work with social media maven Kimberly Drew
Panel: On Feminism @ The New School
Feb. 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Manhattan
Exploring the “Our Bodies, Online” theme from Aperture’s “On Feminism” issue, this conversation includes curators Aria Dean and Amanda Hunt, among others
Tour & Talk: Bearing Witness as Protest @ Studio Museum in Harlem
Feb. 23, 6-8:30 p.m., Harlem
A guided tour of the exhibitions “Circa 1970” and “The Window and the Breaking of the Window” is followed by a public dialogue led by artist Oasa DuVerney, whose work is featured
Talk: Lenny Kravitz @ Times Talks
Feb. 24, 7-8:15 p.m., Manhattan
The musician and actor discusses “how his commitment to visual expression has fostered a life–long passion for design”
SOLD OUT, LIVE WEBCAST AVAILABLE
PENNSYLVANIA
Lecture: Artist Hank Willis Thomas @ York College Galleries
Feb. 9, 5:30 p.m., York, Pa.
Thomas discusses his work exploring advertising at the campus gallery where his exhibitions “Unbranded: A Century of White Women 1915–2015” and “Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America” are being presented
Lecture: Artist Ralph Lemon @ ICA Philadelphia
Feb. 16, 6:30 p.m., Philadelphia
An artist, choreographer, writer and curator, Lemon delivers PennDesign Fine Arts Lecture and discusses his “processes, ideas, and obstacles that inform his work”
VIRGINIA
Talk: Photographer LeRoy Henderson @ Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Feb. 16, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Richmond, Va.
Henderson discusses his life and work, half a century of documenting America’s protest culture, with curator Sarah Eckhardt
WASHINGTON, DC
Talk: Musician Jason Moran & Artist Joan Jonas @ National Gallery of Art
Feb. 5, 2 p.m., Washington, D.C.
Moran and Jonas discuss their collaboration “Jason +: Jason and Joan: Reanimation” with curator Lynne Cooke
Performance & Talk: Artist Lonnie Holley @ Smithsonian American Art Museum
Feb. 10, 5:30-7 p.m., Washington, D.C.
Alabama-born Holley’s sculptures are on view at the museum, where he will discuss his artwork and perform his unique improvisational music
Talk: Collector Walter Evans @ Smithsonian American Art Museum
Feb. 10, 6:30 p.m., Washington, D.C.
Evans discusses “Harlem Heroes,” an exhibition of photographs by Carl Van Vechten and the culture impact of his portrait subjects
Talk: Artist Theaster Gates @ National Gallery of Art
Feb. 26, 12 noon, Washington, D.C.
In advance of his “In the Tower” exhibition at the museum, Gates (above left) is in conversation with guest curator Sarah Newman
ABOVE IMAGE: Theaster Gates by Max McClure
