Many museums organize the artwork in their galleries according to “permanent collection” and “special exhibition” themes. The permanent collection galleries display works of art that belong to the museum, while special exhibitions often include art on loan from another institution or private collectors. The Gibbes Museum regularly receives requests from museums across the country to borrow artwork for special exhibitions. Museums constantly lend works back and forth and are involved in an on-going cooperative dialogue about sharing art to enhance an exhibition or highlight a period of regional, national, or global art history. While the outgoing loan process follows a standard protocol, each instance is full of negotiation and nuance.

Most loan requests begin with a conversation between two curators to discuss an exhibition being organized and to inquire about borrowing works. The borrowing curator will provide exhibition details including themes, a check list of confirmed works, exhibition dates, information about scholarly research and publication initiatives, and any possibility of the exhibition traveling to multiple venues. Informal correspondence between curators is followed by a letter from the borrower to the Gibbes Executive Director, formally requesting the loan. In order to process a request, the Gibbes Museum asks that loan requests are submitted no later than three months before the date the artwork is needed—larger museums often require six months to one year lead time! Last minute requests are discouraged due to the amount of preparatory work required of collections and curatorial staff.

Zinnia Willits and Sara Arnold assess the condition of an outgoing loan object.

Once the formal application has been received, a series of internal questions must be addressed. Our collections and curatorial staff must determine if the object is needed for upcoming exhibitions at the Gibbes, if its condition is stable enough for travel, and if the borrowing institution’s facility meets standard requirements of security and climate control as defined by the American Association of Museums. These are just a few items on the lengthy checklist we use when considering outgoing loans. If the request passes the staff vetting process, it is brought before the Gibbes Museum Collections Committee for final approval.

The Collections Committee, a sub-Committee of the Carolina Art Association Board of Directors, meets quarterly with the Executive Director, Curator of Collections, and Director of Collections Administration to monitor the direction of the permanent collection and must review all outgoing loan requests. If the loan is approved by the Collections Committee, the borrowing institution is given the good news and work continues with the often complicated details of conservation, packing, and shipping. Each museum has specific requirements that must be accepted by the borrower for the loan to move forward. For example, the Gibbes maintains a document that outlines standard requirements for all outgoing loans. This document is provided to the borrowing museum as soon as a request is received and covers all matters of shipping, couriers, photography, insurance, and installation. The costs to conserve, pack, and ship outgoing loans can be enormous and is outlined in the agreement. Negotiation regarding lender requirements can be challenging for both parties, but in the end, safety and integrity of artwork always prevails.

Currently the Gibbes has works on loan to several regional institutions. The work, Mama You Know I Never Paid Matisse No Never Mind, 2000, by Sigmund Abeles (American, b. 1934) can be found at the Columbia Museum of Art in the exhibition It Figures: The Work of Sigmund Abeles, until October 23, 2011.

Slightly farther west you will find two works by Edward Rice (American, b. 1953), The Exchange, 2011 and 502 Lucerne, 1983–1986, at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia. These paintings are prominently featured in the exhibition, Preservation of Place: the Art of Edward Rice, on view through November 20, 2011. Travel north a few hours to see the beautiful work titled Charleston Runner, 1996, by local artist Mary Edna Fraser (American, b. 1952). This batik is on view at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences through November 6, 2011, in the compelling exhibition Our Expanding Oceans, a study of the science behind sea level rise.

The outgoing loan process for these exhibitions began back in 2010! As I write this, there are several new outgoing loan requests under consideration. Stay tuned to find out where works from the Gibbes collection might travel next.

—Zinnia Willits, Director of Collections Administration, Gibbes Museum of Art

Zinnia Willits :: Sep.09.2011 :: Behind the scenes, Exhibitions, Permanent Collection :: 2 Comments »

Portraits by one of America’s earliest-known painters of African descent will adorn gallery walls when the newest exhibition, In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre–Civil War New Orleans, opens this month. Portraiture plays a major role in art history and is a significant part of the Gibbes permanent collection; the portrait paintings in this exhibition by Julien Hudson and his New Orleans counterparts illuminate a fascinating era in New Orleans cultural history.

Many of the portraits in the exhibition portray the free men and women of color who were part of the early Creole population of New Orleans. This community took shape in the eighteenth century, first under French, and later Spanish, rule. Julien Hudson (1811–44)—himself a free person of color—was the son of a mixed race granddaughter of a former slave and a British merchant.

Prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the free people of color, or gens de couleur libres were considered a third caste, placed socially between the enslaved and the free white populations. They were afforded many of the same rights that whites enjoyed; they could own property, marry legally, enter contracts, and work in many industries. However, where they lived and traveled was restricted, and free women of color were required to wear a tignon or head scarf to indicate their status (see Portrait of Besty). After the city became part of the United States, the freedoms enjoyed by New Orleans free people of color slowly began to erode, and after the Civil War, their standing as a separate class from other people of African heritage was nullified.

Organized by The Historic New Orleans Collection and Worcester Art Museum, In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre–Civil War New Orleans opens July 22, 2011, and is accompanied by an excellent catalog with essays by William Keyes Rudolf and Patricia Brady.

—Sara Arnold, Curator of Collections, Gibbes Museum of Art

contributesara :: Jul.18.2011 :: Exhibitions :: 2 Comments »

The Gibbes staff members are making preparations for the opening of our next Main Gallery exhibition The Creative Spirit: Vernacular Art from the Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection. Logistical planning has gone on for months, but now the real hands-on work begins. There are crates to unpack, walls to patch and paint, condition reports to write, and Godzilla to install. That’s right, Godzilla is coming to the Gibbes. Don’t worry, he won’t eat the museum, but he does stand an impressive seven feet tall.

An installation of vernacular art (also called self-taught, outsider, or folk art) will be a nice change of pace for the summer season. I love vernacular art because it is stripped of any pretense. It is art made out of an intense desire to create. Many of the artists included in this exhibition are motivated by very personal reasons—be it their religious beliefs, a personal tragedy, or simply a desire to express themselves in a tangible way. Much of the art in the exhibition is raw and a bit rough around the edges, but sincere nonetheless.

One of the most moving stories is that of Lonnie Holley. In 1979, two of Holley’s nieces died tragically in a house fire. Overcome by grief and unable to afford tombstones for their graves, Holley found discarded sandstone at a nearby foundry and carved the tombstones himself. He found comfort in the act of creating, and so began his career as an artist. Holley continued to carve sandstone sculptures and later branched out to mixed-media sculpture and eventually painting. His work attests to the great power of art as a means of personal expression.

The Creative Spirit opens to the public on Friday, July 22. Join me on August 12 or September 9 at 1pm for a gallery talk and tour of the exhibition (free with museum admission).

—Pam Wall, Curator of Exhibitions, Gibbes Museum of Art

contributepam :: Jul.07.2011 :: Exhibitions :: 3 Comments »

This past April, my husband Bob and I enjoyed a stopover in Prague, Czech Republic, prior to boarding our Viking River Cruise along the Danube. In the hotel lobby introductions were being made among the passengers and we met Nancy and Tom from Connecticut, who asked where we lived. When we announced we lived in Charleston, they became quite animated and told us how much they loved visiting our fair city and that they had been several times. They visited the Gibbes Museum of Art during their last visit in October 2010, and recalled touring an exhibit entitled Face Lift with “the most wonderful docent!”

Mrs. Johnson (Estelle), 1972

I told them that I worked as a docent at the Gibbes, and agreed that Face Lift was a really excellent exhibition. At that moment Nancy looked at me and said, “I think you were our docent!!!” Oh my gosh, my goodness, how startling!!! In the middle of Prague, the Gibbes had made a connection for us. Nancy jumped up and gave me a great big hug. When I asked her if I made her pose, hand on hip with a great deal of ‘tude in front of the portrait of Mrs. Estelle Johnson, she shrieked “Yes, you did!” And that is how we became friends and laughed together for the rest of the trip—agreeing that yes indeed, it is a small world.

—Susan Wallen, Gibbes Museum Docent

Susan Wallen is a docent at the Gibbes Museum of Art.

Docent-led tours are offered free with admission at the Gibbes Museum of Art every Friday at 2:30pm.

A version of this story was published in Charleston Currents on May 26, 2011.

adminlasley :: Jul.01.2011 :: Education, Exhibitions :: No Comments »

Last Friday, the Gibbes opened the exhibition Stephen Marc: Passage on the Underground Railroad, featuring the digital montages of contemporary photographer Stephen Marc. The exhibition is a timely one, as it coincides with the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. Any discussion of the Civil War must address slavery, and Marc’s work does so in a very powerful way.

Over the past decade, Marc has traveled throughout the United States and Canada photographing and researching sites connected with the Underground Railroad. His work conveys the stories of slaves who traveled the Underground Railroad in pursuit of freedom and those who helped them along their journey. To accomplish this, Marc conducted primary research in archives and historical societies throughout the United States. He gathered documents, artifacts, and ephemera from his research and digitally combined the material with contemporary photographs of the Underground Railroad sites. The resulting montages elegantly weave together the past and present and challenge viewers to contemplate the legacy of the Civil War today.

Viewing Marc’s exhibition requires some time, as each work contains a great deal of information. The stories of the Underground Railroad are fascinating, but also devastating. One montage in particular stops me dead in my tracks each time I walk through the gallery. It is an untitled work from 2006 that includes the figure of a woman shown from behind, her back covered with markings intended to mimic the keloid scars that resulted from whipping. But what really gets me is the illustration on the right, taken from an 1850 slave narrative autobiography. It depicts an enslaved woman being whipped while her infant is ripped from her hands. It is utterly devastating.

Stephen Marc’s work is challenging, but so is the history of the Civil War. It is my hope that this exhibition will help foster honest dialogue about all aspects of our nation’s history—both the good and the bad.

—Pam Wall, Curator of Exhibitions, Gibbes Museum of Art

Stephen Marc: Passage on the Underground Railroad is on view at the Gibbes Museum of Art from April 7–July 10, 2011.

contributepam :: Apr.14.2011 :: Exhibitions :: No Comments »

Last month I had the pleasure of visiting Colonial Williamsburg to oversee the installation of the Gibbes watercolor Tranquil Hill which is on loan to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum for the next two years. This painting depicts an early nineteenth-century plantation landscape and has been in the Gibbes collection since 1972. Though the general location of the scene is clearly inscribed at the bottom of the painting, “Tranquil-Hill The Seat of Ann Waring, Near Dorchester,” the artist who painted it remains a mystery…or does it?

Recent research has linked our Tranquil Hill to the famous painting known as The Old Plantation, an image that has long been considered the best known depiction of early American slave life and culture in existence. The Old Plantation has perplexed art historians for generations. Who painted it, when was it made, where are the subjects, and what are they doing, were all unanswered questions. But over the last decade, Dr. Susan Shames, decorative arts librarian at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, has worked diligently to unravel these unsolved mysteries. In her recent book The Old Plantation: The Artist Revealed, Shames brings to light the evidence that led her to solve one of the great art mysteries of modern day.

Shames’ intensive research has definitively identified the artist of The Old Plantation as John Rose (1752/53-1820), a South Carolina planter, and suggests that the image was likely painted on his plantation near Beaufort around 1785–1790. The fascinating detective work that led Shames to this conclusion and much more about the painting is successfully presented in her book as well as in the recently opened exhibition. In both, Shames also examines the Gibbes’ mysterious painting Tranquil Hill and posits that it too may be a work by the hand of John Rose.

The evidence is still inconclusive on this last matter, as the two images are stylistically quite different, but Shames’ research uncovered several important facts about Tranquil Hill that connect it to John Rose. Rose and his family moved from Beaufort to Dorchester in 1795. There, he and Ann Ball Waring attended the same small church, lived in close proximity, and clearly traveled in the same social circles. The watermark on the paper suggests that the painting was likely made after 1805 during the time Rose lived in Dorchester. This information supports Shames’ theory that Rose, who painted as a hobby, made it as a gift for his friend and neighbor Ann Waring. This new hypothesis certainly inspires further investigation into this painting.

If you like a good art detective story, check out the The Old Plantation: The Artist Revealed by Susan Shames. Tranquil Hill will be on view with The Old Plantation and one other work by John Rose at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum through 2012.

—Sara Arnold, curator of collections, Gibbes Museum of Art

contributesara :: Mar.17.2011 :: Exhibitions, Permanent Collection :: 3 Comments »

Having grown up in Charleston, with much of my identity shaped by the customs and unique character of the land and the people, I care deeply about the welfare of the place.

My first exposure to art was at the Gibbes, and I remember anticipating the classes in the Queen Street annex with great pleasure. So when the Industrial Scars project reached a point of maturity, one of the first people to whom I showed it was Angela Mack, Executive Director at the Gibbes. She liked it and understood my intentions immediately, and suggested that an exhibit focused on the southeast would be particularly relevant and timely.

Of course, it took several years to go from planning to execution, which turned out to be a good thing as I used the interim to do some aerial shoots of the industries around Charleston. My intention in making these pictures is to make beautiful images that move people and stimulate dialog about these threats to us and our children. I do not aim to vilify any given company, because they are, as a rule, acting within the law.

Agent Orange, 2009, by J. Henry Fair

As the show evolved, my research showed that my home town was besieged with millions of pounds of highly toxic pollutants that are affecting our health, lifestyle, and our ability to think clearly. Several photographs in the exhibition illustrate the waste from nearby coal-fired power plants impacting our natural resources (remember that these facilities are all operating within the law). Agent Orange depicts fly ash slurry from a coal-fired electrical generation station. When ash comes into contact with water, contaminants including arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium and others can migrate into groundwater, lakes, and streams.¹

I discovered that the industries within a 100 mile radius of the Holy City emit almost 1000 pounds of mercury into the air annually. According to the EPA, “Symptoms of mercury poisoning include: tremors; emotional changes (e.g., mood swings, irritability, nervousness, excessive shyness); insomnia; neuromuscular changes (such as weakness, muscle atrophy, twitching); headaches; disturbances in sensations; changes in nerve responses; performance deficits on tests of cognitive function. At higher exposures there may be kidney effects, respiratory failure and death.” ² And if you thought that 1000 pounds of this element is not so much to worry about, symptoms appear with as small a dose as 0.025 mg. I am often amazed by the willingness to class “the environment” as a special interest, when in fact, it is nothing more than the set of natural systems that sustain life on this planet.

Coal Slurry, 2005, by J. Henry Fair

Coal Slurry captures waste impoundments in West Virginia. Coal must be washed with water and processed with a variety of chemicals before it is used. This creates tremendous volumes of “slurry” which are stored in impoundments created by building earthen dams across the edges of valleys. On numerous occasions impoundments have failed, releasing large quantities of the toxic mixture to devastate the valley below.³

I take issue with the oft repeated mantra that we cannot do anything about the environment as it will cost jobs. My experience is exactly the opposite: in West Virginia, where coal mining is king, the shift to extraction by mountain-top removal, a much more damaging technique than traditional deep mines has simultaneously obviated 90% of the coal mining jobs due to mechanization.

Is saving a few pennies per kilowatt of electricity worth these results?

—J. Henry Fair, photographer and guest blogger

Fair will be at the Gibbes at noon on Saturday, February 26, to sign copies of his new book The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis.

J. Henry Fair: Industrial Scars is on view at the Gibbes Museum through March 27. His photographs are also on view at the The Cooper Union in New York City.

For more information on the state of the environment where you live, visit the United States Environmental Protection Agency homepage and enter your ZIP code in the text field labeled MyEnvironment.

¹ Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice. Coal Ash Waste Contamination Study – 31 New Water Pollution Cases | Earthjustice. Earthjustice: Environmental Law: Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer | Earthjustice. 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2010/coal-ash-waste-contamination-study-31-new-water-pollution-cases.

² “Health Effects | Mercury | US EPA.” US Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 24 Feb. 2011 http://epa.gov/hg/effects.htm.

³ United States of America. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Solid Waste. Coal Combustion Waste Damage Assesment. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 9 July 2007. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. http://www.publicintegrity.org/assets/pdf/CoalAsh-Doc1.pdf (PDF).

adminlasley :: Feb.25.2011 :: Exhibitions :: 1 Comment »

Patterns in waste ash at coal fired electrical generation plant, Moncks Corner, SC, 2009. Photograph by J. Henry Fair. 30 x 45 inches (unframed). Fair #:3596-105

When we began planning for J. Henry Fair’s exhibition, Industrial Scars, several years ago we knew his images would be striking on many levels. First, his large-scale photographs are indeed artistically beautiful, both in composition and in color. The second striking factor is his subject matter—coal ash, hog fecal waste, radioactive fertilizer mining waste, and the Gulf oil spill. But if these factors are not eye opening enough, the locations of the sites Fair photographs from the air may draw your attention.

For instance, this image of coal ash waste —reminiscent of a lunar landscape—is in Moncks Corner. If you are wondering, “what is coal ash?” It is the ash captured from coal fired electrical plants and stored long-term in impoundments. Coal ash contains contaminants including arsenic, lead, and mercury, and according to Fair, a typical 500 megawatt coal burning power station produces over 125,000 tons of ash per year.

Since Fair’s message is one of conservation and sustainability, you will also notice when you visit the exhibition that he prefers his images remain unglazed. This is because the process of producing and disposing of plastic glazing materials can be harmful to the environment. Fair designed the blonde frames showcasing his photographs and they are made from a sugar maple tree that died in his yard. The exhibition features images taken of industrial sites throughout the Southeast and Fair reveals surprising views of environmental wastelands that are usually hidden from sight.

—Sara Arnold, Curator of Collections, Gibbes Museum of Art

J. Henry Fair: Industrial Scars is on view at the Gibbes Museum of Art through March 27, 2011.

Video: J. Henry Fair talks about what he aims for in his aerial photographs of industrial scars on the American landscape. Courtesy of Smithsonian.com.

contributesara :: Jan.19.2011 :: Exhibitions :: No Comments »

After clearing a conservation assesment, Mrs. Gilmor is ready to be put into her crate.

How do you prepare for upcoming travel? Perhaps you check the weather for your destination and reconfirm transit arrangements. You might make sure luggage is in suitable condition and your accommodations are up to par. Maybe you review your travel wardrobe or purchase new travel clothing. Interestingly, preparing artwork to travel is not all that different. As Director of Collections Administration, I think a lot about how artwork is going to travel out of the museum, out of the state, or even out of the country. One of my responsibilities is to act as travel agent and personal assistant to artwork in the Gibbes collection. I make sure each piece is in good physical condition to travel; clear itineraries with Gibbes curators who may need particular works for upcoming exhibitions; make sure each piece has a travel container; and oversee all transit arrangements.

The outgoing loan of Mrs. Robert Gilmor, Jr. (Sarah Reeve Ladson) by Thomas Sully (American, 1783–1872) is a good example of this process. As you have probably heard (or seen in the January issue of Charleston Magazine), this lovely painting—along with five other pieces from our collection—is preparing for a whirlwind trip to New York City where she will be featured in the loan exhibition at the Winter Antiques Show. The exhibition, Grandeur Preserved: Masterworks Presented by Historic Charleston Foundation, will highlight more than fifty objects selected from Charleston’s leading cultural institutions as well as private collections. Mrs. Gilmor will be a star in this show, and I (the personal assistant and travel agent) have been preparing her trip for many months.

Let me share some details of Mrs. Gilmor’s travel itinerary and preparations. Historic Charleston Foundation invited Mrs. Gilmor to participate in this exhibition over a year ago. Thankfully that was plenty of time to clear her social schedule in terms of upcoming exhibitions at the Gibbes. In addition to the “invitation,” or outgoing loan request, we received a facility report for the exhibition destination which contains important details about the loan venue’s security, lighting, and climate control, as well as information about how our painting would be installed and who would install it. These documents had to be approved by the Collections Committee and Board of Directors of the Gibbes Museum of Art. We also approved the details of her travel arrangements. Thomas Sully painted Mrs. Gilmor in 1823. She is 188 years old and prefers to travel in style. Fortunately, she already owns a custom crate which keeps her safe and comfortable during transit. Mrs. Gilmor traveled to China in this crate several years ago and enjoyed the security it provided.

A view of the interior and exterior crates used to protect Mrs. Gilmor in transit.

Another part of the outgoing loan process is scheduling a thorough conservation assessment. Think of this as the physical check-up sometimes needed prior to strenuous travel. Before Mrs. Gilmor was approved for loan, I reviewed her condition with an art conservator to make sure that the paint surface was stable and her frame was solid with all gilding intact. Any needed repairs must be scheduled well in advance of the actual travel dates—timing is everything when it comes to outgoing loan preparation. Fortunately, Mrs. Gilmor is in wonderful condition. She had some work done (shhhh) before the afore-mentioned trip to China and is in great shape to travel to New York City.

The painting is secured in an interior box before being set into the travel crate.

While Mrs. Gilmor required no grooming for this particular trip, I did prepare a detailed condition report. Condition reports contain images and a complete description of any flaws or vulnerable areas that exist on a work before it is released for travel. Condition reports are very important and must be reviewed when loans reach their destinations. While only the most qualified museum professionals handle and transport loans, it’s always good to have written documentation of a painting’s pre-loan condition… just in case.

Preparator Greg Jenkins inserts foam blocks to secure the interior case containing the painting.

Now here we are, just days away from Mrs. Gilmor’s trip to New York City. I have been in touch with the shippers and confirmed her transit itinerary. Her accommodations at the Park Avenue Armory are ready and I am in possession of the very detailed installation plan. She is secure in her crate and ready to go. I will be in New York to greet her upon arrival and make sure she is comfortable in her temporary surroundings. As a personal assistant to artwork, sometimes when you request an outgoing loan from the Gibbes… you get me too!

See you in New York!

—Zinnia Willits, Director of Collections Administration, Gibbes Museum of Art

Other works of art traveling to New York City from the Gibbes Museum’s collection include:

View of Mulberry, House and Street, ca. 1805, by Thomas Coram (American, 1756 – 1811). Oil on paper; 4 1/16 x 6 11/16 inches. Museum Purchase (1968.018.0001)

Eliza Izard (Mrs. Thomas Pinckney, Jr.), 1801, by Edward Greene Malbone (American, 1777 – 1872). Watercolor on ivory; 2 7/8 x 2 3/8 inches. Museum Purchase (1939.004.0004)

Colonel Thomas Pinckney, Jr., 1801, by Edward Greene Malbone (American, 1777 – 1872). Watercolor on ivory; 3 x 2 3/8 inches. Museum Purchase (1939.004.0003)

Mrs. Arthur Middleton (Alicia Hopton Russell Middleton), 1836, by Andrew Robertson (Scottish, 1777 – 1845). Watercolor on ivory; 3 5/8 x 2 3/4 inches. Gift of Alicia Hopton Middleton (1937.005.0002)

Charlotte Helen Middleton and her enslaved nurse, Lydia, 1852, by George Smith Cook (American, 1819 – 1902). Ambrotype. Gift of Alicia Hopton Middleton (1937.005.0010)

Zinnia Willits :: Jan.14.2011 :: Behind the scenes, Exhibitions, Permanent Collection :: No Comments »

This post is the third in a series about the Poets in Schools writing program at Burke High School. Each semester, Burke High School students visit the Gibbes as part of this program. Last fall, the group found a symphony of colors to inspire their poetry in the exhibition “Brian Rutenberg: Tidesong.”

For color poems we use an abstract and ask the students what the colors mean to them. Is doesn’t have to correlate to anything—the color red can make you think of a green bicycle, or the color blue might make you think of the time you hit a home run in little league (in a Red Sox uniform). I ask them to not be afraid to get carried away: give the colors actions, characteristics, smells, fears, problems.

For inspiration I like to share color poems that I’ve written, or even better, those written by previous students—hearing peers break through the “color barrier” and find strange, unique associations can be helpful. I also like to share some lines from “Bold as Love” by Jimi Hendrix:

Anger he smiles, towering in shiny metallic purple armour/Queen Jealousy, envy waits behind him/Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground

—Jonathan Sanchez, guest blogger and director of Poets in Schools at Burke High School

The following color poems were inspired by Pavilion, 2008 – 09, by Brian Rutenberg (American, b. 1965), oil on linen, courtesy of Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC.

Black is like the staircase I take to the psych ward.
Grey is like my heart that’s been ripped out and put back in.
Purple is like the cover I used to slip into my dreams.
Orange is the color my hair will be in two weeks.
Black is the color I love the most.
Blue makes me feel sick.
Is white even a color?
I feel that brown is the color of my skin and not black.
Peach isn’t the color of a peach.
—Khaliyah Stroud, 9th grader, Charity Scruggs’ class

The dark side makes me feel sad for Derrion Albert, beat to death in Chicago.
The middle colors make me go back in time to Easter Sunday;
My little Briana and Alexis, they were so cute in colorful polka dots.
The blue, purple, and green makes me want to
Swim away forever and drown in a sea of my own self-love.
I feel it, no, I feel you. I feel him.
Let me live beyond the beautiful yellowish orange that makes me
Feel the heat and violence of Sierra Leone, Africa.
Pink, a baby girl with a heart problem was just born, her mother has breast cancer.
Dark green makes me smell the sewer that Chris Tucker
and Jackie Chan went down in Rush Hour 3.
Red just made me laugh.
Purple is my best friend Jessika;
Raven is stuck in the middle mixed with all colors and emotions.
—O’Kellia Corbin, 9th grader, Charity Scruggs’ class

Read the previous entry by Jonathan Sanchez about his work with the program; and one student’s story inspired by Robert Henri’s painting, The Green Fan.

adminlasley :: Nov.18.2010 :: Education, Exhibitions :: No Comments »