{"id":8956,"date":"2021-02-14T02:29:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T02:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=8956"},"modified":"2021-02-14T02:57:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T02:57:39","slug":"hmaac-reopens-february-19-with-two-new-exhibitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=8956","title":{"rendered":"HMAAC Reopens February 19 With Two New Exhibitions\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

HMAAC Reopens February 19 With Two New Exhibitions\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC) is pleased to announce its reopening February 19 with two new exhibitions,\u00a0Vanguard: Black Women Making Lemonade<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Fresh and Contemporary: Moving Forward<\/i><\/strong>, both opening February 19 and closing May 1, 2021.<\/p>\n

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Trenity Thomas, All New, 2020<\/p><\/div>\n

Although the Museum celebrates Black History every month including February, as well as Women\u2019s History Month in March,\u00a0Vanguard: Black Women Making Lemonade<\/i>\u00a0is a timely reminder of the tremendously influential year 2020 was for Black Women who seemingly received metaphorical lemons and turned them in to lemonade to quench a nation\u2019s thirst for progress. Two names ring out loud and clear: Stacey Abrams and of course our first Black American, first Asian American, first Woman Vice President, Kamala Harris. Taking a cue from historian Martha Jones\u2019 book,\u00a0Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won The Vote, and Insisted on Equality For All<\/i>\u00a0, the museum reached into it\u2019s vault for it\u2019s 2014 exhibition,\u00a0Women of\u00a0A\u00a0New Tribe<\/i>, the Houston edition of photographer Jerry Taliaferro\u2019s national recognition of Black women. HMAAC\u2019s 2014\u00a0Women of A New Tribe<\/i>\u00a0celebrated the achievement of Houston Black women in religion, government, philanthropy, community service, sports, art and culture. Their recognition is just as valid in 2021.<\/p>\n

The exhibition also includes a celebration of the Museum\u2019s\u00a0Hattie Mae White Women: They Loomed Large In Our History<\/i>\u00a0from its web page. These women were the epitome of artist Beyonce\u2019s tribute to Black culture\u2019s achievement recipe of \u201ctaking lemons and making lemonade.\u201d Beginning with White, the first African American to hold public office in the 20th century, HMAAC celebrates the lives of Houstonians Catherine Roett, Nellye Joyce Punch, Ruby Mosely and Ethel Mosely Young, women given little resources but fashioning lives of great local impact on our communities and our city.<\/p>\n

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artwork by E2Kleinveld and Julien<\/p><\/div>\n

According to exhibition curator John Guess, Jr., \u201cHMAAC has increasingly focused on what Bernard and Shirley Kinsey call \u201cThe Myth of Absence,\u201d the phenomenon in American history of not formally acknowledging the contributions of African Americans.\u201d Guess added, \u201cThis exhibition of inclusion is a continuation by the museum of redressing this unfortunate aspect of American storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also opening is\u00a0Fresh and Contemporary: Moving Forward,\u00a0<\/i>which\u00a0<\/i>embraces 2021 as a fresh start that draws energy from current but also past contemporary sources and in America\u2019s current attention on race and gender reckoning, uses images that serve as reminders that hope coexists with work to be done. The pieces in the exhibit challenge the viewer to use this moment to reconsider fixed ideas they might have to start an important conversation about what we\u2019ve been told and what we\u2019re telling others regarding race and gender. The exhibition returns HMAAC from the divide of 2020 to freshness in terms of the diversity of artists, race, gender and to acknowledgement once again of a wider world, drawing on the intersection of painting, history, pop\u00a0\u00a0culture, with works ranging from figurative to the abstract. There is, of course, a side of the future that is not necessarily a move forward, where challenges to the yearning for a fresh start and reckoning for people of color, sexual orientation and for women continue to have to be worked out.\u00a0\u00a0A number of the pieces in the exhibition speak to and acknowledge this reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis exhibition presents the energy of \u2018keep hope alive\u2019 along with the reality of a large segment of the country that adamantly opposes any progressive societal\u00a0\u00a0reckoning,\u201d according to exhibition curator John Guess, Jr. \u201cFresh<\/i>\u00a0communicates inclusion, exclusion and confusion all existing in one space as they do in our country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Fresh and Contemporary: Moving Forward<\/i> includes work from artists David McGee, Carlos Don Juan, Khaliff Thompson, Delilah Montoya, E2Kleinveld and Julien, Kevin Johnson, Gavin Benjamin, Molly Gochman, John Singletary, Trenity Thomas, Akihiko Sugiura, Renee Victor, Chris Barnard, Romeo Robinson and the freshness of new twenty something artists Jessica Carroll and Amara Merritt.<\/p>\n

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“Kareem & The Boys” by Khalif Thompson ( Private collection)<\/p><\/div>\n

HMAAC Board President Cindy Miles indicated the intent of the museum, in addition to presenting art and culture in our building and in the community, \u201cto chronicle more of the African American historical presence in Houston because our absence from the city\u2019s landscape is so striking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanguard: Black Women Making Lemonade<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Fresh and Contemporary: Moving Forward\u00a0<\/i>is made possible through the support of The Houston Endowment, HEB, Sara and Bill Morgan, the Houston Arts Alliance, Truist Bank and the Board of\u00a0\u00a0Directors of The Houston Museum of African American Culture.<\/p>\n

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ABOUT THE HOUSTON MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE<\/b><\/p>\n

The mission of HMAAC is to collect, conserve, explore, interpret, and exhibit the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans in Houston, the state of Texas, the southwest and the African Diaspora for current and future generations. In fulfilling its mission, HMAAC seeks to invite and engage visitors of every race and background and to inspire children of all ages through discovery-driven learning. HMAAC is to be a museum for all people. While our focus is the African American experience, our story informs and includes not only people of color, but people of all colors. As a result, the stories and exhibitions that HMAAC brings to Texas are about the indisputable fact that while our experience is a unique one, it has been impacted by and has impacted numerous races, genders and ethnicities. The museum continues to be a space where a multicultural conversation on race geared toward a common future takes place.<\/p>\n

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