Lincoln: Man, Myth and Memory
February 12, 2009 to July 5, 2009

In celebration of the Lincoln's Bicentennial, The Amistad Center for Art & Culture examines Lincoln's reflection in Black America with the exhibition Lincoln: Man, Myth, and Memory. With material drawn from The Amistad Center's historical collection as well as loans from contemporary artists, the exhibition explores Lincoln's role in the Civil War, his post-assassination emergence as a national celebrity, and the president's place in African American public memory.

Sponsored by Lincoln Financial Foundation



Additional support from the J. Walton Bissell Foundation



Age in America May 14, 2009 - August 28, 2009

Age in America is a two year long national demonstration project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as a complement to the Libraries for the Future's effort to enhance libraries as centers for older adults. Our goal is to model how museums and libraries working together can inform public discussion and strengthen public understanding of the coming "age wave" as an historical and cultural phenomenon. The Amistad Center for Art & Culture and the Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library were chosen along with institutional partners in Norfolk, Virginia and Long Island, New York and challenged to present complementary and coordinated programs for public audiences that uniquely explore the topic of Age in America through the lens of our own collections, goals, resources and constituencies. ...AGE is our response.

Our project began with a conversation about the word "age" and how it is ever-present in our language in various forms. ...AGE commenced with the selection of collection material and the response to the objects by members of The Amistad Center's TAG (Teen Advisory Group) and adult members of our community. These participants were also asked to choose an "age" word that best reflected their response to the artifact, like courage, or voyage. The videotaped narratives and the objects, in turn, inspired poems by poets from the Hill-Stead Museum Sunken Garden Poetry Festival. And finally two young artists from the Hartford Art School engaged the objects and the poems to create the banners in which image beautifully meets message on Main Street.

Thank you to all of the participants who shared their memories, feelings, and talent to make this public art possible.

The participating members of The Amistad Center's Teen Advisory Group....Kristal Carter, Vivian Gay, Brittany Golding, Maya Hawkins Nelson, Rayshawn Robinson and Chanel Ross; Catherine Blinder; Luis Cotto, Joseph R. Gianni, Lee Mixashawn Rozie, Alyce T. Rawlins, Francesca Reale, and George Scott; Susan Campbell; Cindy Cormier and the Hill-Stead Museum Sunken Garden Poetry & Music Festival and poets Ernie Blue, John Harrity, Bessy Reyna, Rennie McQuilkin, Pit Menousek Pinegar, and Elizabeth Thomas; artists, Hali Miller and Sharneil Paynter; the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; the Ella Burr McManus Trustees; the Nutmeg Exhibit Company;Hog River Journal; Local color Ink; and former Chief Librarian Louise Blalock.

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Absolut Power by Hank Willis Thomas


ShootingStars Hank # 372 by Hank Willis Thomas


With a Heart of Gold by Willie Cole

Digging Deeper
September 19, 2009-April 4, 2010

Digging Deeper is a rare and exciting collaborative project engages artists Willie Cole, and Hank Willis Thomas, in the exploration of The Amistad Center's important culturally specific collection and the Wadsworth Atheneum's renowned and diverse collections to produce an exhibition, including new works that will enlighten and entertain our public community. The exhibition will juxtapose collection materials and Cole's and Willis Thomas' original works to challenge viewers to think about contemporary art in an historical context, traditional art in a contemporary context, and the capacity of multiple generations and forms of art to document, comment on, and sometimes change history. This exhibition will celebrate and demonstrate the perspectives and skills of two extraordinarily talented contemporary artists, through whose eyes we will see anew two historic collections.

Cole is an internationally renowned sculptor and printmaker. Since the late 1980s, he has been recognized for his extraordinary ability to transform found objects. Cole's first works employed irons and ironing boards to create images of slave ships, African masks and brand-bearing West African warrior shields. From his iron works, to his lemon-juice and iron scorched works on paper to his most recent sculptural reflections using old shoes, Cole captivates art audiences with his imaginative reinterpretation of everyday objects, revealing their social, historical, metaphorical and aesthetic value. Cole enjoyed a one-man show at MOMA, NY, and his work is currently on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Willis Thomas' works often comment on branding and the commodification of African American culture. Best known for his photographs, Willis Thomas works in a wide range of media including film and site specific installations. He often combines historical illustrations, portraiture, and product design with references to consumer culture. The resulting works at times evoke a wry humor or a withering critique. In 2002 Willis Thomas gained wide recognition for a series called B®anded, a group of images created by digitally adding a scarred "Nike" logo to the chest and head of an African American male model. In this series, Willis Thomas highlights the complicated role of African American males in the production and consumption of their own images in the marketplace. More generally this provocative series of photographs focuses on consumer branding within America's commodity-obsessed culture, and the extent to which advertisers target racial groups and exploit the Black male body for marketing and product promotion. Similar to the works of Andy Warhol and other appropriation artists of the 1980s, Willis Thomas alludes to the psychological repercussions of these representations and how these characterizations shape and define the public's perceptions about race and class.

This exhibition is sponsored by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Edward C. and Ann T Roberts Foundation. With additional support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.



Williecole.com
Hankwillisthomas.com