Latest News in Black Art: Curator Vivian Crockett Joins New Museum, Smithsonian Tackles Race, Mabel O. Wilson Wins Building Museum Prize, Beyoncé and Jay-Z Star in Tiffany Campaign With Basquiat Painting

Latest News in Black Art provides news and developments in the world of art and related culture

Scholar and curator Vivian Crockett. | Photo by Ciara Elle Bryant

Events

The New Museum in New York City gave the appointment of. known Vivian Crockett as a curator. Crockett is a Brazilian American scholar and curator who specializes in Latinx art and the art of the African diaspora. She is currently Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. Previously, she was Joan Tisch Teaching Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2018-20), Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Department of Media and Performance Art at the Museum of Modern Art (2017-18) and Head of Research for the Collection Review Process in the Painting and Sculpture Department of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2008-11). Crockett is a graduate of Stanford University and a PhD in art history from Columbia University, where her dissertation focuses on Brazilian artists Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Pape. It begins on January 1, 2022 in the Neues Museum.

The Rhode Island School of Design Board of Trustees has elected five new members, including Ashleigh Axios and Michelle Ebanks. As a RISD alum, Axios is the Chief Experience Officer and owner of Coforma, a digital consulting and design company. She is also CEO of AIGA, the professional association for design. Axios was previously the creative director and digital strategist in the Obama White House. Ebanks was CEO and President of Essence Communications for nearly two decades and currently serves as the independent chairman of the board of directors for Essence Communications and Atlantic Media. The new members have a term of three years until May 2024.

The “About Love” campaign marks the first time The Carters have appeared together in an ad and the first time the Tiffany Diamond has appeared in an ad. The 128.54-carat necklace is worn by Beyonce, who is only the fourth person to ever wear it. | © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Courtesy Tiffany & Co.

Cooperations

Beyoncé and Jay-Z worked with Tiffany & Company on a year-long advertising campaign with the stars a Jean-Michel Basquiat Painting that is in private collections and has so far hardly been seen in public. The creative pairing draws on the couple’s affinity for Basquiat, which is represented in their art collection. “Equals Pi” (1982), a 72-inch square acrylic and oil pen painting, has a background the same shade as the jewelry’s signature robin egg blue. The work sold for $ 250,000 plus fees on December 5, 1996, just above its estimate ($ 166,666 to $ 233,333) at Sotheby’s London work on its flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York when renovations began are completed at the site. | ARTnews

Awards & honors

Architect, scholar and author Mabel O. Wilson is the recipient of the 2021 Vincent Scully Prize from the National Building Museum. The annual award “recognizes outstanding achievements in practice, science or criticism in architecture, monument preservation and urban development”. Wilson, Nancy and George E. Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, will receive the award on October 19 at the Washington, DC Museum. | Photo: Mabel O. Wilson. | © Dario Calmese

Public art & events

With the support of Bank of America, the Smithsonian starts a two-year initiative entitled “Our Common Future: Settling Our Racial Past”. Conceived as a dialogue about race, the programming is intended to “provide a safe and collaborative place where everyone can share experiences and deepen their understanding of the legacy of race and racism”. The first event will be a free forum on health and wealth disparities that will be streamed live on August 26 (from the program’s home page). “We cannot solve the racial problems in America ourselves,” said Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III. “But we can give the public the tools to stimulate these conversations, to help people understand races beyond black and white.” | New York Times

Detroit Month of Design is September 1-30. The 2021 festival offers exhibitions, installations, design experiences, workshops, guided tours and discussions. The activities are indoor, outdoor and virtual. Laura Hughes, Garnett Archer, and Piper Carter are members of the Board of Trustees and the event branding includes a font created by Tré Seals of Vocal Type.

BISA BUTLER, “Broom Jumpers”, 2019 (cotton, silk, wool and velvet, 221 cm x 132.7 cm), collection of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. | American Crafts, Fall 2021

Magazines

“Broom Jumpers” (2019), a quilted double portrait by Can butler adorns the cover of the autumn 2021 issue of American Craft magazine. In the issue, Emily Freidenrich interviews the New Jersey-based artist about her practice, methods and inspiration.

Opportunities

the University of ChicagoThe Department of Visual Art is looking for an artist as a professor of painting on the faculty. “The successful candidate will be appointed junior professor in the tenure track.” The application deadline is October 15, 2021. | More info

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