Museum events – Museum Career Internship Program

by Adrien Bryant

IMG_20190507_093138_539 — Self-Taught Genius Gallery

On Wednesday, April 26, 2019, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, the American Folk Art Museum’s Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City had a program called “Drink & Draw,” which was organized by Steffi Ibis Duarte, curator of the Self-Taught Genius Gallery, and Natalie Beall, education specialist. This program was free and open to all art lovers from the general public. This program was a workshop for enthusiasts to do activities such as drawing and making new friends. Those who attended had a good time in the company of other art lovers, made friends, and practiced their artistic skills. The museum provided rosé wine, beer, and lollipops in the conference room for the those who attended.

This program was also about seeing the exhibition in the gallery titled New York Experienced. The participants had to choose an artwork from the exhibition and draw it with their own styles and techniques. This kind of program is good because people can feel free to be creative and not worry about being criticized or hearing negative comments about their drawings. The participants had an hour and thirty minutes to make their own drawings, enjoy drinks, and have a fun time.

All photos by Adrien Bryant

By Miguel Medina

The museum presented the exhibition Paa Joe: Gates of No Return from October 30, 2018, to February 24, 2019.

American Folk Art Museum Exhibition

Photos and sketches

Paa Joe, born in 1947, is a palanquin and fantasy coffin artist. When he was twelve he began his career as a coffin artist in the workshop of Kane Kwei, Ghana’s first fantasy coffin maker. His started his own business in 1976 and became a successful fantasy coffin artists with many exhibitions. The museum website states, “This exhibition presents a unique series of large scale painted wood sculptures commissioned in 2004 and 2005 these are models of Gold Coast castles and forts that served as way stations for more than six million Africans sold into slavery and sent to the Americans and the Caribbean between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.”

Last day of the Exhibition

Photos and sketches

John Dunkley: Neither Day nor Night (October 30, 2018 – February 24, 2019).

American Folk Art Museum Exhibition

John Dunkley (1891-1947) was a self-taught Jamaican painter and sculptor. According to the exhibition text, “He was working at a pivotal time in Jamaica’s history” as Jamaicans did not yet have independence from the British.” This exhibition is composed of forty-five works, and it includes his painting and sculptures. I think that this exhibition was interesting because we could see in most of his paintings imagined, surrealistic landscapes, small animals like crabs, birds, spiders, and a lot of vegetation, as well as houses made of different materials, and the road between dark and light. Human figures are rare in Dunkley’s paintings. When he knew he had cancer he started to draw a crab in his paintings as the symbol of cancer.