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Miami-Dade Public Library System

Gullah Geechee and the 7 Dreams

A project by Gary L. Moore

January 23 – March 31, 2010

Main Library, 2^nd floor exhibition space

101 W. Flagler St. – 305.375.2265

Reception: Thursday, January 28th, 6:30 - 8:30pm

With an Art Dialogue (come ready to talk and listen)

and an improvisational performance by Nicole Yarling

 

Multidisciplinary artist Gary L. Moore is nationally recognized for his permanent public art installations and interventions that join African American pop culture and architectural context. Using the Library’s Permanent Art Collection and other resources, Moore curated the project through the lens of the interests and influences that inform his work as an artist. This cultural framework includes South Carolina low country Gullah/Geechee culture, the anthropological writings of Zora Neale Hurston, the culturally-specific minimalist conceptual work of David Hammons, and the fiction of Toni Morrison. Bound together by the metaphysical connections between folk culture, low country mysticism, histories of slavery and revolution, and handmade aesthetics, the exhibition includes prints, paintings, and drawings by, among many others, Kabuya Pamela Bowens, Carlos Alfonzo, Ana Mendieta, and Elizabeth Catlett; Gullah craft and folk art; historic slave narratives and artifacts; books and print materials; and Moore’s own sculptural and site-specific work.

 

The “seven dreams” of the exhibition’s title refer to seven ways that Gullah/Geechee culture has survived and manifested itself. Moore uses dreams as a metaphor (for earth, water, speech, colors, music, materials and time) because of his belief that the culture has a metaphysical, magic quality. He writes, “Blacks living in the low country areas along the eastern seaboard (or as my Uncle Foster used to say, "salt water negroes") possess a mystical world view. The spirits of our ancestors who were denied full lives then are available now to complete their cycle of life through celebrating the visual culture they created.”

 

About Gary L. Moore:

Born in the low country town of Pee Dee, South Carolina and raised in Philadelphia, PA, Gary L. Moore lives and works in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He received his BFA in sculpture at the University of Miami, (1992) attended the Whitney Museum of American Art: Independent Study Program (1990- 91), and has an MFA from Norwich University (1995). Moore has exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Walker Art Center, and Museum of Art of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Moore's permanent public art installations are featured in Architectural Record, Landscape Architecture, Artforum and the New York Times Back Page. 

 

About Nicole Yarling:

Nicole Yarling’s chosen instruments as a performer are voice, violin, and fiddle (in that order). Her education includes a BA in Music from Baruch College and a Masters in Music Education from Columbia University. Nicole has completed and performed several projects combining poetry and original music, a children’s musical, and a book about her mentor, Joe Williams. In addition to her positions as director of the Popular Music Program at Florida Memorial University and teacher at Conservatory Prep in Davie, Florida, Nicole brings jazz music into classrooms with Arts for Learning/Miami, Gold Coast Jazz Society in Broward County and JAMS in Palm Beach County.

 

This project has been funded through a grant from the Alternate ROOTS Community Artist/Partnership Program, with support from the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

 

To find more about exhibitions and programs coming up this month, check out http://mdpls.org/news/exhibitions/exhibitions.asp, call 305-375-5048 or email [log in to unmask]