mEDIA
Artists hold preview of Works
Posted on Thu, Nov. 28, 2002
The Miami Herald Neighbors Section
OVERTOWN
The Art Basil exhibition will be held in Miami Beach on Jan. 5-8, and one group of black artists is giving a sneak preview of what it will be showcasing.
Timbuktu Market Place Artist Collective and its president, Marvin Weeks, will hold a reception and exhibition from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Lyric Theatre, 819 NW Second Ave., in Overtown.
Timbuktu, in conjunction with Millennium Movers, a black professional business group, will present Ancestors, Origin and Community, an art sculpture installation exhibit by Weeks and Xavier Cortada at the reception.
Also, urban artists Betty Garrison Battle, Addonis Parker, Bayunga Kialeuka and Tracey Nicole will present their works in an exhibition titled The Urban Community.
The Lyric Theatre will be transformed into an art café for the occasion, with music provided by the Eugene Johnson Jazz Quartet.
As part of the program, organizers are sponsoring an art and cultural workshop for children from noon to 5 p.m. Kids will have a chance to paint a mural.
Weeks, curator of the show, is the city of Miami Community Redevelopment Agency’s Overtown Artist-in-Residence. He will unveil a four-panel multimedia historical collage titled The Glory of Overtown at the reception.
Week, who believes art can affect civil and spiritual development of inner-city communities, is involved in several business-development ventures with governmental agencies and others in Overtown and Liberty City that will demonstrate how art can change communities and help them become sustainable.
Timbuktu collection captures young talent
Posted on Thu, December 5, 2002
The Miami Herald Neighbors Section
OVERTOWN
BY YELENY SUAREZ
Special to The Herald
Visitors to the Art Basel show in Miami Beach will have an opportunity to take a free shuttle ride across town to another exhibition, this one organized by an artist group to showcase the works of young black artists.
The Timbuktu Market Place Artist Collective, headed by its president, Marvin Weeks, unveiled its own art exhibition Saturday at the Lyric Theatre, 819 NW Second Ave.
The show continues from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Weeks said even though Miami has talented young black artists, they found themselves shut out of Art Basel because of the costs. With help from the city of Miami Community Revitalization Agency, Weeks is sending a representative to Art Basel who will organize trips to the Lyric for guests who want to see African-American art.
Saturday night, the collective, located at 4256 NW Seventh Ave., filled a block near the Lyric with artistic scenery while a jazz band entertained visitors.
But before the show started, the collective hosted a children’s art and cultural workshop from noon to 5 p.m.
Three minivans provided by the agency picked up kids from Booker T. Washington High School, 1200 NW Sixth Ave., Frederick Douglas Elementary School, 314 NW 12th St., and the Homeless Assistance Center at Northwest 14th Street and North Miami Avenue.
Artists such as Jansanah Thomas, 28, and Damian Williams, 29, spoke to them about life in the ghetto and the importance of education.
Frank Saint-Fleur, 13, heard the message.
”The paintings made me think a lot about history, especially Martin Luther King. I felt the reality of what the poets were saying as they talked about the ghetto but, most important, I enjoyed participating,” he said.
Also as part of their activity, about 50 youths ages 4-18 were taken to tables outside the Lyric, where four easels holding white boards awaited them. Each youth was given a picture of Overtown in years past and their job was to recreate it in color for a mural.
”It is important to help enrich the mind of the young so they have a positive path to follow. Art is an ingredient everyone needs,” said artist Lissette Gray, 32.
For the exhibition, a mural by Weeks captured the interest of passersby. The piece celebrates Overtown’s history, including famed former impressario Clyde Killens and buildings such as the St John’s Hotel.
Cuban-American artist Xavier Cortada, 38, used his artistic skills to demonstrate how a boat — a strong symbol to some immigrants — is connected to all individuals. Fluorescent colored rafts represented different waves of immigrants.
Miami Genome, a piece consisting of white connected tubes displaying white rice, black beans, black-eyed peas and pigeon peas, was Cortada’s leading piece.
‘The same beans that nurtured Weeks’ father in Georgia fed my father in Cuba. Where we come from and the struggles we go through are the same at the core molecular level,” Cortada said.
The Eugene Johnson and Friends jazz band entertained guests as they scrutinized works by young artists such as Bayunga Nsimba Kialeuka, Maxine Gibson, Lissette Gray, Betty Ruth and Rita Akhime Odibi, Treacy Nicole and Damian Williams.
”There is not a big representation of minority artists. I am happy to be here supporting Weeks,” Kialeuka said. “The elite surround themselves with artists, because we are the trendsetters.”