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Lecture by Dr. Johnetta B. Cole
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Director, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, and former President of Spelman College presented a lecture entitled “The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art Welcomes You Home!”
A private lunch with Sankofa Society members and Birmingham Museum of Art Director Gail Andrews followed the lecture.
Art at the Lake
Saturday, June 19, 2010
At this family-friendly event, Sankofa members enjoyed an artist-led studio tour with Dr. Art Bacon in Talladega, AL, followed by a picnic on the lake (catered by Chef Michael Glenn).
Art and Jazz after Work
Friday, June 11, 2010
5:30 –7:00
Sankofa members enjoyed wine and music at the Museum, along with a curator-led tour by Ron Platt of the new exhibition Costume, Design, and Adornment in African-American Art.
Private Collection Tour
May 23, 2010
On Sunday, May 23rd, Sankofa Society members were invited to a coffee reception in the home of fellow Sankofa members Norm and Carnetta Davis. Guests toured the Davis collection, which includes works by Romare Bearden, Charles White, Kevin Cole, Larry Walker, and many others.
Sankofa Society Spring Tour of Artists’ Studios
Saturday, April 17th
Sankofa Society members spent a Saturday visiting the studios of local African-American artists and touring the Birmingham Biennial and a special exhibition at ArtFolk Gallery featuring work of African-American artists. At mid-day the group took a break for lunch with Chef Michael Glenn at Ga’Briella’s Restaurant downtown. Curators Emily Hanna and Graham Boettcher traveled with Society members. Participants met and saw work by Debra Riffe, Darius Hill, Jim Burnett, Willow Scott, Tony Bingham, Amalia Amaki, Clifton Pearson, Art Bacon, Joe Minter, Moustafa, and Tia-Simone Gardner.
Sankofa Society Travel to Charlotte, North Carolina
February 20-21, 2010
Sankofa Society members traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, on February 20th and 21st to see an extraordinary exhibition of art by Lois Mailou Jones at the Mint Museum, and the Hewitt Collection of African-American Art at the Harvey B. Gantt Center.
Thursday, February 18th
Reception from 5:00 - 6:00
Followed by a Public Lecture by Dr. Amalia K. Amaki
P.H. Polk Photographs: Pictures of Desire
Birmingham Museum of Art, Steiner Auditorium
Dr. Amalia Amaki, Professor of Art History at the University of
Alabama and Curator of the Paul R. Jones Collection, provided
insight into the fascinating life and work of Prentice H. Polk (1898-
1984), a Bessemer native who became one of the most significant
photographers of the 20th century through his role as the official
photographer of the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University).
SPIRAL: My Recollections of an African-American Art Collective
Lecture by Sankofa Society member Dr. William Colvin
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Birmingham Museum of Art Steiner Auditorium
4:00 p.m.
Reception following, with sneak preview of P. H. Polk exhibition
In New York in 1963, a group of twelve African-American artists formed a collective called Spiral. The group included Romare Bearden, Hale Woodruff, Emma Amos, and Alvin Hollingsworth, among others. The group’s concerns included the urgent societal issues of the Civil Rights movement coupled with explorations of abstraction and a search for Black aesthetics. Dr. Colvin discussed his interactions with these artists, and showed excerpts of his own video-recorded interviews.
Reception for Community Leaders
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sankofa members helped to welcome our community leaders, 99 Neighborhood presidents and members of the School Board to a reception including greetings by Gail Andrews and a guided tour of the exhibition Lift Every Voice.
Celebrate Birmingham's Sister City - Winneba, Ghana
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sankofa member Mrs. Gwen Amamoo invited Sankofa membership to attend a reception at the Birmingham Museum of Art celebrating Birmingham's newest Sister City - Winneba, Ghana.
Hidden Bonds of Slavery: Revealing the Legacy of Slavery in American Art Through the Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery
Thursday, November 5, 2009
A Public Lecture by Dr. Graham C. Boettcher, Curator of American Art
Private collection tour and reception in the home of Jim Sokol and Lydia Cheney
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
On September 22nd, Sankofa Society members were invited to a reception in the home of fellow Sankofa Society member Jim Sokol and his wife Lydia Cheney. Guests toured Jim and Lydia’s extensive art collection, which includes work by Radcliffe Bailey, Carrie Mae Weems, Layla Ali, Kara Walker, Chris Clark and many others.
David C. Driskell Lecture, and Public Opening of New Gallery dedicated to African-American Art
Sunday, August 20, 2009
On Sunday, August 30th, the Birmingham Museum of Art celebrated the opening of a new gallery dedicated to exhibiting African-American Art. Installations in the gallery will change quarterly, reflecting the depth of the Museum’s permanent collection, highlighting new acquisitions, and featuring traveling exhibitions as well as works borrowed from other institutions and private collections.
The inaugural exhibition is entitled Lift Every Voice: African-American Art from the Permanent Collection. It presents a selection of paintings, prints, sculpture, and photographs from the early 20th century to the present. Although the work is diverse in style and content, themes emerge across generations of artists exploring common cultural experiences of music, the church, racial identity, cultural standards of beauty, and the cultures and peoples of Africa, among others.
Dr. David C. Driskell was the keynote speaker on Sunday afternoon, presenting a lecture entitled Collecting African-American Art: My Personal Perspective. Driskell remarked on the evolution of the Birmingham Museum of Art from his first experience in the 1950s to the present, and discussed his personal experiences with artists and collecting. Driskell’s visit was sponsored by the Sankofa Society.
Framing the Future, Remembering the Past: The First Annual Sankofa Society Soirée
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The first annual Sankofa Society Soirée, held on August 29th, 2009, was a resounding suceess with 200 people in attendance, and numerous participants from out-of-state. Dr. David C. Driskell and Paul R. Jones were honored guests, and made remarks during the gala. Members voted on an acquisition for the Museum to be purchased with annual dues. The winning work, a painting by Jeff Donaldson, was acquired in honor of the late Mrs. Lillie Mae Harris Fincher, a Sankofa member since 2002. Mr. Henri Linton of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, was the winner of the silent auction item – an 80-issue set of journals from the International Review of African-American Art. See photos of the gala and Driskell lecture on the Museum’s website (www.artsbma.org) and Facebook page.
Many thanks to Sankofa Society president Carnetta Davis, Soirée Committee co-chairs, Gaynell Hendricks and John Hudson, and committee members, Karla Fields, Henry Turner, Majella Hamilton, Art Bacon, Phyllis Johnson, and Nyya Hudson for their outstanding leadership of this event.
THANK YOU to Sankofa Society Soirée sponsors: Protective Life Corporation, McWane Foundation, Anonymous, Hoar Management, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Regions Bank, Ready Mix USA, Compass Bank, Michael T. and Gillian Goodrich, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Norman B. and Carnetta Davis, Jack Drake, Jay and Melanie Grinney, The Thompson Foundation, Jack and Jill of America, Inc., Livingstone and Margaret Lewis, Cleophus and Carla Thomas, Marshall M. and Connie Urist, Dorothy W. Jeffries, Robert Nesbitt, and Natashia D. Taylor.
Day trip to the National Black Arts Festival
August 1, 2009
Collecting African-American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection, lecture by Dr. Amalia Amaki, followed by dinner at Café de Paris
Friday, May 8, 2009
Dr. Amaki is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and is Curator of the Paul R. Jones Collection.
To be Heard and be Seen: 20th Century Ewe Textiles
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Biennial Friend Lecture by Dr. Nii Quarcoopome, Curator of African Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, preceded by brunch for Society members.
Art at the Lake
Saturday, June 19, 2010
12:00 noon
Artist-led studio tour with Dr. Art Bacon in Talladega, AL, followed by a picnic on the lake (catered by Chef Michael Glenn).
This is a family-friendly event – bring your kids, lawn chairs, picnic blankets, fishing poles, swimming suits, towels, your favorite CDs!
A carpool will leave the Museum parking lot at 10:45 a.m. sharp.
RSVP to Susan Powers by Friday, June 11 at (205) 254-2567 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Directions will be provided.
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On Saturday, April 17th, Sankofa Society members traveled by chartered bus to visit local galleries featuring work by African-American artists, and the studios of several African-American artists in Birmingham. BMA curators Emily Hanna, Graham Boettcher, and 24 participants got on the bus, and visited the studios of Mustafa, Jim Burnett, and Darius Hill. Mustafa surprised everyone when he presented each woman on the trip with an Ankh sculpture. The group met artist Joe Minter and his wife Hilda, and toured his African Village in America. At noon we were treated to a delicious lunch at Ga’Briella’s restaurant, prepared by Chef (and Sankofa Society member) Michael Glenn. Artists Darius Hill and Tony Bingham met the bus at Bare Hands Gallery to tour the Birmingham Biennial 3 – a juried exhibition that includes their work. The day concluded with a reception at ArtFolk Gallery, where the group was welcomed by Sankofa board member Cathy Crenshaw, and saw the work of Debra Riffe, Amalia Amaki, Tony Bingham, Art Bacon, Tia-Simone Gardner, Clifton Pearson, and Willow Scott. The artists were present, and visited with Sankofa members. The weather was perfect, we had a great day, and concluded that our tour of artists’ studios will be an annual event. Our trip had very nice coverage in Scribblers (Birmingham News) on Friday, April 30th. See the Sankofa Society page for many 
