Fulfilling the Absence of Art at SUNY Geneseo

 

When I transferred to Geneseo the fall of my sophomore year, I did not realize that there was no art department at the college. In the beginning of the 2013-2014 academic year, Geneseo not only cut out the studio art department— but the computer science and speech pathology department as well. So when I saw the opening for an interdepartmental class with the title, The Art of Steve Prince I was immediately interested and knew that at some point of the course, the absence of the department would have been recognized.

According to the Lamron article titled, Geneseo should restore studio art major, offer more resources to creative students by Malachy Dempsey, “the greatest reason to restore studio art is to demonstrate a commitment to the arts that many students feel Geneseo lacks.” It article continues to persuade the college by stating, “If the college does want to support the arts and, by extension, fulfill its commitment to a liberal arts education, it should consider restoring the studio arts program.” The deletion of the program also sets off the tone that the administration may not listen to the desires of the students.

Continue reading “Fulfilling the Absence of Art at SUNY Geneseo”

Getting Our GroOove On

      I must admit, Dr. Mark Broomfield’s class was probably my favorite although I will admit that my love for dance might make this declaration a bit biased. I grew up listening to Spanish music so it comes to no surprise that I love dancing bachata, cumbia, anything! You name it. Walking into our classroom that Monday afternoon, I had about zero clue as to what our afternoon would consist of. This of course, is partly my fault for not bothering to look up Dr. Mark Broomfield in the Geneseo’s faculty directory if I would have, I would have made the fascinating discovery that he is in fact the Assistant Professor of Dance Studies and Associate Director of the Geneseo Dance Ensemble. Whoops. Continue reading “Getting Our GroOove On”

Is Big Machine Linear or Cyclic?

Throughout the semester we have considered the function of linear and cyclic interpretations of time. It is particularly fitting this time of year as many seniors prepare for graduation. While I view my path as an accumulation of credits toward the eventual walk across the stage, Beth reminds us all of the incoming class that tours outside Welles every day. My journey toward graduation has been linear, though the college engages in continuous cycles of admitting and graduating its students. Thus, the college experience is both linear and cyclic. Of course, Big Machine is too. Continue reading “Is Big Machine Linear or Cyclic?”

Afro-Futurism… What the… Never mind

Throughout our African-American literature class, a common place that I have found my self is in the realm of “what is actually going on.” This is not just a recurring question but an entire “realm” of confusion. Surprisingly I have been becoming progressively more comfortable in my un-comfortability with the texts we have confronted. This process was not easy for me for a number of different reasons, the first being because I had aligned in my own mind, based on my own cultural experiences, what was normal and what was abnormal for all black people ever. Which after typing it out, sounds awfully ignorant. I am pleased to acknowledge that this class has opened me up to texts that I may not have chosen on own prior to this class and expanded my understanding of literary categories and sub-categories. Continue reading “Afro-Futurism… What the… Never mind”

Kitchen Talks: The Steve Prince Way

Recently, and by recently I mean three weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to hear Steve Prince himself give a lecture in Doty Tower Room. On my way to the lecture, I tried to think about what I would learn and how I could apply it to what I already know about Steve Prince and his works. By the time I finished hearing the lecture, I felt that Steve Prince both met and exceeded my expectations. I think it was because what I learned in that lecture was not only in connection to Steve Prince’s works but it also helped me to form connections in my own life which is what I will explain in this blog post. Continue reading “Kitchen Talks: The Steve Prince Way”

Bloodchild: Master to Slave or Partner to Partner?

After reading Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild and the afterword, controversy was sparked in class over Butler’s dismissal of the reading of her sci-fi short story as alluding to slavery. As I recall, there were a few in class who had interpreted it as such. I’ve written prior blog posts about Bloodchild and really enjoyed the read and how it dealt with Gan’s blooming maturity and the alien (I mean alien in the sense of foreign to me, not extraterrestrial) love shared between him and T’Gatoi.

I don’t agree with Butler that her story can’t be read as alluding to slavery because I feel no right to decide how people interpret something, but at the same time I think there are some key aspects of the story missed by those who read it this way.

Continue reading “Bloodchild: Master to Slave or Partner to Partner?”

The Congo

After finishing Big Machine on Monday, my group was able to tie together some points that occurred to us throughout the semester.  I was in Tayler’s group discussion during class and we were able to come to the revelation of the importance of the character, Murder, being Belgium.  When Belgium had power over the Congo during the Congo Free State, there was an immense amount of violence and racism.  Once we read about the Congo Free State, we were immediately able to make connections to Big Machine.  When Leopold was in power soldiers would often chop off their hands to prove their kill.  When we went over this in our discussion, I wondered if Solomon Clay was a figure that was supposed to represent Leopold since Ricky lost his hand when killing him. Continue reading “The Congo”

Consent.

Throughout the course, there has always been the underlying conversation of consent. We have talked endlessly about how “Bloodchild” by Octavia Butler and Big Machine by Victor Lavalle are connected by the lack of consent given by the protagonist in the texts. As I was flipping through Call and Response thinking of how I could address the issue of consent without being redundant, I came across Harriet A. Jacobs’ slave narrative and began to skim through the text again, as I did this I began to realize that this narrative also deals with the issue of lack of consent.
In Big Machine the lack of consent arises in a way that I think none of us saw coming. Ricky has been impregnated, “the tiny little wound looked like a needle mark, honestly I certainly recognized those. Had I been stabbed, or injected?” (145). In this moment Ricky does not know that he has indeed been impregnated with the last angel on Earth. All he knows is that he has been “impaled” in some way by a creature in the sewers. Although the issue of consent is prevalent in both texts, they are represented in very different ways.
For Harriet Jacobs, the lack of consent appears in the “normal” way one would (unfortunately) expect it to. While reading the editorial introduction to her narrative the editor discloses that, “at fifteen, Harriet quickly discovered the disadvantages of being an attractive black female and a slave. Dr. James Norcom…made repeated sexual advances to Jacobs” (433). This is where the difference comes into play. “He built a house for Jacobs in 1835, a short distance from his own home, and expected her to reside there, take in sewing, and provide sexual favors for him” (433). It is saddening to look back on a text such as this and see that a problem that is (unfortunately) still prevalent today, began all those years ago. It is also enlightening though to see that consent can play a part in areas other than sexually.

Prose for Africa

It’s like they raped Africa.

And when I say “they,” I mean those who chose, and choose, because it’s both historically and futuristically, to take whatever resources Africa provided and provides without asking for permission. They manipulate, con and steal. And sometimes they commit murder in the highest degree. This was all that was taught to me about my history. There is a likeliness that such trauma from a constant motion of oppression will never  reside to distance itself from those who are directly linked and sub linked to it. They are and will forever be affected by such relentless and unnecessary persecution.

W.E.B Du bois knew of such affects and recognized how they impacted the African American community. Du bois was a civil rights activist, sociologist, historian, Pan- Africanist, writer and author, In his “ Souls of Black Folk” written in 1903 he describes, the Veil of Race, which metaphorically speaks to the divider that separates the oppressors and the oppressed. In my natural world the oppressed has always been African people, whose descendants, now call themselves African American. What has grown now to be the motivation within in this group of people is the constant proving to non people of color that they are able to meet their standards in the social atmosphere. It’s constantly having to prove your worth because right from the beginning, right from Africa your worth counted on how many hours a day you could work before you broke, or how much money you could be sold for, how strong and equip your body was, how entertaining and clown like you could be. African Americans had become a stamp of stereotypes in America and where marked and measured as dangerous and ill deserving. Colonizers and conquest have created a divide among African and African American people, to the point of no return. And even after that, out of systematic and generational oppression, leaders were born, to encourage the masses that African Americans belonged in the country in which they were forcefully brought and bought into.

Someone who does a great job at representing such growth is artist Steve Prince. A New Orleans, Louisiana born Catholic who has used his art to reinforce a remembrance within our culture now of many who have struggled within this country. In a piece called “ A Jazz Song with a Lot of Blue Notes” Steve is able to artistically symbolize almost like a timeline of the African American experience, where at the bottom you have figures, figures that are not detailed in features they are clumped together and tightly packed. This part of the composition can explain the disconnect between the African American community and the many who have come before them. Unfortunately  as it was the documentation of African ancestry was in fact never if so barely documented. As result of that, divergence is rooted, and the making of two different cultures had begun. However emerging out of such brutal hardships is that of leaders, families, faith, and change. Out of all the ugly there is something most beautiful at how accomplished a stolen and oppressed people could be. For instance Steve’s portrait of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. 

It encourages the idea that African American people are more than a stolen people, they can do more and be more, regardless of being and doing so as proof to another.

 

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