NOTES and TONES - HCCC EXHIBITION with WBGO Jazz
Hudson County Community College (HCCC)
Dineen Hull Gallery
71 Sip Avenue, Jersey City, NJ - 6th FL
PATH to JOURNAL SQ
LIVE JAZZ - WBGO
Opening reception: Tuesday, February 5, 4-7PM
Closing reception: Friday, March 1, 4-7PM
Robert Blackburn, Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Camille Billops, Willie Birch, Betty Blayton, Kay Brown, Vivian Browne, Mel Edwards, Maren Hassinger, Robin Holder, Dindga McCannon, Otto Neals, Mavis Pusey, Vernal Reuben, Betye Saar, Vincent Smith, Mildred Thompson, and Michael Kelly Williams.
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Jazz is not just music; it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking. I think the Negro in America is jazz.
Everything he does—the slang he uses, the way he walks, the way he talks, his jargon, the new inventive phrases we make up to describe things—all that to me is jazz just as much as the music we play.
Jazz is not just music. It’s the definition of the Afro-American Black experience.
-Nina Simone
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Drawing on the inspiration and history of WBGO and Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop both of which were opened through the self-determination and demand of a community built of members -volunteers and donors-- who shared a passion for the arts, the following exhibition Notes and Tones offers a window into the prints by Black artists who worked with Robert Blackburn in his NYC community printshop from 1948 to 2001. The title of the exhibition is a nod to Note and Tones a series of “Musician-to-Musician Interviews” by Arthur Taylor—detailing the experience of Black American Jazz musicians facing social and economic injustice, and their need to create and define art on their own terms.
The artists in this exhibit continued a rich legacy of politics explored through the techniques of printmaking. Viewers will see historical materials from the print shop and sheet music of the popularization of Jazz, generously provided by Amy Niles, WBGO Executive Director, to contextualize the experience of the time and to tell its own history.
Today, the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (RBPMW), a program of The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, opened its doors in September of 2005 with the expressed purpose that the workshop would continue Blackburn's vision of community access, professional level printmaking, and support for all artists regardless of race, gender, creed, or socioeconomic background. Upon this present moment in time, EFA RBPMW is the exclusively the sole community printshop in Manhattan to offer Stone Lithography, the technique of Robert Blackburn, a printmaker who is best known for his spirit of great care and his innovations.
The exhibition will also include a closer look at community partner WBGO, a celebrated nonprofit national radio station based in of Newark, NJ. Founded in 1979, WBGO is a publicly supported cultural institution that preserves and elevates America’s music: jazz and blues. The station reaches a weekly audience of more than 400,000 in the New York/New Jersey metro area via 88.3FM. WBGO seeks to educate, entertain and inspire the public by providing access and opportunity to engage with the highest quality, curated jazz and blues programming produced in the jazz capital of the world.
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Special thanks to Michelle Vitale, Director, Department of Cultural Affairs Hudson County Community College, and other HCCC Staff: Sidney Acosta, Catherine Hecht and Sean Roofe; Printshop staff Justin Sanz and Jazmine Catasus; the continued support of printshop members, monitors, specifically, **Krissy Rubbles** Lili Loy, and John Andrews; and finally, WBGO Jazz.
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The HCCC Department of Cultural Affairs welcomes Hudson County community members, organizations, businesses, and school groups to enjoy its cultural programs at the College. Groups of 6 to 30 visitors are invited to free 45-minute tours of the current exhibition. To schedule a tour, contact HCCC Cultural Affairs Director Michelle Vitale at mvitale@hccc.edu.
The Dineen Hull Gallery is located at 71 Sip Avenue, sixth floor, and is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. More information is available at www.hccc.edu/cultural-affairs.
This reception and exhibition are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.hccc.edu/cultural-affairs/.