Art Beat Podcast

Host Kinte K. Fergerson Guests: Najee Dorsey (Co-Founder Black Art In America) Web Address: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artbeat Live Listener call in #: (909) 362-8242       The Founder Of Black Art In America Najee Dorsey is the Founder of Black Art in America (BAIA). BAIA is the leading global social network & resource for African American visual artists, collectors, industry leaders, and art enthusiasts. The Collector " A real passion for collecting original works of art, view our collection" The Artist Currently residing in Atlanta, southern splendor and elegance comes to mind when thinking about the artwork of Najee Dorsey, a native of Arkansas with roots in Louisiana. Najee loves to express himself in mix media, using acrylic paints, decorative fabrics, inks and handmade papers are used to share the human story. Visit website: www.artbynajee.com najee@blackartinamerica.com

Host Kinte K. Fergerson Guests: Franklin Sirmans Web Address: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artbeatLive Listener call in #: (909) 362-8242 Since January 2010, Franklin Sirmans is the Terri and Michael Smooke Department Head and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He is the curator of recent exhibitions on Steve Wolfe and Vija Celmins which both traveled to LACMA. At LACMA, Sirmans has installed Color and Form, selections from the Broad Collection to coincide with the museum’s presentation of Blinky Palermo; an exhibition from the museum’s permanent collection titled Human Nature (cocurated with Christine Y. Kim) and a solo presentation of works by Robert Therrien from the collections of Broad and LACMA. He is at work on a solo project with Ai Weiwei, opening September 2011 and overseeing installations of new works by Bruce Nauman and Chris Burden in addition to the traveling survey exhibition Glenn Ligon: America, all for October 2011. Prior to LACMA, Sirmans was Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Menil Collection in Houston, from 2006-2010, where he organized ten exhibitions in three years including Maurizio Cattelan accompanied by the catalogue Is There Life Before Death?; Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster, 1964-1966; Steve Wolfe: On Paper; Face Off: A Selection of Old Masters and Others from The Menil Collection; John Chamberlain: American Tableau; NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith; Robert Ryman, 1976; The David Whitney Bequest; Otabenga Jones: Lessons from Below; and Everyday People: 20th Century Photography from The Menil Collection. He was also the coordinating curator for major traveling exhibitions on Bruce Nauman and Marlene Dumas.

Host Kinte K. Fergerson Guests: Amitis Motevalli Web Address: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artbeat Live Listener call in #: (909) 362-8242 Amitis Motevalli Director of The William Grant Still Arts Center Amitis Motevalli was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to the US in 1977. In 1995 she received a BA from SFSU in Art with a minor in Women's studies and in 1998 an MFA from Claremont Graduate University. Her work as an artist incorporates a combination of near-eastern aesthetic with a western art education. Motevalli states, "Being an immigrant in the US shows in my work cultural plurality, natural and learned. In all of my work, I create a dialogue that presents alternatives to dominant canons in research and reflection of the present as well as history". Amitis Motevalli is a recent recipient of the Center for Cultural Innovation Artistic Innovation Award, the California Community Foundation Fellowship and the Visions of California Award, a James Irvine Foundation Fellowship and the NEA/Warhol Foundation artist fellow. Motevalli is also the director of The William Grant Still Arts Center. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles, exhibiting art internationally as well as organizing to create an active and resistant cultural discourse through information exchange, either in art, pedagogy or organizing artist and educators

Host Kinte K. Fergerson Guests: Charmaine Jefferson Web Address: http://www.wunpn.com Live Listener call in #: (909) 362-8242 Charmaine Jefferson Executive Director, California African American Museum Ms. Jefferson was appointed by then Governor Gray Davis as Executive Director of the California African American Museum (CAAM), a State agency, in June 2003. Housed in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park in a 44,000 sq ft. facility containing 5 galleries, and an exhibition courtyard, CAAM's mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and present for public enrichment the art, history, and culture of African Americans. CAAM’s collection exceeds 3,800 objects of art, artifacts and historical memorabilia and a research library of over 20,000 volumes of books, magazines, journals and videos. Ms. Jefferson also serves as Executive Vice President of Friends, the Foundation of the California African American Museum (Friends Foundation), the 501(c)(3) non-profit partner organized to provide CAAM with financial and human resource support. On a combined budget of $3.1M, CAAM and Friends deliver free, 9 to 13 exhibitions and 53 public and school-age education programs annually. Between 2008 – 2009, CAAM published 5 catalogs and continued its Mentoring Generations initiative with Young Docents (high school employment and training) Docents & Buses (free transportation for school field trips); Conversations at CAAM (community leaders); and monthly performances and support for “Artpreneurs” through Target Sundays at CAAM. M.A. degree in Dance Education from New York University B.A. in Dance from the University of California, Los Angeles J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center  

Host Kinte K. Fergerson Guests: Lili Bernard Web Address: http://www.wunpn.com Live Listener call in #: (909) 362-8242 LILI BERNARD  http://lilibernard.com/ Lili Bernard is Cuban-born. A Los Angeles-based, multimedia fine artist and actress, Lili’s artwork explores her Indigenous-Afro-Caribbean heritage. Having graduated high school from The American School in Japan, Lili studied fine arts and theatre at Cornell University and holds a B.A. in German from City University of New York. She also studied theatre in New York City under Sonia Moore and at Herbert Berghof Studio.   Lili has performed extensively in theatre, both in New York City and Los Angeles, including performances in Off-Broadway theatre houses such as Theatre for the New City, Puerto-Rican Traveling Theatre Company, Nat Horne Theatre, INTAR, American Renaissance Theatre, Henry Street Settlement, Pearl Theatre, Riant Theatre, Cooper Square Theatre, and Frank Silvera Writer’s Workshop, among others. Lili’s television credits include guest-starring on The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Stephen King’s Golden Years. She played the female lead in the BBC film, Murder in Oakland, opposite Ving Rhames and Eriq La Salle.