Sharon Burton of ACA (second from the right) with artis J”Nell Jordan (middle) and James Terrell (far right).

This exciting exhibition features emerging artists and poets based the DC/Baltimore Metropolitan area on the theme of “Soul Revival.” What do we mean by revival? We are speaking of revival of the soul, spirit, neighborhood, community, nation, and even the world. The result is a eclectic visual range of artistic expression, ranging from realism to abstract and everything in between! Selected works from the visual artists work has been paired with a poet/ spoken word artist who developed a poem that expresses their view about the art. Their contributions are an integral part of the exhibition, resulting in an innovative creative representation from a variety of artists–literary and visual– of the meaning of Soul Revival.

During this podcast, which is part two of a two part series on the exhibition, we talked to two participants of this exhibition, visual artist J’Nell Jordan and poet/songstress Stephanie Renee.

Artist J'Nell Jordan (photo courtesy of J'Nell Jordan)

J'Nell Jordan poses next to Mirage oil and acrylic on masonite board, 24 x 48

"LH" by J'Nell Jordan - oil and acrylic on masonite

J’Nell Jordan is an emerging artist working out of the DC Metropolitan area. She was born and raised in Northern Virginia. She attended Adelphi University in New York on a visual arts talent scholarship and received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in 2009. She has since shown her work at Gallery 788 and Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, Maryland and Soundry in Virginia. She was recently recognized on the online art gallery artscenetoday.com as the 2nd Place Winner and Merit Award winner for the My Personal Best Art Contest. Visit her website http://www.jnelljordan.com and her blog http://impressionsinfluence.wordpress.com for more information.

Stephanie Renee (photo courtesy of Stephanie Renee)

Stephanie Renee’s passion for writing is both inherited and well-groomed. Descending from a long line of college professors and ministers, she has a genetic predisposition for composing lyrical passages and poetic metaphors. As a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, her first English instructor was none other than Obama inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander. No stranger to the music world, Stephanie’s voice first introduced to mainstream audiences through her inclusion on Who is Jill Scott: Words and Sounds Vol. 1 and Patti LaBelle’s When A Woman Loves CD. In 2004, she became the lead female vocalist and lyrical collaborator with NJ-based production company Steal Vybe, and together they have released a string of critically-acclaimed dance singles, which earned her a vocal residency for Ministry of Sound Sinagpore.

As a respected media mogul, Stephanie pours her dynamic energies into the expansion of her non-profit arts education foundation Soul Sanctuary and her creative services company Creator’s Child Productions, among a wide variety of other performance and educational endeavors. She recently moved back home to her native Washington, Dc, but maintains a presence in the Philadelphia arts and culture scene. View the poem she composed for Soul Revival here. And visit her website at http://www.stephanierenee.com.

Down load and listen to the conversation here (or the podcast player on the right column of this blog).

You’re Invited to the
SOUL REVIVAL ARTSCAPE OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, July 17, 2010
2 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Soul Revival: A Poetic and Visual Experience of Renewal

Meroe Art Gallery
West Baltimore Center for Urban Art
1623 West North Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21217

Co-Sponsored by Meroe Art Gallery and Authentic Contemporary Art

Exhibition Dates: May 1-August 1, 2010

FREE and Open to the Public!

Featuring:

DJ Fusion of Fusebox Radio
Spoken Word Performance by Baltimore’s Own Nina “Lyrispect” Ball (invited)
Musical Performance by James Terrell
Plus Face Painting for the Kids by
Art-n-Soul of Baltimore and light refreshments

In Baltimore during this year’s ArtScape? Come by and check out Soul Revival at Meroe Art Gallery on Saturday, July 17th!

This exciting exhibition features emerging artists and poets based the DC/Baltimore Metropolitan area on the theme of “Soul Revival.” What do we mean by revival? We are speaking of revival of the soul, spirit, neighborhood, community, nation, and even the world. The result is a eclectic visual range of artistic expression, ranging from realism to abstract and everything in between!

Selected works of from the artists work has been paired with a poet/ spoken word artist who developed a poem that expresses their view about the art. Their contributions is an integral part of the exhibition, resulting in an innovative creative representation from a variety of artists-literary and visual- of the meaning of Soul Revival!

Check out the the artwork and poetry of Soul Revival here!

Visual Artists (Authentic Contemporary Art):

Jade Andwele
Prudence Bonds
Sharon Burton
Keisha Carroll
Marshetta Davis
Sherria Green
Darren Jackson
J’Nell Jordan
Nilja Mumin
Heather Schmaedeke
Marcel Taylor
James Terrell

Poets and Spoken Word Artists:

Cherrie Amour
Nina “Lyrispect” Ball
Natasha Brown
Marguax Delotte-Bennett
Amy Jackson
Alan King
Dehejia Maat
Bonnie MacAllister
Stephanie Renee

Welcome to our fifth podcast for the year 2010. For the month of June 2010, we are celebrating our newest exhibition, Soul Revival: A Poetic and Visual Experience of Renewal. The exhibition is on view at Meroe Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland until August 1, 2010.

This exciting exhibition features emerging artists and poets based the DC/Baltimore Metropolitan area on the theme of “Soul Revival.” What do we mean by revival? We are speaking of revival of the soul, spirit, neighborhood, community, nation, and even the world. The result is a eclectic visual range of artistic expression, ranging from realism to abstract and everything in between! Selected works of from the artists work has been paired with a poet/ spoken word artist who developed a poem that expresses their view about the art. Their contributions are an integral part of the exhibition, resulting in an innovative creative representation from a variety of artists–literary and visual– of the meaning of Soul Revival. During this podcast, which is part one of a two part series on the exhibition, we talked to two participants of this exhibition Nijla Mu’min and Alan King.

Image: Nijla Mu’min

Nijla Baseema Mu’min is a writer, filmmaker, and photographer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications in 2007. She attended Howard University’s MFA Film Program. In 2006, she founded Sweet Potato Pie Productions, a production company specializing in the creation of narrative films, documentaries, and photography that examine the most intimate details of the human condition. Her photography was featured at the Harvard Kennedy School’s “Beauty, Diversity, and Strength” Photo Exhibition. She was also selected as an interviewer for Spike Lee’s “Refresh the World” Symposium in January 2009. She is the recipient of the 2009 Paul Robeson Award for Best Feature Screenplay, and her writing is to be featured in the forthcoming Girlchild Press Anthology, “Woman’s Work: The Short Stories.”

Image: “Learners”, silver gelatin print, Nijla Mu’min

Nijla has written and directed numerous film and video projects. She is currently working on a documentary entitled “BACK UP! concrete diaries,” that explores how women deal with street harassment. Her most recent venture is the conception and development of a feature length screenplay, entitled Salaam.

Image: Alan King

Alan King’s poems have appeared in Alehouse, Audience, Boxcar Poetry Review, Indiana Review, MiPoesias and RATTLE, among others. A Cave Canem fellow and VONA Alum, he’s been nominated for both a Best of the Net selection and Pushcart Prize. When he’s not reporting or sending poems to journals, you can find Alan chasing the muse through Washington, D.C. — people watching with his boys and laughing at the crazy things strangers say to get close to one another.

Alan wrote The Cave in response to the mixed media collage, “Believe” by Sharon Burton as part of Soul Revival.

You can check out our conversation by clicking the podcast player to the right column of this blog or download the mp3.

The talented Ms. Nina “Lyrispect” Ball performs at the opening of Soul Revival, on May 1st. Our latest exhibition featuring art & poetry at Meroe Art Gallery in Baltimore is open through Aug. 1, 2010.

Soul Revival is co-sponsored by Authentic Contemporary Art and the Meroe Art Gallery.

Special thanks to Think Brown Ink for the video!

Welcome to our fourth podcast for the year 2010. For the month of May 2010, we are celebrating Authentic Contemporary Art’s 5th Anniversary of Connecting You to A World of Art!

In recognition of this achievement, this podcast features an interview with Sharon J. Burton, Founder of Authentic Contemporary Art (ACA) by her friend and creative collaborator, Risikat “Kat” Okedeyi of LiL SoSo Productions.

During this podcast, Sharon shares her thoughts about being an artist, working with artists, her passion for art, shares art collecting tips and her thoughts for the future of ACA. Don’t miss this special podcast!

About Sharon J. Burton

Sharon J. Burton is a Metro Washington, DC area visual artist and independent curator. She founded Authentic Contemporary Art in 2005 to provide beginning collectors an opportunity to learn more about art and to connect to emerging and undiscovered visual artists in the Metro DC area.

Sharon is the DC Fine Arts Examiner on Examiner.com. In this capacity she shares information about gallery/museum exhibition openings, conferences, special events and guidance on collecting art online to a variety of readers across the Metropolitan Washington, DC region. She also serves as a curatorial advisor to Space 7:10 at Kefa Cafe, an “organic art space exhibiting an evolving mix of local, outsider, visionary, and world cultural artwork” located in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland.

She has also served as an art curator, consultant, juror and intern to the former Ramee Art Gallery in Washington, DC, Overdue Recognition Art Gallery of Bowie, Maryland and the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC. Sharon holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration (with a concentration in Marketing) and a Master of Public Administration. She has also received a certificate in Art History from the Smithsonian Associates (Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC) and has taken studio art classes from a variety instructors in the Metro DC area.

She is active in the community and currently holds membership in the Millennium Arts Salon, Women’s Caucus for Art, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She serves as a volunteer “Reading Buddy” with the WVSA Arts Connection’s School for the Arts in Learning program in Washington, DC and Teen Sircles, a teen mentoring program based in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

About Authentic Contemporary Art

Authentic Contemporary Art (formally Authentic Art Consulting) was founded in 2005 and now serves as an alternative source for emerging and contemporary art. Based in the Metropolitan Washington, DC area, Authentic Contemporary Art (ACA) creates opportunities for art collectors and emerging contemporary artists to connect through exhibitions and through a juried online art gallery. We also work with a variety of design and art professionals to find the right artwork to fit the right space.

ACA also provides opportunities for individuals who are interested in visual art to learn more about collecting and conserving art through workshops, gallery visits and special events. ACA partners with a variety of art and interior design professionals and organizations to present contemporary art that is accessible and affordable to the novice collector and attractive to established art connoisseurs.

The mission of Authentic Contemporary Art is:

-To provide affordable and accessible original art for the public

-To provide unique opportunities for talented emerging artists to show their work

-To assist new art collectors in appreciating the value and beauty of original art in their homes and offices

-To provide an opportunity to give back to humanity through art sales generated by exhibitions and art events.

Recommend books on Art Collecting mentioned in the Podcast

Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas by Halima Taha

The Intrepid Art Collector: The Beginner’s Guide to Finding, Buying, and Appreciating Art on a Budget by Lisa Hunter

The Art of Buying Art: An Insider’s Guide to Collecting Contemporary Art, by Paige West

Down load and listen to the conversation here (or the podcast player on the right column of this blog).

On Friday, Sharon Burton of Authentic Contemporary Art was interviewed by TV Host and News anchor/Reporter, Victoria Gaither, on ‘At Home w/Victoria’, on Blogtalk Radio. Listen to the interview with Victoria and Sharon and learn more about Soul Revival above.

Meroe Art Gallery in West Baltimore was charged with Soul Revival –positive energy, engaging art, and poets on FIRE at Saturday night’s opening.

An excited and spiritually filled crowd descended on the gallery as artists, poets and everyone in between viewed the work, the poetry, and even created their own artwork and poetry on the huge canvas that hung on one of the walls, inviting public participation in the exhibition.

Thanks to the artists, poets, collectors, family and friends who filled the gallery and supported the opening. Very special thanks to ThinkBrownINK, Meroe Art Gallery, Sondai Expressions and others who provided support for the opening.

Videos of the performances will be uploaded soon! Check out the photos from the opening here.

Mark Your Calendars for the Artscape Open House for July 17, 2010…details coming soon!