#memoriesat60 #communityengagedart
Softness Overcoming Hardness
Angela Davis, Keynote Speaker
#OpenEngagement Conference, Oakland
May 1st, International Worker's Day, 2016
[Angela starts at 11:30, this video is long, but so good, so settle in, it's Angela Davis! and it includes Q&A at the end]
#AngelaDavis starts with the recognition that we were on the colonized land of the Ohlone, that the Oakland area is the foundation of the #BlackPanthers movement (50 years hence), home of #Occupy, #BlackLivesMatter, #transgender movements, #restorativejustice, #foodsovereignty and so much more.
The title of this conference, which focuses on #sociallyengagedart, was Power (with the palpable and obvious subtext of privilege). It was necessarily uncomfortable and and educational and expanding and connecting.
Angela adds, of course, Power ... To The People. She talks about artists who have been inspired by the Black Power movement and how this inspired others to make art and make change. How art plays a pivotal role in changing the consciousness and drives of those who can change the world. Art does, indeed, change the status quo.
To my delight, she talks about #DollarBrand and #AbdullahIbrahim, to whose music I was introduced in the 80s, (yes, in retrospect I see the colonial connection) when I was helping friends renovate a 1700s home in Long Swamp, PA and we spent our late nights listening to their eclectic music collection. Abdullah’s music remains soulful to me today, particularly, "Soweto" (link in comments).
She talked about the importance of softness in overcoming hardness, that softness is a place of reflection, imagination, and possibility. That we must continue to move.

Thinking about walls this morning as I ponder a piece of the Berlin wall my mother brought home after it fell and a piece of Doerte Weber's woven version of the US/Mexico border wall recently installed at the 48 Stunden Neukölln Festival in Berlin. (Thank you, Doerte!) And, hoping that our own version of unification - a common humanity, compassion, love over hate, peace over fear - will rise up and tear down the walls that separate us.
Photo 2: Doerte's piece in Berlin
Photo 3: Doerte's piece, "Checkpoint Carlos" in Karen Gutfreund and my exhibition at Santa Clara University, "Beyond Borders: Stories of im/Migration"
(https://www.gutfreundcornettart.com/info-beyond-borders.html)
Doerte's statement about "Checkpoint Carlos"
"When the border wall between the US and Mexico was built, memories of my home country's border division (Germany 1961-1989) surfaced. Checkpoint Carlos forms ten passageways - woven plastic bags from from newspapers given to me by a vast number of people in San Antonio, TX. They symbolized our common humanity, support for human rights, and immigration reform." (This piece is the US and Mexican flags separated by a border)
https://48-stunden-neukoelln.de/de/event/wall-wall

Please join Dr. Sue Balter-Reitz, Stephanie Baucus, Reno Charette, Kelly Christy, Brittany Hommer, Juli Pierce, Kassie Runsabove, Chrysti M. Smith, Rian St. Pierre, and Erika Willis and me as we facilitate #HearMeTooMontana table ConverZations at this Zonta Club of Billings event!
Framing the #HearMeToo Narrative: Community Engaged Art
Sherri Cornett
Zonta Club of Billings #HearMeTooMontana ConverZations
April 28, 4-5 Social Hour, 5-6:30 dinner and conversations, 6:30-7 final words
"With examples of national and international artists and art projects that encourage dialogue and seed social change related to violence against women, artist curator Sherri Cornett will facilitate a conversation exploring ways art could further understanding and action in our region".
I am inspired by how many artists I know, at quick glance, who address these issues and whom I will be including in a brochure for my table participants: Suzanne Lacy, Rebecca Belmore, Marita Growing Thunder, Sally Beth Edelstein, Mido Lee, Ianna Brooks, SA Bachman & Neda Nedd Vedd Moridpour, Audrey Chan & Elana Mann, Eva Preston & Joanna Fulginiti, Cat Del Buono, Veronica Cardoso, Carol-Anne McFarlane, , Jane Hickey Caminos, Kay Kang, Kathryn Shinko, Vanessa Filley, Jaime Schaefer ...

Here is my info booklet: 

UNDOCUMENTED: DIFFERENCE IN AMERICA TODAY
Kirk's Grocery, Billings, MT
December 6, 2018 - January 6, 2019
Curated by Sherri Cornett and Dr. Aaron Rosen 

The dual show features internationally recognized artists MICHAEL TAKEO MAGRUDER and BENTLY SPANG. Each artist reflects on discourses of intolerance and belonging in the light of their family histories and current events, especially the crisis facing immigrants at the southern border of the United States. Community response to this show, (and the addition of Plaid Shirt Guy's plaid shirt in the front gallery), was powerful.

For more information: https://www.sherricornett.com/undocumented-difference-in-america-today.html

'Undocumented' explores immigration, internment, land access at Billings South Side gallery  Anna Paige  Dec 7, 2018 Billings Gazette https://billingsgazette.com/entertainment/community/undocumented-explores-immigration-internment-land-access-at-billings-south-side/article_974ee693-9491-5dfd-a27f-aa187a54b896.html?mode=nowapp&fbclid=IwAR3ZyWcEQ-ZWkoSqGfUtNQIj_lzNAIJkfw_S3JFbvUrpoI5Q4Nl24fo8IRQ

As part of For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings, I invited participants in our various events to create lawn signs. 

• Inspired by politician’s campaign signage, For Freedoms lawn sign activations encourage participants to produce and publicly display their own definition of freedom by filling out signs that say: Freedom Of..., Freedom From..., Freedom For..., and Freedom To…
• Signs were be installed on the Free Speech Lawn of the MSU Billings campus as part the end of the Free To Be Me: Diversity on Campus and during Artwalk Downtown Billings on the south side of First Congregational Church (corner of 310 N. 37th and 3rd

The beautiful What Freedom Means to You banner created by MSUB's Club Art Collective and the Freedom lawn signs that we are creating at the town halls  

For more information about this project: ​https://www.sherricornett.com/for-freedoms-billings.html

Free To Be Me: Diversity at MSUB
Part of For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings
Saturday, September 15, 2018  (2:30 – 4:30)
MSUBillings Student Union Building, Rooms A & B (lower floor and east through the cafeteria) and Free Speech Lawn
1500 University Dr, Billings, MT

• Facilitator: Reverend Dwight Welch/United Campus Ministry, 

• Community discussion about discoveries made while sharing our stories and identities facilitated by Rev. Dwight R. Welch of United Campus Ministry, and Parsa Hajy Abbasi (student from Iran), Tristen Belgrade (student from Rocky Boy (student from Chippewa-Cree tribe), Morgan Syring (MSUB Art Club Collective), Mitch Bohn (speaking from disabled student perspective), Jen Lynn (MSUB Women's and Gender Studies) and Patricia Vettel-Becker (MSUB Art Department Chair). 
• Parsa spoke about learning to acknowledge, not oppose, when people misunderstood him because of his language and that he chose to become an ambassador for his culture. Tristen spoke about learning to expect racism, but not to let it stop him from his goals, despite historical efforts to make his people extinct. Morgan grew up in small towns with a single mother who emphasized supportive, civil listening and the importance of accumulating knowledge of others, Mitch told us about how fellow students expected that he must be in special education because he is in a wheelchair, but that accessibility is growing on campus. Patricia and Jen said that, since 2016, there is more intentional inclusivity and efforts to be more vocal for humanity and human rights. Dwight suggested we watch MLK's "What is Your Life's Blueprint" speech to middle school students. 
• Inspired by politician’s campaign signage, For Freedoms lawn signs were available for  participants to produce and publicly display their own definition of freedom by filling out signs that say: Freedom Of..., Freedom From..., Freedom For..., and Freedom To…
•  Discussion followed by creation and installation of Freedom signs on the Free Speech Lawn at MSUB
• Facilitation assisted by Sherri Cornett (Artist/Project Director, for Freedoms 50 State Initiative Billings)

Native American Race Relations and Healing Series “For Freedoms”
Part of For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings 
Thursday, September 13, 2018, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.,
Billings Public Library
510 N Broadway, Billings, MT

• Moderator: Russell Rowland, Co-Director of this series and main contact for this event, rowlandrussell@gmail.com.
• Russell Rowland led a discussion with former Northern Cheyenne Tribal Chairman and current tribal judge John Robinson,  a member of the Kit Fox Warrior Society and veteran of the United States Army as well as a participant at Wounded Knee and the occupation of Alcatraz, and Carolyn Pease-Lopez, who represented District 42 of the Montana State Legislature for four terms, where she serves on the Agriculture, Human Services, Judiciary, and Legislative Administration committees. She was recently instrumental in preventing the passage of House Bill 615, which would have allowed county clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, on the grounds that this kind of discrimination would spread to the way she and her people are treated as well.She is a native of Crow Agency, 

Fitzgerald Clark reported the following live on Facebook:

• John Robinson pointed out that the separation of migrant children at the border reminds him of the separation of native children from their families at boarding schools and all of these children will face massive PTSD as a result just like generations of native children did.
• One big myth about Native Americans is that they all receive free money from the government. This is not true!
  
•  Carolyn Lopez spoke about intergenerational trauma and how it can have physical and psychological effects. There is a great need for trained trauma informed counselors and professionals in Indian country. Especially to work with the children. She refers to these folks as "people whisperers".
  
• Many people don't know that you can find colleges on tribal reservations. Chief Dull Knife college is in Northern Cheyenne and Little Big Horn college is on the Crow reservation.
  
•  Bethany Yellow Tail is a Crow and Northern Cheyenne woman who has made a splash in the fashion world.
  
• Carolyn pointed out that while there are seven reservations in Montana there are actually eleven tribes.
  
• John spoke about the quandary of well intentioned people coming onto the reservation without any understanding of tribal culture and more often than not failing.
  
• ​Carolyn Lopez speaks about the importance of Native languages in preserving Native cultures.
  

My latest thoughts on activist curating: "Beyond Hegemony"
... my essay for the RISE: Empower, Change and Action! exhibition catalog.
"I admit to a fascination with word play, linguistics, and derivations and that the upswelling of termininology that is aimed at moving us beyond our past—as with post-colonialism, post-capitalism, post-feminism, postmodernism, post-identity, post-heteronormativity—sends me down lengthy rabbit holes of investigation. While I do believe such exercises can expand one’s understanding, the most powerful and empowering actions and interactions come when we take the “Think Globally, Act Locally” motto to the intimate scale— sharing our personal stories and our art and in face-to-face
communication."
I am grateful to the writings, actions and suggestions which kept these musings evolving:
~Maura Reilly "Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating"
~Bently Spang, who recommended John Brown Childs' "Transcommunality: From The Politics Of Conversion to the Ethics of Respect"
~The artists from RISE, whose work supported these thoughts: Carolyn Doucette, Marisa Govin, Gina Herrera
~The perpetually stimulating work of Linda Nochlin
~And the lecture and conversation with Linda Nochlin, which Maura presented at the University of Sydney’s Curating
Feminism conference in 2014 https://vimeo.com/113864836
Exhibition curated by Gutfreund Cornett Art (Karen Gutfreund and myself), Suzanne Whitney-Smedt (Owner/Director, Whitney Modern Gallery) and Marianne Kennedy McGrath (Curator of Art at New Museum Los Gatos).
Whitney Modern Gallery, Los Gatos, California, July 18 – August 31, 2018​
​Reception: 12:30 - 2:30, Artist Talk: 2:30 - 3:30, Saturday, July 21, 2019
Catalog available via Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/RISE-Empower-Gutfreund…/…/ref=sr_1_5…
Info about the exhibition
https://www.gutfreundcornettart.com/info-rise.html