Tag: Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center
Hanging Tree Guitars
Hanging Tree Guitars is a traveling exhibition that showcases the work of Freeman Vines, a luthier, musician and material artist. Mr. Vines was born in Greene County, North Carolina, where his family sharecropped on plantations where they were once enslaved. For 50 years, he’s been building guitars from cast-off materials gathered from across the county – everything from an old tobacco barn, to radio parts, to the wood of a tree where a 1930 lynching took place. The exhibit was organized by the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which strives to preserve the legacy of musicians who are the creative roots of American Music. Join us for this exciting exhibition!
Java & Djembes: African Percussion Workshop featuring coffees and chocolates from the African continent
The Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center and Black History Now 2022 presents Java & Djembes, an African percussion workshop featuring coffees and chocolates from the African continent. Participants enjoy coffees and fine chocolates from Africa while learning percussion rhythms from master musician Kamiruri Kelly of the Day Program. Price is $10 per person. Ages 17 and up please. To register, go online to www.portsmouthartcenter.com or call 757-393-8543.
Soul Finger Project
This 4-person art exhibition features paintings and drawings influenced by contemporary Black Culture that traces its roots to the Caribbean, Northern Africa and beyond. Featured artists are Anthony Burks, Sr., from Florida; Portsmouth native and now Florida resident Ramel Jasir; Arthur Rogers, Jr., from Charlotte, North Carolina; and Clayton Singleton, from Norfolk, Virginia.
Urban Slavery and the Construction of Drydock #1 at the Gosport Shipyard
The Portsmouth History Museums and Black History Now present Dr. Linda Upham-Bornstein’s presentation Engineer Loammi Baldwin, Urban Slavery, and the Construction of Dry Dock #1 at Gosport Shipyard. When Dry Dock 1 at today’s Norfolk Naval Shipyard was built in the 1830s, the labor necessary to complete it included enslaved stonecutters who were paid for their expertise. Hiring out skilled slaves caused controversy, but not for the reasons you might think. Discover more about this fascinating piece of Shipyard history when Dr. Upham-Bornstein, Teaching Lecturer in History at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, NH presents her research, first published in the Journal of Labor in 2007. Free event.
About the photo: A “c.1920 painting depicting the U.S.S. Delaware, the first ship to enter the Stone Dock, a.k.a., today’s Dry Dock #1 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Image courtesy of the Naval Historical Center.”