artist
The Sculptor
Posted July 19th, 2007 by GretjenProduced by Donna Peronace
Modern-day renaissance men and women will enjoy this short conversation with Dennis Christopher Murphy, a biologist who made a career and life-altering decision to trade in his microscope for the allure of lumps of unformed clay. Murphy finds his inspiration in a variety of natural forms and objects such as rocks, sticks, moss plants and fish skulls -- and the occasional human-made object like a soap bar, thrown in for good measure.
Paul Keene
Posted July 19th, 2007 by GretjenProduced by Carlton Jones for Scribe Video Center
"I want a confrontation," says Keene about his art. This short documentary portrait details the vision, inspiration and philosophy that grounded the work of this extraordinary Black American painter, a self-described "abstract realist" whose story reflects both the accomplishments and the difficulties of African American artists in the 20th century. As we listen to Keene and see his most commanding paintings and drawings (accompanied by a leisurely jazz and blues score), a colorful and well-rounded picture emerges of a nationally known Philadelphia-based artist at the height of his powers.
Paul Keene was a Philadelphia-born black artist who earned an prominent reputation at a time when that was exceedingly difficult for artists of his race. He earned three degrees and taught at Temple University's Tyler School of Art and the Philadelphia College of Art. In 1960 he was promoted to Associate Professor of Art at the Philadelphia College of Art. He remained there until 1969, when he left to become a full-time professor at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania, where he helped to establish a new art department. He retired from teaching in 1985 and took up his brushes full time.
In addition to the Michener Art Museum, Keene's work is in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, Tucson Museum of Art, and the Woodmere Art Museum, among others. His subject matter reflects his personal responses to experiences of African Americans, and his work includes voodoo symbolism, ancient Haitian deities, and depictions of jazz musicians.
Carlton Jones is a working videographer and the head of Carlton Jones Video based in Willow Grove, PA.
February 13, 1998 - Scribe Video Center Retrospective: Five on the Black Hand Side at the Painted Bride Art Center (Philadelphia, PA)
PaperMaking : From Cotton To Casting
Posted July 19th, 2007 by GretjenProduced by Carlton Jones for Scribe Video Center
John Baker shows viwers a different kind of paper trail as he explains the process of producing paper from cotton by-products and the application of paper in his artwork. Using hand-made paper as his primary medium, the artist demonstrates how he forms it into molds creating an interesting variety of shapes and textures which become the building blocks for his finished works.
Carlton Jones is a working Videographer and the head of Carlton Jones Video, based in Willow Grove, PA.
John Baker received his MFA from the University of Delaware, studied at the University of the Arts and earned a BA from West Chester University. He has been a professor at West Chester University since 1974, and is currently Chairperson of the Department. His work has been exhibited in numerous national exhibitions and is represented in private, corporate and museum collections.
I Do What I Do So I Can Do What I Want
Posted July 19th, 2007 by GretjenA narrative video by Larry Moses
Some call it "paying dues," some call it "toughing it out," but whatever you call it, trying to survive in the uncertain, fluky world of art -- waiting for a break which may never come -- is a precarious and unsettling way to live. Larry Moses writes, directs and acts in this humorous mini-drama about making a living cleaning offices (while surreptitiously reading battered copies of Harold Pinter plays) and pursuing his dreams of being an accomplished actor.
By day, Larry Moses is the Program Coordinator for the University of Pennsylvania's Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs. When his workday is over, Moses transfers his boisterous personality to the Philadelphia-area stage, where he’s acted in close to 150 plays and directed more than 100, including "Purlie Victorious" for the Philadelphia Black Theater Festival in the mid-1980s, which was named one of the five best plays that year.
February 26, 2004, Penn Current Online, "Every living situation that I see has the potential for a play," By Heather Davis
August 22, 1999 - Part of Street Movies screening at Habitat for Humanity West Philadelphia offices (Philadelphia, PA)
The African Continuance
Posted July 18th, 2007 by GretjenOmomola Iyabunmi & Corbitt Bank
Omomola Iyabunmi is a musician, educator, composer and director of the Women's Sekere Ensemble. Lovingly featured in the video, Iyabunmi's Philadelphia-based female percussion group spreads African diasporic culture in secular and sacred song, accompanying themselves on their namesake bead-covered gourds. Iyabunmi explains how a sekere (pronounced SHAY-keh-ray) is constructed, and explores the significance of traditional African music and its impact on the African woman musician in America today.
Omomola Iyabunmi is a Sekere maker who has has pursued her study of African culture and percussion for more than 30 years. In 2004, she was the winner of a 2004 Leeway Foundation Window of Opportunity Grant to study learn the Aro instrument, a part of Sekere music tradition, at the Obatala Centre for the Arts in Nigeria, with the opportunity to participate in rituals where this traditional music is played and used. She included the Aro in performances with the Womenís Sekere Ensemble upon her return. Iyabunmi also teaches sekere-making classes and sells the beautifully handmade instruments at modest cost.
Corbitt Banks works with Pennsylvania's Mental Health and Aging Coalition, and is a former South Street store owner and art and culture project coordinator for the City of Philadelphia Empowerment Zone's North Central zone.
A Diversion
Posted July 18th, 2007 by GretjenJanet Williams
This personal and experimental documentary is a powerful, impressionistic challenge to the professional psychiatric community's definition and treatment of depression and emotional problems.
Janet Williams works as a digital video artist and graphic designer in the Philadelphia area. She performed camera, lighting and sound duties on a popular Scribe Video Center catalog work, Intermarriage: Latina's Perspective. [LINK]
