A Screen Printing Workshop

Artists Image Resource, August Wilson African American Cultural Center and Boom Concepts present A Screen Printing Workshop.

We welcome you to join us for A Screen Printing Workshop led by Robert Hodge, Bekezela Mguni and Quaishawn Whitlock, resident artists of La Jaula de Oro / The Golden Age portfolio at Artists Image Resource in partnership with BOOM Concepts and exhibiting artists of Select Works on Paper at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.

La Jaula de Oro / The Golden Age is a portfolio of screen printed works that explore the dominant socio-political narrative of the United States regarding corporate interest and histories of oppression, cultural erasure, xenophobia, and injustices. The unyielding appetite of corporate interest compiled with rapid over development and hyper investment of urban centers to uphold the status quo and privileged luxury and boutique experience continue to fail in its political promise to provide its citizens basic human rights while remaining the largest resettlement destination in the world. create responsive works to Pittsburgh’s contemporary cultural landscape as a place on the rebound taking full part in the American phenomenon of hyper corporate capitalism and reinvestment that creates the golden cage. La Jaula De Oro / The Golden Age serves as a space where artists can center their personal and community voice to critique, commend, or condemn issues across our nation’s consciousness while utilizing visual art as a platform to create visibility to facilitate change.

Select Works on Paper is a series of Pittsburgh-based artist works on paper exploring identity, history, iconography and cultural narratives through screen prints, collage assemblage and paintings.

For A Screen Printing Workshop, guests will participate in an interactive printing process using designed images created by Robert Hodge, Bekezela Mguni and Quaishawn Whitlock to screen print artworks. Each participant will have the opportunity to engage each artist in their artmaking practice while being introduced to various studio methods and creating their own prints to take home.

No experience necessary. Free and open to the public while supplies last. Light food and drinks provided.

Be sure to check out current exhibitions featuring these artists in Pittsburgh:

La Jaula de Oro / The Golden Age
Featuring Robert Hodge, Darrel Kinsel, Maritza Mosquera, Bekezela Mguni, Quaishawn Whitlock, Robert Williams

Artists Image Resource
518 Foreland St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Business Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 5:00 AM-9:00 PM

Select Works on Paper
April 8-August 28, 2022
Featuring Dail Chambers, Tara Fay Coleman, Robert Hodge, D.S. Kinsel, Bekezela Mguni, and Quaishawn Whitlock.

August Wilson African American Cultural Center
980 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Gallery Hours:
Thursday 11:00 AM-6:00 PM
Friday 11:00 AM
Saturday, Sunday 11:00 AM-5:00 PM

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FEATURED WORKSHOP ARTIST BIOS

Robert Hodge  is a Houston, Texas native Houston, Texas raised in the City’s historic Third Ward district. After graduating from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Hodge attended the Pratt Institute in New York and followed the pursuit of art and music to Georgia at the Atlanta College of Art. Hodge has exhibited his work in numerous national and international institutions including The Station Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Young Masters Exhibition in London, Politics of Sound, Archive at Centre George Pompidou, Paris, France and the Contemporary Museum of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya as well as the Virginia Museum of fine Art to name a few. Hodge is a recent recipient of the 2021 Champions of Local Artists award for his work in the Houston Art Community during the pandemic and a 2022 Artadia awardee.

Bekezela Mguni is a queer Trinidadian artist, radical librarian, and educator. She has over 15 years of community organizing experience in the Reproductive Justice movement and holds an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh. Bekezela participated in the first Librarians and Archivists with Palestine delegation in June of 2013. She completed her first micro-residency at the Pittsburgh creative hub Boom Concepts and was featured in the 2015 Open Engagement Conference. She was a 2015-2016 member of the Penn Ave Creative Accelerator Program with the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater and launched the Black Unicorn Library and Archive Project. The Black Unicorn cultivates libraries as sites of learning, possibility, and freedom celebrating the literary and artistic contributions of Black women, queer, Trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people.  Honoring the far-reaching influence, our storytelling has had on the lives of generations worldwide. She has  also served as the 2016 Sophia Smith Archive Activist-in-Residence at Smith College.  Bekezela was selected as an Emerging Artist in the 2016 Three Rivers Arts Festival and won the Juror’s Choice award for her visual artwork. She was a featured artist of the 2017 Activist Print Project, a partnership between, Artist Image Resource, BOOM concepts, and the Andy Warhol Museum.  Bekezela is a Boom Concepts studio member, a community space and gallery dedicated to the development of artists and creative entrepreneurs. She is currently an artist in residence at Artist Image Resource and serves as the Education Program Director at Dreams of Hope which affirms the voices and leadership of LGBTQ youth through the arts.

Quaishawn Whitlock is an artist, educator and business owner working out of Pittsburgh PA. His work is about the discovery, identity, representation, and struggle of Blackness (the physical, mental, and emotional identity of the black body). Whitlock’s practice often involves printmaking; specifically screen printing and relief processes. Printmaking  serves as a language for research and discovery and lends itself perfectly to experimentation. Providing a beautifully accessible experiential understanding of the work.

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ORGANIZATION BIOS

Artists Image Resource (AIR) is an artist run, non-profit print and imaging organization established in 1996 to serve as a laboratory for artists, educators, and the community. For 25 years now AIR has been developing an alternative model for how organizations and collectives can support and value working artists in the community. AIR provides the means of production and support that helps artists develop and create new work.

An artist-focused approach informs all of AIR’s activities. AIR serves a remarkably diverse constituency, meeting artists where they are with a responsive approach to creative partnership. AIR avoids transactional relationships, preferring to partner with artists, lightly or deeply, to create mutual benefit. Through these collaborative partnerships, AIR works to optimize its impact and support inquiry, learning and the exploration of ideas that help the artist and the student explore new territory, generate new work, and find new directions.

The non-profit August Wilson African American Cultural Center is one of the largest cultural organizations in the country focused exclusively on the African American experience, and through its mission is dedicated to sharing the African American experience and presenting artistic expression that reflects the prestige, authority and vision illuminated in the work of August Wilson. We also represent the rich history of his birthplace, Pittsburgh PA, and share the unique perspective of its inhabitants. Through our festivals, exhibitions and programs, we aim to inspire all people to see Black creativity and innovation as an impetus for heartfelt human connection.

BOOM Concepts is an exhibition and studio space along the Penn Ave Arts Corridor dedicated to the development of artists and creative entrepreneurs. BOOM Concepts’ programs and partnerships foster collaboration across genre and discipline to produce live art, music, and performance with marginalized communities. BOOM Concepts flagship location is located in the Penn Ave Arts and Business District with a 1500 sq ft store front that host monthly art exhibitions as apart of #Unblurred First Friday gallery crawl, as well as film screenings, community meetings, music performances, dance parties, fundraisers, and more.