Cole M James in Residence: 3 Movements
November 16, 2019 – February 29, 2020
The Ojai Institute, the artist centric initiative of the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, is pleased to announce Cole M James in Residence: 3 Movements will open to all on Saturday, November 16, 2019 and continue through the end of February 2020. This dynamic artist residency, exhibition, and community engagement project will exist in three parts and over multiple sites throughout the Ojai Valley.
This project will inaugurate a new Artist in Residence Program at Oak Grove School. The school will host the artist on campus with both living and studio spaces, offering the unique opportunity for first hand student engagement. Additional partnerships with the Ojai Unified School District and Santa Barbara City College will offer deeper engagement opportunities with a broad spectrum of students in our region.
All are welcome to join us on Saturday, November 16 for a conversation with the artist for our Ojai Institute Podcast starting at 5:00 pm followed by an artist’s reception, and a ticketed artist’s dinner.
With 3 Movements, the artist is inviting the viewer on a personal diaspora journey, with moments of reflection, and a closing event that offers the viewer resources to pursue their own journey. The inherent generosity of this project explores being comfortable or mindfully uncomfortable in the unknowing of one’s cultural heritage. 3 Movements has been informed by the artist’s recent time spent this summer in Ghana, and an ongoing exploration of cross cultural ethnomedicinal knowledge especially as to how it relates to the female body.
In the artist’s own words:
There are truths to being African American, I will never know the language my ancestors or the traditions of their ancestors. This began my investigation into the unknown or rather an embrace of the unknowable and the ability to transcend the unknown into the imagined and the experiential. My intention is to embark on an imagined story of creation with a system of reactions centered on the sharing of hopefulness in experience as it coincides with memory.
Conceived in three parts, the first of which will be an installation of what the artist is calling Impossible Vessels featuring objects made in ceramic, glass, and paper. These works will be on view for the opening reception. Beginning in December, the exhibition will become augmented with both sound and scent sculptures as well as works from hands on art making student workshops, and a special artist led interactive culinary experience exploring connections between traditional African and American Soul Food recipes. It was also possible to assess the quality of some medicines. In February, the third and final part of the project will feature a public conversation with the artist, joined by Sade Musa, herbalist (Roots of Resistance) and a special guest. The conversation will explore the roles of ethnomedicinal systems and its manifestations within the creative process.
The work of Cole M James is that of a negotiator, navigating the African Diaspora, circling the expanse of queerness and fumbling through womanhood. James’ interdisciplinary work explores the intersections between digital production and the analog collections of lived experiences. James was born in Chicago and raised in Moreno Valley, California. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Cal State San Bernardino and Masters in Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University. James currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Image: Cole M James, Within A Universe, 2019, Digital Print. Courtesy the Artist.
Event Calendar:
Events take place at 248 South Montgomery Street in Ojai, unless otherwise noted.
Friday, November 15, 10:00am:
Cole M James Artist Lecture, all are welcome
Off Site Location:
Humanities Building, Room 111, Santa Barbara City College, 721 Cliff Dr, Santa Barbara
Saturday, November 16, 1:00 – 4:00pm:
Oak Grove All-School Showcase and Open House and Cole M James artist reception in the Main House of Oak Grove, all are welcome
Off Site Location:
220 West Lomita Ave, Ojai
Saturday, November 16, 5:00pm:
Cole M James in Conversation for Ojai Institute Podcast, all are welcome
Saturday, November 16, 6:30pm:
Cole M James in Residence: 3 Movements, Artist Reception, all are welcome
Saturday, November 16, 8:00pm:
Cole M James Artist Dinner, tickets available below, free for Ojai Institute Founder’s Circle level members and above.
Friday, December 6, 7:00 – 9:00pm:
Oak Grove High School Visual and Performing Arts Showcase featuring Cole M James
Off Site Location:
220 West Lomita Ave, Ojai
Saturday, December 14, 6:00pm:
Cole M James Artist led culinary experience exploring recipes from Ghana and Soul Food, at a private residence in Ojai. Tickets available below.
Saturday, February 22, 2020, 5:00 – 7:00pm:
Panel Discussion: Cole M James, Sade Musa, and special guest, all are welcome.
Additional events to be announced.
Or give any amount in support of Cole M James in Residence: 3 Movements
Visit:
Ojai Institute and the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation
248 South Montgomery Street
Ojai, CA 93023
Thursday – Saturday, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm daily, and by appointment
For more information please contact Frederick Janka, Executive Director, by email [email protected] or by phone, 646.334.1006.