RING THE ALARM… A Conversation with Shinique Smith & Renee Cox - Guild Hall
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RING THE ALARM… A Conversation with Shinique Smith & Renee Cox

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Friday, March 5
6PM - 7PM

Registration required. Free with suggested donation.

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Overview

Q&A moderated by Phyllis Hollis, the founder and host of Cerebral Women Art Talks.

The idea for RING THE ALARM… A Conversation with series Renee Cox began with discussions on an exhibition of Black Artists that Renee Cox will be curating for the summer of 2023.

“Guild Hall is very excited to present this first installment of Ring the Alarm for 2021. We believe now more than ever that the need for open dialogue on art, race and politics is timely and something that we as a community at large need to engage in more. The response to the first 2 talks with Derrick Adams and Sanford Biggers was truly inspiring and we plan to continue this series of conversations leading up to the 2023 Summer exhibition that Renee Cox will guest curate.” –Christina Mossaides Strassfield, Museum Director/Chief Curator

  • Shinique Smith

    Shinique Smith. Photo by Gary Pennock.

    Shinique Smith is a Los Angeles based painter and sculptor known for her monumental abstractions of calligraphy textiles and collage. Smith’s personal histories and belongings intertwine with thoughts of the vast nature of ‘things’ that we consume and discard and how objects resonate on an intimate and social scale. Over the last twenty years, Smith has gleaned visual poetry from vintage clothing and explored concepts of ritual through tying, writing and gestures inspired by her travels and her early graffiti roots in Baltimore. Through her process, Smith builds a complex material vocabulary that deftly interweaves brushstrokes, private narratives and symbolism for the viewer to divine and intuit. Smith’s practice operates at the convergence of consumption, displacement and spiritual sanctuary, revealing connections across space, time, and place to suggest the possibility of constructing worlds renewed by hopeful delight. 

    She has exhibited over 20 solo presentations at institutions such as California African American Museum, The Frist Center, MOCA North Miami, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Studio Museum in Harlem. Her exuberant works are featured in many prestigious collections including Baltimore Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, Denver Art Museum, Minneapolis Art Institute, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Whitney Museum. In 2020, Smith was awarded a Tufts Alumni Travel Fellowship and she has also received awards from Joan Mitchell Foundation Tiffany Foundation and Anonymous Was a Woman among others. Smith earned her BFA and MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art where she was also awarded the Alumni Medal of Honor. 

  • Renée Cox

    Renée Cox is a visual artist, working foremost in photography and video. Her work arises at this intersection of history, race theory, and sexuality. In her practice, Cox works to deconstruct stereotypes, engage the viewer and to challenge their preconceived ideas about gender and race. She explores the possibilities of new and affirming self-representations for Black diasporic peoples as a visual corrective to both art history and history writ large—transforming dispossession into self-possession. By deconstructing the Black female body, she reveals the myths behind it.

    Cox began her career as a commercial photographer, working for Condé Nast, and the music and film industries. She turned to fine art after receiving an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in 1992. Since then, Cox has worked as a visual artist, educator, curator, lecturer, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine. The Archives of American Art (Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.) acquired Cox’s personal archive in 2019.

    Renée Cox (b. Colgate, Jamaica) lives and works in Harlem, NY and Amagansett, East Hampton. Her work is included in several institutional collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Princeton Art Museum.

    reneecox.org

    Photo: Renée Cox

  • Phyllis Hollis

    Phyllis Hollis has more than thirty years’ experience in the financial services industry. She was the President/ CEO of a minority-owned boutique broker-dealer before launching a weekly podcast, Cerebral Women Art Talks, to promote and provide marketing services to visual artists, mainly artists of color, female artists and art professionals.

    Hollis began her career in technology working for IBM as a Systems Engineer. In 1983 she transitioned to the financial services industry working for Salomon Brothers in mortgage finance. In 1994, Hollis became a co-founder of the first minority investment bank, Utendahl Capital Partners, with Merrill Lynch as a strategic partner.

    During her tenure at M.R. Beal & Co., Phyllis was involved with the Facebook IPO in 2012. This was her introduction to innovative marketing technologies and the catalyst to her interest in digital marketing strategies.

    Since leaving her position as a CEO in 2018, Phyllis earned certifications in digital marketing from Cornell, Google and Harvard. She built upon these skills and launched her podcast, Cerebral Women Art Talks Podcast, which combines her passion for technology and the visual arts.

    Phyllis is a trustee of Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and GuildHall in East Hampton. She serves on various committees which include strategic planning, investments/finance, impact initiatives, and marketing. She is also a member of the Skowhegan Council and the MoMA Friends of Education council.

Event Sponsors

Guild Hall’s Museum programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, an anonymous donor, Crozier Fine Arts, and funding from The Michael Lynne Museum Endowment, and The Melville Straus Family Endowment.
Free admission is generously funded by Dime Community Bank and Landscape Details.
Media Partner: Cerebral Women
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