Got art, folks?

I love the "Got milk?" ads. Milk, too. It's refreshing and enjoyable. Good for you, too.

Same thing with art. That's why I'm an Art:AskForMore Official Partner. (You can be one, too.)

Which brings me to this weekend. From today through Sunday, collections, collections, and collections of arts professionals and aficionados will congregate in the upper regions of New York State and of New York City.

Upstate today, in Cooperstown (home of the Baseball Hall of Fame), NYSCA is hosting the opening events for the annual New York Folk Arts Roundtable. The New York State Folklore Society describes the event below:

2008 Joint Conference: COLLECTIONS, COLLECTIONS, COLLECTIONS
Sponsored by The Middle Atlantic Folklife Association, the New York Folk Arts Roundtable and Cooperstown Graduate Program
April 10-13, 2008
Cooperstown, NY

Our colleagues from throughout the region will join with us in a convening devoted to the topic of collections. It will utilize the exceptional resources of the Cooperstown Graduate Program (CGP), New York State Historical Association and Farmers Museum. This annual meeting of the Middle Atlantic Folklife Association, held this year jointly with the New York Folk Arts Roundtable, marks the largest gathering of folklorists in Cooperstown since the days of the American Folk Culture Program, and we are greatly excited by the opportunities to be brought about to connect more closely to our Cooperstown colleagues and the students at CGP. The meeting will occur during the glorious days of early Spring, in the Cooperstown museums and Cooperstown Graduate Program facilities by the shores of “Glimmerglass,” Otsego Lake, as well as other locations in the village.Download Conference Schedule and Registration Form here.

Then this Sunday, while the folk arts folks are munching and meeting at a Sunday pancakes-with-homemade-maple-syrup brunch (yummy!), there'll be other doings downstate. Averlyn Archer, owner/curator of the Canvas, Paper and Stone Gallery, informed me about "ArtCrawl Harlem," an afternoon guided bus tour of Harlem's fine art galleries including Heath Gallery, Canvas Paper and Stone Gallery, Essie Green Galleries, Tribal Spears Gallery, Hamilton Landmark Galleries, and Gallery M. Participants in that artfully sumptuous event will end the day eating, too, at a catered reception at the Schomburg Research Library. Afterward, sated on fine art, food and company, each guest will receive another treat: a tote bag filled with goodies.

Get details about ArtCrawl Harlem here. Tickets are $45.

Get wild today! Celebrate African American History Month at the Bronx Zoo

If you're in the New York metropolitan area, get wild today! Come celebrate African American History month at the Bronx Zoo. As Bronx Zoo News and Events reads:

Celebrate African-American Heritage at the Zoo

Wednesday February 20: Pay-What-You-Wish Day!
©WCS/J.Maher

Join us on Wednesday, February 20 to celebrate African-American culture and wildlife. Catch the beat of drum and dance performances, make your own jewelry, and visit gorillas, giraffes, and other animals that call African jungles and savannas home.

Support for Lisa Tolliver's creative, cultural and educational works is now tax-deductible!

It's now easier than ever to become my patron of arts, culture and education.
(Click here or read on.)

Support for my creative, cultural and educational works is now tax-deductible! In April 2007, I became the first sponsored artist at The Field (d.b.a. Performance Zone) who works in electronic (broadcasting and digital) media. Come see what I do (visit lisatolliver.com to access my bio, credentials, portfolio and more)!

The Field grows art. The not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501 (c) (3) organization serves the New York City performing arts community. Contributions to artists through The Field are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. (Read on to learn how to double, even triple your contribution funds, at no additional cost to you!)

For more information about The Field contact: The Field, 161 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10013, (212) 691-6969, fax: (212) 255-2053, email info@thefield.org. A copy of The Field's latest annual report may be obtained, upon request, from The Field or from the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Why that's "deep." Air's free for breathing, but not for broadcasting. (On air time is charged by the minute.) Moreover, it takes a boatload of resources to produce broadcasts, new media, multimedia cultural projects, exhibits, courses and appearances.

Come make a splash with me! Support my "four-eyed" productions (whose mission is to inform, instruct, intrigue and inspire listeners). Here's how:

• Follow the directions below (or here) to make donations and/or purchase advertising.
• Become my media partner; sponsor topical tips and content.

Cash or charge? You can contribute in several ways:

• 
  
  By mailing a check, money order or travellers check:

1. Make checks money orders and travellers checks out to: The Field.
2. 
   
   Write "Lisa Tolliver/360 MERIDIAN" in the memo line.
   Mail checks, money orders and travellers checks to:
   360 MERIDIAN, LLC
   Attn: Lisa Tolliver, Principal
   648 Central Park Avenue, #405 New York, USA 10583-2512 26 First Street, PO Box 8549 Pelham, NY 10803 USA

• By phone: dial 212-691-6969, Extension 22
• 
  
  By fax*: access this Donation Fax Form
• 
  
  Online*: Click here (www.thefield.org/t-sponsoranartist.aspx).

* Enter Artist's Name (required): Lisa Tolliver. Enter Artist's Group/Company Name (optional): 360 MERIDIAN, LLC.

Double (or triple) your money! Many organizations offer matching gift programs, which also make contributions tax deductible.Forms can be obtained from your company’s Matching Gift Administrator, and then mailed to us with your donation.
Questions? E-mail ltolliver AT 360meridian DOT com, or contact the 360 MERIDIAN at: (01) 646.53.LisaT.

Click here to contribute now.###

Effective April 1, I'm muting my mic for good

Psych! That'll be the day. [NOTE TO MY SURVIVORS: Bury or cremate my mic with my remains.]

In case you haven't been punk'd, prank'd or fooled yet by anyone else, then you might be unaware that today is April 1, when people in the U.S.A. and many European countries celebrate "April Fool's Day" or "All Fools' Day" ("Aprilsnar" in Danish).

According to Wikipedia.org/April_Fools'_Day:

April Fool's Day or All Fools' Day, though not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible.

All Fools' Day traditions can vary across cultures and locales. Yahoo! Buzz Log lists the most popular pranks, jokes and April Fool's-related searches in "Jokes and Pranks, Oh My!" (by Erik Gunther). In Europe, as Wikipedia further explains:

The April 1 tradition in France includes poisson d'avril (literally "April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed. This is also widespread in other nations, such as Italy (where the term pesce d'aprile (literally "April's fish") is also used to refer to any jokes done during the day).

Moreover,

In some countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada (except Quebec), Australia and New Zealand, the April 1 tradition requires jokes to be played before midday: if somebody pulls an April Fools' Trick after midday, then the person pulling the trick is actually considered the fool. *

I don't think media organizations read that memo. Some broadcasters and publishers have have executed such fantastic April Fool's Day hoaxes (at various times of day) that wary citizens have become suspicious of even real news on the first day of the fourth month. Some outstanding examples are accessible at Wikipedia's compilation of well-known April Fool's Day hoaxes and at MuseumOfHoaxes.com. (I've pulled off some doozies too, but will save them for my book.)

"Foolishness" of similar sorts can occur on other days in other nations. For example:

In Spanish-speaking countries, similar pranks are practiced on December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents. This custom also exists in certain areas of Belgium, including the province of Antwerp. The Flemish tradition is for children to lock out their parents or teachers, only letting them in if they promise to bring treats the same evening or the next day.*

In Iran, people play jokes on each other on April 3, the 13th day of the Persian calendar new year (Norouz). This day is called "Sizdah bedar" (Outdoor thirteen). It is believed that people should go out on this date in order to escape the bad luck of number 13.*

In Denmark the 1st of May is known as "Maj-kat", meaning quite simply "May-cat", and is identical to April Fools' day, though Danes also celebrate April Fools' day ("aprilsnar").*

Some Jewish communities have a traditional event called a "Purim spiel" (a.k.a. "Purimshpil"), which is similar in many ways to April Fools' Day. *

Purim spiel seems similar, to me, to Mardi Gras or Halloween.

It might be a fool's errand, to trace the ambiguous origins of this lighthearted holiday (and its variations), but David Johnson and Shmuel Ross published their attempt in, "April Fool's Day: Origin and History (The uncertain origins of a foolish day)." Other informative and entertaining April Fool's Day resources are accessible at:

• These Websites and
  
• Amazon.com (April Fool).

*SOURCE: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fool's_Day ###

Fashion as a power tool: What do you watch and wear that makes you feel powerful?

Look at the time! I couldn't sleep and had tons to do before joining some sisters to see Treemonisha, so I got online and got busy. I don't want to miss a minute of the Black History Month activities I have scheduled today.

As RottenTomatoes.com describes: "Scott Joplin's only opera, 'Treemonisha' [sic] tells the proud story of the educated daughter of former slaves, who rises to greatness in the postbellum 1800s." My mother's talented and fashionable friend, Mollie Jackson (who wears a beautifully braided up-do), will be singing in the pit chorus.

[The public domain photo of Scott Joplin, right, is from About.com]

What has any of this to do with power tools and clothing?

While I mentally scanned my wardrobe to decide what to wear today, I digitally scanned the World Wide Web to find resources relevant to my cultural/arts projects. In the course of that work, I came across the following description of "Trappings." That project, by Two Girls Working, gave me pause and I thought it was worth pointing out:

In Two Girls Working, the collaborative team of artists [sic] Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki, position themselves as assets to civic action and dialogue. Our project Trappings activates dialogue about the complicated landscape of power and its relationship to personal identity by asking women to respond to the question: what do you wear that makes you feel powerful?

Good question. I believe the answer is contextual. What makes one feel powerful (or sometimes more importantly, conveys to his or her target audience power or competence, credibility or taste, appropriateness or class) can vary as drastically as the situations one might find oneself in.

What Two Girls Working had in mind, when they launched "Trappings," was to challenge "the preconceived set of ideas individuals create based on other’s personal appearance" and to offer "a platform for viewers and participants to explore their relationship to power and investigate how they present themselves." Through the project, which "is founded upon the necessity to work, engage, and create based on a vision of inclusive feminism and social action," the originators encourage women from a diversity of backgrounds to collaborate in an open exploration of "the relationship of women to power within the construction of personal identity."

That's a call I'm moved to answer. However, as an African American Woman, I can't help but respond on two levels, the first socio-historical, the second personal.

Firstly, I am sure the costumes in Treemonisha will illustrate this socio-historical fact: garments, accessories and color schemes often telegraph or obfuscate one's socio-economic status. Trappings may also be used to communicate important messages, affiliations and roles.

Consider the secret codes used by underground railroad participants to communicate fluently with total strangers; the colors worn by undercover cops and gang members to tacitly self-identify; the color and positioning of bridal garments to connote virginity and the transition from maiden to wife; the readily identifiable uniforms adopted by various groups to identify members; and the everyday and ceremonial attire and insignia worn by such people as soldiers, clergy persons and university graduates when they want to specify their organizational affiliations and ranks.

[The public domain image of the Treemonisha opera bill, above left, is from Wikipedia.]

Secondly, in my personal life, I wear several hats. A typical Wednesday might include an early morning lecture or client consultation (which calls for a business suit or business casual attire), followed by a radio broadcast seen only by the studio crew (who could care less what I wore), and then an athletic workout, capped off by another lecture or meeting, dinner date, event or all of the above.

What makes me feel powerful, in each case, is wearing something that comfortably fits, at once, the dress code, practical realities, and my personality. To accomplish that, I keep an athletic bag, cosmetics kit and change of clothes in my car. Sometimes I start out wearing sensible shoes that let my "dogs" breathe, then slip into sneakers that let me run faster, jump higher, and later squeeze into high-heels that are not meant for walking but look great with dressy clothes. Whatever the situation, my busy schedule and aversion to fuss require adherence to the KISS principle for hair and makeup: Keep It Simple, Sister.

As casual observation can reveal, individual definitions of "appropriate" attire can be subjective. For example, one of my girlfriends validates the phrase, "We've come a long way, maybe." She disapproves of braids and twists and can't manage au naturelle, so she still punishes her hair with perms and is enslaved to curling irons. To each her own. I sport my twists proudly, and unlike her, can take my wash-n-wear tresses, relatively hassle-free, from seaside to supper, and without much fuss from the bedroom to the boardroom.

In another example, my chic and stylish, but somewhat conservative, mother loved the charcoal gray and teal suit that I wore to my father's wake (where my "target audience" was family and friends). However, she disapproved of the "beautiful" but "inappropriate" "party dress" (as she termed it) that I donned for the funeral. Indeed, the black silk number was a cocktail dress, but I paired it with a demure, long-sleeved designer jacket, the skirt had no slits, the neckline did not plunge and the hem height was appropriate for a sacred ceremony. It suited its purpose.

Here's what Mom missed: Dad would have loved that dress, and it was he whom I dressed for that day. Additionally, sporting that dress to send my father off in style imparted a sense of empowerment. My father (who knew he was dying) had made it clear: he wanted his loved ones to celebrate his memory. That we did, and although powerless to prolong Dad's life, my brother and I seized control where we could. That included dictating the details and trappings of my father's homegoing, such as what the three of us, and my young nephews, wore.

Dad would also have enjoyed attending Treemonisha; he was a strong supporter of black art and culture. Certainly, if he could see me, he would approve of the black suede skirt, wine-colored silk twin sweater set, and coordinated accessories that I'll wear to today's Black History Month event.