As many already know, February is Black History Month. This means that several events all throughout Macon will be going on in order to commemorate the memories of those that helped advance black history. With several people of African American descent from Macon, the celebrations this year should be no short of those in years past.
On Friday, February 3, the Tubman Museum kicked off its celebration of Black History Month with a reception to mark the opening of a special exhibition of works by one of Georgia’s highly respected contemporary artists.
Entitled “Freddie Styles: Roots, Pine Needles and Faxes,” the exhibit is the first one-person show by the artist at the Tubman Museum.
Freddie Styles is a native of Georgia. He is an abstract artist committed to a form of abstraction informed by a passion for the inherent beauty of life. This exhibition features a selection of works completed mostly in the past 15 years, works in which the artist used items such as tree roots, pine needles and vintage coated fax paper to create paintings and collages that interpret a natural world pared down to natural shapes and vibrant color. In these recent works, Styles has achieved a unique method of reflecting nature’s forms, textures, patterns and colors, revealing a window to a more spiritual world.
The museum is located at 340 Walnut Street, in downtown Macon. “Roots, Pine Needles and Faxes” will remain on view at the Tubman Museum through March 31, 2012. For more information about this event, and other African American history month programs, contact the museum at (478) 743 – 8544.
Macon State College is also hosting a pair of events in honor of Black History Month.
On February 16 at 12:30 p.m., a presentation by the Atlanta Chapter of Buffalo Soldiers will present “A History of Buffalo Soldiers.”
“Buffalo Soldier” was the nickname given by the Native Americans to members of African American cavalry regiments of the U.S. Army who served in the western United States from 1867 to 1896. Many of the soldiers had fought in the Union Army during the Civil War. An 1866 law authorized the U.S. Army to form cavalry and infantry regiments of black men. The resulting units were the ninth and tenth cavalries, who became known as the Buffalo Soldiers, noted for their courage and discipline.
Also at Macon State, Poet Roger Bonair-Agard will have a reading and lecture on Wednesday, February 22 at 11 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Bonair-Agard, a professional performance poet since 1997, is a two-time National Poetry Slam champion. A native of the island country of Trinidad and Tobago, he has lived in New York for nearly 20 years and currently is writer-in-residence with Vision Into Art, a music and interdisciplinary arts production company in New York City, New York. He has appeared three times on Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on HBO, and he is co-author of Burning Down the House (2000), Tarnish and Masquerade (2006) and Gully (2010).
This Black History Month should be one to remember and Macon is doing its part to remember all of the important African Americans who have helped contribute to society.
