This Friday, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, panelists will discuss how contemporary presentation styles for public art affect urban communities like Harlem today. Among the panelists are Kendal Henry, Assistant Commissioner, Public Art, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and Harlem-based artists Fitgi Saint-Louis and Dianne Smith. The West Harlem Art Fund’s Executive Director and Chief Curator, Savona Bailey-McClain, moderate this panel.

Up until the 1960s, the majority of public art in NYC was war memorials, civic-minded murals in hospitals and schools, or Eurocentric relief sculptures. The 1960s were a time when American artists sought to express their view of the world and the times they lived in. During the 1970s, Hip-hop and graffiti were beginning to make a splash. Cities were struggling financially across the country, yet NYC paved the way for public art as we know it today with Percent for Art, MTA Arts in Transit, and the Department of Cultural Affairs.

How has Harlem moved beyond the Renaissance of the 1930s to share diverse perspectives and philosophies that speak to issues today? Does space matter? Who determines what that space should look like and how it should be filled? What challenges do artists face when they try to present public art locally or in more visible spaces? 

Panelists

Kendal Henry is an artist and curator who lives in New York City and specializes in the field of public art for over 30 years. He illustrates that public art can be used as a tool for social engagement, civic pride and economic development through the projects and programs he’s initiated in the US and internationally.

He’s currently the Assistant Commissioner of Public Art at the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and an adjunct professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Henry is a guest lecturer at various universities and educational institutions including Rhode Island School of Design Senior Studio; and Pratt Institute’s Arts and Cultural Management Program. Kendal served as the Director of Culture and Economic Development for the City of Newburgh, NY where he created the region’s first Percent for Art Program. Prior to that post he was Manager of Arts Programs at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Arts for Transit for eleven years. During this time, he has overseen the commissioning, fabrication and installation of MTA’s permanent art projects, served as a member of the MTA’s in-house design team, and produced temporary exhibitions at Grand Central Terminal.

Kendal was also the Curator-at-large at the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art (MoCADA) in Brooklyn, NY and was elected to serve two 3-year terms on the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Council.

Fitgi Saint-Louis is a multidisciplinary artist based in Harlem, NY. Her work considers the intertwined nature of identity, remembrance and community within African, American and Caribbean cultures. Appearing in paint, textiles and sculpture, her abstracted figures honor the multifaceted ancestry of the African diaspora. With a background in design, Saint-Louis utilizes form and color to present Black figures in vibrant and contemplative imagery. 

Saint-Louis was awarded the Rising Star Award by Interior Design Magazine. And she is an adjunct professor (SVA), an organizer in Design as Protest, a member of Urban Design Forum, National Organization of Minority Architects and Society of Experiential Graphic Designers.

Dianne Smith is a Bronx native of Belizean descent. She attended LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, the Otis Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She received her MFA from Transart Institute, Berlin, Germany in August 2012 MFA. She currently lives and works in Harlem.

Dianne’s intriguing and compelling minimalist abstracts are haunting and beautiful. Her sculptures and installations are an extension of that beauty. Dianne’s work represents her inner connection to self, which reflects the artistic and spiritual journey that has enabled her to find her voice as an artist. Her work incites our emotions with lush palettes, expressive brushstrokes, texture and form. She creates provocative and meaningful imagery that challenges the viewer to see and consider pure color, movement and organic shapes. While her work remains rooted in her African origins, its purpose is more universal. She puts it this way: “human civilizations and cultures all have Africa as their mother and are therefore more similar than we realize. I want my work to justly portray that connection, the essence of human existence, and thereby possibly affecting the whole of humankind for the better.” She has exhibited with noted artists including Norman Lewis, Samella Lewis, Chakai Booker, and Howardena Pindell. She also presented esteemed Poet and Author, Dr. Maya Angelou and Broadway Dance Choreographer George Faison each with one of her most celebrated pieces: Spirit of My Ancestors “I” and “II.” 

Her works are also in the private collections of Danny Simmons, UFA Gallery, Vivica A. Fox, Rev. and Mrs. Calvin O. Butts, III, Cicely Tyson, Arthur Mitchell and Terry McMillian.

Moderator

Executive Director & Chief Curator Savona Bailey-McClain is a Harlem based curator and arts administrator. She is the Executive Director/Chief Curator of the West Harlem Art Fund, which has organized high-profile public arts exhibits throughout New York City for the past 20 years, including Times Square, DUMBO, Soho, Governors Island and Harlem. Her public art installations encompass sculpture, drawings, performance, sound, and mixed media, and have been covered extensively by the New York Times, Art Daily, Artnet, Los Angeles Times and Huffington Post, among many others. She is host/producer of “State of the Arts NYC,” a video podcast program on several platforms. She is a member of ArtTable, Advisory Board member of NYC’s Dance in Sacred Places, Governors Island Advisory Council and new Board member of NY Artists Equity Association.