Etude of an ArtistWhen he was 5 years old, Lorenzo Gayden loved cars. He played with and drew them and, eventually, imagined designing them. But unlike most of us who abandon our childhood love for art, casting it off as simple doodling, Gayden, …
StorytellingDiane Williams is a neo-griot, along the lines of the storytellers from times gone by when oral historians were crucial to maintaining black folks' history because book publishers didn't believe the history worth chronicling. Williams is also a quilter, an …
[West] More Than A FigmentCommunities that don't have vibrant arts scenes aren't healthy communities. Arts are essential.
Words Not RequiredIf a picture is worth 1000 words, portraits lining the walls of the Mississippi Museum of Art tell story after story after story. For many of them, the Freedom Riders, Jackson was the final stop. Once they arrived in Jackson, …
Power APAC Student ExhibitPublic-school systems across the nation are making budget cuts that, in some cases, completely eliminate arts programs, be they large or small. Fortunately, Jackson Public Schools and its Academic and Performing Arts Complex share a unique vision.
Waiting for the HumanitiesHumanities Festival Week 2011 at Tougaloo College is a week-long cultural awareness event celebrates all things ethnic with its "The Power of the Arts and Letters" theme.
Watch and LearnIt's more than just films, says Film Threat critic Chris Gore about the annual Crossroads Film Festival.
Rip the Cypher: Phase OneBefore stepping foot inside the North Midtown Arts Center on Millsaps Avenue, it was obvious that something was going on. More than the cars parked along the sides of the street gave it away. The energy was palpable; the music …
Bridging the GapsBook selling was a profitable enterprise in the oft-mythicized but very real city of Timbuktu. In the late 15th century, after the emperor Aska Mohammed's reign, the city was at its most prosperous, its scholars widely celebrated.
Baring it AllTony B gazes at the viewer with intent and mystery. His bare body is turned at a sideways stance as if he is trying to conceal a secret. Mary B poises her arms in a ballerina pose over her head, …
Jackson Jewish Film Festival: A Multicultural CelebrationLike most art forms, there's something about a film that brings people together. Lessons about love, life and relationship always strike a chord, no matter your religious, familial or ethnic background. Some things are just universal.
Indie Films Headed Our WayEvery now and then, you'll still hear some misguided soul complain, "There's nothing to do in Jackson." While it's unclear what Jackson these people are talking about (Jackson, Tenn., perhaps), there's yet another thing to add to your to-do list …
King FreakOn a Sunday evening in fall 2009, Patrick Grogan painted his face and arms black and walked into a service at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans. Earlier that day, he had noticed that …
Will the Next Josh Hailey Stand Up?I remember the first time I saw Josh Hailey. I was covering the City of Ridgeland Chamber of Commerce banquet for the Madison County Journal in 2009. At this suburban hobnob where conformity is king, Hailey was clad in a …
Rush to Judgment: Trying Kids As AdultsTyler Wayne Edmonds took his last seventh-grade exam at Fifth Street Junior High School in West Point on a Thursday and was confident he had done well. So far, 2003 had turned out to be a pretty good year for …
On a Sunday evening in fall 2009, Patrick Grogan painted his face and arms black and walked into a service at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans. Earlier that day, he had noticed that …