Funktional Urban Design Lab, For The Pacific Northwest: A Workshop with Xenobia Bailey
BRANDING A FUNKTIONAL LIFESTYLE THROUGH THE AFRICAN AMERICAN GAZE, FOR THE COMMUNITY OF THE MAJESTIC PACIFIC NORTHWEST, THROUGH COSMIC DOWNLOADING WITH PHOTOGRAPHY
Free Virtual Event
Sunday, September 26th
12pm-2pm
Register in advance
Led by the legendary artist Xenobia Bailey, this workshop is a mini design lab tapping into a de-colonized African American Urban Aesthetic that evolves from the early, formerly enslaved North American Maroon Culture which evolved by way of the African American Homemaker, into a Funk Aesthetic, that branches into Jazz, that begot the mega industry and culture of hip-hop and inspired other unknown sustainable indigenous African Cultures imagined and realized.
African Americans have envisioned and manifested a non-commercialized self-identity and community, as maintainers and funktional co-creators of a Cosmic Aesthetic that we know as the “Hoodie Hood” since emancipation. This is a lab for establishing a commercialized aesthetic. This mini design lab will help to cultivate an African American Gaze of the Pacific Northwest for the purpose of experimenting with and creating Black Community Brands for economic and social development.
All interested participants should bring to the workshop 10-20 photographs or videos, taken on a cell phone, of nature and the underside of nature, moss, tree roots, fungus, microorganisms, molds, the city, the streets, the parks, bodies of land, the home inside out and outside, Remains of a meal on a plate, kitchen table in preparation for cooking, anything, anywhere, everywhere, elsewhere, still life compositions, etc. We will use these images to conceptualize the creation of options for African American Brands of the Pacific Northwest for the marketing of future products and services produced by the African American Community for sustainability and revitalization.
About Xenobia Bailey:
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Xenobia Bailey studied ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, where she became fascinated by the craftsmanship and sounds of the cultures of Africa, Asia, South America, and India. She later studied Industrial Design at Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, New York, where she was introduced to lifestyle possibilities through design. Today, the New York City-based Bailey is best known for eclectic crocheted hats, large-scale mandalas, and tents consisting of colorful concentric circles and repeating patterns. Her designs draw influences from Africa, China, and Native American and Eastern philosophies, with undertones of the domestic aesthetic of her mother and other African American rural and urban homemakers, and of the 1960’s and funk visual aesthetic.
Bailey has been artist-in-residence at Pittsburgh’s Society for Contemporary Craft, at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation in New York City. She has exhibited at the Studio Museum of Harlem; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and the Jersey City Museum. Her work is in the permanent collections at Harlem’s Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture and Museum of Art and Design, in New York City, and the Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania. Website: xenba.blogspot.com
BRANDING A FUNKTIONAL LIFESTYLE THROUGH THE AFRICAN AMERICAN GAZE, FOR THE COMMUNITY OF THE MAJESTIC PACIFIC NORTHWEST, THROUGH COSMIC DOWNLOADING WITH PHOTOGRAPHY
Free Virtual Event
Sunday, September 26th
12pm-2pm
Register in advance
Led by the legendary artist Xenobia Bailey, this workshop is a mini design lab tapping into a de-colonized African American Urban Aesthetic that evolves from the early, formerly enslaved North American Maroon Culture which evolved by way of the African American Homemaker, into a Funk Aesthetic, that branches into Jazz, that begot the mega industry and culture of hip-hop and inspired other unknown sustainable indigenous African Cultures imagined and realized.
African Americans have envisioned and manifested a non-commercialized self-identity and community, as maintainers and funktional co-creators of a Cosmic Aesthetic that we know as the “Hoodie Hood” since emancipation. This is a lab for establishing a commercialized aesthetic. This mini design lab will help to cultivate an African American Gaze of the Pacific Northwest for the purpose of experimenting with and creating Black Community Brands for economic and social development.
All interested participants should bring to the workshop 10-20 photographs or videos, taken on a cell phone, of nature and the underside of nature, moss, tree roots, fungus, microorganisms, molds, the city, the streets, the parks, bodies of land, the home inside out and outside, Remains of a meal on a plate, kitchen table in preparation for cooking, anything, anywhere, everywhere, elsewhere, still life compositions, etc. We will use these images to conceptualize the creation of options for African American Brands of the Pacific Northwest for the marketing of future products and services produced by the African American Community for sustainability and revitalization.
About Xenobia Bailey:
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Xenobia Bailey studied ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, where she became fascinated by the craftsmanship and sounds of the cultures of Africa, Asia, South America, and India. She later studied Industrial Design at Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, New York, where she was introduced to lifestyle possibilities through design. Today, the New York City-based Bailey is best known for eclectic crocheted hats, large-scale mandalas, and tents consisting of colorful concentric circles and repeating patterns. Her designs draw influences from Africa, China, and Native American and Eastern philosophies, with undertones of the domestic aesthetic of her mother and other African American rural and urban homemakers, and of the 1960’s and funk visual aesthetic.
Bailey has been artist-in-residence at Pittsburgh’s Society for Contemporary Craft, at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation in New York City. She has exhibited at the Studio Museum of Harlem; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and the Jersey City Museum. Her work is in the permanent collections at Harlem’s Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture and Museum of Art and Design, in New York City, and the Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania. Website: xenba.blogspot.com