Kay Bourne Arts Report - Issue #78

Contents

HOLMES DESIGNS FIRST NIGHT BUTTON

PRINCESS TIANA SAYS: FOLLOW YOUR DREAM

BAKER IN BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

‘PRECIOUS’ A HARD BUT HOPEFUL STORY

MANDELA UNITES NATION THRU RUGBY

MEN’S BOOK OFFERS MOMENTS OF TRUTH

EVERY DAY PRINCIPLES OF KWANZAA

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

UP-COMING EVENTS & COMMUNITY INFORMATION

by Kay Bourne

FREE TO BE (click the image to visit www.ekuaholmes.com)

EKUA HOLMES was taken by surprise when Boston’s First Night phoned her to say that they’d like to use her art for the graphic on this year’s button. The country’s oldest and largest New Year’s Eve celebration is supported by sales of these buttons which are also the wearer’s “ticket” to inside events (the outdoors events are free).

“It was a complete surprise when they called me,” said Holmes.

Lois Roach,who has served as the project manager for First Night’s Neighborhood Network partnership with over twenty-seven community organizations since its start in 1994 that gets all of Boston active the night of the festivities, confirmed that she had recommended Holmes’s work, which can be seen on Holmes’s website, but that the artist was also the suggestion of other people connected with First Night.

The collage made from cut and torn paper from which the graphic was plucked is called “Free To Be,” one of the works from a series Holmes recently created on the subject of girl bonding when she was growing up, contrasted with girl bonding today.

“The joy of being with a friend, not having any particular toys but having each other’s company and that alone was a source of great fun. It’s comparing having chalk and a sidewalk with ‘gameboys’ and electronic games.”

The collage will be on display New Years’ eve at the Hynes Convention Center.

The First Night button caps a rewarding year for Holmes who had an artists residency in Vermont this past summer and this fall learned that her work was the illustration for the cover of the prestigious Boston Foundation‘s annual report. The Boston Foundation also made her a philanthropist-for-a-day, able to make money awards to a group or groups of Holmes’s choice totaling $2000.

“That too, was totally unexpected,” said Holmes, who is delighted with the opportunity.

Among the some 200 performances, from Shakespeare to a live monsters wrestling spectacle that begin at 1pm and continue through midnight, is “Top of the Rox” a mini film festival curated by The Color of Film Collaborative, Inc. (which publishes the KBAR).

“Top of the Rox” presents five of the best films from that year’s Roxbury Film Festival (which is produced by ACT Roxbury and The Color of Film). Two of the films are set in Roxbury: the documentary about the impact of a mother and wife’s death (from complications of the AIDS virus) on the family she leaves behind “Calling My Children” and a narrative feature directed by Kemal Gordon and produced by Ken Gordon and Magnolia Gordon about how a negative example can inspire a positive success. The screening of the films, at the Hynes Convention Center, begins at 7pm.

Official Website of First Night Boston

by Lisa Simmons

Page 1 of 6 | Next page