Downtown Greenway , Greensboro Hosts Community Conversation With Artist Radcliffe Bailey

Press release from the City of Greensboro:

Post Date:08/13/2020 12:45 PM

The Downtown Greenway will host a virtual community conversation at 12 pm, Monday, August 24, via Zoom with artist Radcliffe Bailey, who has been commissioned to create the Freedom Cornerstone, a public artwork on the greenway.

Bailey will share thoughts about the concept of freedom and insights into his art-making process in a conversation with Ayla Amon, a member of the Downtown Greenway Freedom Cornerstone Focus Group.

Bailey, from Atlanta, brings an international reputation to the project and a history of telling stories of African American history and culture. His work is in the collections of many institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Ford Foundation, New York City; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia; Nelson-Adkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Denver Art Museum, Denver Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; Mint Museum, Charlotte; Nasher Museum at Duke University, Durham; and the Weatherspooon Art Museum at UNCG. Radcliffe’s most recent work has been installed at the newly expanded Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and is titled From the Cabinet.

Ayla Amon is a contract curatorial assistant at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and visiting lecturer at UNCG. She holds degrees in Islamic Art and Architecture, Middle Eastern Studies, and Museum Studies from the University of Chicago and George Washington University, and has worked at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Walters Art Museum, and the Tangier American Legation Museum in Morocco. Ayla studies the African Muslim Diaspora, specifically tracing the cultural and spiritual legacies of the enslaved African Muslims in North America.

This fourth and final Cornerstone commission is the Freedom Cornerstone. The theme of “Freedom” is inspired by the City’s role in the Civil Rights Movement, especially the non-violent protests of the pivotal 1960 Greensboro lunch-counter sit-ins that served as a catalyst to the larger movement. Racial justice and equity have played an important role in shaping our city and defining its identity. The selected artist is asked to explore this history as well as consider what Freedom means today as they conceive of a vision for the artwork. The site for this Cornerstone is located in the southeast corner of the Downtown Greenway’s four-mile loop - at the northeast corner of the intersection of Murrow Blvd and East Gate City Boulevard, a highly visible location that has been created with the realignment of the intersection as Downtown Greenway construction is underway.

In addition to the artwork, the artist will be responsible for the design of the entire site and will oversee its installation, including landscape features, lighting, and walkways.

Downtown Greenway Project Manager, Dabney Sanders said, “While we cannot convene the public as we normally would to meet and hear from Radcliffe in person, we are thrilled to have this opportunity to present a thoughtful conversation between Radcliffe and Ayla Amon who served on our Freedom Cornerstone Focus Group. The conversation should give insights into Radcliffe’s thought process and vision for creating work.”

Questions? Contact Laura Lorenz at llorenz@actiongreensboro.org or 336-387-8355.

This press release was produced by the City of Greensboro. The views expressed here are the author’s own.