Wanda's Picks Radio Show, Friday, March 22, 2013

Curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green
Up through May 30, 2013

Zena Allen's "Blue Wisdom"

"The Black Woman Is God," curated by Karen Seneferu is at the Sargent Johnson Gallery in SF, CA through May 30, 2013.  A self-taught artist that grew up in Oakland, California, receiving her BA in English from University of California, Berkeley she will speak about her interest in how individuals can be a part of mainstream society and maintain cultural integrity. In her academic hat Karen created a program that removed fear and anxiety for Foundational students called Take Flight at Berkeley City College, where she teaches. The program incorporates, art, technology, reading, writing and gallery visits. At the center of the program was the idea that narrative is art and art is narrative. Senferu's artwork is also a cross section of her teaching, which is every space has the potential for creative output, education, and healing. In other words, space dictates meaning; what enters into that space is dictated to by the meaning of that space or can transform the meaning of the space. She uses various mediums, such as installation, mix media sculpture, painting, and video to reveal the process of self empowerment and self- transformation.

Zena Carlota Pearl Allen is a self-trained artist who uses the mediums of collage, painting, sculpture, and installation. In her art, which is currently a part of a number of exhibitions: Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland and Transformative Visions – One Life Institute at Studio One in Oakland, she explores universal themes of matriarchy, cultural knowledge and preservation that are cross-cultural in their significance. Her subjects are often women, relatives, and Indigenous deities of the African and Asian Diaspora.


Velina Brown (Miss Flora in "A Lady and A Woman" at Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco through Sunday, March 24, 2013. Visit http://www.therhino.org/) is an award-winning actress, singer/songwriter, and director whose artistic home for several years has been the San Francisco Mime Troupe. She performs regularly at several Bay Area Theatre companies including: American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Magic, TheatreWorks, Shotgun Players, SF Playhouse, and The Denver Theatre Center among many others. Film and TV appearances include Party of Five, Nash Bridges, Trauma, Final Witness, Bee Season, Maladaptive, One Way to Valhalla and Milk. Velina is also a coach and writes a monthly column for Theatre Bay Area Magazine called “The Business of Show Biz.”

Pictured left to right: Velina Brown as Miss Flora and Dawn L. Troupe
photo: Kent Taylor

Music: Sina Mali Sina Deni; James Brown's Black Woman

Note: After announcements we rebroadcast Wednesday's show featuring Jacquie Jones, director, producer, 180 Days: A Year Inside An American High School, which airs Monday-Tuesday, March 25-26, 2013, on PBS, 9-11 PM ET. Check local listings. Visit http://180schooldays.org/ We close this show with an interview with Dr. Clarence Cuthbertson whose plays, Tituba and Nat, continue on Sunday, March 24, 2013, 8 p.m. at the Black Repertory Group Theatre, 3201 Adeline Street, in Berkeley, (510) 652-2120 http://blackrepertorygroup.com


Show link in post title and here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2013/03/22/wandas-picks-radio-show