All-ages Halloween Costume Workshop
Sunday, October 13
12:30–3pm
Join the artist for an all-ages workshop to create a one-of-a-kind Halloween costume or accessory.  Space is limited to 25.  Tuition:  $35 per person

Photograph Courtesy of Nancy LeVine.

Marita Dingus: Fashion Free-For-All

August 17, 2013 – January 6, 2014

PACCAR Gallery

Organized by the Northwest African American Museum
Guest Curator: Vicki Halper

Marita Dingus: Fashion Free-for-All exhibits complete outfits and accessories made by the artist as part of her personal wardrobe between 2002 and 2008.

In creating her clothing, Dingus uses the same techniques and aesthetic as in her figurative sculpture-recycled and reconfigured materials, mixed media, and raw exuberance. “There’s no difference between my art and my clothing,” she says. “Of course I want to cut up and modify both.” 

Dingus made the garments to celebrate her return to the Northwest after four years of living in the deep South, a culture that she found alien and sometimes frightening. (In 1998, James Byrd, Jr. was tied to a truck and dragged to his death in Texas, where she was then living.)  Like many in the art world, she once dressed in black. In the South, she wore khaki and white, “trying to look invisible.” Back in the Seattle area, she expressed her relief by dressing herself in colorful, improvised, and lighthearted clothing.

Stay tuned for an artist reception in September 2013.
—
Northwest African American Museum
2300 S Massachusetts Street
Seattle, WA 98144
206-518-6000
www.naamnw.org

book of the bound
by Carletta Carrington Wilson
December 15, 2012 – July 28, 2013

Carletta Carrington Wilson’s most-recent series of mixed-media collage layers symbols of language, silence, bodies, and bondage to honor the unheard voices of the enslaved.

The Northwest African American Museum 2300 S Massachusetts Street, Seattle, WA 98144 ( Parking is Free)

Living Voices offers a unique combination of theatre, video and live interaction that brings life to history for people of all ages. Performances feature a solo actor/educator accompanied by film footage, photographs, period artwork and images blended with audio.

Join living voices for this lively performance about the story of a  common citizens who fought in the American Revolution to bring these five words to life: “All men are created equal.” In 1776, no government had ever made such an idea the cornerstone of its existence before–and they were words that had even greater significance to a black colonist. Audiences are invited to participate in pre and post show discussions to develop cultural awareness, honor diversity, and deepen their understanding of history and its connections to contemporary issues.

Free with Museum Admission

Free Admission for Veterans and active service members

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

2:00pm – 3:00pm

For more information contact The Northwest African American Museum 206-518-6000 x 104 or

[email protected]

Thursday, March 1st

FREE 1st Thursdays at NAAM

1st Thursdays at NAAM are always Free!

Free and open to the public!
Thursday, March 1st
11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

March 2nd Deadline
Call for objects and stories

“Fight or Be Slaves!”
-Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters’ motto

The Northwest African American Museum is looking for stories, photographs, and objects for a project focused on Pullman Porters who lived or settled in the Northwest. If you were a Pullman Porter, have a family member who was a Pullman Porter or know of someone who was, please contact NAAM’s Curatorial Assistant Chieko Phillips at 206-518-6000×102 or [email protected] by March 2nd for more information. Thank you.

Saturday and Sunday, March 3rd and 4th

Museums On Us
Promotion is valid during regular open hours Saturday and Sunday

NAAM partners with Bank of America to offer 1st free weekend admission to Bank of America clients and staff once a month throughout 2012. Simply show your Bank of America ATM, credit or check card and photo ID at our reception desk and receive free admission to NAAM!

Thursday, March 8th

FREE 2nd Thursdays at NAAM

2nd Thursday at NAAM is always Free!

Free and open to the public!
Thursday, March 8th
11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, March 13th

Elliott Bay Book Company Reading at NAAM
Ralph Richard Banks
Is Marriage for White People: How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone
7:00 pm

During the past half century, African Americans have become the most unmarried people in our nation. The racial gap in marriage extends beyond the poor. One reason that marriage has declined is that as black women have advanced economically and educationally, black men have fallen behind. Half of college-educated black wives are more educated than their husbands. Yet black women rarely marry men of other races. Is Marriage for White People? traces the far-reaching consequences of the African American marriage decline. It also explains why black women marry down rather than out. Its provocative conclusion is that black women would benefit both themselves and the black race if they crossed class lines less and race lines more. This book both informs and entertains. The culmination of a decade of research by a distinguished Stanford law professor, it melds scholarly theory and data with the poignant stories shared by black women throughout the nation. This unforgettable book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the shifting terrain of intimacy in American society.

Free and open to the public
Location: NAAM
Tuesday, March 13th
7:00 p.m.
For more information and to RSVP, please contact:
Twanda Hill | [email protected] | 206.518.6000 x 111

Monday, March 19th

Elliott Bay Book Company Reading at NAAM
Esi Edugyan
Half Blood Blues
7:00 pm

Berlin, 1939. A young, brilliant trumpet-player, Hieronymus, is arrested in a Paris cafe. The star musician was never heard from again. He was twenty years old. He was a German citizen. And he was black. Fifty years later, Sidney Griffiths, the only witness that day, still refuses to speak of what he saw. When Chip Jones, his friend and fellow band member, comes to visit, recounting the discovery of a strange letter, Sid begins a slow journey towards redemption. From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the reader through a fascinating, little-known world, and into the heart of his own guilty conscience. Half-Blood Blues is an electric, heart-breaking story about music, race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.

Free and open to the public
Location: NAAM
Monday, March 19th
7:00 p.m.
For more information and to RSVP, please contact:
Twanda Hill | [email protected] | 206.518.6000 x 111

Sunday, December 4th NAAM Partner Event: Elliott Bay Book Company presents: Seeking Salam Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis in the Pacific Northwest (A Samuel and Althea Stroum Book) by Sandra M. Chait Book Reading

In conversations with more than forty East African immigrants living in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, Sandra Chait captures the immigrants’ struggle for identity in the face of competing stories and documents how some individuals have been able to transcend the ghosts from the past and extend a tentative hand to their former enemies.

Sunday, December 4th

5:00pm

Form more information contact Leilani Lewis 206-518-6000  ext 108

[email protected]

Thursday, December 8th

FREE 2nd Thursdays at NAAM

2nd  Thursdays at NAAM are always free

Free and open to the public!