Winner of the 2010 William H. Johnson Prize

I feel so honored to be this year's winner of the William H. Johnson Prize. This prize is awarded annually to an early career African American artist. Some of my favorite artists have one over the years--Sanford Biggers, Dave McKenzie, Rodney McMillian and Edgar Arceneaux.

http://www.whjohnsongrant.org/grants_2010.htm

"God's Army," "3 Black Sculptures" and "Twin cities (Pittsburgh and Rio)," from the series Double Vision

Photography Exhibition at the World Festival of Black Arts and Cultures in Dakar, Senegal

I am currently participating in the international photography exhibition at the World Festival of Black Arts and Cultures in Dakar, Senegal. I am showing the photo series "Double Vision" for the first time.

BRIC GALA covered in the local NY Times section

A graduate student at CUNY's Journalism school covered the event. Check out the article--

http://fort-greene.thelocal.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/fort-greene-artist-honored-at-bric-art-gala/?emc=eta1

Kind of a goofy picture. The writer asked me to pose next to my auctioned photo.

Opening at Hendershot Gallery Sunday October 24th

Doubleslide will be featured in this three-person exhibition at Hendershot Gallery before it heads down to Miami for the Scope Fair. A catalog will be produced in conjunction with the exhibition.

BRIC GALA

BRIC's Gala took place Tuesday night. I was pretty excited when my photo "Double houses" (pictured above) was auctioned off higher than the value listed. I think I may need to raise my prices :-)

Featured in article back "home"

One of Trinidad and Tobago's daily newspapers--Newsday, published an article about me and my work last Sunday...Needless to say my parents are very proud

http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,129274.html

I am being honored this month at BRIC Arts Gala

BRIC Arts I Media I BKLYN, a contemporary art, performing arts and community media organization (the folks that also present Celebrate Brooklyn concerts each year) is honoring me along with 19 other artists at this year's gala. The event will take place on October 19th at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

http://www.bricartsmedia.org/about/news/press-releases/bric-arts-media-bklyn-announces-the-2010-bric-contemporary-art-gala

Days of Yore Interview

Check out this interview I just did with Days of Yore--an online site of interviews with visual artists, writers and musicians. Some really good folks in there (George Saunders!!)

http://thedaysofyore.com/Karyn_Olivier

Dancer/Danger T-shirt

Bite exhibition--I've made t-shirts!!

I've driven by this sign many times and I each time I pass by I think about the first time I saw it and read it as "DANCER". The second time, I realized my folly. For this exhibition I decided to do something I haven't done before--make a t-shirt. The image was applied using a heat transfer process. It is an edition of 25.

Bite Exhibition at Third Streaming

I am currently participating in BITE: A Street Inspired Art and Fashion Exhibition at Third Streaming in Soho, NYC through November 6th

http://thirdstreaming.com/events/current/11-bite-street-inspired-art-and-fashion

Library Project profiled this month in the Caribbean Review of Books

I was thrilled when the Caribbean Review of Books asked if they could run a piece on the ACA Foods Free Library in their bimonthly journal. The article includes an interview and several images from the project. It feels good to be included in something outside of a strictly visual arts realm.

http://caribbeanreviewofbooks.com/crb-archive/22-july-2010/hungry-for-words/

Inbound: Houston Book

I'm starting to put together some pieces for the Inbound: Houston catalog. I'm realizing that I'm less interested in it being a straightforward catalog and more excited about it being a book that is tangentially related to the billboards. So far I know it will include a conversation between myself and the amazing Paul Ramirez Jonas. I am also trying to find a creative writer to create a literary piece for the book. Lehze Flax, a wonderful graphic designer will design the book.

My hope is that it will be completed before my school begins again in the fall.

More soon...

I've been gone for awhile.

Somehow teaching always takes over, pushing my art aside until the day graduation caps are thrown up in the air (tomorrow's the day!).

So the ACA Foods Free Library project opened in March--it was super exciting. Some locals were skeptical, not believing that the books were really free (the only catch being the promise to return them). But once we discussed the impetus for the free library and why I wanted to create it, they were excited too.

The children's section was sweet--books nestled among cookies, biscuits and all things sugary. We placed the political books among an array of hot peppa sauces, which seemed like an obvious location and cultural books in between energy drinks with names like Secret Stallion and Bedroom Bully (oh, Jamaica!).

I haven't been back up to Hartford recently to but hear that people are still using it. Here are some pics.

My hope is to create this project in other cities with a high concentration of West Indians.

Here's the list of books locals will be able to check out at the ACA Foods Free Library in Hartford

I hope all of the books will come in by Thursday--here's the tentative list