See Great Art | MERON ENGIDA HAWKE | Hummingbird

1 Jun

ART IN THE NORTHEASTBLACK ARTISTSFEMALE ARTISTS

Meron Engida Hawke shares Ethiopia in Washington, D.C.

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Meron Engida Hawke, Ashenda girl 4, 2023. 16 x 16 in. Acrylic, woven cotton fabric, yarn and pearl on canvas.
Meron Engida Hawke, Ashenda girl 4, 2023. 16 x 16 in. Acrylic, woven cotton fabric, yarn and pearl on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

Morton Fine Art presents ‘Hummingbird,’ an exhibition of mixed-media paintings and sculptures by artist Meron Engida Hawke. Made up of works from the artist’s series “Teff Teffa,” “Ashenda Girl” and “Highlander,” alongside still lifes in a muralist style, the exhibition tackles issues of migration, marginalization and resistance in contemporary Ethiopia. The artist’s second solo show with the gallery, Hummingbird, will be on view from May 16 – June 9, 2023 at Morton Fine Art’s Washington, D.C. location (52 O St NW #302).

A native of Addis Ababa now living in D.C., Meron Engida Hawke artwork explores Ethiopian identity, sustainable agriculture, labor relations and women’s issues in contemporary East Africa.

Struck by how the perception abroad of Ethiopia and Africa is consistently framed through media stories of famine, climate crises and war, Meron Engida Hawke explores these issues from the inside, generating subjects in her work that are both archetypal and specific, each of whom embodies the perspective of Ethiopian womanhood while proudly acknowledging the gaze of another.

Deftly weaving contemporary news items and personal interests into her portraits with a symbolist’s shorthand, the artist takes apart and rearranges stereotypical representations of Ethiopia while focusing on the beauty of the country’s traditions and cultures.

Heavily influenced by ancient Ethiopian art, Engida Hawke’s vibrant colors and crisp narrative subjects derive from the murals and religious paintings that populate the walls of Addis Ababa.

Creating from memory and imagination and research into her subjects, the artist starts with a basic tableau that she gradually layers with tones, figures and symbolic metonyms. Her recent work involves the development of a mixed-media practice that layers Ethiopian woven fabric onto canvas—an innovation inspired by recent news of Ethiopian clothing being mass manufactured with synthetic materials.

Engida Hawke’s inclusion of the handwoven fabric, as a testament to her heritage, shares pictorial space here with animals and pearls—part of the artist’s innate visual lexicon of innocence, forgiveness, elegance and justice. Weaving the weighted symbols of her native culture into increasingly disparate and secular works, Engida Hawke elaborates a narrative that telegraphs from the heart of Ethiopian identity into the cacophony of global media and international affairs.

In the artist’s “Teff Teffa” series, women practice the ancient rite of cultivating teff, a small grain used to make injera, the foundational flatbread of Ethiopian cuisine. The word teff comes from the Amharic teffa, meaning “lost”—a reference to the fact that the grain is so small that dropping one makes it impossible to find. Teff has been cultivated in Ethiopia for more than 6,000 years, a staple food for over 80 ethnic groups in the region and central part of Ethiopian national identity.

Today, teff has grown increasingly expensive to harvest and mill as a result of increasing global demand, as well as regional armed conflict and drought caused by climate change. Meron Engida Hawke references the devastation of proverbial “lost teff” in her backgrounds, dotted with the miniscule seed, while in the foreground she addresses the social and environmental effects of flower farming—a newly inedible cash crop for the region—dependent on its export to Europe and the subservience of women’s labor across eastern Africa.

Meron Engida Hawke, Highlander 2, 2023. 81 x 47 in. Acrylic, woven cotton fabric, yarn and pearl on canvas.
Meron Engida Hawke, Highlander 2, 2023. 81 x 47 in. Acrylic, woven cotton fabric, yarn and pearl on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

By contrast, Engida Hawke showcases the underrepresented side of the Ethiopian experience in her “Ashenda Girl” series by depicting women in moments of joy, freedom and righteous resistance. The series title references Ashenda, a colorful religious festival celebrated every August in northern Ethiopia by women and girls. Taking its name from a tall grass that is woven into skirts and worn for the duration of the three-day festival, the Ashenda girls also dress in traditional embroidered dresses, with fine jewelry and braided hair. The celebration is a joyous occasion of song and dance—an opportunity for the embrace of feminine self-expression.

The exhibition’s title, Hummingbird, comes from a story told by the late Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, in which a hummingbird shows bravery by fighting a forest fire with only the water that can fit in its beak. The other animals, much larger and more capable, watch with a sense of futility while their habitat burns, but the hummingbird knows that every little bit helps. Engida Hawke connects this story to her personal experience in addressing social and climate issues through her art, and has recently taken to including mixed-media hummingbirds in her mesmerizing compositions of women like her, representing the freedom of empowerment through knowledge.

About the Artist

Meron Engida Hawke (b. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) creates vibrant tableaus that act as a vehicle for exploring the artist’s personal experiences and Ethiopian cultural identity. Through trust in the mark-making process, Engida has developed a rich visual vocabulary that draws influence from the colors and narratives of ancient Ethiopian art.

At the intersections of abstraction and figuration, Engida’s works center a cast of expressive figures who together tell stories of vulnerability, empowerment, and resilience. Fusing memory and imagination, Engida layers tones, symbols and motifs to construct emotive scenes intended to prompt dialogue about migration, diversity and women’s experiences.

Eigda Hawke holds a BFA in Fine Art from Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design. She currently lives and works in Washington, DC.

Morton Fine Art

Founded in 2010 in Washington D.C. by curator Amy Morton, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can be cultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice.

Morton Fine Art specializes in a stellar roster of nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as has an additional focus on artwork of the African and Global Diaspora.

Available artwork by MERON ENGIDA HAWKE

MERON ENGIDA HAWKE | The Washington Post

27 May

ART

In the galleries: Artists imagine red in images from brutal to banal

Also: Honoring Japan’s creative culture and craftsmanship, an inventive exhibit allows viewers to be hands-on collaborators and engage with the objects on display, and an artist explores her Ethiopian identity.

Review by Mark Jenkins

May 26, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Meron Engida Hawke

“Ashenda Girl 3” by Meron Engida Hawke in her exhibit “Hummingbird.” (Meron Engida Hawke and Morton Fine Art)

Painter-collagist Meron Engida Hawke lives in D.C., but her pictures convey viewers to her birthplace, Ethiopia. Rendered in a flat, naive style that emulates her original homeland’s aged murals, the works in Engida Hawke’s Morton Fine Art exhibition portray women, children, animals and a traditional agrarian lifestyle where little things matter. Those include teff, the traditional grain whose individual grains are minuscule, and the tiny creature for which the show is named, “Hummingbird.”

Printed pictures of those birds, invoking a fable about their brave attempt to fight a fire with mere drops of water, are collaged into paintings made with acrylics and oilstick. Also incorporated are yarn, fabric, imitation pearls, rock-patterned wallpaper and — in two small sculptures — teff stalks that mimic human hair. The artist’s fresco-like style is functional yet poetic, much like the activities it is used to depict. Whether the subject is a noble lion, long a symbol of Ethiopia, or a humble gristmill, Engida Hawke’s pictures possess a strong sense of place.

Meron Engida Hawke: Hummingbird Through June 9 at Morton Fine Art, 52 O St. NW, No. 302. By appointment.

Available artwork by MERON ENGIDA HAWKE

ADIA MILLETT | A Women’s Thing | Morton Fine Art | Future Fair

25 May

FUTURE FAIR

Mixed-media artist Adia Millett removes, cuts and sews to unfold stories

May 22, 2023 by A Women’s Thing

Portrait of Adia Millett
PORTRAIT OF ADIA MILLETT. RIGHT: BLACK MOON, 2020 30.5 X 30.5 IN. COTTON, UPHOLSTERY FABRIC, SILK. COURTESY OF ADIA MILLET.

Adia Millett is a mixed-media artist who probes the intersections of identity, history, and interconnectivity with a range of experimental techniques. She employs textiles, sculpture, paintings, wood and glass as mediums to craft works that reveal stories of impermanence. Millett’s works are composed of abstract geometric shapes that evoke movement and transformation. She juxtaposes forms that expand and collapse against glittery backgrounds and hint at landscape and structural elements, such as rooftops, windows, and doors. 

Her paintings reflect the dynamic and complex nature of personal identity and its relation to the environment. Millett’s textiles challenge the conventional boundaries of quilt-making by stitching together culturally diverse fabrics. Millett also incorporates historical iconography into her quilts, honoring the past while inviting the viewer to contemplate renewal. 

Adia Millett holds a BFA from the University of California, Berkeley and an MFA from the California Institute of Arts. She has shown her work at prominent institutions such as the New Museum and P.S. 1 in New York and is currently based in Oakland, California. 

We spoke with Millett about the works she presented the week before last at Future Fair 2023 in New York City, her views on AI art, and her upcoming projects.


Can you tell us about the pieces you were showing at Future Fair this year?

‘Black Moon’ and ‘Gold Moon’ were actually part of an older piece titled ‘Beneath You,’ which was a collection of culturally diverse fabrics. I cut that piece apart (something I often do). Structurally I wanted to take the square grid apart and construct something more organic. The process felt like I was channeling the moon as she gave birth to the embryo forms, ‘Black Moon’ and ‘Gold Moon.’

Gold Moon by Adia Millett
GOLD MOON, 2020 30.5 X 30.5 IN. COTTON, UPHOLSTERY FABRIC, SILK. RIGHT: DETAIL.
Gold Roof by Adia Millett
GOLD ROOF, 2019 40 X 30 IN. ACRYLIC, GOLD LEAF, WOOD AND PLASTIC ON WOOD PANEL. RIGHT: DETAIL.

What inspires you to create?

I’m inspired by transitions, change in everything … nature, perspective of ourselves and the people around us. I’m inspired by our connection to our ancestors we’ve never met and our ability to reinvent truth. I’m inspired by how each unique thing, person, idea connects to every other thing, person or idea. 

You share the process of your work extensively in videos on Instagram and on your website. What inspires you to show more of the background that goes into your work? 

So much art today is not actually fabricated by the artist themselves. They come up with an idea and have someone else make it. The labor, the craft is where we as artists become conduits to spirit, to intuition, to the beauty that lies in imperfection and happenstance. The process is also showing a parallel to how I think we should live. We should be willing to create who we are and then take ourselves apart and create a more expansive bolder version of ourselves.

What do you think of AI art where a human creates a prompt for the AI to generate an image? Do you think this new medium is authentic and valuable?

Is anything really authentic? Everything derives from something else and AI is a very obvious example of that. I think AI art holds value in that it is a signifier of our time and it will continue to evolve. When I think about the artwork I’m drawn to, it’s work that is created by human hands, work that asks the viewer to use their imagination and emotional intelligence to identify with the content of the piece.

SO MUCH ART TODAY IS NOT ACTUALLY FABRICATED BY THE ARTIST THEMSELVES. THEY COME UP WITH AN IDEA AND HAVE SOMEONE ELSE MAKE IT. THE LABOR, THE CRAFT IS WHERE WE AS ARTISTS BECOME CONDUITS TO SPIRIT, TO INTUITION, TO THE BEAUTY THAT LIES IN IMPERFECTION AND HAPPENSTANCE.

If you could give your past self one piece of advice, what would it be? 

Don’t be quiet. Take every rejection as a learning opportunity. If someone is underestimating your value, say no and ask for what you want. Be in your Power.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you do? 

I tried being the other things and I realized being an artist is everything I want to be.

Tell us about your next big project.

I’m currently working on an upcoming exhibition at the Institute for Contemporary Art in San Jose. This show is inspired by an incredible collection of quilts from the Berkeley Art Museum and Film Archive. The show tells a visual story of the parallels between ancient warriors and crafts women. In collaboration with dancers, sound healers, quilters and crafters I will be showing new painting, textiles, sculpture and glass work.

Available Artwork by ADIA MILLETT

AMBER ROBLES-GORDON | El Adoquin Times

22 May

Arte|Diáspora

Amber Robles-Gordon: sus raíces y herencia vistas a través del arte

El Adoquín Times

El Adoquín Times

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La artista nacida en San Juan y criada desde pequeña en Arlington Virginia, Amber Robles-Gordon, está presentando la primera exposición individual en líneaPlace of Breath and Birth, en la Galería de Arte de la Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, en Santurce.

Su trabajo artístico representa un retrato de sus recuerdos de niña. Según nos cuenta en entrevista, este momento en la vida de la artista fue muy complejo, no solamente por encontrarse en un nuevo lugar a temprana edad, con una cultura e idioma totalmente diferente a la de San Juan, pero además por el discrimen que la recibió en aquel entonces. Esta exposición es dedicada a esa parte de su vida y su afán por recuperar su herencia.

Desde muy niña, su mamá le enseñó la importancia de apreciar y valorar el arte y las expresiones culturales. Recuerda cuando iba al Instituto Smithsonian a ver importantes piezas, en especial le llamaba la atención las de impresionismo. La artista se acuerda hasta de su primera maestra de arte que le enseñó cómo crear un collage, al lograrlo, se sintió muy orgullosa. Luego, se dio cuenta de su talento y decidió dedicarse como artista.

A preguntas del discrimen que tuvo que experimentar desde su llegada a Estados Unidos, nos cuenta que: “Por ejemplo, no puedo recordar lo que realmente se me estaba diciendo. Solo recuerdo esa sensación de que no quería que continuara por lo que no quise hablar más el español. Yo de cinco años no sabía cómo hacer que se detuviera [el discrimen]. Pensé que se basaba en el idioma que estaba hablando y ellos no entendían por qué lo estaba hablando. A los cinco años tomé la decisión y pensé que, si dejaba de hablarlo, tal vez la gente no se burlaría”, expresó Amber.

La artista añadió que los latinos también “somos personas de color”, por lo que hay que tomar decisiones sobre quiénes somos en la sociedad y cómo reclamamos nuestro espacio e interactuamos con los demás.

“Creo que todos nosotros hemos tenido que tomar una decisión en algún momento u otro sobre cómo nos representamos y cómo representamos nuestra cultura. Es solo que no sabía que la decisión que tome a los cinco años iba a ser tan duradera y algo tan serio en mi vida. En aquel momento sentía que, si no era mi idioma, iba a ser otra cosa… tenía que negociar para que fuera aceptada. No te das cuenta de que, acomodando la forma de pensar de otras personas, se va acumulando un sentimiento. Luego me di cuenta de que, como mujer negra, debía reclamar mi postura”, indicó la artista, quien explicó que precisamente esta exposición la utiliza para empoderar a aquella niña de cinco años de aquel entonces.

Cómo surge esta exposición Place of Breath and Birth

Amber expresó que siempre quiso regresar a Puerto Rico, obtener nuevamente su idioma y reencontrarse con familiares y seres queridos en la Isla. La primera vez que intentó retomar el español fue terminando su posgrado cuando tuvo la opción de elegir estudiar otro idioma, pero en ese momento su hijo fue diagnosticado con pérdida auditiva, por lo que tuvo que tomar una decisión: ¿español o lenguaje de señas en inglés?, y como ella misma expresó: “decidí poner a mi hijo primero”.

Lea Además:  Abre al público “Notas puertorriqueñas” en el Museo de Arte de Ponce

Una vez su hijo ya estaba más grande, la artista tomó nuevamente la decisión de regresar a la Isla y sanar esa parte de ella.  Durante aquel momento, hace contacto con Edwin Velázquez Collazo, ya que él incluía su trabajo de diferentes maneras en su blog Puerto Rico Art News. “Así que alrededor de unos años antes del 2019, me encontré con alguien que estaba valorando mi trabajo, así que tuve una conversación con él [Velázquez Collazo] agradeciéndole. Hablando con él investigué de cómo regresar a Puerto Rico, para encontrar esos pedazos de mí que había escondido de niña”, señaló la artista. Velázquez Collazo le recomendó entonces que contactara a la Universidad del Sagrado Corazón y les presentara una propuesta.

Tendedero Comunidad y Energía Eterna 18 x 24 2020

Por razones de la reciente pandemia la Galería tuvo que cerrar y convertirse en una virtual, Amber Robles Gordon decidió venir a la Isla, donde estuvo alrededor de tres meses. A pesar de que estaba planeando estar más tiempo, no pudo hacerlo ya que Puerto Rico estaba ajustando más las reglas de precaución y la artista tenía compromisos también en Estados Unidos, por lo que tuvo que regresar. A pesar de esto, aclara que cada pieza de esta exhibición la comenzó en Puerto Rico para terminarlas luego desde Washington DC.

Colores y texturas…

Amber Robles disfruta mucho los colores y trabajar con diferentes texturas, principalmente en telas. Como parte del análisis y el estudio que realiza para sus obras de arte, hace dibujos o “sketches”. Precisamente, durante el viaje que realizó con su madre en la Isla, se dijo que iba a hacer dibujos a través de todo el viaje, todos los días. “Así que con estos dibujos me di cuenta que estaba haciendo la parte abstracta de Fiscus Elástica, nombre que le da a la parte central en las piezas de la muestra. A pesar de que no me gusta la naturaleza, porque no me gustan los mosquitos, si me gustan mucho sus colores, cómo las plantas nos cuidan y la relación que tenemos con ellas”, señaló.

Cuando llegó al campus de la Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, observó que los árboles tenían sus nombres, viendo una relación de algún tipo, hasta familiar. “Vi la representación de las raíces, lo que era como una versión familiar y de comunidad de la naturaleza y lo que significa eso para mí. Yo no me di cuenta de lo conmovida que estaba (en ese momento) con los árboles”.

Botánica del Amor, Autoreflexión y Espiritualidad 18 x 24 2020

“Cuando ves las obras y los colores de esta colección; por ejemplo, el verde menta se encuentra en todas las piezas. Cuando estuve en Puerto Rico fue un color que utilizaba mucho para decorar, por lo que quise utilizarlo en todas las piezas. Decidí utilizar los sketches que tenía como base, y terminaron convirtiéndose en una de las capas más importantes del trabajo”, añadió.

Lea Además:  El MAC presenta dos nuevas exhibiciones de videoarte

A preguntas de este medio de cómo se sintió al terminar esta serie, expresó: “Definitivamente hay un sentimiento de orgullo al terminar la serie. Esta fue la primera que hice específicamente de algo tan importante para mí como lo es mi herencia”.

Detrás de la elaboración de cada trabajo, ciertamente hay un elemento de la expresión de emociones. Durante esto, sintió que estaba como en una excavación, porque “estaba aprendiendo sobre muchas cosas que no sabía cómo decirlas o presentarlas. Era como si estuviera pelando o dejando ver las diferentes capas de mi personalidad”, expresó Amber.

Su trabajo incluye esculturas, pero muy diferentes quizás a lo que uno está acostumbrado, muchas de ellas están creadas con telas de colores. Sus trabajos escultóricos tienen que ver mucho con la cultura afrodescendiente.

Disfruta hacer el trabajo a gran escala. A pesar de que considera que ha sido afortunada de haber hecho arte por tanto tiempo, entiende que hay ciclos, por lo que cuando se le comisiona una pieza, ya ella tiene pensado los materiales, ha escogido telas y empieza a armar esa pieza basado en lo que ha coleccionado. Va apartando los materiales para próximas piezas, pues se convierte todo en un ciclo para la artista.

Lo más reciente…

En la actualidad, la artista está trabajando en un proyecto junto a Cultural DC, organización en la que están realizando un proyecto donde tiene que aprender el baile de bomba. Para éste, ha reunido un grupo de mujeres, entre ellas su madre, junto a la maestra Imna Arroyo de Semilla Cultural.

Por otra parte en International Arts and Artists at Hillyer, en Washington DC, presenta la exhibición Remnants: a visual journey of memory and renewal en la que exhibe la pieza Soy luz, amor y frecuencia hasta el 28 de mayo.

Adicional, este sábado 20 de mayo a las 2:00 p.m. tendrá un conversatorio con George Hemphill, renombrado galerista en Washington DC, en la que hablarán sobre los fundamentos de su obra de arte actual, los hilos que la conectan con la Escuela de Color de Washington y un amor y aprecio inquebrantables por la obra de arte de Alma Thomas.

Hasta hace poco, mostró su obra en la exposición “Trenzando Identidades” en el Museo Casa Escuté de Carolina, junto a 30 artistas destacadas y emergentes afro-puertorriqueñas y en la que abordaron asuntos de raza, género e identidad en los medios de la fotografía, pintura, dibujo, arte digital, collage y el grabado.

Para más información, visite https://www.amberroblesgordon.com/

Spectrumatic Beacon, Commissioned Public Artwork, Textile on Chicken Wire, 2018

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El Adoquín Times

El Adoquín Times

Periódico cultural digital. Reportajes, anuncios y entretenimiento enfocados en la cultura puertorriqueña.

Available artwork by AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

LIZ TRAN | Hilltop Elementary Mural | My Edmonds News

22 May

Art Beat feature: Hilltop Elementary unveils a mural of belonging

Posted: May 18, 2023

Principal Melissa Somoza and artist Liz Tran posing by their new mural with the Hilltop Student Council.

“This is the first time we have ever done an outside assembly,” Hilltop Elementary Principal Melissa Somoza told the sea of waiting students. “Hopefully, you know why you’re here today, this started because of you.”

The courtyard at the Lynnwood school was full of students, staff and representatives from the Edmonds School District gathered for an unveiling of a mural that was created in partnership with community grants, donations and PTSA funds.


The Hilltop Mural Club unveiling the mural.

Part of the school’s writing curriculum involves sending letters to Somoza on what students think could be different. In multiple letters, students asked to create a mural.

When the school decided to go ahead with the mural project, Somoza reached out to Tran over social media. Somoza saw local artist Liz Tran’s art in an Edmonds gallery years ago and fell in love with her style. “I’ve always thought ‘this is such kid-friendly art,’” she said. “It’s imperfect, its bright colors, every piece is unique. All the things that would make kids feel successful in art.” When she reached out, she thought, “there’s no way. She’s going to say no, but then she said yes! She’s been amazing. It has been an amazing experience and has brought our kids confidence as artists and in feeling a part of something.”

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Liz Tran and Melissa Somoza

Tran truly seems in her element with the students. She has worked with student artists before, but it was her first time helping children with a mural. “Working with kids is more fun,” she said. “They’re really creative and open and very honest. As adults we filter ourselves a lot, both creatively and in every way as a society. Kids don’t have that quite yet. There is a lack of self judgment.”

The mural

Tran says of the mural’s design: “We went with a tree. I have a strong connection to trees and the kids have a connection to trees, too. I mean, we’re from the Pacific Northwest. The tree represents Hilltop and the branches represent students.” Five hundred-plus students participated. She had each student artist paint a wooden circle with a design that represents themselves. Across the bottom, Tran added the words “We Belong at HIlltop,” which captures the school’s theme for the year, “Belonging.” The final product also includes a sound element from sonic architectural firm Memory is a Game. The firm incorporated audio from students as they created the mural to capture their thinking throughout the process.

“We Belong at Hilltop”

The school put together a mural club of students with an interest in art who also helped Tran paint the top of the tree. One student, fifth grader Violet Melllich, said she was drawn to participate in the mural club because “I like to do art on furniture. When I heard they were doing a mural club, I was like, ’oh my God I want to do it so bad.’”

Sixth grader Narayan Mitra wanted to join the mural club because “I have a huge passion about art. I really like to draw characters from games I’ve played. I just love to draw and make art, so I was really hyped about this. I was really glad when I joined. It was so much fun.”

Narayan went on to describe what he learned from the experience: “Being in more than other ways of art is really nice and really fun. And lots of other people can feel really connected to it.”

There certainly is a connection to the mural, beyond the students and teachers. There were many participants in the mural’s creation. Jennifer Blackstone, who is the school’s art docent, galvanized parent volunteers to help students paint their contributions. Additionally, the PTSA also provided support. Parent Julia Reynolds, whose daughter Jolie is a third grader at Hilltop, explained the PTSA’s involvement. “We had a grants program this year, so when Melissa brought this idea for a mural project with [Tran] we absolutely were right on board with it,” Reynolds said. “Our mission as a PTSA is to support the students and the community. This felt like an appropriate project to participate in, especially in supporting the arts.”

A closeup of some of the student circles.

With encouragement from Tran, who also fundraised for the project, the PTSA created an arts fund that will be used on a grant basis. Fundraising that is done beyond the cost of the mural will go into the arts fund. Readers who wish to donate can access the school’s PayPal here. Read more about the stages of the mural project on Hilltop’s smore page.

What’s next for Tran? She says the project “makes me want to teach, honestly. I’m thinking about programs in the future and replicating this. It’s so meaningful and has got to be the most rewarding project I’ve done, at least in a very long time.”

Melissa Samoza and Liz Tran, posing with the Hilltop Student Council

— By Elizabeth Murray

Photo by Brittany Gross

Elizabeth Murray is a freelance writer thankful to call Edmonds home. When she’s not busy wrangling her two kids (and husband), you can find her playing ukulele and singing with The Band LeLe.

Available artwork by LIZ TRAN

Martin Cid Magazine | MERON ENGIDA HAWKE | Hummingbird

22 May
Meron Engida Hawke in her studio, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

Home / Art

New Paintings and Sculptures by Meron Engida Hawke Showcase Modern Ethiopia through Religious Tableaux

Festooned with flowers and animals imbued with symbolic weight, Engida Hawke’s new exhibition tells the story of market imperialism and feminist resilience in the artist’s homeland

by Art Martin Cid Magazine

May 18, 2023

 Art

Washington, D.C. – Morton Fine Art is pleased to present Hummingbirdan exhibition of mixed-media paintings and sculptures by artist Meron Engida Hawke. Made up of works from the artist’s series “Teff Teffa,” “Ashenda Girl” and “Highlander,” alongside still lifes in a muralist style, the exhibition tackles issues of migration, marginalization and resistance in contemporary Ethiopia. The artist’s second solo show with the gallery, Hummingbird will be on view from May 16 – June 9, 2023 at Morton Fine Art’s Washington, D.C. location (52 O St NW #302).

Thank God there is a river, 2021. 59 x 73 in. Acrylic and oil stick on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

A native of Addis Ababa now living in D.C., Meron Engida Hawke’s artwork explores Ethiopian identity, sustainable agriculture, labor relations and women’s issues in contemporary East Africa. Struck by how the perception abroad of Ethiopia and Africa is consistently framed through media stories of famine, climate crises and war, Engida Hawke explores these issues from the inside, generating subjects in her work that are both archetypal and specific, each of whom embodies the perspective of Ethiopian womanhood while proudly acknowledging the gaze of another.

Deftly weaving contemporary news items and personal interests into her portraits with a symbolist’s shorthand, the artist takes apart and rearranges stereotypical representations of Ethiopia while focusing on the beauty of the country’s traditions and cultures.

Teff Mill 2, 2022. 48 x 81 in. Acrylic and wallpaper on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

Heavily influenced by ancient Ethiopian art, Engida Hawke’s vibrant colors and crisp narrative subjects derive from the murals and religious paintings that populate the walls of Addis Ababa. Creating from memory and imagination and research into her subjects, the artist starts with a basic tableau that she gradually layers with tones, figures and symbolic metonyms. Her recent work involves the development of a mixed-media practice that layers Ethiopian woven fabric onto canvas—an innovation inspired by recent news of Ethiopian clothing being mass manufactured with synthetic materials. Engida Hawke’s inclusion of the handwoven fabric, as a testament to her heritage, shares pictorial space here with animals and pearls—part of the artist’s innate visual lexicon of innocence, forgiveness, elegance and justice. Weaving the weighted symbols of her native culture into increasingly disparate and secular works, Engida Hawke elaborates a narrative that telegraphs from the heart of Ethiopian identity into the cacophony of global media and international affairs.

In the artist’s “Teff Teffa” series, women practice the ancient rite of cultivating teff, a small grain used to make injera, the foundational flatbread of Ethiopian cuisine. The word teff comes from

the Amharic teffa, meaning “lost”—a reference to the fact that the grain is so small that dropping one makes it impossible to find. Teff has been cultivated in Ethiopia for more than 6,000 years, a staple food for over 80 ethnic groups in the region and central part of Ethiopian national identity. Today, teff has grown increasingly expensive to harvest and mill as a result of increasing global demand, as well as regional armed conflict and drought caused by climate change. Engida Hawke references the devastation of proverbial “lost teff” in her backgrounds, dotted with the miniscule seed, while in the foreground she addresses the social and environmental effects of flower farming—a newly inedible cash crop for the region—dependent on its export to Europe and the subservience of women’s labor across eastern Africa.

By contrast, Engida Hawke showcases the underrepresented side of the Ethiopian experience in her “Ashenda Girl” series by depicting women in moments of joy, freedom and righteous resistance. The series title references Ashenda, a colorful religious festival celebrated every August in northern Ethiopia by women and girls. Taking its name from a tall grass that is woven into skirts and worn for the duration of the three-day festival, the Ashenda girls also dress in traditional embroidered dresses, with fine jewelry and braided hair. The celebration is a joyous occasion of song and dance—an opportunity for the embrace of feminine self-expression.

Hummingbird, 2023. 70 x 50 in. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

The exhibition’s title, Hummingbird, comes from a story told by the late Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, in which a hummingbird shows bravery by fighting a forest fire with only the water that can fit in its beak. The other animals, much larger and more capable, watch with a sense of futility while their habitat burns, but the hummingbird knows that every little bit helps. Engida Hawke connects this story to her personal experience in addressing social and climate issues through her art, and has recently taken to including mixed-media hummingbirds in her mesmerizing compositions of women like her, representing the freedom of empowerment through knowledge.

Meron Engida Hawke (b. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) creates vibrant tableaus that act as a vehicle for exploring the artist’s personal experiences and Ethiopian cultural identity. Through trust in the mark-making process, Engida has developed a rich visual vocabulary that draws influence from the colors and narratives of ancient Ethiopian art. At the intersections of abstraction and figuration, Engida’s works center a cast of expressive figures who together tell stories of vulnerability, empowerment, and resilience. Fusing memory and imagination, Engida layers tones, symbols and motifs to construct emotive scenes intended to prompt dialogue about migration, diversity and women’s experiences. Eigda Hawke holds a BFA in Fine Art from Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design. She currently lives and works in Washington, DC.

Morton Fine Art

Founded in 2010 in Washington D.C. by curator Amy Morton, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh

ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can be cultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a

welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice. Morton Fine Art specializes in a stellar roster of nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as has an additional focus on artwork of the African and Global Diaspora.

Morton Fine Art LLC

52 O St NW #302, Washington, DC 20001, United States

Available artwork by MERON ENGIDA HAWKE

Art Plugged | MERON ENGIDA HAWKE | Hummingbird

20 May

Meron Engida Hawke: Hummingbird

Exhibitions

Meron Engida Hawke: Hummingbird

Meron Engida Hawke: Hummingbird
May 16 – June 9, 2023
Morton Fine Art’s
Washington, D.C. location
(52 O St NW #302)

Hummingbird, an exhibition of mixed-media paintings and sculptures by artist Meron Engida Hawke. Made up of works from the artist’s series “Teff Teffa,” “Ashenda Girl” and “Highlander,” alongside still lifes in a muralist style, the exhibition tackles issues of migration, marginalization and resistance in contemporary Ethiopia.

The artist’s second solo show with the gallery, Hummingbird will be on view from May 16 – June 9, 2023 at Morton Fine Art’s Washington, D.C. location (52 O St NW #302).

Meron Engida Hawke: Hummingbird
Meron Engida Hawke, Thank God there is a river
Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

A native of Addis Ababa now living in D.C., Meron Engida Hawke’s artwork explores Ethiopian identity, sustainable agriculture, labor relations and women’s issues in contemporary East Africa. Struck by how the perception abroad of Ethiopia and Africa is consistently framed through media stories of famine, climate crises and war, Engida Hawke explores these issues from the inside, generating subjects in her work that are both archetypal and specific, each of whom embodies the perspective of Ethiopian womanhood while proudly acknowledging the gaze of another.

Deftly weaving contemporary news items and personal interests into her portraits with a symbolist’s shorthand, the artist takes apart and rearranges stereotypical representations of Ethiopia while focusing on the beauty of the country’s traditions and cultures.

Heavily influenced by ancient Ethiopian art, Engida Hawke’s vibrant colors and crisp narrative subjects derive from the murals and religious paintings that populate the walls of Addis Ababa. Creating from memory and imagination and research into her subjects, the artist starts with a basic tableau that she gradually layers with tones, figures and symbolic metonyms. Her recent work involves the development of a mixed-media practice that layers Ethiopian woven fabric onto canvas—an innovation inspired by recent news of Ethiopian clothing being mass manufactured with synthetic materials.

Meron Engida Hawke: Hummingbird
Meron Engida Hawke, Teff Mill 2, 2022 48 x 82 in.
Acrylic and wallpaper on canvas
Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

Engida Hawke’s inclusion of the handwoven fabric, as a testament to her heritage, shares pictorial space here with animals and pearls—part of the artist’s innate visual lexicon of innocence, forgiveness, elegance and justice. Weaving the weighted symbols of her native culture into increasingly disparate and secular works, Engida Hawke elaborates a narrative that telegraphs from the heart of Ethiopian identity into the cacophony of global media and international affairs.

In the artist’s “Teff Teffa” series, women practice the ancient rite of cultivating teff, a small grain used to make injera, the foundational flatbread of Ethiopian cuisine. The word teff comes from the Amharic teffa, meaning “lost”—a reference to the fact that the grain is so small that dropping one makes it impossible to find. Teff has been cultivated in Ethiopia for more than 6,000 years, a staple food for over 80 ethnic groups in the region and central part of Ethiopian national identity.

Today, teff has grown increasingly expensive to harvest and mill as a result of increasing global demand, as well as regional armed conflict and drought caused by climate change. Engida Hawke references the devastation of proverbial “lost teff” in her backgrounds, dotted with the miniscule seed, while in the foreground she addresses the social and environmental effects of flower farming—a newly inedible cash crop for the region—dependent on its export to Europe and the subservience of women’s labor across eastern Africa.

Meron Engida Hawke: Hummingbird
Meron Engida Hawke, Untitled 1,
Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

By contrast, Engida Hawke showcases the underrepresented side of the Ethiopian experience in her “Ashenda Girl” series by depicting women in moments of joy, freedom and righteous resistance. The series title references Ashenda, a colorful religious festival celebrated every August in northern Ethiopia by women and girls. Taking its name from a tall grass that is woven into skirts and worn for the duration of the three-day festival, the Ashenda girls also dress in traditional embroidered dresses, with fine jewelry and braided hair. The celebration is a joyous occasion of song and dance—an opportunity for the embrace of feminine self-expression.

The exhibition’s title, Hummingbird, comes from a story told by the late Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, in which a hummingbird shows bravery by fighting a forest fire with only the water that can fit in its beak. The other animals, much larger and more capable, watch with a sense of futility while their habitat burns, but the hummingbird knows that every little bit helps.

Engida Hawke connects this story to her personal experience in addressing social and climate issues through her art, and has recently taken to including mixed-media hummingbirds in her mesmerizing compositions of women like her, representing the freedom of empowerment through knowledge.

https://www.instagram.com/meronengidahawke/

Learn more about: Hummingbird

©2023 Meron Engida Hawke

Available Artwork by MERON ENGIDA HAWKE

ArtAfrica | MERON ENGIDA HAWKE | Hummingbird

18 May

New paintings and sculptures by Meron Engida Hawke showcase modern Ethiopia through religious tableaux

EXHIBITION

11 May 2023

Festooned with flowers and animals imbued with symbolic weight, Engida Hawke’s new exhibition tells the story of market imperialism and feminist resilience in the artist’s homeland.

Meron Engida Hawke, Highlander 2, 2023. Acrylic, woven cotton fabric, yarn and pearl on canvas, 51 x 81 in.. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art.

Morton Fine Art is pleased to present Hummingbird, an exhibition of mixed-media paintings and sculptures by artist Meron Engida Hawke. Made up of works from the artist’s series ‘Teff Teffa’, ‘Ashenda Girl’ and ‘Highlander’, alongside still lifes in a muralist style, the exhibition tackles issues of migration, marginalisation and resistance in contemporary Ethiopia. The artist’s second solo show with the gallery, ‘Hummingbird’ will be on view from the 16th of May until the 9th of June, 2023, at Morton Fine Art’s Washington, D.C.

A native of Addis Ababa now living in D.C., Meron Engida Hawke’s artwork explores Ethiopian identity, sustainable agriculture, labor relations and women’s issues in contemporary East Africa. Struck by how the perception abroad of Ethiopia and Africa is consistently framed through media stories of famine, climate crises and war, Engida Hawke explores these issues from the inside, generating subjects in her work that are both archetypal and specific, each of whom embodies the perspective of Ethiopian womanhood while proudly acknowledging the gaze of another. Deftly weaving contemporary news items and personal interests into her portraits with a symbolist’s shorthand, the artist takes apart and rearranges stereotypical representations of Ethiopia while focusing on the beauty of the country’s traditions and cultures.

Heavily influenced by ancient Ethiopian art, Engida Hawke’s vibrant colours and crisp narrative subjects derive from the murals and religious paintings that populate the walls of Addis Ababa. Creating from memory and imagination and research into her subjects, the artist starts with a basic tableau that she gradually layers with tones, figures and symbolic metonyms. Her recent work involves the development of a mixed-media practice that layers Ethiopian woven fabric onto canvas – an innovation inspired by recent news of Ethiopian clothing being mass manufactured with synthetic materials. Engida Hawke’s inclusion of the handwoven fabric, as a testament to her heritage, shares pictorial space here with animals and pearls – part of the artist’s innate visual lexicon of innocence, forgiveness, elegance and justice. Weaving the weighted symbols of her native culture into increasingly disparate and secular works, Engida Hawke elaborates a narrative that telegraphs from the heart of Ethiopian identity into the cacophony of global media and international affairs.

Meron Engida Hawke, Teff Teffa 9, 2022. Acrylic on canvas, 66 x 49 in. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art.

In the artist’s ‘Teff Teffa’ series, women practice the ancient rite of cultivating teff, a small grain used to make injera, the foundational flatbread of Ethiopian cuisine. The word teff comes from the Amharic teffa, meaning “lost” – a reference to the fact that the grain is so small that dropping one makes it impossible to find. Teff has been cultivated in Ethiopia for more than 6,000 years, a staple food for over 80 ethnic groups in the region and central part of Ethiopian national identity. Today, teff has grown increasingly expensive to harvest and mill as a result of increasing global demand, as well as regional armed conflict and drought caused by climate change. Engida Hawke references the devastation of proverbial “lost teff” in her backgrounds, dotted with the minuscule seed, while in the foreground she addresses the social and environmental effects of flower farming – a newly inedible cash crop for the region – dependent on its export to Europe and the subservience of women’s labor across eastern Africa.

Meron Engida Hawke, Ashenda girl 4, 2023. Acrylic, woven cotton fabric, yarn and pearl on canvas, 16 x 16 in. Courtesy of the artist and Morton Fine Art

By contrast, Engida Hawke showcases the underrepresented side of the Ethiopian experience in her ‘Ashenda Girl’ series by depicting women in moments of joy, freedom and righteous resistance. The series title references Ashenda, a colourful religious festival celebrated every August in northern Ethiopia by women and girls. Taking its name from a tall grass that is woven into skirts and worn for the duration of the three-day festival, the Ashenda girls also dress in traditional embroidered dresses, with fine jewellery and braided hair. The celebration is a joyous occasion of song and dance – an opportunity for the embrace of feminine self-expression.

The exhibition’s title, ‘Hummingbird’, comes from a story told by the late Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, in which a hummingbird shows bravery by fighting a forest fire with only the water that can fit in its beak. The other animals, much larger and more capable, watch with a sense of futility while their habitat burns, but the hummingbird knows that every little bit helps. Engida Hawke connects this story to her personal experience in addressing social and climate issues through her art, and has recently taken to including mixed-media hummingbirds in her mesmerising compositions of women like her, representing the freedom of empowerment through knowledge.

Meron Engida Hawke (b. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) creates vibrant tableaus that act as a vehicle for exploring the artist’s personal experiences and Ethiopian cultural identity. Through trust in the mark-making process, Engida has developed a rich visual vocabulary that draws influence from the colours and narratives of ancient Ethiopian art. At the intersections of abstraction and figuration, Engida’s works centre a cast of expressive figures who together tell stories of vulnerability, empowerment, and resilience. Fusing memory and imagination, Engida layers tones, symbols and motifs to construct emotive scenes intended to prompt dialogue about migration, diversity and women’s experiences. Enigda Hawke holds a BFA in Fine Art from Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design. She currently lives and works in Washington, DC.

The exhibition will be on view from the 16th of May until the 9th of June, 2023. For more information, please visit Morton Fine Art.

Available Artwork by MERON ENGIDA HAWKE

The Art Newspaper | Future Fair | Eto Otitigbe | Adia Millett | Morton Fine Art

17 May

Abstraction is ascendant at New York’s Future Fair

The fair, a haven for fresh painting, may signal a coming shift in the market power dynamic between representation and abstraction

Benjamin Sutton

11 May 2023

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Visitors during Future Fair 2023's VIP preview Keenon Perry
Visitors during Future Fair 2023’s VIP previewKeenon Perry

At the Future Fair, which opened to VIPs on Wednesday (10 May) for its third in-person edition, painting is without question the dominant medium. But what manner of painting—the bright, figurative style that has dominated the contemporary art market for the better part of a decade, or more process-driven abstraction—is up for debate. There are strong examples of both, and plenty of sculpture too, but amid the stands filled with canvases featuring popping portraits, irreverent domestic scenes and stylised art historical allusions, abstract works may invite closer inspection and more sustained interest.

“I’m excited for the pendulum to swing back to abstraction,” says Joey Piziali, the director and co-founder of San Francisco-based Romer Young Gallery, whose stand features works by an intergenerational cohort of “three women at the forefront of abstraction”, as he put it. The presentation spans a fluid and gestural circular canvas by Pamela Jorden, Bird’s Eye (2023), smaller untitled works by Nancy White with interlocking shapes rendered in a more muted palette, and a hard-edged geometric composition in blue and red pigmented plaster by Elise Ferguson priced at $24,000.

Elise Ferguson, Walsh L, 2023Courtesy the artist and Romer Young Gallery

“Abstraction is so generous, there’s nothing didactic about it,” Piziali says. “Whatever you’re seeing in the work, you’re bringing to it.”

On the stand of Washington, DC-based gallery Morton Fine Art, visitors might see ancient geometries or futuristic architectural schema in works by Eto Otitigbe. His pieces, on view alongside mixed media works by Adia Millett, are actually bas-relief sculptures in the guise of paintings. Each aluminium or Valchromat panel is engraved with a precise geometric structure related to Otitigbe’s public art practice, to which he then applies dyes or acrylic paint.

“I see these as experimental drawings,” the artist says. “They’re all about the push and pull between the rigidity of the engraving and then the way the ink moves across the panel, which I can’t completely control.” His works are priced between $2,750 for the smaller panels and $16,500 for the large diptych anchoring the stand.

Eto Otitigbe, Dr. Nova (diptych), 2022Courtesy the artist and Morton Fine Art

A different kind of push and pull is at work in the dazzling acrylic, gouache and ink works on paper by Rafael Plaisant filling the walls of New York-based High Noon gallery’s stand, which also features bewitching ceramic busts by Elisa Soliven. Plaisant’s abstract compositions toggle between ancient, contemporary and futuristic forms, evoking traditional scroll paintings and mandalas, Russian Constructivism, psychedelic poster art and science-fiction imagery, among other touchstones.

“Rafael’s practice started out as a fantasy of building the perfect skateboard ramp, which led him to study architecture,” says High Noon’s owner and director Jared Linge, who first discovered the Brazilian artist’s work at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic through the viral #ArtistSupportPledge social media campaign. “At the time his work was selling for $200, which felt like the wrong price.” At Future Fair, Plaisant’s work is still priced affordably, between $1,800 and $3,500 depending on size.

Rafael Plaisant, Proposito, 2023Courtesy the artist and High Noon, New York

“For a younger fair, Rebeca [Laliberte] and Rachel [Mijares Fick] really care about supporting galleries and showing work at accessible price points,” Linge adds, referring to Future Fair’s co-founders, who have made a supportive financial model and a cooperative spirit cornerstones of the fair.

The fair certainly seemed to benefit from being the first out of the gate amid New York’s spring art market marathon, hosting a buzzy preview the day before Tefaf New York and Independent, and before the auction houses kicked off their major seasonal sales. With 56 exhibitors, some of them sharing joint stands and others showing in lounge-like spaces or open thoroughfares, the fair has an inviting, unpretentious atmosphere that feels all the more welcoming given its location in the heart of Chelsea, a gallery district increasingly dominated by a couple dozen imposing international dealerships.

Or, as one VIP in line for the bar during Wednesday’s preview was overheard putting it: “I feel like NadaIndependent and Untitled had an orgy, and Future Fair is their lovechild.”

Available artwork by ETO OTITIGBE

Available artwork by ADIA MILLETT

ETO OTITIGBE | “Peaceful Journey” Sculpture Memorial for Heavy D | The New York Times

10 May

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn for The New York Times

A Memorial for ‘The Rapper Your Mother Liked’

Michelle Falkenstein

Michelle Falkenstein Reporting from Mount Vernon, N.Y.

“Peaceful Journey,” a new abstract sculpture in Mount Vernon, honors Heavy D, the rapper, record producer and actor, who grew up in this city just north of the Bronx.

Here’s what I saw at the unveiling last week →

The mayor of Mount Vernon, Shawyn Patterson-Howard, a classmate and friend of Heavy D’s, spoke at the event.

“His music was the soundtrack of our city, and his positive message and infectious energy inspired generations of artists and fans,” she said. “He put Mount Vernon on the map.”

In 2011, Heavy D died at age 44 from a pulmonary embolism.

Born in Jamaica as Dwight Arrington Myers, Heavy D moved with his family to Mount Vernon when he was 2.

Wes Jackson, the founder of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, credits Heavy D, who saw success in the 1980s and ’90s, with opening the door for other Mount Vernon hip-hop artists like Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“He didn’t curse,” Jackson told me. “He was the rapper your mother liked.”

“I remember dancing to Heavy D’s music at parties,” said Eto Otitigbe, the Brooklyn artist who was selected to create a sculpture for the city. It was his idea to take inspiration for the piece from the rapper.

The work, over 18 feet tall, is made from marble and both stainless and Cor-Ten steel. The timing of the unveiling was fortuitous; a yearlong, 50th anniversary celebration of hip-hop is underway.

“Peaceful Journey” is at a busy intersection near Exit 7 on the Cross County Parkway, where it will both welcome people to Mount Vernon and bid them farewell.

As the song that inspired it goes: “So through all your travels, I’m wishing you a peaceful journey.”

Available Artwork by ETO OTITIGBE