My paintings will be featured in a two-part exhibition “African American Stories,” curated by artist Euphema Robinson and “Uncle Remus Redux: Contemporary Visions of How Time Goes by Turns ” co-curated by poets Randall Horton and Sam Truitt. It is also part of the gallery’s celebration of Black History Month. Provocative works in all media reference the Br’er Rabbit folktales originally published in 1881 are on display at the Greene County Council on the Arts Catskill Gallery.

Both exhibits are open Jan. 21 through Feb. 25 at the GCCA Gallery, 398 Main St., Catskill, NY. The Gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, contact 943-3400 or visit www.greenearts.org.

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I am the featured artist in Stone Canoe 6: A Journal of Arts, Literature and Social Commentary and also the recipient of the Stone Canoe Visual Arts Award.

My drawings will be featured in the annual Stone Canoe Art Exhibit to be held at the XL Projects Gallery, January 20 through February 4, 2012.

Opening Reception will be held on February 4th from 6-8pm.

XL Projects Gallery
307-313 Clinton Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Gallery hours: Wednesday - Saturday 12-6p

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My painting, "Wayward Delight" was selected to be featured in the Curate NYC group exhibition from December 2-11, 2011.

Opening Reception: December 2, 2011 6-8pm

Bill Hodges Gallery
24 West 57th St. bet. 5th & 6th ave.
NYC 10019
Tues-Fri 10a-6p / Sat. 12:30- 5:30p

Hope you can join us!

Curate NYC is an initiative by the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Full Spectrum Experience, Inc. Curate NYC is a juried exhibition and online platform that exists to heighten exposure and opportunities for New York City visual artists. The project also helps promote New York City’s image as a vital cultural hub.


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Dirty Sensibilities: A 21st Century Exploration of the New American Black South

Opening Reception: Thursday, October 13, 2011 6 - 9pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 6 - 8:30pm

On View: October 14, 2011 through January 27, 2012

Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute
408 W. 58th Street bet. 9th and 10th Aves.
New York, NY
www.cccadi.org
212.307.7420 ext. 3008

The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute is proud to announce Dirty Sensibilities: A 21st Century Exploration of the New American Black South

Curated by: Shantrelle P. Lewis

Featuring:
Christopher Batten
Endia Beal
Kimberly Becoat
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
Ja’Tovia Gary
Tosha Grantham
Al Janae Hamilton
Nikita Hunter
Marcia Jones
Aaqil Ka
Nyeema Morgan
Jasmine Murrell
Marilyn Nance
frank d. robinson
Selah Says
Alexandria Smith


This unprecedented, multi-media exhibition presents work by a group of intergenerational Southern artists of African descent that have examined contemporaneous realities of life in the South from a cultural, political, cosmological and sociological perspective.

America’s southern states are often viewed monolithically, through a narrow and stereotypical lens of a romanticized antebellum past, post Civil War unrest, and 20th Century Civil Rights politics. Dirty Sensibilities explores current issues such as race relations in the Age of Obama, the survival of Southern folk traditions, post-Civil Rights realities, the significance of relationships with elders and the creation of a new Southern aesthetic.

“Much of what is known about the Black experience in the South focuses on a historical period often directly related to the oppression of enslaved Africans, their struggle for liberation and their struggles for Civil Rights after the brief period of progress experienced during Reconstruction. However, the Southern narrative includes a history rich in culture, spirituality and Africanisms that have thrived over the past four hundred plus years,” states the exhibition’s curator Shantrelle P. Lewis. “This exhibition seeks to explore those idiosyncrasies that are unique to the region of the United States situated below the Mason Dixon Line.”
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Rush Arts Gallery
526 W. 26th Street Suite 311
New York, NY
Summer Gallery Hours: Tues - Fri 12-6pm

OPENING THURSDAY, AUGUST 18th from 6-8 pm
August 18 - September 3, 2011

Press Release

Artist-In-Residence Alexandria Smith Presents New Paintings and Drawings About Girlhood and Racial Memory

Rush Arts Gallery is pleased to present It Just Feels Right To Me: Process, Product, Ponder, the first solo exhibition of artist Alexandria Smith.

The exhibition explores themes of identity, violence and childhood innocence through two concurrent bodies of work. Smith captures young girls engaging in illusory play that borders between sexual investigation, and innocuous play a Smith’s girls, captured in mocking scenes of self-humiliation in a hostile environment of their own, eerily absent of adults, latently struggle for power. Employing a vibrant palette, based in nostalgia, Smith uses a cartoon vernacular to reference racial stereotypes to further evolve her personal narrative. Smith’s work is inspired by the characterization of Claymation and cartoons and meta-historical concepts. Her works probe into the idealized, taboo versions of black girlhood to reveal the unspoken realities.

Smith’s series of charcoal and pen and ink drawings in the exhibition takes the loosely autobiographical character of “Marjorie”, a hooded and pigtailed figure innocent enough to be wrapped in a bow, and thrusts her into a world somewhere between the mythical and the real. Marjorie navigates desolate, dilapidated landscapes: illustrating a “coming of age” metaphor; an attempt to discover home, understand womanhood and uncover her cultural identity after surviving psychic trauma.

featuring the work of Alexandria Smith and Monique Schubert
May 26 - June 5th, 2011

Opening Reception: May 26, 2011 from 6-9pm

Broadway Gallery
473 Broad­way 7th Floor
bet. Broome St. & Grand St.
NYC 10013

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Alexandria Smith has just been awarded the BRIC Media Arts Fellowship from June 2011-June 2012

AND

The RUSH Arts Gallery Summer Artist Residency which culminates in a solo exhibition entitled, "Process, Product, Ponder" from August 18, 2011 - September 2, 2011.

More new work to come!!!

I will have some drawings for sale in "Post",the Recent Graduates Exhibition booth at The Affordable Art Fair Spring 2011.

When: May 5-8, 2011

Where: 7W New York, Booth A-2
7 West 34th Street near 5th Avenue

http://www.aafnyc.com/visiting-aaf.html

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I have a new large scale drawing featured in the A.I.R. 9th Annual Biennial exhibition which will be on view at the A.I.R.Gallery March 2 - 27, 2011 juried by ALEXANDRA SCHWARTZ (MoMA; Montclair Art Museum)

Closing Reception: Sunday, March 27, 4-6 pm

The 9th Annual A.I.R. Gallery Biennial
A Juried Exhibition Open to All Women Artists
111 Front Street #228
Brooklyn, NY 11201
phone 212.255.6651
Hours Wednesday through Sunday • 11am to 6pm
http://www.airgallery.org/inde
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Two of my paintings will be featured in the exhibit "Sex Crimes Against Black Girls" exhibit at the Brooklyn Restoration Plaza's Skylight Gallery thru April 2, 2011. I hope that you can check it out!!!

Sex Crimes Against Black Girls
Brooklyn Restoration Plaza
Skylight Gallery
1368 Fulton St 3rd. fl
Brooklyn, NY 11216
http://www.restorationplaza.or

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My painting "Some Kind of Eden" will be included in the Gender Matters / Matters of Gender Exhibition, which will be on view at the Freedman Gallery at Albright College, March 23rd – April 20th. The opening reception is on March 24th, from 6-8pm. If you are near Reading, PA, I hope you can make it!

Gender Matters / Matters of Gender
Freedman Gallery
Albright College
13th & Bern Streets
P.O. Box 15234
Reading, PA 19612
http://www.albright.edu/freedm

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Please view the exhibit, "Gentrified" at Brooklyn Artists Gym 168 7th St. Brooklyn, NY 11215 through Jan. 8. I will be exhibiting my painting, "Good Neighbors".

The gallery will be closed from Dec 24th through Dec 27th. The gallery will be open on Dec 28th, 29th and 30th from 12-5pm. They will close again for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Regular business hours resume on Monday January 3rd (Mon-Fri 11-6pm). Hope you can make it!!!


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I will be contributing work to this amazing benefit, hope you can join us.
HAITI IN:SIGHT – A Soulful Benefit for Healing in Haiti

December 11, 2010 || 7:00pm – 1:00am
Red Bull Space, 40 Thompson Street (at Watts St.) SoHo, New York
OPEN BAR All Night
REQUIRED RSVP Ticket and Donation $12 here: https://www.wepay.com/tickets/buy/72619

*** As the one-year anniversary of the earthquake approaches, let’s continue to raise our awareness and keep HAITI IN SIGHT! This benefit will raise money for a grassroots healing project led by the people of Haiti and supported by a community of delegates from the Caribbean and African Diaspora. *** Join us for an enlightening evening of performances, dancing, and multi-media art — all providing a lens through which the beauty and power of Haiti will be experienced and honored. We will take the opportunity to learn more about the aftermath of this unnatural disaster from our partners on the ground. And we will contribute to the healing and sustainability of Haiti. ***

Hosted by Imani Uzuri
Live Performances by Climbing PoeTree, Mahina Movement & Special Guests
Afro-Electronica Soundscape Artist Val-Inc
Photography by Sade Dozier & Wyatt Gallery
Live Art by Vaimoana Niumeitolu of Mahina Movement
Music by DJs Hard Hittin’ Harry and Sabine Blaizin’
Silent Auction of Visual Art from our Featured Artists
Co-Produced by Ubiquita Worldwide
Presented by Ayiti Resurrect & Ayiti Cherie Healing Project
Facebook Invite Page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149605018419559

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Mapping Race Exhibit
October 2 – October 29, 2010

Artist Talk - Sunday, October 24 from 2-4pm
Jersey City Artist Studio Tour – October 2 & 3, 2010
Opening Reception Saturday October 2, 6:30 PM

When people think of race it is common to think of the boundaries between people, power dynamics between groups or various race-based inequality.Through this exhibit we seek to understand the various ways that artists explore the broad topic of race. Examples of mapping race can be pieces that analyze geographic spaces in relation to racial identities such as catastrophic events like the earthquake in Haiti or Pakistan, works inspired by the coming together of races which culminated in the election of Barack Obama, works that take on the recent racialization of religion, debates around immigration or that approach race from a more holistic perspective by exploring the human race. The artists in this exhibit look at race through a variety of different lenses, painting in different shades and carving through different layers.

The Distillery Gallery and Artspace
7 Hutton St
Jersey City, NJ 07307

HOURS
Wednesday 6:00PM-9:00PM
Saturday 12:30PM-8:00PM
Sunday 12:30PM-6:00PM
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Please join us!!!

Parsons MFA Thesis Exhibit curated by Margaret Clinton
Thursday, May 13, 2010
6:00pm - 9:00pm @ The Kitchen 512 West 19th Street bet. 10 and 11th Ave. NYC

February 11th – March 7th

Closing Artist Panel Discussion: March 7th - 2-4pm

Clover's Fine Art Gallery
338 Atlantic Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Five Black artists are feature in Personal Narratives: Diaspora, an exhibition honoring Black History Month, opening Saturday, February 13, and running through, Monday, March 8, at Clover’s Fine Art Gallery, 338 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn

The artists, through their work, share their personal narratives of identity, race and history. They are:

Alexandria Smith is an MFA candidate at Parsons School of Design and an art educator in Harlem. Her drawings and paintings depict the continued story telling of the same character. “Chronicling the experience of being an African-American middle-class girl,” she says, “in present day society is the point of focus of my artwork. The desire and longing to belong is echoed in the portraits of these young preadolescent girls.” At Clover’s Fine Art Gallery, Smith is exhibiting a series of her small drawings that describe the journey of her character. The young girl is shown in a story book format as she searches for identity. The paintings, oil on wood panel, have a brighter color palette, and show the child engaged with classic American childhood experiences.

Johnnie Bess, a graduate of Howard University, is an artist, educator, and youth mentor for teens in Washington, D.C. His portraits are of friends in their natural urban environments. Bess “I am attempting to create a body of images,” he says, “that is reflective of those marginal and subtle nuances of daily life especially in the lives of indigenous peoples and African descendants throughout the Diaspora. I hope for these images to reflect the dynamic nature of the lives of people whom all too often in the visual arena are reduced to stereotypes and caricatures of themselves.” Playin Ya’self captures a young adolescent boy acting like tough guy with a cap gun. The adolescent is simultaneously threatening and innocent. The imagined background of the cityscape shows an abandoned lot and a one way sign, the painting captures a youth’s reaction to the social and media influences encompassing his youth.

Noel Copeland is a painter, sculptor, and draftsman, reminiscent of a Jamaican Picasso. And the founder of Monoco designs, an acronym for More Noel Copeland. His hand-crafted pottery combines traditional Japanese design with Jamaican characters and colors. He has installed public sculpture for the MTA at the East Broadway subway stop, and has shown internationally. In Personal Narratives: Diaspora, Copeland is showing pieces he has not shared before. The Gunman is a portrait of the artist’s brother who was gunned down at age 26 in gang violence in the 1980’s. Crack Head is a plaster portrait head penetrated with crack vials, similar in shape to a desperate face from Picasso’s Guernica. His limited color palette drawings are collages of memory and narrative. They are intimate reflections of subconscious, reflecting the inner Noel Copeland.

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is originally from Oklahoma City. “My work,” she explains, “is inspired by the distress and injustices that people around the world continue to experience. It's inspired by the beam of a child's innocent smile. It's inspired by the solemn look in a heartbroken woman's eyes. I'm an oil painter focusing on figures and portraits - portraits of people that have affected my life and the world that I live in.” Fazlalizadeh has been published in numerous magazines including The Source and Beyond Race - and has shown in a number of art galleries along the east coast including the historic inauguration exhibit, Manifest Hope:DC, in January 2009.

Francis Simeni was born in Lagos, Nigeria and was raised in Poland and then New York City. Having studied Illustration and Toy Design at FIT; Simeni works in oil, acrylic, watercolor and ink. He uses a limited palette on wood panels. His imagery comes from a collection of historic and personal sources. Sovereignty, an acrylic and oil on wood panel, depicts the story of King Leopold II of Belgium, who ran the Congo under a brutal regime. It became one of the most infamous international scandals of the turn of the 20th century.

Opening "Set it Off" Reception
Thursday, February 4, 2010
6:00pm - 9:00pm Free to the public
MoCADA (80 Hanson Place, Brooklyn, NY)
Please view their website for additional info about public programs: mocada.org

This exhibition, guest curated by Dexter Wimberly, will examine how urban planning, imminent domain, and real estate development are affecting Brooklyn's communities and how residents throughout the borough are responding. The exhibition will include the works of several Brooklyn-based artists, as well as those who have been forced to relocate as a result of gentrification. In addition to works of art featured at MoCADA, there will be a schedule of public programs taking place throughout Brooklyn.

Featured Artists
Josh Bricker (Installation), Oasa DuVerney (Illustration / Mixed-media), Zachary Fabri (Video), Irondale Ensemble (Theater Performance), Nathan Kensinger (Photography), Jess Levey (Photography / Outdoor Projections), Christina Massey (Painting), Musa (Sculpture), Tim Okamura (Painting), Kip Omalade (Painting), John Perry (Illustration), Michael Premo / Rachel Falcone (Photography / Multimedia), Adele Pham (Video), Marie Roberts (Painting), Gabriel Reese (Painting), Ali Santana (Music Video), Monique Schubert (Mixed-media), Alexandria Smith (Painting) and Sarah Nelson Wright (Installation)

Postcards From the Edge is a Visual AIDS benefit show and sale of original, postcard-sized works on paper by established and emerging artists. All works are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The works are signed on the back and exhibited so the artists' signatures cannot be seen. While buyers receive a list of all participating artists, they don't know who created which piece until purchased. All proceeds support the work of Visual AIDS.

Hope you can make it, I've donated a drawing to the event!

January 8-10, 2010
Hosted by ZieherSmith 516 West 20th Street (btw 10th & 11th Avenues), NYC
Benefit Sale
Saturday, January 9, 2010 from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday, January 10, 2010 from 12:00 noon - 4:00 PM

First-come, first-served, with a suggested admission of $5 each day.
Over 1600 original postcard-size works of art.
$75 EACH. Buy four and get a fifth as our Thank You.
Proceeds benefit programs of Visual AIDS.
Forms of payment accepted are cash, check, MC/VISA/AMEX.

Preview Party
Friday, January 8, 2010 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
$75 admission, payable at the door, includes a raffle ticket for the chance to win 1st choice of any postcard. Additional raffle tickets available at the door. Participating artists attend free.

A silent auction of original work by Jack Pierson, Marcus Linnenbrink and Aaron Cobbett will also be available during the Preview Party. Plus, the auction will include the choice of any postcard to the highest bidder! Click here for more details. No other artwork will be sold until the Benefit Sale on Saturday, Jan. 9 & Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010.

Please join the Parsons community on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 from 6-9pm for Parsons MFA Open Studios. I will be in studio #35. Open Studios is an opportunity for the public to view our studios and see new artwork. I hope to see you there!!!

New drawings on display in a group show entitled:
"draws and is charmed by moving"
Parsons Fine Arts Gallery
25 E. 13th St. bet. University Pl. and 5th Ave
Manhattan
thru Sept. 30, 2009

Stay tuned for more info!!!

August 20, 2009