| Oakland Maroons Art Collective Presents: “The Point is…2.0”: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century ” The Oakland Maroons Art Collective was formed in 2012. In keeping with our mission to re-inscribe the spirit of the Black Arts Movement for the 21stcentury we curated an art show at the First Love Gallery in Oakland honoring the anniversary of the Black Panther Party. Our show included artwork by Emory Douglass, the original Minister of Culture for the BPP, previously unpublished photos of rank and file Panthers by Ducho Dennis amongst other works. Our vision for that show focused on images in multiple media on the theme of the Black Panther Party’s community 10 point program. The 10 point program was drafted by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland California in October of 1966 as a set of demands and precepts addressed to the government of the United States. They were broken into two sets of ten. One set was titled “What We Want” and the second “What We Believe.” The artists of the Oakland Maroons Art Collective (OMAC) interpreted each of the points in the set titled “What We Want”. Of particular significance was the artwork of Emory Douglas and Tarika Lewis the first woman to join the Black Panther Party. Both of these artists were responsible for developing some of the earliest imagery for the BPP via its newspaper. Emory Douglass presence in this show is particularly notable because of his seminal contributions to the West Coast Black Arts Movement via his theater set designs and posters. The presence of his work in this show is significant for OMAC because our collective views itself as the continuation of the Black Arts Movement in the 21st century. “The Point is… 2.0: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century” will be shown at the Joyce Gordon Gallery this year (2016) and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party’s founding. This expanded version of the artshow will feature never before seen images of the Black Panther Party and work that interprets the Ten Point Program across a myriad of exciting mediums including video, poetry performance, mural/wall painting and more. Our goal is to create contemporary expressions of art that are not just nostalgic and historical but also in keeping with an evolved, advanced sense of Black/Afrikan world wide liberation movements relevant to the 21st century. Stay tuned to the Oakland Maroons website, Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates by curators Refa 1 and Duane Deterville regarding participating artists and writers. Opening: OCTOBER 7, 2016 Joyce Gordon Gallery 406 14th St. Oakland, CA. |  |
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