Black feminist Faith
Ringgold lectures
the
volume X, number 19
cliarlotte, nortli Carolina
february 4, 1975
The UNCC Fine Arts
Committee presented Faith
Ringgold in a two-hour slide
lecture January 27, 8:00 p.m. in
the Lucas Room. Held also
January 27-31 was Ringgold's
Art Exhibit in the Little Gallery
of Cone Center.
Who is Ringgold? Faith
Ringgold is an artist noted for
her Black and Feminine Art.
She may now be known as the
artist responsible for the
families' sitting on sofas and
hanging five to six feet tall in
the Little Gallery. One family
exhibited was really made of
coconut heads attached to foam
rubber bodies that had been
metallic sprayed and clothed,
while another was made of
African masks attached to dress
garments. One scene, 'Wedding
Song' was a black male and
female in the ritual with a child
at their side. The effect and
purpose appeared different from
one of Ringgold's slides showing
journal photo by don yelverton
a painting of a wedding in which
the mother rather than the
father gives the bride away.
Ms. Ringgold's lecture on
Black Art placed special
emphasis on political issues
through "an expression of the
Black cultural synthesis or
feminist art as an expression of
woman's emerging identity".
Ringgold said there have been
Black women feminists as early
as 1833 and particularly during
the slavery period. On her
'Political Landscape' paintings
are written "What if I am a
woman..."; "Did not Queen
Esther save the Jews...", and
"We have all been thrown down
so low..." by Sojourner Truth
(1853).
Unlike white women who
face sex discrimination, black
women are confronted with
both sexism and racism.
Ringgold said the black feminist
movement has not been as
effective as Women's Liberation
Jon Heath en route to a slam dunk
against St. Leo’s this past Tuesday.
Enrollment for fall
semester up 6%
The economic crisis seems
to have had little effect on
student applications to attend
UNCC next fail. Director of
Admissions Robert Grogan
indicated that undergraduate
applications are up about one
percent over a comparison with
last year's fi g ures. His
application figures are based on
student applicants before
January 15 of each year.
Grogan expects another
good-sized increase in student
enrollment next fall, he said,
"We expect about a 6% increase
as compared with an 8.7% rise
last fall. This will place total
enrollment somewhere around
because of the dual oppression
and black women are poor and
don't have the time needed for
the cause.
In 1972 Ms. Ringgold
received a CAP grant to do a
mural for the Women's House of
Detention on Rieker's Island,
N.Y., the significance being that
"The execution of this mural
marked the beginning of my
involvement with women in
art". Since black men are 40%
of the black population while
black women are 60% it's
natural for women to be her art
subject. Ringgold said, "Art
must come from self".
Ringgold developed in 1972
a style she calls 'super realism'.
It places emphasis on large
heads and smaller, less
important bodies. This African
practice implies "the head is the
seat of the soul".
Ms. Ringgold relates very
heavily to African design. When
making her African masks, the
by queenie mackey
hair is never black. She uses red,
yellow and orange to create a
"fantastic image".
When asked to define Black
Art, Ringgold said "I hope it is
implicit in my work...Black art
comes from African principles
that express the American Black
experience".
A native of New York,
Faith Ringgold studied with
Robert Gwathney and the
Chinese artist Kuniyoshi before
receiving her M.A. in Fine Arts
from City College of N.Y. in
1959. Since then her art
exhibits have been at the New
York Cultural Center, the
Kunsthalle In Hamburg,
Germany and the Museum of
Modern Art. Also she has had
two one-woman shows, 1967
and 1970 in the Spectrum
Gallery in New York.
Presently Ms. Ringgold is
planning a painting
'Environment on Harlem' for
the bicentennial celebration.
O
c
Vern Parrish questions
media on need for space
Vern Parrish, Director of
the University Center, spoke
briefly Tuesday January 21
concerning media space
problems. The discussion came
at the regular meeting of the
Student Media Board.
Parrish distributed
questionnnaires on space in each
individual media office for
completion by each media head.
Future meetings between
Parrish and the media heads to
discuss space problems were
planned. Parrish asked that the
expansion of various branches
of the media be considered
during the completion of
questionnaires.
In other business, Dick
Wyzanski, WVFN station
manger, stated that the
application for an FM frequency
was currently in Washington
D.C. Action will be taken by the
FM commission after the filing
of one engineering report.
Wyzanski also said the current
AM station was running
normally.
In the Sanskrit report.
Editor Joe McCorkle estimated
one week until the arrival of the
first edition of Sanskrit.
McCorkle said the issue should
contain some 40 pages of
fiction, poetry, and visual arts.
There are still plans for three
by jane ross
issues of the literary magazine
during the 74-75 academic
year.
The Rogues 'n Rascals
report dealt with the
termination of the contract with
Stevens Photography Company.
Herb Eaton has been asked to
replace the Stevens Company in
the taking of the class pictures
for the 75 yearbook.
Chairman Steve Morris
stated that the Media Board
now had access to a definite
room for future meetings and
for the storage of minutes and
files. Morris plans to look into
developing the room into a
media lounge.
Dimensions of Worl.d
Hunger Week’ declared
^by jerry proctor
7000 students. Grogan indicated
that last year's 8.7% enrollment
Increase at UNCC, although not
as high as in previous years, was
still the largest increase in the
entire UNC system.
Grogan expects UNCC to
have about 1000 freshmen and
about 900 transfer students
next fall. He added, "There are
fewer students coming out of
high schools now and this allows
us to admit a higher quality of
applicant."
More will be known about
next fall's enrollment figure
after July 1, the cutoff date for
application to UNCC.
Chancellor D.W. Colvard
has declared the week of
February 23-28 as 'Dimensions
of World Hunger Week'.
The week is a United
Religious Ministry Project and
Reverend Paul Larson, Baptist
University Chaplain said the
plans for the week are divided
Into three areas.
The first area is the 'Simple
Meal Program', headed by
Marian Beane, Residence
Coordinator for Sanford Hall.
The 'Simple Meal Prograrh' is
where an individual on a
voluntary basis donates one
dollar for a meal that wilt be
comparably typical to that
which people in one of the
undernourished areas in the
world would be eating. It will be
served on a separate line in the
Commuter and Dorm Cafeterias.
A list of several programs will be
available for participants to
designate where they wish their
contribution to be sent, for
example education, feeding or
family planning. Twenty-five to
thirty cents of the dollar will be
used for meal expenses, the rest
as donation. The committee
feels that "the lack of a
substantial balanced meal will
help participants to be more
aware of the daily existence of
millions".
The second area deals with
the main speaker to speak
during the weak. Reverend
Larson and Dr. Loy
Witherspoon have been in
charge of this area.
Dr. Phillip Ha nd ler.
President of the National
Academy of Sciences in
Washington D.C. will be the
' main guest speaker. Dr. Handler,
who will speak on Thursday,
February 27 at T.OO in the
Lucas (Parquet) Room, is a
professor of Medical Science at
George Washington University.
He is formerly of Duke
University where he was a
professor of biochemistry and
-by susan sluss
nutrition.
The third area deals with
other guest speakers, faculty
members from UNCC and
knowledgeable individuals in
and around Charlotte, who will
speak in informal situations to
discuss some perception of
World Hunger in different fields.
Myra Martin, Chairman of
the Rathskellar Committee of
the University Program Board
has offered to hold a Marathon
Benefit during the week in the
Rathskellar,
Reverend Larson said the
Simple Meal Program is
fund-raising in nature and will
help the world's hunger now but
he feels the educational aspects
(the lectures) "in the long run
will serve the world hunger
better".
The Dimensions of World
Hunger Week will examine its
subject problem from several
angles, including nutritional
political, economical facets.