The PAUL Review October - November 2020

PAUL The
Review
THE PHILADELPHIA ART & URBAN LITERARY REVIEW

FEATURED SPOTLIGHT ON: LITERARY CONTRIBUTION:
ARTISTS: Ronald A. Gary M. Nzadi Keita
The Colored Girls Museum Timothy Ohlmann
Marcy Morris Interview with Founder, Executive Interview with Bert Harris
Robert Murphy Director Vashti Dubois
Anyta Thomas Cover Art: Makeba Rainey



Sheena Garcia

Founder, Curator & Design Editor

"The PAUL Review" is a free, online Arts and Literary magazine created out of the commitment to
support artists whose works demonstrate direct responses to our times. Since April 2017, PAUL has
offered a platform for the creative community and has become a distinct forum for artists of color.
With a mix of artists, interviews, paintings, photography, short stories and interactive media, PAUL
provides a platform for all artists. Furthermore, PAUL creates opportunities for artists and
organizations to collaborate on fresh, new ideas and innovations. PAUL promotes the works of both
established and up-and-coming, visual artists and writers. The Philadelphia Art & Urban Literary
Review brings creative voices to diverse new audiences.

Dedicated to
Ms. Ardie Stuart Brown,
Artist, Founder; Spring School of the Arts, Philadelphia

An extraordinary artist, loving mentor, teacher and guide to many...
you started this journey with me and I thank you.

Join PAUL in Welcoming...

Robb Fire

Our New
Music, Content Contributor & Editor

Songwriter/composer, performer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, mixologist, arranger, music educator
...ROBB FIRE is soulful rock, urban folk, fiery funk, all basking in a mix with classical and jazz.

Coming from a diverse musical background, Robb Fire brings a raw, honest edge to his songwriting and
production style. With a "roots" approach, Robb Fire strolls that fine line between telling a simple story of
everyday life in a deeply poetic way to all-out declarations of social injustice to ethereal evocations from
other dimensions.

Whether composing for film or documentaries, or performing live on stage, Robb's music connects to the
divinity within us all.

Raised in a musical household, Robb’s first serious instrument was the bassoon, which he started playing
when he was 8. It was around this time, he wrote his first songs at the piano. About two years later, he
bought a bass guitar with the money he earned from singing in the local choir. He continued writing
songs and eventually began composing classical works, some of which were performed by members of
the youth orchestra he belonged to . Becoming more influenced by “popular” music, he got his first
acoustic guitar at age 15; his songwriting really began to take shape and become even more substantial.

Attending the New England Conservatory put his guitar playing on the line; this is where he got his chops
together and found out what it takes to play on a high musical level. Forming the heavy duty, funk-punk-
jazz-rock band Modern Art, Robb remained in Boston post-Conservatory until Philly called him back,
where he eventually met Pauline Houston, with whom he formed Spiritual Thunder, MOKA SOUL,
Thunderbird, HouseCall and other various innovative musical projects. Turning his attention once again
to his own project, he released an album, “Inspired By Actual Events,” and will be releasing another one
before the end of 2020.

An enthusiastic music teacher, Robb brings a celebratory approach to music education to hundreds of
children throughout Philadelphia and received a letter from President Obama in recognition of his work
with Children. The letter celebrated a song and video written for the President and performed by Robb's
1st through 3rd grade students at the conclusion of Obama's presidency.

Robb's deep connection to the content and themes of his various projects, along with his intense passion
for the creative spirit of music, brings a unique edge to his presentations -- his performances,
compositions, arrangements and production -- blazing a new, clear musical trail, leading the listener in
different directions with a joy for life and a desire for beauty.

“Life seems to go on without effort

when I am filled with music.”

– George Eliot

Makeba Rainey

On the Cover

Artist Statement

“But what of Black women?... I most sincerely doubt if any
other race of women could have brought its fineness up
through so devilish a fire.”
– WEB Du Bois

“Soul(s) of Harlem” is a project that archives people’s histories
as the landscapes of their neighborhoods change so their
stories and the culture they create may never be forgotten.
The two components of this project include 16-20 digital
collage portraits of Black women born and/or raised in
communities that are currently being gentrified and an online
archive of their oral histories. The archive provides a glimpse
of what once was and creates a community among folks with
similar experiences. 2018 is the 150th anniversary of W.E.B.
Du Bois’ birth year.

The title of this series pays homage to Du Bois, who often
wrote about how extraordinary Black Americans are in the
face of oppression.

Soul(s) of Harlem: Folashade & Issa
Digital Collage on Fabric, 2018

I’m Folashade...born and raised in Harlem. I’m Black AF. This is who I am.
It’s sad...it’s saddening and it hurts, this idea that my neighborhood is trending because “they” came, and our
shit was fly, way before that. My memories of my childhood are colorful, are important, are lively. I was proud
to be from Harlem then, and I’m still proud to be from Harlem now. I worry [about] the graying of the area
because no one explicitly talks about the way culture becomes affected when you have such strong
gentrification in these very concentrated areas. Harlem has always been known for its culture, its music.
We had a WHOLE renaissance.

Our new neighbors are calling the cops on the block party that we have every year. These are the things that
really build community, so instead of engaging with us, if you weren’t so busy hiding behind your privilege and
your whiteness and taking up space in that way, we can have a better conversation about integration. But
they’re not particularly interested in integrating in the reverse. We always have to integrate to their side. And
that just sucks.”

- Folashade (Harlem). Mother. Advocate. Friend.



YRAG .A DLANOR "Ain't Nothin Changed"
Ronald A. Gary

Born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1954,
Ronald Gary began exploring graffiti art as
a teenager. The graffiti movement of the
1970's opened up Ronald's curiosity of
Textual Arts and Typography. His love of
Typography eventually led him to becoming
a professional, sign painter. He expanded
his work into painting murals and now
abstract art.

Ronald is primarily self-taught. His mostly non-representational work is
intended to connect with the heart of the viewer. Using acrylic, enamel paints
and mixed media materials, Ronald A. Gary's most important painting tool is
his instinct. His artistic technique can vary, depending on the message he
intends to convey.

Ronald A. Gary
"Black in America"

Ronald A. Gary
"By Any Means Necessary"

"Windows of Life"
"Each window in life looks different and behind it lives a person of a different color"

-Ronald A. Gary

sirroM ycraM

Dancing with My Self 2020 Marker on paper ”

Marcy Morris

I am Marcy Morris in motion. Paint on my pants and dance from the bottom of my
soles. Even when asleep, I am circulating creativity. I am a multi-expressive artist.
I can’t help but move or be moved by what I see and sense.

Tapping into my core energy, the spirit of what connects me to the world is
magnetic. Through drawing, painting and movement, I become aligned. It is through
that creative energy, I connect to the "real me".

This multifaceted, creative force is expansive. Through it, I feel a calm surge of the
earth's breath pulsating from the bottom of my soles to my fingertips and beyond.
This energy is the source of my inspiration.

Through Dance, Yoga , Qi Gong & Tai Chi, I enjoy the practice of creative rhythm and
routine. Through the strong use of line and sometimes color, I apply the same
physical exploration within the context of visual art. My visual, artistic response is
abstract - figurative ; it is informed by human expressions, gestures and the
essential connection of loving people. My approach to this art-flow is meditative, yet
it can be quickly energized as I draw or paint in response to live performances.

As I break through the challenges of Bipolar Mood Disorder, my art serves as a
healing remedy for my mind and body. Additionally, it has helped me persevere
through the storms of 2020. Throughout the challenging times of the Civid-19
pandemic, engaging in nature, art and dance has brought me back to the center of
my wholeness.

Marcy Morris, "Ustrasana" (Camel Pose) Marker on Paper

Marcy Morris "Conversations with Cumulus"

Marcy Morris, "Qi Gong Flow"

Photos by Marcy Morris

Timothy Ohlmann

Calling Kansas home, Timothy Ohlmann made his way to Emanuel Lutheran Church at 4th and Carpenter
in Philadelphia. At age 20, he served as a volunteer to the church and community. The year-long
experience was the most formative of his life. He spent a total of 17 years in Philadelphia, Chicago, and
Detroit, mostly as a Pastor, before his father's disability took him back to Kansas and then to Missouri.

He now serves as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor with and for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.
After the great blessing of being immersed in African American, Latino, and Asian cultures for many years,
he now enjoys immersion in one of many Indigenous cultures. These rich and varied experiences form
the basis of much of his writing.

5 Minutes

(Written 4-27-2020, the date of my Mother’s death.)

5 minutes was all it took
For Senior Village staff
To fetch a cup of coffee for Mom
And bring it to her.
Yet in that time
She had gone to see Jesus
And Dad, too.
Yes, we will miss you, Mom.
Still, we love you enough
That we rejoice.
Yes! We rejoice!
What you had hoped for all these years
Is now reality for you.
Eternal reality!
No doubt by now you are another voice in the choir.
The “Hallelujah Chorus” is what you all are singing.
All this in just 5 minutes
And now for evermore,
With not a moment to spare
For suffering.
Thank you, Lord!

The Fog

by Timothy Ohlmann

The Fog
Riverview Drive.
Early.
Sunday morning.
The fog is all around me.
Above and below.
Behind and in front.
Left and right.
I cannot see the river below.
Nor the train tracks,
But I hear the train
And its horn.
Both the river
And the train,
I know they are there.
Is it just the fog?
Or something else as well?
I cannot see you, my Love.
But so often I hear you,
Your voice and your words so full of love.
As I walk on in the fog,
I feel you so warm and so close.
I remember your voice and your words,
And I know you are there.

yhpruM .R treboR

Robert R. Murphy

Robert R. Murphy

Robert R. Murphy

samohT "Ancestrial Spirit"
atynA

Anyta Thomas

Anyta Thomas has a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Communication
and an Associate’s Degree in Graphic Design. In 1995, she
became a wire mesh sculptor. She developed her own set of
tools in order to define the style she is known for today. She has
been a professional mesh sculptress since 2006, selling works
nationally through established galleries, professional art
conferences, private commissions and numerous art exhibits.
She has been featured on TV, radio, in newspaper articles and
online sites.
She is an artist, a wife and a mother, still, she finds time to be an author. A T Burwell (author) is Anyta
Thomas redefined. As a creative soul, her focus is not only to create art with a story, but to create
lasting memories of family and ancestry through literature. You can find her children's book "HEY! I'M A
BIG GIRL NOW! (2016)" on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. You can find her art journals “When
Mesh Imitates Life (2011)” and “When Mesh Life Evolves (2017)” on Blurb.com. You can also find
"Journey of a Masterpiece: A Memoir of Art, Life, and Creative Parenting (2019)" and "BROKEN: A
Collection of Social Poetry (2020)" on Amazon.com.

"Escape to Freedom""

Anyta Thomas, "Healthcare Collaborative Pt.1"

Anyta Thomas "Jazz Fusion"

Dresses: "Communion" Representing "friendship" An Installation by
Calli Roche

Photo by Zamani Feelings
for The Colored Girls Museum

Spotlight on...

The Colored Girls Museum

Source:
thecoloredgirlsmuseum.com
Photo: Courtesy of the Colored Girls Museum
The Colored Girls Museum is a memoir museum, which honors the stories, experiences, and history
of Colored Girls. This museum initiates "the ordinary” object—submitted by the colored girl herself, as
representative of an aspect of her story and personal history, which she finds meaningful; her object
embodies her experience and expression of being a Colored Girl. The Colored Girls Museum is
located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and headquartered in the historic neighborhood of Germantown
an area renowned for its historic buildings and homes.
The Colored Girls Museum distinguishes herself by exclusively collecting, preserving, honoring, and
decoding artifacts pertaining to the experience and herstory of Colored Girls. This museum serves as a
clearinghouse of multidimensional arty-facts, objects and information about Colored Girls: equal parts
research facility, exhibition space, gathering place and think tank. This Colored Girls Museum is the
first institution of its kind, which considers memoir, in any form, as well as objects of personal and
historic significance, as evidence with empirical value.
Visitors are treated to a salon-styled, guided tour of a home which has been converted into a museum.
This multidisciplinary event is a collaborative experience between patrons and The Colored Girls
Museum.

"Because Our Stories Matter"

A chat with

Vashti Dubois

Founder, Executive Director of
The Colored Girls Museum, Philadelphia

Source: The Colored Girls Museum
Photo, Courtesy of The Colored Girls Museum

Vashti DuBois is a multidisciplinary artist and non-profit consultant who thrives in a
collaborative environment. DuBois believes we can dramatically improve the
socioeconomic circumstances destabilizing working class and poor communities, by
investing in the educational, spiritual and cultural needs of women and girls. Vashti
has been recognized for her contributions to art and social change in Philadelphia
by receiving Leeway's Transformation Award as well as the Art and Change award
for her project “The Colored Girls Museum”. Vashti also received the transformation
award acknowledging her work as an art and change activist.

Sheena: Where did your personal interests in the arts begin?

Vashti: My personal interests in the arts began as a freshman at Wesleyan University [Connecticut]. One of the
ways students of color would make themselves at home at predominately white institutions was through the
arts. If you went to a school like Yale or any of the small Ivy League schools, a lot of black students were really
going there because they were going to be doctors, lawyers and engineers. But., many of these students had
some sort of art background and practice. Many of the students were well-rounded because they had been
involved in the arts in some way. So, what I became interested in was how to transform a space and what that
felt like as a collective experience, and how that helped build community amongst people who did and did not
know one another.

I later began the Women's Work Project. In the Women's Work Project, women of color who had various
interests were invited to help transform a space into a living room and she could bring in any type of artwork
that she had or any object that was significant to her, and we would install it into the space. Once the space
installations were complete, we would have an event. The event in addition, included those who could perform
in the space by reading a poem, playing an instrument, dancing or telling a story. I just loved the feeling of that.
One of the great things about being at a place like Wesleyan is that there was always an opportunity to create
whatever you wanted to create and there was always a space to create it in.

When I left Wes [Wesleyan University] and went back to Brooklyn NY, space became a bit harder to come by;
and if you did find space, it was often very expensive. I had always found great places to live in New York City
and every time I rented a place, I always thought of that place as a potential performance space. Another
Wesleyan alumnus, Ian Friday and I started running around New York City to all of the art events at a time that
felt like Brooklyn's Artists Renaissance. Ian and I began throwing events together at my Brooklyn Brownstone
apartment. We had poetry readings, we had parties, there were four floors in the apartment building with a
tenant on each floor. The tenants participated and in one event, there were four different art events on each
floor of the building! Again, just the need for folks of color to have comfortable places to gather was really of
interests to me. Ian and I went on to do shows and other events, gathering inspiration and enjoying the Black
Brooklyn Renaissance.

In 2000, we collaborated on a big project as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn’s Public Park series. That project
was a multidisciplinary art event which took place in Prospect Park with about forty artists. Ian and I have
always shared a passion for music, theatre, dance and all things visual. Ian is now the Associate Director and
Performance Curator for the Colored Girls Museum.

Sheena: How did you begin your work as an artist here in Philadelphia?

Vashti: When I first moved to Philly from New York, I worked as the Director of the Girls Center at Congreso
which was once this big warehouse space. I remember when I first interviewed for the position, I looked around
and immediately began to think that I could really do something creative with this space. Once I got the job and
started working with adjudicated, delinquent girls is when I started to recognize the emotional conditions that
many of our girls were in. I realized again, how important it is to inhabit space as part of healing and in building
a sense of safety.

We did a project called Extreme Makeover as part of a summer program. We split our girls up into groups of ten.
I hired artists to lead each group of ten and assigned different spaces within the Center for each group to
transform. The girls worked together as a team to transform the spaces based on how they wanted to "feel" in
that space. The spaces ultimately became therapeutic spaces for the girls. I remember at one point in the
process of this project, sort of looking around and thinking, "I wish there was a place to take the girls. I wish
there was a space for our girls of color to see themselves, a place that celebrates them." But, I knew that there
wasn't such a place. There are museums here, but there is such a specific experience in being a colored girl that
I thought they needed a space that reflected their unique experiences.

Flashing back a bit... I met Michael Clemmons in 1992 when we worked together at the New Choices, career
counseling program for women preparing for work. I knew he was an incredible artist; he's a painter and ceramic
artist. I kept telling him that we were going to partner together one day, although I didn’t know how. The first
project Michael and I worked on together was the Eviction Proof Peep Show in Fall 2012 for the Philadelphia
Fringe Festival. This was the first time the house performed. Michael curated the large bedroom. The house is
also my home, but I knew that the space could one day continue to perform as an exhibit space.

Sheena: How did the idea of The Colored Girls Museum evolve from these events?

Vashti: In 2015 an opportunity arose to exhibit at the Philadelphia Fringe Arts Festival. At that time, Ian, Michael
and myself had been working towards physically creating this idea of a Colored Girls Museum. During the 2015
Fringe Arts Festival, we still weren't quite prepared to open as a museum; therefore, we decided to open as a
show not a museum. This allowed Ian, Michael and myself to test out the idea of a "Colored Girls Museum". Our
love of the performance arts brought Ian, Michael and I together to organize what we now know as The Colored
Girls Museum. Michael Clemmons became our Curator and Ian Friday, our Associate Director.

Sheena: What might visitors take away from their experiences at The Colored Girls Museum?

Vashti: The Colored Girls Museum celebrates the ordinary, extraordinary colored girl of any and all ages from 0
to 100 and beyond. We hope that the ordinary colored girl as well as all visitors walk away with a sense of
accomplishment of our ordinary stories, our friendships, our experiences. Our everyday existence and our
contributions to this world have been very important and powerful. The art, the artifacts that we connect with as
colored girls are all meaningful to us in very unique and distinct ways. We hope that as The Colored Girls
Museum, what is exhibited here starts a conversation - a conversation about how much our experiences matter.
The Museum serves as a sacred place of celebration and honor.

“Freeing yourself was one thing,
claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

― Toni Morrison, "Beloved".

Currently on view at The Colored Girls Museum

"Songs of Toni Morrison" - The Psalms

"During the Fall of 2019, The Colored Girls Museum paid tribute to our word-warrior
and intergalactic traveler, Toni Morrison with a visual tribute titled, “Songs of Toni
Morrison”. TCGM invited artists to submit works to each room, transforming The
Colored Girls Museum into a visual celebration. Each room in the museum was
named after a Morrison novel.
Songs of Toni Morrison, The Psalms (For A Time Like This)
The purpose of this exhibit is to gather our artifacts “For A Time Like This” to share
our stories with one another - to draw courage, inspiration and humor from our
remembrances. We, colored girls always have something in our hands-something
that allows us to make meaning to remember to get our work done.
This Museum reflects on our work, how we are being shaped and reshaped in this
moment. Through these artifacts, we offer our stories to one another. It is our way of
offering the colored girl the protection, praise and grace she needs... for a time like
this.

Lorrie Patrice Payne

Suite One

"Song of Solomon"

Featured Artists:

Michael Clemmons
Ifye Chiejina

Ruth Naomi Floyd
LaToya Hobbs
Lehna Huie

Fabiola Jean Louis
Darrell Gabe McCalls
Rosalind Nzinga Vaughn-Nichol

and
Lorrie Patrice Payne

Photo by Zemani Feelings

Sculpture by Lorrie Patrice Payne Textile by Rosiland Nzinga Vaughn-Nichol

Artist: Fabiola Jean Louis
From the Collection of Michael & Valerie Clemmons

Artist: LaToya Hobbs

Artist: Ifye Chiejina

Artist: Ruth Naomi Floyd

Suite two
The Bluest Eye

Portrait Series from,
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

Featured Artists:

Intisar Hamilton
Kalila Abdur Razzaq

Nastassja Swift
Keisha Whatley

Art wall left: Keisha Whatley (L) Nastassja Swift(R) Keisha Whatley

Intisar Hamilton

Suite four
"Jazz"

Textile Installation
by Destiny Palmer

Ceiling view Textile Installation
by Destiny Palme

Suite three
A Mercy

Yinka Orifidaya

Curator
STATEMENT:

My intention is for visitors to exit the TCGM kitchen fully nourished. I want
the spirit of the colored girl to surround you and fill you up. In searching for
the colored girl, I turned to pottery, an ancient craft tradition passed down
through generations of women across the continent of Africa for millennia.
Evidence of the colored girl is depicted in my brown-bodied figurative clay
vessels whose interiors burst unapologetically with vibrant color.

The skillful ceramics of Michelle Ettrick are reflective of the multifaceted
(and sometimes contradictory) nature of the colored girl:
powerful...delicate...regal...playful.

Further evidence of the colored girl is recorded in the large terracotta
"Crafting Community" vessels, each built in a communal fashion, which
enabled dozens of hands to contribute to the completion of the final form.
Look closely and you will observe the finger imprints of the more than forty
Black women who collaborated in solidarity to construct these vessels.
Open your eyes, open your heart....the colored girl is here.

Yinka Orifidaya
Michelle Ettrick

Suite five
"Tar baby"

The Colored Boys' Room

Artist: Micah Lee

Artist: Jose Ortiz

Suite Six
"The Washer Woman"

Curated by Denys Davis and Monna Morton