JUMP again - A Forum for New World culture

JUMP again - A Forum of New World is a continuation of the magazine, JUMP - A Forum of New World Culture, which I published in the early 1990's, and later produced as a half-hour TV program that was aired on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN). JUMP - A Forum of New World Culture represented a group of artists -- The POW WOW Group, whose members were George Mingo, Tyrone Mitchell, Arthur Coppedge, Michael Singletary, Adger W. Cowans, H. Glenn Bennett, Ray Grist, Charles Searles, David Hammons, and Luther E. Vann. Each issue of JUMP featured one of these artists as the lead article. The rest of the publication presented a variety of articles, features and columns, which expressed an incidence of happenings, exchanges and/or events in the contemporary ART world. JUMP TV continued the format of JUMP - A Forum of New World Culture, featuring an artist for half of the program. The remaining half offered a similar variety of articles. I produced 65 shows of JUMP TV, which were aired on a continuous basis on MNN.

In this new medium, the Blog, I can JUMP again – continuing to offer exposure to some of the lesser known and under recognized, yet significant artists of our day. This opportunity offers even wider promise than print or TV. Here, print and video can be combined with even more possibilities – music, speech, color, animation, etc.

On September 19, 2008, an exhibition of the sculptural wall hangings from Barbara Delany, opened at the Parish Gallery, Georgetown, Washington, DC. The exhibition is shared with works by Perci Chester.

The opening reception was also an Art for Obama event. A portion of the sales was donated to the campaign to have Barack Obama elected as the next USA President.


"Bountiful" clay wall sculpture - Barbara Delany



The exhibition featured Barbara Delany’s ceramic and mixed media (ceramic with found objects) wall hangings. I was very much impressed and pleased to see and experience these works.

This was a very rare event since Mrs. Delany does not show her works very often. In fact, this was the first time I have seen her pieces. My impression is that her works manifest a high degree of formal and aesthetic sophistication. Mrs. Delany delves into her pieces with a need to explore and realize the strongest and fullest possibilities that each demands. Often she will take a hammer to a piece, not to destroy, but to re-arrange, to open up even more possibilities. Delany also takes unrelated forms, i.e., found objects such as pieces of gutters from houses, or pieces of a tin ceiling and combines these to enhance the ceramic.

Her sculptures, for the most part, are not such that they can be walked around and viewed from all sides. They hang on a wall. In that, they are like “paintings,” ceramic, tin, metal, plastic, instead of oil or acrylic. And, they have shape and dimension. Layers are not illusionist as they are on a canvas. They are “real” layers and volumes, and dimensions. Some of the surfaces are painted, some glazed, some the natural ceramic or metal.

Barbara Delany says, “My most recent works are assemblages, made by assembling ‘recycled’ clay fragments of some of my earlier works that I chose to break apart. In doing so, I discover exciting new shapes and forms among the broken pieces which, when rearranged or combined with found objects suggest an idea for a new sculpture. These new sculptures become reinterpretations, the result of a renewed and altered vision of each work as recombine its parts.”
As I’ve said, I was delighted and inspired by the works of Barbara Delany.




During the last 15 or so years I have worked closely with Edson “Café” DaSilva. “Café” is a renowned percussionist from Sao Paolo, Brazil. He has worked with, and performed with many internationally renowned musicians, such as, Harry Belafonte, Herbie Mann, Djavan, Chico Buarque, Roberta Flack, Quincy Jones, David Byrne, Mick Jagger, and a long list more. We have produced a DVD video “Ancestors,” which features the trio, “Folia de Reis” – Salvador “Dom Salvador” DaSilva, Milciades “Cidinho” Teixiera, and “Café”. Follow the link for one tune from the DVD “Ancestors – Folia de Reis.”

I am Ray Grist. From time to time, I will make more postings to JUMP again, with new features, new artists, new videos, new events. You can visit my web site at http://www.raygrist.com/