Studio visit with Stephanie Rogers, Artistic & Executive Director, Anderson Center

I had the privilege of speaking with Stephanie Rogers, Artistic & Executive Director, of Anderson Center in Red Wing Minnesota. We talked about my move to Philadelphia, making art during a pandemic, and many other topics.

In summer of 2016 I was an artist in residence at Anderson Center. The Jerome Foundation supported my residency stay through their Emerging Artists Fellowship.

Stephanie Rogers also attended Tyler School of Art and Architecture, so we had much to share about the differences and similarities of our experiences in Minnesota and in Pennsylvania. Our conversation was recorded soon after the uprisings erupted in Minnesota and around the country in response to the murder of George Floyd and so many other black people at the hands of the police, and some of the questions address that moment directly.

2016 Anderson Center Artist in Residence Cameron Jarvis is a visual artist & musician who grew up in Cottage Grove, MN and is currently based out of Philadel...

Artist and Curator Galen Gibson-Cornell drops by to chat with us about our new show HYBRID!

HYBRID: A Conversation

Artist and Curator Galen Gibson-Cornell drops by to chat with us about our new show HYBRID! Show is open for viewing now in-person and online, so get in touch!!

2017

2017 was my last year living in Minnesota before moving to Pennsylvania to start my masters degree. I was working part time jobs, planning for my move, and taking stock of my time in the Midwest. It was the place of my origin in a physical sense. My parents emigrated from the Caribbean Island of Antigua, trading the familiar surroundings of their home to give me a chance to move in a new way.

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What other information is necessary to convey the relationship between a person and a place? Through conversations with my parents and grandmother I began to get a picture of the circumstances of their origins, separated from mine by decades and thousands of miles. Their decision to change their surroundings holds as much information about the world as any map or record of a building.

I wanted to understand my relationship to Minnesota by understanding the decisions and circumstances that led me to that point. Maps, city plans, and building records have information about a certain type of relationship to physical land. The hopes, dreams and values of those who have the privilege to make decisions about their surroundings get recorded in physical space, and then again when we tell the story of why that is so.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

I took a slightly different way home tonight and ran across this sign. I had no idea she lived in Philly. This is the lady we have to thank for rock and roll. 

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Painting in the neighborhood

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I finally made it out to do some painting from life in my neighborhood. I think there is something important about recording my surroundings, and making a painting is also a very interesting way to occupy a space. This statue of a black family is in a little square just south of my house. I was sitting on a bucket with my painting leaning on the ground for about 2 hours, and a few people came by on their Sunday routines. I got to meet several of my neighbors, and heard a little bit about the history of the statue and of the neighborhood. Nobody was able to tell me about the person who made it, so I'll have to do some digging in my own. The best part of the experience was seeing how proud and happy people were that someone was interested enough in this piece of art to come and make an image of it.  

Janelle Monáe - Tightrope [feat. Big Boi]

Forgot what a banger this one is. Don't get caught sleeping.

Also thinking about the lineage from Outkast --> Janelle Monae --> Jidenna, and how Cee-Lo Green/Gnarls Barkly fits in there. Who would be a precursor to Outkast?