Double Vision is the BHM’s first original exhibit and the first exhibition its new building. 37 works are on show spanning DePillars’ entire career 1964-2007. He was the star of VCU Arts, the Professor who made VCU No.1 in the nations for Arts. The selected pieces show his unique use of meaningful images and symbols. I looked at a pettern of bright colors, and I saw Chiwara and Kanaga and many other Malian masks staring back at me: some obvious, some subtly hidden in the design. Brilliant! His multifaceted paintings and pen drawings, cover themes such as the period of American slavery and the civil rights movement, as well as the African and Malian roots of American Black Culture. I was so happy Ana told me to go see the exhibit!
Peace Baba (real name Oumar Cissé) is the most famous bead person in Mali. His nickname comes from the fact that he used, for more than 20 years, to take care of Peace Corps volunteers in Mopti Region, whose 'vacation house' was right next to his shop: Farafina Tigne is the name of his museum/shop and the website is fabulously extensive, including a decent travelogue description of the country's major towns and features of interest to tourists. Peace Baba has moved from his small store on the island that is Mopti town, to a larger store in Sevaré beside the main paved Great North Road. Here he has a museum of beads and crafts upstairs, and a fantastic bead shop downstairs. Peace Corps Baba (Baba - Father) is a great man with a magnetic personnality and communicatable English. His beads are SO WORTH WHILE (and such good value). Some Malian beads are 5000 years old. Some were made when Jesus Christ was alive. Some are made from the bones of fish or the nuts of t
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