' Rock My Soul ' Exhibition at Mt. Vernon Library

Monday, 11 June 2007 02:29

White Plains, NY - On the evening of April 24, representatives from the Westchester Arts Council and the Mount Vernon community gathered in the Rotunda of the Mount Vernon Library to celebrate the opening of Rock My Soul: the Black Legacy of Rock and Roll. This exhibition of large scale paintings and drawings includes works by ten African-American artists, each inspired by African and African-American musical genres. Rock My Soul, on loan from Cleveland, Ohio’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, was commissioned by The Arts League of Michigan, and has been brought to Mount Vernon under the auspices of the Triple Hill Music Festival. The exhibition will remain on view in the Rotunda until June 29; it is open to the public during regular library hours: Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Mount Vernon Public Library is located at 28 First Avenue in Mount Vernon.

Rock My Soul: the Black Legacy of Rock & Roll was conceived in 2003 as collaboration between the Detroit-based Arts League of Michigan and Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and Museum. They envisioned a visual arts exhibition that would tell the story of the African roots of rock and roll and the ongoing influence of Black culture on the music of today. Through a juried competition ten artist were selected to turn sound into image, and create works inspired by nine genres of music, each representing a different branch of the rock and roll family tree. The paintings and drawings in the exhibition capture the essence of the music of West Africa, slavery work songs, spirituals, blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, soul, funk, and hip hop, and celebrate the spirit of the people who created it.

The dramatic visuals are accompanied by text panels that bring context to the imagery, telling the story of the music that laid the foundations for rock and roll. An accompanying curriculum guide will be distributed to schools ensuring that the exhibition achieves its goal of promoting greater understanding of and pride in the African-America contributions to the music that has become the soundtrack of our times.

Further rounding out the experience, a series of free community arts workshops are scheduled for Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons through the end of June. The workshops will be conducted by teaching artists from the Westchester Arts Council’s Artist Roster on a wide range of topics relating to the exhibition, such as African dance, slam poetry and painting to the sounds of jazz. A complete schedule can be viewed at www.westarts.com.