Theaster Gates - A Closer Walk With Thee (Wares) - 2010

Artist Theaster Gates performs A Closer Walk with Thee (2010), a choral piece that is part of his installation for Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft, which was on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, May 15-July 25, 2010. Gates creates, in his own words, "sculpture, performance, space, and friendship." In A Closer Walk with Thee, Gates provides a stage for his own music inspired by the writings of Dave the Potter, a slave born in South Carolina at the beginning of the nineteenth century who made pots for the plantation he served. Using the words Dave inscribed on the necks of the pots—his name, biblical verses, and couplets—Gates has created a choral piece, with lyrics in call-and-response form, with Dave's prompts and Gates' replies. Gates was one of 19 artists whose work was featured in the exhibition Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft. For his live performance on July 17, 2010, at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, Gates was joined by the Black Monks of Mississippi and the Journeymen for Christ. This video is an excerpt of that performance. Curated by CAMH curator Valerie Cassel Oliver, the exhibition explored the innovative means by which artists continue to expand the traditional boundaries of art and craft. Through the integration of performance, the artists featured in the exhibition have broadened the context of craft for contemporary times. The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston presented sculptural objects, environments, and site-specific installations along with photography and video, documenting performances, as well as a series of live performance events.


Theaster Gates
A Closer Walk with Thee, 2010
July 17, 2010
Wares, 7:30
Performance with the Black Monks of Mississippi and the Journeymen for Christ
Co-presented with the Houston Museum of African American Culture
Video ©2010 Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Video and editing John Carrithers

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

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• Theaster Gates
• Wares
• 2010
• Hand+Made
• CAMH
• houston
• contemporary art
• art