Poster designed by RECESS!
Hank Willis Thomas: Freedom Ride
December 5, 2019 - MArch 5, 2020
Hank Willis Thomas: Freedom Ride is an exhibition of works by Hank Willis Thomas, For Freedoms, and students at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School. The exhibition features two bodies of work— political advocacy button slogans and the For Freedoms Digital Quilt.
In anticipation of his exhibition, our PSU students created a zine to share Hank Willis Thomas’ work with students at Dr. MLK Jr School. Click here to download the zine.
HANK WILLIS THOMAS (b. 1976) is a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Thomas is the co-founder of For Freedoms, a platform for creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action.
FOR FREEDOMS is a platform for greater participation in the arts and in civil society. We produce exhibitions, installations, public programs, and billboard campaigns to advocate for inclusive civic participation. Inspired by American artist Norman Rockwell’s paintings of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms (1941)—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—For Freedoms Federation uses art to encourage and deepen public explorations of freedom in the 21st century. forfreedoms.org
Poster designed by Jamal
For Freedoms Digital Quilt
The For Freedoms Digital Quilt is a digitally-woven grid of images, names, and self-defined freedoms shared by students, staff and friends of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School. When combined, the portraits act as a woven representation of our community’s desire for various freedoms. The work speaks of our fears, dreams, and desires— and together we knit the fabric of our imagined democracy. The students included in this artwork were volunteer participants during their lunch break in the cafetorium.
Workshop Led by Hank Willis Thomas with Mrs. Jones’ 5th Grade class
Hank Willis Thomas asked students in Mrs. Jones’ 5th Grade class to choose a large-format advocacy button slogan and “make it better.” Students rotated around the room to work on multiple prints using various drawing materials. The slogans are from buttons that have been worn by advocates in support of political parties, movements and ideologies over the past 50 years. The images and text are enlarged to draw attention to the power of symbols and the influential visual language of political parties throughout history.
Exhibition Opening of Hank Willis Thomas: Freedom Ride
The exhibition opening included a performance by The Wild Cats (Azariah, Cash, and Marvin), part of the MLK Jr. School Music Project.
At each KSMoCA exhibition opening, the students involved in the exhibition lead group or individual tours of the exhibition. Families, classmates, school staff, and members of the public are all invited to attend and celebrate. The exhibition then remains on view at the school for the entire academic quarter. Student work hangs alongside original works by the artist.
All-School Assembly and Artist Lecture with Hank Willis Thomas
Writing Labels for the Portland Art Museum
Students in Mrs. Jones' 5th Grade Class were invited by Ella Ray, Julia Dolan, and Sara Krajewski from the Portland Art Museum to write exhibition labels for Hank Willis Thomas' exhibition All Things Being Equal… Students wrote interpretive descriptions for artworks in the upcoming exhibition. After the exhibition opened, the class visited the museum and went on a tour with Ella Ray.
More on Hank Willis Thomas’ exhibition All Things Being Equal… at PAM can be found here.
