The Betsy Hotel partners with Warehouse 4726 for an hour of creative community as we celebrate the collage work of African American artist Romare Bearden.
A preeminent artist of the mid-20th century, Romare Bearden is most famous for his work in collage, which he used in unique and innovative ways. His artistic style was influenced by numerous sources, including Western European art, African sculpture, the art of his contemporaries in America and Mexico, and music— especially blues and jazz.
Bearden used personal memories, African-American cultural history, and literature as the source of his subject matter. He placed aspects of African-American life within the context of universal themes. Through his involvement with the arts community, Bearden empowered and promoted artists of color (source: Romare Bearden Foundation)
For this special edition of Collage and Connect, host Jean Blackwell Font leads a session to create collage works following the ideas of Bearden, using symbols and images from our own memories to tell a visual story.
An hour to connect to your own creativity, this event offers time to sit quietly, work new parts of your brain, and see things in a different way with people from across the globe.
Get your materials together and let's get ready to share a creative hour together!
What things can you use?
magazines
colored paper
paint or ink
food coloring
old greeting cards
newspaper
fabric
ribbons
any kind of materials that catch your interest!
You'll also need
Elmer's glue (or something like it)
A large piece of paper or canvas, even an old hardcover book will work.
ABOUT THE BETSY’S OVERTURE TO OVERTOWN
The Betsy’s Annual ‘Overture to Overtown’ (OTO) Jazz Festival celebrates the historic connections between South Florida jazz and the National historic jazz circuit which brought musicians who played in NYC’s Harlem to The Harlem of the South (AKA Overtown) as they made their way from club to club – across the USA. In Overtown’s heyday — and on Miami Beach — stars like Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker performed the same jazz standards that are performed nightly at The Betsy and will be performed live at this year’s Overture to Overtown (OTO) Festival. Historic figures like Martin Luther King, Langston Hughes, and Muhammed Ali also frequented Overtown, and were champions of its cultural legacy.