Photo: Ethiopian Community Mutual Assistance Association event in New York City. (Tadias archive)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated: May 20th, 2019
New York (TADIAS) – Next month an interactive arts workshop inspired by artists from Ethiopia including Ezra Wube, Addis Gezehagn, Elias Sime, Afewerk Tekle as well as singer and songwriter Gigi is set to take place at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York City.
The event organized by the CMA in collaboration with the Ethiopian Community Mutual Assistance Association (ECMAA) and the Ethiopian Social Assistance Committee (ESAC) will be held on Sunday, June 2nd from 10am to 5pm. Organizers note that the cultural festival will also feature traditional dancing (Eskista) and a coffee ceremony.
Below are brief descriptions of the art workshops:
Collaborative Subway Mural inspired by Ezra Wube in Fine Arts:
Ezra Wube is an Ethiopian New Yorker telling stories about NYC through animation and vivid imagery. Wube’s work reflects on the movement of the city. You can see his piece at the Fulton Street Station called Fulton Street Flow! How would you use art to beautify a subway station? Join us in creating a collaborative subway mural integrating our many cultures!
Dreamy Cityscapes inspired by Addis Gezehagn in Fine Arts:
Addis Gezehagn paints dreamlike deconstructed and layered renderings of urban landscapes rising above the ground. Each patch of color he uses represents buildings and doors. At the program young artists can use cutouts of color, paintings, magazine pages, and even their own colored drawings to layer squares to construct a cityscape.
Recycled Topographies inspired by Elias Sime in the Gallery:
Elias Sime is an Ethiopian artist using recycled materials to create relief sculptures and assemblages that look like looks like topographical maps or aerial views of complex city systems. We will use recycled materials as well as decorative materials like beads and pom poms to create our own relief sculptures inspired by Sime’s work and Ethiopia.
Afewerk Tekle Windows in the Clay Bar:
Using the artist Afewerk Tekle’s stained glass pieces as inspiration, design your own stylized clay tab, in a fractured stained glass visual!
Building Stained Glass Windows with Afewerk Tekle in the Media Lab:
Using either the stained glass style slab from Clay Bar, or found materials in the Media Lab, add motion to your stained glass pieces!
Sounds of Gigi in the Sound Booth:
Using melodies inspired by the famous Ethiopian singer Gigi, create your own songs layered over her fusion of contemporary and traditional soundscapes!
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If You Go:
Ethiopian Cultural Festival
Sunday, Jun 02, 10 am to 5 pm
At CMA, 103 Charlton Street, New York
Click here to get tickets
Related:
In NYC ECMAA Expands Program to Include Community Soccer Games
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