Common Threads . . .

City Lights Gallery Serving the community through art	Support Public Art in Bridgeport! City Lights & Company 37 Markle Court Downtown Bridgeport, CT. 06604 (203) 334-7748 www.citylightsgallery.org clgallerybpt@gmail.com
COMMON THREADS February 20- March 28, 2014 Artitsts' Reception Thursday, February 20, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Followed by Guest Poetry Reading at 8:30 QUILTING DEMO/WORKSHOP Gees Bender Quilter, Loretta Pettway Bennett Saturday, February 22. 2014. Quilt by Gees Bend quilter, Loretta Pettway Benett
COMMON THREADS: AMONG THE ART FEATURED IS THE WORK OF FAMED GEES BEND QUILTERS, MARY LEE BENDOLPH AND LORRETTA PETTWAY BENNETT Batik on fabric by Nigerian artist Tynde Odunlade Artist from near and far will be featured in "COMMON THREADS" an art exhibit of African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latino and African American Artists whose work with is on or about fabric. Works will include original quilts from Gees Bend quilters Mary Lee Bendolph and Loretta Pettway Bennett, Batik quilts from Nigeria by world acclaimed artist Tunde Odunlade, paintings on silk by Connecticut artist Imna Arroyo, mixed media paintings by Kofi Ayisi from Kenya, weaving from Bridgeport/Brooklyn artist, Ruben Marroquin, originally from Venezuela, Gees Bend quilt samplings and ephemera, paintings by Bridgeport artists Michael Dunham, Aisha Nailah and wearable art byJahmane and Jerry Gant. POETRY READING FOLLOWING THE ARTISTS' RECEPTION, Thursday, 2/20/14, 8:30Enjoy a brief poetry reading featuring local poets Shanna Tanika Melton and Richard Fewell at City Lights. Enjoy more poetry at Housatonic Community College, Bridgeport CT on Thursday, February 27 at 6:00pmat Transcending Continents~A Black History Month Celebration.  QUILTING WORKSHOP/DEMO: Gees Bend Quilter, Loretta Pettway Bennett will present a quilting demo/workshop on Saturday 2/22/14 at City Lights Gallery space. View the process ofquiltmaking while surrounded by origianl quilts and art in the exhibit "COMMON THREADS", to register and payment call: (203)334-7748 City Lights Gallery Hours: W-F 11:30a.m. - 5 p.m., Sat 12-4, Thursdays open 'til 7p.m. For more info: www.citylightsgallery.org (203) 334-7748 DIRECTIONS: City Lights is conveniently located in downtown Bridgeport easily accessible by Metro North, I-95, the Merritt Pkwy via Route 25 Connector. For complete directions go to www.citylightsgallery.org CITY LIGHTS, 10 YEARS in 2014! We are approaching our 10th anniversary as a downtown gallery, with your support we can continue to grow and offer outreach programs that "serve the community through art." THANK YOU See City Lights in the Community, PLEASE DONATE NOW: http://www.citylightsgallery.org/?page_id=1404
GEES BEND QUILTERS FAME HAS SPREAD WORLDWIDE, INCLUDING AN EXHIBT OF 4 GENERATIONS OF QUILTERS AT THE WHITNEY MUSEUM IN NEW YORK CITY.  Quilt by Mary Lee Bendolph on exhibit at City Lights 2/20-3/28/14. EXHIBITNG GEES BEND QUILTERS MARY LEE BENDOLPH Mary Lee Bendolph (born 1935), the seventh of seventeen children, descends from generations of accomplished Quiltmakers in Gee’s Bend, Alabama. She learned to quilt from her mother, AolarMosely. She worked in the fields and attended school intermittently until she was fourteen, when she began her own family. She married Rubin Bendolph in 1955 and their family grew to include eight children. She has seven living children. Over the years, Mary Lee worked in a variety of textile-related jobs, mostly making army uniforms. Since retiring in 1992, Mary Lee Bendolph found more time to quilt. She gathers design ideas by looking at the world around her. Anything—from people’s clothes at church, to her barn, to quilts hanging on clotheslines in front yards, to how the land looks when she’s high above it in an airplane—can inspire her. For her materials, she prefers fabric cut from used clothing because it avoids wastefulness and because she appreciates the “love and spirit” in old cloth. Mary Lee Bendolph was one of many Gee’s Benders who accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. in his march at Camden, Alabama (across the river from Gee’s Bend), in 1965. LORETTA PETTWAY BENNETT: While adding her own sense of design, Loretta Pettway Bennett carries on the Gees Bend Heritage from her mother, Quinnie. Loretta Pettway Bennett is a fifth-generation quilter from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, and one of the youngest to continue handstitching quilts in the renowned Gee’s Bend style. She is the second of eight children and oldest daughter of Tom O. and Qunnie Elizabeth Pettway Jr., and was born in December 1960. Her ancestry traces back to Dinah Miller, a great-great-great grandmother, who, according to folklore and family history, was one of the first slaves to have arrived in the Bend. Qunnie Pettway was one of the original Gee’s Bend quilters whose fame has spread worldwide through exhibitions of their work, numerous publications, newspapers articles, television coverage, radio interviews, personal appearances, ten US postage stamps and a play. Loretta has over two dozen additional relatives among that initial group of quilters, establishing her as a bona fidemember of what could be considered America’s quilting royalty.
BRIDGEPORT ART TRAIL: Info on winter art events at the NEST, Reads Artspace andHousatonic Museum of Art, www.bridgeport-art-trail.org Weaving by Ruben Marroquin on view at City Lights,2/20-3/28/14. BLACK HISTORY CELEBRATION at the NEST 2/20-2/231720 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport CT 06605 www.nestartsfactory.com 203-690-1335  Please join the resident artists and visiting performers at the NEST Arts Factory for a multi-disciplinary celebration for Black History Month, including music, drumming, theater, poetry, visual art, and more. See the NEST website for more information and directions.www.nestartsfactory.com Thursday, February 20 8-10 pm A Poetry Celebration of Amiri Baraka Featuring Ngoma Osayemi Ifatunmise and Oshunyoyin Alake Ifarike. Open mic for the first 15 people to sign the list on arrival. Hosted by Iyaba Ibo Mandingo. Friday, February 21 8-10 pm unFRAMED The poetic tale of life of an immigrant in America, from boyhood in Antigua to manhood in America. Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, poet, painter, playwright, and writer, performs this one-man show. $10 admission Saturday, February 22 2-8 pm Open Studios Visit with the artists of the NEST. Tour the open studios to see acrylic and oil painting, sculpture, collage, photography, jewelry, ceramics, mixed-media, fiber art, decorative painting, and much more. 4-5:30 pm Drums 4 Life Drumming Circle Master drummer Kojo Bey will lead the public in a drumming circle, teaching West African songs, chants, and rhythms. No experience or instruments required. $5 suggested donation to benefit the children of Brenu Akyinim, Ghana, West Africa. 5:30-7 pm unFRAMED Exhibit Reception at NEST Arts Factory Gallery An exhibit of paintings created during performances on stage as a part of Iyaba Ibo Mandingo’s one-man, eleven-character play. unFRAMED. 7-10 pm Worldbeat & Reggae Music Night An evening of world music from Reggae to Latin to Dub Poetry to Folk with an outstanding line-up of performers: Mutti Lewis, I anbassa, Ricardo Reyes, Natty Congo, and Iyaba Ibo Mandingo. Sunday, February 23 4-6 pm unFRAMED The poetic tale of life of an immigrant in America, from boyhood in Antigua to manhood in America. Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, poet, painter, playwright, and writer, performs this one-man show. $10 admission Poetry at Housatonic Community College, Bridgeport CT on Thursday, February 27 at 6:00pm at Transcending Continents~A Black History Month Celebration.
FIGURE DRAWING OPEN SKETCH, Last 2 Saturdays of the month, Sat. 2:30-5:30 $15 per 3 hr. session, $12 for members, $10 for students  THANK YOU TO OUR PATRONS, MEMBERS , VOLUNTEERS AND EXHIBITING ARTISTS. The City Lights calendar of ongoing events is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Fairfield County Community Foundation, People's United Bank,the Connecticut Office of the Arts and UIL Holdings Corporation (UI, So CT Gas Co., CNG, Berkshire Gas) SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS OF THE CITY LIGHTS ART ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS:ELIZABETH PFRIEM, PITNEY BOWES, BEN ORTIZ AND VICTOR TORCHIA, ING.