November 05, 2010
Eclectic music performance on tap Nov. 10
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University Carbondale welcomes Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi to campus Nov. 10.
Gates and the Black Monks present an eclectic music performance at 7 p.m. on Nov. 10 at the University Museum auditorium. The Black Monks describe themselves as “Baptist-Buddhist” musicians. Their sound typically mixes slave spirituals, monastic change and jazz.
Gates is director of the arts program development at the University of Chicago, and the faculty artist in residence there. Before that, he was the director of education and outreach at the Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center in Chicago. He was also in charge of arts planning for the Chicago Transit Authority.
Gates’ career as a sculptor, performance artist and urban planner keep him busy with exhibitions, performances and lectures. Recent solo exhibits/performances include the Pulitzer Museum of Art in St. Louis, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and venues in Japan, South Africa and the Netherlands, to name a few. He is a Harvard Loeb Fellowship recipient for 2010. The Loeb Fellowship is a post-professional award for independent study at Harvard University.
Gates earned a bachelor’s degree in urban planning, ceramics and religious studies at Iowa State University, and he holds master’s degrees in community and regional planning, and public sculpture, also from Iowa State University.
The Student Fine Arts Activity Fee helps fund the School of Art and Design Visiting Artist Program.