School Arts & Art:21 present Contemporary Art for the classroom: monthly features introducing artists from the third season of Art:21--Art in the Twenty-First Century.

What Is Contemporary Art?

Contemporary art is the art of today. It is relevant to all audiences, providing teachers and students with a rich resource through which to consider new ideas and rethink the familiar. Contemporary art enables educators to actively engage issues that affect students' lives today, provokes curiosity, encourages dialogue, and ignites debate.

Art21, Inc.

Art21 is a nonprofit contemporary art organization serving students, teachers, and the general public. To introduce a diverse range of contemporary visual artists and the art they are producing now, Art21 produces the Emmy-nominated, nationally broadcast PBS series Art:21--Art in the Twenty-First Century, as well as a wide range of education materials and outreach programs.

Artists Speak

Artists Speak was created to introduce Art:21 artists through monthly features that combine images of their work, biographical information, and interviews. Like the Art:21 series, featured artists speak directly to the audience in their own words, reflecting on their lives, sources of inspiration, and working processes.

Use these features in tandem with the Art:21 series, Educators' Guides, and Web site to bring contemporary art and artists into your classroom.

Art:21

Art in the Twenty-First Century

Art:21 is the first broadcast series for national public television to focus exclusively on contemporary visual art in the United States. To date, Art:21 has produced three seasons for PBS (Fall 2001, Fall 2003, Fall 2005), creating a biennial event that has featured 55 established and emerging artists to date.

Artists and Themes

Art:21 includes painters, sculptors, printmakers, photographers, installation and video artists, and artists working with new media, environmental or public issues, and hybrid forms. Filmed in their studios, homes, and exhibition spaces, these artists demonstrate the breadth of artistic practice across the country, and reveal the depth of inter generational and multicultural talent.

Artists Speak: Laylah Ali

Born

1968, Buffalo, New York 

Education

BA, Williams College MFA, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri

Lives and Works

Williamstown, Massachusetts 

Media & Materials

Gouache on paper

Biography

The precision with which Laylah Ali creates her small figurative gouache paintings is such that it takes her many months to complete a single work. In style, her paintings resemble comic-book serials, but they also contain stylistic references to hieroglyphs and American folk-art traditions. Ali juxtaposes brightly colored scenes with dark, often violent subject matter that speaks of political resistance, social relationships, and betrayal. Although Ali's interest in current events drives her work, her finished paintings rarely reveal specific references. Her most famous and longest-running series of paintings depicts the brown-skinned and gender-neutral Greenheads, while her most recent works include portraits as well as more abstract biomorphic images.

"I've always been interested in figurative work and narrative. My earlier work was more involved with language, more explicitly about storytelling. And these are very narrative, but I leave a lot to the viewer to fill in. I trust the viewer more than I did when I was younger, where I felt like I had to be in control and dictate meaning.

"Sometimes, I like to choose situations that have multiple readings, but oftentimes there are more readings than even I had thought of. Things happen that I didn't anticipate in terms of potential narrative relationships, strands of stories, character motivations. I often say "character" in my paintings instead of "figure.' Figure is the way you're supposed to talk as an artist--but character, which is more of a writing term, seems more appropriate for my work."

"The idea of portraiture is a kind of storytelling--a distilled storytelling. I am interested in distilled narratives, so the idea of trying to tell a story or hint at something larger than the individual, through the individual, became interesting to me, Given the language that I use, it made sense for me to look to my own characters. I'm also thinking of the portraits as of distinct individuals who exist or have existed. The idea is for the distinctness of that individual to come through, to speak in some way about a narrative that is not readily apparent. Something about the way the person is dressed ... the look on their face, the weathering of their face, tells you a story. The look in their eyes speaks of something larger."

Art:21--Season Three

Tune in to Art:21 on PBS: premieres Sept. 16, 23, 30 & Oct. 7

Season 1, 2 & 3 on VHS & DVD: from Davis Publications & PBS

www.davis-art.com

www.shoppbs.org

Free Educators' Guides: print or PDF copies www.pbs.org/ art21/education/teachingmaterials

Outreach events: museums, schools, and galleries host screenings nationwide

www.pbs.org/art21/events

Web site: www.pbs.org/art21

Art:21

Art21 is a nonprofit contemporary art organization serving students, teachers, and the general public, Art21 produces the Emmy-nominated, nationally broadcast PBS series Art:21--Art in the Twenty-First Century, a wide range of education materials, and outreach programs. This multi-faceted project introduces audiences to a diverse range of contemporary visual artists working in the United States today and to the art they are producing now.

For more ways to use Art21 in your classroom, check out:

Season One, Two and Three of Art:21 VHS and DVDs: To order, call [phone].

Free Art21 Educators' Guides: www.pbs. org/art21/ education/ teachingmaterials

Find lesson plans and ideas for the classroom on the Art21 Web site and Online Lesson Library: www.pbs.org/art21/education

And Art21 slide sets from Davis Art Images. Call [phone] ext. 253 to place your order.