Artist’s Talk with Stephen Towns: Take Me Away to the Stars: The Mystery, Magic, and Myth of Nat Turner

Artist’s Talk: Myrtis Bedolla and Artist, Stephen Towns discuss his current exhibition, Take Me Away to The Stars: The Mystery, Magic, and Myth of Nat Turner. Using the historical and mythological chronicles of Nat Turner’s slave revolt, Towns explores the moral legitimacy and political efficacy of violent protest by blacks in their fight for freedom and equality. view the exhibition

Tea with Myrtis: Artist Stephen Towns and film critic Tim Gordon engage in a lively discussion about the exhibition and the timely cinematic prospective from the 2016 film The Birth of a Nation. Myrtis Bedolla will served as moderator.

About the Tea with Myrtis Panel

Stephen Towns

Currently, based out of the gritty, metropolis of Baltimore, Maryland, Mixed-Media Artist and Muralist, Stephen Towns was born in the Deep South (Charleston, South Carolina). Towns primarily works in oil and acrylic drawing much of his visual inspiration from Medieval altarpieces, Impressionist paintings and wax cloth prints. His work has been exhibited at Gallery CA, Platform Gallery, Hood College and is in the collection of the City of Charleston, South Carolina. Most recently, Towns was honored as the inaugural recipient of the 2016 Municipal Art Society of Balti- more, Travel Prize and received the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance Rubys Artist Grant in 2015.

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Tim Gordon

Film Critic, Association President, Historian, Podcaster, Award Show Founder, Adjunct Professor, Executive Director, Brand Creator, and lover of ALL things film, Tim Gordon remains a cinema innovator.

Gordon has turned his passion for film into his life’s work, seeking to educate future generations and alter the perspective of African-American portrayals on the screen and in the executive suites of Hollywood.

He began his career as a film historian studying early African-Americans in early Hollywood and its impact on current trends. In 1992, Gordon created Third Renaissance to bridge the gap between Hollywood and the African-African community. He published the company’s newsletter, The Renaissance Review, which was distributed nationally.

In 2000, Gordon created The Black Reel Reel Awards, honoring African-Americans in feature, independent and television films, as well as the online site, Reel Images Magazine, which covered the entertainment industry.

Gordon created the movie brand, “FilmGordon” in 2008, consolidating his film content and social media platforms under one umbrella.

His work has appeared in the USA Today, Variety Magazine’s prestigious Bureau of Film Critics, and has been a guest on NewsOne with Roland Martin, BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley and BET’s Screen Scene and Howard University’s Evening Exchange (WHUT-TV).

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Myrtis Bedolla

Myrtis Bedolla is founding director of Galerie Myrtis, a contemporary fine art gallery and art advisory located in Baltimore, Maryland. She was featured in the October 2013 issue of the Baltimore Style Magazine article “Women in the Arts” which honored women at the helm of the Baltimore art scene.

As a writer, Bedolla has contributed to The International Review of African American Art and Valentine Magazine; online newsletters: ARTINFO and IRAAA (International Review of African American Art). And she has written numerous exhibition essays.

In 2015, Bedolla curated two seminal museum exhibitions, “Shadow Matter: The Rhythm of Structure / Afro Futurism to Afro Surrealism” featuring the work of sculptor M. Scott Johnson held at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African America Art in Detroit, Michigan, and “Michael Gross: Abstraction” featuring painter and printmaker Michael Gross presented at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C.

Appointed board memberships include: the Association of African American Museums, Washington, D.C.; Art Advisory Board, University of Maryland University College, College Park Maryland; Robert Deutsch Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland; Board of Directors for the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington, D.C.; and Executive Board for the Station North Arts and Entertainment District, Baltimore, Maryland.

Bedolla is a member of ArtTable: a national organization for professional women in the visual arts. And sits on the Practicum Advisory Committee for the Masters in Curatorial Studies for Maryland Institute College of Art; Audience Committee for the Walters Art Museum; Leadership Council Committee for the Open Society Institute of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland; Scholarship Committee for the Congressional Black Caucus, Washington, D.C. and is a past Grant Panelist for the District of Columbia Commission for the Arts and Humanities.

Photograph courtesy Stephen Spartana
photography.spartana.com