Fort Scott-The Gordon Parks Museum will host three different activities for the public this summer. On Saturdays, the museum will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and will show a film each week starting at 1:00 p.m. “Cinema Saturdays” will feature films of Gordon Parks and two films of filmmaker Kevin Willmott. See the website at gordonparkscenter.org for a list of the films and their dates.
On Tuesday, June 26, at 1:00 p.m., the museum will host a speaker, John Edwin Mason, from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Mason’s talk is entitled: “Seeing Another Charlottesville: Hidden Histories and the Power of Photography.”
Mason teaches African history and the history of photography at the University and he has written extensively on early nineteenth-century South Africa history, especially the history of slavery, South African popular culture, especially the Cape Town New Year’s Carnival and jazz, and the history of photography.
His research now concerns African-American and South-African photography. He is working on “Gordon Parks and American Democracy,” a book about the ways in which Parks’ Life magazine photo-essays on poverty and the black liberation struggle and the books that he published during the civil rights era made him one of the era’s most significant interpreters of the black experience. Mason is also a documentary photographer with a long-term interest in exploring race and gender in American motorsports.
A “Wine and Design” event will be held at the Museum on Friday, June 29 and on Friday, July 27 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Participants will experience creating a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork using photography, pastels and/or watercolors. The finished work will be printed on 11 x 17 paper and be suitable for framing.
Gordon Parks used this technique in his later years and created beautiful images by creating a background either with pastels, watercolor, etc. He then used a found object, lit the entire scene on two levels and took a photograph of it.
The $25 class fee includes supplies, one complimentary glass of wine or soft drink, and the printed artwork. Class size is limited so please register by calling 223-2700, ext. 5850.
The Gordon Parks Museum is open this summer Tuesday through Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For more information contact the museum by email at [email protected] or by phone at 223-2700, ext. 5850.
Contact: Jill Warford at 1-800-874-3722, ext. 5850
Email:[email protected]