Black History Month Celebrated--During February the Brooklyn Museum will celebrate Black History Month with a variety of programs, including music in the galleries and a film on the life of artist Romare Bearden, in addition to programs coinciding with special exhibitions. (718) 638-5000.

Ruling Gives Approval--After a legal battle that began in 2002, the Barnes Foundation has received approval to allow the famed Barnes collection to be moved from the suburbs to a new facility in Center City Philadelphia. The Foundation says the approval to amend its charter and bylaws has provided it with the means to preserve the collection intact, carry out educational functions and ensure financial well-being.

Arts Leadership Acknowledged--Meridian (MS) Mayor John Robert Smith, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and legendary musician Peter Yarrow are this year's recipients of the Public Leadership in the Arts Awards. The awards honor elected officials and artists who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in advancement of the arts and were presented at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' 73rd winter meeting in Washington, DC.

Project Realized--The long-awaited monumental work of art "The Gates Project for Central Park, NY 1979-2005" by New York artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude will become a reality when it officially opens on February 12 (weather permitting). The 7,500 gates will follow the edges of the walkways and be perpendicular to the selected 23 miles of footpaths in Central Park. Free-hanging saffron-colored fabric panels suspended from the top of the gates will come down to approximately 7 ft. above the ground. On February 18 disassembly will begin and the materials will be recycled. During the exhibition and weather permitting, the Metropolitan Museum is opening The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden each day from 9:30 to 3:00 so that visitors may view the project.

Art Events Scheduled

--The Arts Advocacy Day 2005 National Arts Action Summit will hold the annual conference March 14-15 at the Jurys Washington Hotel in Washington, D.C. For info on citizen or professional membership in Americans for the Arts, go to ww3.artsusa.org.

--The 19th Annual Tribal, Folk and Textile Arts Show will be held Feb. 11-13 at the Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavilion, in San Francisco, CA. It will benefit the galleries for Textiles and for the art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the new de Young Museum.

--Artexpo-New York will be held March 3-6 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Open to consumers March 5-6.

--The Armory Show 2005 - The International Fair of New Art will take place March 11-14 on Piers 90 and 92 in New York City. Out of a record 522 applications, 162 international galleries were accepted that represent the very best primary dealers showing new art by living artists. See www.thearmoryshow.com.

Exhibitions

New York, NY -- New Museum of Contemporary Art -- East Village USA revisits the sprawling, renegade art scene that flourished in the East Village during the 1980's. Representing traditional media such as painting, sculpture and photography, while emphasizing the film, music and performance of the period, the exhibition contains works by more than 50 visual artists, as well as numerous films, videos, listening stations and documentary materials. Through March 19.

Columbus, OH -- Columbus Museum of Art -- Bringing Modernism Home: Ohio Decorative Arts 1890-1960 celebrates the notable contribution of Ohio artists, designers and companies in the decorative arts. It showcases more than one hundred objects--glass, ceramics, enameling, furniture design, metalwork and jewelry--embracing groundbreaking movements such as Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Art Moderne. Through April 17.

New Haven, CT -- Yale University Art Gallery -- Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design During the Great Depression takes a new look at the ways modernism was introduced into the American home and includes examples of furniture, tableware and accessories by renowned designers as well as reproductions of 1930's advertisements and photographs of store displays that show how skillfully these products were marketed. Through June 5.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 15 No. 4 -- February 2005