YCSC Grand Rounds: Black History Month Special Session
February 20, 2024YCSC Grand Rounds February 20, 2024
Information
- ID
- 11331
- To Cite
- DCA Citation Guide
Transcript
- 00:00Welcome everyone. Thank you for your
- 00:02patience and welcome to Grand Round.
- 00:05Before we get started,
- 00:06just want to remind you a little
- 00:08housekeeping for next week,
- 00:10which is that we'll continue the
- 00:12leadership series in which we'll welcome
- 00:15President and CEO of Gaylord Healthcare,
- 00:18Sonia Labarbera to the Child Study Center.
- 00:20So join us here in the Cohen for that
- 00:23and welcome today for what has become an
- 00:26annual Black History Month celebration.
- 00:28And I'm sorry, a little flustered
- 00:31because we have a lot going on.
- 00:33I also just found out we have a little
- 00:35curveball, but we'll keep it going.
- 00:37So in essence,
- 00:40we've been having this event with the support
- 00:43of volunteers from the Child Study Center.
- 00:46So Many thanks to all of the volunteers
- 00:49who've done in the past and special thanks
- 00:52to Brianna Browser who helped get the
- 00:56ball rolling on getting the word out.
- 00:58And of course to our folks
- 00:59who you'll hear from today,
- 01:00who I'll let you know of in a moment.
- 01:02But what the focus of of the
- 01:06grand rounds and the celebration
- 01:09is arts and the African diaspora.
- 01:12And so,
- 01:12quoting from the Association of
- 01:14African American Life and History,
- 01:16African American art is infused
- 01:19with African Caribbean and the
- 01:22black American lived experiences.
- 01:24In the fields of visual and performing arts,
- 01:26literature, fashion, folklore, language,
- 01:28film, music, architecture, culinary,
- 01:31and other forms of cultural expression.
- 01:33The influence of the African
- 01:35diaspora has been paramount.
- 01:37The influence has been deep and varied,
- 01:39bringing a richness to
- 01:41culture across the globe.
- 01:42In my own home growing up,
- 01:44the two art forms that I had most
- 01:46exposure to was food and music.
- 01:49Puerto Rican food is called Comida Creolea,
- 01:52which is Creole food and it
- 01:56brings together African,
- 01:57Taino and Spanish influences.
- 01:59So I that was always such a big part
- 02:03of my life that music was the other
- 02:05and music was varied including artists
- 02:07such as Celia Cruz and Johnny Ventura,
- 02:09Smokey Robinson, Benny King,
- 02:10Isaac Hayes, The Isley Brothers.
- 02:12And then as a teen and college student
- 02:15it evolved to East and West Coast
- 02:17hip hop and with Doctor Dre, Snoop,
- 02:19Tupac and A Tribe Called Quest.
- 02:21And as an adult I find myself boldly
- 02:24embarrassing my children as I wrap
- 02:26along with what is now considered
- 02:28old school hip hop so as well as
- 02:32Motown favourites.
- 02:33So today some of our community
- 02:34members have volunteered to share the
- 02:36influence of arts in their lives.
- 02:38So again,
- 02:39I think Rihanna Brauer for her help,
- 02:41but also Amy Myers who will be
- 02:43joining us and share some information
- 02:46about one of her favorite artists.
- 02:48Tangela Irby will share her family's
- 02:51legacy of quilt making and some new
- 02:54things that she's learned about that.
- 02:56IO Ayotune will share with us his
- 02:58own artistic journey and innovation
- 03:00that has been born of that.
- 03:02And I will be pinch hitting for Chris
- 03:04Edwards, who unfortunately has the flu,
- 03:07to share a little bit of
- 03:08information about the
- 03:09steel pan in his life.
- 03:11And we have Mr. Kenneth Joseph
- 03:13who will demonstrate for us.
- 03:15He's also going to play us
- 03:17into the reception which will
- 03:19be here afterwards as well.
- 03:20So without further ado, Amy,
- 03:27good afternoon.
- 03:30Thanks for being here.
- 03:32So, so I do
- 03:33have some notes I am going to read
- 03:35from along with some slides here today.
- 03:39So I heard the
- 03:40the national theme.
- 03:41I actually didn't realize until this
- 03:42year that there was a national theme
- 03:44every year for Black History Month.
- 03:46But I heard this year that the
- 03:48national theme was the contribution
- 03:49of black people to the arts,
- 03:51and I immediate immediately thought of Mr.
- 03:54Winfred Rembert,
- 03:55who is a treasure that we had right
- 03:58here in New Haven for several decades.
- 04:01And so I'll be talking a
- 04:03little bit about his artwork.
- 04:07Mr. Rembert was born in Georgia,
- 04:09and like millions of other black people,
- 04:12he migrated to the N 1st to New York and
- 04:16then settling in New Haven in the 1980s.
- 04:20And he stayed here in New Haven
- 04:22until he died in 2021. Mr.
- 04:26Remember is a visual storyteller
- 04:29and most of his stories
- 04:30are from his life in the South.
- 04:33And as I became acquainted with his art,
- 04:35it was with the stories as much as
- 04:38with the art that I was drawn in.
- 04:40And as I became acquainted with them,
- 04:42I found a kind of familiarity and
- 04:44something that really spoke to you and
- 04:46sounded a lot like families that I are
- 04:49stories that I heard from my own family.
- 04:52My parents too migrated to the north
- 04:55from the rural S 1st, also to New York,
- 04:58and finally to Connecticut.
- 05:01And once in a while, and when they
- 05:03were in the right frame of mind,
- 05:05my dad might tell a little bit of a
- 05:07story about his life as a kid on a
- 05:11sharecropping farm in South Carolina.
- 05:13Or my mom might talk a little bit
- 05:16about harvesting and drying tobacco,
- 05:18which she did as a kid in North Carolina.
- 05:22But these stories were rare in our household,
- 05:24and they were only told in
- 05:26the privacy of our home.
- 05:27And I kind of came to think of them as
- 05:31secrets and stories that I shouldn't retell,
- 05:33and that they only belonged in
- 05:35the past but not in the present.
- 05:38And sometime in the 1990s, I met Mr.
- 05:41Rembert here in New Haven,
- 05:43and I met a man who very courageously
- 05:45confronted his past and shared it
- 05:47with the world in the present.
- 05:53This is one of his pieces
- 05:55called Picking Cotton.
- 05:56It was painted in 2005,
- 05:58and here we see a number of people with
- 06:02the huge sacks that they wore that
- 06:05collected the cotton that they picked.
- 06:08And Mr. Rembert remembers being dragged
- 06:11through the rows of cotton as a child,
- 06:14laying atop one of the heavy stacks
- 06:16and one of the heavy sacks of cottons.
- 06:18As one of his family
- 06:19members worked in the field,
- 06:22he painted numerous scenes
- 06:23of people picking cotton,
- 06:25and as he described,
- 06:26folks working in the field from
- 06:29what he called from can't to can't,
- 06:31which meant working in the field
- 06:33from when you can't see the sun
- 06:35in the morning until you can't
- 06:37see it again at night.
- 06:41Mr. Remember was given by his
- 06:44mother to his aunt who raised him,
- 06:47and during his life he was very
- 06:49open about how much this pained him
- 06:52and eventually came to understand
- 06:54as an adult the racial and social
- 06:57structures that impeded his mother
- 06:59from being able to maintain his care.
- 07:02And so we see this is a detail of one of
- 07:05his other pieces that's called The Beginning,
- 07:08which which memorializes his passing
- 07:11from his mother to his aunt as a baby.
- 07:15And in this you can see a little
- 07:17bit of the texture. Mr.
- 07:18Rembert's art form was that he created
- 07:21art and leather canvases that he
- 07:24carved and tulled and dyed by hand.
- 07:30We also see in this piece a chronicle,
- 07:32a family separation that disproportionately
- 07:35still impacts black families,
- 07:37more so than other families today.
- 07:42While Mr. Remember always
- 07:43loved to draw as a child and as an adult,
- 07:45he didn't believe that his art was something
- 07:48that others would be interested in.
- 07:50His wife, Patsy, encouraged and
- 07:51convinced him not only to make her art,
- 07:54but to share it and also to share
- 07:58the stories that birthed his art.
- 08:00He started creating in earnest
- 08:02when he was in his 50s,
- 08:04and Paxi talked about the intense
- 08:06purging that Mister Rembert experienced
- 08:08after completing a piece that she
- 08:10said often made him physically. I'll
- 08:14Mr. Rembert's life is nothing
- 08:17short of extraordinary,
- 08:18and one of the pivotal experiences
- 08:20that he speaks about quite a bit and
- 08:23is the subject of much of his art,
- 08:24is that he survived A lynching.
- 08:28He survived, if we kind of think
- 08:30about those words, that someone survived
- 08:33a lynching by brutal racial
- 08:35racial attack that was not
- 08:37intended to have a survivor.
- 08:40And following that lynching,
- 08:42he was incarcerated on a chain gang
- 08:45for seven years of his adult life.
- 08:48And this painting is called All
- 08:50of Me and was done in 2002.
- 08:54And in this we see what looks
- 08:56to be several men, and what Mr.
- 08:59Rembert explains are actually all
- 09:02him and multiple facets of his
- 09:04forced labor throughout the day.
- 09:08It was in prison, actually, that Mister
- 09:10Rembert discovered and started to craft,
- 09:12tooling and carving, carving leather.
- 09:19Mr. Remember illustrated so many of
- 09:21his life's narratives, and for me,
- 09:24his art shifts these experiences
- 09:26from private hushed conversations
- 09:28at home to public truth telling.
- 09:31He shifts the experiences
- 09:33from singular to collective,
- 09:36and as so many people recognize themselves
- 09:39and their families on his canvases.
- 09:42This is a detail from another
- 09:44piece called The Dirty Spoon Cafe,
- 09:46and as you can see,
- 09:47there's some dancing and there's some music,
- 09:49and this is set in a Juke joint.
- 09:53This is a scene from his experience
- 09:56of the segregated South and it
- 09:58shows a place of community created
- 10:00by black people
- 10:01for black people.
- 10:06Here's another scene of gathering and
- 10:09community and creating of safe haven.
- 10:11This piece is called Bubba
- 10:13Dukes and Feats Pool Hall.
- 10:15One of the real places in Mr.
- 10:17Rembert's life in Georgia,
- 10:19and one of the real places of
- 10:21his experience of Black Joy,
- 10:27and this piece is called The Curvy, which is
- 10:32a scene of boyhood,
- 10:35seemingly pretty simple yet profound when
- 10:38we think about the limited spaces for
- 10:42black boys to be carefree, particularly
- 10:45in the segregated South of the 1950s.
- 10:51Well, Mr. Rembrandt's art is a summons
- 10:53to examine and bear witness to the
- 10:55American tragedy of racism and injustice.
- 10:58His art is also an invitation to view
- 11:01the landscapes of family, boyhood care,
- 11:04caregiving between family members,
- 11:07community resistance and recovery.
- 11:09And because of this,
- 11:11I I really am quite drawn to his work.
- 11:14And I try to find any opportunity
- 11:17I can to to share with him,
- 11:20with other people who he is
- 11:22about his life and his legacy.
- 11:25So I'll leave you with just a
- 11:27few words directly from from Mr.
- 11:29Rembert
- 11:50and for those who are interested,
- 11:53other ways that you can read
- 11:55about or see films about him.
- 11:57His 2021 biography actually won
- 12:01the Pulitzer Prize for biography.
- 12:02There are some pieces that you
- 12:04can see here in New Haven.
- 12:06There's lots and lots of
- 12:07opportunity to see his artwork
- 12:09and to read more about him.
- 12:17Thanks so much. I'm not sure if
- 12:18I should stop sharing because
- 12:19you don't have slides. I'm
- 12:20going to introduce Tangela Irby next
- 12:38and I just want to add that we
- 12:40will have raffles at the end and
- 12:42his autobiography will be one of
- 12:43the items that will be raffled.
- 12:45Can everyone hear me OK? Awesome.
- 12:48Well, would you believe that what
- 12:50started out as a means for women
- 12:53to keep their babies warm in a
- 12:56time when Holmes had no heat and
- 12:58families had upwards of 10 children?
- 13:03It's now being called by art historians,
- 13:07curator, curators and collectors.
- 13:09They recognize this artwork as essential
- 13:13to the history of American art.
- 13:15The magic that the GS Bin quilters
- 13:18created with needle and thread can
- 13:20now be found on US postage stamps.
- 13:22And I have some for you to take a look at.
- 13:24They're in books.
- 13:25My grandmother is in that book.
- 13:27She is on page 144, Rugs.
- 13:31They've been in the Metropolitan Museum
- 13:33of Art. They've been in the Systonian.
- 13:35They're even in clothing that
- 13:37have walked the runway in Paris.
- 13:40There's a cover that you can see
- 13:42the dress that when it came out it
- 13:45had a price tag of over $20,000.
- 13:48OK, not a proud moment,
- 13:52but do you remember the Will Smith
- 13:55Chris Rock slap at the Oscars?
- 13:58Definitely not a proud moment for many of us,
- 14:01but did you know that right
- 14:04after that incident,
- 14:05Questlove accepted his Oscar wearing
- 14:08a garment that had been produced,
- 14:12bought through the Greg, Lauren,
- 14:14and Geez Ben collaboration moment
- 14:18was totally overshadowed by a Slack.
- 14:21But I saw it.
- 14:23I knew exactly what was going on.
- 14:26The pieces that come from these
- 14:28collaborations have a hefty price tag.
- 14:30Many of them are items that I could not.
- 14:34Maybe one day I could,
- 14:36but right now I could not
- 14:37even afford those pieces.
- 14:39And unfortunately not in the Greg Loren case,
- 14:41not in the things that are happening now.
- 14:43But in many cases,
- 14:45the quilters were not compensated
- 14:46for all of their hard work,
- 14:48which has led to a lot of
- 14:50mistrust when people see G's
- 14:52Ben products in the marketplace.
- 14:53And I'll circle back to that for a minute.
- 14:56So my grandmothers were both G's
- 14:58Ben quilters and unfortunately,
- 15:00they died long before the world came to
- 15:04recognize their talents and their gifts.
- 15:07But what is Jeez Ben?
- 15:08Some of you may be asking.
- 15:09Right.
- 15:09So Jeez Ben is an area that's in Alabama.
- 15:13It's about about 40 minutes
- 15:15southwest of Selma.
- 15:15And everyone's heard of Selma, Correct.
- 15:19If you were to look on the map
- 15:20right now and look up, Jeez Ben,
- 15:21I always say this because I don't
- 15:23want someone to Fact Check me.
- 15:24And they go and they look up Jeez
- 15:25Ben and they can't find it or like,
- 15:27what is she talking about?
- 15:28Because it is now known as Boykin,
- 15:30Alabama.
- 15:30So you will not find Jeez Ben on the map,
- 15:33but thanks to these quilters and
- 15:36my ancestors, it is on the map.
- 15:39So when I think back to Jeez Ben,
- 15:41I think back to our visits
- 15:43there in the summer,
- 15:43visiting my grandparents.
- 15:44And so I'll tell you what I think
- 15:46about when I think about those days.
- 15:48I think about sweet tea.
- 15:51I think about smothered chicken
- 15:52for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
- 15:54It didn't matter.
- 15:55I think about collard greens from
- 15:57the garden that my family grew.
- 15:59I think about going from house
- 16:00to house and how I didn't like.
- 16:02I still don't really care for collard greens,
- 16:04right? So I think about,
- 16:05so you're I'm at grandma's and
- 16:07we're going somewhere else. Good.
- 16:08Maybe I can eat something when I get there.
- 16:11And guess what they're offering
- 16:13collard greens go to the next.
- 16:15So we often just visit it and guess what?
- 16:16Everyone served it was collard greens.
- 16:19So you know what?
- 16:20OK, I had to eat it because
- 16:21that's what I had to eat.
- 16:22It wasn't a time when you didn't
- 16:24have multiple options, right?
- 16:25You had to cook what?
- 16:26Eat what was on the table.
- 16:28We also had Grandma's famous tea cakes.
- 16:31They made their own soap.
- 16:33They canned their vegetables.
- 16:35They canned soup. They canned Peaches.
- 16:37They raised pigs.
- 16:39Yes, we had homemade sausage.
- 16:41There were chickens. There were cows.
- 16:43There were blackberries.
- 16:44There were pecans.
- 16:45There was homemade pecan candy.
- 16:48The list goes on and on.
- 16:50And this is because my grandparents grew up
- 16:52in a time when you use everything you had.
- 16:55If you didn't grow it,
- 16:56if you couldn't borrow it
- 16:57from the person next door,
- 16:58you went without it.
- 17:01They didn't have much back then,
- 17:03but care went into every stitch and
- 17:05every block of everything that they did.
- 17:10I told you that they had
- 17:11a lot of kids, right?
- 17:12So that same care went into their children.
- 17:15When I think about my paternal grandmother,
- 17:17who had nine, and back then children,
- 17:21maybe you went to school, maybe you didn't.
- 17:23Your job was to work the land, right?
- 17:26But my grandmother, and I'm going to
- 17:28quote what my aunt told me, she said.
- 17:30My grandmother said I plowed the I plowed the
- 17:33mule so that my kids never would have to.
- 17:37So unlike most of the children who
- 17:39grew up in my mother's generation,
- 17:41my father's generation,
- 17:42many of them could not go to school,
- 17:44like I said. So think about that.
- 17:46You know, I'm older. I'm older, right?
- 17:50But just one generation before me,
- 17:53they did not have the opportunity
- 17:55to go to school like we did, right?
- 17:57So that has an impact on your life.
- 18:00It has an impact on your lifestyle.
- 18:02So quilting basically started off as utility.
- 18:05Like I said,
- 18:06they did it because they needed
- 18:07to keep their babies warm.
- 18:09They had a lot of them and they
- 18:10didn't have heat in the houses.
- 18:12So with the formation of what was
- 18:14called the Freedom quilting Bee,
- 18:15it allowed the women in the community
- 18:17to actually be paid for their talents.
- 18:20So they had contracts.
- 18:21For example,
- 18:21they had a contract with Sears and
- 18:23said they were able to make things
- 18:25and they were able to make money.
- 18:27But unfortunately what happened is
- 18:29a lot of times obviously they wanted
- 18:31those items to be mass produced.
- 18:33And so we think about, geez,
- 18:34bank filters,
- 18:35it was all about the women's freedom.
- 18:37They did things the way they wanted to.
- 18:40No one could tell them you can't
- 18:41put orange and purple together.
- 18:42It didn't matter because they
- 18:44use whatever they had.
- 18:46And so no matter what it was that
- 18:47they were doing and I'm so glad.
- 18:48Tara, you mentioned food as an art form,
- 18:51right?
- 18:51So whether it was cooking a dish,
- 18:53whether it was canning,
- 18:55whether it was raising the animals,
- 18:57there was an art to it because they had
- 18:59to use their creativity to make it work.
- 19:01There was no other way.
- 19:03So when I think about those women
- 19:04working at the Freedom quilting be,
- 19:06I think about them building community.
- 19:08Could you imagine being a woman back then
- 19:10where you really didn't have a lot of say?
- 19:12So they had a couple of things
- 19:14that were strikes against them.
- 19:15They were black and they were women.
- 19:17So even among their own community,
- 19:19guess what?
- 19:20The men didn't always ask
- 19:21women what they wanted, right?
- 19:23They did what they wanted to do,
- 19:25and a lot of times women weren't consulted.
- 19:27So again, this creativity was birthed
- 19:30out of this is the one space.
- 19:33This is an area where I can do
- 19:35things the way I want to do them.
- 19:37So again,
- 19:38creativity was a way of life.
- 19:40So I think about when Doctor
- 19:42King visited Jeez Ben
- 19:44and Doctor King actually visited 2 times
- 19:46and one of the times that he came,
- 19:48he got the people in G's been fired up.
- 19:51He said we need, you need to vote,
- 19:52this is your right,
- 19:53you need to you need to go vote.
- 19:55And So what did they do?
- 19:56They had a ferry and so if many of
- 19:58you are familiar with the Long Island
- 20:00Ferry in Bridgeport, that wasn't it.
- 20:03That definitely was not what would take
- 20:05people from GS Bend over to Camden.
- 20:07I don't think I would have
- 20:08gotten on this thing.
- 20:08When I hear about school buses,
- 20:10they got on this ferry and
- 20:11went across the Camden.
- 20:12So I'm telling you that they were up a
- 20:14lot of against a lot of different odds,
- 20:17but Doctor King got them excited
- 20:19and ready to vote.
- 20:20So they started going over there.
- 20:22They went over and they registered to vote.
- 20:24They got up one morning and guess what?
- 20:28The ferry was gone,
- 20:30so now they no longer had a way
- 20:31to go and register.
- 20:33They no longer had a way to get to town,
- 20:35to get the things that they needed.
- 20:37They were cut off from the rest of the world.
- 20:39So it has always been an isolated area.
- 20:42It wasn't until 2006 that they
- 20:45put the ferry back.
- 20:49So again, think about it.
- 20:50When you think about all these different
- 20:51things, they say that, you know,
- 20:52we need to get over this, things are equal.
- 20:54Now think about all the time that was lost
- 20:57in terms of advancement for that area.
- 20:59And this is just one area, right?
- 21:02So I think about they had to be creative
- 21:05because they had to make it work.
- 21:06I also think about the fact that
- 21:08the children, they didn't have TV,
- 21:09they didn't have dials,
- 21:10they didn't have games that we
- 21:12can go to the store and buy.
- 21:13They didn't have any of that.
- 21:15So again, think about the creativity
- 21:16that it would take to entertain.
- 21:18How many children, 9/10/11.
- 21:21I've heard of some families having 16,
- 21:23three sets of twins.
- 21:25I mean,
- 21:26just a lot of different variations in
- 21:28terms of what they were dealing with also.
- 21:31I want you to think about
- 21:36the fact that you had to be creative
- 21:38when your mother would say to you
- 21:40you're ready to migrate up north.
- 21:42You know, you waited all your life.
- 21:43You're going to go and have a better life.
- 21:45And your mother says you're not
- 21:48going unless you make a quilt.
- 21:51And then your mother says even worse.
- 21:52I'm not going to give you a quote if you go.
- 21:56So the women, the young girls had to
- 21:58learn how to quote and to sit in an
- 22:01audience about three months ago with
- 22:03Jeez Ben Descendant who shared that
- 22:05quote that is over 60 years old now And
- 22:08to talk about how she made that quote,
- 22:11she fought tooth and nail because
- 22:12she didn't want to.
- 22:13And now the fact that that was the biggest
- 22:15gift that her mother has given her,
- 22:17right, because she has this quote and
- 22:19she learned to quote the jeez Ben way.
- 22:21So again, you have to be creative.
- 22:24You have to be creative when you find
- 22:27out that your ancestors quilt the same
- 22:31way the women in Benin would weave.
- 22:34So there's a connection, right?
- 22:35You have to be creative when
- 22:37that's a part of your DNA,
- 22:39when you find out that your great,
- 22:40great, great grandmother,
- 22:43who is Dinah Miller,
- 22:45was captured in Africa, enslaved,
- 22:49and brought to the shores of the US
- 22:52at a time when doing so was illegal.
- 22:55So my great, great,
- 22:57great grandmother was on the last
- 22:59slave ship that came to America.
- 23:01So I am a descendant of Jesus then,
- 23:03and I am also a descendant of the Clotilda.
- 23:06So if you don't know that story,
- 23:08it's the there's a documentary on Netflix,
- 23:10and now there are many,
- 23:11many books about it because it was folklore
- 23:13that you hear people talk about things,
- 23:16but they've actually found the
- 23:18remains so that they know that the
- 23:20stories that have been passed down
- 23:21from generation to generation.
- 23:23And I'm sure there are people
- 23:24who said that didn't happen.
- 23:25Why are you still talking about that?
- 23:26Right.
- 23:27It turns out that is actually true.
- 23:31As I think about the work that I do hear,
- 23:33the YC, I I am reminded about the
- 23:37relationship between art and emotion.
- 23:39And one specific,
- 23:40specific example I can give to you is
- 23:42that my aunt sends me things all the time.
- 23:44And I have one of the pieces
- 23:46that she sent to me over there,
- 23:47and I will open the box and I'm looking at
- 23:50all these different pieces and I'm like,
- 23:52oh, what was she thinking?
- 23:53That is like the ugliest thing
- 23:55I've ever seen, right?
- 23:56I could put it away.
- 23:58And then two weeks later,
- 23:59two months later, open it up and like,
- 24:00Oh my God, this is gorgeous.
- 24:02This is what was I thinking, right?
- 24:05Did the scraps of material change?
- 24:06Did their placement change?
- 24:08Did the colors change?
- 24:09No.
- 24:09It was all about me and my
- 24:11emotional state where I was when
- 24:13I opened up those pieces.
- 24:14So for me, I'm drawn to whether it's an
- 24:19art piece of art on canvas, on leather,
- 24:22whether it is flowers in the vase,
- 24:26I'm drawn to something within
- 24:29me right when I look at it.
- 24:31So depending on what day I'm
- 24:32looking at it that's going to,
- 24:33that will really help in terms of
- 24:36connection that I have with the
- 24:38piece of art or even with my life.
- 24:40But here lately,
- 24:42it is the warmth of what used to be.
- 24:46It is the fulfillment of my grandmother's
- 24:48prayers that live in me today,
- 24:51and the promise that I want to leave
- 24:54this world better than I found it.
- 24:56And that is why I've taken what I
- 24:59have learned and I have written
- 25:02children's books that share these
- 25:04stories with the next generation.
- 25:05Because if we don't share our stories,
- 25:07all of that stuff is going to be lost.
- 25:10And when I think about what I
- 25:12just found out with the Clatilda,
- 25:13there was a reason why I was drawn to this.
- 25:15Like, yes, I had notes and I wanted,
- 25:17but then part of me was like,
- 25:18don't do this, you know,
- 25:19who are you to release this
- 25:20story into the world, right.
- 25:21But I was drawn to it.
- 25:23I couldn't rest until I
- 25:24released this into the world.
- 25:26So now to find out, there's an even close,
- 25:28bigger connection that I
- 25:30need to do more research on.
- 25:32And So what I will leave to
- 25:33you with you is this.
- 25:35So for my family, it's the art,
- 25:37it's the quilting.
- 25:38But every family has a story,
- 25:40so it is your job,
- 25:41if you don't already know what that story is,
- 25:43to do some research and find out
- 25:45what that story is and make sure
- 25:47that that story isn't lost and that
- 25:49it goes on to the next generation.
- 25:51And if you don't have someone that you
- 25:53can go and ask and find the story out about,
- 25:56then I say your legacy starts with you.
- 25:58What are the things that are most
- 26:00precious to you that you want to
- 26:01pass down to the next generation?
- 26:04And so that with that,
- 26:05I will say thank you for your
- 26:06time and I'm going to call IO,
- 26:08so please come forward.
- 26:21All right.
- 26:24Can everyone hear me? OK, great.
- 26:28All right. So I am IO and I
- 26:32think I will move this on.
- 26:37Oops.
- 26:40There we go. OK, so I am IO and I'm
- 26:44super excited to be here today.
- 26:47I was super excited when I heard about
- 26:51the theme of this month's, you know,
- 26:54Black History Month in relation to
- 26:57artists and in relation to artistry.
- 27:00Because I, you know,
- 27:02consider myself an artist.
- 27:04I am also a psychiatrist,
- 27:05as many of you know.
- 27:07I have a lot of my teachers and
- 27:11mentors here and I was a fellow here
- 27:14for my Child Psychiatry Fellowship.
- 27:17So I consider myself a psychiatrist,
- 27:22artist, art.
- 27:24But I wanted to talk today about
- 27:28innovation and the intersection
- 27:30of visual arts and psychiatry
- 27:33because the arts in general have
- 27:35played a huge role in my life.
- 27:38You know, not just professionally,
- 27:40but as you know, a therapeutic tool,
- 27:45you know, channel for healing,
- 27:47channel for growth.
- 27:49And I am really excited to share
- 27:53some paintings that I made.
- 27:56I'm gonna be sharing 4 paintings
- 27:59and they are just really important
- 28:02paintings and just the course of
- 28:05my life as a trainee and you know,
- 28:07my journey to where I am right now.
- 28:11And I will also be talking about
- 28:13how the visual arts has inspired
- 28:16innovation and growth and I hope you
- 28:20can all pick up something from it.
- 28:22So we will get started real
- 28:25quick with the first painting.
- 28:27It's a little scary and as you can
- 28:31see it is a self-portrait that I
- 28:34made in 2017 and it is called Depth
- 28:38confront in psychiatry resident.
- 28:40It is pretty clear who death is,
- 28:43this picture.
- 28:46But there's a, there's a more,
- 28:48you know, sinister story behind this.
- 28:51I painted this in 2017,
- 28:54in my intern year after I got
- 28:57into a car accident.
- 28:59And I got into the car
- 29:01accident after working,
- 29:02I don't remember 18 hours straight
- 29:05or something, you know, ridiculous.
- 29:08And as I was driving back home from work,
- 29:12I fell asleep behind the wheel
- 29:15and had a car accident.
- 29:17And, you know,
- 29:19and the split second when right
- 29:21before I had the accident, I,
- 29:23you know the story of how people say,
- 29:25oh, you see your life flash.
- 29:27It's real like it's you,
- 29:29you really see it's like things slow down.
- 29:33And it was a very traumatic incident for me.
- 29:37And I decided that I was going
- 29:39to translate that,
- 29:41translate that experience into art.
- 29:43And I made this painting in
- 29:462017 and you know,
- 29:47as you can see that's me with my little
- 29:50lab coat and my eyes like heavy with sleep.
- 29:54But then there's also the aspect of death,
- 29:57you know, visiting.
- 29:59And while it was very morbid,
- 30:01you know,
- 30:02it was very healing from me to
- 30:05actually make this painting.
- 30:06Because if you think about the
- 30:08process of making a painting,
- 30:09you have to really recollect
- 30:12and remember and rehash,
- 30:15you know situations and you know experiences.
- 30:19And I think that's one of the
- 30:21key principles of trauma therapy
- 30:24where you sort of rework the
- 30:26narrative and rework how things
- 30:29played out. And so this was very cathartic
- 30:32for me and it was one of my very first
- 30:36paintings that were self portraits.
- 30:40My work contains a lot of detail.
- 30:44This is like a closer picture and you know,
- 30:49texture, you know,
- 30:50plays a big role in my art.
- 30:53And so we have a closer view there.
- 30:58The second piece that I'd like to
- 31:00share is called internal turmoil.
- 31:03And I painted this in my second
- 31:05year as a psychiatry resident.
- 31:07And you know, it is also very graphic and,
- 31:11you know, imbued with a lot of meaning.
- 31:14So in my second year,
- 31:16as most psychiatry residents know,
- 31:18that's the year where you
- 31:20actually start to do psychiatry.
- 31:21And I really had a chance to meet
- 31:24a lot of people who taught me a
- 31:28lot of things and this particular,
- 31:31you know,
- 31:32painted and was inspired by
- 31:36a patient that I worked with who
- 31:38appeared on the outside to be very
- 31:41calm and very put together, you know.
- 31:44But when I started to,
- 31:45like interact with her,
- 31:47I noticed that her whole world was
- 31:50basically on fire with, you know,
- 31:53personal experiences with trauma,
- 31:54with addiction.
- 31:56And I painted this piece to really,
- 32:01you know, draw to the fact that a
- 32:04lot of people might be experiencing
- 32:06things that you have no idea of.
- 32:09And you know,
- 32:10a lot of times it's not apparent,
- 32:12you know, on the surface, but it's it's,
- 32:15it's possible that there is a lot going on.
- 32:18And so the message is really to be kind
- 32:21and to be mindful about things like that.
- 32:24So this was the second piece,
- 32:29and the third piece is a is
- 32:32a little brighter.
- 32:33I'm sure everyone was getting worried,
- 32:35but this this was done in my third
- 32:40year of residency and this is
- 32:43called Sunflowers and mortality
- 32:45and it is another self-portrait.
- 32:48But this,
- 32:49this has a more symbolic meaning to it.
- 32:53This piece is imbued with
- 32:56symbolism and as you can see,
- 32:58that is me, you know,
- 33:00walking through what appears to be a field of
- 33:04sunflowers and it looks all beautiful and,
- 33:06you know, bright.
- 33:08But there's a scary looking bull behind me.
- 33:12I'm sure everyone noticed that and this this
- 33:16piece was inspired by some family tragedies.
- 33:20You know,
- 33:21that had happened in my life.
- 33:22I had two aunts, you know,
- 33:25pass away from cancer.
- 33:27My father passed away from
- 33:29cancer a couple of years back.
- 33:32And so there was this family history
- 33:35of cancer that have started to grow
- 33:38and it it has continued to grow.
- 33:43And you know,
- 33:44I sort of had this moment where I I
- 33:48felt that mortality was something that
- 33:50everyone would eventually have to face.
- 33:53And you know, while we,
- 33:55you know, spend life, you know,
- 33:59you know, really, you know,
- 34:00enjoying all the pleasures and all
- 34:02the positive things that come from,
- 34:05you know,
- 34:06either our careers or our
- 34:08children or our hobbies.
- 34:10You know,
- 34:11we also have this bull in the background
- 34:15that we all have to be sort of mindful of.
- 34:18That is like always in the background and
- 34:23always stuck in and always approaching us.
- 34:26And you know,
- 34:28this piece,
- 34:28you know,
- 34:29always reminds me to remember
- 34:31the end goal and remember that
- 34:34eventually that bull will get me.
- 34:36But you know,
- 34:37in the process I want to be
- 34:40able to have lived a life that
- 34:43is fulfilling and a life that
- 34:45impacted people and helped people.
- 34:48So this piece is very iconic for me and
- 34:52it was shown in the journal of a cap.
- 34:56It's the long word.
- 34:58But it was,
- 34:59it was shown in the journal and
- 35:01I was very proud of this piece.
- 35:04And then the last piece that I'm gonna show,
- 35:07and that's a little detail.
- 35:10Well,
- 35:10the last piece I'm gonna show
- 35:12is probably my favorite.
- 35:14It is my favorite piece.
- 35:16And this piece is called Arella and Rooster.
- 35:19And I realize my daughter,
- 35:22she recently turned 10,
- 35:24but in this painting, she was 5 and
- 35:27we had visited a farm in New Jersey.
- 35:31And we sort of, you know,
- 35:32just let her roam, run around and,
- 35:36you know, a few minutes later she
- 35:38returned and she was holding a rooster.
- 35:41And you know, I I grew up in Nigeria
- 35:45and like you don't mess with Roosters.
- 35:48Like that's just,
- 35:49that's just everyone knows that, you know.
- 35:51So the fact that she, like had a rooster,
- 35:55like just terrified us.
- 35:58And you know,
- 35:58she had this look of innocence in her eyes.
- 36:01And when she sort of saw the fear
- 36:07in her parents eyes, you know,
- 36:09I could see that look of
- 36:11innocence sort of disappear.
- 36:13And she, she like, took in our fear.
- 36:16And that particular moment really
- 36:18taught me a lot about, you know,
- 36:21the courage that children have and the
- 36:24impact that we as adults and as the world
- 36:27have in sort of nurturing that courage.
- 36:30Because after she saw how terrified,
- 36:33you know, her parents were,
- 36:34she was, she was terrified too.
- 36:37But that that moment was iconic for me.
- 36:40And I, you know made made a painting of it
- 36:43and it is absolutely one of my favorite.
- 36:45So that is that is the final piece.
- 36:50So I will move on to the next segment of
- 36:56my talk which has to do with innovation.
- 37:00So innovation is one of my favorite
- 37:03words because I just like the idea of,
- 37:06you know,
- 37:07taking knowledge and experience from 1
- 37:09field and combining it with knowledge
- 37:12and experience from a different field
- 37:14and coming up with something new.
- 37:16So I'm in the process of my
- 37:19training and my life.
- 37:21I have, you know,
- 37:23had the opportunity to
- 37:25innovate in different ways.
- 37:26And one of my favorite ways is,
- 37:29you know what I'm going to share now?
- 37:31But there's no innovation
- 37:33without collaboration.
- 37:34And so one of my favorite people to
- 37:40collaborate with is my friend and one of
- 37:44my best friends and neighbor Nicholas.
- 37:47And we, we have really great
- 37:50conversations about different things,
- 37:52about life, about.
- 37:55Yeah, design adventure, you know,
- 38:00his wife Lelia is right there,
- 38:03just had a baby, you know,
- 38:04So a lot going on.
- 38:06But the the recent conversation
- 38:08we had was really about child
- 38:11mental health and how innovation,
- 38:14you know, is required in the field.
- 38:17And you know, innovation is required to,
- 38:22you know, make progress.
- 38:23As we know there's a child
- 38:25mental health crisis.
- 38:26And as I, you know,
- 38:28transition from being a trainee to,
- 38:31you know, my work as an attendant and,
- 38:33you know, my private practice, one problem,
- 38:36you know, really stuck with me.
- 38:38And, you know,
- 38:39I I came to the understanding of a problem,
- 38:41which is that children and adolescents
- 38:44are not really well educated and
- 38:47all the aspects that play a role in
- 38:50Wellness and positive mental health.
- 38:53So I started to do something in
- 38:56my practice because I would have,
- 38:58you know,
- 38:59parents and children coming to me
- 39:02with the belief or the expectation
- 39:04that I would have like a magic pill
- 39:07that would make anxiety disappear and
- 39:10make depression, you know, disappear.
- 39:12And so I started to explain that,
- 39:15you know, medications is really
- 39:17just one piece of the puzzle.
- 39:20And I started to do a visual with
- 39:24the kids that I worked with.
- 39:25I hope this works.
- 39:27Let's see.
- 39:28Perfect.
- 39:29So I would tell my kiddos to draw a circle.
- 39:33And after they drew the circle,
- 39:35I would ask them to divide the
- 39:38circle up sort of like a pizza.
- 39:40So I'd say,
- 39:41you know,
- 39:41divide it in, you know,
- 39:43half and then divided in another
- 39:46half and then I'll tell them to
- 39:48divide it again sort of like a pizza.
- 39:50And I would explain that,
- 39:51OK, you think medications,
- 39:53it's really important.
- 39:54Let's put medications as one of
- 39:57the pieces that you think is
- 39:59important for your Wellness.
- 40:01So you know, I have the kids
- 40:03write down medications and
- 40:04then I'd ask them what else is,
- 40:06you know, important to you?
- 40:07What else do you think plays
- 40:09a role in your Wellness?
- 40:11And then they might say, oh, you know,
- 40:12I like to paint or I like to draw.
- 40:14And so I'd say, OK, write that as well.
- 40:17And then what else?
- 40:18And then they'll say, oh,
- 40:19I like to play lacrosse or
- 40:21soccer or basketball.
- 40:23And I'll be like, OK, write that as well.
- 40:25What else do you like to do?
- 40:26And then, you know, they might say,
- 40:28I like to play with my friends
- 40:29and hang out with my family.
- 40:31And so we would start to
- 40:34construct this pizza.
- 40:35But then I would also start to help them and,
- 40:38you know, make suggestions like how about,
- 40:40you know, something like maybe sleep,
- 40:43sleep important to you.
- 40:44And they're like, no,
- 40:45I prefer to just play video
- 40:46games and I'm like, OK, whatever.
- 40:48But eventually I'll convince them to,
- 40:51you know, write down things like sleep or,
- 40:54you know, talk about like nutrition,
- 40:56you know what they eat or, you know,
- 40:59talk about, you know, self-care,
- 41:01you know, taking care of yourself.
- 41:02So eventually we would build this,
- 41:06you know, pizza.
- 41:07That was what I started to call it.
- 41:09And you know, what I noticed was,
- 41:12you know,
- 41:13I would basically tell the kids that,
- 41:15OK,
- 41:15now that we have this pizza,
- 41:17I would encourage you to try
- 41:20to do everything that's on this
- 41:23pizza by the end of the day.
- 41:24So by the time you go to bed,
- 41:25you can say I have a complete pizza.
- 41:29And I've done all these things on my pizza.
- 41:32And what I started to notice was, you know,
- 41:35the kids who did these things and,
- 41:38you know,
- 41:39worked on their pizzas started to do
- 41:42better and started to feel better.
- 41:44And so my practice and my kiddos,
- 41:49you know, started to look like this,
- 41:51where everyone started to have
- 41:53a pizza and everyone, you know,
- 41:56sort of had their own flavour
- 41:59to their pizzas.
- 42:00So it was,
- 42:01it was pretty incredible to see
- 42:03the variation and the growth.
- 42:05And then I started to think I was like,
- 42:09wait a minute, you know,
- 42:12but I think I might, you know,
- 42:14be able to use this pizza and this,
- 42:17you know,
- 42:17art and actually bring this to life.
- 42:20And so that's where, you know,
- 42:21the conversations with my neighbor
- 42:24and friend, you know, Nicholas,
- 42:26you know, really, you know,
- 42:28exploded and we went straight
- 42:32to work and started to innovate.
- 42:35So we went to Home Depot,
- 42:38got, you know, a slab of wood,
- 42:40you know, you know, worked on some software,
- 42:43some coding and came up with a actual pizza.
- 42:48And you know, we came up with a product that,
- 42:53you know, so far has been really wonderful,
- 42:57not just the product,
- 42:59the experience of using, you know,
- 43:02sort of the visual arts and a simple
- 43:04drawing on a piece of paper and you know,
- 43:07bringing something to life.
- 43:09And so we've worked on it severally
- 43:11and we developed the Wellness Pizza,
- 43:14which is a baby that we have right now.
- 43:19But the Wellness Pizza basically
- 43:21is a therapeutic tool that is
- 43:24used by professionals that work
- 43:26with children and adolescents.
- 43:28And it is really a way for,
- 43:31for you know,
- 43:33professionals whether it be therapists,
- 43:36clinicians, pediatricians,
- 43:38child psychiatrists,
- 43:39educators to really teach children
- 43:42about Wellness and you know
- 43:45mental health and you know the the
- 43:48missions you know of the Wellness.
- 43:50Pizza is really improving the Wellness
- 43:53of children and adolescents exchange in
- 43:55the passive archetype of mental health
- 43:58for a new proactive model and also
- 44:01supporting screen free kiddo powered play,
- 44:04that's what I like to call it.
- 44:05And to also harness the power of
- 44:08creativity and play to improve Wellness.
- 44:11So this is one example of how just you know,
- 44:16the visual arts in general has played
- 44:19a big role in like just innovation.
- 44:22And you know, my own journey and,
- 44:25you know, a shameless plug.
- 44:26If you have a,
- 44:28if you have a cell phone or smartphone,
- 44:31you can take a picture of the QR code
- 44:34and learn more about the Wellness pizza.
- 44:38And I believe we have one here
- 44:40available for a raffle as well.
- 44:42So thank you all.
- 44:45And yeah, that is the end of my talk.
- 44:47Thank you.
- 44:55So, thank you.
- 44:56So, just so interesting to hear
- 44:59because like sitting here with
- 45:01each of you sharing your stories,
- 45:03I learned something new and
- 45:04different about each of you.
- 45:06And it was all through this
- 45:08artistic endeavour.
- 45:09So one thing I wanted to make sure,
- 45:11so I am not Christian Edwards,
- 45:13but I will be sharing some
- 45:14words that Chris shared with me.
- 45:15But also like Tangela was talking about
- 45:18the journey of the geez bend quilts.
- 45:21Well, they have journeyed all
- 45:22the way to Target this year.
- 45:24And so there's actually a
- 45:25collaboration with Target in
- 45:27which there's a number of products
- 45:28inspired by geez bend quilt designs.
- 45:30Like are you wearing one?
- 45:31She is wearing the jacket and some
- 45:33of the pieces she has up there.
- 45:35So just wanted to point that
- 45:37out and also to let folks know
- 45:39that the raffles that we have,
- 45:41we'll have two of the autobiographies of Mr.
- 45:44Rembert.
- 45:45We have a Wellness pizza and we also
- 45:49have Tangela's book as well as a Geez
- 45:54Ben Quilt Square as part of of the raffles.
- 45:57And there are also items
- 45:59from Tierra Soap Company,
- 46:00which is an Afro Latino soap
- 46:03company here in New Haven.
- 46:04So we do have Mr.
- 46:07Joseph to join us in a few moments.
- 46:10If you want to set up while I do this,
- 46:11that's totally OK.
- 46:12So Christian Edwards is one
- 46:14of our social work fellows.
- 46:16He is diagnosed with the flu
- 46:18today and unable to join us,
- 46:20but he did send me some of his remarks.
- 46:23And so he was very excited to invite Mr.
- 46:28Joseph here to join us,
- 46:31and he really had hoped to
- 46:32introduce him himself.
- 46:33But he learned of Mr.
- 46:34Joseph Threw,
- 46:35a former Saint Luke's steel band student,
- 46:38and he reached out to that person to to him,
- 46:40excuse me,
- 46:41to inquire about lessons,
- 46:42and they've been connected ever since.
- 46:44So the sounds of the steel pan take Chris
- 46:47back to his childhood when his family
- 46:50would visit Pan Yards in Brooklyn, NY.
- 46:53They enjoyed the sounds of different
- 46:55bands as they competed in Panorama,
- 46:57a steel pan competition.
- 46:59His favorite part of attending Panorama
- 47:01was enjoying popular Trinidadian St.
- 47:04foods like corn soup and Double S Lots
- 47:09of food in our stories today as well.
- 47:13Chris's grandparents often encouraged him
- 47:15to take lessons, but he always refused.
- 47:17At the time, it didn't seem like
- 47:20a cool thing to do, he said.
- 47:22He didn't know any kids his age
- 47:24that had played 20 years later.
- 47:27He wished that he or he wishes
- 47:28that he had accepted the offer.
- 47:31And that's part of why he reached out to Mr.
- 47:33Joseph, actually.
- 47:34So, Chris, thank you for inviting Mr.
- 47:38Joseph to join us. And Mr.
- 47:41Joseph's going to talk a little bit,
- 47:42I think, about the steel pan,
- 47:44but also demonstrate I'm fine.
- 47:47Are you good? OK.
- 47:50Well, good afternoon.
- 47:51Thank you for having me.
- 47:52You know, I have to just to connect the
- 47:55dots with the last presentation from IO
- 47:59in terms of the pizza for two reasons.
- 48:02One, of course I love pizza
- 48:04like everybody else.
- 48:05And then the second thing is
- 48:07when I saw Music theory would
- 48:10use the same model so kids can
- 48:13understand about whole notes,
- 48:15half notes, quarter notes,
- 48:188th notes through the form of the pizza.
- 48:20So you know, good job of what you're doing.
- 48:22So yeah, so here we have the steel pad
- 48:31looks like this.
- 48:32You know everyone when you see
- 48:33from the very first majority,
- 48:34it's like not marvel about it.
- 48:36And I I'm going to play a little bit
- 48:39for you later on, but I'll also,
- 48:41you know talk about it first.
- 48:45It wasn't a hung because my,
- 48:46I brought the wrong stand today
- 48:48and this stand is missing a screw.
- 48:50So I'm hoping that it stays
- 48:53connected for the most part.
- 48:55So the steel plant instrument,
- 48:57it's from the tiny island of turn on Tobago.
- 48:59If you can hear my accents, great,
- 49:01that's where I'm from, turn on Tobago.
- 49:04And this instrument I would say
- 49:07started and evolved from a need.
- 49:11So at the end of slavery,
- 49:13you had the folks in Trinidad
- 49:15who wanted just to celebrate
- 49:16themselves and that's to be free.
- 49:17Like, hey,
- 49:18we're free like let's go on and celebrate.
- 49:20So the the carnival culture rather is a
- 49:26French culture that they left in Trinidad.
- 49:29So hence why like Carnival in
- 49:32Trinidad is celebrated around the
- 49:33world the same time as Mardi Gras
- 49:36in Brazil and the same time in
- 49:38Louisiana as well to New Orleans.
- 49:40But at the end of slavery,
- 49:42wanted to express themselves.
- 49:43So they took to the streets and they paraded.
- 49:46Yeah, they paraded and they,
- 49:49you know, had a good time.
- 49:50But then they were in the
- 49:53streets with their African drums.
- 49:56But let's just think back before
- 49:58when slaves came from Africa,
- 49:59they all spoke different languages
- 50:01and they used African drums
- 50:03to speak to each other.
- 50:05So the African drums were
- 50:07outlawed and they were banned.
- 50:09Like, just stop all this talking.
- 50:11So they then went from the African drums
- 50:14to what's called the Tambu bamboos.
- 50:16And those are just different bamboos,
- 50:20some smaller, some thicker and larger
- 50:23and thicker and larger, like bass.
- 50:25And then obviously the smaller
- 50:27ones are like higher pitches.
- 50:29Those were also outlawed and banned.
- 50:32So they moved to to paint tins
- 50:36and then those paintings,
- 50:38guess what, you guessed it,
- 50:39they were outlawed.
- 50:41But they began to try to experiment
- 50:42and and continue experimenting.
- 50:44So they had,
- 50:45they found those 55 gallon oil drums.
- 50:50And because of this time
- 50:52the tradition in Trinidad,
- 50:53it was more of an oral history and
- 50:55it wasn't documented properly.
- 50:57You have different stories.
- 50:59The one I love to to share is the
- 51:02one that someone had an oil drum
- 51:05and they threw a rock over a fence
- 51:09and it dented one side of the drum.
- 51:13So therefore you had a drum with
- 51:17the same flat surface and one that
- 51:20was dented and the part that was
- 51:23dented sounded different to the flat
- 51:26surface and through experimentation
- 51:27they they realized like you know what?
- 51:30Wait, if this sounds differently,
- 51:31maybe if I sink the other side,
- 51:35I might have a different sound.
- 51:37So through experimentation again
- 51:38and it so steel pan kind of evolved
- 51:41into what it is today.
- 51:42So you had those two instruments,
- 51:44I'm sorry,
- 51:45those two dance with different sounds.
- 51:48Let's do a third dance,
- 51:50let's do a fourth.
- 51:51Let's just keep building and building and
- 51:54building until what we have here today.
- 51:56And this steel pan here has
- 51:5829 different notes,
- 52:00so they've got different dance in that right.
- 52:03When you think about the piano,
- 52:05it's the same notes in the same range,
- 52:08not as wide, but it's 2 1/2 octaves
- 52:11and and this and I'll explain
- 52:12to you about the white keys,
- 52:14The Black Keys in a second.
- 52:15So let's say about my history
- 52:17of steel band playing.
- 52:18I began playing not so long ago about
- 52:21this year makes it 30-4 years and
- 52:27this year is 34 years.
- 52:29But the fun thing I I hated steel band
- 52:31and because my my godmother at the time,
- 52:34she passed away now.
- 52:36But she said you're doing so
- 52:38well in school here's a treat for
- 52:40you to learn to play steel band
- 52:42and I absolutely hated it.
- 52:44I felt kind of like how how crocheted
- 52:46like it was just loud and noisy
- 52:50and no one's doing this but I said
- 52:54I'll give it a try the the saving
- 52:57grace for me on a personal level
- 52:59bad for the country but in in June.
- 53:02In July. Sorry 1991991990,
- 53:05sorry it was an attempted coup and
- 53:08try not to bagel and at that time we
- 53:12were in our houses they were curfews
- 53:15and we had to stay in stay put.
- 53:18So therefore steel pan.
- 53:20There was no more for me.
- 53:22So within that month that I
- 53:23wasn't able to play steel band,
- 53:25something clicked and it just felt
- 53:30right coming back, I zoom it,
- 53:34it just felt right.
- 53:35Coming back to it afterwards and
- 53:37I'm really I can't tell you I was 8
- 53:39at that and I can't tell you what
- 53:40really made me feel differently but
- 53:42it just felt right in the moment.
- 53:45I'm going to Fast forward.
- 53:46You know,
- 53:47you don't hear all the the nitty gritty ears.
- 53:49But I began at the end of high school.
- 53:52I began working at fast food restaurants.
- 53:54I think still to this day my best
- 53:57job ever because I learned so many
- 54:00different things in that restaurant.
- 54:01But my assistant manager at that time,
- 54:04she said to me, she said,
- 54:05can I see you're doing so well here
- 54:07because now after six months you're
- 54:09being promoted to be a supervisor.
- 54:12What is your next step?
- 54:14You need to go back to college.
- 54:17And which I did,
- 54:18and I took my love and passion for
- 54:21music and I went to college and
- 54:24studied music and love kind of,
- 54:26mainly because of her and other folks
- 54:29who I was strongly influenced by.
- 54:33I took a music degree at the end
- 54:35of my degree. I was doing fine.
- 54:37I was teaching music in Trinidad,
- 54:39living with my parents,
- 54:40so I had a great salary,
- 54:41like my friends every weekend.
- 54:43We had a great time.
- 54:44But then then my professor in college,
- 54:49he said, yeah,
- 54:50I do a graduate degree and I
- 54:52thought to myself, like, why?
- 54:54Like, I'm, I'm good.
- 54:55Like, so I I did that.
- 54:58I went to Northern Illinois
- 55:01University out in DeKalb, Illinois.
- 55:03It's 60 miles West of Chicago.
- 55:06You would not think that there
- 55:07were steel pans out there,
- 55:09but it is the only university that
- 55:11offers a degree, a graduate degree.
- 55:13Sorry.
- 55:13In steel pan performance you would not.
- 55:19You would not think that,
- 55:20but there's a lot of history
- 55:21with that as well too.
- 55:22Why it happened?
- 55:23I think the zoom may have cut off.
- 55:25Not sure. It
- 55:27still has you. Thank you.
- 55:31So yeah, and so I've been in New
- 55:33Haven now for the last 14 years.
- 55:35I am the director of the Saint Luke
- 55:37Steel band, steel band in New Haven.
- 55:39I know Tara just she saw us performing
- 55:42at the end of the CP unveiling of Ruby
- 55:47Bridges the when she got her stamp.
- 55:49So we perform in around New Haven.
- 55:52We have gone outside of the city.
- 55:55We have gone in different states as well too.
- 55:57But for me on a personal level,
- 55:59you know steel pan has done
- 56:00a lot for me in the arts.
- 56:01I have been to different countries,
- 56:04I've been to Japan, Europe,
- 56:07a lot of the Caribbean islands,
- 56:08many parts of the US performing steel pan,
- 56:10whether it's teaching, adjudicating,
- 56:13whether it's just performing,
- 56:15writing music as well to
- 56:18I've been doing that.
- 56:19So I wanted to do a little playing
- 56:22for you and then if you have
- 56:24any questions about steel pan,
- 56:26I'm definitely open to answering it
- 56:29because one thing about this instrument
- 56:31because it's from where I'm from,
- 56:33there are folks who died like fighting to
- 56:36make this instrument be be very prominent.
- 56:38I'm very passionate about it.
- 56:39So any questions you have I'll
- 56:41be happy to answer.
- 56:45So
- 56:51what steel pan can play?
- 56:52You put it here if you want.
- 56:54Yes, you can't complete anything.
- 56:57And I mentioned before,
- 56:59when we had two notes only,
- 57:03you had to adapt and then they
- 57:05began to play three and four.
- 57:07But in the very beginning
- 57:09you had very simple melodies.
- 57:10One of them is this little embellishments,
- 57:39so my favorite song of course.
- 57:43So that's one style of music,
- 57:46steel packing, playing.
- 58:06When we began, before we
- 58:08had music for steel bands,
- 58:09we took music written primarily for
- 58:14string instruments because the notes fits
- 58:17perfectly into our steel band instruments.
- 58:20So we would read that and just
- 58:21transcribe it to instruments.
- 58:22So of course that was in the whole of
- 58:24the modern king, if you knew the melody.
- 58:27And then of course with steel bands
- 58:29we played primarily, not primarily,
- 58:31sorry, we play calypso music.
- 58:33So here's one of them
- 59:10that is a piece of a song called
- 59:14Pan in A Minor. It's by the Lord
- 59:18Kitchener written for steel pans.
- 59:20As we got before we had
- 59:21stuff written for steel pans,
- 59:23and it's one of the steel pan classics
- 59:27in the steel band world for competitions.
- 59:30So I just use those two words
- 59:32interchangeably. I said steel pan,
- 59:34that's one instrument and steel band,
- 59:38it's a multiple array of steel punishments.
- 59:41So you have like 4 primary instruments.
- 59:44Kind of like if you compare to the voice
- 59:46you have in the voice you have soprano,
- 59:49Alto, tenor, bass.
- 59:49In the steel pan family you have tenor,
- 59:53I'll tell you why in a second.
- 59:54So the tenor steel pan is the soprano voice.
- 59:59You have a double second steel pan.
- 01:00:02That's the Alto voice,
- 01:00:04a double guitar, It's the tenor voice.
- 01:00:08And a bass steel pan.
- 01:00:10It's the bass voice.
- 01:00:12Now why does this call the
- 01:00:15tenor for the soprano range?
- 01:00:17It is very macho of us
- 01:00:22steel pan became was initially
- 01:00:25a a male dominated fielder.
- 01:00:28Women were not allowed to play steel pants.
- 01:00:32I wasn't there, though,
- 01:00:35but they weren't allowed to play steel pants.
- 01:00:36And when they began to evolve and and
- 01:00:39create a name for this because only
- 01:00:41men were playing it, they weren't
- 01:00:44going to call it soprano Steel Pants.
- 01:00:46So they called it the Terror.
- 01:00:49I apologize, ladies,
- 01:00:50but that's where we are and we're
- 01:00:53just going to go with it for now.
- 01:00:55All right.
- 01:00:59I'm going to play a quick song
- 01:01:00for you and then we can get some
- 01:01:02questions if it's time for it.
- 01:02:006
- 01:02:40None,
- 01:03:09None.
- 01:03:48None.
- 01:04:23None.
- 01:04:40None.
- 01:05:24So if sign permits and any
- 01:05:28questions about steel,
- 01:05:29but I'm happy to, if not, we can.
- 01:05:32We're happy to do both because
- 01:05:33we actually have this space to
- 01:05:35go into some time for reception.
- 01:05:36So if you're able to stay and have
- 01:05:38some snacks and treats in the back,
- 01:05:40we also have some raffles in the
- 01:05:43back as well as I mentioned and
- 01:05:46we can ringle and ask questions.
- 01:05:48And I think Mr.
- 01:05:49Joseph something a little bit
- 01:05:51for us a little later too.
- 01:05:52But thank you so much everyone for
- 01:05:54being here and for coming and for
- 01:05:57sharing of your music and for sharing
- 01:05:59of your art and of yourselves.
- 01:06:01So we really appreciate that.
- 01:06:03So but if you have questions
- 01:06:06please excuse me.
- 01:06:16So this particular one, this is metal.
- 01:06:19We can use wood as well too but then
- 01:06:22these are just like surgical tips.
- 01:06:24We also use like gloves and cut
- 01:06:27them and just wrap them but these
- 01:06:29are just an easier but this is
- 01:06:32this is metal but also use wood.