Artistry of African/Diaspora Blacksmiths

i ni ce, thank you, merci: Apprenticing at a Forge in Dioro, Mali. During her Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship in 1995, Janet apprenticed with a family of blacksmiths in Dioro. She made small knives with carved wooden handles and hair tressing tools, the beginning objects for all apprentices at the forge. The skills needed to make these simple tools introduce …

In the Shadow of the Empires: Protecting West Africa’s Cultural Heritage

Chairs: Janet Goldner, Oussouby Sacko; Participants: Janet Goldner, Oussouby Sacko, Kandioura Coulibaly, Kletigui Dembéle, Yuka Goto Focusing on culture, art and design issues for the first time at Mali Symposium on Applied Sciences (MSAS), this roundtable session brought together artists, architects and many other cultural actors. Many aspects of West African culture are in danger of being lost due to …

Bamako Symposium on the Arts

The symposium is designed to enable Malian and international arts practitioners, researchers, and policymakers share experiences, research and practitioner wisdom across arts disciplines and to identify key best practices across civilizations and their contiguities with the Mali context. The hope is that we will generate new initiatives to boost human capital development in Mali in the 21st century through a …

Arts in the One World Conference

Arts in the One World is a conference to explore ways that artistic, political and historical purposes intersect, through reconciliation, the recovery of historical memory and advocacy for justice. Janet was on two panels on Saturday, March 20th. One is about Cultural Diplomacy and the other is about Visual Arts. Website: Arts in the One World

Bintou’s Salon: Photo Exhibition in Tribeca

photographs by Janet Goldner Bamako, Mali (West Africa), 2009 An intimate portrait of an open air beauty salon in Bamako, Mali, where women prepare for weddings, parties and other celebrations. Bintou and Aisha work long hours especially on the weekends to satisfy their clients. Henna is applied to hands and feet. It lasts for about two weeks. The henna process …

New York artist, Janet Goldner Receives Fulbright Specialists Award

New York artist, Janet Goldner was selected for a Fulbright Specialists project in Bamako, Mali. Goldner conducted a three week seminar for visual art students at Balla Fasseke Kouyate Conservatory of Arts and Multimedia. Inspired by a process originated by the renowned feminist art critic, Arlene Raven, students examined the reasons and context of their artistic production in order to …

Goldner’s ideas conceived in Mali, born on Warren Street

Tribeca artist’s massive steel sculptures resonate through two worlds A feature article about Goldner’s sculptures and her relationship to Mali appears in The Villager, and Downtown Express. By Steven Snyder For 35 years, Tribeca artist Janet Goldner has been finding inspiration at opposite ends of the Earth. Intrigued by the tension she’s experienced between her two homes on different continents, …