Inspired by Jazz: Museum of the African Diaspora (San Francisco) Opens 'Textural Rhythms: Constructing the Jazz Tradition, Contemporary African American Quilts'

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Quilting, like jazz, is an American art form that flows from a tradition of innovation, experimentation, and rhythmic syncopation. This month the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) brings together the two creative forces in an exhibit that showcases their synergistic relationship in a powerful way. The exhibition is scheduled to open on January 27, 2011, and will run through April 24.

The traveling exhibition, "Textural Rhythms: Constructing the Jazz Tradition, Contemporary African American Quilts," brings together a diversity of talented artists and quilt makers from across the country and locally who were inspired by the rhythms, richness, and complexity of jazz and by its creators and innovators in ways that have evoked an equally powerful response in their work.

On Friday, January 28, MoAD will hold a free Opening Reception at the museum to celebrate the exhibition's opening. The evening will combine wine and hors d'oeuvres with, appropriately enough, live music provided by the Berkeley Jazzschool. The event begins at 6:30 pm for MoAD members, and 7:30 pm for the general public. Guests may RSVP by visiting www.moadsf.org.

"Textural Rhythms," curated by Carolyn Mazloomi, Founder and Coordinator of The Women of Color Quilters Network, includes over fifty quilts about jazz by artists who were inspired by the music's rhythmic syncopation and improvisatory brilliance, by historic jazz figures, and by their experiences of jazz and its significance in their lives and work," said Grace C. Stanislaus, Executive Director of MoAD.

The MoAD showing is part of a two-and-a-half-year-long national tour involving the work of the artists of the Women of Color Quilters Network. The exhibition was developed and managed by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, an exhibition tour development company in Kansas City, Missouri.

MoAD members and the general public are invited to learn more about these two powerful and creative art forms, and participate in the many related events held January through April.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) showcases the history, art and the cultural richness that resulted from the dispersal of Africans throughout the African Diaspora through innovative and engaging exhibitions, education and public programs. By realizing its mission MoAD connects all people through our shared African heritage. Incorporated in 2002 as a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, MoAD opened its doors in 2005 in space contiguous with the St. Regis Hotel and Residences and in the historic Williams Building at 685 Mission Street at Third.  MoAD was conceived as a cornerstone of the economic and cultural revitalization of downtown San Francisco and has become an anchor with its neighbors the San Francisco MoMA, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Zeum, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum in making this dynamic cultural corridor a premier cultural destination. MoAD receives private and public donations and is supported in part by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency as well as local and national foundations, corporations, businesses, and by its membership and Board of Directors.

SOURCE Museum of the African Diaspora