FOCUS: Prints in Clay at Gaillard to celebrate spirituals, culture

Staff reports  |  As the last vestiges of summer are replaced by the chaos of back to school, the Charleston Gaillard Center is bringing the Lowcountry a reason to celebrate fall with Prints In Clay, a multi-disciplinary event celebrating the impact of the African-American culture on the city of Charleston.

Prints in Clay features an evening of commissioned arrangements of African–American spirituals featuring the powerful voice of mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges accompanied by an instrumental septet and Lowcountry Voices as well as a two-week photography exhibit by the Slave Dwelling Project in the grand lobby of the Gaillard, tours of the back buildings and former work lots of Charleston’s private historic homes, and a historically informed dinner featuring the food of the African diaspora.

The event title, Prints in Clay, comes directly from Joe McGill, founder of the Slave Dwelling Project. In describing one patron’s experience during a slave dwelling tour, McGill noted:

“What she didn’t realize … was that some of the indentations in the bricks are the fingerprints of the slave who made them. And when I go and I put my fingers in those prints, my fingers are way too big – – which is an indication that they were children, enslaved children, you know, making those bricks. That’s the evidence of the enslaved ancestors reaching out to us, saying “We are here. Tell our stories.”

The curated photography exhibit opens in the grand lobby of the Gaillard on Sept. 10 and will be on display through Sept. 21.  Works of three young photographers will range from slave dwellings to churches. There is no charge for admission to view the photographs.

From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 15, patrons can step inside the back buildings and former work lots of Charleston’s private houses during the second annual “Beyond the Big House” Tour, presented by Historic Charleston Foundation. Tickets for the tour are $43.50 per person and are available through Historic Charleston Foundation and the Charleston Gaillard Center.

Then at 5 p.m. Sept. 15, the Charleston Gaillard Center presents the Food of the African Diaspora. Curated by James Beard Award winning food historian Dr. Jessica B. Harris, this unique culinary event celebrates the contributions of African-American culture to Lowcountry cuisine. Tickets for the three-course meal are $89 per person, which includes all food and beverages.

And at 7:30 pm that evening, the doors to the Martha and John M. Rivers Performance Hall open wide to welcome the audience to the premiere of commissioned arrangements of traditional spirituals by Wycliffe Gordon, a veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis septet and original member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. These arrangements will be performed by American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “rich, dark, exciting sound”, an instrumental septet hand-picked by Gordon and Lowcountry Voices.

The evening’s program will feature new arrangements of spiritual standards, such as “Motherless Child” and “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen, “as well as world premieres of arrangements of “Still We Rise,” “He Heard My Cry” and “A City Called Heaven.”

Tickets range from $22 to $75 and are available by calling the Gaillard Center Ticket Office at 843-242-3099 or online at www.gaillardcenter.org.

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