Harlem Memories – Accordion Textile Book with Dindga McCannon

HARLEM MEMORIES – accordion textile book

What to bring: If you have photos that capture your memories of Harlem, please bring them for your accordion textile book.

One of the most prolific and celebrated communities in the world is Harlem.  Join Dindga McCannon as you engage and design your own memories of Harlem in textile.

Dindga McCannon’s use of personal objects, photographs, and ephemera focuses on the history and stories of women—both well-known public figures and unknown family and friends who have shaped her world.

A third-generation Harlemite, Dindga McCannon’s multidisciplinary practice features mixed-media quilts, textiles, paintings, and sculptures. At age ten, she told her parents she wanted to be an artist and went on to attend high school for fashion design. In 1964, she joined the Twentieth Century Art Creators collective. When the group split soon after, she became a member of the Afrocentric faction, the Weusi Artist Collective. The men in Weusi helped McCannon—one of only two women members—to learn how to stretch a canvas and present her first solo exhibition at a small coffee shop. At the same time, McCannon attended night school at City College and studied at the Art Students League under the likes of Jacob Lawrence, Charles Alston, and Richard Mayhew.

McCannon, like other women of the time, had to balance personal responsibilities while confronting pervasive racism and sexism. In response, she cofounded Where We at Black Women Artists with Faith Ringgold and Kay Brown. This group of Black women fostered community as a creative outlet and supported each other with childcare and financial needs. A 2017 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965–1985, included a painting made by McCannon in 1975, and brought attention to the collective and to McCannon’s practice specifically. Her use of personal objects, photographs, and ephemera focuses on the history and stories of women—both well-known public figures and unknown family and friends who have shaped her world. Learn more about Dindga

Register: $40 + processing fee

All materials included