On April 18, we hosted our Language Arts conference for high school Black boys. Related: • Language Arts Conference, Spring 2024 ..read more

One of the highlights of our Language Arts conference had to be our session assembling and toppling dominos. A few weeks back, I had some of my undergraduates join my graduate student and me setting up and toppling Black books in domino style. For yesterday's conference, the high school students worked in teams, assisted by my undergraduates, to assemble various domino designs. They had a good time trying to assemble within the time limits that I kept setting.  Related: • Language Arts Conference, Spring 2024 ..read more

A few photos of students browsing artbooks and sketching images during our Language Arts conference. [Related: Browsing Artbooks & Sketching Images] Related: • Language Arts Conference, Spring 2024 ..read more

During our Language Arts conference for high school Black boys, the guys browsed my collection of artbooks and chose images to sketch. I did a version of this session for a different group of guys last fall. For many years now, I've tried to think of ways to share aspects of my book collections with students. Starting in Back in 2009, I started hosting "browsing sessions" to share the many volumes of poetry I collected with students. Later, I hosted browsing sessions focusing on comic books, and then more recently, I acquired enough artbooks to feature those.  The artbooks gave me a ..read more

On April 18, we coordinated our Language Arts conference for 15 high school students. Students from East St. Louis and Belleville participated. The gathering included a book browsing and sketching activity, making collages and vision boards, and assembling and toppling dominos. As always, we gave away free books.  This conference, like our past ones, gave us chances to involve Black boys in arts and humanities activities. Notes on the conference: • A photo-review of the Language Arts Conference • Browsing Artbooks & Sketching Images  • A photo-review of Artbook Br ..read more

Here's a short whiteboard animation on Viola Davis that briefly considers ongoing struggles related to representations. This short piece is an excerpt of a longer podcast episode.   Words by Nicole Dixon  Narration by Kassandra Timm  Whiteboard animation by Sierra Taylor Related: • A checklist of videos & whiteboard animations ..read more

My graduate student and arts collaborator Nicole Dixon and I came up with this idea, Black Arts Next, to showcase an array of artistic productions.  Here's a roundup of the featured materials compositions:  • Black Book Dominos • Reading Faces, Part 1 • Reading Faces, Part 2 • The Art and Artmaking of Kennedy Killion-Johnson • Making a pair of Handcrafted Boots • Animating action and transformation • Conversing with Jim the Crow about the ways of the world Related: • A checklist of videos & whiteboard animations ..read more

This one is a throwback. A short exchange between Ophelia and James about the ways of the world.  The composition was produced by Al Henderson in 2010 as part of the Malcolm X Mixtape.  Related:  • Black Arts Next  • A checklist of videos & whiteboard animations ..read more

A draft of an animation project produced by Kennedy Killion-Johnson.  Related: • Black Arts Next  • A checklist of videos & whiteboard animations ..read more

Kennedy Killion-Johnson describes the process of making a pair of one-of-a-kind boots.  Content provided by Kennedy Killion-Johnson  Whiteboard animation by Sierra Taylor Related: • Black Arts Next  • A checklist of videos & whiteboard animations ..read more