A SAMPLE OF NARRATION FOR CHAPTER 15, LOUISVILLE ART WORKSHOP
SINCE NO BLACK ARTIST CAN SHOW THEIR WORK IN THE WHITE-RUN ART GALLERIES OR THE ONE MUSEUM IN TOWN, FRED AND BOB HAVE BEEN CREATING SPACES FOR BLACK ARTISTS SINCE THE EARLY 50S, WITH GALLERY ENTERPRISES BEFORE THE LOUISVILLE ART WORKSHOP, JOE’S PALM ROOM AND BROWN DERBY BEFORE THAT. THE WORKSHOP MAY BE BLACK-RUN BUT IT’S AN INTEGRATED ART SPACE.
AFTER MEETING A SWIRL OF PEOPLE, OF ALL AGES AND COLORS, FRED MOTIONS TO A TRIM, NATTILY DRESSED MAN TO COME OVER. IT’S DEVA PATNIAK FROM BHUBANESWAR, ORISSA, INDIA, A VISITING PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE. HE IMMEDIATELY TAKES A LIKING TO US. UP TO THAT POINT, THE WELL WORN PATHS I HAD KNOWN WERE FEW, BUT ON THAT DAY, THE WORLD EXPANDED BEYOND THE LAND-LOCKED BORDERS OF MY LIFE, FROM THE EAST END TO THE WEST END AND BEYOND, ALL THE WAY TO INDIA
THE NEXT WEEKEND, WE VISIT DEVA IN HIS TINY APT. ON THE U. OF L. CAMPUS. IT’S SO SMALL THE ONLY PLACE TO SIT IS ON THE BED. HE ASKS US TO TELL HIM A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OURSELVES. BUT WHAT DO YOU TELL SOMEONE WHO YOU ARE, WHEN YOU DON’TKNOW YOURSELF? KINGSTON COULDN’T BEGIN TO TELL DEVA ABOUT HIS INCIPIENT FEELINGS THAT HE MIGHT BE GAY, WHEN THE WORD “GAY” WASN’T EVEN SPOKEN IN 1966 LOUISVILLE. FOR MY PART, HOW COULD I ADMIT, THAT IN ORDER TO HAVE ANY KIND OF NORMAL ADOLESCENTS, I HAD TO BECOME A LIAR ABOUT EVERY ASPECT OF MY LIFE, FOR INSTANCE, VISITING DEVA IN HIS TINY APARTMENT.
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BIO
Charlotte Hildebrand
4267 San Rafael Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90042
323-573-1122
IG: lottobrand
website: charlottehildebrand.com
email: lottobrand127@gmail.com
Kentucky born, Charlotte lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She moved from NYC to LA in the mid-80s to study at the American Film Insititue after making a short film, entitled “One Man’s Tale,” about a giant lizard. After film school, instead of working in the industry, she produced her first child. While raising her children she worked as a writer and editor for various non-profit arts organizations; as a jouralist and freelance book editor; and taught ESL.
After the kids left home, she began an art practice, starting with an illustrated personal blog, which progressed to the street, with Charlotte putting up wheat pastes in the dead of night around LA. This led to working as a muralist, illustrator and cartoonist, after studying political cartooning with Steve Brodner and graphic narration with Amy Kurzweil. Charlotte found that sequential art, as in making a comic, was similiar to making a film, with one scene following the other in service of telling a story.
Charlotte has taught graphic narrative classes and workshops at Eagle Rock Art Center, LA, Maine College of Art (online) and for the past five years, in her home studio. She teaches one-off commissioned workshops, as well. Her motto for teaching is everyone can draw, and when appropriate, find the humor even if times are tough. She is presently working on a childhood graphic memoir of growing up in segregated Louisville, KY, during the 50s and 60s.