Tuesday Nov 1\ 5:30–7pm
COMMUNITY FORUM – BEING AFRICAN IN MAINE SERIES #3 (THE YOUTH EXPERIENCE)
@Portland Public Library

Wednesday Nov 2\ 6–8pm
OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION ART EXHIBIT
@Constellation Gallery

Wednesday Nov 2\ 8:30–10:30pm
OPENING NIGHT FILM – 1ST GRADER
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Thursday Nov 3\ 6:00–8:00pm
BROTHERS IN ARMS
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Thursday Nov 3\ 8:30–10:30pm
SHORT COMBO#1, LEZARE & ONE WAY. A TUAREG JOURNEY
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Friday Nov 4\ 6:00–8:00pm
KINSHASA SYMPHONY
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Friday Nov 4\ 6:00–8:00pm
1ST GRADER
@Frontier cafe. 14 Maine Street, Brunswick, Maine

Friday Nov 4\ 8:30–10:30pm
A SCREAMING MAN
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Friday Nov 4\ 8:30–10:30pm
SHORT COMBO #1
@Frontier cafe. 14 Maine Street, Brunswick, Maine

Saturday Nov 5\ 1:00–3:00pm
A TRIP TO ALGIERS
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Saturday Nov 5\ 3:30–5:30pm
SHORT COMBO #2 KONGO SERIES
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Saturday Nov 5\ 6:00–8:00pm
1ST GRADER
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Saturday Nov 5\ 8:30–10:30pm
BROTHERS IN ARMS
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Sunday Nov 6\ 1:00–3:00pm
KINSHASA SYMPHONY
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

Sunday Nov 6\ 3:30–5:30pm
A SCREAMING MAN
@Nicklodeon Cinema. 1 Temple Street, Portland Maine

2011 Maine African Film Festival Art Workshop

Project Summary

As part of the week long third annual Maine African Film Festival, and building on the success of our art workshops across Maine last year – Waynflete School (Portland), Noble High School (North Berwick) and University of Southern Maine (Portland), we have another amazing young artist visiting us in Portland this year.

We hope to expose Maine students to unique arts and a hands-on experience in seeing and approaching arts from the African or African-Inspired lens. We feel Nyugen Smith, our 2011 Guest Artist can provide these such experience.

MAFF Guest Artist Bio

Nyugen E. Smith was born in Jersey City, NJ in 1976 to a Trinidadian mother and Haitian father. He spent his formative years growing up in his mother’s homeland-a tropical, former British colony where African customs and traditions are still woven in to the cultural fabric. Upon moving back to the United States to live with his mother, he and his brother were often taken to African dance performances, art galleries, museums, Jazz concerts, and other cultural events which celebrated African Heritage.  This exposure would later prove itself to have been essential to Smith’s current artistic investigations.

In 1994 he enrolled at Seton Hall University as a Political Science major with the intention of eventually pursing a Law degree. During his time there, he became involved in the dramatic arts landing roles in the the university’s theater program as well as roles as an extra in television and film. In 1998 he earned a BA in Fine Art from Seton Hall University and began to actively participate in the art scene in downtown City which was anchored by the historic 111 1st street artist enclave.

Smith began working for a broadcasting company in New York  and became an on-air commercial copywriter. He and his brother produced and recorded Hip Hop formatted commercials for which they received national attention. After leaving the company in 2004, he fully dedicated himself to the pursuit of his career as a visual artist. Since then, Smith has exhibited widely at museums and galleries in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. His Bundle House series which he began in 2005 gained attention from notable curators and in 2008 he was included in two exhibitions curated by Rocio Aranda-Alvarado (now at El Museo Del Barrio NY, NY) at the Jersey City Museum where he debuted a work titled Bundle House Worldwide: Soon Come. This ambitious work of art established him as an emerging artist to watch.  Most recently, Smith has been investigating the psychological, cultural and social implications of colonialism in Africa and the West Indies using an inter-disciplinary approach working in mixed media sculpture/assemblages, performance and video art. Methods of free association, repetition, spontaneity, and improvisation governs the production of his work.  He has been a visiting artist and guest panelist at Studio Museum Harlem, Pratt Institute, University of Boston-Amherst and Seton Hall University. Smith lives and works in Jersey City, NJ.

Art Workshop

Artist Nyugen Smith, will lead a workshop based on his work which he calls, “Bundle House,” gathering found objects, urban detritus and a variety of other inspirational items. These “houses” are complex sculptural works that make multiple references to history, archaeology, social issues, politics and race. Get creative by using cardboard, pastels, tape, paper, yarn, and other found materials to build fortresses that will then be combined to form one community at the end.  Here is the link to the museum site for additional info: studiomuseum.org Here is a video re-cap of the workshop: vimeo.com

We feel with Nyugen’s unique experience also being an art teacher in Jersey City, we are confident the students will have a fully culturally enriching experience.

For more insight to Nyugen’s Art, please visit his site at nyugensmith.com