Keturah Benson was a senior
when I was a freshman. She was a fibers and mixed media major and she carried
herself like a queen. She always seemed wiser and more elegant than any 22-year-old
college student could ever possibly manage. Never would anyone imagine her
under the stresses and pressures of senior year, she would never let anyone see
her struggle. She captures in herself the ideals of old world royalty behavior.
I attend Circle of Hope,
which is a grassroots, activism based church and although I always attend my
small Tuesday group meetings, I don’t always attend the Sunday night services
for various reasons. One night freshman year I decided to walk from my dorm in
Juniper all the way down to Broad and Washington. That night Keturah happened
to be there. I had recognized her from on campus and at the end of the service
I introduced myself to her. We decided to walk home together because at the
time she lived on Pine Street. On the way home we started by
exchanging niceities, but then it turned into exchanging dreams, dreams of our
futures and our goals. After a moment of quiet, Keturah started to speak, but
her tone was different. It was deeper, slower, and more thoughtful. She
proceeded to tell me about how she saw greatness in me and that from the moment
she saw me she knew I was going to accomplish astounding things. I was going
through a rough time and I actually started to cry but she didn’t see that
because I quickly turned my head, said goodbye and walked up Pine toward
Juniper. I later texted her about what happened and how much her words meant to
me. Her words encourage me to this day.
Now with Art Sanctuary I have
been working on these blogs and I’ve wanted to tackle the idea of
appropriation. Appropriation is a complicated issue because there is a clear
positive side to it especially as artists as we feed ourselves with inspiration
and then add that into our work. Although it can become sour quickly especially
when groups in power like white people take aspects of minority culture without
respect, regard to history, or regard for the people. My advice to you is to
watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1KJRRSB_XA
It’s amazing just do it. So
in order to talk about this subject and not sound like a textbook or like an
“angry black person” which I am and not sorry about it…I have decided to take
the conversation to different amazing black artists I know, especially some
fibers majors because fabric is so important to black culture.
Keturah so far has been the
first person I have interviewed. We met at the Last Drop and I recorded her
while asking questions and writing. It was all very cool and official. I felt
like an actual journalist (insert
swooning here). And of course the conversation was amazing and I learned so
much about Keturah. Of course her hero is Claire Huxtable! It just makes so
much sense. Even when I stopped the interview the conversation continued and
became about how we both surround ourselves with high-achieving people, who
then in turn help us achieve. She says that the best thing about UArts is the
network she was able to build that branches all talents and art forms. I would
have to agree. She also encouraged me again after asking about my hopes and
dreams almost two years later. She truly has the gift of exhortation.
Stay
tuned for the full interview on Art Sanctuary’s new website.
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