Wearable Art Runway Exhibition

The Wearable Art Runway Exhibition was held April 10. (Panther photo by Tammy White)

Art you can wear 

By TAMMY WHITE

The Wearable Art Runway Exhibition on April 10 featured multiple art demonstrations from the Claflin Art Department, with the art being worn by models.
“The models brought the art alive,” Art instructor Tabitha Ott said.
All 20 models came from Complexion Modeling Agency located at Claflin. The event was under the direction of Tre Lamar, junior mass communications major. Ott was the coordinator.
The show consisted of an opening act by Brother Malcolm and closed with another self-written song titled “About You.”
“All the practice and dedication to the event was worthwhile, Lamar said. “Ms. Ott and I have more events planned for the year. This has been one of the best collaborations and I hope to team with her again.”

Making a difference for black women

By TAMMY WHITE
The Black Women and Girl’s Lives Matter forum was held at the Orangeburg Fine Arts Center on Tuesday as part of CALA-Bash.
The Orangeburg community was invited to attend the event at which Dr. Elaine Richardson was the guest speaker. She is the author of “From PHD to Ph.D.”
“There is something special is all of us,” Richardson said. “All you have to do is understand yourself. You must remember that everyone doesn’t have what you have.”
Richardson said education is a way out of poverty and taking advantage of every opportunity is vital. She gave examples from her life story and shared personal experiences from being raped at a young age to being a wild teen, to becoming a drug addict and now holding a doctorate degree.
She told students that everyone focuses on helping the black man but not the black women. There are many groups and associations that help build strong black men, but who is there to help young women?
Society must do better by black women, she said, making a focus on their lives equally important.

Poetry and women’s worth 

By T’KYA GREEN
As Cala-Bash began winding down, the spoken word of Poetry Slam was a crowd favorite.
The event involved Claflin students participating and being judged by students and guest poet Monifa Lemons.
Poetry topics ranged from women’s worth to sexual intercourse and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The group Poetically Undefined and Zayaunna Smith were crowd favorites. The poems  were designed to help females understand issues as Smith spoke about the pain of brothers and sisters being killed.

Solo and group acts 

By JASMINE BUSH
On Thursday 7th, during CALA-Bash, The Poetry Club hosted a Poetry Slam event in GTK Auditorium, which included Monifa Lemons, a spoken word poet.
Several students from different majors and backgrounds came to perform two original pieces live in front of an audience.
Not all candidates did solo acts, with a few students deciding to team up and do a group poetry slam. Individuals sang and did instrumentals too.
Each participate was rated after a performance and the average of the score is what allowed advancing to the next round.
The audience members were encouraged to participate and a few did so. Participants hit topics such as love, life and body image.
Breanna, a junior at Claflin, did a spoken word poem titled “Fat Girl.” It caught many of the audience members’ attention, moving her to first place.
Overall students seemed to have enjoyed their experience and are already asking about when the Poetry Club will be hosting another event.