The Roanoke Times

File 2008 United Way members, part of a fund-raising flash mob, dance to James Brown's "I Feel Good" on the City Market last November.

Arts quiz time: How many traveling national art exhibits include portraits of your friends and neighbors?

Answer: At least one. "Women of a New Tribe," on view at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture through Sept. 26, is a celebration of the strength, wisdom and beauty of black women in America.

Among the 50-plus photographs are roughly 20 shot in Roanoke.

All of the photos are by Charlotte, N.C., photographer Jerry Taliaferro, whose mission was to show "the spiritual and physical beauty of the black woman," according to his Web site.

Taliaferro said he hopes the exhibit will cause people to look at the women in their own lives with a new appreciation, whatever their race. "If we can cause people to look around them at the women in their everyday lives, we're happy."

Taliaferro's large format black-and-white photographs are shot in the manner of glossy studio portraits of the Hollywood stars of the 1930s and '40s. Yet the women are of all ages and walks of life -- "mothers and daughters, artists, professionals, and community activists to name a few," according to the Web site. It has been touring since 2002, with additions from the localities it has visited along the way.

The Roanoke Valley women in the exhibit were recommended by Harrison Museum Curator Wanda Alston and were shot by Taliaferro at the museum in January. In making her recommendations, Alston said, she sought women from different parts of the community who were not necessarily well-known, "Just different women doing different things."

Among the subjects are Roanoke Tribune Publisher Claudia Whitworth, librarian Carla Lewis, dentist Jennifer Alston-Sako, firefighter Linda Jones, gospel singer Karen Walker and college student, violinist and dancer Jasmine Brown. Activist and mediator Shawanda Muhammad, who has worked in Roanoke and currently lives in Christiansburg, is included in the exhibit and featured on the poster.

Taliaferro said some of the women he photographed in Roanoke will be added to the traveling exhibit, including Muhammad.

"A number of ladies took really good pictures," he said.

Including local women in the exhibit fits well with the Harrison's efforts to use local black history to tell the national story, said museum director Bamidele Demerson.

He said Taliaferro's photographs of women make him think of "elegance, spiritual unity and strength. ... Taliaferro tells us to not only look with our eyes, but look with our hearts."

The museum is sponsoring a series of events to coincide with the exhibit. On Saturday, Alston will conduct a tour of the exhibit from 2 to 3 p.m. 345-4818; harrisonmuseum.com.

'Forgiveness, not permission'

Here's more about that United Way flash mob, which preceded the ill-fated "Must See TV" event in downtown Roanoke by six months.

As detailed in last week's "Arts and Culture" column, the Nov. 20 event drew about 50 people to the City Market to dance to the music of James Brown, in an effort to draw attention to United Way's annual fundraising campaign.

Flash mobs are groups that assemble in public for a brief time to perform something unexpected before dispersing. United Way Development Director Linda Webb said to her knowledge, theirs was the first flash mob ever to assemble downtown.

She also said the event went off without a hitch -- although they got some strange looks. "People looked at us like, 'What are these crazy people doing?' " Webb recalled. But she said no one complained.

"Must See TV," in which several dozen people pretended to be glued to television sets in the market area for five minutes on May 14, resulted in one arrest.

Webb noted there were differences between the United Way flash mob and "Must See TV," which was staged by leaders of the city's arts community.

"It was much quicker," she said of their event. "It was sillier. It was not as high-minded in terms of art. It was over very quickly."

But the United Way event, which was conceived by the Becher Agency, an advertising and public relations firm, had at least one thing in common with "Must See TV." They did not alert police beforehand, Webb said.

"We knew it would be over in a flash. It was one of those things where you ask forgiveness, not permission," Webb said.

Artist Beth Deel, meanwhile, described a recent meeting between city officials and artists and organizers of "Must See TV" as "a love fest." Deel and Katherine Walker, two of the organizers of "Must See TV," both attended the meeting, as did City Manager Darlene Burcham and Police Chief Joe Gaskins.

"This seemingly negative thing certainly opened a space for productive dialogue. They were not only supportive, but, like, anticipating more events," Deel said.

"They want these things to happen. I really was blown away."

"I thought it was a positive meeting, and we hope to have greater cooperation in the future as we strive to put Roanoke on the map," Burcham said.

'Bravos & Brushstrokes'

Ninety-eight artists have contributed their talents to three collaborative artworks to be auctioned off at the Perry F. Kendig Awards ceremony at the Taubman Museum of Art on June 24.

The paintings may be seen in the window of the Arts Council offices at 20 Church Ave. downtown from Tuesday to June 24. Proceeds benefit the arts council's Laban Johnson arts schlarships' fund. 342-5790; theartscouncil.org