You know what call and response is, right?
If you’ve ever been to church or attended a rally, you do. Or if you’ve listened to music — like James Brown’s “Soul Power” — you know what I’m talking about.
Yep, its when one person poses a question or makes a statement and the like-minded group proffers a reply. In “Soul Power,” when Brown sings “What we want?” the JB’s ecstatically offer “SOUL POWER!” Got it now?
NIAD (National Institute of Art and Disabilities) Art Center, that local gem of an artist studio program, is currently offering Call & Response, their own take on this classic form of communication. But in their case the exchange is visual not verbal.
You know what NIAD is right? Alright sleepyhead, here goes: formed more than a quarter century ago in downtown Richmond by Elias Katz and Florence Ludins-Katz, NIAD is program that works with talented and developmentally and/or physically disabled adults. A couple of the artists in the program deserve a wider audience, but more on that later. On a good day, about 50 people can be found at work on painting, ceramics, printmaking, sculpture or exercising.