Visual Voices: Visions of Dayton Funk Feb 9, 2014 (10 years ago) Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center Dayton, Ohio, United States
Ohio Players concert part of celebration of Dayton Funk By Amelia Robinson, Staff Writer Dayton Daily News Feb. 6, 2014
Art exhibit and funk concert celebrate cultural history and rich musical heritage
Willis “Bing” Davis wants to help cultivate a funky community.
The celebrated Dayton artist says “Visual Voices: Visions of Dayton Funk” currently housed at the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, 1 W. Second St. in Dayton, can be far bigger than an art exhibition.
“We are about building community instead of audience,” said Davis, who curated the interactive exhibition presented by the Victoria Theatre Association.
A funk concert set for Sunday will celebrate the exhibit.
Funk like other art forms can be an economic driver that celebrates diversity and creates opportunities that benefit the community, Davis said.
Davis’ EbonNia Gallery, 1135 W. Third St., and the non-profit African American arts and culture organization Shango, collaborated with the association on this year’s Visual Vision, an annual art exhibition by African-American artists that has celebrated different aspects of Dayton’s history and culture since 2006.
A public “Libation Ceremony” celebrating it is set for 6 p.m. Sunday.
It will be followed by a 7 p.m. concert with a 90-minute set by Ohio Players led by original member James “Diamond” Williams. The Dayton Funk All-Stars will open the show.
Special performances are expected.
In the 1970s and 1980s, southwestern Ohio — particularly Dayton’s west side — was known for its stable of funk bands whose influence can be heard in hip-hop, house and other forms of today’s music.
Dayton was dubbed the “Land of Funk” because it was the home of a stable of funk acts that included the Ohio Players, Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame, Zapp, Faze-O, Heatwave, Sun, Slave and Lakeside.
Representatives of several of those bands will be honored as part of the concert and an exhibit to be on display at the Schuster Center through March 31. It will be on exhibit at sponsor Dayton Power and Light Company, 1611 Woodman Drive, April 1-30, and EbonNia Gallery, 1135 W. Third St., May 1 to July 18.
Davis and the 12 other Dayton area artists that make up the Visual Voices collaboration created 19 works for the exhibition. They range from Central State University Professor Dwayne Daniel’s oil on canvas piece titled “I can make you Dance!” for the Zapp & Roger song to Dayton hairdresser Lillian Herbert’s “Hairtangle-A Mind Blowing Decision ” made of colored human hair for the Heatwave song.
Artist James Pate said he tried to reflect the origins of the Ohio Players’ song “Pain,” the group’s first hit, in his charcoal piece “The Creation of Pain.” Set in a studio, the drawing spotlights the song’s legendary piano riff.
Davis said artists were asked to emerge themselves in funk.
“It forced them to go deep and reflect on what it is like to create the music,” he said.
The project is about celebrating Dayton’s culture and the contributions of its funk artists, which Davis said he believes have been under-appreciated and under-represented.
“It would be so great if 2,300 people came down and sat in those seats,” he said of the space available in the Schuster Center theater where the concert will take place.
Organizers hope the project can ultimately benefit future generations and their understanding of the city’s musical heritage.
As part of the exhibition, students from Ponitz Career Technology Center received interview training from NPR affiliate WYSO 91.3 General Manager Neenah Ellis and new funk show host Basim Blunt of “Behind the Groove.”
Interviews the students conducted with musicians and visual artists involved will be included in the exhibition.
Gary Minyard, the Victoria’s Director of Education & Engagement, said many of the students were not aware of Dayton artists’ contributions to American music until undertaking the project.
Their influence cannot be denied, he said.
“Justin Timberlake is not who Justin Timberlake is today without the Ohio Players and Lakeside,” Minyard said.
Ohio Players songs for instance have been sampled or remade by Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy, Salt-N-Pepa, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers and other acts.
Minyard said Dayton Funk’s rich story has barely been tapped by most people.
“You start scratching the surface, and all of this history comes up,” Minyard said. “This is the beginning of a long process to try to consolidate all of these different pieces of the funk movement.”
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