Press & Reviews
“Who Do You Think You Are?”
Podcast Interview
Produced by S.P. the Writer and hosted at Good Trip Gallery studio in Raleigh, North Carolina.
‘The Commons: Southern Futures’ Festival Draws Community Members Into Conversation - IndyWeek
At first glance, the census only stands at six for The Commons: Southern Futures, a three-day festival of performances and workshops this weekend that culminates a two-week residency at UNC-Chapel Hill’s CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio. A cohort of local Black artists, including poets Cortland Gilliam and CJ Suitt, spoken word artist and musician Johnny Lee Chapman III, choreographers Jasmine Powell and Anthony “Otto” Nelson Jr., and playwright and composer Sylvester Allen Jr., have collaborated to curate and present new works.
And a songwriter whose fantastic, metaphorical autobiography as a merman twists toward horror as he probes the dark backstory of their relationships with mariners and those who walk dry land during the dawn of modern medicine in Chapman’s Ballad of the Black Pearl.
.After preliminary meetings earlier in the year and a weeklong retreat last month, the sextet has worked together at the CURRENT studios over the last two weeks, in a residency, providing them stage time and access to production resources. For Chapman, his first experience with the Commons in 2020 was a golden opportunity to challenge himself as an artist: “Now I have access to space, resources, and a production team; what am I capable of manifesting and creating from my ideas?” The answer was his 30-minute video Southern (Dis)Comfort.
“What happens when you give us the budget and give us the team?” Chapman asks. “Give me what I’m worth, and I will give you something that will blow your mind!”
During the two-week residency, the principals found themselves turning to one another, not just for feedback but to collaborate and contribute to one another’s work. Gilliam asked Chapman to add a musical bed under a poem he was reading; Powell asked the rest of the cohort to read the narration for her dance work Self Un/En-titled…“Just being in each other’s presence can modify your piece in ways that you didn’t even initially envision,” Chapman notes. “Then you’re like, ‘Well, what else can I do?’”
Click here to read the full article written by Byron Woods.
CAM celebrates 60 years, opens first USCT Park to honor Black soldiers.
Actor Johnny Lee Chapman III…scheduled to perform from the perspectives of members of the USCT and their families.
An artist from Fuquay-Varina, Chapman will be scaling the life of Powhatan Beaty, a soldier who fought at Forks Road and became an actor after the Civil War. He’s most revered for performing for Frederick Douglass at Ford’s Theater in D.C. The piece Chapman delivers is an embodiment of Beaty through spoken word, monologue and poetry. He first learned of Beaty a few years ago while working with Michael Williams on the Black on Black Project about the 1898 Wilmington Massacre.
When he learned Beaty served in the USCT, Chapman said he asked: “Why are we not talking more about the fact this battle was won on Forks Road and 42 days later, the Confederacy was signing surrendering papers?” Chapman studied Beaty, a man born into slavery in Richmond, who gained his freedom when his family moved to Cincinnati. As a child, Beaty was involved in theater and as a teen studied under a cabinetmaker, Henry Boyd. His experience in manual labor served him when he was called upon to help build the defense of the Civil War, as many Black Americans were commissioned to do at the time.
At 25, Beaty decided to join the Union Army’s 5th United States Colored Infantry Regiment on his own volition. He received a Medal of Honor — the highest military award, unprecedented for a Black soldier during the time — as part of his service in the Battle of Chaffin’s Farms. “It was almost a Union loss because the company he was with, over 50% of the platoon passed away,” Chapman said. “But he made this daring sprint to get the American flag back because the color bearer had been killed, essentially.” That remobilized the Union troops, who ended up winning the battle and paved the way for Beaty’s infantry to merge with the troops in the South to fight at Fort Fisher and the Battle at Forks Road.
“It’s such a historic moment: to be able to take the lens and talk about a particular soldier whose life was really impressive, even before you know the conscription,” Chapman said. While history books cover Beaty’s military service narrowly, to bring him alive — in all his efforts — means showing a man’s life fully lived and the resiliency to overcome during treacherous times for Black people in America. Chapman captures Beaty beyond the battlefield in his three-part, 20-minute performance and delves into his career as an actor, performing with one of the top Black actresses of the time, Henrietta Vinton Davis, in Shakespearean works “Richard III” and “Macbeth.”
“It’s poetic and theatrical and lived in, which I think resonates more,” Chapman said. “It’s important nowadays to continue to tell these stories because we want access to those records for the next generation. It helps a lot to see this individual as an artist, a soldier, a veteran, and a cabinetmaker — somebody that others can relate to in today’s times.”
https://portcitydaily.com/arts-and-culture/2022/11/12/cam-celebrates-60-years-opens-first-usct-park-to-honor-black-soldiers/
PEN Write Now: Black Voices Mixer
…Black Voices Mixer featured three emerging writers and artists in an honest, intimate conversation about opportunities, barriers, and possibilities of an inclusive and equitable literary community. The larger community is invited to attend and participate in what is hoped will be a “town hall” discussion that centers on Black voices and experiences….
Creative writing instructor performs poem called 'Celebration' to honor Juneteenth
Article: Siobahn Riley, Spectrum News
Creative writing teacher Johnny Lee Chapman wrote a poem called "Celebration" to inspire students and people across the state to get excited about the holiday.
Chapman, who’s the creative writing instructor at the summer arts intensive program offered at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, performed the poem in front of kids to inspire children to know their history.
Click here to read the full article and watch the performance.
ANNOUNCEMENT: The Best of 2021
Article: Dustin K. Britt, Managing Editor for Chatham Life & Style
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE
Johnny Lee Chapman III, Southern (Dis)Comfort, Carolina Performing Arts
In 2016, I began "Britt's Picks," an annual web presentation of the best in performing arts in central North Carolina. Now, with a diverse team of writers on board, the list is more representative of the community at large. That team continues to grow and evolve.
We come together each year to dive back into the reviews and interviews we have written, discuss the art we have experienced beyond our roles as writers, and nominate what each of us found to be outstanding in the world of culture and creation in and around Chatham County, North Carolina, providing our own unique southern perspective.
'Boundless' sculpture honoring US Colored Troops to hold community commemoration
"Boundless," a public sculpture honoring the United States Colored Troops by North Carolina artist Stephen Hayes, will be unveiled at a two-day event presented by PNC Bank on Nov. 13-14 at Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St., Wilmington.
Festivities will include music, storytelling, family activities, food trucks, plus a ticketed conversation with Hayes.
…Spoken Word poet Johnny Lee Chapman III performs outside by the sculpture…
The celebration kickoffs at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 13 am with the procession of United States Colored Troops re-enactors followed by the singing of the National Anthem by Mary D. Williams and remarks by Cameron Art Museum executive director Anne Brennan, Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield.
Image: Curtis Krueger
Article: Cheryl Whitaker for Wilmington StarNews
Cameron Art Museum Press Release
Healing Generational Trauma conference unites Wilmington community and the arts
The Healing Generational Trauma: A Community Arts Experience conference held on Saturday, April 17, focused on the trauma Black Americans face over multiple generations and the use of art as means of expressing this trauma. The conference was created under the Artivism For Social Change initiative fostered by the Office of the Arts and is available to view on the Arts at UNCW website.
During the conference, the works created by student artists Jacobi Loyd and J.T. Smith were presented. The students were mentored by community artists Chapman and Nelson, under the Arts Equity Fellowship program. Their poetry focused on the beauty of Black culture and their unique identities within their artistic expression.
Chapman characterizes his role as that of a facilitator.
“[Loyd and Smith] already knew what they wanted to do…and let’s just figure out how we can package and present [their art] in this way that can help with their artists’ journey in the long-term,” said Chapman.
Article: Caroline Straubel, Contributing Writer at The Seahawk
Spoken word and hip-hop filled the Nasher Museum of Art Oct. 16, with the American Dance Festival (ADF) commissioned hip-hop dance piece “The Xcope” by Raphael Xavier. The title of “The Xcope” alludes to a kaleidoscope, and how the instrument distorts the viewer’s perception of their surroundings.
The performance and production of “The Xcope” is an impactful step for the return of the performing arts in a post-COVID Triangle, as it is the first ADF-sponsored event in the Nasher Museum of Art since March of 2020.
Article: Walker Livingston for East Chapel Hill Observer.
“The Xcope”: An eccentric return to dance in the Triangle
…Johnny, who also got into the spoken word community through Dasan, has been building toward Southern (Dis)Comfort since he left dentistry school at UNC to pursue art. He wrote poems on Tumblr and, after working in commercial photography in Charlotte, ran a photography blog called The Golden Moment. “The vision got its own life with the aid of the videography,” he says. “I’ve tried to do it with my blog, but the resources of the residency gave it more push, and a more concrete feeling I could feel proud of.”
His piece grows out of his work writing about the marginalized histories of North Carolina with the Black on Black Project, and touches on everything from Dorothea Dix and maroon communities to the indigenous tribes of Fuquay-Varina. He was connected with writer Howard Craft for his first artist interview ever, which he found invaluable. “Howard is also a poet and a playwright, and a mentor for someone like Dasan, who I see as a mentor. So it was almost like meeting an elder or ancestor,” he says…
Article: Brian Howe for Orange County Arts Commission
Orange Crush on The Digital Commons Festival
CONCERT REVIEW: Shining a Light on North Carolina's Dark Past
4/5 Stars
Johnny Lee Chapman, III's Southern (Dis)Comfort is chock-full of North Carolina facts and history, presented in a most artistic and poetic way. As the title suggests, the piece highlights all of the charms in a respectful--almost loving--way, while also shedding light on North Carolina's dark past, which can be uncomfortable to discuss.
Chapman's unique twist on storytelling--marrying his folk artist air with thorough research--will have adventure seekers near and far wanting to make their way to North Carolina to discover its rich history and attractions. But more importantly, I want to hear more of what he has to say.
Article: Benaiah Barnes for Chatham Life & Style.
The Commons Crit: The Golden Moment of Poet Johnny Lee Chapman, III
Meet Johnny Lee Chapman, III. Recently, Chapman took some time last week to talk with me about his process, the meaning of “The Golden Moment, his influences, and his new project which will be part of the Digital Commons Festival at Carolina Performing Arts this winter. Also being a poet and playwright, I am always interested in what inspires other writers. What is the spark that ignites the flame?
For Chapman, that spark often begins internally with a thought, an idea, “Something I’ve experienced that I’m trying to make sense of,” he says. Nature and history are also powerful triggers for his creativity. “I am asking myself, what can I do with this information, how can I repurpose it for the next stage. It’s not a matter of just gaining it and keeping it in my head. I want to pass it along, pass it on…one person to one hundred, storytelling.”
A New Generation of NC Artists
“New Faces of Tradition: Documenting North Carolina’s Young Artists” features photographs taken by Duke students and alumni of young artists across North Carolina.
Since 1977, the Folklife Program of the North Carolina Arts Council has identified traditional artists and their communities in order to provide them with professional support. Traditional artists practice arts that emerge from shared experiences of work, play, worship, and place. Artists are “traditional” because they are active participants in maintaining and creating the culture of their communities.
In 2016, the Folklife Program established the Millennial Traditional Artists Project with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. As staff interviewed and surveyed over one-hundred artists across the state to learn how to best serve their needs, professional self-representation emerged as a common problem.
Johnny Lee Chapman III (MTA) posing with photographer Dalvin Nichols II in front of photograph of Chapman captured by Nichols for gallery.
Image: Duke Arts
Unique Commencement Celebrations with Office Of Diversity and Inclusion
Umoja Commencement Event
The keynote was delivered by 2014 graduate Johnny Lee Chapman III, who traced his odyssey from graduation to early failure, self-discovery, and, ultimately, success. Chapman, now a registered dental hygienist, photographer, slam poet and local soccer star, had sage advice for the graduates seated before him. Sharing from experience, he instructed them to (among other things) support their mental health; have hope as well as faith; take a social media hiatus and focus on decompression during their transition to the workforce; be disciplined, and perhaps most important, not to be afraid of failure, because it is the very foundation of dreams…
Article: Adrianne Gibilisco for UNC Office of Diversity and Inclusion
Review: Photography Exhibition ‘Don’t Wait Till It’s Cool’ a Document of N.C. Culture
THE TITLE of the photography exhibition Don't Wait Till It's Cool has a particular resonance in Charlotte, where the city’s inherent “coolness” is debated more often than how its systems can strengthen culture. This exhibition from North Carolina Always shows that this city—and further, the entire state—has an existing community and vibrancy that hasn’t waited for everyone else to take notice.
The photographs traverse the hip-hop scenes in both portraiture and shots from packed venues in the Triangle region of the state.
Image: Chris Charles Photography
Article: Andy Smith, Executive Editor for Charlotte Magazine
Myron B. Pitts: Art show in downtown Fayetteville provokes, inspires
If you go to the exhibit, be sure to visit a side gallery off the main room to see the video, “Free Market,” which plays on a loop. In it, Jonny Lee Chapman III delivers a spoken-word poem and Anthony Otto Nelson Jr. dances; the setting is the Market House in Fayetteville’s downtown. The poem talks about the structure’s past, which includes the auction of enslaved black Americans.
“Although this is our history, it does not have to be our story,” Chapman says in the poem, in which he interweaves stories of accomplished African Americans from Fayetteville history, including educator E.E. Smith, minister Henry Evans and the black mason who supervised construction of the Market House.
“Tell me,” Chapman says, “How much are we worth?”
Article: Myron B. Pitts for The Fayetteville Observer