Legendary Dionne Warwick's Social Media Prowess Part Of New Display At Newark Arts Festival
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- New Jersey's own Dionne Warwick has been making music for over 60 years. She has won six Grammys and scored 56 top 100 hits. Now, she's a social media hit and has an art installation to prove it.
CBS2's John Elliott took a tour on Monday.
"I'm the queen of Twitter. You kidding me. Of course I am. Hi!" Warwick said.
There are over 50 pieces in "Dionne Warwick: Queen of Twitter" at the Newark Arts Festival in the Hanes building in downtown Newark. The very busy Warwick finally had an opportunity to tour the exhibit on Monday.
"When they said they wanted to do this, I said, 'What? How are you going to do an art exhibit?'" Warwick said.
"She has been doing this since she was 6, so to capture her legacy was so challenging," curator Souleo said. "We were able to really focus in on her tweets, so that's the entry point."
"Dionne Warwick is, in herself, a work of art," Dianne Smith said.
Social media meets multimedia in the multimedia art display by Smith.
"The way she puts her tweets together and she responds to things; to be able to capture an audience with just a few words, that inspires me," Smith said.
Beau McCall has been making button art for over 30 years. He said he thinks Warwick's tweets are a terrific inspiration.
"She was great because some of the stuff she say is hilarious and it kind of reminds you of your mom or your auntie, or somebody in your family where she's very no-nonsense," McCall said.
"They ask all the right questions and I give them all the right answers," Warwick explained.
"She is the blueprint of what that pop leading lady, that ballad singer is. She also matters because she has so much wisdom to share," Souleo said.
Like all fine art, it's a matter of perspective, like one piece by Felandus Thames, and, by the way, karma doesn't care if you were just doing your job.
"We were so excited and honored to have the legendary Dionne Warwick be a part of the Newark Arts Festival ... and we're just so excited to have our hometown hero as a part of it," the festival's Lauren Lebeaux Craig said.
Because that's what friends are for.
The show runs through this Saturday.
