Artists Design The Future "CREATIVE CANVAS" Business Planning

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Open virtual studio visit with artist Lashon Fouche of the Wild Yams Col...



ARTIST. WRITER. EDUCATOR.

Venise Keys is a visual artist, writer, and educator raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. Venise's art has been exhibited throughout Chicago at The Cre.ea.tive Room, the Museum Science, and Industry, KaLab Gallery, +Plus Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, and Intersect Chicago (formally known as SOFA: Sculpture, Objects, and Functional Art & Design Fair). She also exhibited at Front Room Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, and the Saint Louis Museum of Art in Saint Louis, Missouri.

She has a Bachelors's and Master's degree in Painting with a Certificate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies for her research on Black Feminist politics. She served as adjunct faculty of art for Illinois Central College, Bradley University, and has lectured at Dillard University on the role of the Black artist. This work is published in the scholarly journal, Kalfou: Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies.

This year, Venise's writing on art education has circulated to Norway, Germany and she is recently published in a New York arts and culture magazine, Hyperallergic. Venise is currently an artist-in-residence at Wild Yams: A Residency for Black Women & Mothers located in The Cre.ea.tive Room. Venise teaches high school visual art at Art In Motion Creative Arts School and is the program director for the Kappa Chapter of Gamma Xi Phi Professional Art Fraternity.

What is the Lashon Fouché method to holistic arts education?

Increased self-esteem by abandoning perfectionism and imposter syndrome habits about art-making.

Developing intentional creative routines to use observations, emotions, meditations, and daily life dreams in the artwork.

Offering consultations/programming collaborations to promote alternative expressions of knowledge and socially responsible activism.

The Ocean Between lV - Virtual Art Talks

"Art is Business"  www.culturebridgekulturbruecke.shutterfly.com





Interdisciplinary Art and Performance with Katrin Hamann, Hannover and 
Shalaka Kulkarni, Elgin, Illinois


Work by Katrin Hamann
ZOOM Phantom Gallery:
https://bit.ly/PhantomGalleryChicago, Friday, November, 19th, 2021. 7pm - 8pm.

This year 2021 The Ocean Between III organized by Marianna Buchwald, Cem Koc, Anke Aust, and Beate Axmann, is an International and Interdisciplinary Art Festival, started July 24. 2021 with the grand opening at Gallery bei Koc , Hahnenstrasse 8, 30167.    Our mission is, that art, film, dance, music, and mask theater are an important medium for International understanding to further develop International Art festivals and exhibitions and to create inspiring collaborations amongst artists with different cultural backgrounds and art forms.   
                                                                        
The opening held on July 24.5pm in Hanover features the exhibition The Ocean Between lll, curated by Cem Koc, a dance solo by Ellyzabeth Adler: "Healing Letters", music by Uli Meinholz and Michelle Schaefer, and a performance: "The Three Totems" with Ronit Marach, Nga, Werner Egly, Susanne Spaltenstein and Anke Aust by Marianna Buchwald, as well as works by the artists.

We were delighted to feature these artists from USA: Sarah Beth Woods,  Ellyzabeth Adler,  and in Germany: Anke Aust, Beate Axmann, Andrea Wallgren, Cem Koc, Kristin Heike, Silke Bartsch, Ulli Meinholz,  Fei Zhou,  Timm Ulrichs,  Anette,  Lars Schumacher, Franz Betz , Katrin Hamann, Nini Seide, Knud Go., Michael Hall and Aikins Hyde. 

August 2-8,  The Ocean Between III,  presented works by these artists at various venues in Berlin and performances in Oderberg with Lizzy Erber, Anke Aust, Marianna Buchwald, and Ellyzabeth Adler with music by Ulli Meinholz at the Zuendholzfabrik and with a pop-up exhibition at Airport Tempelhof, curated by Lars Schumacher on July 5- 6. at 7pm.

On Friday, Nov 19, 2021, at 7pm CST  we will present our collaborative work and art with a special exhibition The Ocean Between lV at Phantom Gallery  Chicago, during the Virtual Open Studio.  Presented during the Bronzeville Art District Virtual Art Tour. 
ZOOM Phantom Gallery:https://bit.ly/PhantomGalleryChicago

Art Partners:
Galerie Koc, Hahnenstraße 8, 30167 Hanover
Zuendholzfabrik, Flughafen Tempelhof, Berlin
Phantom Gallery Chicago Network, Chicago Illinois
The Seed, Art gallery and Triangle Gallery, Riverside, Illinois


Chicago Mask Ensemble dance by Ginny Ching Yuin


Work by Nigel Packham 



Marianna Buchwald , The Ocean of Love


Work by Micha Mphnm Phonem, a collage artist from Hannover Germany


Work by Bishal Manandhar 


Work by Knud Go

Bronzeville Art District- Virtual Trolley Tour Open Studio

"Art is Business" 




Phantom Gallery: https://bit.ly/PhantomGalleryChicago







Please join us this evening for October 15, 2021, Bronzeville Art Tour starting at 7 pm.

Virtual Experience: To enjoy the evening virtually, please see the links below. You can visit any of the galleries, art institutions or studios and experience the amazing art and entertainment you would find on our in-person trolley tour. You can pop in and pop out and visit for as long as the presentation is available.

Links are subject to change. Please check before the event.

Gallery Guichard: Virtual and In-person
https://bit.ly/galleryguichardarttour
Webinar ID: 821 1588 2807

International numbers available: International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbNbZGGLSe

Faie Afrikan Art: Virtual and In-person https:us02web.zoom.us/j/87320093471?

Meeting ID 873 2009 3471
Passcode 698508

Meeting ID: 883 7926 7223 Passcode: 687512

Blanc Gallery: Virtual and In-person https://bit.ly/AugustBlanc21

South Side Community Art Center: Virtual Only
https://bit.ly/sscacarttouraug

Passcode: 385108
Or One tap mobile :
    US: +13126266799,,82475324412#,,,,*385108#  or +13017158592,,82475324412#,,,,*385108#
Or Telephone:
    Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
        US: +1 312 626 6799  or +1 301 715 8592  or +1 646 558 8656  or +1 253 215 8782  or +1 346 248 7799  or +1 720 707 2699
Webinar ID: 824 7532 4412
Passcode: 385108
 International numbers available: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kbLn9FYPfL

Meeting ID: 998 0571 5631 Passcode: 098588

Bronzeville Artist Lofts - Virtual 

Phantom Gallery: https://bit.ly/PhantomGalleryChicago

Raymond Thomas Studio: https://bit.ly/ThomasStudios_Tour

Alan Emerson Hicks:

Join Zoom Meeting
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 Meeting ID: 878 0386 2154
Passcode: 065227


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Curator Fran Joy Presents "What is Racial Justice?"

"Art is Business"



"LIFE" Young Brides- Children 1936 – 1941
Radical justice and women's rights movement beginning with child brides.
24" x 24"
Mixed media collage mixed media, acrylic, crayon, nail polish, lacquer.

"LIFE" Young Brides- Children 1936 – 1941, 24" x 24", Collage mixed media, acrylic, crayon, nail polish, lacquer.


Finding these images for this collage on the museum board was purely random. I was looking through a box of vintage LIFE Magazines dated 1936-1941. I selected these images because they were used in an article captioned "The Age of Parenthood Declines as Young Girls Marry." The content was disturbing to me. I turned the pages of history and saw how disturbed the moral needle was in the United States during this era.

The creation of "Social Experiments" and "Child Protection Laws" buried in the Social Security Disability laws, only after animal rights. During this era, we were a country at war. These wartime childhood images come from original pages of LIFE, emotionless, blank stares, wondering what happens behind the blankness. 

05/17/1937, "Dionne Quintuplets" were not protected by these laws; they were exploited by the Canadian Government and their father. Incest is the biggest taboo in our civilized society. Even a Judge from Florida is being charged for subjecting youth to years of abuse to support his lavish lifestyle at the expense of systematic abuse to hundreds of children. The American Government encouraging child brides, in wartime, with images of junior mothers a media campaign that messages images of the culture of young brides.

These images are collaged around a little black girl playing in the streets refreshed and cleansed, unaware, or maybe aware that things are black and white. Her caption "Street Shower."

"Trends in Premarital Childbearing: 1930 to 1994," a study of U.S. Census figures has shown that the percentage of first births conceived out of wedlock almost tripled and was far more significant for African American community. 

What is your vision of it?
International Day of the Girl Child, also known as International Day of the Girl, is a United Nations observance held on October 11. It was officially inaugurated by UN General Assembly in December 2011 to recognize girls' rights and raise awareness of girls' challenges.

Globally, 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime. In the developing world, 1 in 7 girls is married before her 15th birthday, with some child brides as young as 8 or 9. Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years but also as they mature into women. 

How do we get there? Radical feminists speak out and organize against violence against women and change the narratives.


"LIFE" Young Brides- Children 1936 – 1941, 24" x 24", Collage mixed media, acrylic, crayon, nail polish, lacquer.

The first time I presented this painting was in 2013,  in response to "Which Way Our Children." In this group exhibition, 13 African American Artists reflected on our children and their future in America.  I left the images black and white to speak of times of a very dark period in our history. Now looking at that history nearly a century later. 


The Noyes Cultural Arts Center, owned by the City of Evanston, is a lively home to over 20 artists and arts organizations offering music, theater, and visual arts programs and studios, comprising a full stage seating 190 people and two galleries. The galleries exhibit local artists, with exhibitions changing every two months. This historic building is home to many arts organizations and artists.

IN POSITION/IMPOSITION 2021 a GROUP SHOW

"Art is Business"




 The Wild Yams exhibition will be on display at the Silver Room until December.   I created a new body of work for this show that investigates my passion for Labor & Leisure and expounds upon my Mercy Endureth Forever concept for the Illinois Humanities Envisioning Justice Grant.   I hope you have some time to see the show.  If you are interested, please let me know. Also, if you are in the Hyde Park area tonight, come see us and meet the rest of the Wild Yams.

Musically & Artistically yours,
Lavon Pettis 

She is  working with muralist and sign painter Donnie R. Carter to create his 1970 series of Human Drawing paintings on Black Velvet.  She has a limited edition series of work that she modeled for Donnie.  If you would like a peek at this body of work, contact her direct. 
LavonNPettis@gmail.com
773-458-9864 • Mobile

Lavon will be discussing her work and the legacy she is creating for her daughter Indigo during the Bronzeville Art District Art Tour on October 15th, 2021.

The Phantom Gallery Chicago, 

OPEN VIRTUAL STUDIO, 7pm - 8pm 

Phantom Gallery: https://bit.ly/PhantomGalleryChicago 




Phantom Gallery CHI

Pop Up Research Station ask the Question- Why Aren’t There More Black Librarians?

"Art is Business"  Reposted by Alpha Bruton,  WordInBlack.com February 11, 2022 Photograph by Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels Why Aren...