Theaster Gates on the artist's ties to hometown Chicago

Working out of an old airplane parts factory, the internationally-acclaimed artist Theaster Gates has refused to fit inside a box – from creating works out of discarded objects, to making paintings out of tar. He talks with Mark Whitaker about his role as an artist; his stewardship of neglected buildings in his Chicago neighborhood; and his work commissioned for the forthcoming Obama Presidential Library.

"CBS News Sunday Morning" features stories on the arts, music, nature, entertainment, sports, history, science, and Americana, and highlights unique human accomplishments and achievements. Check local listings for "CBS News Sunday Morning" broadcast times.

Relational Moves | Theaster Gates: Young Lords and Their Traces

2,560 views  Jan 11, 2023

In "Theaster Gates: Young Lords and Their Traces," artist Theaster Gates honors the radical thinkers who have influenced his practice by sharing objects, letters, and archives that hold the spirit and memory of his dearly departed. From Bell Hook's Bell to Russian scholar Robert Byrd's archive of literature and academia to Arthur Jafa's eulogy for Virgil Abloh, Gates's personal museum shapes his grief.

Theaster Gates (b. 1973) is an American sculptor and mixed media artist. Gates's sculptural practice uses salvaged materials and archived found objects. Gates has won numerous awards and honors including the Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts (2021); the Kurt Schwitters Prize (2018); the Nasher Sculpture Prize (2018); Artes Mundi 6; and the New School Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics (2012).

Subscribe to the New Museum: https://newmu.org/XLVLbx.

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Relational Moves | Theaster Gates: Young Lords and Their Traces 

On view from November 10, 2022 to February 5, 2023

RICHARD HUNT SCULPTOR

"Art is Business" was reposted by Alpha Bruton and produced by the Kavi Gupta Gallery on January 22, 2024.

Video by Charlie Ahearn, Music composed by T.J. Anderson, Video production by Alitash Kebebe and Charlie Ahearn.

Kavi Gupta amplifies the voices of diverse and underrepresented artists to expand the canon of art history. We foster an evolving conversation among international communities about art and ideas through innovative and ambitious exhibitions, multimedia programming, and rigorous publications. Communities create culture, and representation is a step towards inclusivity and justice. Equity in the art field starts with everyone getting a seat at the table, but it does not end there. We offer a platform to artists whose vitality expands and deepens the cultural conversation, especially if a voice has been marginalized due to their identity, social or political perspective, or aesthetic position.

Links

Kavi Gupta

kavigupta.com

Kavi Gupta | Editions

kaviguptaeditions.com

Mixed Media Podcast

open.spotify.com/show/6hqEpK9cJivbE6TkaLw3AI

Kavi Gupta on Instagram

instagram.com/kavigupta_

Sacramento Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. focused on “Education and the Arts.”

2021 Sacramento  Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Honoring Shonna McDaniel's

The annual Scholarship & Awards Event (or Brunch) presented by the Alpha Phi Alpha-ZBL chapter in Sacramento, CA, was a virtual affair in late spring 2021.   The chapter provided local entertainment artists and a presentation of their annual college-bound high school scholars and community leadership honorees.  The scholars were winners of a vetted scholarship competition process, and the community honorees produced notable contributions to the Sacramento community through their businesses and/or individual efforts.

This year's theme focused on “education and the arts,” enhanced by their special guest speaker, Ms. Tatyana Ali (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).  Ms. Ali is a polished actor, singer, producer, and social advocate who shared her perspective on learning through the arts.  

The Alpha-ZBL members are excited to share this year’s event with you with the hope of your enjoyment of the show.

Congratulations on your achievement/s, and we sincerely thank you for being a major part of our effort! 

Bro. Art McElvy

Event Chairman

ZBL Foundation

In Memory of Joyce Owens R.I.P.

"Art is Business"  

Classic Chicago Magazine   Joyce Owens transitioned on Saturday, February 10th, 2024.

Artist Joyce Owens, 76, showed the ‘positive’ Black experience in her work.

Owens was primarily a painter and dabbled in 3-D art forms and jewelry-making. In an exhibition, the Chicago State University professor wrote: “I decided not to do angry Black men and angry Black women. I painted what I saw.  by Mariah Rush on Feb 13, 2024, 3:11pm CST.

Chicago-based artist, teacher, and curator Joyce Owens Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia. Owens’s mother, Eloise Owens, was a trained opera singer who encouraged her daughter to become an art teacher. Nevertheless, Owens attended Howard University, earning her B.F.A. degree in art. Owens then attended Yale University, earning her M.F.A. degree in painting. After working various jobs, including arts and crafts director, art teacher, and producer for Philadelphia’s CBS television station, Owens moved to Chicago, Illinois. She then spent eight years working for WBBM-TV, CBS Channel 2 in Chicago, as the graphic arts coordinator for news. Owens did additional work for the company as a graphic artist, researcher, and news assistant, always painting and exhibiting her art.

@ Tony Smith photo credit

After Owens's solo exhibition at Chicago State University, she was invited to join the faculty. She has taught there since 1996, specializing in studio painting and drawing. Joyce Owens is known for addressing racism, skin color, and black self-determination through her paintings, masks, and installations. Her art materials are primarily acrylic paints on canvas, wood, and paper. Found objects are often incorporated into her two- and three-dimensional works. Owens’s artwork has been shown nationally in juried, invitational, solo, and group exhibitions in galleries and museums. Two of her curatorial efforts were singled out by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs as featured programs during Chicago Artists Month. Some other highlights of her career include being selected as the featured artist for Columbia College’s fifteenth annual DanceAfrica Chicago Festival, inclusion in Daniel T. Parker’s book African Art: The Diaspora and Beyond, “The Art of Culture” exhibition and catalog that also featured artist/art historian, Samella Lewis; and Howard University’s “A Proud Continuum: Eight Decades of Art at Howard University,” a juried exhibition of former Howard art students including Elizabeth Catlett.

@ Fletcher Hayes

We often traveled in the same circles, running into each other at art openings and conversing about our work. I remember coming onto the scene in Chicago and being a featured artist with us when we first met during Chicago Artists Month. We've also been in various exhibitions over the years.  I am so glad to have known her; her energy, smile, and laughter were infectious. 

References:

https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/joyce-owens-anderson

https://classicchicagomagazine.com/joyce-owens-celebrating-the-american-experience/

https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20240216/281672554862646

https://chicago.suntimes.com/obituaries/2024/02/13/artist-joyce-owens-76-showed-positive-black-experience-her-work

Young Chicago artist makes history with pieces around the world, and a p...

Hand Works by Trish Williams R.I.P.

"Art is Business"      Trish Williams has joined the Ancestors. Born:  1950 - Sunset 2024,  Chicago, Illinois Known for Fiber art, quilting, soft sculpture, and fashion design artist. 

Ronald West borrowed this photograph from her Facebook page.

As a fiber artist and quilter, she has archived her journey from 2008 to 2019 on her blog. She highlighted her thought process and the fellow artists who joined her as she navigated the art world as a Fiber and Textile Fine Artist. Trish and I served on the East Garfield Park Arts and Cultural Task Force in 2005 to design the East Garfield LISC Quality of Life Plan; we were Co-Committee Chairs and were listed in that publication. 

She also was instrumental in the beginning years of the Phantom Gallery Chicago. We went on to write a plan for the Phantom Gallery Chicago and began doing pop-up galleries along Madison/Western to Madison/Homan in empty storefronts. We also curated exhibits at ABC Bank in Austin Neighborhoods and Chicago Public Libraries. 

My most recent visit to Peoria in 2021 to visit her was a road trip with my board member and colleague Suzetta Withtaker. We visited the Richard Pryor Bronze sculpture and her exhibition at the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria. Before returning to Chicago, she visited Preston Jackson's studio and dined at her favorite restaurant. 

Trish Williams began her love affair with cloth at the age of five at the knees of my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, where She started her love of color and fabric. She has exhibited nationally and internationally; her work can be seen in numerous collections and publications. She is a keeper of the cloth and tradition.

Biography from the Archives of askART

Trish's most recent exhibition was MUSE.

Logan Center Exhibitions is pleased to present Freedom’s Muse featuring members from Sapphire & Crystals, a collective of African American women artists in Chicago initially conceived by Marva Pitchford Jolly and Felicia Grant Preston in 1987. This exhibition explores the intersection of art and freedom of expression in celebration of the 36th Anniversary of the collective and the launch of the university’s new Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression.

https://www.loganexhibitions.uchicago.edu/exhibitions/freedoms-muse.

ARTIST STATEMENT: 2013

Having sewn all my life, I became a self-taught artist in 1997, falling in love with quilting as my medium. Since I was familiar with working in fabric, the transition into quilting seemed natural as a means to artistically express myself. Quilting also allowed me to revisit my upbringing in the Midwest using an imaginative style of stitching and color inspired by my Midwestern and African roots. I find joy and inspiration in the bountiful ebb and flow of the rivers and lakes.  

My current works include some mixed-media aspects; incorporating paint, paper, plastic, metals, or other found objects has allowed me to explore new ideas and advance my quilting techniques. I am active in Chicago and Peoria, Illinois.

RESUME  

Solo Exhibits

2013   Chicago State University - Forms & Fabrics, Chicago, IL, March 19th-  April 17th

2011    Concordia University - P.I.E.C.E.S. - River Forest, IL, January, 10th - February 13th

2009    Harold Washington Library - Chicago, IL, March 18 - April 30

2007    Open Studio - Artist Residency - Chicago, IL, February 1 - 28th

2006    Malcolm X Community College, "P.I.E.C.E" - Chicago, IL, March, 1st - 31st  

2004    UIC African American Cultural Center - Chicago, IL, March 1st - 31st  

2003    Bethel Cultural Arts Center - Chicago, IL, February 1 -28th  

Group Exhibitions

2013   

FAC - Conversation In Stitches. -Nature, Concordia University, River Forest, IL

FAC Blue World/Green World, Pump House Gallery, LaCrosse, WI  

2012 

FAC-13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, Waukesha Civic Theater Gallery

Chicago School of Fusing exhibit at WMQFA Barn Gallery, Cedarburg, WI

FAC -13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, American Craft Council Office, Minneapolis, MN

WOCQN-  1st Cultural Arts Awards Ceremony, CCNY, New Your, NY

Studio Group Exhibit at Romain's Studio, Peoria, IL

FAC - Blue World/Green World, River Front Art Center, Stevens Point, WI

We Two Chicago - Human Thread Gallery, Chicago, IL

SDA - Blind Eye: The Result of Doing Nothing, Human Thread Gallery, Chicago,

FAC - Blue World/Green World at the Prairie Cent for the Arts, Schaumburg, IL WOCQN -, Huston, TX      

2011 

Visions, Voices, Viewpoints and Victories of African American Artists, Peltz Gallery of Art, Milwaukee, WI

FAC- Conversations in Stitch, Anderson Art Center, Kenosha, WI

Textural Rhythms in Jazz, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA

FAC-Ties That Bind, The Sheldon Gallery, St. Louis, MO

FAC- 13 Ways of Looking at Blackbirds, Northville Art House

Black Pearls, Garfield Park Arts Center, Indianapolis, IN

FAC-13 Ways of Looking at Blackbirds, Schaumburg Prairie Arts Center, Schaumburg

2010 

Art Basel at the Betsy Hotel, Miami, FL

Beyond The Log Cabin - Abraham Lincoln: the Emancipation and the African American  Experience - Highland Museum, Ashland, KY

2009   

Quilts for Obama - Historical Society of Washington, DC

Mermaid and Merwomen in Black Folklore - Avery Research Center for African

American History and Culture, Charleston, SC, and the Florence Museum of Art,

Science and History, Florence, SC

2008 

Quilting African American Women's History: Our Challenges, Creativity, and Champions, Ohio Historical Society, Wilberforce, OH

Spoken with Hands" Ohio Valley Art League, Rotunda Gallery,

Henderson County Public Library, Henderson, KY

ABC Bank of Austin, Phantom Gallery - Chicago, IL

2007   

Wrapped In The Feeling: "The Story Coat Exhibition"- African American Museum -Wichita, KS

Sew What Art Quilters - Phantom Gallery, - Chicago, IL

Stitching Salon" Winter Delights event - Chicago, IL

2006    

Visual Voice: Transforming Silence through Contemporary Quilted Art -

Quilts for Change at the Cintas Center, Xavier University - Cincinnati, OH

Mancuso's "The World Quilt Show" - New England, Manchester, NH

2004    

Museum of Science and Industry, "Black Creativity"- Chicago, IL

2003   

Sacred Threads 2003 - Reynoldsburg and Upper Arlington, OH

Dallas Quilters Guild, Inc. - Dallas, TX

National Exhibits and Tours

Beyond Category: Visions of Jazz in Fiber - Women of Color Quilters Network exhibit at the International Textile Biennial San Jose, Costa Rica, University of Costa Rica (Limon) September 7 until October 12, 2010.

Textural Rhythms in Jazz - Touring nationally from February 2007 through 2011. Sixty-four quilts presented by the Women of Color Quilters Network display the interplay between jazz and art. Venues include the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, the New York State Museum, Rutgers University Art Museum, City of Lake Charles, National Underground Railroad Ctr, HUB-Robinson Galleries, and Museum of the African Diaspora.

PAQA Orchid Challenge - Touring nationally from 2007 through 2010. Quilts were judged for their artistic merit and the accuracy of the depiction. The feeling was by both creative and floral judges. Venues included are Int. Orchid Show - Miami, FL, 19th World Orchid Conference and Show, Miami, Florida, Madison Orchid Growers' Guild of Madison Show, Madison, WI.

PAQA Water Challenge - Touring nationally from August 2006 through 2009. Seventy-five pieces in this exhibit had to interpret water, be no larger than 18" per side, and include a self-portrait. Venues Quilting on the Waterfront - Machines in Motion - Duluth MN, Mancuso Greater Chicago Quilt Exhibition, The Fine Line, St Charles IL,  Lancaster Quilter's Heritage Celebration, Sinnissippi Quilters of Rockford IL, Michigan Quilt Network Showcase- Lansing MI, and Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

Threads of Faith - Toured nationally from January 2005 through September 2006, presented by the Women of Color Quilters Network, displaying how our faith is viewed. Venues included The Mennonite Heritage Center, Harleysville, PA (outside of Philadelphia), Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, OH,  Huntington Art Museum, Huntington, WV, and  King-Tisdale Art Center, Savanna, GA.

Public Art

Prentiss Women's Hospital, Chicago, IL

Comers Children Hospital, Chicago, IL

Austin Senior Center, Chicago, IL

15th Police District, Chicago, IL

Bethel Culture Arts Center, Chicago, IL

UIC Extension Center, Chicago, IL

Publications

• Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World: Profiles of Major Artists, Galleries of Inspiring Works by Martha Sielman, page 45 - "Where Two or More..."
• 100 Artists of the Midwest by E. Ashley Rooney, a Schiffer Books publication    
• Fiberarts magazine - 2011 - Spring, page 57 - "Save Darfur"
• Threads of Faith - "Dancers of Praise," Textural Rhythms: Quilting the Jazz Tradition - "Blow Trane Blow"
• Quilting African American Women's History: Our Challenges, Creativity, and Champions -
•  "Harriet's Gone Up Yonder" Featured on Bonnie McCaffery's Video-Cast # 24

Lectures/Trunk Shows

North Shore Quilters Guild of Milwaukee, WI

River Walk Quilters Guild of Naperville, IL

UIC African American Center, Women History Month, Chicago, IL

Inter-generational Art: Building Creative Bridges between Generations Panel, Chicago, IL

Sources:

http://www.handworksbytrish.com/ArtistStatement.html

Information from the artist

** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@askart.com.

Share an image of the artist at images@askart.com.

"Man's Way, Nature's Way." Richard Hunt

"Art is Business"

https://maps.app.goo.gl/h6mjLyQLn57EFCHM9

Lobby Sculpture: Richard Hunt

The staircase to the second floor is a stainless steel sculpture in the lobby. The artist, Richard Hunt, creates abstract metal works, each a unique shrine to the human spirit. Richard Hunt has completed almost 100 public sculptures, large and small. The sculpture, explicitly developed for the CalEPA building, is tentatively titled "Man's Way, Nature's Way." The theme, according to Mr. Hunt, "is some of the ways man and nature originate and modify form. In its complex spatial organization of internal, external, natural, and architectonic relationships, the sculpture seeks to represent sculptural ideas of building a base, frame, and reference for human interaction with the environment."

Mr. Hunt, a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has been a professor or artist in residence at several prestigious universities. His work is displayed in several public buildings, as well as at the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, to name a few.

Renowned Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt dies at 88

Article reposted,   © 2023 Sandro  © 2023 Richard Hunt. All rights reserved. https://www.richardhuntsculptor.com/   

RICHARD HUNT

 © 2023 Sandro  © 2023 Richard Hunt.

September 12, 1935 - December 16, 2023

Richard Howard Hunt, 88, of Chicago, died peacefully on Saturday, December 16, 2023 at his home. A private funeral service will be held in Chicago. A celebration of art and life, open to the public, will be held in Chicago in the spring, with dates to be announced.

Born in Chicago on September 12, 1935, Richard Hunt was one of this nation's most important sculptors. His prolific art career spanned nearly seven decades. Hunt's metal sculpture is notable for its widespread presence in museum collections and many public monuments installed across the U.S. Despite challenges for African-American artists during his lifetime, Hunt held over 150 solo exhibitions and is represented in more than 100 public museums across the globe. Hunt made the largest contribution to public art in the United States, with more than 160 public sculpture commissions gracing prominent locations in 24 states and Washington, D.C.

A descendant of slaves brought to this country through the port of Savannah, Georgia, Hunt grew up on the South Side of Chicago, first in Woodlawn and then Englewood. His father was a barber, and his mother was the first Black librarian in the city of Chicago. During his youth, he was immersed in Chicago's cultural and artistic heritage through art lessons at the South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) and the Junior School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Regular visits to Chicago's major public museums trained his eye and captured his interest in art. Hunt would go on to develop an extensive collection of African Art, which served as an inspiration for his work. 

In 1953, the landmark exhibition Sculpture of the Twentieth Century was held at the Art Institute of Chicago. During this exhibit, Hunt studied the artworks of welded metal and became inspired by the works of Julio Gonzalez, Picasso, David Smith, and Alberto Giacometti, among others. Hunt attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) on a scholarship from 1953-57, where he focused on sculpture while earning his B.A.E. 

When Hunt was nineteen years old, he witnessed the open-casket funeral of Emmett Till in Chicago. Till, who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, had grown up only two blocks from the Woodlawn home where Hunt was born. Hunt would later remark, "What happened to [Till] could have happened to me." Hunt went on to create art shaped by this experience, which influenced both his artistic expression and his commitment to the cause of Civil Rights. 

Inspired by Sculpture of the Twentieth Century, and shaken by the death of Emmett Till, Hunt taught himself how to weld and began composing found metal objects into art. Only two years later, he gained national recognition when the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York acquired his sculpture, Arachne. In 1967, after the Chicago Picasso was unveiled, Hunt began creating works of Cor-Ten steel and later bronze and stainless steel which he continued using throughout his career. Hunt also created works of cast metal, usually aluminum or bronze, and was an accomplished draftsman who created drawings, lithographs, and screenprints, in addition to many sketched works. 

After graduating from the SAIC, Hunt went to Europe for a year to study art and worked at the famous Marinelli foundry in Florence. While in Italy, Hunt married fellow SAIC classmate Bettye Hunt in Florence in 1957. They welcomed a daughter, Cecilia, in 1962 and subsequently divorced in 1966. He returned to the U.S. in 1958 when he was called to serve in the military. During that same year, Hunt held his first solo exhibition in New York at the Alan Gallery. 

On March 16, 1960, while serving in the U.S. Army and stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, Hunt desegregated the Woolworth's lunch counter in Alamo Plaza. Hunt was the very first African American served there. This brave action made San Antonio the first peaceful and voluntary lunch counter integration in the South. 

Hunt was the first African American visual artist to serve on the National Council on the Arts, appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. Hunt created abstract welded sculptures by acquiring bumpers and fenders from scrap yards, which became a signature of Hunt's work. He was only 35 years old at the time of his 1971 exhibition at MoMA, the first retrospective for an African American sculptor at the museum. The exhibit titled The Sculpture of Richard Hunt included fifty-five sculptures, eight drawings, and twelve prints. In addition, in 1981 Hunt served as one of eight jurors, the sole African American, for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial competition in Washington, D.C.

Hunt sculpted major monuments and sculptures for some of our country's greatest heroes, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Jesse Owens, Hobart Taylor, Jr., and Ida B. Wells. His sculptures commemorate events from the slave trade and the Middle Passage to the Great Migration. His massive 30-foot, 1,500-pound bronze, Swing Low, a monument to the African American Spiritual, hangs from the ceiling of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Hunt's masterpiece, Hero Construction, stands as the centerpiece of the grand staircase at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2022, Barack Obama commissioned Richard Hunt as the first artist to create a work, Book Bird, for the Obama Presidential Center.

A major artist's monograph, Richard Hunt, was published in 2022, becoming the definitive survey of Hunt's work and career. In addition, that same year, the Getty Research Institute (GRI) acquired the Richard Hunt Archive. The GRI noted that "throughout his career, Hunt was central to important landmarks in African American art history and Civil Rights-era action." Hunt's archive, over 800 linear feet, is one of the largest artists' archives in the country. 

Hunt considered artistic freedom to be the most important aspect of his career, "I am interested more than anything else in being a free person. To me, that means that I can make what I want to make, regardless of what anyone else thinks I should make." That artistic freedom was recognized and celebrated by the many institutions from which he received 18 honorary degrees and held over twenty professorships and artist residencies at institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Northwestern, the School of the Art Institute, and the University of Illinois. 

Hunt served on dozens of boards, committees, and councils, including serving as a Commissioner for the National Museum of American Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution. Hunt received more than 30 major awards, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center, the Fifth Star Award from the City of Chicago, and the Legends and Legacy Award from the Art Institute of Chicago. This year, April 24, 2023, was proclaimed "Richard Hunt Day" by Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker, celebrating his life's achievements and recognizing Hunt as one of our country's greatest artists. 

Hunt recently completed the sculptural model for a monument to Emmett Till, Hero Ascending, to be installed at Till's childhood home in Chicago. It will commemorate Till and the tragic event that gave rise to the modern Civil Rights movement and shaped the career of the sculptor Richard Hunt. Hunt is survived by his daughter Cecilia, an artist, and his sister Marian, a retired librarian, both of whom live in Chicago.

OBSERVER 2022 Person of The Year: Shonna McDaniel's

"Art is Business" Sacramento Observer, reposted  by Alpha Bruton, Article by GENOA BARROW December 23, 2022

Shonna McDaniel's spent a lot of time lying down this year. The local artist slipped from a ladder while working on a community mural project and broke her foot.

As a person who is constantly on the go and doing something, usually for other people, being unable to move pained her as much as the injury itself; the initial injury turned into others, and she also developed life-threatening blood clots from being prone for an extended period.

McDaniels doesn't know how to sit still, yet it wasn't idle time when she was forced to. The artist's hands – and mind – were constantly working. Bedridden for five months, she discovered new ways to create and, while recuperating, organized art shows and youth art activities.

McDaniels' unapologetic work in showing the beauty of Black people and their contributions and her continued commitment to seeing Black artists have a seat at the table led to her selection by The OBSERVER as its 2022 Person of the Year.

Before her injury, McDaniels could be found running the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum in her beloved South Sacramento. She founded the museum in 1996 and has expanded it from a one-room space to a must-see cultural destination.

Local artist and museum founder Shonna McDaniel's has made a conscious effort to paint her people, educate the community and create opportunities for others to shine. Verbal Adam, OBSERVER

"We want to have information on great African kings and queens and individuals that they don't speak of when they talk about art history, that they are too afraid to speak of when they talk about our history," McDaniel says of the space.

Solo Exhibition Yolo Arts' Gallery 625, 2023

Visitors often encountered her going seemingly 100 mph, urging them to discover all the museum offers and pointing them to other activities throughout the building. She's still going full speed, only these days, it's in a wheelchair or a motorized scooter donated by a community supporter.

The museum is located inside the Florin Square complex. McDaniels' roots in the space date back 30 years to when she worked for Barbara Nord, the first Black woman to own a payee service in Sacramento. The building was known as the Business Incubator at the time. It's now home to several Black-owned small businesses and the African Market Place, which takes place every first and third Saturday. McDaniels also organizes Second Saturday activities to include Blacks in activities that expose people to art and culture as they do in other parts of the city.

"We need that for South Sacramento," she says. 

African Market Place leader Ra West hosted an art exhibit featuring McDaniel's during Second Saturday earlier this month. West says the spotlight was long overdue, as McDaniel's usually is uplifting other people's work.

Black Like Me

Where others see a blank canvas, McDaniels sees possibilities. When she sees voids, she seeks to fill them. When others push back against her desire to see people of color depicted in public spaces, she just paints them with bolder strokes.

She focuses much of her artistic energy on painting Black women in all their melanated glory. Former mentor Akinsanya Kambon says that's a skill in itself.

"You can't just make Black skin by using one color," says Kambon, who first taught McDaniels at the tender age of 4.

"Black skin has all the colors in it, and I see Shonna is doing that," he says. "You have to use reds and blues and greens, and purples, and yellows; all those colors come from the sun, and the sun reflects off the melanin in the skin.

"The first thing in being an artist is you've got to learn how to see. The average person doesn't know how to see those things, but when you study them, you learn how to see and paint them. But it's not easy. So when somebody does what Shonna's doing, you can see that they put in a lot of work studying those skin tones or skin colors."

McDaniels' work has been featured in the recurring "The Black Woman Is God" exhibit at the SOMA Arts Culture Center in San Francisco. Co-curator Karen Seneferu says that as an artist, McDaniels embodies what "The Black Woman Is God" is about.

The Black Woman is God: Reclaim, Reconfigure, Re-Remember 

Curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green

"Shonna McDaniels is an unsung heroine," says a fellow artist. "Like the exhibit, Shonna's art celebrates Black women as essential to building a more just society. Shonna McDaniels creates spaces that are sustainable for the community's future.

“When she produces art, she expands the intersectionality of race, age and gender, dismantling stereotypes of Black women.”

McDaniels has taught art classes and conducted numerous workshops and exhibits. She has also been involved in such collaborations as the Visual Arts Development Project, Zica Creative Arts and Literary Guild, Kuumba Collective, and the Sacramento African American Nonprofit Coalition. She also advocates for Black inclusion in public art projects such as Wide Open Walls.

"Shonna is pure light and love in action," says Sandy Holman, founder of the Davis nonprofit The Culture C.O.-O.P.

Holman met McDaniel's at the African Market Place and says her life is better for it.

"She is fearless, committed, and talented beyond measure, but I love her most for what she does for our community and her zeal to give back," Holman says.

'Woke' Walls 

"Woke" is a reasonably contemporary term, but McDaniel's says she always has been that way. She participated in her first Kwanzaa at age 5 and attended an African-centered Saturday school where she learned Swahili and was immersed in the culture.

She credits her mother, Ollie Armstrong McDaniel's, who helps run the museum, for laying the foundation early.

"We had African masks, paintings, and images of Black people throughout the house," McDaniels says. "She was a part of the Black Panther movement. We would go to Oakland to participate in the marches and other activities, so she stimulated our minds."

McDaniels' father, William McDaniels, spent time behind bars and was changed by the experience. He passed on that knowledge to his children.

"When he got into prison, he started to cultivate his Black mind, and he started sharing that information with us as young people," she says. "He started writing letters to me as a young child and sharing information about historical Black leaders. I'm getting letters with all these powerful history lessons in them."

Her mother joined the Nation of Islam and exposed her children to its ideology and self-sufficiency message. Both have influenced her art and community-focused activism.

"I definitely was inspired by the fact that the Nation had an entire block of businesses in Oak Park," McDaniels says. "It was like a Black Wall Street. I had never seen anything like it before."

Today's kids need similar exposure, she says.

"My mom involved us in everything that she could possibly imagine that would cultivate our Black minds, and a lot of the parents are not doing that. That's one of the biggest mistakes happening today for our youth. Of course, we know they're not getting that information in school."

While educators were being damned nationally for teaching the realities of American history, McDaniels was educating local youth about their place in it through a docent program at the museum that gives them money for their pockets as well. While school districts across the country added classical Black titles to their lists of banned books, McDaniels was introducing youth to Black authors on the walls of her museum and supporting the local business, Escape Velocity's Boys in The Hood Book Club, a literacy program.

For McDaniels, who hosts a Black memorabilia fest and the annual Festival of Black Women's Hair, Body, Mental/Financial Health, Beauty, and Art, it nearly broke her heart to hear a local teen say she "didn't know anything about being Black until the George Floyd incident." Also troubling, she says, are upper-middle-class parents and celebrities with far-reaching platforms, who shy away from their Blackness and denounce the importance of young people knowing about their culture and their past.

"What our community does not understand is that our children are out here acting foolish and running amok, and it is because they don't have a knowledge of self," she says. "If they had a knowledge of self and loved self, that would allow them to love others in their space. If they knew that they come from greatness, they wouldn't be out here calling each other the n-word and the b-word; they would be on a whole other level of consciousness."

'This Work Is A Part Of My Soul'

During the pandemic, McDaniels and the Sojourner Truth Museum have minded the gaps for the community, hosting senior activities, providing weekly meals, and hosting youth pop-up events and art lessons, complete with supplies. Some events were covered by city COVID-19 money, but McDaniels continued the activities even after the funds stopped this year.

"This work is a part of my soul," McDaniels says. "It's my life's work, and I want parents to get it. I want our children to get it; I want them to succeed. I want them to love each other. It doesn't matter if the funding is not there. Like Malcolm said, 'By any means necessary.' So, if I have to come out of my own pocket, which I still do in the past and sometimes today. I've always had that mindset. I'll go without to make sure that my community has."

Kambon, a former Black Panther Party artist, is proud of McDaniels.

"I've seen her develop as one of the most accomplished artists in Sacramento, in terms of African Americans," he says.

Born Mark Teemer, Akinsanya Kambon is an American artist and art professor.

Kambon is also happy she has stayed true to her activist roots.

"We as artists have a responsibility to speak to our people's struggle in this country because that's why our ancestors gave us this talent. They gave it to us so we can carry on the fight. We have to intensify the struggle," Kambon says.

Supporters often caution McDaniels that she's "doing too much," but those words aren't in her vocabulary. She's already focused on 2023 and getting an early start on securing funding for her annual Banana Festival, a significant museum fundraiser.

"A lot of people tell me, 'You're going to kill yourself trying to save your people,' 'You're going to make yourself sick,' or 'You have made yourself sick,'" she says. "It's just embedded in me to continue to do this work, and hopefully, before I transition, some major change will be made."

THE OBSERVER proudly salutes Shonna McDaniel's as its 2022 Person of the Year.

"Soundscape Tapestry" Spirit Lake A Composition By Reggie Nicholson

"Art is Business" #DCASEgrants 

The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) announces the Neighborhood Access Program. This program aims to support the cultural vitality of every Chicago neighborhood via grant programs and partnerships designed to be responsive to the complex needs of individual communities. This program offers direct grants for community-based arts and culture activities.

AIR 2022 Reggie Nicholson @ Phantom Gallery Chicago

We’re excited to announce Tactical Urbanism in the Horizontal Landscape "Sound Scape Tapestry," The funds will create a dynamic platform for large-scale installations, moving image works, and sound performances. 

What is a Soundscape? Close your eyes and listen to the space you are in.

What is the meaning of soundscape in music?

Definitions for soundscape sound·scape. A soundscape composition - an electroacoustic musical composition creating a sound portrait of a sound environment. A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology.

"Spirit Lake" Research capturing the soundscape of Lake Michigan's 51th Street walking path.

Sound, when understood as an environment, is a soundscape: a powerful tool that helps humans relate to their surroundings. They can be consciously designed by an individual or group of individuals' circumstances or the by-product of historical, political, and cultural events.

"Spirit Lake" June 2022, a work in progress

Acrylic on Black Foam Broad, Wetting Agent, 36" X 40"

"Spirit Lake" November 2022, a work in progress

Acrylic on Black Foam Broad, Wetting Agent, 36" X 40"

 This project is funded in part by #DCASEgrants.

Alpha Bruton

Describing the artistic vision of her work: 

At this plateau in her life, she started reflecting on how her work affects lives. In 2005 she started her series on vibration sounds that teach the body at all levels how to have a new experience. Bringing us into focus with the opportunities to choose new ways to live out our lives in each unique moment, they mirror to us things that we have forgotten about ourselves, reminding us just how powerful we are in changing our reality. 

Vibration Sound Narratives was a four-year exploration of various jazz musicians, improvisational jazz, creative music, electric music, and alternative sound. I created abstract sketches responding to their sound streams and what I felt or saw during these performances. Vibration Sound Narratives are a comprehensive system of patterns or vibrations that teach our bodies at all levels how to have a new experience. They activate a practice similar to Vibra Keys associated with sound, shape, and image in the context of emotional response and unlock visual-spatial intelligence in the artists among us who think in pictures.

What inspires her most is the feeling that she has a social responsibility as an artist to record history and to thrust awareness about life, the earth, and life in the passing to the viewer to cast another perspective upon to view the world.

These explorations affect her personally because she is focused on examining what transpires from the artist to the canvas. She uses the canvas to stage experiences and to create an observational view for others as spectators at the event. She uses the same approach she uses in the professional world with 

colleagues in conceptualizing an installation or group exhibition or planning for a mural project she employs in the classroom while working with teachers and their students. This dialog helps her to reflect the same continuity in her professional works.

Reggie Nicholson

The instantly recognizable style and sound of Reggie Nicholson have elevated him to one of the most distinctive, inventive, and inspirational drummers/percussionists of his generation; he is a formidable technician but one who uses his considerable skills constructively and with infinite taste.

Born in Chicago, his drum concept fitted perfectly the needs of many extraordinary Chicago musicians. Nicholson first gained a reputation as a drummer and percussionist in his hometown of Chicago. A Southside native, he graduated from Cornell Elementary, where he played drums for the “Area A Band” of exceptional music students, and Hirsch High School as a concert band percussionist. He then used a 4-year music scholarship to Chicago State University’s percussion program.  During his early days before moving to NYC, Nicholson worked around Chicago with many great musicians and performed regularly at the famous Southside organ club, The Other Place. An active Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) member since 1979, Nicholson has absorbed the organization's musical influences to compose and improvise original music.

RESEARCH REFERENCES:

Folklife

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is home to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, a public resource named for the founding director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

The Sound of Life: What Is a Soundscape?

May 4, 2017 | Marinna Guzy | Comments

This is the first article in a two-part series.

Marinna Guzy is a sound artist, writer, and photographer focused on the intersection of art and social justice, especially in relation to culture and the environment. She currently serves as the supervising sound editor and sound designer at Raconteur Sound.

WE GOT A GRANT! 2022 Neighborhood Access Program

"Art is Business"  #DCASEgrants

We're happy to announce our selection as a Neighborhood Access Program grant recipient from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events! 

The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) announces the Neighborhood Access Program. This program aims to support the cultural vitality of every Chicago neighborhood via grant programs and partnerships designed to be responsive to the complex needs of individual communities. This program offers direct grants for community-based arts and culture activities.

Tactical Urbanism in The Horizontal Landscape "Soundscape Tapestry" exposes pedestrians to the experience of what is viewed inside the gallery creating a dynamic platform for large-scale installations, moving image works, and sound performances. This collaborative effort has put two artists, a composer/percussionist, and a visual/installation artist, in a space to create a new body of work that will draw on the inspiration gained from the environment of the Bronzeville neighborhood.

Bronzeville Art District Trolley Tour 2022, Pedestrians viewing Experimental Films 

This funding will support Bronzeville's cultural vitality through collaboration with soundscape artist and composer Reggie Nicholson. The Phantom Gallery Chicago will build a sound and visual installation while expanding its body of work. The piece will be made by recording sound in the neighborhood (the "horizontal landscape" sounds) and then woven together with a new composition by Nicholson. The music tapestry will play alongside experimental film projections curated by visual artist Alpha Bruton. The piece will be presented at the Bronzeville Artists Lofts commercial space and at the corner of 47th and Vincennes. "a series of free public art installations." #DCASEgrants

Tactical Urbanism in The Horizontal Landscape "Soundscape Tapestry" exposes pedestrians to the experience of what is viewed inside the gallery creating a dynamic platform for large-scale installations, moving image works, and sound performances. This collaborative effort has put two artists, a composer/percussionist, and a visual/installation artist, in a space to create a new body of work that will draw on the inspiration gained from the environment of the Bronzeville neighborhood.

2022 AIR Composer and percussionist Reggie Nicholson Soundscape Tapestry

47th and Vincennes Empty Lot, September 16th, 2022  Tactical Urbanism In the Horizontal Landscape

We’re excited to announce Tactical Urbanism in the Horizontal Landscape "Sound Scape Tapestry," and the use of funds will be to Create a dynamic platform for large-scale installations, moving image works, and sound performances. This project was funded by the Neighborhood Access Program from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. #DCASEgrants.

THE JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO DEVOTES 2022 TO HONOR THE GREAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG.

"Art is Business"

THE JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO DEVOTES 2022 

TO HONOR THE GREAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG.

He arrived in Chicago in 1922 from New Orleans to play as a sideman for King Oliver. He left Chicago an international superstar. Throughout 2022 join us for concerts, exhibits, discussions, and more as we celebrate and tell the story of this master musician's life and legacy. A founding father of jazz, the first pop star, and a cultural ambassador of the United States, he is the incredible Louis Armstrong.

For Immediate Release... Press Contact: Scott Anderson 

April 19, 2022, Scott@JazzInChicago.org 

 847-337-2111 mobile phone 

 

JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO HONORS LOUIS ARMSTRONG 

Events are planned all year to celebrate 100 years since Louis Armstrong arrived in Chicago. 

CHICAGO, IL -- The Jazz Institute of Chicago is proud to bring together jazz luminaries from Chicago 

and beyond for a range of concerts and events to honor the man who arrived in Chicago 100 years ago 

and changed the course of America's original art.

 

In 1922 Louis Armstrong made a small splash playing riverboats and clubs in and around New Orleans. Then, that summer, he was summoned by King Oliver to come to Chicago and join his Creole Jazz Band  on the second cornet. He soon dazzled Chicago audiences with new and exciting playing and the astonishing duets he shared with Oliver. His first recorded solo was on the song "Chimes Blues" with King  Oliver on April 5, 1923. 

It was also in Chicago where Louis met his future wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, a gifted pianist and composer who had a profound effect on Armstrong's playing as well as his personal style. Louis and Lil married and bought a home on East 44th on Chicago's Southside. Over the next several years, Lil helped guide Louis from a top-notch local player with country bumpkin charm to an international superstar and America's first cultural ambassador to the world. In Chicago, Louis continued to record 

songs that would alter the course of jazz forever. As Dizzy Gillespie said, "No Louis, no me." 

The current line-up of Jazz Institute of Chicago events is as follows: 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20 

CHICAGO LOVES POPS: A CELEBRATION OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG 

Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E 60th Street 

Trumpet greats Orbert Davis, Corey Wilkes, and Maurice Brown pay homage to the great Louis. 

Armstrong arrived in Chicago 100 years ago and changed jazz forever. 

Ticket info at www.jazzinchicago.org

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4 & 5 at 7PM 

LOUIS ARMSTRONG ART EXHIBITION and CONCERT 

Fulton Street Collective, 1821 W. Hubbard Street

Two evenings of artwork inspired by Louis and Lil Hardin Armstrong with special concerts with Marques Carroll on November 4 and Chris Neal on November 5.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2 at 7PM 

JAZZ CITY: TRIBUTE TO ELLA AND LOUIS 

South Shore Cultural Center 7059 S South Shore Dr 

Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recorded some of the most known and enduring songs in 

jazz history. Bruce Henry and Alysha Monique pay tribute to this exceptional pair. Expect a few 

holiday tunes too!

Palm Sunday Concert Series 2022 Final Installment REGGIE NICHOLSON CONCEPTS

"Art is Business"  https://www.reggienicholson.com/.

Andre, Frances Guichard of Gallery Guichard, and Joseph Harrington of THE MOJO Group, LTD will host a series of outdoor concerts under Palm Sunday as a tribute to and in memory of Gerri Oliver and the Palm Tavern. 

 This year Gallery Guichard will be launching the Palm Sunday, an outdoor concert series that happens in the Empty Lot 47th and Vincennes adjunct to the Great Migration Sculpture Garden and activated the alleyway next to 436 E. 47th Street as a social distance safe zone for art tour attendees, and the surrounding neighborhood—in addition, presenting live music, and other activities to Chicago neighborhoods so that all can enjoy themselves without regard to economic status or where a person lives. 

Our outdoor stage is a mobile venue that moves all over the city and becomes a movable, portable stage. Culture Coach makes a mobile stage more useful as it fills a gap left by community disinvestment. Susan Fox

 Join us next Sunday, September 18, 2022, from 2 pm to 5 pm for a Jazz Explosion to end the summer season!  

Palm Sunday in tribute to the historic Palm Tavern that was once located at the same place as the Great Migration Sculpture Garden!

Enjoy the amazing Jazz of Reggie Nicholson, Isiah Collier, Cory Wilkes, and Donovan Mixon and the rich history of the Bronzeville community.

The brunch package offers delicious food and relaxation in the garden.  

Bronzeville Artist Lofts Present ON-DEMAND DANCE

"Art is Business"

Bronzeville Artist Lofts   Open Studio featured resident dancer- Imania Fatima Detry, “On Demand!”  Come dance with Imani!!!.. In class, you will go on a journey through the beginning of the traditional West African movement and how it relates to the contemporary music played now. Imani has been expanding on her choreography with fusing styles that include Djembe and Doun Dance, Sabar, House, Chicago Footwork, and Afrobeat.

With over 20 years of professional training and performance with Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago as a principal artist and as the Assistant Artistic Director of Ayodele Drum and Dance, she truly enjoys and works in the efforts to preserve African dance and culture as well as share her current experiences and style in her teaching and performing. 

https://lucky-plush-productions.myshopify.com/collections/afro-house-with-imania-fatima-detry

Spoken word artist Binkey, aka Lawrence Tolefree, will host a three-part series on BEATNIKS giving a platform to discuss these critical issues from the perspective of African dance forms.  This can help a person deal with emotional conflicts, become aware of issues, and express unspoken concerns. 

Bronzeville Art Tours. Music therapy is another tool to relieve stress and anxiety and is often played loudly in space activations and activities here at the Bronzeville Artist Lofts, where each collaborative art partner resides.

Event Description; Bronzeville Art District Trolley Tour, August 19th, 2022, 6PM- Bronzeville Artist Lofts, 436 E. 47th Street.

The Black Female Body

"Art is Business" www.sojoartmuseum.org. 

Curator's Synopsis: Gifted and Naturally Made, "The Black Female Body."

DR. SAMELLA LEWIS  from the collection of Unity Lewis Estate "Bayou Woman, 2006".

CARYL HENRY-ALEXANDER, ALPHA BRUTON, TALVER GERMANY-MILLER, LIZ GOMEZ,  SHONNA McDANIEL'S, DIONNE VICTORIA-MILTON, DIANE STRAUSS, and URBAN SUNSHINE.

 Dr. Samella Lewis Gallery at SOJO Museum

DR. SAMELLA LEWIS   "Bayou Woman, 2006"

10 African American female artists invited to exhibit at the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum have proved unafraid of provoking controversy. Through their artwork, these women confront the injustices of misrepresentation done to black women throughout history and disrupt the built-in prejudices they have faced. Importantly they also prove that the importance of black females' bodies runs more than just skin deep.

"Women's bodies have constantly stirred within society, especially from the seeming contradiction between female sexuality and motherhood. 

Often called the “Madonna and whore dichotomy,” this ambivalence makes the site of the female body a contentious spectacle for men and women alike. Add to this mixture the sight of a black female body and the racial context it elicits, and we find ourselves in the middle of a textured conversation about womanhood, race, and inevitably society’s opinions upon it.” Christabel Johanson is a writer and a curator from London.

Curator Talver Germany Miller: 

A native of Sacramento, California, I was educated like many other artists from grammar to graduate school. I received a BA degree in Studio Art, BA in Social Science/ Anthropology, and an MS. Degree in Counseling Education all from the California State University of Sacramento. I am an Associate Professor of Art at Folsom Lake College, a member of the Placerville Arts Association, San Francisco Fine Arts Museum, Sacramento African American Art Collection, Phantom Gallery Chicago Network on LinkedIn, and a member of the California Arts Association.