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.
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.
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.
My title B’Rael Ali is an affirmation that I use so that I always remain conscious of my spiritual identity and purpose. My purpose being a creative force sent from the cosmos, a bringer of truth. I was born on the south side of Chicago and I have lived much of my life in the urban City. I am a graduate of the Southern Illinois University of Carbondale achieving a BFA in Painting and Drawing. I am also a spoken word artist. My artwork and poetry are infusions of urban life, history, and social commentary. I believe that knowledge of self is the true answer to anyone’s individual struggles because gaining it has improved my life tremendously. My artwork and poetry serve as a form of education, displaying the lessons and philosophies that help me during my struggles in order to help others through their struggles as well. Art is my language, Art is my way of solving the problems of today in order to create a better future.
Much of my artwork features dancing figures. Dance is the physical cultivation of the Spirit through mental release and rhythmic processes. Dance historically, and contemporary is a large part of African and African American culture being used for ritual purposes, ceremonial, as well as social. My artwork depicts those traditional uses of dance through 2D drawings on paper that are enhanced with acrylic paint and pastels. I use the dancing figure as a creative vessel to express African American culture and issues. Through compositions designed from the figurative image of the dancer, I compose narratives that describe the African American experience, largely addressing identity, reconnecting African Americans to their African ancestry. The collaboration of symbols new and old creates the persona of "Afrofuturism" in my work, allowing my art to become ritual.
The Phantom Gallery will look at how the city influences art, and artists transform the city by contributing to civic dialogue and quality of life. These installations will produce "Creative Conversations" presenting artists speaking about their art.
2020 Program virtual gallery openings will focus on Examining the State of Our Environment- and having conversations with artists in their studios.
The aim of the Phantom is to examine changes in current curatorial production and to develop innovative displays in relation to virtual spaces. "Curatorial Practice" explores the impact of the urban environment on the artist and their work, and the contributions that artists make to the vitality of a city. The place where art is imagined and made, whether in a physical or virtual space, affects the idea, the process, and the final product.
Join us on December 18th, 2020 for our final installment of Virtual Open Studio featuring:
"Art is Business" Knowledge Wisdom Peace and Love B’Rael Ali Thunder, www.braelali.com
Great Day and Happy first day of Fall. Even though we are all just trying to get the year over with there a lot of great things are in store for 2020.
You're invited to Sowing Seeds of Change Mural Reveal and community uplift Wednesday, September 23rd at 11am @ 601 s California. @ the Westside Justice Center (Rear Alley Entrance) Please come support the underserved community of the Westside of Chicago we need your strength.
