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

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87803862154?pwd=QUltVUdvYmpKaHBnL3FpditwbmlwUT09

 Meeting ID: 878 0386 2154

Passcode: 065227

You can also copy and place in your browser to search 

Conversation Town Hall "You Get What You Deserve: Welcome to the indignation

"Art is Business" Press release update: You may already know,  Space in the Gap (SG).  evolved out of Phantom Galleries LA (PGLA) programming.

 

SPACE IN THE GAP

Every idea needs space

 Space in the Gap produces, co-produces, and hosts cultural events and creative small businesses in vacant commercial spaces.  PGLA organizes the art in storefront programming for SG.  Loiter Galleries, a non-profit art in storefront program that launched out of PGLA’s stARTup program to incubate new art in storefront programs will curate exhibitions as well. 

Pop Up Research Station is a space to pool resources and support those working in temporary public art. PGLA loves The Conversation Art Podcast so we invited Michael Shaw to host his virtual café’ in collaboration with the SG online calendar.  

This last year, PGLA & SG had quite a few false starts. No surprise due to rapidly changing environments  We remain committed to creating opportunities for our arts community. New spaces are launching in Mission Viejo, Orange County this November. Loiter is programming in Long Beach.  This email blast is to invite you to Friday’s Conversation Café!  We knew you wouldn't want to miss it and we look forward to seeing you!   Don't forget to VOTE! :)

Cafe: The Conversation Art Podcast 11:30 AM PST. FRIDAY. 10.30.2020

You are not going to want to miss our next virtual cafe with special guest Nato Thompson  (curator, and author of Culture as Weapon, and former 2-episode guest of this podcast, will be doing a short presentation titled  "You get what you deserve: welcome to the indig-nation." 

[hosted by artist Michael Shaw host of The Conversation Art Podcast.]

Friday, October 30, 2020, 11:30 am to 1:00 pm PST.  

Online:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86576127651 

Password:  art podcast (zoom details below)

Thompson will discuss "the rise of effect as a semiotic expedient in the age of social media. This net-based emotional roller coaster has lent an all-too familiarity with internet trolls and moral outrage as the go-to language of online communication... this phenomenon that has not only provided the rise of Donald Trump, but also a growing understanding that affects holds more sway than content."

Thompson will do a roughly 15-minute presentation, followed by a q&a.

The continued conversation after the Q&A may be offered where we will choose topics prompted by our discussion and take them into the break out rooms for more intimate and in-depth exchanges. into the break out rooms for more intimate and in-depth exchanges. 

 

About Nato Thompson

From: https://www.natothompson.com/about

I am an author and curator based in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. I love this city. I write often about contemporary art and politics. I have also been doing interviews on Instagram on IGLIVE @natothompson with a show titled Let's Talk Alternatives.

Currently, my passion is the production of cultural infrastructure. I should soon be announcing something a little more specific in this regard. It has been a long time coming. I arrived at it by way of working in a variety of contemporary art non-profits while also navigating the complex territories of art, activism, and the production of meaning.

This journey has been informed by my work with Philadelphia Contemporary where the dream has been to build a civically engaged world-class kunsthalle (contemporary non-collecting art museum) in Philadelphia. Previous to Philadelphia Contemporary (I joined in November of 2017), I worked at Creative Time as Chief Curator from the years 2007 to 2017, before that I was at MASS MoCA from 2001-2007. 

 

More about Cafes:

Cafe's range from an hour to 90 minutes. You can drop in at any time during the call. Custom breakouts are available so you can move into small groups as desired with whomever you choose, or on any topic you wish.  A Cafe Menu is posted for each cafe.   Cafes happen on a regular schedule or can occur spontaneously. Cafes are a place to connect, network, and hang out. 

 Our intention is to inspire participation and collaboration creating an online experience like no other.   The SG Calendar offers our communities a place to network on an ongoing and casual basis.

For questions or more information contact Space@SpaceintheGap.com

SG Mailing list  http://eepurl.com/space 

Space in the Gap produces, co-produces, and hosts art & culture events and creative small businesses in vacant spaces. Every idea needs space.

LIVING SCULPTURE- PERFORMANCE ART- IMPROVISATIONAL SOUND

"Art is Business"

“Living Sculpture,” a performance art presentation, created by artist Alpha Bruton, for the Abstract Expressions “Do You See What I See” opening reception at Gallery Guichard, April 11, 2019 reception. 

Marielle Dickens, Chyanne Spencer, Bryonna Young 

About Move Me Soul- 

Move Me Soul is a Youth Dance Company founded by Ayesha Jaco in 2008. Move Me Soul is committed to providing an innovative platform for inner-city youth to train and evolve as the next generation of dancers, choreographers, and teachers.   Performers are engaged in dancemaking, storytelling and character development that allows them to curate Inner-City Aesthetics of the past, present, and future.

Improvisational Sound by guest musicians-

This piece was last presented in its entirety during the Interfaith Concert for Peace at The Chicago Temple, Sunday, March 16, 2008. 

Living Sculptures‖ is a performance art piece choreographed by artist Alpha Bruton, with music by the Ancestral Resurrection Ensemble. The living sculptures and dancer dramatize, through improvisation, a metamorphosis that symbolizes Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and the spiritual ―CRY‖ for world peace. This is a cry of pain, love, and joy. It is not just the physical act of crying, but an inner psychic cry, the longing and hoping, and the giving of all you have.
  

Jazmin Bruton-Davis, Jazell Smith, Oafrikara Mysheallah Webber – living sculptures 

Ancestral Resurrection Ensemble— Siddha Webber – vocals & percussion, Ray Mosley – guitar, Ben Montgomery – percussion, Duryving Ternoir – trumpet, and Eleni Vryza – dancer.

Interestingly enough, I studied dance at Fresno City College, the department chair was from the school of Martha Graham.

Martha Lamentation, 1935 introduced  stretch fabric in the dance of Lamentation
What is a stretch bag?  It’s like a human-sized pillowcase made of stretchy nylon and spandex.  They have an opening either on the side or the top/bottom of the bag.  On stage, we can make intriguing shapes that don’t look at all like the human body.

Lamentation premiered in New York City on January 8, 1930, at Maxine Elliot’s Theater, to music by the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály. The dance is performed almost entirely from a seated position, with the dancer encased in a tube of purple jersey. The diagonals and tensions formed by the dancer’s body struggling within the material create a moving sculpture, a portrait which presents the very essence of grief. The figure in this dance is neither human nor animal, neither male nor female: it is grief itself.

According to Martha Graham, after one performance of the work, she was visited by a woman in the audience who had recently seen her child killed in an accident. Viewing Lamentation enabled her to grieve, as she realized that “grief was a dignified and valid emotion and that I could yield to it without shame.”

Strategy Sharing Social with The Funambulist Magazine Special guest Léopold Lambert

"Art is Business" This event is hosted by Ladipo Famodu 651-261-7410

Special guest Léopold Lambert will share a brief history of The Funambulist Magazine and his plans for the future of the publication. Attendees are encouraged to participate in the informal discussion by responding to the question “How are you fighting for spatial justice in Chicago and beyond?”

The Funambulist is “a print and online magazine dedicated the politics of space and bodies initiated in 2015. Every two months, it proposes to its readers' spatial perspectives on political anticolonial, antiracist, queer, feminist and/or anti-ableist struggles in various scales and geographies of the world”.

https://thefunambulist.net/about

Come join fellow artists, architects, designers, planners, journalists, activists...etc. for a series of brief interviews concluding with a social hour. 

This private event is of limited capacity, so please RSVP to save your spot. Information on additional interviewees to be shared throughout the week. 

LOCATION:

Bronzeville Artist Lofts

436 E. 47th Street

Second Floor, Room 205

Chicago IL, 60653

RSVP HOST: Ladipo Famodu

651-261-7410

"Art is Business" reposted article by Jim Daley

Alpha Bruton Installation 

William G. Hill Projections of images from garden series

ENVIRONMENT | VISUAL ARTS | WOODLAWN

Concerning the Environment

A month-long showcase of installations and interactive events in and around Woodlawn provokes questions of our place in nature and its place in our communities

BY JIM DALEY | OCTOBER 30, 2018

 

Patric McCoy and Kahari Black discuss environmentalism, art, and Woodlawn's history (Matthew Searle / Experimental Station)

In his art gallery, which inhabits a small brick house at 64th and Dorchester, originally purchased by his grandfather in 1946, artist William Hill, a co-curator of the Experimental Station showcase “Environmental Concerns,” explained the project’s concept.

“The key is by establishing, fusing art, environment, and community, we begin to raise really important questions and conversations about who we are, and how we explore creativity, art and an important lifestyle that’s sort of connected or involved in the community,” Hill said. “Our goal is to have ongoing shows or exhibitions that would focus on various problems or issues that relate to the environment.”

“I wanted more of a local-global experience, where we would concentrate on youth and communities in underserved areas of the city within the parameters of Englewood, Woodlawn, and South Shore,” Hill said. He contacted art instructors at Hyde Park Academy High School, artist Gerald Sanders, and others to participate in the showcase.

Sanders, who teaches art at his Bronzeville studio, contributed his own and his students’ paintings to the exhibit at Hill’s gallery, one of four physical spaces “Environmental Concerns” is inhabiting and connecting in the project. The paintings explore themes of environmental degradation, animal population dynamics, and humans’ impacts on natural spaces. In one watercolor, a Bengal tiger, sharply in focus, considers a blurry reflection of itself in a stream. In another painting, scrawny trees peek out from a landscape crowded with shotgun houses.

Artists in multiple disciplines from across the city contributed to the showcase. Rhonda Ghoulston’s students at Hyde Park Academy made papier-mâché animals for a “Zoo of Endangered Animals.” Sound artist Norman Long led guided sound walks that explored how the soundscape in the neighborhood around the Experimental Station defines the experience of moving through it. Alpha Bruton, an art consultant and chief curator for the Phantom Gallery Chicago, created an art installation that hangs in the Experimental Station’s foyer. The piece incorporates projected slides, sound elements, computer monitor shells, shards of mirrors, and other found objects.

When she began conceptualizing the installation, she considered different ways of entering the space as well as questions around technology as a source of physical and mental pollution, Bruton told the Weekly. She collected some of the installation’s components, and Hill alongside Experimental Station assistant director Matthew Searle provided others.

“All the things that are in the installation have to have a story of where they came from and why they’re purposed,” said Bruton.

The monitor shells represent her concerns about our reliance on the internet. “Even now, we have little kids that are plugged into their iPhones,” Bruton said. “These monitors were precursors to this little phone.” The monitors hang amid triangular shards of former mirrors. That element reminds the viewer to reflect on how humans have treated the environment. “What’s our legacy, what are we going to pass on to our grandchildren?” she said.

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Ground Yourself

In addition to site-specific art installations, the “Environmental Concerns” showcase has also incorporated public events.

One of those events, on October 13, gave shoppers at the 61st Street Farmers Market (also run by the Experimental Station) the opportunity to bury their fears—literally. Artists from Cream Co., a Pilsen-based art collective that creates interactive installations to explore alternative, sharing-oriented economies, hosted an interactive event titled “Plant Your Fears,” which invited market attendees to write down their sources of fear on slips of paper that the artists wrapped around allium and fritillaria bulbs. The artists later planted the bulbs at the nearby Woodlawn Botanical Nature Center, which Hill also manages.

“The intention was to create the art around the experience rather than the product,” Brett Swinney, a project manager at Cream Co., told the Weekly. “I think we always struggle with our fears—just personally we always have these things, and we always kind of feel the need to expel them without really thinking about putting them to use.” Whatever someone’s background, they would be able to contribute something that would take on a transformed nature as it grew into a garden, he said.

The artists chose bulbs that have been described by writers and on gardening websites with fear-provoking words. They found that allium plants, for example, have been variously called unpredictable, zealous, clingy, aggressive, wild, and persistent.

“It was fun to look at the flower and read different people’s descriptions of it and find the words that we thought were particular to how you could describe a fear,” said Sasha Earle, a creative director at Cream Co. “So that was another thing we considered. Is your fear weighty, is it hair-raising? These are all words that came from different people writing about these flowers.”

Participants offered a variety of fears to be buried. Climate change featured heavily, as did what Swinney called the “heavy hitters”: dying alone, death, and loneliness.

“People who participate are usually so open to just putting their feelings and hearts out there,” Earle said. “And we never know that’s going to happen, so it’s always a great reminder to us that people want a place to have their voice heard.”

The bulbs will spend the winter underground. “In the late spring, we should have a fear comfort garden,” Earle said.

✶ ✶ ✶ ✶

What Makes an Art Collector?

At a well-attended public conversation, Kahari Black, co-director of the Youth/Police Project at the Invisible Institute (another tenant of the Experimental Station) and a visuals contributor to the Weekly, discussed environmentalism, art, and Woodlawn’s history with Patric McCoy, a longtime EPA scientist and a cofounder of Diasporal Rhythms. Through the organization, McCoy collects, promotes, and preserves art from the African diaspora.

McCoy, who grew up in a two-room apartment in Woodlawn, began collecting art when he purchased a lithograph from his college roommate for ten dollars. In his home gallery McCoy now has over 1,000 pieces of fine art, the majority of which are by Chicago artists. But for many years, he never considered himself to be an art collector. McCoy told the audience that there are implicit barriers that prevent most people, himself included, from thinking they can access the art world.

“We tend to think immediately when you say ‘art collector’ that the person is super-wealthy,” McCoy said. This reinforces the notion that art is for the ultra-rich, he explained, and it tells the average person art isn’t for them. Another assumption is that art collectors “squirrel away their art and hide it,” he said. He also believed that he had to be “academic” and “encyclopedic” about art to be a collector. “I’d never taken an art history class,” McCoy said. Finally, the idea that fine art is an investment, in which every purchase must lead to future value, was not something he agreed with. “So I had four strikes in my head that were keeping me from thinking I was an art collector,” he said.

McCoy said he had an epiphany when he started considering other cultural touch points such as music, poetry, or fashion.

“I thought, well, everybody is a music collector in some way, shape, or form,” he said. “And the first thing you do in your music collection is you want to share it. So I said, you don’t have to be wealthy; you clearly share this thing; and you don’t have to know a thing about music to like it and acquire it; and you don’t think of it in terms of investment.” These things all happen in the art world, but not in other cultural spheres, he said.

McCoy and Black also discussed the history of the Black Arts Movement, how the environmental movement impacted national and local policy, and the relevance of both struggles today.

McCoy welcomed questions from the audience, several of whom asked what he thought the best strategies are for artists and community members to tackle critical challenges like climate change. McCoy argued for putting pressure on corporations by affecting their bottom line. “Corporations are not necessarily anti-environment,” he said. “They’re pro-money. They do what they have to do. If you don’t push them, they won’t do it.”  

He said he’s almost resigned to the idea that things will get worse before they get better. Just almost: “But I’m an optimistic person, I believe it can turn around,” he said.

Editors’ Note: The Weekly is a tenant of the Experimental Station (come visit our newsroom!), which also serves as our nonprofit fiscal sponsor.

The closing event of “Environmental Concerns” will be held Tuesday, November 13, from 6pm–7:30pm. Participants will ceremoniously remove the art installation “Solo Saw,” a double-chainsaw creation by Erik Peterson, from its perch on a ledge inside the Experimental Station. The send off will feature performances, tastings, and sensory stimulation for guests. Searle plans to bake bread, and volunteers will make jams, jellies, and compotes to share.

“Environmental Concerns.” Experimental Station and Blackstone Bicycle Works, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave.; William Hill Gallery and Sculpture Garden & Dorchester Botanical Garden, 6442 S. Dorchester Ave.; Woodlawn Botanical Nature Center, 6300 S. Stony Island Ave. Exhibits open through Sunday, November 18. Free. (773) 241-6044. experimentalstation.org

✶ ✶ ✶ ✶

Jim Daley is a contributor to the Weekly. He was raised in Beverly and deeply loves the South Side. A former biologist, he writes about intersections between health, environment, science, and community. He last wrote about Pilsen gym Healthy Hood for the Weekly’s Best of the South Side issue.

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down…

"Art is Business"

Catina Robinson-Hale

History Lost by Displacement

@Catina Robinson-Hale

A portion of the photos in my installation was taken during the years of 2000-2001... In 1996, the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) took control of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). At that time HUD introduced a radical change of policy, advocating the demolition of “failed high-rise buildings”. Chicago demolished several high-rise buildings in 1996 and 1997. As thousands of families became displaced the footprint of the West and South Side(s) of the city were changed forever. My installation attempts to capture the sense of abandonment and destruction. At the same time highlighting the juxtaposition of buildings tumbling down against the backdrop of the ever-pristine Saint Ignatius Church Bell Tower. I see this as a simple display of how the livelihoods of African American families were literally being torn apart while the almighty Catholic Church stands strong. Upholding the realities of Chicago and “The Tale of Two Cities”.

The larger prints of the installation showcase images of locks and chains. For years I’ve been drawn to the different compositions captured with randomly found locks and chains. Many metaphors can be used to break down the meaning behind the lock and chain. 

I wanted to connect the idea of how the city kept many African American families on “lockdown” in these vertical towers in Black areas of the city for many decades. Those “locks” that were eventually unlocked when (HUD) decided to demolish these “failed high-rise buildings”.

 In the end, it’s no secret that the government had always owed the land. They kept it under lock and key and when the time came, gave the authority to unlock the land for developers. I can imagine the history of these once well-known high-rise public housing buildings filled with families fading with each story told. Almost like a ghost town of communities that Black Families once occupied.

BLACK MEN MISSING:: MISSING BLACK MEN

"Art is Business", posted for Paula Robinson- Examing the State of Our Environment

BLACK MEN MISSING: MISSING BLACK MEN

Features the B&W images of a family of professional photographers. 

While they captured the moments of life and events for family, friends, and clients these candid shots mark the passages on the other side of the lens documenting the life of family, fatherhood and the fate of our communities.  

The story illustrated through one family, emulates the sentiments of us all.  

The team sought to use the full depth of the gallery space 

to communicate the passage of time and the inevitable passing of the family patriarch. 

The perpetual loss throughout our community. 

The Wakunda proverb suggest: A man who has not prepared his children for his own death has failed his family.

The theme of Social Justice and the question, Where are we now?

are answered internally through one family's travails and externally through bold full-color graphic design posters that billboard the exterior boarded windows of the space and illustrate the modern icons of our century.

The future is in living color and the photographer's son is an Illustrator.

Paula Robinson

Paula Robinson holds a B.S. in Communication Arts from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.   She is a thirty-year entrepreneur and marketing communications veteran, was a vice president at several major communications firms including Burson Marsteller, Edelman, and Burrell before operating her own firm BR&R Communications Inc. and has been recognized with numerous industry awards. She has provided civic leadership as President of the Bronzeville Community Development Partnership (BCDP), a private non-profit community economic development organization revitalizing Chicago's historic African American community as an international tourism destination for more than two decades. 

Robinson is a long time advocate for local artists commissions, Public Art projects, cultural heritage placemaking strategies, and Artist Housing.  Her projects include  Bronzeville Art & Architecture Historic House Tours (Mid-South Planning & Development Commission); King Drive Walk of Fame (Chicago Public Art Commission); Bronzeville Portal (MPEA);  Great Migration Wall Sculpture/McCormick Motor Lobby (MPEA); Gerri’s Palm Tavern Signage Restoration (Chicago History Museum); Major Taylor Trail 111th Street Mural (CDOT/34th Ward);  2016 Great Migration Commemorative/35th Bridge (CDOT/4th Ward);  Sounding Bronzeville, Outdoor Gathering Space (CPD, Field Museum); Innovation Metropolis Classroom 110, Overton School (Creative Grounds).  

She is a fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago, serves on the national board of advisors for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Calumet Collaborative Steering Committee transforming the southeast Chicago lakefront and northern Indiana region. 

Toussaint Werner Bio

Toussaint Werner is an innovative and creative entrepreneur who brings more than twenty years of graphic artistry and design to corporate and community projects.  From assistant art director to an owner of a media group, his fresh, creative approach has established Toussaint as one of the most sought-after graphic designers for national brands such as Sprite and Sony Music Group; as well as community organizations (YMCA- Metropolitan Chicago) and municipalities including the City of Chicago and Atlanta City. His mastery of cutting-edge design tools such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, CS3 Suite, has resulted in moving, streamlined and vibrant marketing collateral for each of his clients owner of Calumet Curative’s, a social marketing solutions firm, Toussaint has trained children to create marketing campaigns that address social ills by using traditional and new media technologies.

Toussaint Werner is committed to creating safe and secure environments that nurture individual and community growth. Over the years Mr. Werner has developed expertise through rich experience that include work with some of the country’s leading African American owned production, event, and media entities. His love for community and politics have led him to leadership roles in numerous civic engagement projects, Including NOC (national organizing committee of the Nation of Islam). Chicago Chair of national cares mentoring movement in partnership with Essence Magazine and Susan Taylor. Werner also Servers as the Vice President of Breaking Bread (a community reinvest group in the Chicagoland area)

Mr. Werner also serves as a regular guest as political analysis and community commentary on a host of local and national media outlets.

Ayekoto Thutmose (Michael Thomas)

Ayekoto Thutmose (Michael Thomas) is a multimedia arts curator, native and resident of the historic neighborhood of Bronzeville, Chicago, Illinois, where his eclectic work pays homage to the Black Arts Movement of generations before. 

Owner and curator of Insit Studio (2014-16), Koto worked with community artists to present the No Color (2014), Kings & Killers (2014), and The Original Man (2015) exhibits. The gallery honorably displayed the works of such renowned artists as Fanta Celah and David Anthony Geary. 

At the creatives arts bar, Some Like It Black (2016-17), Koto curated a circuit of seasonal art exhibitions while producing several extended live music performance series, such as the still running and heralded, Young Lion Jazz Session (2016-  ), featuring Chicago’s most celebrated rising jazz phenoms. 

Koto’s current work centers around the development, production, and hosting of cutting-edge documentaries, impactful interviews, and artistic news programs. 

Larissa Johnson

Larissa Johnson is an interdisciplinary artist, social and cultural curator, arts advocate, youth tutor and mentor, and her greatest accomplishment; mother. She is interested in furthering the access of arts, technology, music and dance to young Black Bodies.  Known as a club kid of the 80's, for over 25 years Larissa Johnson has dedicated her life to the arts; ranging from dance, visual arts, fashion, music, and cultural preservation. 

In 2003, she founded  Rhythm’s  Production, a consulting, social marketing and arts advocacy firm that serves as a resource for Chicago DJs and artists and The Social Move in 2011.  

She is was the past coordinator of the 2016 Great Migration Centennial Committee and is working with other organizations such as Blacks in Green and Bronzeville Community Development Partnership, Social Curator for Sounding Bronzeville; a gathering space along Chicago's Lake Shore Drive; Burnham Wildlife Corridor, an affiliate of Deep House Page Chicago, and is part of the pop-up dance and music Excursions family. Larissa is the Creative and Promotions Director for Universal Dance Music, as well as other collaborative projects with Chicago artists, historians, and creatives. Larissa Johnson has been actively involved with the Honey Pot Performance an Afro-Diasporic, woman-focused creative collaborative community for several years in varied capacities, ranging from volunteer, make-up artist, stylist and now serving as auxiliary board member, as well as the Chicago Social Black Culture Map. 

Who gets to tell the Black American Story? We are the cultural stakeholders of our existence and it is extremely important that we record and tell our very unique stories. It validates and affirms our existence.

Rhonda Ingersol Hardy

Rhonda Ingersol Hardy

Rhonda Ingersol Hardy is an artist, entrepreneur, educator and community organizer. Rhonda is president of Designs by Urban Comforts. Her company’s, mission is to promote beautiful urban environments and increased cultural self-awareness for their clients. The company accomplishes this through the sale of handcrafted products that Rhonda designs and produces, and by providing home décor services through its Urban Interiors Designs program. Her work has been exhibited at the South Side Community Art Center and Gallery Guichard, and at the Beverly Arts Alliance.

Rhonda’s professional career also includes leading community development initiatives as an educator at the University of Illinois Extension where she worked extensively in Chicago communities such as Bronzeville, Englewood, and Chatham. After retiring from this position, she lived in Colombia South America for 3 years where she volunteered in at-risk communities. 

She currently serves on the Bronzeville Community Development Partnership Steering Committee, is a member of the Beverly Arts Alliance, serves on the Be the Miracle Youth Foundation Board and donates proceeds from her company’s sales to community development initiatives. She holds BS and MS degrees from the School of Environmental Design from Southern Illinois University has a certificate in interior design from the Professional Development Career Institute and is certified in environmental leadership management from the University of California Berkeley.

Walter Freeman

President and Creative Director

ef Design Group, Inc.

Walter Freeman is the president and creative director for ef Design Group Inc., a 25-year-old creative marketing and print services firm.  ef Design Group Inc. is a creative marketing services firm that specializes in developing visual communication strategies for website development, corporate identities, event & tradeshow graphics, consumer package design, point-of-purchase promotional materials, and political campaigns.

Prior to starting his firm, Walter served as graphics manager with the Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs where he managed a graphic design and photography staff in the public relations office.

Walter has consulted on projects with Lockheed IMS in Washington, D.C., on their national tollway systems projects and managed a team of designers to create interactive proposals for bid.

Walter is credited with providing effective design solutions for several minority business entrepreneurs by helping them incubate their enterprises, providing product development strategies, and establishing new brands and a variety of private label products.

Clients include: Nanophase, Barcardi Rum Imports, Nutra Sweet, Diageo North America Inc., Baxter Healthcare, American Heart Association, Bethel New Life Inc., Chemdal Corporation, Amcol International, Rainbow PUSH, U.S. Postal Service, Bronzeville Visitor Information Center, Loretto Hospital, Loretto Hospital Foundation, Popcorn and More Inc., South Side Community Federal Credit Union, ShoreBank, Aramark, and the City of Chicago Department of Vital Statistics

Qualifications:

• B.A, Fine Arts, Howard University

• Over 25 years of experience as an Art Director

Sponsors: (invited)

Woods Foundation, Illinois Tech Community Affairs Department, PNC Bank/Bronzeville

Alderman Pat Dowell, Rehab Construction Systems Inc,  Leroy Kennedy