CREATE FEST V with CMOP

"Art is Business"
http://www.chicagomodernorchestraproject.org/

August 6. 4-10 pm

Bronzeville Artist Lofts, 436 E. 47th Street

Phantom Gallery Chicago Network # 205

Come celebrate CREATE FEST V with CMOP

FREE MUSIC..FREE REFRESHMENTS

Come and relax with some of the freshest innovators in town..music, 

movement, poetry, painting, performance art..at 

CREATEFEST V!

Black Experimentalism a talk with Jelisa M. Davis- Part Two 07/19 by Phantom Gallery Chicago Network | Visual Arts Podcasts

Black Experimentalism a talk with Jelisa M. Davis- Part Two 07/19 by Phantom Gallery Chicago Network | Visual Arts Podcasts:

In this exhibit Phantom Gallery Chicago curators Alpha Bruton and Alan Emerson Hicks invited B. Rael Ali, and Jelisa M. Davis new graduates and emerging Chicago artists as a feature because each are presenting critical thought and expressing Modernism in their artwork. In their work, they have thought critically about black Modernism and what that means. Jelisa M. Davis work captures social phobic thoughts, emotions, and behaviors prior to or during moments of social interaction. In 2016, Davis graduated from Chicago State University where she studied studio art and developed her enthusiasm for surrealism. Areas of Investigation: Modernism, like its successor, Postmodernism, is neither easily demarcated in terms of actual dates, nor is it easily defined. Much of what describes Modernism also describes Postmodernism. So, what use do we find in the terminology that supposes a distinction? We know, despite this slippage in terminology, however, that Modernism as an artistic movement—embraced by a range of practitioners in literature, music, and the visual arts—is often described as a? break? from, and a revolt against, Realism. I want to think about artists whose work we might not consider experimental and see how the innovations in that work begin to shift the ground beneath what we think of as? black experimental.?

"Art is Business"

The Legendary Rakim is Takin' It to the Streets

"Art is Business" reposted for Lavon N. Pettis of Global Resources ID.

As many of you know in April of 2016 I joined my comrade's at the Inner-City Muslim Action Network as the 2016 Lead Planner for Takin' It to the STreets
http://streets2016.com/

This year's headliner is the none other than Rakim.  Check out what he had to say about his appearance this year!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8COtM8qnr9Y

Other acts include international sensations: Yuna, Brother Alia, The Reminders, Mumu Fresh, Brzzvll, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, and Danay Suarez.

Our guest Ilyasah Shabazz, a daughter of late black nationalist leader Malcolm X

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160524/marquette-park/takin-it-streets-fest-commemorate-50th-anniversary-of-mlk-march

I am asking my networks to contribute to the wonder organization we work towards meeting our fundraising goals for the 2016 Ramadan campaign.  Any amount you may offer is appreciated


I thank you in advance.

Please see the link to donate below
http://www.imancentral.org/ramadan-remembering-ali/

Black Experimentalism - “Let Us Examine the State of Our Environment.”

"Art is Business" Join us on BlogTalkRadio for a candid conversation scheduled for Monday, July 18, 2016, at 11am, 

The specific question I want to press is, what are some ways we define "Black Experimentalism" while examining the state of our environment? 

Call in to speak with the host (917) 889-7811

Jelisa M. Davis- Chicago State University Graduate BFA

In this exhibit, Phantom Gallery Chicago curators Alpha Bruton and Alan Emerson Hicks invited B.Rael Ali and Jelisa M. Davis, new graduates and emerging Chicago artists, as a feature because each is presenting critical thought and expressing Modernism in their artwork. In their work, they have thought critically about black experimentalism and modernism and what that means in their practice.

Artist B.Rael Ali

B. Ra-El Ali is an exceptional emerging artist who has exhibited his artwork at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois, South Side Community Art Center. He is currently a resident artist and curator at the Hunter International Gallery.

Jelisa M. Davis's work captures social phobic thoughts, emotions, and behaviors before or during moments of social interaction. In 2016, Davis graduated from Chicago State University, where she studied studio art and developed her enthusiasm for surrealism.

Areas of Investigation:
Modernism, like its successor, Postmodernism, is neither easily demarcated in terms of actual dates nor is it easily defined. Much of what describes Modernism also describes Postmodernism. So, what use do we find in the terminology that supposes a distinction? Despite this slippage in language, we know that Modernism as an artistic movement—embraced by a range of practitioners in literature, music, and the visual arts—is often described as a “break” from, and a revolt against, Realism.

That we engage in a discussion not only about race and gender, but about societal attitudes about race and gender, and the relationship a Modernism that cannot be extracted from these attitudes and a black Modernism that emerged alongside and against them. 

The question I pose to B. Ra - El Ali because he is also a poet and spoken word artist: Who within the black literary tradition has (as well as particularly, the visual arts., which is an area of cross-pollination in need of significant investigation) made experimentalism more possible, and might we find some of those figures in the columns we call 'canonical" or "traditional"? I want to think about poets whose work we might not consider experimental and see how innovations in that work begin to shift the ground beneath what we think of as "black experimental." 

Research: The Hopwood Lecture, presented April 20, 2011 
Michigan Quarterly Review

NEW IDEAS ABOUT BLACK EXPERIMENTAL POETRY 
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER

COLLECTED VOICES POP UP SCREENING Strange Fruit trailer

"Art is Business"

The partnership between Collected Voices and the Phantom Gallery Chicago Network will serve as Collected Voices' first fundraiser during the Bronzeville Summer Nights Art District Trolley Tour on Friday, July 15, 2016. The screening and fundraiser is a pre-launch to the CV Film Festival that begins in August and runs through October 2016.

COLLECTED VOICES POP UP SCREENING AT BRONZEVILLE ARTIST LOFTS, SECOND FLOOR EXHIBITION SPACE.

Dark Exodus: Subject to Jim Crow laws and an overtly racist white population that still sees Blacks as property, an African American family in the South sends their sons away to a better life. Visualizing the migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban, industrial North in sepia tones, director Iverson White's period film captures the atmosphere of early 20th century America. 28 min Fiction; directed by Iverson White

Sounds of Exodus: An Ode to the Great Migration: A short film from the critically acclaimed award-winning filmmaker Lonnie Edwards paying homage to the evolution of music birthed through the Great Migration. 3:17 min Doc; directed by Lonnie Edwards

The Talk: A father, a son, and a life or death conversation. 7:22 min Fiction; directed by Justin Vaughan

Does Police Have More Rights Than Juveniles? One South Side Family's Rare Victory Against Misconduct: In 2007, Donna Moore's 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter were assaulted by an off-duty Chicago cop. The city settled with the South Side mother in 2011, awarding her family $100,000. Real Chi Youth spoke with Moore and others to understand the impact of police misconduct against juveniles. 4:45min Doc; produced by Free Spirit Media, Directed by Chelsea Berry

Strange Fruit: A reinterpretation of the poem by Abel Meeropol in modern times, October travels down Middle American Main Street and finds himself trapped in a fatal cycle. At the end of the day,

Who is to Blame? The Fruit of the Root? 10 min Fiction; directed by Shay Riddick

Watch the trailer here: Strange Fruit trailer  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOFCVDxkldE

WHEN

Friday, July 15, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 10:30 PM (CDT) - Add to Calendar

WHERE

Phantom Gallery Chicago Network- Room 205

 436 East 47th Street, Chicago, IL 60653

Space is limited.- Mixologist Alan Emerson Hicks 

Sponsors

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/collected-voices-film-fest-fundraiser-tickets-26459628461?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

Emerging Artist: Jelisa M. Davis Featured in Black Experimentalism Exhibit

"Art is Business"

Jelisa Davis is an emerging Chicago-born artist who specializes in surrealistic painting. 

Black Experimentalism Exhibit

Phantom Gallery Chicago, 440 E. 47th Street, Room 205-  July 15th - August 13th, 2016.

Jelisa Davis’s Artist Statement

My work captures social phobic thoughts, emotions, and behaviors prior to or during moments of social interaction. My work expresses how mundane activities that require human encounters can be daunting tasks that produce extreme anxiety created by irrational fears of receiving negative judgment by others. I’m interested in depicting particular social insecurities such as fear of social rejection, public humiliation and being closely observed and negatively evaluated on performance.

My work often illustrates these anxieties as nightmarish landscapes from first

person perspective or it captures particular moments that provoke uncomfortable responses from my audience.  My work is visually characterized by crowded compositions and dull and intense color schemes to illustrate the overwhelming experiences of social anxiety and to intensify delusional perceptions.

She discovered her interest in art through the adoration of calligraphy and cursive writing. She enjoyed the curvilinear design and flow of the letters and how they were cleverly connected to one another. She would often trace her mother’s beautiful cursive writing and eventually accompanied the words with small doodles of imaginative imageries. 

In 2016, Davis graduated from Chicago State University where she studied studio art and developed her enthusiasm for surrealism. She was often influenced by the styles, philosophies, and concepts of classic surrealists, especially René Magritte. She appreciated the abandonment of reality and academic teachings and was intrigued by the acknowledgment and emphasis and of the unconscious world.

She was also influenced by psychological literature, specifically
Sigmund Freud’s theories of dreams and uncanny.  Davis’s philosophy of painting derived from the famous Picasso quote which she discovered her second year of college- “Painting is just another way of keeping a diary”. This led her to focus on psychological themes relating to social phobia due to her own experiences of social anxiety disorder.

Her work has been exhibited in CSU’s President’s Gallery where she had won first place and other honorable acknowledgments in the annual student art competition.

Phil Cohran Solstice Concert Millennium Park Chicago 6/20/16

"Art is Business" posted for Lavon N. Pettis GRID Project Manager 2016

Phil Cohran's Summer Solstice Ensemble  Bro Phil will be honored on July 8th by Master Yiser Ra Hotep and the Soul Yoga Society: http://soulyogafest.com/

On June 20th, 2016  Bro Kelan Phil Cohran debuted his Summer Solstice at the Pritzker Pavilion Millennium Park Chicago.   Below is a copy of the bio for the octogenarian, a musician list & plot, and video for you to review. 

He will take the rest of the summer to produce new music, rehearse, and tend to some of health needs.   He is looking forward to public performances again in October of 2016. 

Thanking you in advance for taking a look at these materials and all of your support! 

Musically and artistically yours,

Lavon Pettis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMQ1oL1p6Vs

Freedom Lover Films Collected Voices

"Art is Business"

I am a visual anthropologist and ethnographic filmmaker. I work with youth as my students, film crew, and subjects. My work, following women and girls has taken around the world to tell the story of some of the worlds most marginalized people. 

Collected Voices centers around original ethnographic works that explore the intersection of race, age, class, gender, and sexuality within Chicago society. Explored through short and feature length films from Chicago based artists, these stories capture the voices of individuals and communities. 

Thematic screenings held at the Phantom Gallery Chicago loft will create a space for viewing and discussion of narratives from underrepresented ethnic and cultural groups; often excluded from major theatrical & digital release. 

These films are curated to not only highlight the work of Chicago based filmmakers, but expand our understanding of ethnography, and the diverse experiences of Chicago citizens.

Susan Fox Speaks about Participatory PopUp Outside Performance Space

Susan Fox Speaks about Participatory PopUp Outside Performance Space 02/15 by Phantom Gallery Chicago Network | Performing Arts Podcasts:

Susan Fox Culture Coach programmer,

Susan Fox Culture Coach programmer, curator of Intersections series, and Nonprofit Partnership Developer with the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium. She talks about her vision for 'The Culture Coach,' a traveling pop-up stage that brings music and hands-on art experiences to parks clustered on Chicago's South and West sides.

The mission of the Culture Coach is to bring live music and the arts to our city's neighborhoods so that all can participate as audience or actors in these activities without regard to economic status or where they live. The Greater Madison Jazz Consortium is a new partnership of nonprofit presenting organizations (Madison Music Collective, Wisconsin Union Theater, Madison Jazz Society, and Midwest Gypsy Swing Festival), educators (UW School of Music, Madison Metropolitan School District Fine Arts Office, and Madison Jazz Jam), and WORT-FM, with additional support from the Jazz Institute of Chicago and local media (Isthmus and Capital City Hues).

Working together, these partners will pursue five common goals to create a more vibrant and sustainable local jazz scene: This Spring, the Consortium members will also complete a strategic plan that identifies a set of high-priority initiatives to further strengthen Greater Madison's jazz scene in the coming years.

"Art is Business"

Lea Pinsky Mixed Masters Murals-

"Art is Business"

Lea Pinsky
As an artist, my main focus is leading murals in schools and community spaces. Over the past ten years I have created more than two dozen large-scale works for schools, churches, playgrounds, and community centers. Many mural projects are collaborations with my husband, artist Dustin Harris. Together we run the company Mix Masters Murals -- check us out for a full portfolio of projects. 

I am also a sometimes-painter, and hope to fill my site with more canvas work in the upcoming year.

As an arts education specialist, I have founded, managed and taught youth programs with Columbia College Chicago, Urban Gateways, City of Evanston, Chicago Humanities Festival, After School Matters, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Lifeline Theatre. I am currently the Director of Education and Outreach with Art Encounter.

ANNE FARLEY GAINES- Featured Artists Faces Not Forgotten Chicago

"Art is Business"

ANNE FARLEY GAINES – Artist's statement

I have been an artist for over 40 years. Having grown up in the country in South Haven, Michigan, likely made nature my central theme for a long time. The Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago is where I have lived since 1980, however. In recent years, imagery and influence from these surroundings have infiltrated my paintings, drawings, mixed-media works, and folding screens, even though nature remains predominant. Some works have included views of my 1875 Victorian home from unusual angles. In 2006 and 2008, I received CAAP grants to produce two different series of works – “Lessons from a House” and “Pilsen Homes and Gardens." I sometimes used a shaped, 3-dimensional surface for surprise, variety, and humor. Producing these series was a significant way of dealing with the fact that my home has been a money pit and has caused me considerable joy and angst.

In 2010, I ventured into painting on ceramic tile, and in 2011, I incorporated shaped ceramic tile into my mixed-media works. This was concurrent to a large mural commission, "Treasures of Palos Heights," completed for that city with the assistance of my sculptor-husband, Geoffrey Novelli, in paint, ceramic, and mosaic. Collaborative murals are a large part of what I now do, such as the 72'x26’ mural I completed for San Jose Obrero Mission, a women's shelter in Little Village, in 2013. Having been in a very troubled marriage earlier in my life, bonding with the shelter participants and painting with them helped me feel the completion of a circle and put the past behind.

My most recent mural was completed in several parts, in paint and mosaic. It was tit"ed “Abunda"ce,” and I collaborated with eight Public Art students I taught while a visiting faculty member at Principia College during the fall semester of 2014. The subject matter was the nature of the region – birds in particular – plus Mississippi River imagery, livestock, and distant bluffs and fields. The completed panels, all using cement board that I spent endless hours cutting as a substrate for the students to paint and add detail in mosaic clusters, were affixed to a large building in Alton, IL, and dedicated by the Mayor. The doing of this mural coincided with the sad events in Ferguson, Missouri, of a police officer shooting a young man multiple times before killing him. One section of the "Abundance" mural was what I termed the "Elijah Lovejoy" section. He was an Abolitionist journalist whose press was located in Alton in the 1830s. At that time, Missouri was leaning toward becoming a slave state. Lovejoy was eventually murdered for his unpopular views, and his press was destroyed at the same time. The lives of some of his employees were lost then as well. I incorporated the Elijah Lovejoy memorial of an angel on top of a pillar in the design, with two African-American and two white students at the base of the memorial picking and sorting plums on one side together and picking and sorting apples on the other, a gentle symbol of racial harmony and solidarity.

In addition to exploring the spontaneity of plein-air painting whenever I have had a chance to venture out into the light and engage with stimulating subject matter, portraiture is an important genre to me. It helps keep my own soul alive as I look into another's eyes. This love of portraiture has been very advantageous to my mural projects. I relish painting people I know well, several times painting them non-commissioned for the sake of painting them. 

 In 2002, there was a mass exodus of artists from the East Pilsen neighborhood as rents rose. Saddened by this, I created a series of portraits of neighbors and friends, several of whom were artists, and installed the work at a neighborhood café. It helped to fill a growing void. Because of this unstoppable quality of empathy I seem to have, and try to infuse into my artwork, I was very moved to do a portrait of a young male victim of gun violence for the exhibition, "Faces Not Forgotten." His name is Tony McCoy. I ultimately hope that it makes a very positive difference in the life of his mother, whose loss is unimaginable.

. 

B. Ra-El Ali Speaks on Social Justice, and Urban Activism

"Art is Business"
B Ra-El performed Blood on the Leaves at Genesis Art Gallery on April 16th, 2016 during the Faces Not Forgotten-Chicago opening reception and dedication of victims of gun violence in Chicago. He also assisted in the installation of social justice artworks. B. Ra-El Ali is an exceptional emerging artist who has exhibited his artwork at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Illinois, South Side Community Art Center, and  he is currently a resident artists and curator at the Hunter International Gallery. 

"FIGURES THAT SPEAK: 

AN EXPLORATION OF BLACK BODIES"

B. Ra-El Ali                   

Artist Statement                                                     

My title B. Ra-El 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 Southern Illinois University of Carbondale achieving a BFA 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 serves 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 "Afro-futurism" in my work, allowing my art to become ritual.

"FIGURES THAT SPEAK: AN EXPLORATION OF BLACK BODIES"

 Art Exhibition 

You are invited to participate in "Figures That Speak!" an art exhibition at the Hunter International Gallery at 3800 South Michigan Ave, curated by B. Ra-El Ali and Shahar Caren Weave. Figures that Speak! is an exhibition that focus particularly on figurative artwork that expresses Black life, culture and heritage. Art work submitted range from realistic to conceptual, abstract to the human figure.

More information contact Brael.ali13@gmail.com 

 

 You can listen to his interview on PBS.org, with Host Najjar Abdul Musawwir as he talks about himself, his background, and his future.. 

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