Caryl Henry, Artist with a Purpose

"Art is Business"

 Caryl Henry, Artist with a Purpose

For more than 40 years her work has harnessed the power of creative collaboration with multi-generational, multicultural, and interfaith communities. Together, we conceive, design, and implement public art projects in diverse public settings.

She works with media that are both traditional and experimental, often incorporating recycled or found objects, and natural plant materials. In the studio, this work has spanned painting, mixed media printmaking, paper making, textiles, installations, and sculpture. A strong long-term focus in my artwork is on ancestry, culture, environment, and nature. This art has exhibited throughout the US and internationally in small museums, in galleries and online.

When she workings in the community, she endeavors to combine elements of her skill set that include, visual artist, teaching artist, curator, researcher, lecturer, writer, and social activist.

Connecting communities with our natural world. Inspiring creative and collaborative environmental action.

Shonna McDaniel- Founder Sojourner Truth Art Museum Artist and Social Justice Activist.

"Art is Business"  Biographical Profile: The Artist Shonna McDaniels

Mrs. McDaniels is a committed “artist and social justice activist.

Founder and Director of the Sojourner Truth Art Museum (founded in 1996).  McDaniels is a professional artist/teacher/muralist and community activist, she has an extensive background in art instruction and mural designs.  She has studied under some of the finest professors in the Los Rios Community College network and master artists in the San Francisco Bay Area.  While residing in Germany, McDaniels instructed art classes for two years on military bases as well as organizing art exhibitions and programs.

Prior to 1996, Shonna McDaniels was one of the co-founders and artist of the Visual Arts Development Project (founded in 1988), McDaniels taught art classes, conducted workshops and organized art exhibits throughout the Oak Park and Del Paso communities.   She has donated art to various organizations as well as helped raise money for charitable causes throughout the Sacramento Region.  She has over 25 years of community involvement, with various organizations that support the arts through exhibition, artist residences, community activism, community murals and organizing community-based festivals in South Sacramento.

Ms. McDaniels has contributed to over 150 murals to the landscape of Sacramento, Stockton, and San Francisco:
These include among others:

• The Sacramento Redevelopment Agency Downtown Mural Project
• Marian Anderson Elementary School Mural Project
• Hmong Women’s Heritage Community Mural  
• Oak Dale Elementary School Mural, Totem, and Stepping Stone Project 
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• PS7 Elementary School Restoration Mural 
• Breadfruit Tree Restaurant Mural Restoration- Stockton, Ca
• San Francisco Farmers Market Mural Project (Facilitated by Precita Eyes) 

• County of Sacramento WIC Program Floor Mural and two wall murals 
• Magic Johnson Center (5 community murals)
• Florin Business Arts Complex/Sojourner Truth Murals Project 
• South Gate Baskin Robins Ice Cream Community Mural Project 
• The Greater Sacramento Urban League Tobacco Education Program (3 murals in conjunction with the Sacramento Metropolitan Art Commission Neighborhood Arts Program
• Franklin Villa Resource Center—Franklin Resource Center Para-Transit Shuttle Bus Project (8 murals)
•  The “Green Dream” mural, commissioned for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2007 Inaugural, for example, depicts images of a healthy California.  

The mural displayed at Cal EPA and the California Museum for History of Women and the Arts.  Several of her murals advocate against tobacco use, such as the “Tobacco Education Mural,” Neighborhood Arts/Franklin Villa Resource Center. Shonna also travels to other states and cities (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, Stockton, Yuba City, and Napa Valley) to help with community public murals and outreach.

As an Artist-in-Residence at Marian Anderson Elementary School (Sacramento, CA), McDaniels designed a mural framing contralto opera singer Marian Anderson in various stages of her life and career.  She also conducted after-school and weekend art workshops.

Ms. McDaniels believes that the desire to experience and participate in creativity is essential to optimum human expression and development. Her artistic legacy within the community is renowned to grassroots, professional artists, politicians and the business community. Her contributions have been recognized by Council members: Lauren Hammond, Bonnie Pannell, Larry Carr, Mayor Kevin Johnson, Congress Doris Matsui, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Entertainer Russell Simmons.

Mrs. McDaniels is a committed “social artist-activist.” Her work is dedicated to creativity and social change within the context of an evolving, healthy community.

Personal Statement: My purpose as an artist is to leave a legacy for future artists. I want young black girls and boys to look at my art and experience something of worth, pride, and value. For this reason, I strive to have the essence of my work reflect dignity, strength and the beauty of each subject that I present. The education of youth for me is very important and I have spent a large part of my career as an artist educating youth.

I feel today, more than ever, that art is needed by young people as a forum for safe expression, communication, exploration, imagination, cultural and historical understanding.  Art is an essential, encompassing life element that has the ability to produce an environment with a productive, cultural exchange of ideas. In addition, art promotes the acquisition of intellectual skills in literature, science, and math. Indeed, art should be a priority in human development.  Art has the ability to inspire youth to be creative, think outside the box and use their skills to beautify their environment.

2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Black Creativity at the Museum of Science and Industry

"Art is Business" reposted for Talmadge - and Board and Members of Diaspora Rhythms 

Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition 2020

MSI image @ from website 2018

2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Black Creativity, which celebrates African-American achievement in science, technology, engineering, art, and medicine. On Monday, Jan. 20 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – see more than 200 works inside the Juried Art Exhibition, hear stories from Chicago innovators inside the Innovation Studio, and receive free Museum Entry for Illinois residents.

CONGRATULATIONS to all The ARTISTS included in this years 50th Anniversary - See Attachment below
This juried art exhibition celebrates 50 years of the Black Creativity Program, which is the longest-running exhibition of African-American Art in the nation. There were  700 entries that were reduced to 94 or so artists and over 200 works of art. So we are looking forward to seeing your outstanding artworks.

MSI @ photo from website

The exhibition will be open to the public on January 20th - Monday and the Gala will be on January 25th - Saturday at the MSI. The exhibit runs from Jan..20 - March 1st. Come check it out. Free days at the MSI are as follows:
JAN 20 - 23,   JAN 27 - 30     ......   FEB 3 - 6,  FEB 10 - 13, FEB 17 - 20 and FEB 24 - 27 

  2020 BLACK CREATIVITY PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Solomon Adufah, Jean Alexis, Marcus Alleyne, Robert Anderson, Hana Anderson, Malene Barnett, Brianna Beckman, Keith Bevans, Alexander Bostic, Kamau Bostic, Sylvester Bracey, Raymond Broady, Robert Brown, Ian Brundige
Alpha Bruton, Bryan Butler, David Buttram, Jamiah Calvin, Ophelia Chambliss, Andrea Coleman, Stephanie Coleman, Kendall Collins, Keith Conner, Larry Cope, George Crump, Baz Cumberbatch, Michel Delgado, Lenin Delsol, Lessie Venardo Dixon, Richard Duarte Brown, Sura Dupart, Nick Fury, Gary Gee, Liz Gomez, Krystal Grover-Webb, Jonathan Hadnott, Jewel Ham, Jalen Hamilton, Neko Harris, Russel Harris, Lavelle Harris, Clifton Henri, Andrea Hill Fitzgerald, Jendayi Ingram, Malika Jackson, Salome Jaffe, David Johnson-Niari, Jason E. Jones, Keisha Jordan, Barrett Keithley, Brandy Kent, Robert Ketchens, Michael Kirkland, Christine LaRue, Fatima Laster, Blake Lenoir, Jean Lewis, Cindy Lys, Akira Mabon, Nolan McCants, Kwame Mensa-Aborampa, Kaitlin Mikrut, Charles Morrison, Lieutenant Norals IV, Jill Parker-Trotter, Karen Powell, Kenyatta Ray, Angela Redmond, Sarai Redmond, Rebecca Robinson, Cameron Rowe, Rory Scott, Corrine Slade, Yemonja Smalls, Aaron Smith, Tony Smith, Terron Sorrells, Rahmaan Statik, Patricia Stewart, Dorothy Straughter, Matthew Tate, Pearlie Taylor, Joshua Taylor, Raymond Thomas, B’Rael Thunder, Cedric A. Thurman, Cheryl Toles, Jabria Turner, Shahar Caren Weaver, Deborah Whitehead, Sam Williams, Charles Williams, Tania Wineglass-Graham, and Arthur Wright.

For more information or to sponsor tickets for the GALA, contact:
 Tiffany Malone
Arts + Creativity Manager
Science and Integrated Strategies

Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
5700 S Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 753-1765 | http://msichicago.org
http://www.msichicago.org/misc/sig_msi_75.png

Dr. C. Siddha Webber - From the Archives

Reposted for Tony Smith

"Art is Business"

Dr. C. Siddha Webber was a Chicago based muralist, poet, musician, naprapath, and theologian who has been making art and poetry in Chicago for over 50 years. This footage is from an interview with him for my thesis on the Black Arts movement and the Wall of Respect. I am honored to have known him.

Tony Smith

Merging Tactical Urbanism with public works

Robert Steuteville is the editor of Public Square: A CNU Journal and senior communications adviser for the Congress for the New Urbanism.
https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/02/07/merging-tactical-urbanism-public-works

Merging Tactical Urbanism with public works
The City of Burlington, Vermont, has initiated an innovative, flexible streetscape improvement program that saves money and time and is more responsive to the community.

ROBERT STEUTEVILLE    FEB. 7, 2019

Burlington's interest in bike-walk issues goes back decades, at least to when Bernie Sanders was mayor when his administration focused on the revitalization of downtown and the waterfront in the 1980s—working with Republicans and Democrats at the start of his political career. The city of 42,000 on Lake Champlain, home to the University of Vermont, has long employed a 30-day pilot program to test public works projects. This program was used in closing the first block to traffic for what is now the Church Street Marketplace.

It makes sense that when Burlington adopted its first-ever Bike-Walk Plan in 2017, implementation would go hand-in-hand with Tactical Urbanism. With the motto "short-term action for long-term change," Tactical Urbanism is all about testing changes to the public realm to improve the experience of pedestrians and cyclists—often using less expensive, flexible materials.

Burlington is now refining a tactical approach to bike-walk streetscape alterations that cost about a quarter of a full-scale street rebuilding­—and can be implemented much faster. "We felt this was the logical next step," says Nicole Losch, a senior planner with the Department of Public Works.

In a year and a half since the plan was adopted, Burlington has built a Neighborhood Greenway in the Old North End neighborhood to provide a slow-speed cycling route stretching more than a mile from the university campus to a lakefront park. The Greenway slows traffic through curb extensions and mid-block pinch points, using materials that are easy to move and adjust. The city has also made improvements on a five-way intersection in the city's South End, installed a protected bike lane on Church Street near two schools, and installed curb extensions and other changes to intersections in downtown locations.

The usual streetscape change involves a lengthy planning process, engineering drawings, funding, paving, and construction—and then you find out how well it works. This can take years, and consequently, few projects are implemented. Burlington has replaced that method with a four-step incremental process. First, a week-long tactical demonstration project can be initiated by citizens. Next, the 30-day pilot project can be undertaken by Public Works. The next step is a Quick Build project, designed to last one to five years. Permanent street changes involving new pavement are the final step—after a project has been adjusted and tested to work out the kinks. Most of the last year and a half changes have been completed through the Quick Build program, which involves materials that can be tested and moved—and even removed seasonally if difficulties arise in Burlington's long winters. The city has adopted its own Quick Build Design + Materials guide that systemizes the approach. "I recommend that other cities try something similar," says Losch.

Burlington hired Street Plans Collaborative to do the Bike Walk comprehensive plan. Principals Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia are known as Tactical Urbanism thought leaders—they have written a book and numerous other publications on the subject. The collaboration led to the city adopting the community demonstration project approach, giving residents a way to implement short-term streetscape projects. The town can only complete so many projects a year. If the city can't get to the project neighbors want, the residents can apply for a demonstration and build it themselves. "If successful, it will be a priority the next year," says Losch.

The flexible Quick Build program is another innovation. "We wanted it to be a one-stop shop, outlining the materials that could be used, navigating the permit process, and working with neighbors," says Losch.


The Quick Build program in Burlington. Source: Street Plans Collaborative
The North End greenway meanders east-west along mostly low-volume neighborhood streets. The city is still formally gathering data on its success. "Anecdotally, we've heard it is working," she says. "It is a better route than they would have expected and really convenient, especially by bike." No changes were made to the pavement, which accounts for the low cost and flexibility. Curb extensions that narrow the street and reduce crossing distances are marked by paint, large planters, and "low, flexible bollards" that can be shifted in their position. During winter, when Burlington gets a lot of snow, the plantings are removed and replaced the following spring.

How is it working for public works employees responsible for snow removal and maintenance? "We are fortunate to have a pretty open-minded team that recognizes that the city is growing differently," says Losch. "The projects benefit the community, although they are not making the Public Works jobs easier. We are training the drivers to anticipate the changes before the snow flies and working with the planners and the street maintenance team on the projects."

Burlington's long winters are an additional advantage to the Quick Build program. There's the option of removing part or all of a project and re-installing it in the spring. Due to winter challenges and lower seasonal use, the city is considering a seasonal choice for a protected bike lane. That option is only possible because of the flexible material pallet of Quick Build.

The City of Burlington has used the Quick Build Design + Materials Standards to install five pedestrian, bicycle, and public space projects, most notably the 1.25-mile Greenway, connecting the campus to the waterfront. The Old North End Greenway is an interim design that can be adjusted easily depending on observed function and utility. There is no change to the street section, new pavement, or permanent plantings, yet the project has dramatically changed the streetscape.

Nathaniel McLin was a Chicago-based Art Critic - From the Archives

This blog post is in remembrance of a supporter of the Phantom Gallery Chicago and was my advisor. He was a fixture at gallery openings, exhibits and art lectures, Mr. McLin, 55, died Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010.

Nathaniel McLin, who grew up in a family of respected musicians, promoted local African-American artists who didn't get the attention he felt they deserved and hosted a radio program for 25 years devoted to art. Nathaniel was a support of the Phantom Gallery Chicago Network, he shared so much of his intellectual property with myself and fellow artists. He was the curator for the Phantom Gallery Chicago 2009 PostProduction Exhibit, hosted at the Murphy Hill Gallery, featuring artists Fredrick Owens and Everett Williams. The curatorial discussion was carried on amongst curators: Owens, Williams, Patti, Hill, and moderated by Alpha Bruton.



Nathaniel McLin was a Chicago-based art critic who's been published in numerous publications and frequently wrote for Paint magazine.

He also hosted a radio show called “The Art Museum of Chicago” on WHPK 88.5 FM in Chicago. Nathaniel also contributed an essay for Kerry James Marshall’s catalog One True Thing: Meditations on Black Aesthetics. Nathaniel McLin made a comment on Joyce Owens: Artist on Art concerning art critics and getting reviews published:

Nat McLin featured ranter, began to sing his rant for the  RantAthon fundraiser at LBP. 

“I would say as an art critic it is very difficult to get editors to publish a review of an artist/home studio show. 

Editors prefer to publish reviews of the artist in third party venues. Also, most of the major organizations that promote artists on their web sites and lists refuse to deal with artist cooperatives. I found I will hurt my career by pushing artists that are not in the gallery system. Every time I try to write about a local artist that is not a recent MFA grad following a trendy movement I risk being cut off from that publication permanently.”

Reference Links:
http://neotericart.com/2008/07/08/one-question-with-nathaniel-mclin/
http://octobergallery.com/paintmagazine/index.html,
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2010-01-22-1001210853-story.html,
http://neotericart.com/2008/07/08/one-question-with-nathaniel-mclin/,
http://bronzevilleblogchicago.blogspot.com/2010/01/renaissance-man-of-arts-art-critic.html,

Curator Carole Frances Lung, KO Enterprise 2019 Fellowship Award

"Art is Business"

Curator Carole Frances Lung, KO Enterprise

 Curator Carole Frances Lung, KO Enterprise at Labor Union Hall 07, SAIC- has Carole Frances Lung (BFA 2005, MFA 2007) was among the recipients of the United States Artists  (USA) 2019 Fellowship Award grants up to $50,000 in unrestricted funds to artists. In addition, social practice and performance artist Lung received an award in the craft category. Each year, USA fellowships are given to the most compelling artists working and living in the United States, in all disciplines, at every stage of their career.

Carole at the Chicago Public Library in Austin, where she had her installation KO Enterprise

With her SAIC Academic Advisor. 

The Sewing Rebellion is an economic tactic for change in the apparel industry.

The Sewing Rebellion is a free workshop, which began @ Mess Hall in Chicago Fall of 2006. It was hosted at Mess Hall for one year before becoming itinerant in May 2007. Hosted by Frau Fiber and her army of Faux Frau's, the Sewing Rebellion hosts monthly workshops at the ILGWU, Long Beach Main Library, Boulder Public Library, and pop-up actions take place around the country as requested.

Participants of the Sewing Rebellion are invited to emancipate themselves from the global garment industry by learning how to alter, amend,  and make their own garments and accessories! The Sewing Rebellion distributes knowledge of the garment industry, pattern making, and sewing, encouraging the reuse, renovation, and recycling of existing garments and textiles to create unique items tailored to individual tastes and body shapes.

A Tribute to Tamasha Williamson- From the Archives

"Art is Business" From the Phantom Gallery Chicago Archives,  
A Special Tribute for Tamasha Thembi Akua Williamson

Sunrise: July 2, 1975 - Sunset: September 4, 2016 RIP

Tamasha Williamson as a moderator for a panel discussion at the
Switching Station Artist Lofts in East Garfield Park, CAM 2007.

Featured artist Chicago Artist Month, installation at the Switching Station Artist Lofts. 

Representing the voice of reason and expressing her ideology and conceptual art practice.

"If the ability to be self-critical is a marker of a culture’s strength and maturity, then the artists presented in the exhibition “Disinhibition” blow a fresh breath of confidence into the conversation around contemporary African-American art. Curated by HPAC’s Blake Bradford, the exhibition brings together the work of emerging and one well-established artist who uses provocative humor to illuminate uncomfortable truths. The attitude can be summarized as “political correctness and solidarity be damned! Here is the truth!” Heavy on irony and anger, many of the works team with frustrated despair with both white racism and the less savory aspects of black culture. 

The predominant strategy is an illustration by the use of telling juxtapositions. Tamasha Williamson’s drawing series “It Is isn't It? The African-American Vernacular and the King’s English: Validation v. Degradation (Articulate)” collages loaded words and phrases such as “bling” with loaded imagery such as slave shackles and bullets. Blake Bradford

Tamasha designed the Phantom's postcard for the 2008 fundraiser at LBP, she was a graphic artist.

 It Is…Ain’t It? African-American Vernacular and the King’s English: Validation v. Degradation (Articulate), 2007 Graphite On Paper 24 X 36 © Tamasha Williamson

Tamasha Williamson

Profile  |  Artworks  |  Exhibitions  |  Network  |  Comments

Quick Facts EXHIBITED WITH THESE ARTISTS

Negar Ahkami

Laylah Ali

Emma Amos

Elizabeth Axtman

Kate Bae

Siona Benjamin

Margaret Burroughs

Nina Buxenbaum

Keiko Ishii Eckhardt

Debra Edgerton

Wanda Ewing

Swati Khurana

Soumiya Krishnaswamy

Athena LaTocha

Isabel Manalo

Migiwa Orimo

Howardena Pindell

Karen Powell

Faith Ringgold

Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson

Joyce Scott

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum

Patssi Valdez

Regina Vater

Paula Wilson

Flo Oy Wong

Saya Woolfalk

Michael Paul Britto

David Leggett

Dave McKenzie

TAMASHA WILLIAMSON HAS EXHIBITED AT THESE VENUES:

 RICHMAN GALLERY, 

DAVISON LOBBY,

 HYDE PARK ART CENTER,

 WOMAN MADE GALLERY,

 PHANTOM GALLERY CHICAGO,

 Little Black Pearl,

 NEIU Fine Arts Center Gallery - Northeastern Illinois University 

NEIU Fine Arts Center 

Daphne Burgess Thoughts on Utilizing Art as an Engagement for Change

"Art is Business"10/04 by Phantom Gallery Chicago Network | Visual Arts

Daphne Burgess Thoughts on Utilizing Art as an Engagement for Change 10/04 by Phantom Gallery Chicago Network | Visual Arts:

Daphne Burgess is an African American artist living and working in the Sacramento region. Her work has been shown in galleries and exhibitions including the Valley Artists Sculpture Exhibition, Sojourner Truth Art Museum, 1001 Del Paso Works, SMUD Gallery, Sacramento State University, Brickhouse Gallery, Crocker Art Museum, the African American Museum and Library in Oakland and the African American Historical and Cultural Museum in Fresno.

She worked at the Crocker Art Museum as Project Manager for Block by Block, as well as various non-profit organizations like the Roberts Family Development Center and Sojourner Truth Art Museum, increasing access to art in diverse communities. Daphne has been lead artist for several grant-funded programs through the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission including Young Enterprising Artists, Neighborhood Arts Program, Arts in Education Outreach, Artscapes, and the Community Arts Program.

Milton Bowen and Daphne Burgess, artist and partners 

Burgess's artwork is an exploration of ideas, including family, love, and self-image. Her passed artwork exhibited a more traditional and representational style, but her current work shows a more whimsical style. The use of abstracted figures, bold colors, and a playful tone characterize her artwork while tackling personal, social and universal themes including love/hate, the African American family and culture, and music.

Investigation: Thoughts on utilizing art as an engagement for change? Public Participatory Art Projects Allow the Public to Collaborate.

Panel conversation, Are Black Women Loud, facilitate by Daphne Burgess 2013.

Sunday Salon Series- Dionne Victoria

"Art is Business" MESSAGE FROM HOST

A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation.

Join the Phantom Gallery Chicago for our Sunday Salon Series on October 6, 2019,  as we celebrate an installation by Dionne Victoria 3 pm - 6 pm.

Divine Healing Art is my freedom movement.

Dionne Victoria is a Chicago artist whose artwork is a meditative tool to heal and express the internal landscape of the soul in an external world.

Detox Vegan Menu

Turmeric Detox Broth

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Kich-Ah-Ree

Rainbow Wraps

Vegan Spring Rolls with BEST EVER Peanut Sauce! These spring rolls can be made ahead and stored for healthy meals or potlucks and gatherings, or serve as a delicious light and healthy vegan dinner!

Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum Part 3 Using Tactical Urbanism as a Tool

"Art is Business"
Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum Part 3 Using Tactical Urbanism as a tool 10/03 by Phantom Gallery Chicago Network | Visual Arts:

"Izzy" Isreal Low and David Washington

Using tactical urbanism as a tool and art in placemaking,  Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum kicked off its Community Mural Beautification and Educational Workshops on July 15th,2019. Professional artists working with the museum provided workshops and mural training. The first project of this series was held at the Mack Road Valley High Community center. Youth were introduced to film documentaries from the artist of the Harlem Renaissance, youth who attended learned about jazz artists, poets and writers, and visual artists who were legendary and made a historical impact through the arts. The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual, social, and artistic explosion centered in Harlem, New York, from 1918–37. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement," named after The New Negro, a 1925 anthology edited by Alain Locke.

Shonna McDaniels, Executive Director, a visual artist, and community activist, envisioned an institution to preserve Black history and celebrate the accomplishments of African American people and their legacy. Offering resources to document, preserve and educate the public on African Americans' history, life, and culture.

Want to join me in making a difference? Shonna asked David Washington the question he said yes. He is a motivated muralist with five years' experience and enthusiasm for developing a curriculum for community arts education. In addition, he brings with him deep architecture and art history knowledge. He started at SOJO Summer Camp as a volunteer-created fun and educational activity for campers.

David painted images on a bench themed after W.H. Johnson, with one of Langston Hughes Poetry benches, also the raised bed, and other elements of the garden. 

Barbara Jones Hogu - Never The Same

 Art is Business" of Barara Jones Hogu, 2019. 

Barbara Jones-Hogu is a painter, printmaker, filmmaker, and educator from Chicago. She studied at Howard University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Institute of Design at IIT. She was a member of the OBAC Visual Artists Workshop and painted the actors’ section of the Wall of Respect. In 1968, together with four other artists, she co-founded AFRICOBRA, the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists. Her work has appeared in exhibitions in Chicago and around the United States and has been collected by many major institutions. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in film from Governors State University.

AfriCOBRA artist, Barbara Jones-Hogu and IMLS Fellow Skyla Hearn

Barbara Jones-Hogu was born in Chicago. She received a BA from Howard University in 1959, a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1964, and an MS with a concentration in printmaking from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago in 1970.  Jones-Hogu is associated with the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. As a member of OBAC (Organization for Black American Culture), she was one of the muralists who created the important “Wall of Respect” in 1967 on the south side of Chicago – a public work that inspired the creation of socially, politically and culturally themed murals across the urban American landscape. In 1968, Jones-Hogu became a founding member of the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA). As a member of AfriCOBRA, she participated in formulating the group’s mission statement, which stressed black independence and artistic self-determination.

"Untitled" watercolor, from the estate of Barbara Jones Huge, 2019