Gallery Romain/Citywide Celebration of Women Artists

Greetings All,

Here's the postcard for the exhibit hosted at Gallery Romain in Peoria, IL for the citywide celebration.  I would like the thank Jonathon Romain for allowing us to exhibit during this venue and thank Kendal Anderson for his graphic skills.

Art work was created by (from top to bottom) Rose Blouin, Malika Jackson, and Pearlie Taylor.

Galley Romain/Citywide Celeabration of Women Artists - Malika Jackson

Greetings all,

In conjunction with the Citywide Celebration of Women Artists  this week's featured Sapphire & Crystals member is Malika Jackson.

My focus has mainly been the female figure.   Through the use of various elements of paint, clay and wood I interpret a mood, feeling or emotion, with the use of color, shape, line and form.   I can tell a story of serenity, faith, hope, friendships and more.  Building upon layers of color or the use of flat warm and cool colors helps to draw my audience into a realistic, interpretative and /or cubistic female art form. 

Through the use of clay, I create form and movement-a cerebral and aesthetic link to the earth.  When I can bring a character to life, or tell a story by transforming a simple lump of clay to a third dimension, I get great joy and satisfaction through the use of this expressive medium.

I want my work to be my voice, to impact and move my audience to bring a smile, tears, joy and even for some-change; not only for now, but for perpetuity.   

           _ Be the change you want to see in the world - Gandhi_

 

 

 

And Still We Rise

Greetings All,

 Finally, the exhibition I've been working on for the past three years is opening. And Still We Rise: Race, Culture and Visual Conversations opens at the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 11, 2013. The opening reception is at 6:30PM. There is a $35 charge for museum members and $45 for no-members. The exhibition will be up until the end of March.

And Still We Rise: Race, Culture and Visual Conversations, explores the path of black history with a timeline of 79 original narrative quilts. The exhibit traces the course of black history in America from 1619 to present day. The catalogue will be published by Schiffer Press.

 



 

 

 

Galley Romain/Citywide Celeabration of Women Artists - Pearlie Taylor

Greetings all,
In conjunction with the Citywide Celebration of Women Artists  this week's featured Sapphire & Crystals member is Pearlie Taylor.
 

Pearlie Taylor is an abstract expressionist artist of over forty years who work primarily in acrylics. She has worked in a variety of mediums but chooses acrylics for the depth of color and her wet in wet painting style.

Her initial focus of portraiture and landscapes changed during middle age as she began to gravitate toward abstract art, where she found her passion as an abstract painter.

 

Her goal is to create paintings which are interesting, provocative, and beautiful, without the appearance of deliberation, intent, or planning. She believes the use of color can affect a conscious and positive change in   individuals, creating a “subliminal communication".

Citywide Celeabration of Women Artist - Rose Blouin

Greetings all,
In conjunction with the Citywide Celebration of Women Artists  this week's featured Sapphire & Crystals member is Rose Blouin.

Rose Blouin is a photographer who has worked in the medium of photography since 1980. Photographic areas of particular interest include fine art and documentary work. 

Blouin’s work has been exhibited in a number of museums and galleries including Isobel Neal Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, Nicole Gallery, The South Side Community Art Center, Artemesia Gallery, The North Suburban Fine Arts Center, Evanston Arts Center, and the State of Illinois Art Gallery. Her work has received awards in juried exhibitions including Black Creativity (Museum of Science and Industry), Du Sable Museum Annual Art Fair, and the Milwaukee Inner City Art Fair. Her work was selected for inclusion in an artists' billboard project (juried) coordinated by The Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago. Blouin’s photographs have been published on the covers of South Side Stories (City Stoop Press), Columbia Poetry Review (Columbia College Chicago), Killing Memory, Seeking Ancestors by Haki Madhubuti (Lotus Press), The Chicago Musicale, and Menagerie (Chicago State University Literary Magazine). A photo of Gwendolyn Brooks was included in Say That the River Turns: The Impact of Gwendolyn Brooks (Third World Press, Chicago).

Blouin has had solo shows at the South Side Community Art Center and at the Ferguson Gallery of Concordia University featuring photographs from South Africa. She is also a founding member of Sapphire & Crystals, a collective of African-American women artists.

Blouin is recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Special Artist’s Assistance Grant and a Community Arts Assistance Grant from the Chicago Council on Fine Arts, and has served the Council as Chair of the Photography Panel. In addition, she was invited by the Chicago Historical Society to present docent training on viewing photographs and a photography workshop for children.
 

 

FYI about Sapphire and Crystals

 Greetings All,
FYI about Sapphire and Crystals that I just wanted to share.


Sapphire and Crystals is a collective of professional African American women artists. The artists self-determine when, where and with whom they exhibit.  Focusing on the aspect of collaboration, the women artists generally are committed to showcasing exciting new work for each exhibition. Working closely with institutions on all exhibitions, the artists may perform tasks including curating, designing and installing the art, and contributing to publicity and promotion. The signature self-portrait silent auction during selected opening receptions presents a special opportunity for collectors on the first night only. The individual personal work by each member addressing various themes such as race, gender, limited palettes, our pasts, etc., exemplifies the diversity within our ethnic group, one of the missions of the group. The collaborative site-specific installation is an exhibit feature distinct to this collective that is produced with most exhibitions.

The Sapphire and Crystals’ first exhibition was held at the historic South Side Community Art Century (SSCAC) in 1987; the group revisited the center’s Margaret Burroughs Gallery in the fall of 2010 and this year, 2013 for a memorial exhibition honoring Marva Pitchford Jolly (1937-2012). The second exhibition in 1988 was held at Nicole Gallery in Chicago’s River North.  The African American women artists returned to Nicole Gallery 21 years later in 2009. The group has exhibited at Elmhurst College's Frick Center, The Noyes Cultural Center in Evanston, IL, ARC Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, Wood Street Gallery, South Shore Cultural Center, Chicago State University and Artemisia, among many other galleries and art centers within the city and beyond.

Membership in Sapphire and Crystals is decided by existing members. We require that artists have begun seriously pursuing art on their own. Marva Pitchford Jolly and Felicia Grant Preston conceived of the idea to organize women artists over the years including: Margaret Burroughs, Geraldine McCullough, Renee Townsend, Mary Reed Daniel, Anna M. Tyler, Shirley J. Sullivan, Shyvette  Williams, Joyce Owens, Dorian Sylvain, Rose Blouin, Annie Lee, Rhonda Wheatley, Shahar Caren Weaver, Renee Williams Jefferson, Pearlie Taylor, Dorothy Carter, Joanne Scott, Candace Hunter, Makeba Kedem DuBose, Patricia Stewart, Venus Blue, Lillian Morgan-Lewis, Faith Davis, Frances Callaway Parks, a poet, Arlene Turner-Crawford, Juarez Hawkins, and others. Some new artists may show their works once or twice, and some artists have participated in multiple exhibitions over the past 25 years.

The artists were honored by two public art works: at the National Museum of Mexican Art in 2010 six of us constructed an Ofrenda to Dr. Margaret Taylor Burroughs, and currently the Chicago Public Art Group and the Hyde Park Art Center honor the group with a mural showcasing selected artists in Hyde Park under the 51^st Street viaduct. In November and December 2012 we held a 25^th Anniversary exhibition at Woman Made Gallery.

Prairie Fiber Arts Guild

Greetings All,
The Prairie Fiber Arts Guild mission is to promote the awareness of the fiber arts throughout the Prairie State. A Guild for fiber artists working in all fiber media and here is a slide show some of what we do.

Citywide Celebration of Women Artists - Peoria, IL

Greetings All,

I am getting geared up for the Citywide Celebration of Women Artists here in Peoria, IL.  This venue will run October 15th thru Nov 15 th and below is a map of participating galleries and detail about each.  So if you are in the area during this event please visit one or more of these locations.

Gallery Romain will be hosting an exhibit of "Sapphire and Crystals" a Women Artists Collective.  Also I will be participating in an exhibit and style-show with the Prairie Fiber Arts Guild and I will post more later about each groups.