Cultural Commentary

Issue VI of Pigment International's award-winning magazine issue lands this September, and it is one of our most ambitious editions yet. Inside, readers will find a profile of designer Norman Teague, whose furniture and architectural work continues to reshape how Chicago sees Black craftsmanship. The issue also spotlights Chicago artists connected to the Obama Presidential Center, tracing how the campus is emerging as a new anchor for the city's creative community on the Sout

Bronzeville Center for the Arts launches “From The Ground Up” in partnership with the Milwaukee Art Museum and Chipstone Foundation The Bronzeville Center for the Arts (BCA) has announced From The Ground Up, a new national speaker series bringing leaders who have built some of the world's most significant cultural institutions to Milwaukee for candid conversations about vision, resilience and legacy. Presented with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Chipstone Foundation, the se

Phyliss North, Rhonda Sewell and Patricia Andrews-Keenan during the Museum Leaders Meet & Greet at the Vjosa Café in Bridgeport during Pigment International’s exhibition Revolutionary. On Friday, August 14, Pigment International welcomed a distinguished group of museum professionals and DEI practitioners to Vjosa Café & Events in Bridgeport for an intimate meet-and-greet focused on Black art, cultural leadership and the work of building more inclusive museum spaces. Organized

Above: Norman Teague in conversation with Pigment International will be one of the featured artists at this year's Butter Art Fair; Bottom row: Bianca Marks will be a curator for Butter. Middle and right, Truss Chair and Ibaaka AKA Mule by Norman Teague Design Studios. (Teague image by Big_X_Tsu. Furniture images courtesy of Norman Teague Design Studio) Guest curator Bianca Marks helps shape an expanded Labor Day weekend fair in Indianapolis, as Teague's full profile debuts i

Improvisations in Color” brings new works by the Ethiopian-born painter to Oakland, marking the centennial of jazz legend John Coltrane OAKLAND, CA — Thelma Harris Art Gallery welcomes summer's close with its signature White Linen Afternoon on Saturday, August 22, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., celebrating the opening of Improvisations in Color: Wosene Worke Kosrof Celebrates Coltrane. The exhibition, on view through October 25, presents a new body of work by the internationally acc

Seminal artist Betye Saar Betye Saar, the artist who turned cigar boxes, washboards, and family heirlooms into some of the most incisive statements in American art, died July 26 in her Laurel Canyon home, four days shy of her 100th birthday. For seven decades, Saar was assemblage's most fearless practitioner. She did not simply collect discarded objects; she indicted them. Her 1972 work The Liberation of Aunt Jemima seized a servile stereotype and armed it with a rifle and a

Top: Barrett Keithley, Cassandra Wilson, Patricia Andrews-Keenan and Edo; Middle: Edo; Bottom: Ruby Simmons and Gyamfuah Melisiziwe; Right: Jesse Howard. Photos by Tafari Melisiziwe The conversation continues at REVOLUTIONARY, Pigment International's thought-provoking summer exhibition at Vjosa Café & Events. Curated by P. Andrews-Keenan, the exhibition features an extraordinary roster of painters, photographers, and mixed-media artists whose work examines 250 years of Black

Remembering Dion Clarke, who passed away this Tuesday. His Harlem Fine Arts Show (HFAS) celebrated its 18th Anniversary this February, and its first iteration in the Hamptons this weekend. The passing of Dion E. Clarke, Founder and CEO of the Harlem Fine Arts Show (HFAS), leaves an immeasurable void in the world of Black art. He used what he learned working with other Black art visionaries and turned it into the nation's largest traveling exhibition dedicated to artists of th

The Reluctant Ribbon Merchant by Jesse Howard and Patrice Lumumba by Candace Hunter are works in Revolutionary opening July 17th at Vjosa Cafe and Events. Pigment International opens REVOLUNTARY, a bold new group exhibition on July 17 at Vjosa Cafe and Events, 1010 W. 35th Street in Bridgeport. The show runs through August 15th REVOLUNTARY is an extension of Pigment’s February 2026 exhibition Glory! Glory!, which drew national attention for its exploration of the American fl

Danny Simmons - 1953 - 2026 Daniel Dwayne Simmons Jr. — abstract expressionist painter, poet, published author, and philanthropist — passed away on June 14, 2026, at the age of 72. For those who knew his work, not just his famous last name, the loss is seismic.  In New York, he was the oldest Simmons brother — the quiet one who watched Russell build Def Jam and Joey become Rev Run of Run-DMC — while he built something altogether different: a life in paint, a gallery, a movem

44th created by James Nelson. In the Land of the Free T-Shirts created by Reggie McFly honor the escaped slave Gordon, aka "Whipped Peter". Pigment International is proud to participate in the Obama Presidential Center's (OPC) Grand Opening Ceremony Official Watch Party on Thursday, June 18, at Midway Plaisance Park in Chicago's Hyde Park community. As one of a select group of local businesses, cultural organizations, and restaurants invited to be part of this historic commun

Top row: Artist Bryant Lamont with Pigment's Patricia Andrews-Keenan, work by Roger Carter, artists Paul Branton, Gerald Griffin and Bryant Lamont, work by Lamont; second row work by Bernard Williams, work by Paul Branton, Faye Edwards of Faiè Afrikan Art with photographer Tonika Johnson, artist Roger Carter; third row Bertha Thomas, Chair of the Board the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Institute with exhibition curator Raymond A. Thomas, work by Max Sansing, Claudette Rop

Artist Robert Hansen's apparel capsule collection captures artists using AR. In celebration of Black Music Month (BMM), acclaimed immersive artist Robert E. Hansen has unveiled Culture of Legacy — a limited-edition capsule collection where fine art becomes collectible apparel. Launching exclusively at iamroberthansen.com, the collection transforms the stories of Black music and cultural icons into wearable works of art — blending art, storytelling, and innovation into pieces

Call For Art and Advertisers Two hundred and fifty years. That is the span of American history this nation is marking in 2026 — and Pigment International® is marking it on our own terms. Pigment Magazine Issue VI, our Collector's Edition, arrives this August themed America 250: We ARE The People. At a moment when the contributions of Black Americans risk being minimized or erased from the national record, this issue centers Black artists as essential narrators of where this

Artist Robert Lewis Clark with his work '44" Pigment International’s Glory! Glory! opening on Friday, February 20, 2026 at the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, is a civic-centered exhibition foregrounding Black artistic perspectives on the imagery and symbolism of the U.S. flag. The exhibition encourages reflection and dialogue through both representational and interpretive approaches to this iconic national symbol. ( Eventbrite ) A central highlight is Robert Lewis Clark

Tyanna Buie is working on her installation, Be the Change! for the Obama Presidential Center. Photo Kaylee Pugliese/Courtesy RISD The soon-to-open Obama Presidential Center in Chicago is fast becoming one of the most ambitious public art programs in recent U.S. history, blending civic dialogue with artistic expression across its 19.3-acre campus. Set to open in spring 2026 , the Center has now commissioned works by more than 25 leading contemporary artists , including M

Dontae Muse. Work by Danielle Scott Between the Instagram carousel, the group chat exhibition announcement, and Chat GPT, the word “curator” slipped its shoes off and made itself comfortable. Too comfortable, maybe. Let me be clear before the think pieces begin to make themselves: everybody can curate. We all do it daily. We curate playlists, dinner parties, mood boards, timelines, and digital selves. Selection is human. Taste is personal. Storytelling is a natural human pres

Monique Brinkman-Hill Monique Brinkman Hill Brinkman Hill is the executive director of the country’s oldest, continuously operating art centers in the country. Founded in 1940, during the WPA, SSCAC,'s mission is to conserve, preserve and promote the legacy and future of Black art and artists. "As I reflect on 2026, I see it as a year of possibility—one that carries the potential for transformation. I anticipate that the work emerging from this period will respond to this

Christina Steed, Rachel Dukes, and Patricia Andrews-Keenan. Work by Delita Martin on the cover of Beyond Frames Exhibition, where works from the collections of Steed and Andrews-Keenan were featured. The South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC ) has announced the release of two important new publications that further its legacy as a steward of Black cultural history and contemporary thought in Chicago. Developed in conjunction with recent public programs, both books center B

Artist Sonja Henderson SCULPTOR SONJA HENDERSON'S POETIC MESSAGE TO 2026. Henderson is an award-winning, Chicago-based sculptor, educator, and community organizer. She is part of the group exhibition The Fierce Urgency of Now, opening Monday, January 19th at IManifest Studio Gallery, 2755 W. 63rd St., Chicago. Artwork - Mystic and the Magpie, 36 X 78 X 48, Mixed Media: Palms, vintage beads, feathers, found objects, digital monitor, carved hands and birds. We are the people