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

An artist's depiction of the sewing of the Star Spangled Banner. Grace Wisher is one of the girls in the upper right. Before the Star-Spangled Banner became America's most recognizable symbol, a ten-year-old free Black girl named Grace Wisher helped stitch it into existence. Apprenticed to Baltimore flag-maker Mary Pickersgill around 1810, Grace spent six weeks sewing the flag that would later inspire Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. When the story was told, ho

Top left - Patricia Andrews-Keenan, Pigment International, Claire Rice, Executive Director Arts Alliance Illinois, Nora Daley, Board Chair Illinois Arts Council, Vicki Heyman, Board Member Illinois Arts Council, Joshua Davis-Ruptero ED Illinois Arts Council. Top Middle - Antoinette Simmons, the Urban Ark Media Arts Center, State Representative Kimberly du Buclet, Middle Row Jen Tremblay Chambers, and Alison Cochran, Hyde Park Art Center, Middle Right - Erin Eveland, The Hub,

Pigment International will present Women of the Wall , a Pigment Salon Talk marking the closing of the Glory! Glory! exhibition on Friday, February 20 from 6–8 pm at the Zhou B Art Center . The panel will feature artist Arlene Crawford, Janice Bond , Executive Director of the Chicago Public Art Group ; interdisciplinary artist Dorian Sylvain , whose work is part of the public art program at the Obama Presidential Center ; and Brenda Dickerson , an arts advocate dedi

CELEBRATING NOLA BLACK CARNIVAL SOCIETY The opening of “ Origins of New Orleans Black Carnival Society” in New Orleans. The exhibit continues through March 15th. Sandra McCollum’s mother Verlie Etta Bright, was the inspiration for the exhibition. Here she is pictured with Bright’s great-granddaughter, Melieaa McCollum. LESSONS LEARNED BOOK SIGNING Ruby Simmons , author of “Lessons Learned”, with Faye Edwards , owner of Faiè Afrikan Art Bronzeville, site of the reading

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