GALLERY ::: Gallery Guichard Chicago

Chicago south side Gallery Guichard has everything that an art lover or collector could want. Housed in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood is this building that illuminates the block of 35th and Martin Luther King Dr. Artist and founder, Andre Guichard helps to fuel this structure’s aura and has been running the gallery along with his wife since it started in 2005. Guichard features his work as well as 35 other artists of the African Diaspora.

I visited the gallery in March 2010 and was drawn to this particular acrylic on canvas painting Ancient Nature by artist Nathan Jalani Taylor.

Artwork includes sculpture and paintings that range from $200 to $20,000 dollars, so there is something creative for everyone. Gallery Guichard has many events, special offers, and hundreds of featured works of art at various times in the gallery and on the gallery website.

I was recently honored to have my work featured at Gallery Guichard as part of the Bombay Saphire Artisan Series.

Me in front of "Hope Sun Rising" painting.

Simone's Song

The mission of Gallery Guichard is to continue to expose the Chicago art community to the art of the African Diaspora. The gallery provides a portal to fine art and artists of different parts of the African Diaspora. Below are some other featured paintings in the current exhibit that caught my eye.

Alabama Sorrows by Brad Anthony Bernard - Mixed Media $8,000

Beautiful Sonnet for the World by Darryl Harris - Oil on Canvas $6,000

Emotional by Sabrina Brooks - 39x47" Acrylic on Canvas $850

Fertility #4 by Jeanette Wright-Claus - 30x30" Acrylic on Canvas $800

Street Prophets by Raymond Thomas - Mixed Media on Canvas board SOLD

Starting New by Pearlie Taylor - Acrylic on Canvas $2,000

Happy Family by Robert Kaliyongo Chimungwa - 25x6" Verdite Sculpture $2,000

Harvest Dance by Nathan Jalani Taylor - Acrylic on Canvas $3,500

Caribbean Morning by Andre Guichard - 33x59" Mixed Media on Canvas SOLD

Gallery Guichard
3521 S. Martin Luther King Dr.
Chicago, IL 60653.
(773) 373-8000 | Fax (773) 373-8060
For commissioned artwork contact the gallery at 773-373- 8000.

POETRY ::: Affirmation by Assata Shakur

Assata: Exile since 1979
On May 2 1973, Black Panther activist Assata Shakur (JoAnne Chesimard) was pulled over by the New Jersey State Police, shot twice and then charged with murder of a police officer.

Assata spent six and a half years in prison under brutal circumstances before escaping out of the maximum security wing of the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey in 1979.

Due to government persecution in her own country, Assata moved that same year to Cuba where she now lives in exile.

Thankfully, she still writes and is able to share her expression with the world.


Affirmation
by Assata Shakur

I believe in living.
I believe in the spectrum
of Beta days and Gamma people.
I believe in sunshine
in windmills and waterfalls,
tricycles and rocking chairs.
And I believe that seeds grow into sprouts,
And sprouts grow into trees.
I believe in the magic of the hands.
And in the wisdom of the eyes.
I believe in rain and tears.
And in the blood of infinity.
I believe in life.
And I have seen the death parade
march through the torso of the earth,
sculpting mud bodies in its path.
I have seen the destruction of the daylight,
and seen the bloodthirsty maggots
prayed to and saluted.
I have seen the kind become the blind
and the blind become the bind
in one easy lesson.
I have walked on cut glass.
I have eaten crow and blunder bread
and breathed the stench of indifference.
I have been locked by the lawless.
Handcuffed by the haters.
Gagged by the greedy.
And, if I know anything at all,
it is that a wall is just a wall
and nothing more at all.
It can be broken down.
I believe in living.
I believe in birth.
I believe in the sweat of love
and in the fire of truth.
And I believe that a lost ship,
steered by tired, seasick sailors,
can still be guided home
to port.