Donald Baker Sr. (1937-2009), who as an artist went by the name Aki, served as a Chicago Public Schools and Chicago City Colleges teacher before devoting his life to art […]

Bethany Collins (b. 1984) is a multidisciplinary artist whose conceptual practice examines the relationship between race and language. Centering language—its biases, contradictions, and ability to simultaneously forge connections and foster

A Chicago-based artist known for his abstract sculptures, Michael Qualls (1961-2005) was a community-driven therapist, social activist, and artist who used the environment as his palette and identified aesthetic value

Robert A. Ferris (1936-1983) grew up in a large family in Chicago and graduated from Dunbar High School, where he studied welding and participated in theater. He served in the

Theaster Gates (b.1973) is an artist whose practice finds roots in conceptual formalism, sculpture, space theory, land art, and performance. Trained in urban planning and within the tradition of Japanese

Fannie Mae Robinson (1900-1988) was born in Texas and later relocated to Midwest. In 1941, she married John H. Robinson, who was a Pullman Porter. Fannie Mae Robinson devoted much

Rhonda Wheatley (b. 1972) is a Chicago-based multi-disciplinary artist whose exploration of healing, consciousness, and transformation is grounded in the spiritual and speculative. She studied at Loyola University of Chicago

Ceramicist Marva Lee Pitchford Jolly (1937-2012) was born on a farm in Crenshaw, Mississippi before moving to Chicago with her family in the 1950s.

Born on South Federal Street in Chicago, Daniel Polk (1929-after 1993) was a musician and an artist who created intricate crowns out of found costume jewelry and other castoff materials.

Ralph Arnold (1928-2006) was born and raised in Chicago by his aunt and uncle after his mother passed away during childbirth.