Paul Branton was born in 1973 in Chicago. He was influenced at an early age by the sights & sounds of the South Side’s urban environment. Writing short stories & putting on plays with his sister quickly became a passion and a means of expressing himself. It was this passion that guided his education, which ultimately guided his career.

Choosing visual art as his main focus, he entered Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, majoring in Commercial Art with a strong emphasis in painting. It was at Millikin where he also discovered a love for poetry, a strong desire for painting, eventually putting on a one man art exhibit displaying his works. During these same years, he also helped his college buddy Skee Skinner with several student film projects, opening up another doorway from which to express himself. Not only taking on writing & production credits, Paul spent much of his time on both sides of the camera playing supporting and lead roles.

He recently combined the two art forms by creating a series of paintings for the feature film Pieces of a Dream, in which he also portrayed a main character. Also merging visual art and poetry, Paul put together the upcoming coffee table book To Dream In Colour.

The art of Paul Branton is/has been exhibited throughout Illinois, including Millikin University, South Side Community Art Center, Gallery Guichard, University of Illinois at Chicago, Gallery D’Estee, Phoenix Gallery, NYCH Gallery, Chicago Truborn, Legendary Gallery, Galleryna 19 and Hyde Park Art Center . His work hangs in the homes of private owners from New York to Los Angeles

Martha A. Wade is an award winning visual artist from Chicago who has always carried a deep passion for art making. Her painting style utilizes whimsical themes of fantasy and hope, to portray cultural and historical themes in a positive tone. Her artwork has a dreamlike feel, as Martha works to create a sense of movement in every piece. You will often find star constellations hidden in Martha’s work – her way of visualizing that we are all made of stardust. Her art seeks to uplift spirits by giving a glimpse of what people can achieve at our highest potential. Her tapestry of everyday people with rustic elements of fantasy suggest that common ground exists, where everyone is empowered to fulfill their dreams.

​Martha’s work often has a dual theme, as in her series of children with spirit animals of Childhood Dreams & Conquered Fears. The message speaks to the strength of children who are often fearless, and at the same time encourages us to hold on to our innocence. Her latest body of work Sirensdeals with the blessings and stigma of being a powerful woman, often seen as intimidating and alluring by others. Martha learned to create at the foot of her artist father Eugene “Eda” Wade, who she watched and admired as a young girl longing for a canvas of her own. She has gone on to create over 200 paintings on wood and canvas. Her work can be found in private homes and collections around the world. She is a member of the NextGen 75 Board of the South Side Community Arts Center, and striving to empower younger generations to get involved in the arts.

James Nelson discovered art at a very young age. His first portrait was a drawing of his mother. He drew every detail, from the creases of her smile to the roundness of her face. Afraid and uncertain that his mother would unhappily accept the drawing because of the delicate details in the portrait drawing. She accepted the black and white drawing saying “Draw everything you see son”.

Roe Melloe is the Founder and Executive Director of Melloe Drama, Inc., a talent management firm that provides professional representation, consultation, and brokering services to artists and organizations. Hailing from the Southside of Chicago, Melloe has rooted himself deep within the arts and culture scene, curating and producing art exhibitions, fashion shows and music showcases that draw a diverse audience of all ages. Some of his major curatorial projects includes; This Image Is Not Available In Your Country, American Justice: She Ain’t Blind, Farewell 44 – An Artist Tribute to Barack Obama, Love Notes the EP Release, Connect Hyde Park Fashion Show, The Native Series, Parallel Universe and more.

A transdisciplinary creative entrepreneur and artist, he received a B.A. in Business Management from Chicago State University. His business acumen and skills in performing arts, allow him to merge both leadership and creativity into one world. He currently serves as the President of the South Side Community Art Center - NexGen Associate Board, Creative Director for the William Hill Gallery, and board member for The African LIFE with the goal to strengthen community and arts partnerships across Chicago. Melloe hopes to create a modern and artistically driven space for underprivileged youth and adults on the Southside of Chicago.

Though born and raised in Ghana, Adufah has lived in Chicago, Illinois for the past nine years. With limited training in fine art, he taught himself to become the artist he is today, developing his drawing hobby into a professional art career. Originally doubting art as a stable endeavor due to personal fears and familial pressures, Adufah endured on a path towards architecture. However, quickly realizing he needed to discover something meant for him, and that included opening the world’s eyes to the positive wonders of Africa, painting became his new outlet, and permanent commitment. Since moving to Chicago as a late teen, Adufah has been concerned with the negative perception of Africa that has consistently been tainted by its history and the media. It was baffling for Adufah to see that his home was only seen under the lens of war, poverty and famine, and found it even more troubling that blacks in America shared these limited views. Using his artwork as a tool to react to this narrative, Adufah crafted a personal mission “to empower, promote and celebrate the African culture through his portrait paintings.” What is vital in creating Homeland Series: Ghana is Adufah’s physical engagement with his subjects. His practice involves traveling to Africa and capturing the people he meets on his journeys.

Frank Frazier began his work as a fine artist early, at the age of seven. He was creating paintings in his family’s Harlem, New York City home. A husband and father of five, he recalls growing up, “we were not poor, but my family was a little different.” At the age of 15, his family moved to downtown New York City, which precipitated his “getting into a lot of trouble” as a youngster. A move to Queens, New York, brought with it a stint at a boys’ institution in upstate New York, but it also marked the point where Frazier turned his life around. While at the school, he was responsible for creating art for the “different bunks.” Teachers noticed his talent and later as a Sergeant in the Army during Vietnam, officers gave him the responsibility of painting art and shirts for the platoons. Frazier’s designs included a mixture of different scenes which he completed for free; he and his fellow soldiers weren’t thinking about money when they did their work. Amazingly, after his stint in the service, “I recall my family throwing lots of my art away.” Ironically, today it is the love and support of his immediate and “great extended family” that inspires him.

This sculptor, painter, and collagist cites the Creator as his biggest influence. “The Creator inspires me. He puts whatever I need in me. He also admits that he “loves black women and likes to use them in his art.” Frazier also credits Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Elizabeth Catlett as his biggest artistic inspirations. Speaking on how the Diaspora influences his art, Frank muses, “I go to Senegal, West Africa a lot. Many of my collages are influenced from there.” As far as the media he works with, the sky is the limit. “I paint with oils, watercolors, and charcoal, anything that’s available,” says Frazier.

The desire to create has consumed Raymond A. Thomas for as long as he can remember. Today, this St. Louis native has cultivated his passion into a vibrant multi-disciplinary artistic practice that continues to expand with purpose and daring. Thomas received a merit scholarship in 1984 to attend the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied painting, filmmaking and graphic design. In 1988, soon after graduating and receiving his BFA in visual communications, Thomas was hired by Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company
Inc. where he served as art director and creative manager for over 23-years. He also continued his life-long missions of mentoring youth and creating art with showings of his studio works in Chicago and galleries nation-wide. In 2000, Thomas wrote, directed and produced his first film project 12 MINUTES. The 30-minute film short was an official selection to over 20 film festivals worldwide, winning numerous awards and honors. The film, which deals with the issues of mass incarceration and the death penalty, continues to be used in community arts engagement efforts with screenings in correctional facilities nationwide. Thomas has written over a half dozen feature screenplays several of which have been optioned by major motion picture studios. In 2013, Thomas won an EMMY for serving as an associate producer on the documentary COLORBLIND: Rethinking Race, which aired on television station WYCC
in Chicago.

Thomas has served as a board and committee member for many noted Chicago art institutions including:
Little Black Pearl, Black Harvest Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival Black Perspectives Sidebar, Chicago Public Art Group and South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC). Thomas also served as creative director and curator for SSCAC from 2012-2014 curating some of SSCAC most provocative and well-attended art exhibitions in its 75-year history. In 2013 his piece “The Conversion of Mary Magdalene” won “best painting” and “best of show” awards at the Black Creativity juried art exhibition held the Museum of Science and industry in Chicago. Thomas is a three-time recipient (2014, 2015, 2018) of the Individual Arts Program Creative Projects Grant from the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events Grants Department. In 2015 The Burnham Wildlife Corridor Curatorial Committee, Chicago Park District and The Field Museum funding for Sankofa for the Earth awarded Thomas, along with 2 other artists, a public art project to be installed on the Chicago lakefront in 2016. In 2017 Thomas was honored with the Margaret Burroughs Arts Advocacy Award from the South Side Community Art Center, Chicago IL. Thomas is curator of the WALGREENS EXPRESSIONS CHALLENGE, a traveling high school art competition in Chicago. He is also a resident artist at the Bronzeville Artist Lofts in
Chicago.

Artist Dana Todd Pope has transformed from being a beautiful canvas for high fashion designers into using mediums of her own to produce fine art. A former Ford Model Management print and runway model, Dana has successfully transitioned to become one of the most sought after emerging artists in the country. Influenced by personal experiences, the perspective of her ingenuity is rooted in children, family, womanhood, spirituality, and entrepreneurship.

Building pride in oneself and directing the viewer to a greater purpose are her foremost objectives, whether displayed in the captured movement of girls jumping rope, or the vibrant luminescence of metallic colors flowing through her abstract pieces. Dana Todd Pope’s work has been on the season finale of EMPIRE on FOX-TV, ESSENCE Music Festival, The Chicago Jazz Festival, The University of Illinois Pediatric Clinics, The Libby Center of Metropolitan Family Services, The Museum of Science and Industry, The Chicago Board of Education, Macy’s Herald Square in New York, Embrace at The Mason Murer Gallery in Atlanta, The Mulholland Tennis Club in Hollywood, DuSable Museum, Gallery D’Estee, Macy’s Romare Bearden Ten City Tour, The Union League Club in Chicago, Gallery Guichard in Chicago and many others.

Contemporary painter Blake D. Lenoir, “B. Len,” paints in a style he calls “Propaganda Contemporary.” Using elements of graffiti, B Len’s infuses his work with abstract strokes, quotes, haikus, and pop culture references. His goal? To convey a message, or capture an idea – sometimes an uncomfortable one - that reverberates and resonates with the viewer. His work is rendered in acrylic, India ink, liquid latex and body paint. He embraces the unpredictable nature of these mediums, that when combined with his unique brush stroke, build textures that allow the works to speak for themselves, and reveal the messages hidden within his canvas.

B. Len embraces the cubist stylization of painting with its expression of oblong shapes and deformities. The cubist styling is his preferred niche because it allows him to leave his audience with a memorable impression that demands conversation. Whether through harsh impressionistic works that reflect our country’s current social state; or cubist expressions of inner turmoil caused by society; or more easily interpreted pieces that seek to entertain, rather than provoke, a B Len work is a riot of texture, color and most of all meaning.

B Len’s background in sociology and the social sciences inform his work, and direct references to cultural and psychoanalytical themes of behavior are often woven into it. He embraced art as his passion while studying at Western Illinois University where he majored in Art, with a focus on drawing, and a minor in Sociology. However, his artistic journey began at the age of two when he first found inspiration in a duck’s feather that he sought to depict in exacting accuracy. He offers that now creating comes to him as naturally as breathing, and is as familiar as his own handwriting. He grew up in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood where he excelled as a student athlete despite being a reclusive child. Art allowed him an expressive and fun outlet that he believes to be a democratizing force.

B. Len is equally comfortable in fine art galleries and at live painting events. And the Cancerian can always be counted on to show up and show out with a smile and a great backstory about his work.