Black Artists and Art South Side Community Art Center

BY TIA CAROL JONES

The South Side Community Art Center, located at 3831 S. Michigan Ave., has a long history when it comes to being a place for Black artists and an inspiration for Black art. It was founded in the late 1930s by a group of African American artists who wanted an opportunity and a space to show their work.

The mission of the South Side Community Art Center is to conserve, preserve and promote the legacy and future of African American art and artists, while educating the community on the value of art and culture.

The Community Art Center Committee received funding from the Federal Art Project, which was sponsored by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration’s Works Progress Administration, to purchase the space and raised additional funds to convert the space into what is now known as the South Side Community Art Center. The center opened in 1940, and in 1941, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt delivered the dedication speech for the center.

LaMar Gayles is the Archives and Collections manager for the South Side Community Art Center. He noted that famous artists Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs, founder of the DuSable Museum; Elizabeth Catlett, sculptor, Charles W. White, painter and drawer; visual artist Archibald Motley; writer Gwendolyn Brooks and writer Richard Wright had their work showcased at the center or their work drew inspiration from the center.

Throughout the 83 years South Side Community Art Center has been in existence, it has amassed a collection of more than 600 pieces of work created by a variety of historical artists to contemporary artists.

In the last year, the South Side Community Art Center has hosted an exhibition titled “Emergence: Intersections at the Center” and “9 Artists/9 Months/9 Perspectives.” Currently the exhibition titled “The Promised Land” is on display at the center. Gayles said that he feels the South Side Community Art Center is very central when it comes to Black art and artists in the city of Chcago.

“The center was founded by Black artists in the early 1900s, mainly four Black artists. It offered a lot of opportunity, there was a very strong color line that existed in Chicago during that time period that negated several Black artists from exhibiting their work downtown, really beyond Bronzeville,” he said. “The center offered a space for artists from all over the nation of African descent to showcase their work in Chicago.”

For more information, visit ssartcenter.org.