My Trajectory 1999 - 2021

Tra·jec·to·ry a path, progression, or line of development resembling a physical trajectory an upward career trajectory. artist, art educator, art director, art administrator, art consultant, curator, art researcher.  Bruton

Phantom Gallery Chicago Loft/Studio at the Bronzeville Artist Lofts 2015

I am a  painter and an environmental installation artist who synthesizes set design, film theatre, sculpture, and other two-dimensional forms. I have created art installations where objects and images are selected to "serve as cultural mirrors," and the sites they are situated serve as part of a broader cultural commentary. I believe that objects in the public sphere communicate and reinforce certain cultural narratives, hierarchies, and social mythologies.

Working in my studio at the Switching Station Artist Lofts in East Garfield 2004.

Recognized by the California State Capitol Curator during Black History Month 1996.

I began my formal training in Fresno, California, studying at  Fresno City College. I majored in Liberal Studies, emphasizing African American studies. Before transferring to Fresno State University, I received my associate degree, now the California State University of Fresno. Liberal Arts and Dance minor. 

Awarded an Afro Award by the Central San Joaquin Valley
African American Historical Museum in Fresno California

I transferred to the California State University of Sacramento in 1984 to focus on my career goals as a visual artist.

Elements A Struggle for A Community: Installation Jovenes Inc Art Park, Hollywood California

Models: Susanne Honey and Jazmin Bruton Davis, now in a private collection of Jovenes INC.

I majored in Liberal Arts: formal training in studio art, art education, dance production, theater arts, and art gallery management, giving me the foundation to manage art education programs. 

Marcus Building on Del Paso Blvd, VADP anchor arts organization, 
Del Paso Arts District, studio, and gallery practice. 

As visual arts director for Celebration Arts Visual Arts (CAVA), and the Visual Arts Development Project (VADP), 3,800 square feet, it was one of the largest studios I've managed in my art practice. I was very invested in this type of placemaking in Sacramento. I moved the VADP to the DelPaso Heights neighborhood and became an anchor arts partner in the mid-nineties for Phantom Galleries. 

The Phantom Galleries are temporary exhibitions in nontraditional gallery settings in partnership with the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, forming an arts and business district.

Elements A Struggle for A Community: Installation Jovenes Inc Art Park, Echo Park/Hollywood California

I've always felt that making artwork to demand the audience confront issues was important. So I did this type of art and activism work with the Inclusionist of Sacramento. This was not a formal organization but a notion of participation, led by Be Herrera and other like-minded artists, that never did a project more than once: allowing me to produce art programming that dealt with current affairs of social justice. We also exhibited internationally in Vancouver, Canada, and Mexico City.

My curatorial practice brings aspects of set design, film theatre, sculpture, and other two-dimensional forms creating environmental installations in alternative exhibition spaces.  

Touring a group of students at the South Shore Cultural Center funded by Urban Gateways Center for Arts Education.

Moving to Chicago, I listed myself as an independent contractor as an artist in the Illinois Arts Council Arts education roster, Urban Gateways Center for Arts Education, Shanti Foundation for Peace, and Chicago Public Schools. 

My curatorial practice is the Phantom Gallery Chicago. What inspires me most is feeling that I have a social responsibility as an artist to record history and thrust awareness about life and the earth upon the viewer—to cast another perspective from which to view the world.

PopUp Research is done by calling an artist on the mobile phone and having a 
creative conversation artists talking about their practice. 

I am co-author and researcher for Pop Up Research Station and host-investigator for Creative Conversation. This project is a portal where curators nationally share knowledge and resources of best practices for ongoing professional development and is a place for moral support to enhance our collective impact while staging popup exhibitions.

I have collaborated with various art organizations in California (Los Angeles, Fresno, and Sacramento). Presented during the Art African Soul Art Basel in Miami, with popup locations in Carver Building, and Lyric Opera Building in Overtown, Kroma Gallery in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. Associate of sales for Gallery Guichard during the SCOPE Art Basel, Miami South Beach 2017-2018, Bombay Artesian Series.

International curatorial projects: I  am a member of the Global Art Space/Berlin Art Club, the International Art Group, Chicago to Berlin,  and was presented in Stockholm by Art on Armitage Gallery. 

ARTISTIC STATEMENT:

My curatorial practice has focused on representing artists making elements of art in nontraditional settings, as in the environmental installations, and working outside the traditional gallery setting. 

In the last decade, I have traveled nationally and internationally to create art as an artist-in-resident engaging community in the art of art-making. I've created temporary installations in city lots,  pedestrian walkways, National Forest Preserves, on land trust to conservatorships, storefronts as alternative spaces, and in museum settings. 

I have also challenged collaborating artists to present temporary installations that engage in public interaction. I take these examinations and create assemblage pieces for art exhibitions.

Enviromental Station, Chicago IL 2018

My current work examines cultural signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. I believe that objects in the public sphere serve to communicate and reinforce certain cultural narratives, hierarchies, and social mythologies. Bruton

I never cease to experiment with every possible combination and play a genuine investigation approach from the beginning to the end, merging neo-photorealism and abstract forms. These new works are a window to the imaginary, a summons, and an overture to a dialogue. 

Examining the State of Our Environment at the Overton Hygenic Building, 2018.

Bronzeville Art District 2014 at the Bronzeville Artist Lofts