Gamma Xi Phi

Month: January 2022

  • Welcoming Ava President

    Welcoming Ava President

    Gamma Xi Phi, the professional fraternity for artists and creators, welcomes Ava President as a communications intern via the Georgetown University Virtual Immersions & Experiential Work (VIEW) Program.

    Ava President is a first-year student at Georgetown University who plans to major in sociology. This Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, native volunteers with DC Reads, the Black Student Alliance, and GU Women of Color. She is passionate about activism and community outreach and is excited to work with Gamma Xi Phi in the realm of communications, design, and branding.

    “Georgetown has a long tradition of training students for leadership in service, inside the classroom and in the community,” National President Rashid Darden said. “I am grateful that Ava has decided to lend her talents to our growing organization.”

    The Georgetown VIEW Program provides real-world professional experiences to students across a multitude of industries, from the nonprofit and public sectors to law, entertainment, media, and business.

    Ava will be responsible for the research and implementation of a media campaign during Black History Month 2022.

    Gamma Xi Phi is an anti-racist, non-hazing, all-gender professional fraternity for artists and creators established in 2010 by undergraduate students attending Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey. Organized on the principles of Philanthropy, Sodality, and Elevation, Gamma Xi Phi seeks to create a world in which artists are valued as thoughtful and justice-oriented leaders in their communities and in their careers.

  • Remembering Sidney Poitier

    Remembering Sidney Poitier

    I want to be at peace internally and continue to feel good most of the time.
    But, yes, you are looking at a man who is relieved. I have nothing more to prove.

    Sidney Poitier to People Magazine in 1980

    Gamma Xi Phi remembers with solemnity the life and achievements of one of the world’s finest men, Sidney Poitier.

    We honor his masterful roles in The Defiant Ones, Lilies of the Field, A Raisin in the Sun, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and To Sir, with Love, among many others.

    We acknowledge his direction of nine major films, including Stir Crazy, which was at one time the highest grossing movie directed by a person of African ancestry.

    We note his many accolades, including being the first Black winner (and first Bahamian) of the Academy Award for Best Actor, several Golden Globes, a BAFTA, an Emmy, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Miami.

    We further acknowledge his career as a writer, as a diplomat, and as a board member.

    Finally, we gratefully thank his family members, including his six daughters, for selflessly sharing their father with the world. Gamma Xi Phi shares in your grief while celebrating Mr. Poitier’s many contributions to the arts and to humanity. The artists and creators of this fraternity humbly and gratefully stand upon his shoulders.

  • Reflections of Re-Emergence: Symphonic Identity (Lashon Fouché solo exhibition)

    Reflections of Re-Emergence: Symphonic Identity (Lashon Fouché solo exhibition)

    CHICAGO (Winter 2022) – WILD YAMS: Black Mothers Artist Residency at THE cre.æ.tive ROOM is pleased to announce, “Reflections of Re-Emergence: Symphonic Identity,” a Solo Exhibition featuring WILD YAMS Artist and Gamma Xi Phi Sister Lashon Fouché. “Reflections of Re-Emergence: Symphonic Identity” captures the intersections of Black Female Spectatorship, examined through figural symbology, rigorous mark-making, vibrant color palettes, abstract patterns and portraiture. The exhibition is curated by Founders, Clemenstien Love | Wisdom Baty, with select programming highlighting Fouché’s Studio Practice: Artist Talk, OpenStudios, WorkShops, and Performance Art Interventions. The Opening Reception is Friday, January 7th 6:00pm-8:00pm. The exhibition is on view at THE cre.æ.tive ROOM, from January 7- February 19, 2022.

    Fouché stylised elements of color, pattern, and mark-making are multilayered, generating a kinetic flow of evocative feelings-sensibilities. Investigative themes of identity figuration, chromatic relationships and material embellishments add to the complexities of Fouché’s mark-making evolution.  Her current explorations examine non-representational abstractions of the human body and the “Black Gaze.”

    Public Programming:

    THE cre.æ.tive ROOM | 7034 S Martin Luther King Dr, Chicago, IL 60637

    Opening Reception

    January 7, 6:00pm-8:00pm Friday

    Artist Talk

    January 22, Saturday 2:00pm-3:30pm

    Moderated By: Wisdom Baty, WILD YAMS Founder

    Healing WorkShop Series | Creative Rituals of Divinity & Rootwork

    • January 29, Saturday 1:00pm-3:00pm
    • February 5, Saturday 1:00pm-3:00pm
    • February 12, Saturday 1:00pm-3:00pm

    OpenStudio | By Appointment

    • January 14, Friday
    • January 28, Friday
    • February 4, Friday
    • February 11, Friday

    (Contact Lashon Fouché at 773.663.0270, [email protected])

    Gallery Hours

    January 14 – February 12, Fridays & Saturdays 10:00am-2:00pm

    Closing Reception

    February 19, 6:00pm-8:00pm Saturday

     

    About: Lashon Fouché

    Sister Venise Lashon Keys | Lashon Fouché (b. Chicago, 1991) is a visual artist, writer, performer, and educator. Fouché activates painting, drawing, objects, printmaking, movement, and writing to commune with her ancestors. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Fine Art with an emphasis in Painting and a Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Fouché’s consistent imagery and studio research on Black hair paraphernalia i.e combs, bobby pins, etc. began as an homage to her parents’ entrepreneurship in the Chicago hair industry. Fouché utilizes black cultural iconography along with elements of color, pattern, mark-making and abstraction to create dialogue centering notions of beauty, heritage, and resistance. Fouché has exhibited throughout Chicago and nationally.

     

    About: WILD YAMS – Black Mothers Artist Studio Residency at THE cre.æ.tive ROOM

    Introducing a new Studio Partnership, WILD YAMS Black Mothers Artist Residency at THE cre.æ.tive ROOM. WILD YAMS Artist Residency provides sustainable creativity + equity for Black Mother Artists in Chicago.  THE cre.æ.tive ROOM is an Art | Design collaboratorium studio located on Chicago’s southside. TCR Studio Residency Programs provide space + time to “imagine, create, envision” a distinctive Studio Practice platform for Women Creators. This new ongoing Studio Collaboration serves as a creative incubator for WILD YAMS Black Mothers, providing space, time, community, and entrepreneurial resources. A distinctive unified collaboration, both founded by Black Women with missions committed to equity + access through the Arts on the Southside of Chicago for Black Women Creators.

    Media Contact:

    Wisdom Baty, Founder: [email protected]

    WILD YAMS: Black Mothers Artist Residency

    Clemenstien Love, Founder: [email protected]

    THE cre.æ.tive ROOM