We’re thrilled to host filmmakers Rachel Gadson and Briana Clearly for rotational film screenings as part of Art After Hours Powered by Gertie, for EXPO art week!

Sponsored by Arete Wealth & Masterworks, AAH takes place from 5-8 pm on Friday, April 12 during EXPO ART WEEK and offers extended hours at over 45 galleries and creative spaces throughout the city of Chicago. With a myriad of exciting events unfolding throughout the evening!

EXPO ART WEEK partners annually with the city’s most prestigious institutions to feature select programming, including museum exhibitions, gallery openings, and more. EXPO CHICAGO showcases leading contemporary and modern art galleries each April at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, alongside a diverse and inventive program of talks, on-site installations, and public art initiatives.

Inaugurated in 2012, EXPO CHICAGO draws upon the city’s rich history as a vibrant international cultural destination, while highlighting the region’s contemporary arts community. In 2023, EXPO CHICAGO was acquired by Frieze, the world’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art.

Rachel Gadson will screen her documentary-short Dear Black Artist featuring The Seventy-Sevens. Between 2019 and the close of 2020, Gadson interviewed 77 Black artists from the Chicagoland area (an ode to the 77 neighborhoods existent here in Chicago).

Dear Black Artist integrates the findings from this interview series with a love letter to her participants. A wonderful short film has emerged from this insightful and stimulating work, and we’re excited to have our first screening of this project.

Rachel Gadson was born and raised on the southside of Chicago. She has a strong attachment to the creative arts community and is a proud Chicagoan. She attended Florida A&M University where she attained her Bachelors in the field of Graphic Design (magna cum laude); and also studied at Studio Arts Center International, in Florence, Italy. A combination of love for the creative arts industry, and a keen desire to empower artists (specifically artists of color) shapes the trajectory of Rachel’s career and is the same fire that keeps her propelling toward her goals. With a graphic design portfolio that spans across varying industries with clients like Obama Foundation, Hilton, Samsung, Zoom and GitHub, Gadson now dedicates her time creating access for Black artists.

She is undoubtedly a vital “tool-sharer” (as she likes to call herself) in the artistic community of Chicago, and is constantly dedicated to making contributions that help equal the playing and paying field for Black artists.

Briana Clearly will screen several of her short-form film works, which will include: The Sum of Her Parts and Bloed Susters.

Briana Clearly is a Chicago based filmmaker, community curator, and educator. She is a graduate of DePaul University with an MFA in Directing (2023). As a filmmaker, Clearly mainly focuses Black women’s/femmes’ experiences, exploring the intersection of Blackness & womanhood. As a community curator, Clearly’s focus is cultivating space where artistry can be the launchpad for connection, conversation, and change.

Clearly’s works have been screened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Black Harvest Film Festival, Gentleman Jack’s Real to Reel Chicago 2018 & 2019, and Big Shoulders International Student Film Festival 2019. Her short experimental documentary, The Sum of Her Parts, won Best Chicago Short at the Windy City Film Festival (2019), as well as the The Dear White People Film Competition (2019).

Most recently, Clearly has begun an initiative called Filmmaker’s Mixtape, which encourages aspiring and experienced filmmakers alike, to take a quick, casual, and practical approach to filmmaking. This initiative includes a comprehensive limited series podcast and a year long film challenge, entitled #FM12for12 (fka #BC12for12) that has a cohort of filmmakers making 1 month film a month for the entire year (2024), mentored by Clearly.

RSVP here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3831-cinema-for-the-love-of-black-artists-tickets-876901274317?aff=oddtdtcreator

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Tags: 3831 CINEMA: FOR THE LOVE OF BLACK ARTISTS, Briana Clearly, bronzeville, Chicago, Rachel Gadson, South Side Community Art Center