Side Yard Sounds
Saturday, June 22nd, 2024
7:00 PM 9:00 PM
Compound Yellow
#244 Lake Street, Oak Park, Il.
Tickets $15
BYOB

Join us Saturday, June 22nd from 7pm to 9pm in the Compound Yellow Side Yard for: Ephemeral Improvisations vol.3 : David Boykin and Rhonda Gray
Experimental improvisational duet between saxophonist and drummer David Boykin and artist Rhonda Gray. The duet will be structured by the quote from Eric Dolphy regarding the ephemerality of music: “When you hear music, after it’s over, it’s gone in the air. You can never capture it again.”

David Boykin is one of the most important and enigmatic musicians of Chicago’s creative music scene in the recent era. He is a revolutionary storyteller working in the mediums of: music composition, band leading, saxophone shamanism, afro-electronic soul singing, rapping, beat producing, conceptual art, and film making. He has released over 20 album length recordings while performing in venues large and small from Hong Kong, to Dakar, to Moscow, to Paris, to St Louis in the last 24 years. He has exhibited artwork at the University of Chicago and the Chicago Art Department.

Rhonda Gray is a mother, award winning visual artist, muralist, lecturer, vocalist and dancer. She is a Resident Artist at the Chicago Art Department and recent Illinois Arts Council and DCASE grantee.
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Her mixed media artwork is rooted in a passion for natural healing, African diasporic womanhood, and reconciling the complexities of visibility and value. In her work, she is compelled to infuse various vintage and futuristic aesthetics, creating a visual nexus that reflects self-perception, sacred space, and multifaceted healing while deconstructing the dominant narrative.
Her art has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally and can be found in collections globally. In 2018, her paintings and writings were published in the academic book, Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls. Her work can be seen in the featured film “Southside With You” which chronicles Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date.

Gray collaborates with organizations, schools, universities, corporations, authors, film makers on special projects that drive creative transformation and innovation. She has led several mural, mosaic, and sculptural projects throughout the Chicagoland area. In 2014, she assisted legendary muralist and renaissance man, Dr. Siddha Webber, on the restoration of the “Have a Dream” mural located on 39th and King Drive in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood. ​

She is adjunct professor of history at Triton college and National Louis University. She works as a Teaching Artist for Columbia College and Changing Worlds, teaching master classes. Rhonda also serves as Lead Artist for the Black Chicago Museum and South Merrill Community Garden.
Rhonda began painting after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa in 2002 with a Bachelors degree in History Education and later earned a Masters degree in History from Chicago State University.
Her residency at the Chicago Art Department been partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Official Website

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Tags: Compound Yellow, David Boykin, Ephemeral Improvisations vol.2 : David Boykin and Rhonda Gray, Oak Park, Rhonda Gray