4th Floor Gallery
July 17-Sept 4 2026

Art is a universal language that has many modes of expression. Color Songs: Musicians as Visual Artists, curated by Dr. Yaoundé Olu, focuses on a marriage between the disciplines of visual art and music. Visual artists who also create music, or musicians who compose visual artworks were invited to exhibit paintings, drawings, sculptures, mixed media, printmaking, fiber arts, photography, & digital works. While works of art addressing music as a subject were encouraged, the pieces of visual art featured in Color Songs are not limited to this theme.

Sura Dupart and Carol Sawall are featured in Color Songs: Bridgeport
Art Center exhibit due to their unique paths of creativity that includes embracing a unique path of both music and art. Their visual art, paintings & sculpture are highlighted here in honor of their history as innovative creatives who have
demonstrated mastery in both arenas, as well as in their humanitarian endeavors.

Sura Dupart is a visual artist and musician. He started his visual arts journey with sculpture (wood/stone) and later was one of the original Sun Drummers. He performs regularly at the Woodlawn Tap in Hyde Park, Chicago, and was recently featured on CBS Behind the Scene. His main focus is that of inspiring people to do their best.

Carol Sawall was a painter who works in oils, acrylics, and watercolors. Her works have been featured in numerous shows and galleries. As a musician, she composes and sings, and has several records available on the market. She passed away
several years ago, but her artwork is still appreciated and included in many private collections.

YAOUNDÉ OLU, PhD
Color Songs Curator

Dr. Yaoundé Olu is a visual artist, curator, indie comics publisher, musician,
author, journalist, and astrological scientist. She is a former principal of a high
school for the arts, and she owned and operated Osun Center for the Arts, an art
gallery in Chicago, from 1968 – 1982.

Dr. Olu is an award-winning editorial cartoonist with the Crusader
Newspaper Group, and was recently featured in a New York Times bestseller; “It’s
Life As I See It; Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940-1980,” published to
accompany an exhibit featuring some of her work at Chicago’s Museum of
Contemporary Art. Other exhibit venues include, but are not limited to, the
University of Chicago’s Smart Museum; the Noyes Cultural Arts Center; the
Evanston Art Center; the Chicago Cultural Center; the Tubman Museum; the
University of Illinois African American Cultural Center; South Shore Cultural
Center; Heaven Gallery; Pigment International, Sapphire & Crystals exhibits and
the Bridgeport Art Center to name a few. Dr. Olu represented the American
Midwest at Festac 77, the 2nd World Festival of Black and African Arts and
Culture in Lagos, Nigeria. Dr. Olu is the curator of Color Songs.

As a musician she received the John Phillip Susa Award for excellence on
the alto clarinet in 1963. Currently, she is founder and artistic director of the Drum
Divas, an all-female percussion ensemble founded in 2003 that features original
Drum songs. You can hear this work on the musical platform Bandcamp. She is
composer of numerous songs and has produced several self-published albums and
showcases her work on a couple of online sites. Moreover, she was a former co-
host of Jazz Port on the University of Chicago’s WHPK 88.5 FM radio station.
Aside from the foregoing, Dr. Olu has had musical collaborations with numerous
bands and individuals through the years. She resides in Chicago, IL.

Image: SuRa Dupart – Green Sun Drummer, foam acrylic paint sculpture with black frame 54″x 40″x 6″

Official Website

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Tags: Carol Sawall, COLOR SONGS, Dr. Yaounde Olu, MUSICIANS AS VISUAL ARTISTS, Sura Dupart