Ghost in the Gallery 1

This is about Preston Jackson, one of my dear and very talented friends. He has leant his musical talents to five of my events and he donated a chalk work piece of art to my gala. He is the owner and the chief draw at the Checkered Raven where we held our Ghost in the Gallery.

The Harlem Renaissance has become a passion & an obsession for Preston Jackson, culminating in the creation of “Bronzeville to Harlem,” a massive sculpture that celebrates the Harlem Renaissance spirit as it was manifested not only in New York City but also in Chicago’s all-black Bronzeville neighborhood.

First unveiled at the Contemporary Art Center in Peoria in 1996, the piece is part historical replica, part personal myth and part on-going project. Since that opening, the piece has grown to 125 feet in length (becoming 1/3 larger than its original size and becoming a veritable mini-world of street corners & railroad tracks, automobiles & hotels, speakeasies and jazz clubs.

Populating this world are more than 300 miniature figures; soldiers & beggars, musicians & artists, businessmen and taxi-cab drivers. There is Emmett tills, a black Chicago teenager whose murder by white supremacists while visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955 drew national attention. Nearby are “back to Africa” leader Marcus A. Garvey, prizefighter Joe Louis, poet Langston Hughes and many others.

A recent addition is aviator Bessie Coleman-a favorite African-American barnstormer whose feats of daring during air shows influenced others of her heritage to pursue careers in aviation. His sculptures are quite prolific both here in the Peoria area and around the world. “Bronzeville to Harlem” has been shown all over the United States-especially in the South.

Born in Decatur, Illinois (one of 10 children), where all were encouraged to read poetry and study music, Preston completed his graduate work at the University of Illinois in 1971. Now he teaches sculpture at the Art Institute in Chicago. His many honors include the Order of Lincoln Medallion, the state’s highest honor putting him in the company of Ronald Reagan. His many commissions include a 12 foot by 18 foot relief at the entrance to Cahokia Mounds Museum in Carbondale, Illinois.

Links:
http://www.artic.edu/~pjacks/index1.html
http://peoriacac.org/artists/pjackson.html

Ghost in the Gallery 2

It was all treats without any tricks at the Sunday, October 27th fundraiser put on by renowned artist and area jazz great Preston Jackson, along with a bit of help from his friends: Joy Kessler, Joan Snyder and Holly Angus. “A Ghost in the Gallery” was great fun by anyone’s standard and turned out to be a financial success for the Parkinson Alliance-they get a check for over $2,000.00.
The mood was set as the party-goers entered the building which houses, among other
Businesses: Moondancer’s, The Rhythm Kitchen and the Contemporary Art Center.
Once inside, they could be stamped for age by longtime friends of PD –Char Otto and Sue Schupp, enjoy a welcome table with books of photos from other events or even talk with a representative from the Mental Health Association of Central Illinois. (Did you realize that almost 74% of all Parkinson’s patients develop some form of depression caused by the chemical imbalance in the brain?)
The concept of the party was carried out by decorations throughout the 3 floors but was evident when guests got out of the elevator on the 2nd floor to be met by a giant, inflatable, purple 8 foot witch. The food was enough to tempt even the most die-hard dieter-day old pastries provided by Apple’s Northside Bakery, Shrimp-Cuban style-by Rosario Guardado, even creepy, gelatin hands made by Lorie Klasseugger and kept pretty and edible by Cindy Eilers and Gina Morss. And the bartenders, Lynn Wygzgowski and Jeanie Ruhland were kept busy keeping the crowd in spirits: pouring bottled water donated by Five Star Vending, soda, beer and wine (donated by the folks at the CAC), and warmed through with cups of hot apple cider (donated Apple Blossom Farms) spiked with Hot Damn cinnamon schnapps (donated by Unclaimed Freight Service). Gina Morss, from channel 25-WEEK-TV was helped by Allison Snyder and Genna Hawkins pick and pass out door prizes to the winners.
Then there was the music to talk about-what a stellar group of musicians were on hand to provide tunes and jams for the afternoon. The list reads as a veritable who’s who in the Peoria area music scene: guitarists Preston Jackson, Steve Degenford, Bob “the Whale” Miller and Jerry “Muttonhead” Erickson, bassists “Big” John Miller, Doug Block and Bill Sutton, horns David Parkinson and Steve Thomas, percussionists Bill Duncan, CJ Thomas and Dan Diefenforf and vocalist Beverly Barnes (with the voice of an angel). They played a vast range of standards and classics from the lovely “It’s a Wonderful Life” (which brought Joan out of her wheelchair and onto the dance floor with husband Stan-not a dry eye in the house) and Limbo Rock to which Rosario started a conga line pushing Joan in her wheelchair and lots of people joined in. For the finale, we were treated to the amazing sounds of Governor Forman, a man who left the audience gasping “Who was that guy?”
All this and more?? You bet!! For up on the third floor was the silent auction offering everything for a shopper’s heart: a mink teddy bear, an autographed script from the “Frasier” TV show (donated by Charlie Black), handmade items (jewelry (made by Holly Angus and Diann Pilafian, shirts and sweatshirts (made by Carol Post and Debbie Dietrich) to a hand painted rural mailbox (by Maggie Drillon) and Riverman Hockey tickets (donated by CEFCU). There were matted photographs sent in from Texan Terry Bowers and $2.50 gold coin donated by Steve and Linda Gabrielle. There were goodies from Dan & Kim Phillips of the Illinois Antique Center and gift certificates for food (Kelleher’s, Carlos O’Kelly’s, The Fish House, Basta Mangiare, The Spotted Cow and Dominic’s) plus for overnight packages from the Hotel Pere Marquette and the AmericInn. The Hickory Stick donated a set of 7 beautiful nesting boxes. Carpet Weavers provided a lovely area rug, Hoppler’s Jewelry-4 gold bracelets, Underwoods- an autumn floral arrangement, Floral Expressions-a collectable dog and a huge stuffed basset hound from Moondancer’s. And there was a year family membership from Lakeview and an adoptive child’s Hallmark Album from Low Cost in Lacon. The silent auction was presided over and run by Jean Razo and Dee Ahlstrom.
Craig Kendall once again did a fabulous job of capturing the entire event on film, and we were honored to host the remarkable Russell Ahlstrom from Mankato, MN who has had PD for over 38 years and was the winner of the very first Sidney Dorros Award for Parkinson’s activism.
WalMart donated $25 worth of paper products and decorations. Jim & Donna Newton and Diann Pilafian donated CD’s that were used as door prizes along with 40 boxes of notecards from Low Cost Pharmacy in Lacon .
And the most amazing thing??...was when the party was over, partygoers turned into magic cleaning elves and had the whole thing back to rights within a half hour.
So how was your Halloween??