Art Smart: 3/15/2025

Clay Stories with Christine Larue

• Origins of expression | Material

For my family, I am an art/history historian. Because our history is so damnably unusual – African American/Cherokee American/Cuban/Dutch/Creole-Louisan, my ability to tell my story is an art thing as powerful as breathing. To have an African American family that also has an early immigrant story by way of Cuba and Surinam is just not a common thing. Uncovering my history is the most maddening journey that pushes up not only against white colonial lies about origins, but also against the common history of African Americans accepted here in Chicago. I have not met any other Black person who was raised in a family in Mormon country of Utah, whose Cherokee & Black family hid from the forced incarceration of Native children in Boarding schools in another minority population. Plus they spoke Dutch, and Louisiana Creole.

Being able to portray this kind of history easily and openly is a challenge, and for me, art has been the only way.

• Material Transformation | Artistic Perspective

CLAY STORIES

 At a time when we are revisiting Jim Crow like bans of true American history. 

Art has a way of being able to slip between the cracks of racism, conformity and hit with a visual punch of info that few books can accomplish. It raises numerous questions that challenges the American lie of denialism of its own history, culture and beauty.

Our community needs to tell our stories for insight, understanding, self-esteem building and grounding in who we are, where we have been, and to grow from there.

Museums and art centers have ignored our stories so we cannot count on them collecting our art. There needs to be home grown community venue available, so our stories are not silenced or brushed underneath colonialism’s rug of denial. 

If there were more access points built into our communities for our stories, then we would not have to worry about people collecting our art and not being able to display it in our communities and overwhelming access points via usage.

• Affect | Connection

Chicago, like a lot of cities with Black and Brown folks, have been doling out resources for the above in too “restrictive” a fashion. We Black and Brown folks (and whites, too) are literally starving for our stories for creativity, study, understanding, growth and visibility access. It does not make sense to give out crumbs and make choke points of access. It is inhumane.

This is why I do what I do, and Diasporal Rhythms does what it does. Without us (Artists & DR) combined, Our communities NEED OUR STORIES.

That is why I have hung for so long watching the Hyde Park Art Center grow and change. It is intergenerational art sharing. This is what it is all about…showing the journey to future generations to help with providing a foundation for them to grow.  That is the goal for all of us.

Please join us for Clay Stories |March 15,2025 Logan Art Center 1:00-3:00PM RSVP diasporalrhythm.org