Final Prospectus

Tall Grass Gallery will present LIVING GWENDOLYN BROOKS, opening on March 11,
2023, with an Artists’ Reception on Saturday, March 18. It will continue through April
15, 2023.
The exhibit is a collection of Artists’ responses to Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks’
poetry, especially her book, Bronzeville Boys and Girls, thirty-four poems that portray
the lives of children living on the South Side of Chicago, and that celebrate the joy,
beauty, imagination, and freedom of childhood. They remind us that whether we live in
the Bronzeville section of Chicago or any other neighborhood, childhood is universal in
its richness of emotions and new experiences.
Works in the show include drawings, paintings, photography, mixed media, and glass
works that illustrate or symbolize the various stories and descriptions of life in the South
Side of Chicago, concentrating on its youth, offering hope not only to children who live
in communities such as Bronzeville but also to all children who are trying to figure out
who they are and where they belong in the world.
Brooks was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work dealt with the personal
celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer
Prize, Robert Frost Medal and National Medal of Arts for her poetry. Although born in
Kansas, she became a lifelong resident of Chicago. She was appointed Poet Laureate
of Illinois in 1968, a position she held until her death 32 years later. She was also Poet
Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress for the 1985-86 term and in
1976 she became the first African-American woman inducted into the American
Academy of Arts and Letters.
Artists whose works were chosen to be part of LIVING GWENDOLYN BROOKS are:
Rose Blouin, Christina Cooley, Bob Daum, Mary Flynn, Jeanne Garrett, Pam McDonald,
Cheryl Osby, Gloria Payne, Stuart Pearson, Joseph Perryman, Felicia Grant Preston,
Perry Slade, Marilyn Stewart, Carla Toth, Catherine Trezek, and Nance Tucker.
Curators and Jurors for the exhibit were Janet Muchnik, Lenin Delsol and Joe Woods.
A related exhibit of paintings of children by Arthur Jackson will also be on view in the
gallery during the run of LIVING GWENDOLYN BROOKS.
Both will be on view until April 15, 2023.