Riehlife: Bonnye, tell us about your show at Portfolio Gallery.

Bonnye Brown: I have about seven pieces of artwork in the show at Portfolio.

Mr. Powell is a long time friend of mine and the brother of the President of our art organization in Kansas City called The Light In The Other Room. I am the Vice President. We have about 15 professional artists in our organization and we show together in the metropolitan area and also around the country.

I believe the paint on a painting should be just as exciting as its subject matter. I try to master the medium that I work in as well the subject that I choose.

I use a variety of techniques in my paintings. One in particular that I have found a love for is knives. I have created a style of my own that is not easy to duplicate.

(All photos courtesy of Bonnye Brown)
Bonnye Brown and Robert Powell in front of Bonnye's painting "Color Folks."

Keith Shepard in front of his painting "Jelly's Last Jam."

Keith Shepard, Bonnye Brown, Anthony High, and Ed Hogan (not pictured).

Students! Want to enter the annual writing contest, The Big Write? Get started now. Submission deadline is Sept. 12.

The three top winners in each of two grade level categories: (1) 4th and 5th graders, and (2) 6th through 8th graders, will win $100 for 1st place, $50 for second place, and $25 for 3rd place,

Of course your be reading your winning entries before a live audience at The Big Read Festival. Check out the contest guidelines by clicking here.

The Big Read in Clayton, an annual outdoor book festival, is Oct. 11. The Big Read site posted last year’s winning stories if you wanna see.

Click here to read a fun interview Annette Crymes conducted with a student of one of her writing workshops...presented here in St. Louis Today's book blog as a student prepares to enter this year's Big Write.

Click here to read more about Annette (a.r.) Cryme's passion for art and writing.

I'm one of the judges for the Big Write (as is Annette), and I can hardly wait to read the entries.

Since 1974 Karen Duffy has hosted literary readings at her Central West End restaurant, Duff's.

Says Newman: "Our literary agenda is to promote accessible poetry. In the early '90s, poetry had been taken over by academics. It was obscure, unmoving poetry, and it was the only kind most people would come across. We want to promote poetry that an intelligent, educated reader would enjoy — not necessarily an MFA or Ph.D. candidate. You don't have to compromise quality to be accessible."

Portfolio Gallery and Education Center's current show is 4 OF A KIND featuring the work of Anthony High, Keith Shepherd, Bonnye Brown and Edward Hogan, all artists from the Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas community. I had the pleasure to interview Keith Shepherd about his work and creative life that we share with you below.

You can see Keith's work (and Bonnye's and Edward's, and Anthony's) at Porfolio, 3514 Delmar Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63103 Phone: (314) 533-3323 URL: www.portfolio-stl.com.

"Jelley's Last Jam" by Keith Shepherd

RIEHLIFE:Tell us about your show at Portfolio. How many pieces? Titles? Subjects? How were they chosen?

KEITH: Janet, the Portfolio Gallery '4 OF A KIND' exhibit is a dream come true! I couldn't have prayed to be involved with a more talented bunch of artists like Ed, Bonnye and Anthony!

I have 10 pieces here, the most I've ever shown in one place. This body of work relates subjects from pop culture: DAMN! feat. The GREEN LANTERN.

My other passion is music: JB ON THE JUKEBOX,DIG U LIKE AN OLD SOUL RECORD.

My youth: GOLDEN TIME OF DAY, BLUE LIGHTS IN THE BASEMENT, RIDIN' IN THE BACK OF MY BIG BLACK DADDY'S CADILLAC.

My nod to art history the nouveau and Asian inspired respectively ANGEL FOR US ALL and KABUKI.

African American heritage ROBERT JOHNSON and last but not least JELLY'S LAST JAM. I thank Robert Powell for bringing us all together.

RIEHLIFE:How did you meet Robert Powell?

You know when you have friends you've connected with that you can't really recall how you first met? Well it's that way for me. I'll cite either the NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL MUSEUM 'Shades of Greatness' show from Kansas City, MO or when I was invited back for another show in which I sold a piece. Anyway he's a remarkable brother!

RIEHLIFE: Your paintings are so full of life...so in life. Do you find that it's important for you to get out there and whack around and live in order to have something to take back to the studio?

KEITH: Life! I'm glad you said that! It's what I truly try to portray in all my work.

Even with inanimate objects I inject spirit with a textured canvas and vibrant colors. I also want to tell stories that invoke a response. Different chapters with a common message.

It's important to get out and share experience. Travel, read, spend an evening with an elder, meet people from different walks of life. It gives one foresight and something to say.

Take BLUE LIGHTS for example, a tribute to the old school house party. Many a patrons would point out a character and say "That was me!" The 50's, 60's or 70's and they ALL could relate!

"Blue Lights in the Basement" by Keith Shepherd

RIEHLIFE: Tell us about how you taught yourself to draw as a boy.

KEITH: Well, Janet I've drawn as long as I can recall. I first began by tracing. There was this 1960's kids show called 'WINKY DINK & YOU'.

[There's lots more, folks! Read on!--JGR]

When this character got in a jam he'd ask you the viewer to place your 'MAGIC SCREEN', a thin sheet of plastic, on the TV and draw following lines in the program a parachute,ladder or somesuch to help save the day.

I never had the official WINKY DINK kit because apparently 2.95 + S/H was a small fortune to my parents so I used a 'cleaners bag' instead. Anyhow something in my little brain clicked. Using loose leaf notebook or mimeograph paper, 'MIMEOGRAPH PAPER' ---Yes, I'm that old---I'd trace everything from comics to photographs. From there I discovered 'how-to-draw books in the library. From then on, there was no stopping me.

RIEHLIFE: Keith, you graduated from Washington University with a BFA. Tell us what some of the most important lessons are that you took away from that training...how you've used that in your art life---both commercial art and fine art. And...what didn't they teach you?

KEITH: Washington University taught me to hone skills from my previous education. Not just see a physical object but observe the world around it. To translate it to light and shadow, form and color. I'd be remiss not to mention an instructor who became my mentor, Kimball Wells, from St. Louis Community College at Forest Park. This guy instilled in me the confidence to even apply to Wash U.

I'm one of these rare persons who always knew what I wanted to do with in life. We creative types are fragile creatures and moreso as inner city youth. Kimball would marvel at my drive and perseverance and what I had already accomplished. I told him I wanted more not just in terms of a career, but I didn't have a clue on how to go about getting it. Together we developed a plan that strengthened my portfolio as well as my resolve.

The plan we developed included how to get grants, loans and scholarships---all the things I needed to take it to the next level. "Be better than you think you are," he'd say, "Then be better than that". These were words to build on. Kimball passed on a year later following my graduation from diabetic complications. I'll never forget his belief not only in my artistic potential but me as a man.

Back to WU; from this fine ivy league institution I also inadvertently learned how to deal with the reality of being African American in a predominantly white profession. No one saw the impact that the the digital revolution,except maybe ADOBE, was to have on graphic arts at large. I had to be ready to adapt with a quickness.

RIEHLIFE: I admire that you had such a long career as a graphics artist at Hallmark Cards. Tell us about this and how you view it. Do you see it as a day job you do in order to do you art? Do you see it as a place where you learn things
that roll over into your fine art activity?

KEITH: DESIGNER was the term Hallmark used when I left but we were called ARTIST at my start. 'Artist' meant that your contributions were valuable to the creative team of the company. That YOU mattered then they hit a wall.

In the end, we all became designers. Designers became paint by numbers. The credo became 'Do not only as we say do but as our corporate partners say do.' This was okay by me because I had fine art as my personal oasis. Fine art was a beach I could wash up from the creative shipwreck had become the job.

RIEHLIFE: It's always a challenge for creative people to balance livleihood and creative space. How would you express your success in managing that?

KEITH: Lots of employees exhibited though sadly some could not---for Hallmark said they 'owned' their style. Oddly enough the folk that inhabit my work was never marketed for product. For example in a business meeting I was once told that they appeared 'too black' or not 'black enough'.

Thank goodness for small minds, for I was then free to follow my passion. I always wanted to help in the community. Lacking in funds, I'd offer my time and talent to various charities around Kansas City. At silent auctions, to my surprise, the work I donated often yielded the biggest donation. To paraphrase Sally Fields, "people liked me, they really liked me!"

Compliments were far and between at work where it was 'what have you done for us lately' and 'that wasn't very good.' In galleries I could replace pixels and paint by mouse with a brush.

Patrons would say how they love what what I do while a supervisor would want to 'revisit my performance' next quarter. The corporate world has and will always be well...corporate. Hallmark hired me right out of school so I was a loyal soldier to the very end. In my 24 years tjere I was flown all over the country. I developed people skills along with digital skills beyond my wildest dreams.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and I wish them the best. Hell, I still have stock there! In such an infrastructure I'd say “Know your limits but do not limit your desire”.

RIEHLIFE: Anything else before we say good-bye?

KEITH: I talked about shared experience. I think art exhibits fit in that category. Nowhere near enough African Americans support their sisters and brothers in the arts.

First let me make clear that the creative arts including painting, theater and sculpture is a human experience above all else. My family and friends came to the show. Some hadn't been to a museum let alone a gallery in almost...never!

They stood looking at my work for a moment then burst with pride. They could scarcely contain themselves! The connection wasn't merely kinship but of generations of shared experiences.

Then they went on to say what they loved about other artists. To continue the legacy of artist collectives like the Harlem Renaissance we need acknowledge our accomplishments. Pass on that 2nd plasma screen and buy ART!

What a wonderful part of a creative spirit to pass on to a family instead of a bit of soon to be obsolete bit of technology. Galleries aren't hallowed halls to be shunned for being too bourgeois or just a human interest piece on a local infotainment TV program. Come on out to support your culture and ourselves. Hope that didn't come off too 'soapbox' or preaching to the choir it was merely a humble plea.

Thanks again for everything Janet. This was indeed a pleasure.

This year, though, I celebrated Juneteenth with Dick Gregory at the Starlight Room on Broadway in North St. Louis.

Dick Gregory

Back in Northern California if I said I'd been out at the Starlight Room last night, folks woulda thought I meant Harry Denton's Starlight Room, located in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel on the 21st floor, 450 Powell Street at the corner of Sutter Street. To tell you the truth? I never got there.

But, I did get to The Starlight Room on Broadway in North St. Louis where Dick Gregory spoke last night, returning like a bass chord to the theme of "It's all a game" in his appeal for honesty with ourselves and one another and as a culture. The Starlight Room on Broadway is in the middle of a mall. It's a work of magic, looking like nothing much on the outside, but opening up to a lovely, spacious venue inside with a stage framed by fringed curtains and pulls as if from Marikesh.

"It's not just the information age, it's the age of your information," Dr. Ron Henry said in his portion of the Gregory introduction. Bernie Hayes lauded Dick Gregory as "clear, focused, disciplines, analytical...making sense of it all." Hayes quoted Harriet Tubman as saying, "I could've freed even more if I could've convinced them they slaves."

Gregory is a humorist, as much in the tradition of Mark Twain as anyone else I can think of. He is a student of the outrageous, using shock as a teaching tool to bring home truths of moral, economic, and social studies lessons...a preacher with the brief to make sure that even if we leave late, we'll get there on time.

WHAT'S THIS GAME ABOUT?

Slavery is over, but we still feel its effects...whether we are black folks or white folks. You cannot wallpaper over a slavery mural and have done with it. Missouri is the state that produced Mark Twain and Harriett Beecher Stowe who produced classic works that combated racism and promoted humanism. Last night Dick Gregory, one of the brightest minds in America and beyond, on stream of consciousness, showed us how to work the floods as the waters rise...how to go fishing for the truth that floats downstream to us.

Listening to Gregory was like being at the table in the kitchen late at night when the truth comes out. He told straight jokes ("She must be a lady of substance because she smells like petrol"); he told stories of celebrity friends; he delivered philosophical discourses on beauty and power ("There's a difference between glamor and beauty"); he shared his mind. "There is something on the planet more important than death. That's grace. Take that away and you live in disgrace."

"I love tragedy," Gregory told us. "When it hits you we aren't black or white...just messed up." And he proceeded to lay out the case for just how messed up it was because the conditions of slavery have changed, but the mind hasn't. We have to change our minds. We have to stop being so emotional because that doesn't work. "It's a game" was his refrain.

I was particularly struck by his analysis of addiction: "All addiction is based on pleasure. You are searching for pleasure because in some foul depths of your soul you've done something that requires pleasure to wipe it out." The number 1 addiction in America is gambling. Who you give your money to is who you give your power to. The winners are paid on the losers money. "Sports is sports to chumps and a business to those who own it. Sports is a precursor to War...one of the games people play."

Dick so wants us to understand who we are...the power and wisdom that we have. It's all a matter of holding ourselves with dignity. We will walk THROUGH the storm...not just IN it.

Think about how far we've come. Have fun on the way to the party. And, remember, as Dick says, "They can't take your heart."

2) I've also learned that St. Louis is still, sadly, one of the most culturally segregated cities in the world. I'm not quite sure why. I raise this as a topic for conversation with new friends now and again. They all agree with me and advance theories. Thus it is that there are White Events and Black Events with token members of the other group there almost as diplomatic delegates, but all too few. It shocked me when I first arrived, because in all my years in Oakland, California, when I went to a cultural event...everyone was there, talking to each other...mixing and mingling. Thus is was again at this gathering consisting of both younger and older African Americans, with an emphasis on the older crowd.

3) I've also learned that costuming is of the essence in going out. The Dick Gregory event, falling as it did on the cusp of work life and night life, was a mix of work attire and more riveting styles...regal, from West Africa.

4) Another thing I've learned about St. Louis events is that There Will Be Food...and, the food will always exceed my expectations. Thus it was as we were well nourished before the show and well cared for during the show.

5) I've learned that the Cost of Living Index is quite modest here. $25 bought me a seat at a VIP table and, as I said, a fabulous banquet, as I readied for The Gregory Show.

With charming diffidence and low key humor he kept us enthralled and left us wiser for it.

I sat next to a 16-year-old young woman who is a huge fan. He signed her book "to my teenage friend." Everyone got the same friendly treatment.

Go to StLog (the blog at the Riverfront Times) to read a charming story by Jason Robinson about the event.

What I loved was that he not only read from the new book "When you are Engulfed in Flames" that he was touring...he also gave insight into a working writers life by reading from his diary and his pocket notebook.

His writing routine? He gets up with coffee in hand and writes for four hours. Goes to the movies or swimming. Then, maybe a little more in the evening, if on deadline. His description of the multi-continent book tour sounded killing. I wouldn't wish this kind of success on anyone, but he seems to be handling it well, and it was fun to share in it with him

Dick Gregory

Dick Gregory recently stole the stage at Tavis Smiley's 2008 State of the Black Union event is returning home to help us celebrate Juneteenth by discussing what's going on in the world today in his own satirical way.

Snacks and drinks will be available from 5-7 p.m. to start off an evening that promises to be both hysterical and informative. Only $15/person or $25 for a VIP table. Everything is cabaret style seating.

Show begins at 7:45 p.m.

Contact me if you live in St. Louis and want to sit with me at our V.I.P. table with some of the coolest people around.