Exhibition will be on display in City Hall August 3 until October 30

Mayor Kenson Siver and the Southfield Public Arts Commission will host Beyond Boundaries: A fusion of Artistic Visions opening reception and public art exhibition on Friday, August 18 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. featuring six Michigan-based artists at the Southfield City Hall Main Lobby, 26000 Evergreen Road. Each of the six artists is a member of the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club.

The exhibition of work will be on display August 3 until October 30 featuring the works of Walter Bailey, Javier Gonzalez, Stephanie Hill-Ross, Ira Russell, Samah Kthar, and Brian Raynard Nickson.  The exhibit and opening reception is free and open to the public.  

The Southfield Public Arts Commission curates’ new exhibits of local artists' work quarterly.  “Mayor Ken Siver and the Southfield Public Arts Commission are committed to showcasing art and supporting local artists to promote diversity and inclusion in the community,” commented Southfield Public Arts Commission Chairperson Delores Flagg.  “Together, we are a stronger community that fosters a sense of belonging for businesses, residents and visitors.”

Ira Russell

Ira Russell was born in Detroit and has been a Southfield resident for 38 years. He has degrees in engineering from the University of Michigan and the University of Detroit. Russell’s engineering career spanned 40 years, including years with Detroit Edison: Tanzania, East Africa, bringing electricity to rural villages, 30 years with Ford’s Electronics Division, and other automotive electronics companies.

Russell’s art career began after retirement. He developed a passion for sculpture after seeing African artisans carving sculptures out of ebony wood while living in Tanzania and later attending a Rodin sculpture exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 2006. He has studied sculpture and taken art classes at the College for Creative Studies, Birmingham/Bloomfield Art Center, and Henry Ford and Macomb Community Colleges.  He was mentored for five years by Master sculptor, Janice Trump, at her studio in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. During this mentorship, he developed an interest in relief sculpture, an unconventional and unique form of sculpture. Russell was captivated by the challenge of transforming 2D pictures to 3D sculpture art.  In 2016, Russell entered Art Prize, an international art competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan, placing his art into competition with over a thousand other artists.  Several pieces of his collection were chosen by the Grand Rapids African American Museum and the Grand Rapids Police Headquarters to be featured in the 2017, 2018, and 2022 Art Prize competitions. In addition, his art has been featured at the DeVos Conference Center in Grand Rapids and in numerous art exhibits in the local community.  Russell and his art have also been featured in the Southfield Eccentric Newspaper (Sept 2018) and the Southfielder Spotlight (Dec 2021).

Russell’s art is a fusion of his engineering background and his artistic passion for transforming 2D pictures into 3D relief sculptures. The process begins with finding multi-sided profile pictures of the subject.  A detailed composite oil-based clay sculpture is created, focusing on hair, skin texture, wrinkles, clothing fabrication, etc.  A silicon rubber mold is then made from the master clay sculpture, which contains the negative image of the master sculpture.  Finally, a unique and intricate cold bronze casting is made from the mold.  Traditionally, a bronze casting requires high temp molten metal be poured in an industrial foundry.  However, working at his studio, Russell uses a unique cold cast process, which requires multiple stages of blending epoxy resin with bronze powder in the mold.  The casting is then hand polished and finished, and then mounted in the desired frame with styled backing material for mounting on a wall.  Russell’s Legends of Music collection features an “extending beyond the frame” artistic feature which heightens the 3D effect. It usually takes several months to complete a piece.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066310791074

Stephanie Hill-Ross

As a native Detroiter, artist Stephanie Hill-Ross has been participating in the creative arts since early childhood.  A graduate from Detroit’s Cass Technical High School’s art program, Stephanie was offered a scholarship in fashion design to the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City.  While attending Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, she majored in fashion design and was a twice recipient of the Marji Kuntz Memorial Fashion Scholarship.

She has done work for Barry Manilow, various local Detroit retailers, and newspapers; has taught calligraphy, cartoon and fashion illustration; and was a contributing artist for a fashion design textbook for Howard University entitled, African American Dress and Adornment: A Cultural Perspective. She has also participated in various art exhibits across the country, including the International Hotel/Motel & Restauranteurs trade exhibition in November 2006 at the Jacob Javitz center in New York City, the Las Vegas Art Expo in September 2007, and was named Black Artist of the Month for Black History Month for Wayne County, Michigan, in February 2009.  Additionally, she was a Detroit area semi-finalist; was a Bombay Saphire Art Basel exhibitor in 2013 and 2015, and was an exhibitor at the Mercedes-Benz annual art exhibition at its North American Research and Development Headquarters. Stephanie also has her own artwear and home accessories lines with Shopvida.com and Society6.com.

Although watercolor is her favorite medium, she likes to work with pencils, markers, crayons, and digital illustration. In her spare time, she is also a freelance art tutor and mentor, giving back to her community.

Website: https://www.producktioncentral.com/

Brian Raynard Nickson

From working at the plant to 2018’s Detroit Metro Times Best Visual Artist, Brian “BNICK” Nickson has risen to stardom. Nickson was born on the east side of Detroit and has been drawing all of his life. However, it wasn’t until recent years that he took the profession seriously. On January 20, 2017, on his way to work, his exhaust pipe cracked in half after asking God to give him a sign to become an artist full time. It was at that moment that Nickson decided to dedicate his life to the arts.

Nickson graduated from Cass Tech High School in 2005, where he completed the art curriculum. He took some studies at the College for Creative Studies and Eastern Michigan University before dropping out of college in 2006.

He has been in numerous exhibitions, including multiple solo exhibitions. Nickson also participated in the 2018 Palmer Park Art Fair, where he was featured on WDIV Local 4 news. He currently has artworks in the collections of Judge Deborah G. Bledsoe Ford, Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah, Joseph McFashion, and others. His work has been nationally recognized by writer, director, and lead actress of FX series “Better Things,” Pamela Adlon. The director later had the painting published in the New York Times magazine.

Nickson has been a sponsor for the Golden Future Foundation, Ezekiel Ansah Foundation, and he has been a foster volunteer partner with the Detroit Pit Crew Dog Rescue. Brian seeks to continue to evolve as an artist and works to inspire young artists around the world.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brian.e.theproducer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannicksonart/

Javier González

Javier González was born in Bogota, Colombia, in 1978. He currently resides and pursues an art career in Detroit, Michigan. His interest in art and creation began at an early age. Mainly a self-taught artist, he built on the skills learned in his early education. By pursuing a desire to create high relief in his work, Javier developed a technique called piping. Through piping paint, he creates looms that are woven with an infinity of colorful media. The materials used are iridescent, colorful, rustic, new and old to create futuristic sculptural tapestries. Javier began exploring this technique in 2012 and — through testing different materials and approaches — he was able to reach the depth he was seeking by 2016.  Although he has been fully piping since 2018, he recognizes the importance of practice and production to ensure growth in his craftsmanship and skill. Javier is influenced by the aesthetics and discipline of Chanel Couture, the Afro-Colombian culture of San Basilio de Palenque, African American culture from Detroit, and the city itself.

González has always unconsciously used art to visually represent personal experiences, spiritual lessons, and emotions. In August of 2020, he participated in the "Grandma Exhibition" at the Kayrod Gallery. This event demonstrated that his creative path subconsciously intertwined with both of his grandmothers’ legacies of craftsmanship. This realization brought him to explore his African and Indigenous roots. Afro-Colombian people used the arts to communicate ways to find freedom amongst each other during times of slavery. Today, they preserve this legacy of the arts through generations within their own families. By embracing this philosophy, it propelled him to intentionally carry on his family's legacy and healing process through art. Consequently, González began working on the “Roadmaps to Freedom” series in 2020.

Art has afforded González many stimulating experiences. Raising funds for his kidney transplant by auctioning his artwork at Oloman Gallery in 2018 is at the top. He also had the privilege to curate and organize projects for institutions such as the Heidelberg Project and Mack Alive. In 2019, after the success of the ‘Heidelbergers’ installation design, he and his team had the opportunity to have “The Quit Bitchin’ Design Team Open House” at The Heidelberg Project Headquarters. González’s work has been included in several other exhibitions throughout Detroit, including: “Bombay Sapphire Series” in 2012 at N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, “Murals in The Market 2019” at Eastern Market, “Bonded” 2021 and 2022, “Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition 2021” at the Scarab Club Detroit, “Mighty Real Queer Detroit” in 2022, “Art in Detroit: Now!” in 2022, and “The Secret Garden Art Pop-Up Show” in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jovis0818/

Samah Kthar

A first-generation Iraqi, born in Queens, New York, and having resided in Metro Detroit for 23 years, Samah Kthar has a unique perspective on the world.  Her degrees include a Master of Occupational Therapy, a Bachelor of Health Sciences, and a B.S. in Biology. Kthar is an artist who enjoys painting and is an active member of the Detroit art community. Kthar has exhibited in various galleries, including the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (2023), Detroit Historical Museum, Scarab Club, Farmington Hills City Hall, Heidelberg Project, etc. Kthar’s work is in the permanent collection of Henry Ford Hospital of Macomb, and has been featured on PBS, WJZZ Fox 2 News, CBS 62, and The Oakland Press. Kthar is an artist fueled by harnessing the present-moment experience and transforming it into something tangible to share. She believes the way to express and connect with others is through art. Her science background and therapeutic approach are applied and reflected within her work. Kthar's interest is to understand and merge theories of science, math, and psychology into her artistic expressions. She believes it is critical to spread inspiration to others in order to create a more empathetic world.

Kthar's paintings are emotionally charged and unplanned from beginning to completion. Her range of works is dependent on mood, setting, circumstances, time, and so on. Kthar’s inspirations include the future of technology, implications of quantum physics, the shifts taking place in the world, golden ratio, platonic solids, flower of life, complementary, alternative medicines, nostalgic memories, and the history of ancient civilizations.

Website: www.artbysamah.com

Walter Bailey

Walter Bailey believes the visual arts is an ever-changing natural creative process that adapts and changes so new art can be born. As a young Black Expressionist visionary, Bailey always searched for the next generation. He broke with tradition during the tumultuous 1960s Black cultural revolution to explore new non-traditional media. He wanted his art to be distinctive in style, theme, and expression which in 1977 he found in durable but sensitive smooth acrylic polymer glass surfaces. Acrylic Fusion’s potential to create bold new art, art in innovative forms and infinite new genres, is the driving force in his expanding creative envelope. Today, Bailey seeks to vanguard art in the 21^st Century and envision his Acrylic Fusion arts Medium expanding into the 22^nd.