Spirit of Africa

Amani Borah

Amani Borah was born in Mombasa, Kenya in 1977.   He is the youngest of eight children in a family of cultural entertainers, dancers, and acrobats. As an acrobat, Amani has traveled to many countries to perform.   Amani began drawing as a child using pencil. Later on, he worked with markers, paint pens, acrylics, oils and glitter. His work is very detailed and is inspired by dreams, everyday life, and symbols of Africa. Borah’s first solo exhibition took place at the Oak Park Public Library (main branch) during Black History Month in 2012. He has exhibited his art at Dancing Krow Studio and at Oak Park Art District’s Third Friday Gallery.

Animals Eating   20 x 16" mixed media on canvas   $300

Fishing Village   48 x 34"   mixed media on canvas   $900

Gardening Village    20 x 16"    mixed media on canvas   $300

Rasta Village   30 x 24"   mixed media on canvas $700

Happy Beach Day 20 x 16"    mixed media on canvas   $300

Happy African Village 36 x 36"   mixed media on canvas $800

Village Near River   20 x 16"   mixed media on canvas   $300

Market Day   16 x 12"   mixed media on canvas   $200

       Elephant's Destiny   42 x 34"     mixed media on canvas    $800

George Keaton

George Keaton is a self-taught painter working and living in Chicago. Born in 1980, his creative energy was sparked when at the age of four, his father showed him how to draw the wheels of a car with a nickel. Over the next 20 years, living between NYC, Atlanta & Chicago, he sketched a lot, exploring different techniques & subjects. In 2006 George was introduced by a fellow artist to the art magazine Juxtapoz. It was in the pages of this magazine that George fell in love with the rising movement of "street art". Soft-spoken most of the time, and able to relate to this style of expression, George started to find his voice in the art world. He picked up a paint brush for the first time soon after. Since then, George's focus has been to merge street art and fine art through his process and techniques, both self-taught & formally trained.   George exhibits his artwork at J2 Gallery in Chicago.

Gorilla Joe    Print on Archival Paper    18 x 22" framed   $160

Flight of the Watchman   Print on Archival Paper    18 x 22" framed   $160

The Chief       Print on Archival Paper    18 x 22" framed   $160

Robert Kameczura

Robert is an artist of enormous range and versatility, adept in many media: acrylic, watercolor, drawing, silkscreen, black and white photography, gicleé work and calligraphy. He has a long history as a designer for several notable modern dance companies, including the Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble and The National Ballet of Ireland. In addition Kameczura is a noted scholar, arts writer and critic as well as published poet. Many people are familiar with a portion of his graphic work through his cover artwork for the late WNIB Program Guide. Indeed, it is not a surprise that he has been called "one of Chicago's Renaissance men" for his numerous activities in so many fields. With a degree in literature and poetry, Robert is a published poet and author, whose work includes several short poetic tales for children. Several of his poems have been set to music by noted classical composers, most notably Dan Tucker and Claudia Howard Queen. Kameczura is the founder of the Mythopian Artists' Group (www.artmyth.org), a group of seven highly respected Midwestern artists with an interest in narrative painting in a contemporary context. He has exhibited widely and internationally, in Japan, Poland, Ireland and Canada as well as across the U.S.    His photos were recently part of Anatomically Correct Art's 5,6,7,8 dance exhibition and All the World's a Stage at Devonshire Cultural Arts Center.

Solomon and Sheba and the Cup of Water

Print on Archival Paper    21 x 25" framed

$ 250

An African Myth from the Ethopian Ancient Chronicle, The Kebra Negast...

The controversial, possibly mythical, story of King Solomon of Israel and the Queen of Sheba of Ethiopia begins when the King invites the Queen to be his guest at the kingdom.   Upon arrival, the King treats her to an enormous feast where spicy food is served. Afterwards, the King invites the Queen to stay overnight in the palace. She accepts providing that he promise not to make unseemly advances toward her.   He agrees, as long as she consents not to take anything from him.   As the Queen begins to fall asleep, she finds herself thirsty from all the spicy food.   She sees a goblet of water near her bedside table and drinks the water.   When the King arrives to say goodnight, he sees that she has drank from the cup.   He believes her drinking is considered taking from him and that she has broken her promise to him.   They both continue to "drink from the cup" together and in time, a child is born.   Today's Ethiopian dynasty is said to have originated from this son.

Boruch Lev

I love clay.   When I was a kid I was working in modeling clay of different colors. 50 books of encyclopedia were marked with sticky substance making my dad angry. I was working on my sculpture garden making landscapes, planting trees and filling that environment with lots of animals (Encyclopedia was a great shots of existing and extinguished species). All that was built on 30"x30" piece of plywood at the SW corner of the room. Once my little brother not walking very well back then awkwardly sat on a top of my garden destroying everything... Now think, why the dinosaur era ended so abruptly...I love clay.   And after almost 40 years long break I came back.    Now I live in Skokie and work at my home studies and at the Evanston Art Center. Obviously my favorite medium is clay. I work with bronze and concrete as well.

Boruch Lev was born behind the “iron wall”, in the Soviet Union, in a suburb of Moscow. He remembers himself playing with modeling clay at the age of four. During that time he turned his surroundings into a sculpture garden full of plants and animals using sticky colored blocks of plastilina, matches and other suitable found materials.
His sculptures and 3D reliefs were recently part of Anatomically Correct Art's exhibition Home is Where the ART is at the Devonshire Cultural Center.

Africa II    TerraCotta Sculpture   $950

Africa III    TerraCotta Sculpture   $950

Jacqueline Moses

Art is my mode of expression, the way I communicate my ideas and feelings to others. I am very conscious of my surroundings and know that each person experiences similar situations differently. I believe that anger and/or avoidance are often the way many try to deal with problematic situations. For society to evolve, we need a more honest approach. Calamities must be dealt with in a straightforward manner if improvement and healing are to take place.

Recent world and personal events have strongly influenced the content in my work.   Hopefully, solutions will be found that increase our understanding and acceptance of different cultures and give us the ability to incorporate the best from each society to help improve our lives and the earth we live in.    Though we may have different life styles and live in different environments we share many of the same needs.   The imagery presented in my paintings is reflective of our times as is the technique used.

Many of my paintings are combination of photographic transfer and oil on canvas.    All images are derived from my photography and juxtaposed to create the desired image.

She received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a MFA from Northern Illinois University. Her work has been exhibited nationally in many galleries and she had had over 50 exhibitions in and around Chicago, as well as several exhibitions in the Rockford Art Museum.    She has also exhibited in Sweden.   Her "Moveena Newhouse" cow from Chicago's Cows on Parade was featured in Zweeble Films documentary Vincent: A Life In Color.    Her artworks were recently exhibited in Anatomically Correct Art's exhibition Home is Where the ART is at Devonshire Cultural Center.

Africa I - Globalization Affects   54 x 66"   Oil on Canvas     $4,000

Africa II - Globalization Affects   54 x 66"   Oil on Canvas     $4,000

Debra Nichols

Debra is a self-taught artist and curator.   Her artwork has been exhibited at the Devonshire Cultural Center and at the Emily Oaks Nature Center in Skokie, IL.   She is a resident of Skokie.    Recently, her artwork has been exhibited in Anatomically Correct Art’s exhibition 5,6,7,8 and Day of the Dead at the Devonshire Cultural Center.

The Disappearing Elephant

36 x 20"

Mixed Media Assemblage on Wood

$ 75

I Would Walk 1,000 Miles...

The Business of Diamonds…
Traveling from the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve (VLNR) in South Africa to the African country of Mozambique is roughly 1,000 miles. Recently, over 200 African elephants made this 1,000 mile forced migration across two countries at the hands of the De Beers Group. Admittedly, De Beers stated that this move was the largest elephant translocation ever recorded in South African history.
Why move these majestic creatures?
According to their marketing materials, DeBeers claims that the VLNR was overpopulated by elephants due to no natural predators and that by moving them (at DeBeer’s expense) to less populated areas, they are helping secure their future as a species. Is this truly the reason?   Or could it be that DeBeers, being the largest international mining company in the world, wanted to mine the land, which is rich in natural resources and estimated to be worth 20 billion dollars. https://www.miningglobal.com/company/venetia-mine-de-beers#
DeBeers specializes in diamond exploration, diamond mining, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is currently active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea mining. https://www.debeersgroup.com/a-diamonds-journey/a-diamonds-journey/mining
DeBeers operates in 35 countries and mining takes place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada. The De Beers Group sells approximately 35% of the world's rough diamond production through its own subsidiaries and distribution sources.
Ties to Botswana
Botswana is home to some 130,000 elephants, more than any other country in the world. Prior to 2014, they were hunted for their ivory tusks, their skins, and even their taxidermy heads were hung on trophy hunters’ walls.
But in 2014, Botswana's government, then led by former President Ian Khama, banned trophy hunting, citing declining wildlife numbers. The move was widely applauded by international animal welfare groups. In May 2019, Khama’s successor President Mokgweetsi Masisi, among pressure from unnamed business associates, decided to lift this ban. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/09/28/763994654/why-botswana-is-lifting-its-ban-on-elephant-trophy-hunting
According to National Geographic, hunters are now being allowed to shoot, poison, and spear elephants in Africa at such an alarming rate that some scientists consider them "ecologically extinct." Populations of African elephants are down to approximately 250,000 (from 500,000) and Asian elephants are down to 32,000. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/us/politics/trump-elephant-trophy-ban.html?_r=0
Conservation International reports that an African elephant is killed for its tusks every 15 minutes. With the elephants in Botswana disappearing rapidly, DeBeers is now able to continue their mining in Botswana effortlessly. There is no need to spend money and resources to relocate the elephants, when hunters are happy to take the elephants off their hands.
De Beers’s continues to advertise diamonds to manipulate consumer demand. One of their most effective marketing strategies has been the marketing of diamonds as a symbol of love and commitment.
Their marketing campaign continues to entice consumers to purchase diamonds, "A Diamond Is Forever".
A diamond may be forever, but the elephants may not be.

Paul Sager

Paul is an aspiring photographer from the north side of Chicago. He grew up with the occasional evening slide show of pictures from his parent's travels in North Africa and the latest updates of the family pets and little league sports. These experiences must have set the groundwork for his passion for travel and photography. Paul is a contributing member of both of Chicago's zoos, the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Brookfield Zoo. Although he had a film camera back to age 10, he only became serious in photography with his first digital camera in 2006. He now works in both film and digital after retiring from an international career in Information Technology.
Approximately 200,000 western lowland gorillas remain wild in their native West Africa habitat (the forests of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Congo, and Angola), and almost 350 gorillas live in accredited North American zoos.
The western lowland gorilla is one of two subspecies of the western gorilla. It is the smallest of the four gorilla subspecies and is the only subspecies kept in zoos in North America. In the 1980s, the Brookfield Zoo introduced Tropic World, the first fully indoor rain forest simulation and the then-largest indoor zoo exhibit in the world. The main area where visitors can observe the animals is also indoors.
Gorillas live in social groups comprised of one adult male, several adult females, juveniles, and infants. When they reach sexual maturity about age 15, both males and females typically leave the group in which they were born. They either establish a new group or join an existing one.
The name "gorilla" was derived from Ancient Greek 'gorillai', meaning 'tribe of hairy women', as described by the Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator in 500 BC following an expedition on the west African coast of what is now Sierra Leone. The closest relatives of gorillas are the other two Homininae genera, chimpanzees and humans, all of them having diverged from a common ancestor about 7 million years ago. The DNA of gorillas is highly similar to that of humans, from 95 to 99% depending on what is included.

One of These Days (Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago)

Photo on Canvas Print

24 x 18"

$95

Carrots are Good (Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL)

Photo on Canvas Print

24 x 18"

$95

Should we go out for dinner?

Koola and Nora (Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL)

Photo on Canvas Print

20 x 16"

$85

Portrait of Nora (Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL)

Photo on Canvas Print

24 x 18"

$95

Ali and Mother Koola (Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL)

Photo on Canvas Print

20 x 16"

$85

24-year old Koola is mother of 6-year old Nora and July 2018 newborn Ali, a female. Koola is also a grandmother within the troop of gorillas at the Brookfield Zoo in suburban Chicago. Ali's older sister Nora was born in November 2013.

JoJo (Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL)

Photo on Canvas Print

24 x 18"

$95

JoJo is one of the most genetically valuable males in the Western Lowland Gorilla SSP (Species Survival Plan) population and is an especially good match for the adult females at the Brookfield Zoo. JoJo is somewhat a rolling stone within the Midwest zoological scene. He has sired offspring at the Lincoln Park Zoo, the St Louis Zoo, the Louisville Zoo, and the Topeka Zoo. "Having JoJo come here has been a great success story and demonstrates the collaboration among the zoo community to effectively care for this critically endangered species," said Craig Demitros, associate curator of primates at the Brookfield Zoo.

Adult male gorillas have a broad, silvery-white "saddle" on the back, extending to rump and thighs. The species has small ears and nostrils bordered by broad ridges that extend to the upper lip. Males gorillas can be up to 6 feet tall and 400 pounds while females range to 5 feet and 200 pounds. They have black to brown-gray coats that turn gray with age. Young have a white tuft of hair on the rump.

Maureen Warren

Maureen received a M.F.A. from the University of Illinois, a B.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and studied at the Academies of Fine Art in Cracow and Warsaw, Poland as a Fulbright Scholar.
Awards include a City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Arts and Special Events Grant, Professional Artist in Residence, OxBow, MI, Education for Global Involvement Grant, Cuernevaca, MX, Ragdale Foundation Residency, IL, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency, VA, Community Arts Assistance Grant, IL. Exhibitions include the International Print Center New York, NYC, NY, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, IL, Holland Area Arts Council, MI, Koehnline Museum of Art, IL, Chicago Cultural Center,IL, O'Hare International Airport, IL, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, IN, Georgetown University Gallery, Washington, DC, Castle Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Artemisia Gallery, IL, SACI Gallery, Florence, Italy, Clocktower Gallery, NY, Morpeth Gallery, NJ, Dom Polonii Gallery, Cracow, Poland. Invitational Print Portfolios and International travelling exhibitions include“Posada, 2013”, “Santitos, 2011”, “Bestiarios y Nahuales, 2007” and “Mnemonic, 2005”.
Associate Curator, “Chicago Artists Interpret Shakespeare, As They Like It”, travelling exhibition 2010 to present. Artist Coordinator, “Santitos”, Jules Maidoff Gallery, SACI, Florence, Italy, 2014.
Publications include New American Paintings # 23, Open Studios Press, Art Scene Chicago 2000 and Illustrations for the Musical Heritage Society, New York Times.

African Tribesman       Monotype   17 x 14    $100 (framed) (SOLD)

The Striped Coat     Oil on Canvas     32 x 22"      $800

Secretary Bird No. 5/8      Block Print      17 x 14"       $100

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Founded in 1991, Anatomically Correct is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to showcasing works by artists in alternative spaces in a combined effort to educate, diversify, and promote community awareness of the visual and performing arts. This project is sponsored in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency and the Skokie Park District.