InFocus Lecture: Building a generation of Culture Keepers with Dorian Sylvain
Sunday, May 3rd, 3-4:30 pm RSVP
Dorian Sylvain has proven to be an artist of exceptional inventiveness and creative range, fueled by her commitment to collaboration and
community empowerment. Her extensive background in scenic design, public mural painting, curation, education, and community
planning, continues to explore the relationship between Historical erasure and art as a tool of liberation and resistance. Mentored as a young artist by the architects of the Black Arts Movement on the South Side of Chicago, rooting her interdisciplinary practice in Afro-centric philosophies. Dorian understood that through her art, she could create socially engaged dialogue with the public while presenting intersections between past, present, and future. Through her Mural Moves campaign, Sylvain has mentored a new generation of emerging artists/activists, including her three sons, building a powerful collective of “cultural warriors.”
Her large-scale murals aim to reimagine public space through the lens of celebration. By creating a theatrical viewing experience, she activates the built environment, triggering a new spatial experience, inspired by color palettes, patterns, and design as identifiers of cultural and historical foundations. Core to her practice is the advancement of participatory art as a means of elevating neighborhood aesthetics and fostering shared understanding while nurturing the next generation of “Cultural Keepers.”
Dorian Sylvain has created and led public art projects in partnership with organizations such as the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago Park District, the Field Museum, the South Side Community Arts Center, and Mural Arts Philadelphia. For over 3 decades, she has been an exhibiting member and Exhibition Designer for Sapphire & Crystals collective. She is a 3Arts/Southwest Airlines Community Awardee, and Chicago’s INVEST South/West Initiative Artist-in-Residence for Auburn Gresham. A 3Arts “Next Level'' awardee, a Black Arts & Culture Alliance; Black Excellence, Arts Exhibition Awardee, and a Surf Point Foundation Artists Resident.