PHOTO: “Jewel, the mixed-media portrait by Sankofa board member and Cleveland artist Gary Williams is one of more than 20 original works of art on display at Cleveland City Hall in honor of Black History Month.”

Black history on display at City Hall: Sankofa Fine Art Plus hosts exhibit of original works by local and national African-American artists through February!

Feb. 6, 2012 (Cleveland, OH) – Sankofa Fine Art Plus is celebrating Black History Month with the City of Cleveland in the way it has always celebrated Black History: through visual arts.

For a special exhibit on display in the Rotunda and on the second floor of Cleveland City Hall, Sankofa is contributing more than 20 original works by 10 local and nationally known fine artists which portray their individual interpretations of Black History.  Naturally, President Barack Obama features prominently in the artists’ visions of what Black History means to them.

The exhibit will be on view through Feb. 29 at City Hall, 601 Lakeside Ave.

Sankofa is especially proud to display among the works Kadir Nelson’s “Frederick Douglass,” the oil portrait of its namesake as a young man which debuted as the commemorative print for its 2011 Cleveland Fine Art Expo.  Nelson, who was selected as the featured artist for the annual fine art showplace, is an award-winning visual artist, author and illustrator whose vibrant and striking oil images have brought to life the pages of contemporary children’s biographies of African American heroes such as Louis Armstrong, Shirley Chisholm, Jackie Robinson and Rube Foster, founder and president of the Negro National Baseball League.

Two other Nelson portraits join a variety of paintings and mixed-media works by fellow former Sankofa Expo featured artists Paul Goodnight, Jerome White, Akron sculptor and painter Woodrow Nash and Cleveland visual artist Neal Hamilton, whose acrylic portraits of President Barack Obama and The First Lady will be on display.

A host of talented local and national artists whose works are also part of the exhibit are Cleveland artist B. Reid, with pastel portraits of President Obama and slain hip hop star Tupac Shakur; Philadelphia visual artist Robin Robinson; Cleveland artist Ricky Smith; Santana Stokes, of Cleveland; Cleveland painter Bob Walls; Sankofa board member and Cleveland multi-media artist Gary Williams; Cleveland artist Garner Lewis; and Lorraine Johnson, another Cleveland talent with an acrylic portrait of President Obama.

Hamilton’s, Smith’s and Stokes’ works are on view on the first floor.  All others can be seen on the second floor, outside City Council Chambers.

The exhibit is free and open to the public during the hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing, educating and advocating for African American and other underrepresented visual artists through community collaboration.  Sankofa receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.

Santonya Charryse Jones is a 1997 graduate of Washington and Jefferson College located in Washington, Pennsylvania. In May of 1998, she became a Certified Public Accountant and has fourteen (14) years of public and private accounting experience. From July 2003 to November 2005, she was Chief Financial Officer of W&W Development Company, a multi-million dollar residential building and land development company in Macedonia, Ohio. Until November 2010, she was the sole-proprietor of, Santonya C. Jones, CPA, a business offering public accounting services to individuals and small to mid size companies in Northeast Ohio. Currently she is the partner of Trusted Advisors of Ohio, LLC a tax planning, tax preparation and business consulting firm.

Santonya is also a representative of Primerica Financial Services. Currently holding licenses in life insurance, personal casualty insurance, mutual funds (Series 6 and 63) and prepaid legal. She joined Primerica because she wanted to help herself and teach others how to build wealth, reduce debt and become properly protected and financially independent. This business enterprise has given her the opportunity to have a more personal and “hands-on” relationship with her accounting clients and others wanting assistance with their finances.

Santonya is the mother of one talkative and inquisitive daughter, Nyeema Lanyse and joyful toddler son, Elijah Lavelle. She is a member of YOURiNVESTMENTMALL.com and attends Inner Truth Ministries.

Trusted Advisors of Ohio, LLC 3691 Lee Road Suites 108-109

Shaker Heights, Ohio 44120 216-373-2389

Santonya C. Jones, Managing Member

Cleveland.com

By Olivera Perkins

Posted December 29th 2011

A couple of years ago, Jan Ridgeway excused herself from a board meeting of the Garden Valley Neighborhood House. The members appeared to want to talk in private, and she was a volunteer helping to develop a strategic plan.

When Ridgeway returned, she learned she had been named to the board of the financially strapped center on Kinsman Road and East 71st Street. Then she was named president.

But a few months later, in December 2009, the board decided to close the neighborhood house when it ran out of money.

“The community was up in arms,” recalled Ridgeway, who decided to step in as the center’s volunteer director.

Garden Valley is among Cleveland’s poorest areas. It has among the highest concentrations of children, children in foster care living with relatives and new HIV and AIDS cases, Ridgeway said.

Much of the outcry about closing the Garden Valley Neighborhood House had to do with the food pantry. Ridgeway said she thought about all the people who would go hungry.

She also thought about the grandparents raising grandchildren who would no longer have a support group; the struggling elementary students who would no longer have tutors; and the people who would never learn to read in an area where she said 20 percent of adults are illiterate.

“We’ll reopen, and I’ll run it,” she told the board.

Since she retired in March 2010 as a Cleveland Public Library administrator, Ridgeway has been the neighborhood house’s volunteer director, working long hours and taking few days off.

Ridgeway soon found out why the center was in dire financial straits. It had developed a long history of mismanaging grants and other funding, she said, so few foundations and public entities would support the center.

Lacking outside support, she started going into her own pocket. She said she donates $100 weekly for meals for the senior citizens’ program. When the furnace needed a part that cost nearly $400, Ridgeway paid for it. When she saw that many children in the area were subsisting on junk food, she started cooking classes, focusing on nutrition. She often funds the sessions.

“Sometimes it feels like too much when I have to make a choice between a bill at home and paying one at the center,” she said. “Other times, the needs at the center are so great that my meager contributions don’t seem enough.”

Ridgeway said that in 2010 she contributed $10,000 to the center.

Ridgeway contributes to lead by example. People who benefit from the center are expected to give back. For example, students at the Durham Construction Trade Institute, which offers a free 90-day program at the neighborhood house, are required to volunteer there.

“Before, Garden Valley was all about handouts,” she said. “What we are saying is that we will meet you where you are, but our mission is to transform your thinking in such a way that you will learn how to help yourself and in return help others,” she said.

In September, it appeared Ridgeway’s bootstrap philosophy was about to be challenged. Eaton Corp. was prepared to have its employees volunteer for construction projects at the center. The center had to provide $1,000, but had only $71 in its bank account. Ridgeway, who wouldn’t receive her pension check for a few weeks, decided to play the lottery.

“It hit for $2,600!” she said.

About 90 Eaton employees performed a variety of tasks, including painting, stripping floors and hanging doors.

Paul Salvo was among the Eaton volunteers who left impressed by the work Ridgeway is doing.

“Jan, diminutive in size, has been a giant, the driving force behind saving, restoring and reclaiming the GVNH as a center for the community to receive needed trainings and services,” he wrote in the letter nominating her as a Plain Dealer community hero. “She should be a model for each of us in how to serve and strengthen Northeast Ohio.”

Read more at Cleveland.com: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/12/jan_ridgeway_stepped_in_to_sav.html

Plain Dealer news researcher Jo Ellen Corrigan contributed to this story. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: operkins@plaind.com, 216-999-4868

December 21, 2011

Warmest regards,

LaToya Smith

Board Chair

Sankofa is proud to present ‘Renaissance On The Runway: Fashion As Art at the Official Afterparty  Sarturday , August 13th 6p at Tavo Martini Loft & Restaurant. Hosted by WEWS Newsnet 5 Anchor Danita Harris and Radio One Talk Show Host Basheer Jones come out and enjoy a stunning Designer Fashion Exhibit.

(1) TICKET RENAISSANCE ON THE RUNWAY: FASHION AS ART

$20.00

Saturday August 13th from 6p–Until

Tri-C Eastern Performing Arts Center

Official Afterparty 8pm—Until

Tavo Martini Loft & Restaurant

9th & Rockwell

“In keeping with its tradition of selecting a featured artist and commemorative work to represent the annual Fine Art Expo, Sankofa Fine Art Plus has selected San Diego visual artist and famed NAACP Image Award-winning children’s book illustrator Kadir Nelson and his newly released portrait, “Frederick Douglass.” Nelson’s vibrant and striking oil images have brought to life the pages of contemporary children’s biographies of African American heroes such as Louis Armstrong, Frederick Douglas and Jackie Robinson.  He also has been commissioned to complete a series of stamps for the U.S. Postal Service in honor of the Negro Leagues Baseball.”

Rare portrait depicting young Frederick Douglass Selected as

Commemorative Print for Cleveland Fine Art Expo

Limited editions of featured artist Kadir Nelson’s oil work available

for special price only during Sankofa’s free fine art event

July 8, 2011 (Cleveland, OH) – Sankofa Fine Art Plus has selected a portrayal of a young, optimistic yet determined Frederick Douglass to represent the theme of the 11^th annual Cleveland Fine Art  Expo, “Reaching Higher (Inspire & Innovate).”

Expo featured artist Kadir Nelson’s Frederick Douglass, the depiction of abolitionist and human rights champion Douglass as a man younger than commonly portrayed, is one of many heroic African-American historical figures brought to life in Nelson’s soon-to-be-released Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (HarperCollins Publishers).

The limited edition prints by the award-winning oil painter and illustrator will be available for  special Expo-only pricing exclusively during the expo, a free two-day event held Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 13 and 14 in the Liberal Arts Building of the Tri-C Eastern Campus, 4250 Richmond Road in Highland Hills.

Nelson joins the fraternity of acclaimed fine visual artists who have been named as Expo featured artists since the first fine ethnic art fair in 1999.   Previous featured artists have been Annie Lee, Paul Goodnight, Synthia SAINT James, Anthony Armstrong, Monica Stewart, Larry “ Poncho” Brown, Kelvin Henderson, Charles Bibb, and Akron sculptor Woodrow Nash.  Their commemorative works also have been the artistic representations of past events.

Nelson’s vibrant and striking oil images have brought to life the pages of contemporary children’s biographies of other African American heroes such as Louis Armstrong, Jackie Robinson and Harriet Tubman.  Nelson’s authorial debut, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, is a New York Times best-selling tribute to the Negro Baseball Leagues which he crafted over a period of almost eight years.

Throughout the Expo, the San Diego painter and NAACP Image Award-winning children’s book illustrator will sign his books and prints and also offer talks about his career, his process of writing and painting, and the makings of Heart and Soul.

Attendees at this year’s Expo may also shop the fine paintings, sketches, sculptures, wearable art and other finely crafted wares by artists and artisans of color from around the country amid a vibrant backdrop of music, dance, fashion, children’s art activities and celebrations of local artists who stand out for their achievements.

Admission to the Expo is free.  Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday Aug. 13 and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday Aug. 14.  For more information, including an application to exhibit at the Expo, call (216) 541-ARTS (2787) or visit www.sankofafineartplus.org.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit community arts organization that develops and advocates for ethnic artists and presents ethnic art as a credible and meaningful art form through community education and collaboration. Sankofa receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.

(PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHER, DONALD BLACK JR.)

Sankofa Fine Art Plus features local artists to show in newest exhibit at Cleveland Hopkins airport!

July 6, 2011 (Cleveland, OH) –  The works of 10 local artists who responded to a call by Sankofa Fine Art Plus will adorn the walls of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport as part of the airport’s newest installment of its CLE Temporary Art Exhibition Program.

The paintings and photography on view reflect the theme of the new exhibit, “Learning from the Past, Looking toward the Future,” on view in the airport’s Concourse A through July 25.  Participating artists are: Donald Black, Jr., Jack Coville, Gabriel “Gabby” Gonzalez, Vincent Irizarry, Ronnie Pyles, Jennifer Rynbrandt, Paul Schuster, Irene Sukle, Angelos Vlahos, and Jose Vasquez.

Raland Hatchett, interim executive director of Sankofa Fine Art Plus, said this exhibit’s theme is especially fitting, as it reflects the meaning of the ancient Sankofa bird that has been adopted as the organization’s logo when it was founded in 1999.

“The centuries-old West African symbol which depicts the Sankofa bird flying forward yet looking back has stood for the idea of going back to the past in order to go forward,” Hatchett said.  “Loosely translated, the symbol means ‘it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.’  This has been a constant theme of our mission here at Sankofa, which is to continue providing venues for the expression and education of fine ethnic art so that future generations can carry forward what their predecessors in art started.”

Sankofa Fine Art Plus, a Cleveland-based art nonprofit, is one of many regional arts organizations who have been invited to exhibit their collections of original artwork and photography in the airport.  The CLE Temporary Art Exhibition Program is a free initiative available to artists. The purpose of the program is to showcase the diversity of arts and culture of greater Cleveland. Museums, cultural institutions and individual artists have been invited to exhibit their collections of original artwork and photography in the airport’s showcase.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit community arts organization that develops and advocates for ethnic artists and presents ethnic art as a credible and meaningful art form through community education and collaboration.  Sankofa receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.  For more information about Sankofa, call (216) 541-ARTS (2787) or visit www.sankofafineartplus.org.