Arts & Activism: The Yeyo Arts Collective

An RCXclusive
By Byron Lee

"[This gallery] is more than just a location. Anyone can have a physical location, but how many regular people, or people out of prison, can walk into the Contemporary Art Museum and get a portfolio review? We've had people cry on us, offering to help in anyway they can. We don't get many financial contributions, but the verbal and physical support keeps us going."

As Dail Chambers sits near a window at the Gya Community Gallery & Fine Craft Shop (2700 Locust Ave. Saint Louis, Mo 63103) peppers her matter-of-fact speech with some righteous "fa sho'"s and "for real"s and frequently spikes it with a boisterous, infectious laugh.

Gya is one facet of the Yeyo Arts Collective ("Yeyo" meaning mother), which encompasses both art and community programs. The importance of both manifests itself in her anecdote. "He had come out of prison," she continues "We started talking, and he said 'I'm an artist.' We said 'That's cool,' and he said 'I keep my art with me.' Artists sometimes don't understand how important it is to keep your art with you. We told him to bust it out. He did, and we gave him a critique, as if he were in college. He started crying because he couldn't believe that he had met some good, honest folk who wouldn't shun him. He ended up volunteering for the rest of the day."

Chambers's drive to help others is rooted in her personal journey. "I am my mother's only child and one of my father's four. Both of my parents are ex-Marines. Neither of them raised me. I have three brothers. One died in the third grade. One is formerly incarcerated, and I've seen him turn his life around. He now has custody of his daughter and lives in Akron, Ohio. My third brother, Darnell Chambers, is my best friend, and he lives in Pittsburgh. My brothers were raised by an Aunt and from the ages of 10 days to 10 years, I was raised by a surrogate grandmother. Then, I went to live with my mother in Pearl City, Hawaii."

"People have this fictive idea of what Hawaii is. They think of Elvis Presley and Hula girls, but it's not like that. Hawaiians live like black folks in St. Louis on the North side. Our high school had like 10,000 kids, and, if you took the kids who had noticeable African descent, you had maybe 30 black folks. In terms of cultural pride and understanding, I learned all of that during those formative years from 13 to 19. I hung around with Hawaiians and Samoans who wanted sovereignty and whose parents wanted sovereignty. I hung out with people who were undocumented freedom fighters, for real. Meanwhile, I'm an avid reader. I love to read. That's my favorite thing to do. If I didn't read, I wouldn't be a visual artist, now. I went from reading books about Gordon Parks, who's from Kansas, reading about Huey Newton in Illinois, all these things that I thought was real righteous, you know. I had an idealized image of what the movement was. I started doing photography in Hawaii, reading all these books, growing and learning, cutting my perm out, you know, high school stuff."

"When I moved back to St. Louis to take care of the oldest woman in my family, I was trying to figure out where the BAG (Black Artists Group) building was. It was too good to close down. But, of course, I moved back in 2002, so it was closed, fa sho'. (laughs) But it's all those stories and reading about the people before me that kind of gave me the motivation to do what I wanted to do, people like Maya Angelou, Angela Davis and Ella Baker. I'm also interested in how women have been secretly running the world since the beginning of time, before patriarchy began. I'm interested in the matriarchal societies in Kenya from an historical standpoint and how long they lasted before patriarchy began in Africa. I'm inspired personally by seeing my surrogate grandmother take care of her mother. The dynamics of their relationship have changed in the last 30 years, from being taken care of to being a caretaker. This change can be a graceful process, if done wholeheartedly."

Upon returning to St. Louis, she took part in another creation, the birth of her daughter. "I used to take care of my Aunt, after she had a stroke. The struggle was hard for me, to be honest with you, especially with me being a little bit, you know, I've been called weird, abnormal, awkward, idealistic, all the names that the artists get. While all of this happened, I kept on reading. That's how I got through it, to be honest with you, me reading the books and having some sort of piece of mind and not giving up on my goals. I got through Flo Valley with a 4.0. After my Aunt got better, I went to Memphis College of Art. Then, I had started going to Grad School for Women's Studies and realized that I had already read Audre Lorde's books." (When people express amazement at her voracious reading, she says jokingly, but pointedly, "The books are at the library for everyone to read, and, in the back, there are references to other books.") "Then I came here, because of that same surrogate grandmother. She has some health issues. I've been raising my daughter and living my dream. (Chambers continues to pursue her art, working with clay and copper, for specific reasons. "People in art talk about the clay body [the mixture of clay used to make pottery]. That means that the clay is made up of all the elements. So are we, as people. Spiritualists believe that you can transfer energy through copper. We know that it helps to remedy arthritis. Copper's been referred to as the blood of the earth.")

Cooperative Coordinator Andrea Hughes's journey was a mix of nature and nurture. "My mother tells me that at the age of 2, I would sit in a corner and draw. I just thought everyone did that. As I grew, my grandmother and her would encourage me. I had a school teacher, Mrs. Moseley, who would let me and another student set up the pinup board, outside the classroom, every month. We would come up with these great displays. I had instructors and family members encouraging me. I work for Girls, Inc, and I make award plagues for Kingdom House. I joined Zuka, a group of black artists who share their work. I went through the CAT [the Regional Arts Commission's Community Arts Training] program. I did an exhibition at RAC, where I sold my first painting, one with Billie Holiday in it, one of my favorites. I've worked other jobs. I've watched kids. I've taught homework classes, but I would have a full day because I would work during the day, but I would not be okay until I got some art done, and then I would feel accomplished. It took me breaking down and saying 'I'm an artist.' My family was pushing security and all I was thinking was art. I like blank walls because I see potential."

Her eye for potential has helped her students. "I teach watercolors, and one of my favorite students is retired. He worked for 40 years at a car plant, but he always thought that he had it in him to be a student. He's colorblind, and he's doing amazing work. All he needed was someone to guide him."

It's not just talent, however, that attracts the collective's attention. "We ask people for resumes, but that's not the determining factor as to whether they get an exhibition. It's gusto," says Chambers. "I'm more impressed with someone who has some self-determination about themselves. Justin [Wilson] bikes here with a bike bag and his wares." (Wilson, who has shown aptitude in various mediums, from printmaking to graphic design, briefly joins us at the table. He says, "My stepdad introduced me to Gya." The Forest Park Community College student is grateful for the opportunity Gya provides. "They let me display my work and have other artists see it.")

To hone their leadership skills, members of the collective attend institutes, the most noteworthy of which is the Urban Bush Women Summer Institute. "It's out of Brooklyn, New York, and, for the last three years, they've committed to New Orleans," says Chambers. "The ten day training is like being around women of color just like us at different phases of their life, from high school kids to seventy-year old women. It teaches us to be responsible gatekeepers and to be comfortable with our creative vision. There is a lot of potential for St. Louis to grow on those two things. Furthermore, we bring information back and share it with each other. Most of us are CAT Fellows. If one of us gets educated, then about 7 to 8 of us are about to get educated to implement processes that will help us all grow. It's ongoing education, and we all get something different out of it."

The need to reach the community is reflected through the collective's programs. One such program is "Girls Create," for girls ages 7 to 14. "We do it every Sunday morning. [Fellow collective member and community educator/organizer] Chinyere Oteh does health and wellness, and then I go into the art project for the day. We'll soon be doing edible art projects," says Chambers. "In the spring and summer, we go out to the Scott Joplin House, the Phyllis Wheatley YMCA, the old BAG building and the Metropolitan Gallery. These are places many St. Louisians aren't aware of. We talk about entrepreneurship, BAG and who Scott Joplin is."

Another program is Andrea Hughes' Windows Murals project. "We put murals on boards and put them on derelict, abandoned buildings, so instead of seeing an empty building, you see something beautiful," says Hughes. "We did one across from a school, and the kids came over and looked at it and asked questions."

Poet/organizer Melissa Singleton of Long River Poetry Collective has benefited from Yeyo Arts' generosity. She along with poet, performer and educator Treasure Shields Redmond and singer, guitarist and songwriter Blue Azul, recently gave an amazing show in the Gya performance space. "Long River Poetry Collective was trying to do shows all along the Mississippi River. We had done shows in St. Louis and Memphis. I had difficulty finding a space for a show in New Orleans. I met Dail through our mutual friend Treasure, and Dail said 'You should try these places,' and it all came together, and I asked her to participate in the event. There aren't many Galleries that do work in the community. Some want to display art, and that's all, but Yeyo Arts is another ballgame.'

The public has opportunities to support the collective. A gumbo-themed fundraiser will be on Feb 19, (Tickets are $25.), the photobook "Sticks in a Bundle are Unbreakable" is available through Lulu.com, and painter Jeanjoel Spatafora's exhibit "Being" will be at the Gallery, from Feb 27-Mar 27.

Chambers continues to find her life's work fulfilling. "I learn more from the people in my life than I have in any college setting. To witness someone struggle and achieve has lifted me more that reading any of the books I've read, to be honest. To see it first hand, people transform, that really cooks my goose."

Hughes feels compelled to pass on the knowledge and discovery through art. "When I was coming up, there was no place like this. [If there had been,] I would have brought my work in, had it critiqued, and put it on display to have other artists give feedback. When that happens you feel like you've arrived, and it makes you push further. That's what we try to do for other people."

The Yeyo Arts Collective is for real.
Fa sho'.
Additional information on the YeyoArts Collective can be found at http://yeyoarts.blogspot.com/
or email: yeyoarts@gmail.com
or call 314-932-1003