New art store on Chicago's South Side showcases Black culture, creativity
CHICAGO (CBS) – Starting this Black History Month, Chicago has a new store showcasing Black culture and creativity on the South Side.
The store, Mahalia's, opened earlier this month and customers were already shopping for new paintings, clothes, and products reflecting artists' work in Chatham and surrounding neighborhoods.
Before she can point, Kristen Williams has to scrape and scrape to clean off the old paint from her tools.
"It's a process," she said.
But then, she can create pieces in her studio.
"I feel happy," Williams said of the act of painting. "I feel at ease."
She's been painting since she was little, but she has been a working artist for around a decade. She also works in advertising to pay the bills.
When her pieces are done and it's time to hang up her smock, the journey to take her art to the gallery is very short. Her studio is actually in the back of the new shop that just opened in Chatham.
She's also the store's manager. She stocks and arranges merchandise and helps customers.
Nedra Sims Fears heads up the Greater Chatham Initiative, which is behind the new store at 79th and Evans.
"What it does for the neighborhood is to have vendors that look like us, that have kind of our point of view," Sims Fears said.
Williams said being at the store so much that it makes her a better artist. She feels better connected to other creatives, and she gets more exposure.
"Anything that will bring me here so that I can get my art done is a plus," she said.
Which is always good for someone who wants to make art her full-time job.
Mahalia's was named after Mahalia Jackson, a famous singer and civil rights activist who lived in Chatham. The store is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Greater Chatham Initiative used a city grant to open the store. The grant runs for 13 months.