STATEMENT

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An Afro-Caribbean multi-disciplinary Textile Artist, my family’s cultural background, conversations with others, and Ghanaian experience influence my art practice. My art is born from the traditional craft of weaving and transitions into  sculpture, performance, textile or “garment” pieces, and installations. My new body speaks on the stages of grief. Weaving synthetic-hair tells a story about an experience shared with the women in my life that I love and hold dear to me. Braiding, Bantu knotting and plaiting represent the hairstyles I grew up with, and celebrate ideas of sisterhood, womanhood, sacred space, intimacy, identity and beauty.

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EDUCATION

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School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Masters of Design, Fashion, Body, & Garment, 2017

Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Fibers, 2014

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS

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2022

Meh Familay - The Beginning, Ignition Project Space, Chicago, IL Wove, 108 Contemporary, Tulsa, OK

 

2021    

High Noon Gallery, New York, NY (upcoming)

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2019

Woven Narratives, Haw Contemporary (Stockyards), Kansas City, MO

 

2018

EXPO Chicago, National YoungArts Foundation, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL

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2014

Synthetic Ties, Silver Screen Salon, Kansas City, MO

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GROUP EXHIBITIONS

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2022 Continuum, Textile Center: Joan Mondale and Mary Giles Galleries, Minneapolis, MN

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2021 Unconventional: The Legacy of Joseph Beuys, Goethe Pop Up, Kansas City, MO Deep, Far, Home, Epiphany Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL

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2020

Watering Place, Crossroads Hotel Exhibition, Kansas City, MO

 

2019    

2-Person Show, Vine Street Studio Art Gallery, Kansas City, MO

Tangled Roots, InterUrban/Arthouse, Overland Park, KS

Performing Labor, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 

2018

The Space We Grow Into, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL

Mane N’ Tail, The Luminary, St. Louis, MO

 

2017

20th International Open, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL

Design Show, Block 37, Chicago, IL

Between The Lines: Interpreting African Symbolism in Fabrics & Textiles, The Carr Center, Detroit, MI

 

2016

Government Cheese: Poverty, Addiction, & Violence, LillStreet Art Center Chicago, IL

Fresh: KCAI Alumni, The Epsten Gallery, Overland Park, KS

‘cover reveals’, The Alice Gallery, Seattle, WA

Chlorine (Cl), All is Fair, Kansas City, MO

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2015

THINK TANK, Sage Studios Fashion, Chicago, IL

YOU PEOPLE, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO

Deviation, KCAI 2015 Art & Design Auction, Kansas City, MO

Midwest Innocence Project, Berkowitz Oliver Williams Shaw & Eisenbrandt, Kansas City, MO

Halls Art + Fashion Installation, Halls Crown Center, Kansas City, MO

HEAT Juried Exhibition, Leedy-Volkous Art Center, Kansas City, MO

1 Infinite Loop, Paragraph Gallery, Kansas City, MO

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2014

Untitled, Phyllis’s Barbershop, Kansas City, MO

Young Woman Artist’s Exhibition, Wonder Fair, Lawrence, KS

Progress and Prosperity, Vulpes Bastille, Kansas City, MO

 

2013

Fiber Department Exhibition & Sale, The Warehouse Gallery, Kansas City, MO

Blind Trajectory, The Warehouse Gallery, Kansas City, MO

Fiber Department Exhibition & Sale, The Warehouse Gallery, Kansas City, MO

 

2012

Fiber Department Exhibition & Sale, The Warehouse Gallery, Kansas City, MO

What is Black Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO

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AWARDS, GRANTS, RESIDENCIES

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Center for Craft Advancement Fellow, Center for Craft, Asheville, NC, 2022

Going to the Meadow, ArtYard, Frenchtown, NewJersey, 2021

Going to the Meadow, Frenchtown, NJ, 2021 (upcoming)

Artist Relief, United States Artists, 2020

YoungArts Daniel Arsham Fellow, National YoungArts Foundation, Miami, FL, 2017-2018

SAIC Grant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2015-2017

SAIC Enrichment Grant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2015-2017

Windgate Fellowship, The Center for Craft Creativity & Design, Asheville, NC, 2014-2015

Susan Lordi Marker, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, 2013

Scholastic Arts, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, 2011-14

Act-So, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, 2011-2014 

YOUNG Arts, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, 2011-2014

Living Center, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, 2011-12

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ARTIST TALKS/LECTURES

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KCAI Foundation Seminar, Kansas City, MO, 2020

Holding Space: Bridging Fiber Arts and Racial Identity (Surface Design Association), 2020

Meet the Maker at Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Arlington Heights, IL, 2020

YoungArts Presentation for Shin & Lee Art Studio, 2020

In the Artist’s Studio - Museum of African Diaspora San Francisco, CA, 2020

Virtual Studio Visit – Sugar Cane Magazine, 2020

Hair Politics, Salon~360, L’Ecole Culinaire, Kansas City, MO, 2016

My Anglo Experience, The Warehouse Gallery, Kansas City, MO, 2015

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Art Seen, The Curator’s Salon Magazine, London, UK Yarn-String-Thread, UPPERCASE Encyclopedia of Inspiration, Canada, 2021

Dovetail Magazine, Chicago, IL, 2020

Rockefeller, Hall, "Women Artists of Chicago," less than half, September 2020

Popova, Kat, "Exploring Culture Through Weaving with SHENEQUA," Art & Cocktails Podcast, createmagazine.com, June 2020

Dunson, Daniel, "Woven Narratives: Chicago Based Artist SHENEQUA Homage to Women who were Instrumental in her Life Through the Art she Creates from Synthetic Hair," Sugarcane Magazine, March 2019

Resnick, Sarah, Episode 51: "Learn to Rest, Not to Quit," Weave Podcast, listennotes.com, February 2019

Hoke, Naomi, "Meet SHENEQUA," Voyage Chicago, August 2018

Glueck, Kelly, "Mane N’ Tail Explains the Culture Around Black Hair Care at the Luminary," Riverfront Times, January 2018

Wooldridge, Jane, "Miami Ties Translate into Money, Mentorship for Young Visual Artists," Miami Herald, December 2017

"De Nue" (exhibition catalog), published by Student Union Galleries, 2016

Lovelace, Joy, "Ties that Bind," American Craft Counsel Magazine, July 2015

"Shenequa A. Brooks," Women Artists Midwest, 2015

Garton, Christina, "Weaving with Weaves," Interweave, 2014

Osterheldt, Jeneé, "She Weaves Family into her Art," Kansas City Star, April 2014

"Synthetic Ties Exhibition: It’s Un-BeWeaveable," Silver Screen Salon, 2014

Spano, Brian, "Synthetic Ties," Art Notes, kcai.edu, 2014 

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