SHENEQUA
b. St. Thomas, VI
STATEMENT
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.
EDUCATION
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
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
High Noon Gallery, New York, NY (upcoming)
2019
Woven Narratives, Haw Contemporary (Stockyards), Kansas City, MO
2018
EXPO Chicago, National YoungArts Foundation, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2014
Synthetic Ties, Silver Screen Salon, Kansas City, MO
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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
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
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
AWARDS, GRANTS, RESIDENCIES
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
ARTIST TALKS/LECTURES
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
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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