Launching Legacy: The Inaugural Pigmented Black Fine Art Faire

Features

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Oct 10, 2025

The artist Joseph Seigenthaler in his studio

Pigment magazine on site at EXPO CHICAGO 2024 pictured in front of an IN/SITU installation

By JACQUELINE LEWIS

This fall, Chicago will host the inaugural year of Pigmented: Black Fine Art Faire. Held at Zhou B Art Center October 30–November 2, the fair is the latest creation of Patricia Andrews-Keenan of Pigment International, a media and arts publication. Drawing on decades of storytelling and a deep love for the Black arts tradition, Andrews-Keenan has built a platform that amplifies artists and Black-owned galleries alike. In this conversation, she shares what inspired the fair, what visitors can expect, and why Chicago was always the right city to bring it to life.

With the inaugural exhibition Andrews-Keenan isn’t just hosting an event, she hopes to build a legacy rooted in storytelling, community, and cultural preservation. As she looks to the future, her vision is clear: to create a platform that lasts well beyond her, amplifying Black art for generations to come.

CGN: Can you tell me how your experiences led you to found Pigment International and now Pigmented: Black Fine Art Faire?

Patricia Andrews-Keenan: It started with reading and writing in elementary school, and then I became a journalism major in school. I segued from there into corporate communications. The whole time I was there it was about doing articles, doing speeches, communications, annual reports, those kinds of things. From there I started doing media and PR on my own, but the thread that has always run through that has been my love of things surrounding Black art.

When I was young, I would buy posters, really anything that had images of people of color on them. I would buy sheet music, go to thrift stores, go to the flea markets and look for things to hang on my wall. And as my career progressed and I was able to buy art, I began to buy prints and more. And then as I began to travel, I would buy even more art. That was always kind of the simultaneous thread.

CGN: So how did that thread evolve into Pigment International?

PAK: After I left corporate America around 2008, I found myself doing media and PR for events in Chicago. One of the first ones I did work for was the African Festival of the Arts, which has been happening here for at least 35 years. Through this experience, I started to meet the artists themselves. It was just very cool, because what I realized was that each of these artists had a story to tell. And in my mind artists don’t become famous unless people write about them.

If no one wrote about Rembrandt or Picasso or any of those art history big shots, no one would know their name. Someone had to tell their stories and begin to cement them in history. So [in Chicago] I could see where there was a need for these [contemporary] artists to have their stories told, and it is within the Black art community.

That’s when I began to fully realize the need to put together a platform for Black art and Black voices. I remember sitting in the office at home trying to come up with the name. I started looking up art terms and all these things. When I came across the word “pigment” which is what paint is created out of and thought about how it also represents the pigment in our skin, I just knew. That was it. It was perfect.

And that’s what we’ve done for the last seven years. We’ve taken that platform and continued to build it with the printed publication, the digital publication, the events, the exhibitions, all of that.

CGN: How did Pigmented: Black Fine Art Fair come about?

PAK: One of my other great passions, in addition to art and writing, is travel. Since 2017, we’ve gone to see shows in Miami, Venice, New York, Morocco you name it. We’ve seen how shows are done. We’ve met the people running them.

But what I found was, when we talk about shows that are run by people from the diaspora–Black people, whether they’re in Africa, the Caribbean, or the U.S.–there are very few. There’s PRIZM out of Miami, the Harlem Fine Art Show out of New York, Black Pony in the Caribbean. That’s about it. And people in Chicago were telling me there hadn’t been a show here organized by people of color in more than 40 years. [Artist} Nick Cave said nothing since the 2000 Colors show organized by Oprah and her partner Stedman, and the two traveling exhibitions by the Harlem Fine Art Show.

CGN: Why did you choose Chicago to be the home base for this new fine art fair?

PAK: Well, I’m from Louisiana, but a lot of my influence comes from people who were made by Chicago, Dr. Margaret Burroughs, for one. I’ve learned so much from the South Side Community Art Center and the arts organizations here.

There’s so much history- from Archibald Motley to Charles White, from the Black Arts Movement to AFRICOBRA. And right now, there are two big anniversaries: the 85th of the South Side Community Art Center, and the anniversary of the American Negro Exposition, which happened here in 1940 to commemorate the end of slavery. When I realized that, I wanted to marry that history with a show that reflects where we are now.

I also knew other galleries wanted to come here. Folks from Atlanta, Detroit, Memphis—they were saying, “If there was a show in Chicago, we’d do it.” So that’s where it came from. It’s the confluence of history, need, and willingness.

CGN: And this year’s fair is being held in Bridgeport at the Zhou B Art Center?

PAK: Yes, October 30 through November 2. We expect to have 10 different galleries, 10 different artists, and all kinds of programming. We’re doing things that reflect both the history of this city and the future of Black art here.

We’re going to open with a reception that nods to the Black Renaissance. We’re going to have fun with that. I also found an image from the American Negro Exhibition that’s in the public domain, so we can reproduce it for merchandise.

We want this to be a tourist destination. This is a perfect time to come to Chicago.

CGN: What kinds of artists and galleries will be showing?

PAK: We’re putting a big emphasis on Black-owned galleries and how they’ve contributed to Black artists’ careers. September Gray Fine Art Gallery out of Atlanta, Blackbird Gallery from Detroit, Waterkolours from Memphis. GangGang, the creator’s of Indianapolis’s successful Butter Art Show, will be curating an event during the show.

We also have local galleries including Connect Gallery in Hyde Park, Faie Afrikan Art in Bronzeville and The Daniel Texidor Parker Gallery. Dan Parker’s been collecting art for 60 years. He came up under Dr. Burroughs in Chicago, and now has his own gallery.

We’ve also confirmed artists including Dr. Thomas Lockhart out of Denver who is just finishing a residency in Martha’s Vineyard. Eric January, a local artist who was awarded the Derrick Adams Residency will be joining us, as well D. Lammie Hanson, whose work was featured during the 2024 Venice Biennale. Many of the artists who have been involved with us since 2018 will be showcased. The caliber of the creativity is exciting.

CGN: What would be your ideal outcome after this first fair?

PAK: I want people to say it was a wonderful event. I want it to be financially successful–for the galleries and for us. Our Pigmented Store will be fun and revenue generating, something we’ve learned from the shows we’ve attended.

But really, we want to do it again. That’s the dream.

CGN: And longer term? Where do you hope the fair goes in the next 5–10 years?

PAK: The Harlem Fine Art Show has been going on for 17 years. PRIZM has been around about 10. I’d love for this to become that.

But personally I also want to be able to go on vacation. I want this to be something the next generation can take on. We’re already working with organizations including

the Flourish Fine Arts Accelerator, I Love Art (ILA), and Englewood Arts Collective, and these young people are doing amazing work in the arts. I’m honored to be associated with them.

I hope they see this as something they can take further, and I’ll be there to help, but from the sidelines. It’s a passion for me. I think it’s something that needs to be done. And I hope people see that it’s something that needs to continue, even when I’m not doing it.