Lia Chang: DUMELA 2011 Summer Show features paintings from Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa at the August House Studio through June 26
Nancy McDaniel of DUMELA and André De Shields at the DUMELA 2011 Summer Show at the August House Studio in Roscoe Village, in Chicago on June 4, 2011. © Lia Chang
DUMELA 2011 Summer Show © Lia Chang
Ms. Green, a South African native, and Ms. McDaniel share a passion for Africa (especially the southern countries), the culture, the people, the art as well as the landscape and the animals. In 1998, Ms. McDaniel ended her 28 year advertising career at Leo Burnett, where Ms. Green worked too and she thought she would work in Africa for a couple of years. When that did not come to fruition, the two women hatched a plan to import and sell African art.
“Dumela,” which is a warm greeting of welcome in the Sesotho language of South Africa, specializes in “contemporary African art.” DUMELA was born in 1998, with the mission of bringing art by young, contemporary African artists to the US, beginning with Chicago. Some of the art DUMELA sells can be described as “naive” or untrained, while much of the work is done by artists who have received some formal art training.
Realizing that most African art that they’d seen in galleries and homes in the United States tends to be very tribal, traditional, and often sculptural (masks, carvings in wood and stone, beadwork figures, bronzes, etc.) the DUMELA Duo knew they could fill a void with the art that they loved and that people admired when they came into their homes and offices: bright, graphic, contemporary paintings and wallhangings. 
Part of the joy for the DUMELA partners is going to Africa to meet with the artists personally, whether in their homes, studios, or even buying art from them out of the trunk of a car. All of the artwork is framed in Chicago.
The 2011 DUMELA Summer Show runs through June 26, 2011. Gallery hours are Friday 5pm-9pm, Saturday and Sundays from noon to 6pm. For more information, call 773-477-2404.
August House Studio
2113 West Roscoe
Chicago
Other Articles by Lia Chang
HHC Art Collection’s “New York City: In FOCUS, Vol.2” Photo Exhibit on view 6/23-/7/14, Opening Reception 6/23
André De Shields in Charles Smith’s The Gospel According to James at the Victory Gardens Biograph through June 12
Project1Voice’s Multiple Staged Readings of Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind features André De Shields, Peter Coyote, Roger Robinson, Leslie Uggams, LaChanze, John Mahoney, Bill Irwin, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Irma P. Hall on June 20
Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Alexander Calder, Lia Chang in Art & Healing Exhibit at Snug Harbor on SI
Lord & Taylor CEO Brendan Hoffman to receive 2011 “Father of the Year” & Milton Margolis Humanitarian Award in NY
Photos:Alexander McQueen:Savage Beauty Extends at Met through 8/7, Met Mondays w/ McQueen begin 6/6
Photos: Willie Reale, Frances McDormand, Lewis Black, Bela Fleck, Renee Goldsberry, Duncan Sheik, Lisa Benavides, Abigail Washburn, Tim Blake Nelson at The 52nd Street Project Benefit
Meshach Taylor talks Wigger on Wendy Williams Show
Artwork by Asia Flores on display in Mercy High School Annual Art & Soul Art Exhibition in SF
Photos of AEA’s Asian Heritage Celebration, featuring the Leviathan Lab Asian American Women Writers Workshop
Photos: Samrat Chakrabarti, Soham Mehta and Shiva Shankar Bajpai at the New York Indian Film Festival
Victory Gardens appoints renowned director and playwright Chay Yew as its new Artistic Director
Up Close and Personal with Darren Pettie, Star of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore
Marva Hicks and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra light up the Southern Theatre with a “A Night at the Apollo”
Photos: David Duchovny, John Earl Jelks, Amanda Peet, Tracee Chimo opening night of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon
My Empire State Building at Dusk on view in HHC’s “Art and Healing-Healthy for the Holidays” Art Exhibit
Lia Chang’s Botanical Beauties Portrait Commission at School of Nursing at Kings County Hospital Center
RED opening reception at Gouverneur Healthcare Services
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography
As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden. Lia currently plays Nurse Lia on “One Life to Live”. She has appeared in Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and “New York Undercover”.
Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.
Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.
