Westside’s Front Porch Arts Center pays tribute to Toni Morrison
A picture of late novelist Toni Morrison faces the audience on an wooden table during the Front Porch Arts Center's Toni Morrison Birthday Tribute Feb. 18th. (Mariah McBride - Photo Credit)
CHICAGO - Austin native Keli Stewart welcomed guests into her West Side home in celebration of the late novelist Toni Morrison’s 89th birthday in recognition of Black History Month.
Stewart is the founder of Front Porch Arts Center, a new public center that aims at creating an creative outlet through weekly programming on Chicago’s West Side. Stewart explained the inspiration for Front Porch Arts Center came from a lack of spaces for westsiders to gather to celebrate arts and culture.
Stewart explained, “Front Porch was created so that we can gather, so that we can bear witness, so we can tell stories. And so we don't have to keep leaving, you know, leaving where we live in order to access these things.”
She continued, “When you keep having to leave, it teaches you that you don't have... And I think that it just makes us feel as if we are in a deficit.”
Front Porch Arts Center’s Toni Morrison Birthday tribute is just one of the programs that the center has offered since opening in the summer of 2019. For Stewart, it felt natural to have this program during this time since Morrison, the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, was born during Black History Month on Feb. 18, 1931.
“It is Black History Month, and I thought you know, it would be perfect to celebrate someone who I feel is so much of a literary foremother,” she said.
Guests look at the Toni Morrison book collection from AfriWare Books before the Front Porch Arts Center event on Feb.18. (Mariah McBride Photo Credit)
In her living room, the birthday party began with libations, an African ritual in which liquids are poured in honor of the dead. Special guest and AfriWare Books bookstore owner, Nzingha Nommo, led guests in the spoken tradition. After she said the name of an ancestor, she directed participants to say the word ahshay (power) as she poured the water. According to Nommo, the pouring of water symbolizes them pouring back into ancestors who poured into their lives.
Nommo said the name of Toni Morrison, and in unison, the group recited ahshay. Nommo encouraged everyone to say the names of other ancestors they would like to honor. One voice after another attendees chimed in with names of family members, civil rights leaders and other individuals until the pouring of the glass of water was completed. Collectively the group said their final ahshay.
A participant reads an excerpt from Toni Morrison's novels in the West Side Arts House on Feb. 18th. (Mariah McBride Photo Credit)
Throughout the night, candles burned slowly as Black women read their favorite excerpts and quotes from Morrison. An event participant, Melody Waller, who shared one of her favorite portions from Morrison’s works earlier that night, said although she is a South Side native, she believes there is a greater need for arts and culture programs on the West Side.
She admitted, “It's so funny, I would say that we have so many resources, some people would not say that. But I think that we have so many resources on the South Side of Chicago. And so when I had the opportunity to come to the West Side, I was like, Okay, I can go after work, no problem.”
She continued, “But then hearing the fact that there's this shortage, this opportunity desert, if you will, of art artists and artwork and art programs, I think that we need to really have more programs like this.”
The celebration resumed with the group of readers talking about themes in Morrison’s collection and how it relates to their lives. For Stewart, one of the reasons she values Morrison is her portrayal of Black women.
Founder of Front Porch Arts Center tells the group of women what she values about Toni Morrison's work in her home. (Mariah McBride - Photo Credit)
She said, “She has given Black women a way to see ourselves and to see ourselves in a very complex way, not as static characters.” She later noted, “There is no one black monolith in her writing...She writes us as chaos and complex and that's something that I love about her work. She is so brave in it, you know, and has taught us to be brave.”
The program concluded with the women networking, eating and fellow-shipping. Stewart said this program is a testament. “Even looking at the room like who was here today is just a great testimony to what it can look like and feel like when we gather because we are ready, we're ready for art. We're ready for our culture, We're ready to get access to things like this,” she ended.
The attendees of the Toni Morrison Birthday Tribute pose for a picture at the end of the program on Feb 18th. (Mariah McBride)
On Sunday, Mar. 15, Front Porch Arts Center will have Motherwit, a monthly event in which mothers can share their wisdom and life lessons. Later in the month, on Tuesday, Mar. 31, the arts center will also host West Side Stories, a recurring community storytelling event for westsiders to give their testimony. Those interested can find out more about the these events and other programs on their website or Facebook @frontporchartscenter.