Terrence D. Burruss

Kendra Foster: Foster the Funk

Momma, I want to sang! These words are being uttered by millions of little boys and girls all across the nation, and a good majority will go after it at some point in their life’s journey. Rarely do any of them break mainstream success, but it’s less to do about actual talent, but timing and connections. She has the subtle sensual song writing style of Badu, and the full smooth soulful vocal delivery of Scott.  She is an example of authentic love for music and talent coinciding with perfect timing. Fans of the ultra-talented soul artist can only hope that her ear for putting head bopping, waist shaking, and thought provoking songs will catch on with the mainstream.

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Jane Elliott: A Voice for the Voiceless

“I’m not stupid.” Jane Elliott said to her candor during our twenty-minute phone conversation, during which Elliott spoke with her well known level of straightforwardness regarding a myriad of topics concerning the future of America: the 2016 election, colorism, and the ever-changing cultural demographic of the country. She continued, “The fact that a person has a penis instead of a uterus, or the amount of calcium someone has in their skin, does not make them superior.” At 83 years old, Elliott is just as intensive and feverous as she was almost 50 years ago when she first constructed the “Blue eyes - Brown eyes experiment” as a third grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa.

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Jimmy Law: In the Eyes of the Law

Never judge a book by its cover.

All of us have been told this a million times from our parents, teachers, and other family members, but it is easy to think differently when you look at an individual like Jimmy Law. He could easily be mistaken for a hardcore ex-motorcycle gang, part-time semi pro wrestler type of guy, but his demeanor and artistic abilities put him closer in relation to a poet or guitar-strumming hipster. The South-African artist has a remarkable affinity for faces and illustrates portraits so astonishingly that they appear as photos. A passionate man who is fairly new to the world of visual art exudes his passion through his work, and has the potential to create his own laws as he continues to create.

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Mark Paul Deren: WEENius

Ween is defined as “to think, or suppose” according to dictionary.com. Mark Paul Deren, most notably known as MADSTEEZ, is a California-based visual artist and designer who decided to use the word “ween” as a way he ought to paint the world as he sees it while doodling in a meeting at work where, despite the fact that he could only see it through one of his eyes. The word became a name for the characters in his work, starting in that mundane meeting, and now he incorporates the word “ween” in most of his works to distinguish them beyond their unique color schemes and unconventional concepts. MADSTEEZ is that kid in kindergarten who colored outside of the lines: “I got a D in art class 101,” he actually admits in an interview with video-sharing site Vimeo,” because I didn’t do the right lighting methods.” MADSTEEZ failing art is the equivalent to Albert Einstein failing Algebra, or Michael Jordan being cut from the high school basketball team, but the funny thing about it is, all these things are true. Realizing your genius has no timetable, and MADSTEEZ has proven that genius also knows no bounds.

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