Conversation With The Artist
Don Stephens • Chad C. Everett • Jermaine Olivierre
February 2nd Thru March 3rd*
Opening reception February 8th 2019
From 6pm-9pm

20 LANSDOWNE CT. LANSDOWNE, PA 19050
Gallery Hours Saturday & Sunday 12pm noon to 4pm
*Check Facebook for posted closures due to weather
Chad Cortez Everett is a professional artist, art educator, motivational speaker and media artist. His art work has been exhibited in several galleries, popular craft fairs, cultural events, and important private collections, throughout the Northeast region. Chad paints in a narrative style, creating expressive and awe-striking artwork. Chad is a highly awarded artist, winning first place in the 2010 Art Regional Exhibition at the Center for Creative Arts in Delaware and named the 2011 Visual Artist of the Year by The African American Coalition of Reading.
Chad Cortez Everett was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. He attended high school at Overbrook High School and Pennsylvania Governor's School of Excellence for Visual and Performing Arts. He later received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting and certification in Arts Education from Temple University, Tyler School of Art. Also, Chad earned his Master's degree in Fine Arts from Maryland Institute, College of Art (MICA) where he attended the famous The Hoffeberger School of Painting and worked with Grace Hartigan, a famous American expressionist painter.
Chad has been employed by The Colonial School District for seventeen years. Mr. Everett is a full time art teacher and mentor at McCullough Middle School. He was named Teacher of the Year, 2008 in recognition of his exceptional dedication to education and service. Chad continues to create and exhibit his works throughout Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland via public and private exhibitions, craft fairs, and cultural events. He participated in several juried shows and won first place in the 2010 Art Regional Exhibition at the Center for Creative Arts in Delaware. In 2011, Chad was awarded Visual Artist of the Year 2011 by The African American Coalition of Reading.

​Artist's Statement

If there is no struggle, there is no progress." stated Fredrick Douglas. My work illuminates the externals and internal struggles of all people from similar walks of life. The psychological and physical actions of struggle build character and endurance which are themes represented in my work. If we do not undergo physical and mental struggle, then we cannot develop and mature as a human being.
My subject matter explores family ancestry, racial identity and social isolationism. I create the good, the bad and the misrepresented in my work; hence I am not afraid to challenge the establishment. The work is bold and electrifying which leaves viewers evaluating their inner strength and overall presence. My artwork encourages people to stop being unhappy about their situations, resolve their own personal problems and achieve their inner dreams.

Jermaine Ollivierre (b.  Philadelphia, PA) received his AFA at Delaware County Community College (2011-13), studied Painting and Sculpture at Tyler School of Art (2015-17).  Ollivierre’s work has been exhibited at Tyler School of Art, Delaware County Community College, City Hall’s Creative Philadelphia, Conception Gallery, Long Island, NY, in public spaces in North Philadelphia, and in various SEPTA transits locations from North to West Philadelphia (Market Frankford and Broad Street Lines).  Jermaine lives and works in Philadelphia.

Artist Statement

I grapple, challenge, defend, dissect, and exploit the misunderstood complexities of identity in my work.  The disparity within specific local, urban, rural, and suburban landscapes feed my practice. I use my privileged, and underprivileged situations of my lived experience as the artistic medium, to aid my insatiable appetite for truth.  Unfinished in-progress choices in my sculptures mirror the never ending investigation on the self, and serve as a function, tapping into human condition. I intentionally use autobiographical experiences as my source material which expose my internal struggles.  This process of peeling away societal influences and norms reveals uncomfortable truths, which continue to further my inquiry into the human psyche. The false, vague, and misleading ideals of liberties, infiltrating my upbringing, grooming me for a problematic journey in life; I have to revisit moments of my childhood to redefine, reshape and rebuild myself.
Don Stephens

Artist Statement

On my Creative road I’ve found this profound interest early on and since those times Art for me is liken
to normal bodily functions. I've been asked numerous times “What would you consider is your work
about?” well I am what you would call a Figurative Expressive Artist. Utilizing the human experience to
express the dance between the Subjective and Objective suggestions of the expressive time I am in- raw
from the guts of the everyday and not so everyday. Merging and juxtaposing representational items with
the figure maneuvering gestural movements to heighten the psychological impact of my work. Within my
observations I have formulated my own visual syntax that has been described as expressive, informative

and imaginative simply by maneuvering material and experiences to convey a certain moment in time and
space. Yes Artist should be free to do what he or she does but I have chosen always to seek the
opportunity to never be afraid to do what I might do.