Overton: An Ancestral Time

This post is a reflection by Courtney on the time he spent this summer collaborating with the Overton Center for Excellence, a public art and community space in Bronzeville, Chicago. The center occupies the former Overton Elementary School, named for Anthony Overton. 

My time at Overton was truly a form of ancestral closure. It followed my Raub Welch art residency experience, as I got to lead my own “How to Create Like Courtney” workshop. It was a total success. We went around looking for found objects and I taught the people in the workshop how to create with intent – to look at things on the ground as possible art, and how to use different elements with art to create a mixed-media piece. I even sold a couple of pieces that day, one being the Faith Ringgold inspired piece, the homage piece I did of me, Hebrew, Raub Welch, and Sean Warren.

Overton was beautiful because they had their own garden and they had all this amazing artwork. Whoever did the artwork in the school, they just did a great job, and I’m actually pretty picky about the art I like. You have all these amazing Black heroes on the wall. And there’s a reason I paint a lot of Black legends – it’s beyond inspiring, especially for me, the journey I’m on. I’m always putting things in perspective, being reminded of someone else’s story or legend, their craft or their passion was influenced by someone else.

To see art on the wall that I like, of heroes that I actually feel connected to – even with the Orisha goddess Oya. I met a daughter of hers that first day and she purchased a piece. It was just so ancestral, every moment I was there. 

One day I was vending, and an owner of the school walked by and said, “Courtney Jolliff! I knew Courtney Jolliff – are you related?” 

I told him that was my uncle, and he went on and on and on about how he loved going to Courtney’s house. “Chuck was my man,” he said. (People called my uncle Chuck.) He told me about how inspiring and influential and innovative my uncle was. He started telling me about prolific painters that my uncle inspired. 

It almost felt like how LeBron James got to play with his son in the NBA, or how Big Meech, a man recently released from prison, with his son playing his life story in a series, and they reconnected. My uncle was always a godfather to me, so for me to be out there with his name, doing my thing, continuing his legacy as he would say – for someone to speak on his legacy, it meant a lot to me, like complete closure. No amount of money can equate to the value of something like that. 

I always tell people I’m a success in so many different ways, so don’t compare me to the idea of success in society. I get to be known in my community for my art and for my spirit and for the good things about me. To be recognized that you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. I’ve graduated college, and the ancestors and the university have allowed me to stay creative with my endeavors, with the way I make money and receive money, I get to be out in the community. 

I recently made the paper and there’s a picture of me and Grandma Chicago in the paper with Detroit Staple Cartier glasses on. And I was recognized by Raub. The life I’m living, it does feel like I’m on the right path no matter how many upsets come. And when they do come, they remind me I’m a legend, and this is a legend’s story, and no legend can escape the story. You have a story and it’s made for someone else. So my lowest moments are when I remind myself I’m still needed. I’m still of value. 

Overton did a great job with re-healing the fact that I’ve lost so much. They were so hospitable with helping me with any supplies I needed – water bottles, hoodies, even food. They helped a lot with my finances, giving me extra jobs, securing me a job as a groundskeeper which gave me access to the grounds and garden and extra income, but also a secure place, a gated place, to sleep. Because the majority of this summer I was living out of my UHaul. So that was incredible, how they include community, and every week they do something for the community.

At one point at Overton, they had this band come out and the band circled me and was playing the drums and it felt like a celebration. The experience also taught me a lot about Anthony Overton the man, and all he did to help Black people. It really felt like my Grandma Chicago was there, my Uncle Courtney was there, felt like my Grandma Minnie was there because the garden was her thing. From my hood mama Jacynda Cindy Lisa Red Smith was there who just transitioned this summer. I’m still processing that grief. 

So being at Overton really helped. It planted a lot of seeds. I met the owners of Urban Luxe Café, who also took me under their wing. They helped with so many different painting live events. I even did a lot of their open mic events and got on stage and did a few songs, which was real fun for me, and that’s literally right around the corner from my grandma’s house. 

One of the things we talked about before she transitioned was, if I could have anything in the world what would it be? And I said I’d love to be on stage and just show all of the art I’ve produced, just let loose, show the world I’m a star. So for me to be on stage right around from her house, from the seeds that sprouted at Overton, again, it was that ancestral closure. 

Overton produced these amazing biographical panels for me, and I was able to keep one of them. Sadly it was in the art in the UHaul that was stolen. And no one knows this, but I had a very important meeting with a millionaire art collector the day before the UHaul got stolen. I’m not going to say who this person is because I’m trying to have another meeting with this person. But for me to be that close….

Who knows how many paintings that person would have bought. But I don’t like to say that’s how life goes. I’ve watched enough movies and documentaries and I’ve learned enough from my ancestors to know that I have to stay strong. The show must go on. 

Some day I hope to return to Overton when I can be more of an independent partner, possibly with my own nonprofit programs to do and partner with them. I’m still striving right now and still doing my art thing, as my Grandma said, I’m still selling my wares. I have my confidence intact. 

I’m at that point of life where I just want to make sure I’m headed to where my art can be seen and appreciated and valued and the work can be received. I’ve been through enough things where I’ve come too far to turn back now. Because of the things I’ve been through, I feel like that makes my art worth more. 

So, I have a lot of plans. I still plan to move back to Detroit. I just have to recalibrate and reset life and keep creating. I keep getting messages from the ancestors in my life, to make something that has never been made before, and it might just save my life. I’m going to stick to it, stay creating, stay innovative, as my uncle would say, take my time and do it big, as my uncle would say. 

But my time at Overton was ancestral.