Ayzha Fine Arts Gallery & Boutique ayzhafineartsgallery.com Cynthia Henry is an art collector and arts advocate. She was vice president of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) and currently sits on the board of the African American Arts Alliance at the Milwaukee Art Museum. In 2012, with partner Gregory Stanford, Cynthia opened Ayzha Fine Arts Gallery & Boutique in The Shops of Grand Avenue mall in downtown Milwaukee. Gregory Stanford is a Milwaukee-based writer and co-owner and manager of Ayzha Fine Arts Gallery & Boutique in the Shops of Grand Avenue downtown. For many years he was a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal and an editorial writer and columnist for The Journal and then the merged Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He has won many journalism awards. Besides managing the gallery, he writes plays and has authored a blog in which he has commented on the news of the day. He was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and came to Milwaukee to attend Marquette University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism.
Ayzha Fine Arts is a contemporary, multicultural gallery with an emphasis on art from the African diaspora. The artists are drawn from Milwaukee and from around the globe. The boutique side offers unique jewelry, cards, books, calendars, organic hair products and other items.
The gallery brims with activity – paint parties, panel discussions, poetry readings and special exhibits, including on the quarterly, city-wide Gallery Night and Day. January’s Gallery Night and Day will feature the works of renowned Milwaukee artist Reynaldo Hernandez. In 2014 Ayzha Fine Arts was awarded a grant to produce an Internet radio show during the Night Market – a monthly, summertime street festival on Wisconsin Avenue. The show included the performance of a radio play written by Stanford about Wisconsin Avenue. Ayzha Fine Arts does pop-up shows around the city, and has even showcased its artists out of town – in Chicago and in Miami, during Art Basel. Ayzha Fine Arts curates corporate exhibits. Right now it has an exhibit in the Germania Building, in honor of the building’s redevelopment. The exhibit will run until early 2018.
