Sunday, September 30, 2012

The Ravenswood Art Walk: Prelude to Chicago Artists Month

Because the Ravenswood Art Walk covers so much ground, I decided to spend two days there this time around. Since I had such a great time taking pictures at Architectural Artifacts last year, I made sure I went there again this year.


bas relief frieze from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Since it is the Annual Tour of Arts and Industry, I will start with this bas relief.

 from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

salvaged tiles  from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

I was once again amazed at the unusual things I found at Architectural Artifacts.

mannequins  from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

mannequins  from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

skeleton  from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

beakers and test tubes  from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago


drafting tables  from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

They even had antique drafting tables!

suzanis  from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

As well as these gorgeous suzanis.


frieze  from Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

Then I went to the Lillstreet Art Center.

Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago


Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago


There was a small sculpture show on display in the first floor gift shop.  The title of the show is “63: Small-Scale Works by Members of Chicago Sculpture International” and it will be on display until October 14th.

Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago


Skull by Joshua Harker Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago


I have featured Joshua Harker's work on here before.  It was so nice to see his amazing 3D Printed skull.  So intricate!


encaustic paintings Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

Student work was on display in the hallways.  These are from an encaustic painting class.

David Todd Trost Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago


It was fun to see what David Todd Trost has added to his series of aliens and other whimsical sculptures.
David Todd Trost Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago


These lovely functional ceramics are available in their gift shop.

gift shop Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago


I also saw work by Kate Biderbost in her studio at Lillstreet.

Kate Biderbost

Two artist friends, Meredith Dytch and Patricia Larkin Green invited me to see their work at Ponce Studios.  The building where they paint is an artistically restored home flooded with light from all directions, a great place to work.

Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Kate Tully

Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Margaret Tully Nicosia (left), Ann Ponce (right)

Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
clockwise from top: Patricia Larkin Green, Fran Mazur, Mary Barnes Gingrich, June Nichols, Fran Mazur;
Fran Mazur, and in the center, June Nichols

Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Augustina Diaz Sierra (left) and Ann Ponce (right)

paintings by Meredith Dytch at Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Meredith Dytch
  

Painting by Patricia Larkin Green at Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Patricia Larkin Green
  
There was even art on display in the coach house.



Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Patricia and Ann Ponce

Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Phil Ponce

Ponce Studios in Ravenswood, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago
Maria Ponce

I also visited the studio of another artist friend, Vesna Jovanovic.  Here is one of her new works.


Vesna Jovanovic, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

At Blackbird Gallery + Framing, I met Connie Noyes, an artist who likes working with texture as much as I do.  Here is a detail of one of the pieces she had on display.


Connie Noyes, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago



In the offices of Beyond Design, the walls were used as a gallery, perfectly combining the art walk's theme of Arts and Industry.

Beyond Design, seen during 2012 Ravenswood Art Walk 11th Annual Tour of Arts & Industry in Chicago

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Along the way, there were indoor and outdoor art and craft fairs.  I found artists everywhere, from tents in parking lots to walls of mattress shops, to lobbies of buildings.  It was incredible!  Here are some of the artists I met in these unlikely locations.



Mary Phelan
Luni Unni Bright & Shiny Objects

Red Ava Designs

BigGirlArt
 
Inja Cho


Alapash Terrariums


SODA by amy

While I was in Ravenswood, I decided to stop by Hazel and found the perfect Orla Kiely wrapping paper to use as wallpaper in my little Neville House at my art studio.

DSC07549-web


I had such a great time at the art walk this year and think it was a wonderful prelude to Chicago Artists Month.  Check back for more blog posts about all the art events I will be attending this month.  And if you're not in Chicago but want to support these artists, be sure to visit their websites to see and purchase more of their work, and check to see if and when they will be in a gallery or show near you.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Art Block by Block: Chicago Artists Month 2012




Chicago is a segregated city.  Calling it "the city of neighborhoods" is just a euphemism.  The truth is, there are two Chicagos.  There is the Chicago whose first non-indigenous settler was a Black man, and the Chicago that constrained new Black settlers who moved here from the "separate but equal" South to a narrow corridor called The Black Belt whose borders were defined by the Second City's version of the Mason-Dixon line. There is the Chicago of Obama, Oprah, and Michael Jordan, and then there is the Chicago that devised restrictive covenants to keep its Black residents out of certain neighborhoods, a legacy that endures until today. There is the Chicago that was home to great minds like Studs Terkel, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lorraine Hansberry, and Carl Sandburg, as well as the Chicago that was home to small-minded bigots who threw bricks at Dr. King when he came to visit.  There is the Chicago that welcomes visitors from all over the world, and the Chicago where some residents are afraid to leave their homes.  There is the Chicago of visitors' guides and feel-good films, and then there is the Chicago that the powers that be would rather not talk about.  Historically it has been a city of broad shoulders and narrow minds.

Likewise there are two Chicago Public School systems.  There is the CPS that is failing, being "turned around," losing the "Race to the Top," worn down by the unmet needs of children facing homelessness, hunger, gangs, drugs, violence, and abuse, and then there is the CPS of magnet schools, language academies, gifted programs, International Baccalaureate programs, science fair and young authors' contest winners, teen performing artists every bit as talented as the kids in Fame... Guess which one most people hear about? 

Which Chicago people talk about depends on so many different factors.  Who are they trying to impress?  Who are they mocking?  Which Chicago are they from?  Which Chicago do they want people to think they are from?

Throughout my life I have always had a foot in both Chicagos.  Yes, I lived with my family on the South Side, in Hyde Park and Beverly, which are both racially integrated upper middle class enclaves.  But I went to church every Sunday in Englewood, an impoverished community struggling with gun violence and abandoned buildings.  From kindergarten through the eighth grade I attended a gifted program in a magnet school.  While we in the gifted program had excellent (though often very eccentric) teachers and great textbooks, the rest of our school suffered from so much overcrowding that by the time I graduated there were classes being held in the gym, the hallways, and a trailer, and the library was reduced to mobile shelving set up in the auditorium.  Our school embodied the two Chicago Public School systems in a single campus.

My school was on the North Side, 20 miles from home.  The commute could take as long as two hours, and I spent so much time traveling through the various neighborhoods between home and school that I feel like I grew up on the school bus.  I had friends from the North Side, the West Side, and the South Side.  But I learned from going to school on the North Side that which Chicago you're from really matters to many people, and often had to verbally defend myself by saying, "yes, I went to a public school, but I was in the gifted program and we studied Latin from kindergarten through 8th grade," or "yes, I'm from the South Side, but I'm from Beverly" to avoid a particular sort of ridicule, scorn, and prejudice.


I hate this Tumblr, but here's the link: http://slightlyinsultingchicagoposters.tumblr.com/post/26858777131
The artists who made these signs say they're only "slightly insulting," but I am tired of putting up with these kinds of assumptions about the neighborhoods I've lived in.


Is this supposed to be funny?


Why are poverty and murder rates somehow the subject of cruel jokes and derisive laughter?  What is so funny about children growing up in conditions that are almost as abysmal as those in un-industrialized nations?  Why the hegemony of the North Side?  Why the fear and loathing of the South Side and West Side?  It makes me feel like Chicago is not a melting pot, but a fractured mosaic made of broken things and the shards of shattered dreams.  It is a place that can leave scars.  I know people who have left this polarized city and vow to never return.  I can understand why.

Who better to combat this ugliness than artists?  That is the beauty of Art Block by Block, the theme of this year's Chicago Artists Month. According to the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, "it explores the impact of artists on Chicago's neighborhoods."  I hope that the arts can lead the way in creating events, spaces, and opportunities where diverse groups of people can interact during Chicago Artists Month.  Chicago is a city with a lot of history, a lot of baggage, and a lot of metaphorical ghosts that still haunt it to this day.  The cathartic nature of art and its willingness to confront difficult truths about humanity and challenge viewers to look at the world with different perspectives can encourage dialogues and connections amongst Chicagoans of every neighborhood.  It can provide a window into other cultures and points of view, leading to greater understanding and appreciation (not just tolerance) of people whose backgrounds and life experiences may be very different from one's own. 

Not wanting to miss out on the numerous opportunities for artists in this city is the main reason I have decided to stay here despite the negative experiences I've had.  I look forward to October now, as I try to see as many galleries, art centers, and studios as possible, venturing into unfamiliar neighborhoods, just as I did many years ago as a girl on the school bus.  I think that my long daily commutes prepared me for these city expeditions, and made me curious about what all the busy people I saw each day were doing and where they were going.  I was fascinated by the gritty urban landscape and the rugged warehouses and old factories I saw, some of which have now become spaces for artists. 

That some of these gallery and studio spaces even exist is a testament to the progress the city is slowly making.  I consider the example of Bridgeport, a neighborhood that, as recently as the late 90's, was the site of violent hate crimes against Black teens. I used to dread going there. But now it is the home of two of my favorite art centers, Zhou B and The Bridgeport Art Center, as well as a few new ones that I also want to visit.

They are just two of the art centers having special events highlighting the work of Chicago based artists.  As I have done for the past few years, I plan to attend as many Artists Month events as I can, take pictures, and write about them on here.  If you want to see for yourself, you can find out more about all the special events for Chicago Artists Month here:
www.chicagoartistsmonth.org

And if you want to learn more about the history of racial segregation in Chicago, here are some additional resources:

DuSable to Obama: Chicago's Black Metropolis
an excellent 90 minute documentary streaming free from our local PBS station, WTTW.  If you have time, check it out.

Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago 1940-1960 by Arnold R. Hirsch

And for accurate information about the city's neighborhoods, look them up in the Chicago History Museum's Encyclopedia of Chicago.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Tired of gambling on juried shows with entry fees

DSC_0134-web


Sometimes I feel like my art career is like a slot machine.  I put money in it and never know if I will lose or hit the jackpot. And like a gambler, it's easy to keep thinking that this time will be different and I'll get lucky.  But  right now I am no longer convinced that the fees to enter juried shows are worth paying for the rest of this year.  I can't afford to get rejected anymore.

Getting rejected from a juried show that I paid my hard-earned money to enter really hurts right now.  When I get a response that includes those dreaded words "we received many wonderful entries but..." and I paid a fee to get such a response, it makes me mad.  I start thinking of all the other things I could have done with that money.  The fees I've paid have ranged from $15 to $60, which doesn't sound like a lot.  But they add up!  Sure, I can write them off my taxes, but I don't get a refund on it until next year.  And what am I supposed to do in the meantime when there are other things I need to buy?  What about finishing The Doll Project?  What about getting my boots repaired before the winter comes?  What about me? There are so many things I've put off paying for.  I've given up so much for my art career.  I can't afford to make another sacrifice.

And so that's why for the rest of 2012, (which I know is almost over now) I am not going to spend any more money on entry fees.  Some artists suggest budgeting for entry fees and setting aside money for entering shows.  (It's funny, some gamblers do the same thing with their casino money.) Maybe I will try that next year.  But for now, nobody is getting another dime from me to enter their juried show.  And I'm not paying to be in any co-op galleries, either.  Not until I make another big sale. There is a difference between making an investment and gambling.

I still plan to submit to art shows this year, as long as I don't have to pay for the privilege.

Monday, September 24, 2012

The Expo Chicago art show: a 2 dimensional SOFA



In one of my favorite movies, Zoolander, Ben Stiller plays a famous fashion model who has gotten a lot of publicity because he is about to reveal his new "look," his signature facial expression.  An eccentric designer named Mugatu is the only one not falling for the hype and finally screams to the audience of his fashion show, "Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

And that's kind of how I feel about Expo Chicago. To me, despite all the hype that the Expo Chicago art show would be so different from anything we have ever seen before in Chicago, it was a lot like SOFA, only with more two dimensional art and less furniture.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  In fact, I enjoyed it just as much as I have enjoyed the SOFA show.  But perhaps because I am not an art world insider and don't know all the behind the scenes events surrounding these shows, my perspective is limited.
Anyway, back to the Expo.  As I said, it was like SOFA.  Not just because it was in the same space, the Festival Hall at Navy Pier, but also because of the participating galleries.  They were, for the most part, well-known galleries from around the world, showing works by famous artists, both rising stars and deceased modern masters, like the Gordon Parks: At 100 retrospective.  What it didn't have very much of was controversial art, or work by emerging artists.  That was one of the things I enjoyed about the NEXT show at Art Chicago.  I liked the getting a chance to see work by art students as well as new galleries that were just getting started.  There was not very much of that at Expo Chicago.  But I was glad to see nonprofit galleries like The Hyde Park Art Center represented, along with university galleries from Columbia College and University of Chicago, and Bad At Sports showed off their 3D printers and drew a crowd of fascinated onlookers.  Of course, I never attended Art Chicago during its Navy Pier heyday, so I can't make a comparison between the two.  But here are some artists I liked.  You can click the photos to go to their websites to see more of their work:



Scott Reeder - New Kinds of Music
Scott Reeder - New Kinds of Music



Enrico Castellan - Superficie Blanca



Gunther Veder- Nagelecke



Allan D' Arcangelo - Marilyn
 
Michael Reafsnyder - Big Red
Michael Reafsnyder - Big Red


Craig Norton - Carl Hammer Gallery
Craig Norton - White Picket Fences



Jennifer Bartlett - House, Dots, Hatches (detail)





Arch Connelley - The More



Julie Hefferman- Self Portrait Dressing Wounds
Julie Hefferman- Self Portrait Dressing Wounds



Norman Bluhm - Circus
Norman Bluhm - Circus


Polly Apfelbaum - Love Park 26
Polly Apfelbaum - Love Park 26


Ivelisse Jiminez - Detour #1
Ivelisse Jiminez - Detour #1


Jim Lutes - Little Worlds
Jim Lutes - Little Worlds



Tony Cragg - Round the Block


Judy Pfaff - enter the dragon
Judy Pfaff - Enter The Dragon



HC Berg - Visual vortex
HC Berg - Visual Vortex


Joseph Raffael - New moment
Joseph Raffael - New Moment



Rosana Castrillo Diaz - Untitled 2012
Rosana Castrillo Diaz - Untitled 2012


Lorna Simpson - Jet #11, '58
Lorna Simpson - Jet #11, '58


Jules de Balincourt - We Regret To Inform You There Is Currently No Space Or Place For Abstract Painting




Tony Tasset keeps it weird



Louise Nevelson


 
From Contemporary art Museum St. Louis, an interactive installation by Lauren Adams - We The People
Lauren Adams - We The People


One rare political piece was the We the People installation in the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis space by Lauren Adams, with walls covered in Revolutionary War era wallpaper updated with slogans from Occupy and The Tea Party.  Visitors were invited to paint their own political messages on plates, which were displayed on shelves on the walls.  Sadly, by the time I figured out what I wanted to say, they had run out of plates.  I guess people have a lot to say since it's an election year.


Also take a look at video art by Gregory Scott and Tony Oursler on their galleries' websites.  If you've been reading this blog for a while you know it's rare that I find video art that I actually like, but I think what these two artists have done is very innovative and engaging.

I think Expo Chicago was a success and look forward to attending it again next year.
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