On Black Presidential Portraits, Punchlines, and Power with Ross Stanton Jordan
Reflections on nearly a century of fictional and speculative Black president portrayals, artists’ responses to the Obama era, and the power of comedy.
All posts filed under: Art Design Chicago
Notes on Designing Cultural Change
Three founders of local design studios speak about designing for social and cultural change within Chicago’s communities.
In My Mother’s House There Is Still God: A Response to the Film ‘to render the infinite’
A lyrical essay inspired by different characters from ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by Lorraine Hansberry and in response to the film ‘to render the infinte’ by zakkiyyah najeebah dumas o’neal.
Going Back to the Future: A Visual Collage In Response to the Film ‘to render the infinite’
Going Back to the Future, a visual collage, explores the creation of ‘to render the infinite’ by zakkiyyah najeebah dumas o’neal and composer by Ayana Contreras.
Sixty Years of Filling Homes: A Conversation with Crate & Barrel Co-Founder, Gordon Segal
Chicago-based Crate & Barrel’s influence on interior design coincided with the minimalist movement circulating galleries during the 1960s.
In the Pages of Fleeting Monuments for the Wall of Respect
Fleeting Monuments for the Wall of Respect, composed by editor and art historian Romi Crawford, is a meditation, offering, and homage for the Wall of Respect.
How to View a Solar Eclipse: Both And at Tiger Strikes Asteroid
Both And at Tiger Strikes Asteroid traces and cultivates a dialogue between five contemporary artists and Chicago-based artist Miyoko Ito through their use of color, time, form, and space.
Seeing Something New: Discussing the “avant-garde” with printmakers Ben Blount and Sonnenzimmer
A look at the process of designing the catalogue and poster for Chicago Avant-Garde: Five Women Ahead of Their Time at The Newberry Library.
Chicago Archives Dive: Chicago Music Posters with Jay Ryan
Chicago is home to a long tradition of printmaking. In this video, Jay Ryan, the artist behind Chicagoland’s print studio The Bird Machine, talks about his experiences learning his craft at Screwball Press, another print studio in Chicago celebrated for its innovative production of rock music posters since the early 1990s. This video was produced by artist Ryan Edmund Thiel of Sixty Inches from Center, in collaboration with Chicago Collections Consortium and Art Design Chicago Now.
Chicago Archives Dive: Chicago’s Screenprinting Community with Alexandrea Pataky
From scientific illustration to rock music posters, artist Alexandrea Pataky, owner of High Lonesome Print, talks about her work, the screen printing community in Chicago, and being taught to print by Steve Walters of Screwball Press. This video was created in collaboration with Art Design Chicago and Chicago Collections Consortium, and was produced by Ryan Edmund Thiel.
Chicago Archives Dive: Zine Festivals with Oscar Arriola
Oscar Arriola, a collector, curator, and photographer based in Chicago, talks about the power of preservation while also delving into the history of Chicago zine festivals. In particular, he talks about his role as an organizer of ZINEMercado, an annual outdoor festival devoted to zines and other DIY publications that takes place at Comfort Station in the city’s Logan Square neighborhood. This video was created in collaboration with Art Design Chicago and Chicago Collections Consortium, and was produced by Ryan Edmund Thiel. __Featured Image: A compilation of images of posters and promotional images from ZINEmercado. Images courtesy of Oscar Arriola.
Chicago Archives Dive: Underground Publishing with Julia Arredondo
Did you know Chicago is a mecca of underground publishing? In this video, Julia Arredondo—artist entrepreneur and graduate of Columbia College Chicago—talks about the political influence of Chicago’s zine culture while also sharing more about her zine product lines, including the counterculture entity Vice Versa Press and the more spiritual “Bedroom Botánica” Curandera Press.This video was created in collaboration with Art Design Chicago and Chicago Collections Consortium, and was produced by Ryan Edmund Thiel. ___Featured Image: A compilation of images of covers of zines by Julia Arredondo. Each cover has a different design–one with colorful flowers, illustrated collages, intermixed with text. Images courtesy of Julia Arredondo.
Chicago’s zine-makers: Liz Mason
For several decades, Chicago has had a rich history of artists making zines; independently published, low budget periodicals. Liz Mason currently manages Quimby’s Bookstore and has been making her own perzines (personal zines) since the early nineties. Her writing, which is often comedic and punchy, recounts personal anecdotes, relationships, and simply things she finds awesome. We interviewed her to learn more about what got her into Zines and some of the zines she has created over the years. This video was created in collaboration with Art Design Chicago and Chicago Collections Consortium, and was produced by Ryan Edmund Thiel. __Featured Image: A compilation of images of covers of Zines by Liz Mason. Each cover has black text printed on yellow paper. Images courtesy of Liz Mason.
Spew, the first queer zine fest
Spew: The Homographic Convergence was the first ever queer zine convention that took place at Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago on May 25, 1991. Spew brought together a vast network of queer artists, editors, and performers across the United States and Canada. Editor’s Note & Correction: After publishing the following video, we were contacted by one of the original organizers of SPEW with a request to more accurately represent the people behind the convergence. At 00:17, the video should state, “The convention, which was organized by Steve LaFreniere, LaMar, Steve Marton, and Lawrence Steger, marked the explosion of the Queercore subculture.” When it comes to the cultural record, we will always be willing to make corrections and revisions that improve the accuracy of the information we provide for the sake of the archive and to acknowledge the people who make the work. We also acknowledge the injustices and erasures to queer history and wish to make the histories we share on our platforms as complete and accurate as possible. This video was created in collaboration with Art Design …
Curating Chicago : Meg Duguid and Leslie Guy
A tour of two Art Design Chicago exhibitions that dive into Chicago’s feminist art histories and the legacy of one of the oldest WPA era art centers in the country.
Walkthrough: Living Architecture at 6018North
A video interview on immigration stories and experiences in Chicago as told by curator Tricia Van Eck and artists Amanda Assaley and Roni Packer and the Art Design Chicago exhibition Living Architecture at 6018North.
Locating Your Practice in ‘Todros Geller: Strange Worlds’ with Curator Susan Weininger
Todros Geller, (1889-1949), was a Jewish-American artist born in Ukraine, immigrating to Canada and later Chicago in 1906, where he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. He became a prominent artist during his time, having a hand in many organizations in Chicago and working with such artists as Charles White. The exhibition Todros Geller: Strange Worlds showcases the diverse work—in style, subject matter, and medium—that Geller created throughout his lifetime; and is hosted at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Learning, an organization that began as the College of Jewish studies, where Todros Geller taught for many years. Many of the objects from the exhibition come from the institute’s extensive collection of Jewish art and historic, ritual objects, a collection that Todros Geller began. Co-curator of the exhibition Dr. Susan Weininger explains Geller’s interest in Jewish art, “One of the things that [Geller] pursued his whole life was the idea of a Jewish art museum. He knew that there was a history of Jewish art [and] he traveled to study that history.” Dr. Weininger and …
Locating Your Practice in ‘African American Designers in Chicago: Art, Commerce and the Politics of Race,’ with D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem
A century’s legacy of Black designers working at the nexus of the quotidian, politics, history, and market capitalism is brought into focus through African American Designers in Chicago: Art, Commerce and the Politics of Race, on view at the Chicago Cultural Center until March 3, 2019. The show’s objects and design content show generations of Black designers fusing a shared past and visions of the future within their historical contexts. This chronicle highlights designers and artists producing in many mediums including Charles Dawson, Charles White, Jay Jackson, Zelda “Jackie” Ormes, Charles Harrison, LeRoy Winbush, William McBride, Sylvia (Laini) Abernathy, and Emmett McBain. Particular emphasis is given to how 20th century Black designers and artists in Chicago reframed the conception of the Black consumer within the market economy. By the same token, the concerns, aesthetics, pressures, and values of Chicago’s dynamic Black communities are embedded in each object. Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs expressed this responsiveness when discussing the origins of the South Side Community Arts Center, quoted in the exhibition materials: “As young black artists, we looked …
The Vessels that Marva Made: An Interview with Members of Sapphire & Crystals
“I am a strong woman; my strength as a Black woman pays homage to what I call the Sapphire Spirit. A woman who is sassy, jazzy, spiritual, brainy, the healer–she is Mother Earth in its grand splendor. I salute this spirit in all Black women everywhere. The recognition of my own Sapphire Spirit provided me with the knowledge I needed to speak. My name is Marva and I speak through my art, my voice extends all the way back to the first known human being who was a Black woman. Going forth, through my ancestors, I am creating new symbols and new directions, moving from my own individual voice to that of the collective voice. I now join with sixteen other African American Women Artists and form the Sapphire & Crystals group. As a collective we step forward to the world.” –Marva Lee Pitchford-Jolly In 1986 artists Marva Lee Pitchford-Jolly and Felicia Grant Preston started meeting in Pitchford-Jolly’s home to discuss how to continue supporting women artists after the group Mud Peoples Black Women’s Resource …
‘The Artist as a Catalyst of Social Change?’ Part 3: Leah Gipson
As many contemporary artists, arts organizations, and other cultural laborers continue a decades-long trajectory of re-orienting their practices more deliberately towards and within the social world, forms and approaches have morphed through a collective re-imagining of the production, dissemination, and sociopolitical potential of art. These modes have sought to broaden access and participation in the arts, transform relationships between people, forge practices rooted just as much in ethics as in aesthetics, and other similar gestures toward aligning art with notions of social justice and reform. And yet amidst this grappling, a number of unresolved riddles remain regarding art’s place in daily life: What and who is art’s “community,” and what do we mean by “community”? What is art’s relationship to democracy? Can increased access to the arts also advance civic participation more broadly? What is the role of the artist in society? Can art and artists be catalysts for social change — and should they? Such issues and questions reverberate through the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s current exhibition Participatory Arts: Crafting Social Change, which explores …
‘The Artist as a Catalyst of Social Change?’ Part 2: Regin Igloria and North Branch Projects
As many contemporary artists, arts organizations, and other cultural laborers continue a decades-long trajectory of reorienting their practices more deliberately towards and within the social world, forms and approaches have morphed through a collective re-imagining of the production, dissemination, and sociopolitical potential of art. These modes have sought to broaden access and participation in the arts, transform relationships between people, forge practices rooted in ethics as much as in aesthetics, and other similar gestures toward aligning art with notions of social justice and reform. Yet amidst this grappling, a number of unresolved riddles remain regarding art’s place in daily life: who is art’s “community,” and what exactly do we mean by “community”? What is art’s relationship to democracy? Can increased access to the arts also advance civic participation more broadly? What is the role of the artist in society? Can art and artists be catalysts for social change — and should they? Such issues and questions reverberate through the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s current exhibition Participatory Arts: Crafting Social Change, which explores the influence that …
Reflections on Pictures from an Exposition at the Newberry Library
Even 125 years later, we can’t stop thinking about the World’s Columbian Exposition, an extravaganza so large and dense that we continue to unpack its flaws and glorify its vastness. In 1893, Chicago introduced the world to collections of dancers, photographs, paintings, magazines, and yes, even a map made entirely of pickles. The fair influenced how we view and how we curate exhibitions today. It was a spectacle and its history is a labyrinth of stories and mystery, and even a bit of horror. The Newberry Library is looking at the visual aspects of the fair—exhibiting an extensive collection of ephemera and art—in Pictures From the Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair. The exhibition displays the way artwork influenced people from afar to visit Chicago, as well as those who were living the experience, and how these images served as a means of advertising as well as fine art. What’s always been so undeniably interesting to me as a Hyde Parker, living on the edges of where the famous fair was once held, is how …
‘The Artist as a Catalyst of Social Change?’ Part 1: Nicole Marroquin
As many contemporary artists, arts organizations, and other cultural laborers continue a decades-long trajectory of reorienting their practices more deliberately towards and within the social world, forms and approaches have morphed through a collective re-imagining of the production, dissemination, and sociopolitical potential of art. These modes have sought to broaden access and participation in the arts, transform relationships between people, forge practices rooted in ethics as much as in aesthetics, and other similar gestures toward aligning art with notions of social justice and reform. Yet amidst this grappling, a number of unresolved riddles remain regarding art’s place in daily life: who is art’s “community,” and what exactly do we mean by “community”? What is art’s relationship to democracy? Can increased access to the arts also advance civic participation more broadly? What is the role of the artist in society? Can art and artists be catalysts for social change — and should they? Such issues and questions reverberate through the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s current exhibition Participatory Arts: Crafting Social Change, which explores the influence that Addams …
The Other Queers
An illustrated history of queer artists, writers, advocates, and other Chicago pioneers, inspired by The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Art Against the Flow and a Semantic Ecotone
As I walk into the gallery space, I’m greeted by vibrant and seemingly disparate groups of artworks. On one wall, there are bold, schematic line drawings of Chicago architecture. To my right are totem-like sculptures with intricate embellishments. Across the way is a collection of flat landscapes with skewed perspectives. This is Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow, an exhibition on view at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art as part of Art Design Chicago. Throughout the show, it seems that the curators Kenneth Burkhart and Lisa Stone refrain from hand-holding me through a chronological, step-by-step development of an artist or artistic movement. As I trace my way through the space, pausing at each work, I soon realize that the absence of a consistent, linear narrative may be the point. Intuit’s mission is to celebrate the power of outsider art, which they define on their website as “the works of artists who demonstrate little influence from the mainstream art world and who instead are motivated by their unique personal visions.” With this in …
South Side Stories: Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs
A podcast special with hosts Britt Julious and Zakkiyyah Najeebah exploring the life, art, writing, teaching, activism, and influence of Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs, co-founder of the South Side Community Art Center and DuSable Museum.
Installation View: Up is Down at the Block Museum
This fall, Art Design Chicago is illuminating the legacy of art and design that’s embedded in Chicago’s history and culture through a full calendar of exhibitions, events, and other programs across the city. As editorial partners in this effort, we’re working with them to to elevate the stories of Chicago’s lesser-known artists, designers, and creators, past and present, through comics, essays, interviews, podcasts, and videos. For the videos we’ve teamed up with On The Real Film to present short profiles that highlight the exhibitions, projects, and people who are showcasing these legacies in various ways. The third video in this series, “Installation View: Up is Down” takes a behind-the-scenes look at the installation process for The Block Museum’s exhibition Up is Down: Mid-century Experiments in Advertising and Film at the Goldsholl Studio. Co-curators Amy Beste and Corinne Granof discuss the legacy and impact of the Goldsholl Studio on design and advertising, and provide insight into the curating process for a multimedia show that includes a wide variety of mediums and formats. The Block Museum’s Dan Silverstein elaborates …
Locating Your Practice in ‘Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design,’ with Bri Beck
“I could have never expected this, it’s so exciting. It [makes me] feel like my story has been told for a very long time, and I don’t always have to be the one telling my story,” asserts Bri Beck while discussing the work in Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today at Gallery 400. The exhibition is a multi-generational sampling of the disability-centered artwork that has been coming out of Chicago over the last fifty-plus years. Artist and art therapy graduate student Bri Beck and I visit the exhibition to discuss her experience as a part of this rich history. As we make our way through the gallery, Beck points out artists she’s worked with, portraits of people she recognizes, and professors she’s been mentored by. “I love being a part of the Chicago disability community,” says Beck. A close-knit and interconnected community, she explains, “there aren’t very many of us!” The seemingly small circle of artists and activists doing disability work in Chicago is precisely what has made the city an epicenter for advocacy and …
The Virtual Asian American Art Museum: A Conversation with Laura Kina
Laura Kina is an artist and professor of Art, Media & Design at DePaul. She founded the school’s Asian American Studies program, which has since become a Global Asian Studies program. She runs the Asian American Art Oral History project, which collects oral histories of Asian American artists, organizers, and participants of Asian American arts and cultural organizations in the Midwest. She co-founded the Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies and has edited two anthologies, Queering Contemporary Asian American Art and War Baby/ Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art. She is also the illustrator of the upcoming children’s book, which will be published in March 2019, called “Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Hajichi Tattoos,” which is a trilingual feminist fairy tale set in set in Hawai‘i and Okinawa, written in Hawai‘i Creole by Lee A. Tonouchi and translated by Dr. Masashi Sakihara into Uchinaaguchi. Kina is the lead curator of the Midwest module for the Virtual Asian American Art Museum, which is a large-scale digital humanities project developed by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New …
October Art Picks
A look at the exhibitions, talks, performances, screenings, and more to see this month.