WEEKEND BOOK TOUR

ciclo y ciclo:
Poetry Reading and Conversation

February 3, 2024, 3-4:30pm CST
DePaul Art Museum
935 W Fullerton Ave. Chicago
RSVP

Printmaking From the Archive:
Ben Blount & Dino Robinson in Conversation

February 4, 2024, 2-4pm CST
MAKE letterpress studio + retail shop + gallery
1123 Florence Ave, Evanston
RSVP

You are invited to two events celebrating Sixty Inches From Center’s first book,
Chicago Archives + Artists Project: Case Studies in Collaboration!

On February 3, we will be co-hosting ciclo y ciclo, which features DePaul Art Museum’s Collections Manager David Maruzzella and multidisciplinary artist Natasha Mijares, one of the archive + artist pairings commissioned for the publication. A poetry reading/performance by Natasha Mijares will be followed by a conversation between Natasha, David Maruzzella and artist Dianna Frid, whose work was a touchstone for Mijares’s research within DPAM’s collection. Book co-editor Kate Hadley Toftness will moderate the discussion.

Prior to the event, David Maruzzella will lead a special, behind-the-scenes tour focusing on DPAM’s collection of works by Latinx artists. The tour begins at 2:00pm CST and is limited to 20 guests. **Please RSVP to dmaruzze@depaul.edu if you would like to attend this part of the event.

ciclo y ciclo takes place during the closing week of DPAM’s exhibition Life Cycles, which features nearly 50 artists from DPAM’s collection and beyond focusing on the processes and materials that structure and subtend life while also examining the life of art objects.

On February 4, we will be hosting Printmaking From the Archive, where you will get an intimate look inside designer and letterpress printer Ben Blount’s studio! The event will feature artist Ben Blount and archivist Dino Robinson, one of the archive + artist pairings commissioned for the publication. Join us to hear about their work and research within the collection of Shorefront Legacy Center, which contains historic materials and relics from Black communities in Chicago’s suburban North Shore.

Ben’s new series of posters references archival materials from mid-century Black social clubs, and Dino will have some of the materials on hand for visitors to see.

Accessibility Notes:

Masks are required for those who attend. ASL Interpretation and Live CART (Communication Access Real-time Translation) can be requested by contacting us at info@sixtyinchesfromcenter.org. Read more about accessibility for these venues and events in our Accessibility Guide.

Image: Natasha Mijares conducting research in the collection of Latinx art at DePaul Art Museum. She is holding the edges of a large piece of art sitting on a table. She is wearing a red dress with a floral pattern and teal gloves. Photograph by Kristie Kahns.

Image: Ben Blount is in his studio using his letterpress. His hands are lining up wood type, which sit on his printing press. He is wearing a gray and maroon shirt and glasses. Behind him are various posters on the wall. Photo by Ryan Edmund Thiel.

Image: The book Chicago Archives + Artists Project: Case Studies in Collaboration. The book lies face up on a beige surface. The book itself is a warm sandy color. Book design and production: For the Birds Trapped in Airports, www.forthebirdstrappedinairports.com, @forthebirdstrappedinairports. Photography: Ryan Edmund Thiel, www.ryanedmundstudio.com, @talldarkandryan

About the Book + Project…

ORDER THE BOOK

Published in collaboration with From The Birds Trapped in Airports, the book features over three dozen Chicago artists, archivists, librarians, writers, curators, community organizers, and editors we adore.

Within the pages of the book, you’ll find new archive-inspired explorations, a directory of Chicago-based archives and collections, and reflections on 5+ years of the Chicago Archives + Artists Project (CA+AP). The book also features two new artist + archive pairings with letterpress printer Ben Blount who spent time in the archives of Shorefront Legacy Center, and artist/poet Natasha Mijares who explored the Latinx art collection at DePaul Art Museum.

Since 2017, CA+AP has been pairing artists with archives across the city of Chicago to spark new experiments in creative interpretation. Through the years, we’ve hosted two incredible editions of the Chicago Archives + Artists Festival where we’ve gathered to celebrate and learn about legacy preservation and archive nurturing for Chicago’s artists, curators, and cultural producers.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we pivoted and reimagined what the festival could look like. Instead of gathering, connecting, and discussing our work in person, we decided to expand what the festival could be–now taking the form of this book.

A look within the pages…

“As many of the essays in this book will describe, much that is valuable is either evanescent by nature, dubiously erased by design, or simply lost through inertia, lack of investment, and neglect. Archives are a space where past, presents, and futures of art history can be placed and reconfigured without critical mandates. The stories rest, and with the help of artists, they revive.”

– Kate Hadley Toftness, co-founder of the Chicago Archives + Artists Project (p. 16)

Image: Sky Cubacub looking at objects in the Costume and Textiles Collection at the Chicago History Museum with Collections Manager Jessica Pushor. Photo by Ryan Edmund Thiel.

“I am so grateful to archivists who have been able to save those patterns from history so that I can take them and make them a lot weirder.”

– Sky Cubacub, 2018 participating artist (p. 101)

Image: Aay Preston-Myint conducting research in the collection of the Leather Archive & Museum. Photo by Ryan Edmund Thiel.

“We need these repositories of images, materials, and history for our inspiration, to find role models, to not make the same mistakes, to not think you’re alone, and even more importantly, to not think you’re original – you’re a part of a thread, a lineage.”

– Aay Preston-Myint, 2018/19 participating artist (p. 149)

Image: Ben Blount using his letterpress in his studio. Photo by Ryan Edmund Thiel.

“Artists and archivists can learn from each other’s processes because in some ways, they deal with similar questions. What information is valuable to collect/research? What is the impact of sharing this information or history? There are parallels in the way archivists define and present their collections and what ideas artists present in their work.”

– Ben Blount, 2022 participating artist. (p. 217)

More about the book…

The book features two new artist + archive pairings with letterpress printer Ben Blount who spent time in the archives of Shorefront Legacy Center, and artist/poet Natasha Mijares who explored the Latinx art collection at DePaul Art Museum.

The book features writings from Oscar Arriola (Zine Mercado/Chicago Public Library), Sara Chapman + Dan Erdman (Media Burn), Sky Cubacub (Rebirth Garments), Meg Duguid + Michael Thomas (Culture/Math), Marc Fischer (Public Collectors/Temporary Services), Kate Hadley Toftness (Sixty), Tempestt Hazel (Sixty), Ivan LOZANO (CA+AP Artist), David Maruzzella (DPAM), H. Melt (CA+AP Artist), On the Real Film (CA+AP Artists), Jennifer Patiño (Sixty), Jessica Pushor (Chicago History Museum), Morris “Dino” Robinson (Shorefront), Robert Sloane (Chicago Public Library), Nell Taylor (Read/Write Library), Lauren Shadford (Voices of Contemporary Art), Darryl DeAngelo Terrell (CA+AP Artist), and more.

Edited by Kate Hadley Toftness, Tempestt Hazel, and Christina Nafziger, with support from Persephone Van Ort. Designed by Matt Austin of For the Birds Trapped in Airports.

This publication is made possible through generous support from the Hauser & Wirth Institute and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Want to know more before you order the book? Learn more about the project here…