By MARY DE YOEThe University of Chicago has long been known for pushing boundaries and challenging expectations. The new Reva and David Logan Center for the arts is no exception. Less than a year old—the building had a “soft-opening” in March 2012, then celebrated with the three-day Logan Launch Festival in October—the Logan Center has already demonstrated its strong commitment to the study, practice, and presentation of art that is experimental, multi-disciplinary, and engaging.The glass and limestone structure stands out amid the Neo-Gothic buildings on the UofC campus, punctuated with an 11-story tower. The Center, designed by husband and wife team Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, feels light and open. The tower offers impressive sweeping views of Hyde Park, and as you make your way down the staircase at the south end of the tower you can see the solar paneled-roof of one arm of the Center and the grass roof of another. Williams and Tsien said their design was inspired by urban landscapes and the prairie, with the tower referencing both the city’s skyscraper tradition and silos rising from the Midwestern prairies.This blending of styles and references is a theme that carries through the Logan Center. The space was designed to foster cross-disciplinary encounters and collaborations. With art studios, screening rooms, theaters, classrooms, exhibitions and rehearsal spaces the building allows for dynamic interactions between students, faculty and members of the larger Hyde Park and Chicago community.“We thinking about the Center as a portal between north and south,” said Monika Szewczyk, Visual Arts Program Curator. “We very much want to be open to and engage the South Side community as well as the campus.” The building itself is designed to support this. The box office entrance is located on the south end of the building, making two main entrances—there is also one at the north end—and a symbolic flow of energy from both ends of the city. For Szewczyk, who leads Logan Center Exhibitions, his idea of openness is important.It was for this reason that Szewczyk felt so strongly about presenting Brazilian artist Ricardo Basbaum’s signature project, would you like to participate in an artistic experience. “It was crucial [at the outset] to set an inquisitive tone,” explained Szewczyk— “and Basbaum’s project, which revolves around [a] loaded question does this beautifully. It also connects the program of Logan Center Exhibitions into a global network of practice and inquiry”Basbaum launched would you like to participate in an artistic experience in 1994. Centered around a heavy metal object called “New Bases for Personality”(NBP) and painted white with royal blue trim, the dimensions are approximately 49” x 31.5” x 7”. The NBPs are meant to live outside the gallery for participants to do with as they please. When resting on the ground, the object looks almost like a miniature ice rink. Since 1994 NBPs have been used in artistic expressions in over 40 cities across four continents. “However generous the project may sound, it demands a lot in return,” said Szewcyzk of the challenge of the person (or group of people) in possession of the object.The exhibition, which was on view at the Logan Center this past fall, highlighted through documentation and diagrams some of the ways that the community used the NBPs. One clever example is the MFA student Tucker Rae-Grant, who worked with librarians to incorporate the NBP into the The Joseph Regenstein Library collection where it could be checked-out like any piece of media in circulation.This project by its very nature resists exhibition in a traditional sense, questioning notions about the function of a gallery. As Szewczyk explained, “this work was perfect for a non-collecting entity, and it was a way to repurpose the white cube [in our case] as a type of lab—a place for experimentation.”The gallery, however, is not the only place where visitors will find exhibitions. Running concurrently with would you like to participate in an artistic experience was Wall Text. Co-curated by Szewczyk and Zachary Cahill, Open Practice Committee Coordinator, the show featured 25 text-based works by 10 artists with strong ties to the UofC community, including Jenny Holzer, that were displayed on walls (and windows, in the case of Anthony Elms, who was recently named curator of the Whitney Biennial along with Michelle Grabner and Stuart Comer) throughout the building. The exhibition is accompanied by a booklet produced by artist David Giordano. More than merely an explanatory text, the booklet raises crucial questions and serves as one of the art works in the exhibition. Giordano’s essay stresses how this exhibition challenges and often essential element of traditional exhibitions: “Wall texts explicate an artwork’s historical trajectory...yet, what happens when the text on the wall is the art itself and provides its own context through the use of language? Does it change our relationship to images? Is the wall itself changed through language? Are there texts without language?”Probing questions such as these are ones visitor will continue to encounter through the Logan Center’s roughly 10 exhibitions per year. The shows are curated by Szewczyk as well as guest curators, as in the case of Wall Text, and the Center will also present shows curated and including works by MFA students, whose studios are located in the building. “I am excited about this mix of very young artists with others who are veterans of documenta (international exhibition of Modern and Contemporary art in Kassel, Germany)” said Szewcyzk.In conjunction with the exhibitions, the Logan Center will present a variety of programs that will include visiting visual artists, dancers, musicians and partnerships with the Open Practice Committee Coordinator, the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, the Arts + Public Life initiative, and others.In 2007 the University of Chicago announced that David and Reva Logan and their sons and grandchildren made a record $35 million gift to support the building of a center dedicated to performance and creative arts. Both UofC alumni, David and Reva were longtime supporters of the arts and generous philanthropists. They envisioned the Center as a means to improve the quality of life for students and faculty of the University as well as the community. Judging by the pace so far, it seems the Logans’ vision will not be compromised.&nbsp;

CGN features the new Logan Center, an art space at University of Chicago. 

Chicago's new Logan Center: expect the unexpected 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418577/s1qjaiq9vl88di0psvhk.jpg"><figcaption>Charles Van Doren Shaw's Ragdale House in Lake Forest</figcaption></figure>By Mary DeyoeSometimes what we all need is a change of scenery or pace. It is incredible how much even the slightest adjustment to our everyday schedule offers new perspectives and a refreshed state of mind. Artists are of course no exception to this, and the artist residency exists almost solely to offer space, time and resourches for artists to focus and work. This past summer; when thinking ahead to Chicago Artists Month in October; I looked into 10 different Chicago-area residencies and discovered that, despite their use of the same label, each program is defining on its own terms what it mean to be a residency. Following are individual profiles of the various program personalities.&nbsp;Among the traditional retreat-style residencies you wild find Ox-Bow, Ragdale and ACRE, each set in an idyllic "country" environment. The impulse to escape the hustle and bustle to find a calm and quite place is not a new practice for artists or writers—certainly that desire motivated what Monet did at Giverny and what Jackson Pollack and lee Krasner found appealing in East Hampton.&nbsp;About 30 miles north of Chicago in Lae Forest, you can easily miss the entrance to&nbsp;Ragdale as you drive down Green Bay Road. Once in the driveway every noise from the busy road dissipates. The barn and main house—the Ragdale House—were designed by Charles Van Doren Shaw in 1897 as a retreat for his family. It was formally established as a residency in 1976, and since then more buildings have been added, including a sculpture studio in 2006—an indication of Ragdale's efforts to welcome more visual artists (and performing artists), as the program's greatest number of residents are writers. Eacg group is thoughtfully planned so as to create as much harmony as possible during the artists' two week stay. "The community is important," said Regin Igloria, Director of the Artists-in-Residence Program. "We want to make sure there is a mix of people from various cities and stages in their careers." Ragdale residents have complete freedom to make their own schedules; they are asked only to meet nightly for a family-style dinner. Ragdale's peacefulness is difficult to describe, but any visitor would wish to stay awhile and admire the sweeping landscape and bright airy studios, while resident casually pass through the open kitchen.&nbsp;Ox-Bow, located in Saugatuck, MI, i one of the oldest and most well-known residencies in the region, established as both a residency and school in 1910. Residents, primarily visual artists, come from around the world for 2-5 weeks. In addition to receiving studio space and time they are invited to participate in recreational activities and attend nightly lectures (during fall sessions only.) "The community is one of the primary benefits," says executive director Elizabeth Chodos. "Artists [and staff—comprised primarily of artists] bond with each other in a way that is difficult to do in other settings...they can let their guard down."Similarly,&nbsp;ACRE (Artists' Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions), as well as providing time and space, offers a host of activities and programs. These range from the calm and sophisticated—wine and cheese pairing lessons, bike rides—to the racously playful—a cross-river tug-o-war—to the academic. 6-10 international visiting artists meet with residents for a single session (including musicians—ACRE has a fully equipped recording studio) to share skills, lead workshops and give lectures. Co-directors Emily Green and Nick Wylie feel it is important to include an exhibition piece, and each resident has the opportunity to exhibit work at one of ten current partner galleries in Chicago. "This is &nbsp;great way to extend the community," Wylie says. This tendency to add practical professional development elements to a residency is, I discovered, very common among city-based residencies.In the same professional growth vein, the&nbsp;BOLT residency run by the&nbsp;Chicago Artists' Coalition provides 10-11 Chicago artists 24-hour access to studio space for a year, but they do not offer living space. During the residency artists must learn to balance their daily lives with their studio time. What BOLT lacks in living space, it more than makes up for in professional resources. "The residency acts as a holistic incubator," explains Cortney Lederer, Director of Exhbitions + Community Outreach. In addition to studio space, residents are given &nbsp;solo exhibition, they meet monthly as a group with Lederer, and they have opportunities to meet with and exchange ideas with artists, curators, program directors and other people from the Chicago community, such as Art Institute curator Lisa Dorin and former MCA curator Tricia Van Eck.&nbsp;threewalls gallery each have residency programs that focus on Chicago and the region. HPAC's residency launches this October and is by invitation only. The goa is to look to the Chicago arts community for inspiration. "The benefit [for the artsist, many of whom are from outside of the US] is not escape," explained Megha Ralapati, Residency Coordinator, "but being immersed in the Chicago environment." Kate Lorenz, Associate Director of HPAC says "We encourage artists to take risks, and we aim to facilitate connections between artists, other people and resources in the community."threewalls' artist-in-research-residency also acts as a facilitator between artists and the community. Their residency, though, is open to artists, writers, musicians, curators, critics, arts administrators, etc. Residents are provided with studio space (and living space), but that space may be used for public programs, conferences, discussion series, meetings, work-space and more. "We are looking for people who are interested in creating projects in the Midwest," said program director Abigail Satinsky. This doesn't mean the workis site specific, but their work/research must be tied somehow to the region. threewalls was originally estalblished as a residency program by graduates of the School of the Art Institute in an effort to keep artists living and working in Chicago.&nbsp;Anchor Graphics is tucked into a small but ethereal space in a Columbia College building. Bright light flows in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and the walls are covered with work that ranges from prints with simple bold text, to pieces with fine, intricate details. The three-week residency program (which includes an apartment) is designed to give an experienced printmaker unlimied access to the studio. "Its not about the results," says David jones, executive director, "rather we encourage residents to use this time to take risks."&nbsp;Spudnik Press, like Anchor Graphics, has a residency specifically for printmakers. Theirs, however, is geared towards the completion of a specific project and culminates with an exhibition for the resident. Profits from artwork sold during the show go towards funding the next resident. Unlike writers or painters who are arguably more mobile, printmakers need access to large expensive printing presses. Residencies like Spudnik's and Anchor Graphics are invaluable for both the access to professional tools and unfettered support.&nbsp;Primarily a craft-based organization,&nbsp;Lillstreet Art Center&nbsp;also provides tools an artist might not otherwise be able to access, such as ilns and presses. During one-year residencies artists are integrated into the organization by teaching classes and giving two public presentations. When considering that our area offers a number of residency programs, Emily Shroeder Willis, Director of Artist Programs says, "I think it's important to keep an open relationship with other residencies. We are not in competition; we learn from one another."This is exactly the spirit that led leaders from several of the residencies to form&nbsp;CAARP (Chicago Area Arts Residency Programs),&nbsp;a grup which meets to exchange ideas and assist one another in continuing to attract and support outstanding artistic talent and practice. Often, artists don't just participate in a residency once; they will likely find reasons over time to apply to several and to take advantage of multiple programs and experiences.&nbsp;The exception among these residencies with physical centers is&nbsp;TRANSIT, which does not exist in any one location. TRANSIT's motto, "helping artists go places", reveals their mission: to facilitate opportunities for artists to work both in and out of Chicago. Artists apply with their projects in mind, and TRANSIT accomodates each artist's needs. Explains founder and director Meredith Winer, "We tailor everything."&nbsp;Perhaps TRANSIT's motto is applicable to all of the residencies. Whether by phyically, professionally or pscyhically, all of them afford artists the opportunity to go places—to make new connections, to take risks. Both by attracting new artists to the city and supporting local talent residences provide a fertile ground for new conversation, questions and discoveries about art.&nbsp;</body></html>

CGN profiles different artist residencies in the Chicago area. 

Chicago's Unique Artist Residencies

To comission a work of art sounds like a ofty endeavor, but as the Hyde Park Art Cent&#39;ers (HPAC)&nbsp;Not Just Another Pretty FaceI (NJAPF)&nbsp;demonstrates, the process of a patron working with an artist is uniquely satisfying, and not at all out of reach. The program returns this fall for a fifth run. What began in 1995 as a way to support Chicago artists and the Art Center has garnered priase from those familiar with the concept, such as artists looking to collaborate and patrons looking to support HPAC, as well as art enthusiasts who appreciate this genius, approachable idea.&nbsp;

At a glance, NJAPF is a kind of matchmaking arrangement for the art world, intended to support Chicago artists while making collecting ore assesible to a broader group of people. Through the &quot;salons&quot; series artists and patrons pair up, questions are answered, artists&#39; art work ix explored and the collaboartion begins.&nbsp;

NJAPF involves many people and from start to finish it can take place anywhere from 18 months to two years. Inititially HPAC builds up the artist roster, where the goal is to assemble a diverse group of artists, encompassing a range of cultural backgrounds, artistic media, styles and price points. Once artists are selected, private and public salons are hosted by interested patrons as well as HPAC. Artists and patrons meet and the matchmaking begins. Eventually parameters are established regarding finances and the nature of the commissioned artwork. Some patrons lay down specific requests, such as a certain type of artwork or style, liked a mixed media portrait, while others may give the artist total control over the process and outcome. Works executed include painting, photography, sculpture, installation and more.&nbsp;

Due to the program&#39;s dual goals, commission proceeds generated by patrons are split equally between HPAC and the artist. Finally, a comprehensive catalogue is produced and the final works are unveiled at a celebratory opening of the three-month exhibition of the work produced during the program. In many cases at the opening party is the first time a patron sees the finished work before taking it home to be a part of, or the start to, their collections.&nbsp;

NJAPF has a proven track record of bringing more awareness and support to Chicago artists, as well as demystifying the notion of collecting art. Brand new patrons as well as seasoned collectors recognize their sponsorship plays a direct role in supporting the arts. -LM

CGN profiles the Hyde Park Art Center and Not Just Another Pretty Face, an interactive art experience. 

Not Just Another Pretty Face: Artists + Individuals Creating Together

By KEVIN NANCEIf anyone is ideally positioned to carry on the line of major art fairs in Chicago and restore it to health after years of turmoil, it’s Tony Karman. He’s been involved—sometimes tangentially, sometimes heavily—in nearly all of the fairs dating back to the early 1980s, when he worked at the Chicago International Art Exposition as a security guard. More recently, after two decades as one of the local art scene’s busiest drum-beaters and string-pullers, he helped organize four editions of Art Chicago at the Merchandise Mart, which threw up its hand last winter and canceled this year’s event. By that time, Karman had already left the Mart and—with “absolute chutzpah,” he admits in an interview—announced his own fair, the International Exposition of Contemporary/Modern Art &amp; Design, aka Expo Chicago, premiering Sept. 19-23, 2012 at Navy Pier.Mart executives argued that Chicago is no longer a viable player in the art-fair market, which they claimed has “gravitated towards the coasts.” Karman begs to differ. “I’m not a controversial guy—I don’t throw stones—but that statement does not hold water,” he declares. “This is a city that led the world with a great international art fair, and there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t do it again.”In some ways, Karman’s playbook for Expo Chicago is not so different from the one he used with varying success at the Mart: building partnerships and goodwill with the city’s visual arts movers and shakers, including top collectors, dealers, and museums (in particular the Museum of Contemporary Art, who benefit preview, Vernissage, is being revived after an eight-year hiatus); tempting out-of-town buyers by leveraging Chicago’s array of cultural amenities, including its world-class restaurant scene; and enlisting the support of the city, whose civic pride (an income from tourism) would suffer a significant blow if it no longer boasted a major art fair. “It would have been sad if there’d been no fair this year,” says Janet Alberti, MCA’s deputy director. “We were really sorry that the Mart made the decision not to move forward, but Tony’s doing the city a great service by revitalizing the fair.”To that end, karman has a few new cards up his elegantly tailored sleeve. He has pumped Expo Chicago full of star power in the form or architect Jeanne Gang, who has designed a thoughtful new scheme for the booth configuration at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, and top chefs Michael Kornick, Graham Elliot, Ryan Poli, Patricio Sandoval and Randy Zweiban, who will add a touch of culinary artistry to the paintings and sculpture. And smartly, Karman is mounting Expo Chicago not in the fairs’ traditional spring time frame but in the fall, taking it out of the competition with the year’s biggest art auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York and getting an intuitive jump on Art Basel Miami Beach, which has boomed in large part because of its host city’s famously balmy winter weather. “September in Chicago is our December in Miami,” he says. “There’s nothing more beautiful than autumn in Chicago.” &nbsp;Just as important, Expo Chicago is doing what few, if any, of its predecessors ever did: imposing strict discipline on the size of the event. Where Art Chicago and its various components and companions grew so large and unwieldy that some patrons were overwhelmed by the sheer acreage to be covered—which also had the effect of spreading sales too thinly among too many dealers—Karman has taken a beyond-boutique approach, emphasizing quality over quantity by limiting participation to exactly 100 of the world’s top galleries. (For the complete list, which was strategically announced a full five months before the event, visit Expochicago.com/exhibitors.) That’s crucial to the galleries, several of whom complained of market dilution during the more-is-more years at the Mart. “One reason I limited the fair to 100 galleries is that there’s a better chance they’ll see the kind of business they’re looking for,” Karman says. “If I did a show with 200 dealers, I think we’d repeat what happened in the past, and they would hit that same wall.”Most crucial of all, perhaps, is the return to Navy Pier, home of Art Chicago in its storied heyday in the 1980s and the early ‘90s. Part of its appeal is logistical and aesthetic; unlike the Mart, with its relatively low ceilings, Festival Hall allows for 12-foot booth walls (borrowed from Mark Lyman’s annual SOFA show) and an airy feelings of space overhead. But especially for those with long memories, Expo Chicago’s venue is significant for reasons that have less to do with the height of the booths than with emotion and history.“The two magic words that made this work were ‘Navy Pier,’” Karman says. “When we were able to secure the Pier, it allowed nostalgia to take over and and sent a massive signal to the international art world that we’re reconnecting to the legacy of the fair. Back in 1980, there were three great art fairs in the world: Cologne, Basel, and Chicago. The art fair scene has since gotten much larger, of course, but the institutional memory of what this city meant to the international art world—collector, curator, dealer—is undeniable. It would be sad for them, as well as sad for our city, not to have a fair that lives up to that legacy and continues to raise the bar.Of course, its venues alone doesn’t guarantee Expo Chicago’s success. In 2005, a new show, Chicago Contemporary &amp; Classic, set itself up at a Navy Pier in direct competition with Art Chicago, which had left the Pier after an ugly financial dispute. (In 2004, McPier sued Art Chicago owner-operator Thomas Blackman for what it claimed was $375,000 in unpaid rent. The lawsuit settled out of court, and Blackman moved his fair to a tent in Butler Field. Art Chicago’s money woes continued, however, leading to the Mart’s last minute rescue/takeover in 2006.) Chicago Contemporary &amp; Classic, which had announced a long-term lease at the Pier, turned out to be short-lived.Arman hopes to avoid the fate of CC&amp;C, which had included exhibitors of the traditional art and antiques as well as contemporary and modern art, and which positioned itself as a regional fair rather than national or international one. “Every fair needs to know what its niche is,” CC&amp;C’s Ilana Vardy told me when I reported on the event for the Chicago-Sun times. “Chicago needs to serve the market in the city, the needs to serve the market in the city, the state and the region surrounding Illinois. We’re not trying to be another Art Basel, &nbsp;because its not going to happen here that way. There isn’t enough time on the calendar for collectors of that level to keep going to so many fairs. My goal is to rebuild the Chicago fair as a Midwest show.”Like Vardy before him, Karman believes in the importance of the regional market as a key element of the business strategy of the fair and its exhibitors. “The art world recognizes that Chicago plays an important role in the ecosystem, even in this era of potentially too many art fairs,” he says. “My job is not necessarily to turn out the collectors in L.A. and New York and Europe—even though I think we will because we’re an international city that people love to visit. The dealers are really looking to me to turn to our tertiary markets like Tulsa and Omaha, Kansas City and St. Louis, Cleveland and Minneapolis, Dallas and Houston, places with lots of collectors who historically come to the art fair here. Those people are just as important to the dealers as collectors in Paris of Shanghai.But unlike CC&amp;C, which has relatively few top galleries on its exhibitor roster, Expo Chicago has gone for the creme-de-la-creme, which, in a strong vote of confidence, has turned out in force. “To do just a regional fair doesn’t draw the region,” Karman says. “That just doesn’t work in Chicago, where any fair is always going to be judged by the standard of our glorious past, by the legacy and the aspirations of our collectors for 30 years. The only way to do a successful fair here, I feel, is to do it on that level. “On the other hand, Expo Chicago’s emphasis on staying relatively small has had the potential of ruffling feathers among the local gallerists, several of whom would have liked to participate but didn’t meet the criteria established by Karman’s selection committee (composed of Chicago’s D’Amelio and San Francisco’s Anthony Meier). “If I were taking any gallery in, the context of exclusivity would be lost, and so would be the filter that assures the collector that this is a highly curated show,” Karman says. “It would have never stirred any souls, and it would never have been able to compete in the international marketplace. That’s why I did it, and painfully so. It’s also why we’re going to have booth reviews. If they said they were going to bring a Rauschenberg, where’s the Rauschenberg?”Fortunately, even many local gallerists who aren’t in Expo Chicago are pulling for Karman to succeed. “Tony has a lot of fans in this town,” says Linda Warren of Linda Warren Projects in the West Loop. “We’re all in his corner, because if he makes this thing work, it’ll benefit us all.”

From a 2012 issue, CGN profiles Expo Chicago. 

Expo Chicago to revive Windy City’s glorious art-fair legacy 

What were you doing 40 years ago this fall? How about 30, or even 10? Were you even born? A sizeable number of our city&#39;s galleries are marking major milestones this fall, so we took some time to ask them about the kind of impact that longetivity and leadership have had in our neighborhoods and in our arts community. A multitude of developments have affected art businesses here and around the world, but when considering the many industry shifts, Chicago dealers have similar reponses: the internet and art fairs have turned things on their head when it comes to selling art, promoting artists and reaching collectors. With the benefit of hindsight, several dealers celebrating significant anniversaries this year offered reflections on all that has changed over the decades, as well as what thankfully remains the same. -GV

Artists and art dealers are often pioneers when it comes to seeking out new neighborhoods in which to live as well as run a business. The vitality and popularity of Chicago neighborhoods today, such as River North and the West Loop, versus 10 or 20 years ago is in part thaks to dealers and artists who blazed early trails. Such geographic changes have had long-rage effects on the gallery scene that are still evident.&nbsp;

Prior to the 1980s the city&#39;s established galleries were centered around Michigan Avenue. A few stalwarts are still located there today, including Richard Gray Gallery, approaching its 50th anniversary in 2013, and R.S. Johnson Fine Art, in business for over 56 years. By the late &#39;70s a few dealers addressed a need for space that was not available along the city&#39;s main retail corridor. Zolla/Lieberman Gallery moved to 368 West Huron in 1976. In 1979 Ann and Roy Boyd moved their gallery to West Superior to the second floor above Young Hoffman Gallery, with Jack Lemmon and Landfall Press. Ann Boyd remembers, &quot;It was a ronderful time. There was hardly any activity during the day, but people who came to see us came for a purpose. We were all feeling pressure to have higher ceilings, more space for art, more elbowroom during openings. Some artists thouht we were crazy until their say the big spaces and recognized the sense of camraderie. Ou rinsurance when we started wa $1,500 a month because our agent though all of our windows would be smashed.&quot; By 1983 16 galleries had opened in what would soon be known as River North.&nbsp;

Around the same time that galleries were begining to establish Chicago&#39;s first gallery district, in 1981 a new event on the city&#39;s art calendar would forever change the art business.&nbsp;Art Exposition&nbsp;launched on Navy Pier that year, and the resulting enegery and attention bouyed Chicago&#39;s reputation as an international art center; it also added fuel to the rapid local gallery growth. By the end of &#39;80s, over 65 galleries filled River North, while more openered around the city, including in Wicker Park/Bucktown and beyond.&nbsp;

Catherine Edelman launched her namesake gallery 25 years ago after graduating from the School of the Art Institute, opening her doors two weeks before the 1987 stock market crash. An April 1989 fire that devestated River North, along with the coinciding crash of the global art market, led to widespread votality well into the early &#39;90s. Some dealers again sought larger spaces and lower rents, spurring a significant relocation to he West Loop. Edelman says, &quot;I think the idea was that we&#39;d all move, which at first seemed like a viable idea, but a lot of us decided to stay. I think that split hurt the power of the Chicago gallery scene. There never used to be a thought where else you&#39;d go opening night.&quot;&nbsp;

Art centers have continued to develop locally in all directions, such as in Pilsen and Bridgeport where distinct neighborhood personalities are evident. The ever-creative art scene now even includes pop-up galleries and installations, a timely result of a resourceful economy. Changes in the global business landscape have also aletered the way we all reach audiences beyond the ones at home. In the past 10 years, we&#39;ve come to view websites, blogs, Twitter and Facebook as critical.&nbsp;

Douglas Dawson Gallery markes 30 years at the end of this year, and Dawson points to technology as being one of the most striking differences since his early days, though he admits that new channels maynot seem as jarring to those starting out. He says, &quot;For older galleries, like ours, with an older clientele, and a long history of print, mailings, personal contact, the evolution of technology and the impetus to make it a valid tool of the business has been challenging.&quot;&nbsp;

Social networking and the web aren&#39;t the only things making the art world smaller. Roy Boyd, who founded his gallery in 1972 in Westrn Springs before moving downtown near the original site of the MCA, says that compared to 40 years ago, &quot;We all know art fairs have taken over. The scene isn&#39;t just local anymore.&quot; Dawson reiterated Boyd&#39;s point: &quot;the changes I&#39;ve seen in the art business in Chicago mirror changes nationally. When I opened in the early 1980&#39;s there was tremendous, self-sustaining energy in the art community. Today our business is predicated on participating in important art fairs. We depend on the clients we meet at those fairs who, if they do not purchase at the show, often will when they visit us in Chicago.&nbsp;

Valerie Crberry, who opened her gallery 10 years ago in the John Hancock Center, says though many see striking changes over the years, and art now reaches many via the internet, up close and in-person can&#39;t be beat: &quot;What has not changed is that the quality of experience for the casual vistor or the experience collector is never better than in the gallery itself, where the directors, staff, and artists are available to share their expertise and enthusiasm in a comfortable space. This experience endures alongside the many and now vital platforms for art viewing, such as online or at art fairs, and proves the value of a basic pleasure.&quot;&nbsp;

Running a gallery is a marathon, certainly not a sprint. Dawson says, &quot;I think the most important issue for an older gallery, as for an older individual, is how to remain vital, relevant, and able to bring energized perspectives to one&#39;s activities. Chicago is a wonderful and receptive city to explore those challenges.&quot; 10 years ago the Boyds hosted an intimate party for their 30th anniversary. &quot;This fall,&quot; Roy says, &quot;we&#39;re going to just have a group show for our 40th anniversary. We&#39;re letting our artists subit their favorite old work, or they can submit something new. We just wanted to recognize the people we&#39;ve worked so well with.&quot;

CGN profiles local Chicago galleries celebrating their anniversaries. 

2012 Gallery Milestones: Decades in the Art Business

By KEVIN NANCEIs the glass half-empty for the Chicago art scene, or half-full? It depends on whom you ask, what you focus on and how ambitious a response you propose.In the upper, unoccupied, rather lonely part of the glass, there’s the fact that the Merchandise Mart recently pulled the plug on Next Art Chicago, which it rescued so gallantly a few years ago, only to see it suffer during the recession and struggle to compete with other fairs in Basel, Miami, New York, London and elsewhere. After what they described in a parting statement as “a thorough analysis of the art fair landscape,” the Mart’s Staci Boris and Ken Tyburski bailed on Chicago like it was the Titanic, concluding that “the great majority of the art fair market in the United States has gravitated toward the coasts.”For Chicago artists and gallery owners, who increasingly feel that local collectors prefer to buy elsewhere, the recession has been hard. There’s a battle-fatigue, even a malaise, in certain precincts. “There’s still such a fantastic art scene here, so many great galleries – but an energy is missing,” says Kasia Kay of kasia kay art projects in the West Loop. “It’s really kind of sad.”In the lower, still quite fluid part of the glass, hopes are high for former Art Chicago director Tony Karman’s new fair, EXPO&nbsp;Chicago, set to debut at Navy Pier, September 20-23, 2012. “Tony’s taken the torch and is running with it at the moment,” says Linda Warren of Linda Warren Projects. “There’s a real buzz out there because he’s investing a lot of energy into it, trying to be the very top tier of art fairs in the world. If it happens, I think it’ll help bring our art scene back.”There’s some disagreement about that. Even if EXPO Chicago is&nbsp;wildly successful, gallery owner Carrie Secrist says, no city can assume that one art fair, which now has&nbsp;so much competition around the world, can revive an ailing art scene all by itself. “That’s over,” Secrist declares. “If a comeback happens, it’ll have to happen another way.”Still, there are positive signs. “As the economy has started to come back over the past few months, our business has been stronger,” the River North gallery owner Roy Boyd says. “We’ve seen some green sprouts.”And at City Hall, the new mayor’s administration appeared to be arts-friendly,so far. The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) hit the ground running earlier this year when it began organizing dozens of community meetings to gather input for the new Chicago Cultural Plan, the first time such a plan has been seriously revisited since initially launched in the 1980s. Many in the arts community are still holding out for more concrete signs of support from City Hall.Either way you look at it – half-full or half-empty – the question remains: How do we fill up that damn glass? How do we refocus attention – locally, nationally, internationally – on Chicago as an art center? How do we leverage the city’s unique character, including its vast array of cultural resources, to provide a shot in the arm to an art scene that some regard as in the doldrums?A Hail Mary approach would be to mount a major citywide event modeled, at least loosely, on Pacific Standard Time, a recently concluded series of more than 60 exhibitions in Southern California focused on Los Angeles art from 1945 to 1980. PST, as it was known, drew mostly positive reviews, brought cohesion to the city’s sprawling art scene and raised its national and international profile, enviable results, and certainly all worthy goals for any Chicago counterpart. But PST, several years in the planning, was largely organized and funded by the Getty Foundation, which contributed about $10 million. The Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art, while not exactly aloof from the Chicago art scene, are not known for their deep involvement with it, at least not at the paternal level of the Getty in L.A.; certainly neither can match the Getty’s deep pockets.That isn’t to say that a Chicago-style art celebration, even one with as grand a scope as L.A.’s, couldn’t be pulled off here. “I think it could be done,” Boyd asserts. “It would take a massive effort to spearhead it, of course, and a great deal of cooperation between a number of different people and entities who don’t normally work together that closely, but it could be done.” In Boyd’s vision, major Chicago Institution, galleries, artists, collectors, art-loving philanthropists and foundations – including the MacArthur, the Pritzker and the Terra – could band together and mount a coordinated citywide event that could give Pacific Standard Time a run for its money. “Having the museums and the galleries and everyone moving together as a united font would certainly lend a focus and a power to any effort like that,” Secrist says. “That’s probably the quickest way to bring back more of a national focus to Chicago.”But how would herd all those cats? You’d need to field an all-star team with the vision of a Daniel Burnham, the networking skills of a Lois Weisberg, the fundraising prowess of a John H. Bryan and, probably, the political clout of Rahm Emaunuel.Until such a dream team surfaces, perhaps the problem would be best attacked, at least for the time being, on a smaller, more manageable scale, with an approach that is multifaceted and less monolithic. One of several possible models might be Gallery Weekend Chicago, a collaboration that began in fall 2011 between a group of local galleries (including Andrew Rafacz, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Devening Projects + Editions, Donald Young, Kavi Gupta, moniquemelcohe, Rhona Hoffman, Shane Campbell, threewalls, Tony Wight and Western Exhibitions) and local collectors to bring in out-of-towners for a “privately curated” sampling of the Chicago art and cultural scene, including gallery and museum visits, hard-to-get reservations at top restaurants and an architecture river tour.“We’ve seen a decline in what’s been going on here, but we still have incredibly thriving institutions and galleries, and so we came together last year to see how we could share that with collectors from all over the country,” Monique Meloche says. “Berlin has been doing something like this, and it’s been wildly popular there. Both New York and L.A. have tried to produce their own versions, so we thought, why not? We have such great institutions here, such great architecture, and a national culinary profile. People love to come to Chicago, so it seemed like a natural.” Last year’s event drew about 50 out-of-towners, and the group hopes to triple the attendance at this year’s follow-up, scheduled to coincide with Expo Chicago in September. (For details visit <a href="http://www.galleryweekendchicago.com">galleryweekendchicago.com</a>) “We don’t think it’ll get much larger than that, because we don’t want it to become a marathon,” Meloche says. “We want to keep it manageable for people so they can spend some quality time at these spaces.”In her opinion, in fact, the sensory overload provided by a major art fair – or a Pacific Standard Time knockoff – might not be what Chicago needs after all, at least not now. Instead of one big jolt of shock therapy to rouse us from our collective depression, maybe a series of smaller zaps would do just as well or better. “If you do a ‘Chicago Standard Time,’ maybe you’d narrow the focus too much on the art scene, and frankly I’m not sure it would draw people here like Pacific Standard Time drew people to L.A.,” Meloche says. “We need to be showcasing the whole culture of Chicago, not just the art scene – including the architecture, the world-class institutions, the restaurants, everything. I mean, when you talk to out-of-town people about coming to Chicago, their eyes light up. We just need to invite them.”

Kevin Nance talks to members of the Chicago art scene about an arts revival in 2012

An Invitation from Chicago to the World

By GINNY VAN ALYEAThere was an article in the Arts section of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/arts/design/southern-california-claims-its-place-on-the-art-world-map.html?_r=4&amp;src=me&amp;ref=arts">New York Times</a>&nbsp;on Thursday, October 13 that really made me cringe, and a lively discussion on&nbsp;Twitter&nbsp;soon followed.&nbsp; In a nutshell, the article talks about LA's recent emergence as a major international art center, and of course they discuss the city's art scene in comparison to New York today, as well as what has made New York's art world so dynamic over the decades. For me, the piece brought up all sorts of feelings and observations about Chicago.The article starts by discussing a new arts festival, Pacific Standard Time, and referencing the sprawling territory throughout southern California for galleries, museums, and art centers.&nbsp; The festival is touted as, "a statement of self-affirmation by a region that, at times, appears to feel underappreciated as a serious culture center." &nbsp;There were a lot of lines that sounded very familiar to me - if I read the article with all references to California blacked out, I might be able to read this piece as a summation of our own varied, lively arts scene in Chicago.&nbsp; I give LA credit - they've got some blockbusters going on right now that are drawing crowds (Tim Burton; the graffiti show.) And it's so sunny most of the year that "Curators talk about the difficulty of encouraging people to walk indoors for anything but a movie in a city that has glorious weather so many months of the year."&nbsp; They have some really solid artists producing work that is of the moment now - who hasn't been obsessed with Ed Ruscha during the past 10 years?&nbsp;"Indeed, Los Angeles these days has more than its share of ambitious museums, adventurous art galleries, wealthy collectors, top-notch art schools and — perhaps most important — young artists drawn here by relatively cheap rents, abundant light and an atmosphere that encourages experimentation."As I was reading the article I thought, there's something missing - they haven't acknowledged that there IS another major city in the US that has all of these things, except of course the abundant sunshine and mild weather.&nbsp; Actually, there are a lot of smaller cities and communities that have notable art scenes, but they don't get covered because they're in fly-over territory.&nbsp; Chicago has really solid artists, though less of the Hollywood vibe (fine by me) and we've always been less flash-in-the-pan. But we have great art schools and young artists. We have cheap rents. Hello, the alternative space/apartment gallery scene here is unlike anywhere else, as shown in Hyde Park Art Center's exhibition,&nbsp;Artists Run Chicago&nbsp;in 2009. We have art fairs devoted to it! We have ambitious museums - Art Institute and MCA, yes, but also Smart, Renaissance, and Block.&nbsp; Adventurous galleries (5 Chicago galleries are in the&nbsp;ADAA,&nbsp;and LA has 6, though two are related and basically have the same name.)&nbsp; We have wealthy collectors, though they also suffer from the instinct to sometimes buy in New York more often than they should, to the detriment of our local artists.&nbsp;The article goes on: “There is now enough critical mass of galleries, of places where artists meet, blogs, magazines..." Again, we have a&nbsp;long list. &nbsp;What made me throw down my paper in frustration on an otherwise quiet Thursday evening was when I got to the concluding, and damning, quote from none other than former Art Institute president Jim Cuno, who recently turned up in LA to become president of the J. Paul Getty Trust after a very sudden departure from AIC.&nbsp; I guess he left Chicago for LA for more than the weather: "Mr. Cuno said his perception was that people in Los Angeles did not really spend a lot of time worrying about what other people thought of them. “I don’t feel or hear any ‘second city’ mentality here,” said Mr. Cuno, who came from Chicago, where that kind of talk is common. “People in Los Angeles are pretty happy with their position in the world and needn’t get the confirmation from elsewhere.”So, if I lived in LA I'd be confident enough to just shrug my shoulders and move on.&nbsp; Since I'm from Chicago, I must be foolishly obsessed with what other people think.&nbsp; What's wrong with caring?&nbsp; Chicagoans get doses of 'second city mentality' with their breakfast. We're used to it,&nbsp; even if we can't overcome it. It's an old debate, and it's not going to go anywhere soon, but I think the reference was kind of a cheap shot.&nbsp; Conversely, Cuno's comment also makes everyone in LA sound kind of dippy and just inherently happy, which I'm sure isn't giving them enough credit for their own hard work.&nbsp;There are a lot of opinions out there about Mr. Cuno and his biggest Chciago project, the&nbsp;Modern Wing, which I happen to really enjoy and love.&nbsp; I have always thought that someone who could have led that project, which ultimately did garner a great deal of favorable press for Chicago in 2009, would go on to have warm feelings about our city.&nbsp; That would be 'reverse second city menality, as it made me actually think people liked us.&nbsp; I'm sure there is more to Mr. Cuno's sentiments than what comes through in the article (I hope so) and if that's the case, it's a poor job by NYT for unnecessarily pitting one city against another without a fair fight.&nbsp;Back to the Art Institute: I think that the new head of the museum is absolutley off to the right start to start looking at life after the Modern Wing. New president&nbsp;Douglas Druick&nbsp;has been a curator at AIC for decades, so he's part of the family, and he seems to be committed to keeping the museum on strong financial footing so that it can be an anchor for the city and to making sure that the curatorial schedule doesn't get too bloated.&nbsp; I hope that there are many opportunities ahead to see the museum as a cultural space that belongs to all Chicagoans and visitors. AIC can serve as a mirror to hold up to our own evolving art history, not just the world's; for instance, I'd love to get back to the time when AIC actually had exhibitions focused on Chicago artists and work being made in the city now - with a wing devoted to contemporary art NOW is the time... Such engaging programs could do our pride some good and just might even make Chicago seem almost as bright and sunny as LA.&nbsp; In our city at least people have no problem going indoors for at least 6 months of the year.Mr. Cuno's comments stung my civic pride.&nbsp; Ultimately I think Chicagoans especially value loyalty, and I put myself in that group.&nbsp; I've built up some extra defensiveness over the past 9 years of living in Chicago, since there is no shortage of opportunities to have to defend Chicago, let alone its art community, against other bigger, shinier places and to work to build its reputation as a dynamic and honest cultural home.&nbsp; I also have come to expect the same faithfulness from others who are or have been part of that same community.I look forward to everyone's comments and thoughts on the article and this post.&nbsp; If you're a writer in Chicago, I also encourage you to write your own article or posting in response to the dominant ideas about Chicago's place in the art world - on its own or in relation to LA and NYC.&nbsp; As we all know, it's a never ending battle.

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