By MADELINE HAPPOLD

The holiday season is here, and Chicago offers a range of art shows and sales with unique gifts for everyone on your list.&nbsp;Below is a preview&nbsp;of upcoming art sales featuring everything from sculptures and fine art to artisanal household goods and jewelry. &nbsp;

<h3>SAIC Holiday Art Sale</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy of SAIC Campus Life and Involvement " data-rich-file-id="1649" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1649/original/art-sale-spring-2013-07.jpg" />

Support local artists at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago&rsquo;s 28th Annual Holiday Art Sale. The sale features art created by over 120 graduate and undergraduates students. Work ranges from prints, jewelry, ceramics, paintings and more. A majority of the proceeds benefit the artists and designers.

The art sale is free and open to the public&nbsp;on Friday, November 18th from 11am-7pm and Saturday, November 19th from 10am-5pm. The art sale will also hold a First Look Preview Night on Thursday, November 17th from 5-8pm. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.saic.edu/lifeatsaic/campuslifeandinvolvement/studentartsales/">SAIC Holiday Sale</a>. &nbsp;

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<h3>Renegade Craft Fair</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy Renegade Craft Fair" data-rich-file-id="1672" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1672/original/renegadecraft-1.jpg" />

Find unique gifts at the Renegade Craft Fair, a traveling craft fair that celebrates DIY. Founded in Chicago in 2003, Renegade has grown to become the largest independent craft fair in the world. Renegade features not only artwork and crafts, but also artisanal food and drink along with live music. The holiday fair at Bridgeport Art Center will feature over 250 independent makers.

The Renegade Craft Fair is open December 3-4 from 11am-6pm. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.renegadecraft.com/fairs/chicago-2016-holiday">Renegade Craft Fair</a>. &nbsp;

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<h3>Bucktown Holiday ArtShow</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy Bucktown Promotions" data-rich-file-id="1673" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1673/original/bucktownfair.jpg" />

Attend the 18th Annual Bucktown Holiday ArtShow at Holstein Park Fieldhouse. The art show includes over 100 participating artists and offers various mixed media gifts for shoppers. The art show also hosts a silent auction with donations from featured artists. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to A Long Walk Home, a non-profit that uses art to educate youth on violence against young women.

The event is hosted by Bucktown Promotions. The 18th Annual Bucktown Holiday ArtShow will take place Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11 from 12-5pm. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.bucktownpromotions.com">bucktownpromotions.com</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;

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<h3>One of a Kind Show+Sale Chicago</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy of One of a Kind Art Show+Sale" data-rich-file-id="1656" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1656/original/unspecified.jpg" />

The 16th Annual One of a Kind Show&rsquo;s Holiday Edition will feature over 600 artists from across the country. Artists will be selling handmade gifts ranging from ceramics and sculptures to photography and pet products. The event also features artist demonstrations, craft workshops, live music, and food.

The four day show will be open at the Merchandise Mart from December 1-4. Tickets are valid for all four days, and proceeds go to Ann &amp; Robert H. Lurie Children&rsquo;s Hospital. For more information, visit <a href="http://oneofakindshowchicago.com/holiday">oneofakindshowchicago.com/holiday</a>.

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<h3>Randolph Street Market Festival: Holiday Sales</h3>

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1671" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1671/original/rsm-june-19.jpg" />

Randolph Street Market will feature three holiday sales with vendors selling products great for gift giving and receiving. Spanning three levels inside the Plumbers Union Hall, the holiday sales feature over 125 vendors offering custom-made gifts such as decorative arts, jewelry, houseware, and cooking goods. The event also features free parking and free gift wrapping.

The holiday sales will take place November 19-20, November 26-27, and&nbsp;December 10-11 from 10am-5pm each day. Get more information&nbsp;or purchase tickets online&nbsp;at <a href="http://randolphstreetmarket.com">randolphstreetmarket.com</a>.

&nbsp;

<h3>Chicago Printmakers Collaborative Small Print Exhibition and Holiday Art Sale</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy Chicago Printmakers Collaborative" data-rich-file-id="1670" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1670/original/chicagoprintmakerscollaborative.jpg" />

The <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/chicago-printmakers-collaborative--3">Chicago Printmakers Collaborative</a> will feature its 27th Annual Small Print Exhibition and Holiday Art Sale. The sale includes print art and works-on-paper from local and international artists. Featured artists include Hiroshi Ariyama, Michael Barnes, Nicola Villa, Artemio Rodriguez, Tony Fitzpatrick, and Megan Sterling. Visitors are encouraged to mingle with the artists as they print on-site. &nbsp; &nbsp;

The show&rsquo;s grand opening will take place December 3-4,&nbsp;11am-7pm on both days. The exhibition will run through February 4, 2017.

&nbsp;

<h3>Intuit&#39;s&nbsp;Holiday Pop-Up Markets</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy Intuit Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art" data-rich-file-id="1674" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1674/original/intuitholiday.jpg" />

Stop by <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/intuit-the-center-for-intuitive-and-outsider-art">Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and&nbsp;Outsider Art&#39;s</a>&nbsp;Holiday Pop-Up Market before its too late. The market will feature fiber works in partnership with artisans from the Creatively Empowered Women (CEW) Design Studio. CEW is an art therapy enterprise, providing a space for knitting, crocheting and art lessons for immigrant women. The pop-up sale is free and open to the public&nbsp;Saturday, December 3 from 11am-5pm and Sunday, December 4 from 12pm-4pm.&nbsp;

Intuit will also host the Outsider, Ethnographic and Folk Art Pop-Up Sale. The sale features three collectors selling high quality materials as well as sculptures, drawings, ethnographic textiles, and African masks and scultpures. The sale will take place Friday, December 9 from 5-9pm, and Saturday, December 10 from 10am-4pm.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Top Image: Courtesy of One of a Kind Art Show+Sale

Find the perfect holiday gift at one of Chicago's holiday art sales.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving: Upcoming Holiday Art Sales

Three Chicago galleries and the University of Chicago shared their congratulations on Friday on behalf of artists who will be participating in the 2017 Whitney Biennial.&nbsp;

63 artists are participating next year as&nbsp;part of the always highly anticipated survey of the state of contemporary art. The Biennial is the longest running contempoary art survey in the US, and this edition will be the first held in the museum&#39;s new (and larger)&nbsp;downtown building after a relocation from the Upper East Side.&nbsp;

The museum&#39;s website notes, &quot;The formation of self and the individual&rsquo;s place in a turbulent society are among the key themes reflected in the work of the artists selected for the 2017 Whitney Biennial. The exhibition includes sixty-three participants, ranging from emerging to well-established individuals and collectives working in painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, film and video, photography, activism, performance, music, and video game design.&quot;

The 2017 Whitney Biennial is co-curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks. The film program is organized by Christopher Y. Lew, Mia Locks, and Aily Nash.

&nbsp;

<h3>Rhona Hoffman Gallery: Deana Lawson&nbsp;</h3>

Deana Lawson&#39;s work is now on view in the group exhibition&nbsp;Rhona Hoffman 40 Years Part 2: Gender. Race. Identity.&nbsp;through December 23.

<img alt="" data-caption="Deana Lawson, &lt;i&gt;Self-Portrait&lt;/i&gt;, 2013" data-rich-file-id="1665" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1665/original/wqpr-deanalawsonselfportrait2013-1.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<h3>Corbett vs. Dempsey: Cauleen Smith</h3>

Cauleen Smith&#39;s current exhibition at Corbett vs. Demsey&nbsp;closes December&nbsp;3.

<img alt="" data-caption="Cauleen Smith, &lt;i&gt;Conduct your Blooming&lt;/i&gt;, 2015, seven banners, sequin and satin fabric with felt, cotton, velvet and rayon letters, dimensions variable" data-rich-file-id="1664" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1664/original/20161118165318876-540-443-1-0.jpeg" />

&nbsp;

<h3>PATRON:&nbsp;Harold Mendez</h3>

Harold Mendez recently showed his work in a solo exhibition at PATRON. Read CGN&#39;s fall 2016 interview with PATRON founders <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2016/8/patron-committed-to-chicago">here</a>.

<img alt="" data-caption="Harold Mendez in his studio at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Rauschenberg Residency, Summer 2016. Photograph by Mark Poucher, courtesy of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Rauschenberg Residency" data-rich-file-id="1667" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1667/original/haroldmendez.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<h3>William Pope.L&nbsp;</h3>

William Pope.L, a provocative performance artist, is faculty in the Department of Visual Arts at the&nbsp;University of Chicago.

<img alt="" data-caption="POPE.L, &lt;i&gt;The Great White Way, 22 miles, 9 years, 1 street (Whitney version #2)&lt;/i&gt;, 1990, video, duration: 6:35 minutes. © Pope.L " data-rich-file-id="1669" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1669/original/89047ee8.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<a href="http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2017Biennial">The Whitney Biennial 2017</a> runs from March 17-June 11, 2017 in New York City.

Top image: Deana Lawson,&nbsp;Kingdom Come, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2015, inkjet print mounted on Sintra,&nbsp;61 1/2 &times; 50 in,&nbsp;Edition 3/3 + 2AP

Chicago galleries, including Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Corbett vs. Demsey and PATRON, announce artist participation in 2017 Whitney Biennial.

Chicago Galleries Announce Artists Accepted into 2017 Whitney Biennial

By KARA JEFTS

Following the Presidential election results of the previous week, the country is experiencing a notable cultural divide. Many will look to history to try to understand this moment, and many will turn to their community for reassurance and support. Art making as a way of understanding one&rsquo;s self, and as a way to relate to others, will also prove important during this fracture of our nation&rsquo;s bedrock. The Cairn Project, conceived by artist Corinne D. Peterson, provides an exemplary model of art&rsquo;s power to create a unified sense of community, and it will be installed at Citlalin Gallery in Pilsen from November 19-December 31, with an opening reception on November 18 from 7-10 pm.

&ldquo;We live in a culture that discourages us from looking at pain&rdquo; notes Peterson, reflecting on the reasons she has spent over two years working on the Cairn Project, a series of workshops that have engaged over 550 participants in the greater Chicago area, including: immigrants; LGBTQ youth; cancer survivors; survivors of sexual abuse; families of gun violence victims; the homeless; Iraqi, Burundi, and Burmese refugees; veterans; nurses; the bereaved; the blind; among many other men, women, and children from diverse communities across the city.

Peterson believes that rocks, like people, are shaped through traumas: tumbled by the sea, split by tectonic shifts, born through the violent molten explosion of volcanoes, or slowly dissolved by the weathering of acid rain. She leads each community group participating in the Cairn Project to consider form and feeling, and upon entering the room each person is asked to select a rock from a small but thoughtful collection, which she has provided. As the workshop begins, the participants introduce themselves by describing why they selected their rock.

<img alt="" data-caption="&quot;When asked to think about trauma, I imagined an angel wrapping their wings around me and creating calm.&quot; - John, image courtesy of the National Veterans Art Museum" data-rich-file-id="1661" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1661/original/john-veteransmuseum.jpg" />

The introductions become a way for participants to bond and reflect on their personal experience, choosing to respond by directly addressing their own trauma or by speaking in metaphor to express their feelings. As the archivist for the project, I have been working with participants who volunteered to share their reflections on audio or video recordings in order to build an oral history surrounding the project. Carol, a woman from The Mather, a senior living community, reflected on her selection: &ldquo;I like this stone because it has within a very small space a geography of rough spots and smooth spots&hellip;it has both difficulty and the working through of difficulty right here in your hand.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Cairn Project workshop participants from an Iraqi refugee group doing a walking meditation around their finished rocks and tokens." data-rich-file-id="1660" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1660/original/iraqirefugeeworkshop.jpg" />

Following introductions, the workshop leader guides a meditation to calm emotions and re-center the group. Participants are then asked to work in silence while shaping two forms: a rock from stoneware clay that embodies their inner experience of pain and loss, and a small white porcelain token that represents their inner light and hope. The tactile experience of working with clay becomes a way to communicate emotion and experience. As one teen reflected:

<blockquote>
Obviously my rock is in the shape of a heart. I used three different hearts to make it. The first one was perfect. It represents how I was very loving when I was little, and I didn&rsquo;t know hurt. The second was ruined and had lots of damage. It represents me giving up. I was less na&iuml;ve and recognized hurt and pain, and at some point in my life that was all I felt. Then I used a mix of both of them, a bit damaged, but also loving. I mashed them all together and it&rsquo;s a big heart now, still learning so it&rsquo;s still a bit na&iuml;ve, it&rsquo;s been through pain so it&rsquo;s damaged, but it&rsquo;s still big and loving.
</blockquote>

After firing the clay, Peterson uses the stoneware and porcelain forms that embody individual experience to build an installation that celebrates the collective community, titled Cairn &amp; Cloud. A cairn is a man-made heap of stones constructed as a monument or landmark. The Cairn &amp; Cloud takes inspiration from examples of this type of stone memorial, which are found across the world and can be dated back to prehistoric times. For the installation, trauma stones are arranged in a circular mound on the floor, and the porcelain tokens of hope (painted with gold lacquer to recall Japanese kintsukuroi pottery to relate the objects to the metaphor that that which has been broken is more beautiful) are suspended above the mound.

The memorial cairn continues to grow with each workshop, and the installation is currently around six feet in diameter. In addition to the upcoming exhibition at Citlalin Gallery, Cairn &amp; Cloud has been installed at the Oak Park Art League, Lillstreet Gallery Annex, National Veterans Art Museum, Zhou B Art Center, Art on Armitage, and Wicker Park Lutheran Church. Following the exhibition in Pilsen, Peterson is looking to find a permanent location where Cairn &amp; Cloud could be installed as a public memorial for the Chicago community to visit and reflect upon.

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Cairn &amp; Cloud&lt;/i&gt; installation at the Oak Park Art League, photograph by Cindy Trim" data-rich-file-id="1659" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1659/original/cairncloud-oakparkinstall.jpg" />

As part of the Cairn Project, Peterson is also working on establishing a platform for the growing archive of works and reflections. Peterson maintained a record of each participant&rsquo;s piece by photographing the un-fired clay at workshops, and I have been working with her to photograph each individual rock and token, and to pair images with collected audio, video, and written reflections volunteered by participants. The archive will give prominence to each ceramic piece as a valuable object worthy of individual appreciation; just as each person and their life experience is worthy of attention and respect.

The website hosting the archive, scheduled to be launched on November 18 in conjunction with the exhibition opening, will act&nbsp;as an illustrated history of the lives of hundreds of Chicagoans. As the website expands it will include not only the record of each ceramic piece created, but it will also aspire to create a platform for understanding, inspiring online audiences beyond Chicago. The archive will exist as a forum for those who don&rsquo;t pen our history per-se, but instead, are the reason for its writing.&nbsp;

Top image: Detail of&nbsp;Cairn &amp; Cloud&nbsp;installation

The Cairn Project, conceived by artist Corinne D. Peterson, provides an exemplary model of art’s power to create a unified sense of community.

Th­e Cairn Project: Chicago Communities Share Stories of Trauma and of Hope

By SHELBY BEASLEY

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) presents a new exhibition of work by Los-Angeles based artist Diana Thater. The&nbsp;Sympathetic Imagination&nbsp;utilizes&nbsp;LED lights and projectors to display large-scale film and video installations. Thater&nbsp;explores ideas related to&nbsp;shared public spaces and critiques the human tendency to misuse&nbsp;them.

Incorporating visuals from &ldquo;a range of natural phenomena-such as the weightless, seamless, underwater world of dolphins; honeybees who communicate through dancing; and the surprising fortitude of animals in Chernobyl in the aftermath of the worst nuclear meltdown ever- her works explore the subjectivity of animals and the complex relationships humans have constructed with nature.&rdquo;[1] In doing so, Thater brings to the forefront of her viewers minds the reality of the harm humans are causing to the natural world. She exposes what has previously been overlooked in our day-to-day lives and forces the public to investigate further their impact on the planet.

Thater&rsquo;s installation at the MCA allows visitors to experience the subject matter in an enveloped hyper reality, existing within the work itself. &ldquo;Thater&rsquo;s dynamic, immersive installations challenge and invert accepted positions and realities through the deployment of color, movement, scale, and architecture.&rdquo;[2] The extensive imagery subtly alters physical, emotional, optical, and investigative senses.

Photographs below taken by Shelby Beasley. All are installation views of Diana Thater&#39;s&nbsp;The Sympathetic Imagination at the MCA Chicago. Exhibition on display October 29, 2016-January 8, 2017.

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;knots + surfaces&lt;/i&gt;, 2001" data-rich-file-id="1645" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1645/original/untitled-8.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Untitled Videowall (Butterflies)&lt;/i&gt;, 2008" data-rich-file-id="1640" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1640/original/untitled-2.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Delphine&lt;/i&gt;, 1999" data-rich-file-id="1642" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1642/original/untitled-4.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;knots + surfaces&lt;/i&gt;, 2001" data-rich-file-id="1644" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1644/original/untitled-7.jpg" />

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<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Oo Fifi, Five Days in Claude Monet's Garden, Part 1 and Part 2&lt;/i&gt;, 1992" data-rich-file-id="1646" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1646/original/untitled-9.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;knots + surfaces&lt;/i&gt;, 2001" data-rich-file-id="1648" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1648/original/untitled-10.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Six-Color Video Wall&lt;/i&gt;, 2000" data-rich-file-id="1641" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1641/original/untitled-3.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;A Cast of Falcons&lt;/i&gt;, 2000" data-rich-file-id="1643" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1643/original/untitled-5.jpg" />

&nbsp;

[1] <a href="http://www.lacma.org/diana-thater#about-the-exhibition">http://www.lacma.org/diana-thater#about-the-exhibition</a> 
[2]<a href="https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2016/Diana-Thater">https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2016/Diana-Thater</a>

Top image: Diana Thater, Life is a Time-Based Medium, 2015. Photo: Shelby Beasley

A photo essay featuring Diana Thater's The Sympathetic Imagination now on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA).

Diana Thater: The Sympathetic Imagination in Photos

By MADELINE HAPPOLD

Clusters of people descend down colorfully painted stairs at the 18th Street&nbsp;Pink Line stop in Pilsen. Walking west wrapped in scarves and light fall jackets, they are greeted by humming sounds of street music and warm October sun.

It&rsquo;s mid-afternoon and store doors are open, displaying shelves of fresh conchas, antique trinkets and vintage clothing. Weaving down the street, vendors sell small prints and handmade jewelry, chatting idly with customers. Bright yellow, pink and blue papel picado wave lightly overhead in the autumn air. Some stores and residential homes are marked with large, bullseye numbers. Pedestrians cannot help but take a peek inside and are met with an array of color, paintings, sculptures: art.

Continuing down 18th Street&nbsp;visitors are tempted to window shop for art.&nbsp;Prospectus Gallery&nbsp;with its large, glass windows brings art to the people, asserting its presence in the community. People continue to flow in and out of the space as an #18 Bus boards.

Across from the gallery stands Thalia Hall with a tall, black tour bus parked in front for a night show. Next to the venue, an ominous flyer is plastered to a streetlight: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll buy your property!&rdquo; with a number listed below.

On Saturday, October 22&mdash;23, Pilsen held its 14th annual Pilsen Open Studios, a community art walk organized by local artists and volunteers. Started in 2003, the event opens up studio spaces to allow the public to see how and where art is made in Pilsen. The art walk extends beyond artist studios to include community spaces and cafes displaying artwork and tours of the neighborhood&rsquo;s infamous murals.

The event was originally organized by a group of Pilsen artists who wanted to independently feature the neighborhood&rsquo;s artwork, outside of commercialized spaces.

&ldquo;Little by little [neighbors] warmed up to come into the studios to look at art and see what we were doing,&rdquo; said Mark Nelson, an artist and Pilsen resident who has been involved with Open Studios since 2003. &ldquo;They were surprised there were&nbsp;so many of us creating art and culture in the community.&rdquo;

The annual event features a variety of artists, some with their own studios while others showcase artwork in local community spaces and cafes. &nbsp;

&ldquo;I think Pilsen is a great place where you can see&nbsp;established artists, rising artists, outsider artists, all of these different labels that are there,&rdquo; said Victor Monta&ntilde;ez, an artist who has been affiliated with Pilsen since moving to the community in the 1980s. &ldquo;Once they&rsquo;re in Pilsen you see, well, they are artists.&rdquo;

The Pilsen area has been receiving increased attention recently, even outside of the realm of art. For the community, it&rsquo;s a give and take: with increased exposure comes increased interest. Art and artists in Pilsen are being recognized, but rent is rising. Where attention goes, money, and the opportunity to make money, follows.

&ldquo;It&#39;s always good and bad,&rdquo; said Monserrat Alsina, Colibri Gallery owner and local artist who helped originally organize Open Studios. &ldquo;The bad would be the artists having to move away because of the raises in prices of rent. The other thing is that people are coming in, and they&rsquo;re looking at art, and maybe they&#39;re buying more than before. It&#39;s not like we sell tons of stuff, but its exposure. It&#39;s exposure for us, it&#39;s exposure for the neighborhood, for the businesses, it&#39;s like the whole economy is&nbsp;better for.&rdquo;

With its proximity to the University of Illinois at Chicago&rsquo;s (UIC) campus and short &ldquo;L&rdquo; commute to the Loop, Pilsen has become a hotspot for students and young professionals. &nbsp;

&ldquo;There are a lot of young students moving into the area. The new residents aren&rsquo;t interested in fine art, they&rsquo;re more interested in the hip places.&rdquo; said Israel Hernandez, owner of Prospectus Gallery. Hernandez opened the gallery in 1991 as a &ldquo;social hub&rdquo; for the community.

<img alt="" data-caption="Prospectus Art Gallery in Pilsen" data-rich-file-id="1614" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1614/original/prospectus-key.jpg" />

Pilsen&rsquo;s homely appearance is getting an urban makeover, though. The area has had three record stores open in the past year. Housing developers like Property Marketing Group (PMG) are pushing to build new housing units in the area (a project to build 500 new housing units was recently stopped this past June). Bow Truss Coffee Roasters opened in 2014 with some backlash; the storefront was repeatedly vandalized with anti-gentrification messages such as &ldquo;white people out of Pilsen&rdquo; and &ldquo;wake up and smell the gentrification.&rdquo;

&ldquo;The neighborhood has changed, that&#39;s obvious,&rdquo; said Alsina. &ldquo;There&#39;s a lot of gentrification going on.&rdquo;

With talk of gentrification, longtime residents like Hernandez and Alsina worry for the future of the community.

&ldquo;It&rsquo;s becoming like Wicker Park or Bucktown,&rdquo; said Hernandez. &ldquo;It will lose its charm, if you want to call it that.&rdquo;

Pilsen has a history of being a hub for immigrants. In 1940s, Pilsen was home to a large community of Polish immigrants, until younger Czechs began moving to western suburbs in the mid 50s. Mexicans and Latinos were moving west, too, pushed by the construction of the UIC campus in the 1960s. By the 1970 census the area recorded its first Latino majority, acting as a gateway for first generation immigrants and families.

&ldquo;The thing that I&#39;ve always liked about Pilsen is that it&#39;s a family neighborhood and the one thing that it seems to have over a lot neighborhoods is that families seem to stick together here,&rdquo; said Mark Nelson, an artist and Pilsen resident since the mid 80s. &ldquo;I mean, it&rsquo;s not&nbsp;Mayberry R.F.D.&nbsp;but who would want that, right?&rdquo;

Yet, Pilsen&rsquo;s family-centered community is shifting. Based on census and annual American Community Survey data, a study by UIC professor John Becantur and graduate student Youngjun Kim found that while Pilsen remains largely Hispanic, the number of Hispanic residents is decreasing as wealthier, single whites move in. The largest decline was in the number of Mexican families in the area, a 41 percent decrease from 2013 census, continuing the downward trend from the 2000 census.

As of 2000, more than 10,300 Hispanics have left the area, a 26 percent decline. The latest number from&nbsp;2013 report&nbsp;an estimated 28,835 Hispanic residents living in Pilsen. &nbsp;

&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a beautiful place to be, but, unfortunately, that attraction tends to draw investors,&rdquo; said Nelson. &ldquo;If it drew more families in that would be one thing.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Stickers containing anti-gentrification messages are stuck to a vacant storefront window on 18th Street by the 18 Pink Line &quot;L&quot; Stop. " data-rich-file-id="1618" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1618/original/pilsen2.jpg" />

Both Alsina and Nelson admit they frequently receive mail from realtors offering to buy their property. According to Alsina, her current tax payment was double her previous bill, and she predicts the trend will continue.

&ldquo;They raise taxes, raise insurance, homeowner&#39;s insurance, to make it difficult for people like us who are middle class and trying to make it,&rdquo; said Alsina. &ldquo;It&#39;s tough. So many people opt to sell because they can&#39;t afford taxes when its double.&rdquo;

In August of this year&nbsp;Cultura in Pilsen, a non-profit arts organizations located at 1900 S. Carpenter, was forced to move when their landlord doubled their rent. The building manager gave them the ultimatum of moving out by August, or paying month-to-month rent of $2,500, double their current payment. The organization now temporarily resides in La Catrina Caf&eacute;.

Owner Salvador Corona claims the caf&eacute; expanded from a business to a &ldquo;community center,&rdquo; hosting community meetings and displaying artwork from featured artist each month. La Catrina hosted the Pilsen Open Studios&nbsp;kick-off event on Friday October 21.

&ldquo;I think we tend to flock where there&#39;s artists because you relate to them, and they become your friends,&rdquo; said Corona. &ldquo;Pilsen has been like that for a long time. There has really been like a little nest of artists, always, and everyone else just becomes stronger because there are more people.&rdquo;

In Pilsen, art and community coincide, from street murals to local galleries and open studios.

&ldquo;There is no art world,&rdquo; said Monta&ntilde;ez. &ldquo;There is one world, and we all live in the same world. It&#39;s an artist community, and I think that that&#39;s very important about the open studios, that at least for one weekend out of the year in this community everybody sets aside their differences and says &#39;OK, we are all part of this together.&#39;&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption=" Artwork by Victor M. Montañez on display in an artist tent located alongside 18th Street for Pilsen Open Studios." data-rich-file-id="1619" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1619/original/pilsen1.jpg" />

Yet culture and community are always fluctuating, as urban landscapes begin to change. People are moving in as others are moving out, and with new community members comes a variety of cultures. For Pilsen, culture now includes a much steeper price tag.

&ldquo;People tend to think that culture is something that gets handed down from generation to generation and that the community&#39;s culture does that too,&rdquo; said Monta&ntilde;ez. &ldquo;But culture is constantly in conflict, constantly in a struggle for becoming something else.&rdquo;

East on 18th Street, vendors sell fresh produce and bagged chicharones from pop-up shops and pick-up trucks. Groups congregate in Harrison Park, playing in the open field and greeting neighbors as they pass down the street. A family huddles around a steaming pot of tamales at a picnic table. Plastered to a vacant storefront window another flyer responds, &ldquo;Pilsen is not for sale.&rdquo; In the background a Pink Line train rumbles from the tracks above as more visitors walk onto the street.

&nbsp;

Top Image: Mural located outside of La Catrina Caf&eacute; on 18th Street.&nbsp;

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CGN talks with local artists, dealers, and business owners about the changing landscape of the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago.

Pilsen’s Changing Landscape has Mixed Effects on Longtime Artist Community

By ALISON REILLY

CGN is excited to announce a new online series called Eye For Collectors. Each month, we talk with dealers and artists to get the inside scoop on affordable artwork for those interested in starting a collection, seasoned collectors who want to discover new artists, or anyone who wants to learn more about purchasing a work of art. Our goal is to pull back the curtain on the process of buying contemporary art while highlighting some of the most exciting artists showing work in Chicago.

Overtaking the walls of the Hyde Park Art Center&rsquo;s main hallway this past summer was Tina Tahir&rsquo;s expansive installation Botany of Desire. Tahir painted several species of orchids on the walls and floor to create an immersive experience for viewers. The winding vines reference the deceitfulness and trickery of orchids that can imitate different smells in order to attract insects for pollination.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Tina Tahir, &lt;i&gt;Shifting Frames Shifting&lt;/i&gt;, 2015, beeswax, dimensions variable, $1,200. Courtesy Kasia Kay Art Projects" data-rich-file-id="1571" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1571/original/tahir-shifting-frames-02.jpg" />

Tahir&rsquo;s interest in vegetal forms can be found in a number of her projects, including Shifting Frames Shifting from 2015. Like Eva Hesse&rsquo;s Hang Up, Tahir focuses attention solely on the frame itself, removing any material from the center of the work. Inspired by Baroque frames, she creates intricate sculptures made of beeswax, a material that is certain to transform over time. While the frames are based on floral patterns, the result, much like Botany of Desire, is an overgrowth&mdash;a barnacle-like formation that at once exudes beauty and decay.

Tahir is represented by <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/kasia-kay-art-projects">Kasia Kay Art Projects </a>and sculptures from the Shifting Frames Shifting series can be purchased for $1,200. Kasia Kay also has a line of fine art wallpaper, and Tahir recently created a number of patterns under the name Tapisseries.

Last fall at the Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago based artist Amanda Gentry presented works from her Brother John series. Seventeen hollow ceramic pillows hung side by side on the gallery wall. In order to make the sculptures, Gentry instructed individuals to lay their heads on the wet clay to make a unique impression on the square clay block. The repetition of the simple, yet haunting forms speaks to the heart of Gentry&rsquo;s practice.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Amandra Gentry, &lt;i&gt;Ranch Study 4&lt;/i&gt;, 2016, unglazed raku clay with silicon carbide and copper oxide wash, gas fire reduction, 4” x 7” x 2.5”, $350. Courtesy Matthew Rachman Gallery" data-rich-file-id="1570" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1570/original/amandagentry-1.jpg" />

More recently, Gentry has been experimenting with additives and oxide washes in her ceramic works. In Ranch Study 4, she mixed silicon carbide into raku clay. The artist then added a copper oxide wash to the unglazed piece to emphasize the textured surface. The smooth lines of Ranch Study 4 are contrasted by the uneven marks, as if Gentry had etched directly into the surface of the clay.

Gentry is represented locally by <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/matthew-rachman-gallery">Matthew Rachman Gallery</a> and Ranch Study 4 is available for purchase for $350. The piece will be included in the upcoming holiday show Peace on Earth, which features a range of works by Chicago artists priced under $2,000.&nbsp;

At EXPO Chicago in September, Chicago painter Anna Kunz installed Warp, a large, billowing tapestry that hung from the ceiling of the immense exhibition hall. The latex on fabric composition represents Kunz&rsquo;s aesthetic and material interests well. Her canvases, layered with fabric, often emerge from the wall and expand into three-dimensional space. The installation was part of EXPO Projects, which featured a number of prominent artists including Magdalena Abakanowicz and Alfredo Jaar.

<img alt="" data-caption="Anna Kunz, &lt;i&gt;Untitled&lt;/i&gt;, gouache on Sakamoto paper, 2008, 12 3/4&quot; x 14 1/4&quot;, $1,500. Courtesy McCormick Gallery" data-rich-file-id="1572" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1572/original/annakunz.jpg" />

Along with her experiments in painting, Kunz also creates small-scale works on paper. Untitled from 2008 demonstrates her ongoing exercises&nbsp;using contrasting blocks of color. The gouache is applied thickly and bleeds onto the sturdy Sakamoto paper. Fluorescent pinks are contrasted by stokes of soft browns and rich purples. Kunz&rsquo;s abstract work is evocative on both the large and small scale.

Kunz is represented by <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/mccormick-gallery">McCormick Gallery</a>. This past summer, she was included in the recent exhibition How Much Land, which was curated by Jessica Cochran. Untitled is available for purchase for $1,500.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Top image: Tina Tahir,&nbsp;Botany of Desire, 2016, installation view. Courtesy Hyde Park Art Center

CGN is excited to announce a new monthly series, Eye for Collectors.

Eye for Collectors: A New Monthly Series

By MADELINE HAPPOLD&nbsp;

November marks the opening of many more exhibitions around Chicago. Below you&#39;ll find a preview of upcoming shows that range in scale and presentation, from a college campus to a storefront gallery. Visit the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar">CGN arts calendar</a> for more details, opening receptions and artist talks.

<h3>What waits is often disguised (for William Stratford)&nbsp;at Robert F. DeCaprio Art Gallery</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Charles Matson Lume" data-rich-file-id="1564" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1564/original/unnamed.jpg" />

In his poem &quot;Asphodel, That Greeny Flower&quot;&nbsp;William Carlos Williams wrote, &quot;It is difficult/to get the news from poems/yet men die miserably every day/for lack/of what is found there.&quot;&nbsp;Artist Charles Matson Lume reaffirms Williams&#39; belief in the importance of art in society with&nbsp;his new installation titled&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/what-waits-is-often-disguised-for-william-stafford">What waits is often disguised (for William Stratford)</a>.&nbsp;Lume manipulates light and common materials like craft paper and plastic trinkets&nbsp;to create ephemeral works of art.

Attend an opening reception and artist talk with Lume&nbsp;on Monday, November 7&nbsp;from 12-1:30pm at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/robert-f-decaprio-art-gallery-moraine-valley-community-college">Robert F. DeCaprio Art Gallery</a> at Moraine Valley Community College. The exhibition will be on display&nbsp;from November 7-December 17, 2016.

&nbsp;

<h3>The Last Seduction&nbsp;at Bert Green Fine Art</h3>

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1568" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1568/original/erosetpsyche-erosandpsyche1.jpg" />

Oli Rodriguez, a transgender artist based in Chicago,&nbsp;presents a new series of work at Bert Green Fine Art.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/oli-rodriguez-the-last-seduction">The Last Seduction</a> recontextualizes figures from predominantly white, hetero-normative, and European classical images. Rodriguez uses late nineteenth century paintings, including&nbsp;as&nbsp;&Eacute;variste Vital Luminais&#39;s <a href="http://mascipo.in2p3.fr/art-e-info/IMG/distant/jpg/01-Evariste-80be.jpg">L&#39;Enl&egrave;vement</a>&nbsp;and &Eacute;douard Manet&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Nymphe_surprise">La Nymphe surprise</a>, as the backgrounds for his digitally altered photographs featuring&nbsp;non-gender conforming models. With new subjects in the paintings, Rodriguez offers a modern interpretation of the art historical canon.

The Last Seduction will be on display at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/bert-green-fine-art--2">Bert Green Fine Art</a> from November 12-December 17, 2016.

&nbsp;

<h3>Corrections&nbsp;at Filter Photo</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Zora J Murff" data-rich-file-id="1569" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1569/original/murffz6.jpg" />

Influenced by his work as a tracker for Linn County Juvenile Detention and Diverse Services in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, photographer Zora J Murff presents a new body of work titled&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/corrections-zora-j-murff">Corrections</a>&nbsp;at Filter Photo. In his&nbsp;position as&nbsp;tracker, Murff was responsible for making sure that convicted youth&nbsp;followed through on the terms of their probation, which often included community service, drug screening and electronic monitoring. In the&nbsp;series, Murff documents many of the individuals he worked with to create&nbsp;complex portraits that reflect the inconsistencies of the juvenille detention and incarceration system&nbsp;in the United States.&nbsp;

The exhibition will be on display at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/filter-photo">Filter Photo</a> from November 4-26, 2016. The gallery will host an opening reception, along with artist talk and book signing, from 6-9pm on Friday, November 4.

&nbsp;

<h3>Irma May&nbsp;at Elephant Room Gallery</h3>

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1567" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1567/original/unnamed-1.jpg" />

Hungarian born, Chicago based artist Zs&oacute;fia&nbsp;&Ouml;tv&ouml;s presents her new series of work based on the partially biographical character&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/zsofia-otvos-irma-may">Irma May</a>.&nbsp;&Ouml;tv&ouml;s developed a storyline about this early twentieth century&nbsp;character, who is a painter and collector herself.&nbsp;Alongside paintings, the exhibition also features large-scale&nbsp;drawings&nbsp;on paper.

The series will be on display at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/elephant-room-gallery">Elephant Room Gallery</a>&nbsp;in Bridgeport on Sunday, November 7 from 3-7pm and by appointment on November 7-8 from 5-8pm.

For more information about upcoming exhibitions, visit the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar">CGN arts calendar</a>.

November marks the opening of many more exhibitions around Chicago.

Exhibition Previews: November

By ALISON REILLY

Four Chicago galleries that currently occupy the 845 W Washington Boulevard Building in the West Loop will be relocating to the Ukrainian Village neighborhood in January 2017. In a press release sent on Tuesday, DOCUMENT, Paris London Hong Kong, Volume Gallery, and Western Exhibitions announced that they would be moving collectively into a new space at 1709 W Chicago Avenue.

Western Exhibitions gallery owner Scott Speh expressed his excitement for moving into the new neighborhood. In an email to CGN, he wrote, &ldquo;We are thrilled to expand into custom-designed brand new galleries with more exhibition, office, and storage space for each venue, in a culturally relevant neighborhood near several other galleries that is much less congested than the overheated West Loop. The convenience of the new location and the opportunity to develop exhibition spaces to fit our needs will make for a better visiting and viewing experience for collectors, curators, artists and the art-loving public.&rdquo;

Speh also noted that the group had been looking at properties for about a year. The leases were set to expire soon on their current spaces and their landlords offered to move them into a building on Chicago Avenue that had been recently acquired. The four galleries will be moving into the second floor of 1709 W Chicago, along with David Salkin Creative, which specializes in custom rugs, tile patterns, wallpaper and fabric.

<img alt="" data-caption="1709 W Chicago Avenue, the new location for four Chicago galleries" data-rich-file-id="1563" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1563/original/chicagoavenue.jpg" />

The new building is located west of Ashland Avenue at N Paulina Street. Nearby galleries on Chicago Avenue&nbsp;include Matthew Rachman Gallery and The Mission.

Western Exhibitions has been at its location in the West Loop since 2008. The gallery, which currently has concurrent shows by Deb Sokolow and Dan Attoe on display, features rotating exhibitions by artists working in all media. The gallery also produces artist books and multiples through WesternXeditions.

During a call on October 26, Aron Gent, owner of DOCUMENT, also shared his enthusiasm for the move. He said that the new hardwood floors, drywall, and furnaces would be step up in scale and quality for DOCUMENT, which represents artists working in film, photography and media-based work. The gallery, which opened in 2011, also functions as a printmaking studio.

<img alt="" data-caption="Laura Letinsky and John Paul Morabito, &lt;i&gt;vereVereAslipFlowers&amp;haneemoon(payforthelie)&lt;/i&gt;, 2016, Cotton and wool, 41&quot; x 71&quot;" data-rich-file-id="1509" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1509/original/laura-letinsky-and-john-paul-morabito-verevereaslipflowers-26haneemoon-payforthelie-2c-2016.jpg" />

For the first exhibition in the new space, Gent will present abstract tapestries by collaborators Laura Letinsky and John Paul Morabito. One of the works from this series was recently on display at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2016/9/digital-collage-meditations-on-migration-gnawed-paper-highlights-from-expo-chicago-2016">DOCUMENT&rsquo;s booth at EXPO Chicago</a>. The exhibition is scheduled to open Saturday, January 7 alongside Annie Bielski at Paris London Hong Kong, Wunderkammer at Volume Gallery, and Underlying system not known at Western Exhibitions.

Read the full press release <a href="http://us14.campaign-archive2.com/?u=ba2e9a9ea20d09514f4eda22a&amp;id=21a96f5735&amp;e=11fc4bbaba">here</a>.

Top image: Deb Sokolow,&nbsp;Men, installation view,&nbsp;September 17-November 5, 2016 at Western Exhibitions. Photo by James Prinz.

Four Chicago galleries are moving from the West Loop to the Ukrainian Village.

DOCUMENT, Paris London Hong Kong, Volume Gallery and Western Exhibitions to Relocate to Ukrainian Village Neighborhood

Explore Chicago&rsquo;s hidden wonders with Open House Chicago, open this Saturday, October&nbsp;15 through Sunday, October&nbsp;16. The free public festival, organized by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, offers&nbsp;exclusive public access to over 200 buildings across Chicago.&nbsp;Sneak a peek inside some of Chicago&rsquo;s architectural masterpieces, impressive&nbsp;skyscrapers, and historic&nbsp;landmarks.

&nbsp;

<h3>The Clarke House Museum</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Photo by Michael Beasley" data-rich-file-id="1547" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1547/original/clarke-house-copyright-2005-michael-beasley-01-2-1.jpg" />

Built in 1836, the <a href="http://openhousechicago.org/sites/site/clarke-house-museum/">Clarke House Museum</a> is Chicago&rsquo;s oldest house. Located in the city&rsquo;s Prairie Avenue Historic District, the home was originally built for businessman Henry B. Clarke during the city&rsquo;s formative years, predating the Civil War. The house is modeled after Greek Revival style, and has a unique past, surviving fires, belonging to a church, and being moved - twice. The home became a Chicago landmark on Oct. 14, 1970 and was officially purchased by the City of Chicago in 1977.

Tours of the House Museum are available from 10am-4pm

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<h3>LondonHouse Hotel</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Photo by Eric Allix Rogers" data-rich-file-id="1548" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1548/original/londonhouse.jpg" />

Surrounding the Michigan Avenue bridge, the <a href="http://openhousechicago.org/sites/site/londonhouse-chicago-london-guarantee-accident-building/">LondonHouse Hotel</a> is considered one of Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;Big Four&rdquo; skyscrapers. Originally the London Guarantee Building built in 1923 by Alfred S. Alschuler, the high rise was bought in 2013 by Oxford Capital Group in the midst of the city&rsquo;s hotel boom and has since been restored. The building features Neo-Classical and Art Deco designs, along with a new 22-story glass tower addition.

Take a tour of the historic lobby, open to the public from 12-4pm

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<h3>Colvin House</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Photo by Eric Allix Rogers" data-rich-file-id="1550" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1550/original/colvin.jpg" />

Opening its doors to the public for the first time, don&rsquo;t miss the opportunity to explore the <a href="http://openhousechicago.org/sites/site/colvin-house/#controls">Colvin House</a>, located in the northern Edgewater neighborhood. Built in 1909 by architect George Maher, the home remained a private residence for over a century. The Prairie-Style, American Foursquare mansion is now being transformed into an event space. Plastered with a plain, yellow brick exterior, the mansion opens its doors to ornate interior features, modeling 1920s movie palace designs. The home was deemed a Chicago landmark in 1994.

View the 6,000 square ft. mansion&rsquo;s intricate interior design, open from 9am-5pm.

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<h3>St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Photo by Eric Allix Rogers" data-rich-file-id="1549" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1549/original/st-20johns.jpg" />

Voted the &ldquo;Most Beautiful Church in America&rdquo; by the Granda Liturgical Arts in 2016, attendees can view the stunning artwork and architecture of the <a href="http://openhousechicago.org/sites/site/st-john-cantius-roman-catholic-church/">St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church</a>. Founded by Polish immigrants, the church was designed by Adolphus Druiding and built in 1898 over a five year period. St John&rsquo;s features Baroque-style interior with lofty, painted ceilings harking to the 18th-century Krakow. Less than a mile from Water Tower and Chicago Avenue, St. John&rsquo;s is the Polish cathedral closest to downtown. The church also features a 130 ft. tower, visible from the Kennedy Expressway. &nbsp;

St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church will be open to the public from 12-4pm on Saturday, and 3-5pm on Sunday.

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For more information about Open House Chicago, visit <a href="http://openhousechicago.org/">openhousechicago.org</a>

Top image: Courtesy of Open House Chicago

Peek inside some of Chicago’s architectural masterpieces, soaring skyscrapers, and historical landmarks at Open House Chicago.

Open House Chicago Features Architectural Masterpieces, Impressive Skyscrapers and Historic Landmarks

<h3>Clarissa Bonet’s newest exhibitions City Spaces + Stray Light explore the connection between humans and the surrounding urban environment</h3>By MADELINE HAPPOLDIt’s a cool, late fall morning. The lakefront breeze turns the city air frigid and harsh. Clarissa Bonet steps into the Chicago Loop to begin one of her “wanderings.” No earphones, no text alerts, no companion, not even her camera. She has no plan, no map, and no agenda. Just a couple of free hours to absorb the beauty—and chaos—of the surrounding world.It’s rush hour, and the downtown area is buzzing with life. The Metra trains are unloading as hoards of passengers swarm the streets. It’s just another Chicago workday.The young photographer follows the crowd, which squirms like bugs towards a distant light. People seem to move like a unit rather than individuals. Bonet lets herself get swept up in the city’s commuting commotion, the ebb and flow of workers retracing their morning routine. Constantly, new faces pass, lives flashing before her eyes only to disappear just as quickly. She attempts to pinpoint a face, hold onto that individual image before it is replaced with someone else. She tries, focusing on faces, on the people, but each one fades.<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1543/original/unnamed.jpg" alt=""></figure>This is just one of Bonet’s many “wanderings.” These explorations are her source of inspiration, this experience spawning the idea for her 2011 piece, In the Crowd. In the photograph, faceless commuters blend into the surrounding city, becoming lost in black and grey monotony.“I’m really paying attention to my viewpoint as an individual and how I experience the city on foot, and then how to make images recreating that experience, the pedestrian-inspired experience,” said Bonet.Bonet currently has two photography series, City Space&nbsp;and Stray Light, on display at the Catherine Edelman Gallery in the River North neighborhood. The two exhibitions are actually separate but work cohesively, offering unique insight to urban life, space and its interaction with the physical world.Bonet started the ongoing project City Space&nbsp;formally in 2011, but has been experimenting with urban images since moving to Chicago in 2009. Making the move to pursue a graduate degree at Columbia College, Bonet didn’t switch from shoreline to skyline with the snap of a lens.“I remember feeling all of these conflicting emotions at once,” said Bonet. “I felt like I had to relearn how to navigate the city. I had to relearn how to photograph in the city... I was so overwhelmed by the amount of visual chaos.”Turning her surroundings into art, the series focuses on the different kinds of spaces that comprise city life.“All the images from City Space&nbsp;come from experiences of life, either personal experience or things I see happening on the street,” said Bonet. “I think about them, I make notes, I take sketches with my iPhone, and then I go back and recreate this performance for the camera.”In her 2014 work Sweeping Traces, Bonet uses the mundane image of a man sweeping trash off a deserted sidewalk to display this lingering effect of human presence. The trash thus embodies the notion of human life beyond what the image displays. With her 2015 piece Removal, Bonet was inspired by a man who constantly washed the exterior of a glass building, only for it to be smudged again by passerbys, coming and going. The man continually erases these traces of life, only for them to reappear.<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1544/original/sweeping-traces-2c-20142.jpg" alt=""></figure>“With the City Space project I was thinking about the psychological and both physical space,” said Bonet. “I was really interested in these traces that were left behind in the urban environment and how we can feel the presence… of people when they are not actually physically present.”Bonet keeps these themes prevalent in the Stray Light series as well.“There’s a thread that pulls along into the Stray Light work in a really tangible way,” said Bonet. “Light is the traces of people and the human environment.”Started in 2012, the project is comprised of nocturnal images from buildings in the major U.S. cities Chicago, L.A. and New York. The optical term stray light simply refers to unintended light.In astronomy, stray light can arise from sky glow, the presence of artificial light in the sky. Sky glow is a form of light pollution that limits the ability to see faint objects, such as stars in a night sky.Bonet likes to consider her images as compilations of stray light, too. Stitching together light from windows contrasted against the dark of night, Bonet creates an urban sky, or what she refers to as “man-made cosmos.”“The windows I’m capturing are this kind of stray light, it’s this light that isn’t really intended for anyone but the user of the space… but then it’s also acting as this beacon of presence,” said Bonet. “This is a constructed environment, this is one of our byproducts, which is this beautiful thing but it also in a way is destroying the thing that I’m referencing.”Walk through the gallery exhibition and Bonet’s photographs flow with cohesion. Concrete-greys mix with skyline slate blues and monotone hues, turning into pitch-black shadows. The urban cosmos add a pop of color, highlighting vibrant hues of illuminating greens, blues and fluorescent yellow. &nbsp;The artist likes to think of her images like a television series: each image has a theme that can stand on its own, but the whole series also contains an overarching narrative embedded in each episode.<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1546/original/city-space-and-stray-light.jpg" alt=""></figure>“I think the project as a whole has these overarching ideas that go behind it,” said Bonet. “These I feel like are a little chapter in a longer book.”While the show may be her first solo exhibition with the gallery, Bonet has been associated with the Catherine Edelman Gallery for almost four years. As a recent graduate from Columbia College in 2012, Bonet entered a show juried by gallery owner Catherine Edelman. Edelman then invited Bonet to be a part of The Chicago Project, an online gallery devoted to rising photographers in the Chicago area. The pair built a relationship from there, until Bonet became a represented artist in 2015.For Bonet, though, photography as an art form is less about the image and more about the experience.“I think there’s something that falls short between an image of something and an experience of something,” said Bonet. “By constructing the works I’m able to get closer to that feeling because in essence I’m trying to photograph something that is almost not existent, invisible.”Bonet’s City Space&nbsp;and&nbsp;Stray Light&nbsp;exhibitions are&nbsp;on view at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/catherine-edelman-gallery">Catherine Edelman Gallery</a> through Saturday, October 29.For more information about Clarissa Bonet visit: <a href="http://www.clarissabonet.com">clarissabonet.com</a>&nbsp;Top image: Catherine Edelman Gallery, Clarissa Bonet stands with her exhibitions,&nbsp;City Space&nbsp;and&nbsp;Stray Light.&nbsp;

 Clarissa Bonet’s newest exhibitions City Spaces + Stray Light explore the connection between humans and the surrounding urban environment.

Navigating Chicago’s Urban Chaos: Photographer Clarissa Bonet’s New Work 

This fall, the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/northern-illinois-university-niu-art-museum">NIU&nbsp;Art Museum</a> celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Center for Burma Studies. The museum, located on Northern Illinois University&#39;s campus in DeKalb, is hosting a suite of four exhibitions within their 5,000 square foot space. <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/kaleidoscope-of-burmese-art-celebrating-30-years-of-art-at-the-center-for-burma-studies">Kaleidoscope of Burmese Art</a>&nbsp;celebrates the rich collection of the Center, which is the only academic organization of its kind in&nbsp;the world. Curated by&nbsp;Catherine Raymond, director of the Center,&nbsp;the exhibitions&nbsp;bring together iconic objects from the NIU collection alongside work from contemporary Burmese artists.

Accompanying the exhibitions are a number of programs including <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/from-paper-to-skin-tattoos-in-burmese-cultures">a lecture about the tradition of tattoos in Burmese culture</a>, <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/lepeyet-and-palata-exploring-burmese-culinary-traditions">a sampling of Burmese cuisine</a>, and <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/the-art-of-cartography-in-ancient-burma">an investigation of map-making traditions in Ancient Burma</a>.

Below you&#39;ll find photos of a number of paintings, sculptures, and objects from&nbsp;Kaleidoscope of Burmese Art.&nbsp;The exhibition is on display until November 18, 2016.

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1538" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1538/original/img-1126.jpg" />

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<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1537" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1537/original/img-1125.jpg" />

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<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1540" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1540/original/img-1130.jpg" />

Photos: Arthur Kolat

This fall, the NIU Art Museum celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Center for Burma Studies.

Kaleidoscope of Burmese Art: Now on View at the NIU Art Museum

By MADELINE HAPPOLD

With the heated 2016 presidential election weeks away, artists are using their talents to&nbsp;turn&nbsp;the political&nbsp;personal. From creating unofficial voting stations to commenting on social justice issues, these exhibitions allow artists to&nbsp;share their voices, opinions, and hopes for the&nbsp;future.

<h3>Official Unofficial Voting Station: Voting For All Who Legally Can&rsquo;t at Jane Addams Hull House Museum</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy of Sara Pooley/JAHHM " data-rich-file-id="1526" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1526/original/sara-20pooley-vox-pop-aram-han-sifuentes-204.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/jane-addams-hull-house-museum">The Jane Addams Hull House Museum</a> presents&nbsp;artist Aram Han Sifuentes&rsquo; rebellious&nbsp;project <a href="http://www.hullhousemuseum.org/vox-pop-the-disco-party/">Official Unofficial Voting Station: Voting for all who legally can&rsquo;t</a>. Sifuentes, who has permission to&nbsp;be in the United States but cannot vote,&nbsp;wanted to create a unsanctioned voting process for the upcoming election to honor the voices of those who cannot participate in the election. Other non-legal voters can cast their own unsanctioned ballots at Unofficial Official Voting Stations located throughout the country and in parts of Mexico.

Sifuentes&rsquo; project explores questions about participation, citizenship, and exclusion in the United States. Ballots from other stations will be collected and returned to the Jane Addams Hull House to be counted, then repurposed and featured as an installation at the museum.

Official Unofficial Voting Station is on display through November 8.

&nbsp;

<h3>Power and Politics at Filter Photo</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Rebecca Sittler, &lt;i&gt;Resolute Reflection&lt;/i&gt;" data-rich-file-id="1514" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1514/original/power-and-politics.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/power-and-politics--3">Power and Politics</a> questions the idea that &quot;the personal is political&quot; and challenges those that influence the voting decisions&nbsp;of citizens. Juried by Barbara Tannenbaum, curator of photography at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the exhibition features the work of 30 artists and coincides with the galleries&rsquo; other featured exhibit, On the Shelf.

The participating photographers explore current issues addressed by candidates while also highlighting those neglected by current political discourse. Tannenbaum notes, &quot;Whether working in documentary or other modes, they all continue the noble goal of social documentary photography: they urge viewers to analyze, understand, and act.&quot;

Power and Politics is&nbsp;open at<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/filter-photo"> Filter Photo</a> through October 22.

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<h3>Sapphire at Weinberg/Newton Gallery</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Anna Elise Johnson, &lt;i&gt; Blue Suit &lt;/i&gt;, 2016. " data-rich-file-id="1506" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1506/original/sapphire.jpg" />

Coinciding with the heated 2016 presidential election, <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/weinberg-newton-gallery">Weinberg/Newton Gallery</a> and Common Cause Illinois are partnering to showcase the group exhibition <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/sapphire">Sapphire</a>. The exhibition features collages, paintings, sculptures highlighting issues such as voting, money in politics, and media ethics.

Weinberg/Newton Gallery is an exhibition space dedicated to social justice issues and providing an environment for both artists and attendees to engage in contemporary political topics. &nbsp;Sapphire&nbsp;is open to the public&nbsp;October 7 through January 14, 2017.

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<h3>100 Years of Women in Government&nbsp;at the Dole</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Diana Zipeto, &lt;i&gt;Malala Yousafzai&lt;/i&gt;, acrylic on canvas. " data-rich-file-id="1528" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1528/original/malala.jpg" />

In 1916, the state of Montana elected Jeannette Rankin into the House of Representatives,&nbsp;making her&nbsp;the first woman sworn into Congress. This monumental achivement happened four years before the 19th amenendment was ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote in the United States.&nbsp;Next month <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/lakeside-arts-park-at-the-dole">Lakeside Arts Park at the Dole</a> will celebrate Rankin&rsquo;s accomplishment and those of other women in political office&nbsp;over the past century.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/100-years-of-women-in-government">100 Years of Women in Government</a>&nbsp;highlights the past, present, and possible future of women in politics.

The exhibition&nbsp;is sponsored by Illinois State Representative Barbara Wheeler and is&nbsp;open to the public from November 4 through November 18.

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Top image:&nbsp;Danh Vō, Pao Soft, 2010. Courtesy Weinberg/Newton Gallery.

With the heated 2016 presidential election weeks away, artists are using their talents to turn the political personal.

Let's Talk Politics

By MADELNE HAPPOLD

With fall in full season, October comes with&nbsp;an air of mystery and eerie intrigue.&nbsp;Delve into all things dark and find beauty in the macabre with these featured exhibitions.&nbsp;

<h3>Double Diablerie&nbsp;at International Currents Gallery</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Ian Howard" data-rich-file-id="1523" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1523/original/unnamed.jpg" />

View art that dares to dance with the devil himself. The John David Mooney Foundation will be featuring Double Diablerie, an exhibition of large scale screen prints, lithographs, etchings, and four limited edition artist books plus two unbound editions. The exhibition is composed of works by Scottish artists Ian Howard and Arthur Watson and Japanese artists Sotaro Ide and Hisashi Kurachi.

Howard and Watson were inspired by the devil&rsquo;s influence in regional Scottish folklore, and found corresponding themes in the prints of Ide and Kurachi. The exhibition connects Celtic Scotland and Nippon (ancient Japan) by examining the two cultures&rsquo; relationships with the devil through geography, including mountains named for the Devil, groves of trees with spiritual significance, incantations, scapegoat rituals and ghostly manifestations. The show melds the distant landscapes of Japan and Scotland into one cohesive space inspired by the devil.

The exhibition will run through&nbsp;October 20, 2016 at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/john-david-mooney-foundation-international-currents-gallery">International Currents Gallery</a>.

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<h3>Dia de los Muertos: A celebration of lives lived&nbsp;at The Rangefinder Gallery at Tamarkin Camera</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Photo by Joe Patronite" data-rich-file-id="1505" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1505/original/dia-muertos-car-tus-10-1plt.jpg" />

Three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Joe Patronite honors the traditional Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos with his photography series entitled Dia de los Muertos - a celebration of lives lived. Wandering the streets of Tucson, Arizona on the morning of the All Souls Procession, Patronite draws upon his street photography experience as a photojournalist to capture what he coins &ldquo;images which reflect quirkiness in society, mixed with spontaneity and some humor.&rdquo;

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, focuses on celebrating and honoring past loved ones who have since departed. The ongoing photography project offers a historical view of Mexican/Latin culture and the holiday&rsquo;s theme of remembrance. Patronite captures the lavishness of the holiday and the processions, juxtaposed with the solemn reverence of its attendees.

The project will be on display at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/the-rangefinder-gallery-at-tamarkin-camera">The Rangefinder Gallery</a> with an opening reception on Friday, October 9.&nbsp;

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<h3>Dangerous Lullabies II&nbsp;at Lakeside Arts Park at the Dole</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Randal Stringer, &lt;i&gt; Heroin Balloon&lt;/i&gt;, 2016, mixed media on canvas" data-rich-file-id="1522" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1522/original/heroin-20balloon-20-20stringer-20-20larger-20file.jpg" />

These lullabies don&rsquo;t offer the relief of sleep, but instead draw viewers towards the dark. Opening for its second year, Dangerous Lullabies II features artwork that explores the allure of that deemed frightening. Paintings, sculptures, and fine art selected by artists from across the country highlight the disturbing beauty and curious attraction to the dark and unsettling.

The historic Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake, IL&nbsp;will provide an eerie backdrop for the exhibition, as the mansion is rumored to be haunted by the previous owner Eliza Ringling, widow of famous circus magnate Al Ringling. The show is curated by J + K Isacson in partnership with the Lakeside Legacy Arts Park and features artists: Eli Powell, Randall Stringer, Fred Larucci, Carolyn Bouso, Vince Natale, and more.

Dangerous Lullabies II is on view at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/lakeside-arts-park-at-the-dole">Lakeside Legacy Arts Park at the Dole</a>&nbsp;from October 7-26, 2016.

Top image: Photo by Joe Patronite, Courtesy Rangefinder Gallery at Tamarkin Camera

Delve into all things dark and find beauty in the macabre with these featured October exhibitions. 

Beauty in the Macabre: Featured October Exhibitions

By ALISON REILLY

The fifth edition of EXPO Chicago took place this past weekend at Navy Pier, and we&rsquo;re already looking forward to the next iteration in 2017. Alongside the major gallery exhibitors were a number of non-profit organizations, institutions, publications, and emerging galleries. Here are highlights from some of CGN&rsquo;s favorite booths.

<h3>Black Athena Collective at Threewalls (Chicago)</h3>

Embracing their transitory state, Threewalls partnered with the Black Athena Collective to showcase the group&rsquo;s research on migration, mobility and architecture in the Red Sea region (Eritrea to Egypt). Founded by Heba Y. Amin and Dawit L. Petros, the experimental collective presented photographs, videos, and a large wooden structure. Most notable was an accordion style artist book documenting their archival research thus far. In a time of political turmoil over border control and the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Amin and Petros poetically pose the question, &ldquo;Can our art practice and methodology allow us to achieve more complex and definitive ways of thinking and interacting with land?&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Black Athena Collective, “Nowhere is a Place”, 2016, Art Book, Archival Digital print on Hahnemühle Museum Etching Paper, 301.4” x 9.4” (Book detail)" data-rich-file-id="1508" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1508/original/bac-expo1.jpg" />

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<h3>Tony Orrico at Marso (Mexico City)</h3>

At first glance, Tony Orrico&rsquo;s work Prepare the plane appears to be an exercise in geometric abstraction. A textured piece of white paper with rows of indentations covers the outside wall of Marso&rsquo;s booth. The composition, however, is an artifact from Orrico&rsquo;s ongoing performance series in which he systematically chews the entire sheet of paper. When first performing the piece in 2012, Orrico believed it would be a two-hour process; instead it took eight and a half. On display at EXPO was the gnawed paper from his 2015 performance at Defibrillator in Chicago. Orrico, who was once a member of the Trisha Brown Company and Shen Wei Dance Arts, has a special condition in which his jaw dislocates without his control. Through physical therapy and his own techniques, Orrico has learned to control it but his orifice continues to play a major role in his artistic practice.

<img alt="" data-caption="Tony Orrico, Detail from &lt;i&gt;Prepare the plane&lt;/i&gt; (DfbrL8r, Chicago, IL) 2015, 2012, Dental occlusions on paper, performance (8.5 hours), 96” x 96”" data-rich-file-id="1515" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1515/original/tony-orrico-prepare-the-plane.jpg" />

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<h3>Margo Wolowiec at Jessica Silverman Gallery &nbsp;(San Francisco)</h3>

Jessica Silverman Gallery&rsquo;s well-curated booth at EXPO Chicago featured an impressive roster of emerging and established female artists including Judy Chicago, Tammy Rae Carland, and Margo Wolowiec (see top image). Hung side-by-side, Wolowiec&rsquo;s two abstracted canvases reference the historical relationship between weaving and computing. Wolowiec searches for images using hashtags like #landscape, #blackandwhite, and in this case: #floodwater. After collecting a number of images, she collages them together and uses a dye sublimation process to transfer the images onto polyester and linen thread, which are then woven onto the canvas. The result is a mesmerizing image full of slight irregularities that continuously capture the viewer&rsquo;s attention.

<img alt="" data-caption="Margo Wolowiec, &lt;i&gt;Floodwater I&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;Floodwater II&lt;/i&gt;, 2016, Courtesy Jessica Silverman Gallery" data-rich-file-id="1511" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1511/original/jessicasilvermman-wolowiec-floodwater-i-26-ii-2c-2016.jpg" />

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<h3>Laura Letinsky and John Paul Morabito at Document (Chicago)</h3>

Laura Letinsky and John Paul Morabito, an artistic duo who have been collaborating since 2013, also explore the complex relationship between weaving and photography. The Chicago based gallery and printmaking studio Document installed a heavy tapestry from their series Telephone Game. Letinsky supplies the digital photographic collages while Morabito weaves and abstracts the images into the final composition. Trying to discover the origin of the initial images, which were taken by Letinsky while traveling throughout India, proves to be a futile task. The rough handling of the materials results in a textured and uneven canvas with stray threads dangling from the top and bottom of the piece.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Laura Letinsky and John Paul Morabito, &lt;i&gt;vereVereAslipFlowers&amp;haneemoon(payforthelie)&lt;/i&gt;, 2016, Cotton and wool, 41&quot; x 71&quot;" data-rich-file-id="1509" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1509/original/laura-letinsky-and-john-paul-morabito-verevereaslipflowers-26haneemoon-payforthelie-2c-2016.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<h3>Matthew Craven at ASHES/ASHES (Los Angeles)</h3>

Matthew Craven&rsquo;s collage compositions are a nod to the recent past, a time when students and scholars learned about the world&rsquo;s treasures through the printed page. The artist sources his images from discarded school textbooks and collages them onto vintage paper, giving the appearance of forgotten archival materials. Craven insists that there are no social or political overtones to his work: he organizes the archaeological objects loosely according to aesthetic similarity. Buried within Craven&rsquo;s two-dimensional cabinet of curiosities are his own hand-drawn objects. At EXPO, Los Angeles based gallery ASHES/ASHES presented six of Craven&rsquo;s collages in a grid alongside a large-scale geometric ink drawing.

<img alt="" data-caption="Matthew Craven, &lt;i&gt;TimeLINE (outlines)&lt;/i&gt;, 2016, ink and found images on found paper, 28” x 22&quot;" data-rich-file-id="1507" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1507/original/matthewcraven-timeline1j.jpg" />

&nbsp;

Top image: Jessica Silverman Gallery, Installation view, &nbsp;EXPO Chicago, September 22-25, 2016.&nbsp;Courtsey of Jessica Silverman Gallery

CGN shares highlights from EXPO Chicago 2016

Digital Collage, Meditations on Migration & Gnawed Paper: Highlights from EXPO Chicago 2016

Each week there is an open studio tour or gallery walk to take advantage of in Chicago as well as the surrounding suburbs.

Many area arts districts and artist groups have banded together to open their doors to the art-going public.&nbsp;Refer to the following list and pick a date this season to get around to a new art center or neighborhood. Go meet the artists at work and discover something wonderful!

Please also<a href="mailto:info@chicagogallerynews.com?subject=New%20Art%20Tour&amp;body=I'd%20like%20to%20let%20you%20know%20about%20a%20new%20art%20walk%20or%20tour%20taking%20place."> let us know</a> about your own favorite walks and tours.&nbsp;

- See you in the galleries!

Updated September 2016.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<h3>1ST FRIDAY</h3>

<a href="http://www.lakesideartspark.org/events/1st-friday-art-show/">Lakeside Legacy Arts Park</a> 
5-8pm &bull;&nbsp;Free/donations 
401 Contry Club Rd., 
Crystal Lake, IL 
lakesidelegacy.org

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/flat-iron-arts-building--3">Flat Iron First Fridays</a> 
Wicker Park/Bucktown 
6-10pm &bull;&nbsp;Free 
1579 N. Milkwaukee 
wickerparkbucktown.com

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/district/river-north">River North First Fridays</a> 
6-8/9pm &bull;&nbsp;Free 
Near Franklin/Superior 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<h3>2ND FRIDAY</h3>

<a href="http://www.chicagoartsdistrict.org/">Chicago Arts District</a> 
&nbsp;6&ndash;10pm &bull; Free 
S. Halsted + 18th St. (Pilsen East) 
For details call 312-738-8000

<a href="http://www.fineartsbuildingstudios.com/single-post/2015/12/2/Second-Fridays-OPEN-STUDIOS">Fine Arts Building Open Studios</a> 
5&ndash;9pm &bull; Free 
410 S. Michigan

&nbsp;

<h3>3RD FRIDAY</h3>

<a href="http://bridgeportart.com/3rd-fridays/">Bridgeport Art Center /&nbsp;Artists of Eastbank / Open Studios</a> 
7-10pm &bull; Free 
1200 W. 35th St. 
For details call 773-843-9000

<a href="http://bronzevillenights.com/">Bronzeville Trolley Tour</a> 
6pm&nbsp;&bull; Contact <a href="http://www.galleryguichard.com/">Gallery Guichard </a>for details 
773-791-7003

<a href="http://oakparkartsdistrict.com/street-events/third-fridays/">Oak Park Arts District (OPAD)</a> 
6&ndash;10pm &bull; Free 
Harrison St., Oak Park

<a href="http://www.zhoubartcenter.com/3rd-fridays.html">Zhou B Art Center/Bridgeport Art Walk</a> 
7&ndash;10pm &bull; Free 
1029 W. 35th St.&nbsp; 
For details call 773-523-0200

&nbsp;

<h3>2ND SATURDAY</h3>

<a href="http://www.lostartistschicago.com/">The Lost Artists Show at&nbsp;The Art Colony Studio Building</a> 
5-10pm &bull; Free 
2630 W. Fletcher 
For details call 773-368-9700

&nbsp;

<h3>FREE SATURDAY GALLERY TOURS</h3>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/free-cgn-saturday-gallery-tours">Free CGN Saturday Morning Gallery Tour</a> 
River North: 11am-12:30pm 
Starbucks: 750 N. Franklin 
Organized by Chicago Gallery News, these tours run weekly, year-round, except major holiday weekends. 
For details and participating galleries <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/free-cgn-saturday-gallery-tours">click here</a> or call 312-649-0064

&nbsp;

<h3>OUTSIDE CHICAGO</h3>

<a href="http://www.historicthirdward.org/events/gallerynight.php">Gallery Night and Day</a> 
Milwaukee, WI in the Historic Third Ward 
Takes place quarterly 
Free Gallery Night Xpress shuttles&nbsp; 
October 21-22; F 5-9 and Sa 10-4 
For details call 414-273-1173

Gallery Walks and Tours

By FRANCK MERCURIO

Walking through Sabina Ott&rsquo;s grotto-like installation, because the mountains were so high, I ran into the artist herself as she applied finishing touches of white paint to the work&rsquo;s polystyrene and spray foam walls.

&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not quite done yet,&rdquo; she said matter-of-factly.

Ott had borrowed a security guard&rsquo;s stool, using it as an improvised ladder while she touched-up the edges of a video monitor embedded into one of the installation&rsquo;s walls. The Thursday afternoon crowd of art collectors and journalists had just begun to filter through EXPO Chicago&rsquo;s maze of booths. Some people ventured into Ott&rsquo;s installation as the artist continued to work.

&ldquo;I think I hear my gallerist,&rdquo; said Ott, as Jefferson Godard of Aspect/Ratio appeared from around the corner.

&ldquo;Sabina, let&rsquo;s take a walk and see some art!&rdquo; said Godard.

But Ott was having none of it&mdash;at least not for the time being&mdash;as she worried over the details of her latest immersive environment. Her perfectionism is understandable. Because the mountains were so high provides the artist with a huge potential audience for her work. The installation is poised to greet thousands of EXPO visitors&mdash;including gallery owners, curators, and collectors&mdash;as they enter the building from Navy Pier&rsquo;s outdoor promenade.

Ott&rsquo;s EXPO installation is a follow-up (and smaller cousin) to an earlier piece, titled&nbsp;who cares for the sky?, a mammoth installation exhibited this past winter and spring at the Hyde Park Art Center [pictured above]. That particular installation put Ott on Chicago&rsquo;s cultural map. Now, EXPO promises to deliver an even larger, international audience for the artist&rsquo;s work.

Ott&#39;s installation is&nbsp;one of several by Chicago artists displayed inside EXPO&mdash;and each work presents its respective artist with the possibility of garnering attention far beyond Chicago itself.

The installation receiving the most attention&mdash;by far&mdash;on Thursday evening at Vernissage was Leonard Suryajaya&rsquo;s Bunda located inside the Chicago Artists Coalition booth. Suryajaya was born in Indonesia, and his work addresses aspects of his southeast Asian heritage. Educated in the United States at Cal State and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the young artist is currently a resident in the BOLT program for 2015/2016&mdash;his installation proposal&nbsp;for EXPO&nbsp;was selected among his fellow residents by Yesomi Umolu, the exhibitions curator at the University of Chicago&rsquo;s Logan Center for the Arts.

<img alt="" data-caption="Leonard Suryajaya, &lt;i&gt;Mandarin&lt;/i&gt; (detail), 2016" data-rich-file-id="1501" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1501/original/leonardsuryajaya.jpg" />

Like Ott, Suryajaya created an immersive environment for EXPO, inviting viewers to occupy and participate in an imagined world. But where Ott&rsquo;s installation is somewhat cool and ethereal, Suryajaya&rsquo;s work explodes in a riot of color, pattern, and large-format photographic images featuring the artist&rsquo;s female relatives, including his mother. A hilarious, tongue-in cheek video serves as a focal point among the installation&rsquo;s array of disparate elements.

Suryajaya&rsquo;s installation could easily have strayed into chaotic territory, but under the expert guidance of his curator, Umolu, the artist&rsquo;s ideas and intentions shine through in a clear and exhilarating way.

Other installations at EXPO explore heavier topics centered around notions of social justice&mdash;and injustice. Not far from Suryajaya&rsquo;s installation, the Human Rights Watch booth presents 34,000 Pillows, an installation by the Chicago-based collaborative D&iacute;az Lewis. In this work, Alejandro D&iacute;az&nbsp;and Cara Lewis explore the federal government&rsquo;s mandated &ldquo;bed quota&rdquo; which requires that 34,000 immigrants be housed&mdash;per day&mdash;in 250 detention facilities throughout the United States. In an effort to humanize these statistics, the couple is working with a group of volunteers to fabricate 34,000 pillows made from used clothing. The collaborative is selling each pillow for $159, the amount of tax-payer money spent per bed per day on detainees&mdash;amounting to a staggering $2 billion per year.

D&iacute;az Lewis&rsquo; team is fabricating the pillows in a public studio located at the Chicago Cultural Center. (You can visit it through November 12.) Here, visitors can participate in the creation of pillows by either donating clothing or helping to stuff pillows. On Thursday, 150 pillows filled the Human Rights Watch booth&mdash;and more than 30 were sold to EXPO visitors that evening. Funds raised from their sale will go directly to local and national immigrants rights groups combatting the injustices of the detainment centers.

<img alt="" data-caption="Díaz Lewis, &lt;i&gt;34,000 Pillows&lt;/i&gt;, 2016 -ongoing" data-rich-file-id="1502" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1502/original/diazlewis.jpg" />

One gallery in particular stands out in terms of art that carries activist messages. Entering into Monique Meloche&rsquo;s booth, visitors are greeted by Cheryl Pope&rsquo;s WHEN I GET OUT, Voice of Incarcerated Youth (2015), an eight-by-six-foot carpet woven with the words &ldquo;When I get out, I&rsquo;m going to start by beating someone up.&rdquo; This provocative piece&mdash;sized to the dimensions of a typical youth jail cell&mdash;immediately sets the tone of the booth, one that is curated more like a museum exhibition rather than a gallery showroom.

Just beyond Pope&rsquo;s carpet, Ebony G. Patterson&rsquo;s 17 (&hellip;when they grow up&hellip;) (2016), serves as an arresting focal point for the booth. Standing nearly six feet in height, a portrait of an anonymous African American adolescent is adorned with beads, appliques, fabric, glitter, feathered butterflies, and even a toy car. The piece speaks of the innocence of youth, while simultaneously projecting an image of a memorial altar to the dead. It&rsquo;s a powerful anchor for this space featuring works by Carlos Rolon/Dzine, Joel Ross, Amy Sherald, and Nate Young&mdash;all of which are skillfully curated to create a cohesive installation.

<img alt="" data-caption="Installation view, Monique Melouche, EXPO CHICAGO, 2016" data-rich-file-id="1503" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1503/original/moniquemelouche.jpg" />

The evening of Vernissage wrapped up with a performance piece by Cheryl Pope. Red, white, and blue balloons were dropped from the ceiling (political convention style) in front of the entrance to the exposition hall. Guests spontaneously popped the balloons, which had fallen to the floor&mdash;making noises that sounded eerily of gunfire&mdash;and released messages printed on bits of black paper. Each &ldquo;message&rdquo; was stamped with a quote from a prisoner overheard by the artist on a visit to Illinois&rsquo; Stateville Prison. The performance piece was both exuberant and sobering&mdash;and it accomplished what all successful works of art do: it engaged emotions and intellect, making the EXPO visitors both feel and think. It was a powerful moment in the career of this young Chicago artist.

For more information about EXPO CHICAGO visit <a href="http://expochicago.com/">expochicago.com</a>

Top image:&nbsp;Sabina Ott,&nbsp;who cares for the sky,&nbsp;2016, installation view at Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago

Highlights from local artists at EXPO Chicago 2016

Local Artists Create Immersive Environments at EXPO Chicago

September is a busy time in Chicago&#39;s art community, with new shows opening in all the galleries, museum exhibitions happening around the city and suburbs, and of course the season&#39;s art fair frenzy - EXPO first in late September and then SOFA in November. Also happening at the same time as EXPO, in the West Loop at the Chicago Artists Coalition, is&nbsp;The Annual,&nbsp;a&nbsp;yearly sales exhibition celebrating cutting-edge Chicago-based artists.

Arranged by a guest curator, The Annual creates an accessible forum for emerging collectors to discover affordable new work and engage directly with its creators. This year The Annual will run for two weeks on either end of EXPO Chicago, opening Friday, September 16 and closing on Thursday, September 29.

SHOWROOM is curated by Edra Soto, and this year&#39;s Annual is the strongest to-date. From The Annual&#39;s website: &quot;SHOWROOM,&nbsp;is an installation unto itself, bringing together work influenced by fundamental aspects of interior architecture and&nbsp;design&nbsp;objects, and placing them on custom made furniture by Dock 6 Collective.&nbsp;SHOWROOM&nbsp;aims to draw new connections between our understanding of the relationship between art and design, and to make us question our assumptions.&nbsp;SHOWROOM&nbsp;exists within that delicate balance of the expressive world and the pragmatically crafted architecture that holds it.&quot;&nbsp;

Stop in to see the works on view by many of Chicago&#39;s rising stars. Highlights include works by Alberto Aguilar, Mariano Chavez, Maria Gaspar, Anna Kunz, Leonard Suryajaya, Ann Toebbe, and Stacia Yeapanis.

Works may be viewed online and bid on at <a href="https://paddle8.com/auction/cac/">paddle8.com</a>&nbsp;to support CAC.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Stacia Yeapanis, &lt;i&gt;Endless Column (Meditation Practice)&lt;/i&gt;, 2012-2016" data-rich-file-id="1492" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1492/original/122198-1474037487-122198-1473638919-staciafullshot-xl.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Ann Toebbe, &lt;i&gt;E &amp; L&lt;/i&gt;, 2010" data-rich-file-id="1490" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1490/original/img-9224.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Multiple works installed together in SHOWROOM" data-rich-file-id="1489" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1489/original/img-9221.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Leonard Suryajaya, Tree from the installation &lt;i&gt;Don't Hold on to Your Bones&lt;/i&gt;, 2016" data-rich-file-id="1488" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1488/original/img-9223.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Mariano Chavez, &lt;i&gt;Snake Shed Mask 065&lt;/i&gt;, 2016" data-rich-file-id="1487" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1487/original/img-9220.jpg" />

More details available <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/showroom">here</a>.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The Annual, a fundraising exhibition of emerging art, takes place every year at the Chicago Artists Coalition.

SHOWROOM: The Annual at Chicago Artists Coalition 

By MADELINE HAPPOLD

Running in tangent with EXPO Chicago, Art After Hours is a citywide open gallery night inviting the public and EXPO Chicago visitors to view city art spaces during extended hours. The event features galleries, alternative spaces, and performance venues from across the city and surrounding suburbs. Coinciding with various evening exhibition openings, Art After Hours acts as an exciting kick-off to the fall art season.

Art After Hours will take place Friday, September 23 from 6-9pm. Below are highlights from a few&nbsp;of the many art spaces participating in the event.

&nbsp;

<h3>Woman Made Gallery</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Adele Supreme. Photo: Woman Made Gallery" data-rich-file-id="1474" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1474/original/woman-made-gallery-adele.jpg" />

Woman Made Gallery works to promote female-identifying women in the arts by offering a space for exhibitions, open studio space, and other programs. The galley is featuring artist-in-residence Adele Supreme, who will be creating original work in the studio space. Supreme specializes in large scale erotic artwork expressing female sexuality by reclaiming images of sexual oppression.

Woman Made Gallery will hold public open studios from September 22 through September 30, 2016.

&nbsp;

<h3>Volume Gallery</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Thaddeus Wolfe, &lt;i&gt; Fluorescent Light Structure No. 2 &lt;/i&gt;, 2016, neon, bronze, brass. Photo: Volume Gallery" data-rich-file-id="1494" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1494/original/volume-website-tw-13-1140x912.jpg" />

Volume Gallery will be displaying Dead Frame, the third solo exhibition by Thaddeus Wolfe. In his new exhibition, Wolfe builds off his previous Assemblage series, continuing his craft of glassblowing and concentrating on the interaction of light through a glass medium. The phrase &ldquo;dead frame&rdquo; refers to the unseen structure on which neon tubes are mounted, a term derived from the neon sign industry. Wolfe has incorporated these neon structures into his newest works.

Dead Frame is on display from September 17 through November 5, 2016.

&nbsp;

<h3>Catherine Edelman Gallery</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Clarissa Bonet, &lt;i&gt;Mixed Use&lt;/i&gt;, 2016 © Clarissa Bonet" data-rich-file-id="1496" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1496/original/clarissa-bonet.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/catherine-edelman-gallery">Catherine Edelman Gallery</a> will be featuring the first solo exhibition of Chicago-based photographer Clarissa Bonet entitled City Space + Stray Lights. City Space explores the nature of urban environments and the city&#39;s emotional and psychological impact on the body. In Stray Light, Bonet captures city landscapes by carefully constructing images of illuminated building windows at night-time to create a new, urban cosmos. Both inspired by urban landscape, the two photography exhibitions are presented in tangent with one another.

City Space + Stray Light is open from September 9 through October 29, 2016.

&nbsp;

<h3>Wabash Arts Corridor</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="ASVP, &lt;i&gt; Make Your Own Luck&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: Philip Dembinski" data-rich-file-id="1485" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1485/original/wabash-arts-corridor.jpg" />

<h3>Wabash Arts Corridor</h3>

Enjoy a free tour of the internationally renowned Wabash Arts Corridor, guided by curator Neysa Page-Lieberman. Located in Chicago&rsquo;s South Loop, the public arts hub features over 50 large-scale street art murals and installations, one of the largest concentrations in any city-center nationwide. The Wabash Arts Corridor was produced in partnership with Columbia College and the City of Chicago&rsquo;s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The tour will last one hour, but attendees are welcome to stay for an additional art walk of the various Columbia College Chicago galleries.

The Wabash Arts Corridor tour will meet in the lobby of 623 S. Wabash Ave. at 6pm on Friday, September 23.

<h3>&nbsp;</h3>

<h3>Ed Paschke Art Center</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Wasalu Jaco (Lupe Fiasco), &lt;i&gt;Uomo Mangiato Tigre (Man Eating Tiger)&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: Ed Paschke Art Center" data-rich-file-id="1495" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1495/original/ed-pischke-lupe-fiasco.jpg" />

The Ed Paschke Art Center will feature the opening of &ldquo;Beta,&rdquo; the inaugural solo exhibition of artist Wasalu Jaco, or more popularly known as hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco. The show will feature a new work of acrylic on canvas painting, complete with a stamp of Jaco&rsquo;s signature mori skull symbol. Wasalu Jaco is a three time Grammy Award nominated musician, visual artist, and entrepreneur from Chicago&rsquo;s West Side. He had his first body of work featured at the SoHo House of Chicago in 2015 and used his own painting as cover art for his latest studio album &ldquo;Tetsuo &amp; Youth.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Beta&rdquo; will open September 23 and be on display until November 30, 2016.

&nbsp;

For more information on Art After Hours or EXPO Chicago, visit:&nbsp;<a href="http://expochicago.com/">expochicago.com</a>

Top image: Clarissa Bonet, Mixed Use, 2016&nbsp;&copy; Clarissa Bonet

Running in tangent with EXPO Chicago, Art After Hours is a citywide open gallery night inviting the public to view Chicago art spaces during extended hours.

Art After Hours 2016

By GINNY VAN ALYEA

The Art Institute of Chicago is known around the world as a top-tier museum, with a vast, deep collection of works, from major Impressionist paintings to decorative arts, to Modern and Contemporary works. But the blockbusters aside, it is also&nbsp;renowned for its collections of master drawings, both publicly and privately held. The Art Institute of Chicago has been collecting these works for over a century and has substantial world-class holdings&mdash;particularly with regard to drawings of the French and Italian schools.

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1483" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1483/original/img-8930.jpg" />

The stunning&nbsp;exhibition now on view is the final exhibition curated by long-time Prints Department head Suzanne McCullagh, who recently retired. Together with her team of experts, she&nbsp;highlights a selection of master drawings from the 17th to mid-20th century that have been purchased by the museum over the past 25 years but have not yet had occasion to be shown.

<img alt="" data-caption="Gustave Caillebott, Study for &lt;i&gt;Paris Street; Rainy Day&lt;/i&gt;, 1877" data-rich-file-id="1480" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1480/original/img-8918.jpg" />

Though many works are in some ways familiar to us, whether they are by internationally reknown artists or they resemble other works that have been shown at the museum, seeing them together for the first time is enlightening. Surprises include a modest but stunning early beach landscape by Edgar Degas,&nbsp;a preparatory drawing&nbsp;for an Art Institute star painting&nbsp;Paris Street; Rainy Day&nbsp;by Gustave Caillebotte, as well as a sketch book that visitors may digitally page through. Finally, the survey culminates with images from the first half of the 20th century, among them the momentous pastel&nbsp;January&nbsp;by Grant Wood, creator of another Art Institute icon,&nbsp;American Gothic.

The works are a delight to behold and contemplate and are representative of all the surprises the Art Institute continues to share with the public.&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/art-institute-of-chicago">On view through January 29, 2017&nbsp;</a>

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Thomas Gainsborough, &lt;i&gt;A Sunlit Path through a Wood&lt;/i&gt;" data-rich-file-id="1479" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1479/original/img-8924.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Edgar Degas, &lt;i&gt;Beach at Low Tide (Mouth of the River)&lt;/i&gt;" data-rich-file-id="1478" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1478/original/img-8922.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Odilion Redon, &lt;i&gt;False Glory&lt;/i&gt;" data-rich-file-id="1477" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1477/original/img-8915.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Georges Lemmen, &lt;i&gt;Bourgeoise Interior&lt;/i&gt;" data-rich-file-id="1475" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1475/original/img-8914.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Grant Wood, &lt;i&gt;January&lt;/i&gt;, 1938" data-rich-file-id="1476" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1476/original/img-8916.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Caillebotte's Sketchbook, June 1883-September 1887, contains 30 drawings in graphite, watercolor, and brush and gray wash, on 40 sheets of cream wove paper" data-rich-file-id="1481" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1481/original/img-8920.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Visitors may page through a digital version of Caillebotte's Sketchbook to see each page" data-rich-file-id="1484" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1484/original/img-8927.jpg" />

Master Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago

A Look Back: Master Drawings Unveiled: 25 Years of Major Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago

By ALISON REILLY

Every two years, the Hyde Park Art Center surveys the pulse of contemporary art produced by students graduating from Chicago&rsquo;s top MFA programs. The result is an expansive exhibition that finds its way into every inch of the first floor of the Art Center. The show features an impressive roster of 22 artists from Columbia College Chicago (CCC), Northwestern University (NU), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), the University of Chicago (UC), and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Here are a few highlights:

&nbsp;

<h3>Angela Lopez (NU 2015)</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Angela Lopez, &lt;i&gt;Dip Hands In&lt;/i&gt;, 2015, watercolor on paper" data-rich-file-id="1466" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1466/original/hpac-angelalopez.jpg" />

Lining the wall of the main hallway on the first floor of the Hyde Park Art Center are 50 watercolor paintings by Angela Lopez, which form a singular work titled Dip Hands In. The conceit is simple: in each composition Lopez freeze-frames a pair of hands as they immerse into an unknown black liquid. But the quality of the line and the texture of paint create a powerful portrait of severed hands as they transform under the pressure of repeated stains.

&nbsp;

<h3>Gulsah Mursaloglu (SAIC 2015)</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Gulsah Mursaloglu, &lt;i&gt;Ubiquitous Notes for a Fellow Traveler&lt;/i&gt;, 2016, toothpaste, sunflower seeds, brass bells, and mixed media, dimensions variable. Photo: Jared Powell" data-rich-file-id="1467" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1467/original/hpac-gulsahmursaloglu.jpg" />

In Gulsah Mursaloglu&rsquo;s installation titled Ubiquitous Notes for a Fellow Traveler, three turquoise columns reach up to the ceiling of the main gallery. From a distance, the columns appear to be made of oversized turquoise beads fed onto a vertical rod. However, the installation lays bare the device: ice cube trays stacked underneath a wooden table were used as molds for casting toothpaste. The material resists any sense of permanence and will slowly turn from bright turquoise to a faded green throughout the course of the exhibition. Despite their fragility, the turquoise lines ground the installation, designating a space for Mursaloglu within the crowded gallery. Other parts of Mursaloglu&rsquo;s installation highlight the slow passage of time. Barnacle-like structures made from precisely placed sunflower seeds emerge from the corners of the shelf to suggest the continuation of growth. The artist restricts herself to everyday materials: toothpaste, graphite, sunflower seeds, red yarn, and water placed in cups of varying heights. With her found media, Mursaloglu imbeds the process of creation within the presentation of the work.

&nbsp;

<h3>Jeff Prokash (SAIC 2015)</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Installation view of &lt;i&gt;Ground Floor: A Biennial Exhibition of New Art From Chicago&lt;/i&gt;, 2016. Photo: Tom Van Endye " data-rich-file-id="1471" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1471/original/hpac-prokash2.jpg" />

Jeff Prokash, a meticulous and measured sculptor, presents an impressive installation of his ongoing series Objects for a Production in Eleven Acts. Various objects, including concrete slumps, foam rectangles and moving blankets, are carefully placed on five metal industrial shelves. In other iterations, Prokash has worked on a horizontal plane, laying the objects out for careful inspection. At the Hyde Park Art Center, the sculptor works vertically, forcing viewers to crane their heads to see what&rsquo;s on the highest shelf. Prokash&rsquo;s collection of found and made objects provokes questions of conservation methods, storage practices, and public accessibility while drawing upon the various histories of his sourced objects. For instance in Stasi Files, a series of photographs in an adjacent hallway, Prokash visited Berlin to document the archives of the former German Democratic Republic&rsquo;s State Security Service.

&nbsp;

<h3>Orkideh Torabi (SAIC 2016)</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Orkideh Torabi, &lt;i&gt;Pire Frazaneh&lt;/i&gt;, 2016, fabric dye on stretched cotton, 24&quot; x 18&quot;" data-rich-file-id="1472" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1472/original/pir-e-farzaneh.jpg" />

Hung in a large grid, Orkideh Torabi&rsquo;s series of cartoonish characters offer slight smiles, over-the-shoulder eyebrow raises and muted stares. For Torabi, the portraits, many of which are set against tiled backdrops, aim to mock Iranian men who dominate her country&rsquo;s patriarchy. But within this context, the anonymous set form a troupe of outlaws, a band of jokers unwittingly as ridiculous as a commedia dell&rsquo;arte performance. Torabi&rsquo;s staining technique and loose handling produces soft washes of color with a faded, yet striking color palette.

&nbsp;

<h3>Yael Ben-Simon (SAIC 2015)</h3>

<img alt="" data-caption="Yael Ben-Simon, &lt;i&gt;I can change&lt;/i&gt;, 2015, acrylic, oil and spray paint on canvas, 60&quot; x 47&quot;" data-rich-file-id="1473" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1473/original/yaelbensimon.jpg" />

Yael Ben-Simon&rsquo;s acrylic and oil paintings simultaneously conjure digital and physical worlds. In I can change, seemingly digital fabric fragments billow across the two-dimensional canvas. Beneath the bright pink and black patterns are yet more layers: an off white tattered sheet appears to stretch across a textured, multicolored background. The composition alludes to a world beyond the canvas; the painting itself seems to be a small part of a larger whole.&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Ground Floor: A Biennial Exhibition of New Art from Chicago is on display at the Hyde Park Art Center until November 6, 2016. For more information visit:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hydeparkart.org/">hydeparkart.org</a>

Top image: Gulsah Mursaloglu,&nbsp;Ubiquitous Notes for a Fellow Traveler, 2016, toothpaste, sunflower seeds, brass bells, and mixed media, dimensions variable.&nbsp;Photo: Jared Powell

Every two years, the Hyde Park Art Center surveys the pulse of contemporary art produced by students graduating from Chicago’s top MFA programs. 

Ground Floor at the Hyde Park Art Center

The fall art season kicks off Friday, September 9. Openings take place across the city in gallery centers and institutions, with the exhibitions on view for the next several weeks. The fall kick-off is perhaps the most well known focal point of the city&#39;s visual arts calendar, as it offers a chance to get back into the galleries, to meet artists, mingle with friends and to experience what is new. &nbsp;This season the galleries are unveiling their top artists and most thoughtful shows with a wide range of offerings.

There are also some stellar shows taking place in area museums, and many cultural venues and institutions are partnering with international art fair EXPO Chicago for this year&#39;s <a href="http://expochicago.com/expo-art-week">EXPO Art Week</a>, which begins September 19 and runs through the fair (Sept 22-25.)&nbsp;

All eyes are on Chicago right now, and there is so much exciting art to see and enjoy, so many perspectives to view and so many artists to celebrate.&nbsp;

See you around town!&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<h3>Gallery Show Highlights </h3>

<h4>full openings and exhibitions list <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar?what-type-of-event">here</a></h4>

&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/theaster-gates-heavy-sketches">Theaster Gates: Heavy Sketches</a>&nbsp;at Richard Gray Gallery

Friday, Sep 30 - Nov 20, 2016

A solo exhibition of new bronze and mixed material sculptures by&nbsp;Theaster Gates.

<img alt="" data-caption="Theaster Gates" data-rich-file-id="1441" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1441/original/gates.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/mcarthur-binion-seasons">McArthur Binion: Seasons</a> at Kavi Gupta Gallery&nbsp;

Saturday, Sep 17 - Nov 22, 2016

To be seasoned is to be experienced&mdash;seeing the benefits of knowledge gained&nbsp;over times distill in one&rsquo;s work. For McArthur Binion, committed to the&nbsp;tension of colors both art-historical and racial, the seasons and decades&nbsp;have infused his practice.&nbsp;In Seasons, these stubborn crosshatches, which served to blur and distort both&nbsp;their weave and the photocopied numbers and names behind them&nbsp;(gleaned from Binion&rsquo;s personal address book of 1970s New York), have&nbsp;given way to the grid.

<img alt="" data-caption="MacArthur Binion" data-rich-file-id="1436" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1436/original/binion.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/roger-brown-andy-warhol-pop-artists-subversive-politics">Roger Brown &amp; Andy Warhol: Pop Artists, Subversive Politics</a> at Kavi Gupta Gallery

Friday, Sep 23 - Nov 22, 2016

Juxtaposing Brown and Warhol provides opportunities for&nbsp;rethinking the scope of pop art, which takes cues from a diverse array of&nbsp;aesthetic traditions and conceptual techniques.

<img alt="" data-caption="Roger Brown" data-rich-file-id="1443" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1443/original/guptabrown.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/tetsuya-noda-a-retrospective">Tetsuya Noda: A Retrospective</a> at Andrew Bae Gallery

Throughout the 50&nbsp;years of his art career and 500 works he produced under a single title&nbsp;Diary,&nbsp;Tetsuya Noda&nbsp;never lost his affinity for novel inspiration.

Friday, Sep 9 - Oct 29, 2016

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1435" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1435/original/bae.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/rhona-hoffman-40-years-part-1">Rhona Hoffman 40 Years, Part 1</a> at Rhona Hoffman Gallery

Friday, Sep 16 - Oct 22, 2016. Opening reception: Friday, September 16, 5-7:30pm

This group exhibition is the first&nbsp;in a series of three&nbsp;exhibitions celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Rhona Hoffman Gallery.

<img alt="" data-caption="Barbar Kruger at Rhona Hoffman" data-rich-file-id="1454" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1454/original/rh40kruger.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/selections-from-the-steve-and-karen-berkowitz-collection">Selections from the Steve and Karen Berkowitz Collection</a> at Carl Hammer Gallery&nbsp;

Friday, Sep 9 - Oct 29, 2016

A range of works from the personal collection of the founder of Marwen and his wife.

<img alt="" data-caption="Ed Paschke" data-rich-file-id="1444" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1444/original/hammer.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/city-space-stray-light-clarissa-bonet">City Space + Stray Light: Clarissa Bonet</a> at Catherine Edelman Gallery

Friday, Sep 9 - Oct 29, 2016

The concept of place, and our relationship to it, is at the heart of Clarissa Bonet&rsquo;s work.&nbsp;Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, after moving to Chicago in&nbsp;2010, she was stunned by the isolation she felt among the throngs of people rushing along the sidewalks. This body of work examines individuality in a large city.

<img alt="" data-caption="Clarissa Bonet" data-rich-file-id="1437" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1437/original/bonet.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/christa-donner-our-new-system">Christa Donner: Our New System</a> at Gallery 400&nbsp;

Friday, Sep 9 - Oct 22, 2016

Chicago-based artist Christa Donner expands her virtuosic body of drawings concerning the complexities of the human body to explore collectivities and spaces for new forms of human sociality. Donner&rsquo;s practice has grown out of visual research and inquiry originating in interviews and dialogic workshops with individuals and communities.

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1442" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1442/original/gallery400.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/stone-1-000-000-bc-ad-1940">STONE! 1,000,000 BC - AD 1940</a> at Douglas Dawson Gallery

Friday, Sep 9 - Oct 15, 2016

Prehistoric stone tools and weapons from Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and the Americas are on view at this unique space across from the Art Institute.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1439" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1439/original/dawson.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/jamie-adams-porch-and-a-vista">Jamie Adams: Porch and a Vista</a> at Zolla/Lieberman (one of multiple shows opening at the gallery)

Friday, Sep 9 - Oct 1, 2016

New figurative paintings of the&nbsp;artist&#39;s view of pop society.

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1433" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1433/original/adams.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/james-mesple-gem-myths">James Mespl&eacute;: Gem Myths</a> at Printworks

Friday, Sep 9 - Oct 15, 2016

The artist&#39;s final show at Printworks. &nbsp;Known for intensive research into the themes that shape his vibrant exhibitions, this show focuses on gem stones and related mythology.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="James Mesple" data-rich-file-id="1447" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1447/original/mesple.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/michiko-itatani-starry-night-encounter">Michiko Itatani: Starry Night Encounter</a> at Linda Warren Projects

Friday, Sep 9 - Oct 22, 2016

A solo exhibition by one of Chicago&rsquo;s most prolific and esteemed painters,&nbsp;Michiko Itatani. Presenting a wide selection of new work, chosen from several epic series or &ldquo;chapters.&quot;

<img alt="" data-caption="Michiko Itatani" data-rich-file-id="1451" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1451/original/warren.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/unbroken-art-after-injury--2">Unbroken: Art After Injury</a> at Bridgeport Art Center&nbsp;

Opening September 9,&nbsp;6:30&ndash;9:30PM. Opening tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door

This exhibit is a glimpse of the accomplishments, pain, happiness, loss, and beauty of artists with spinal cord injury and paralysis. The show celebrates Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Bridgeport Art Center" data-rich-file-id="1438" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1438/original/bridgeport.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/rndd-annual-fall-gallery-walk">River North Design District Gallery Night Walk</a>

Friday, September 9 5-9pm

Creative neighbors of the River North Gallery District open their showrooms to the public and feature contemporary art in design settings. Special events include a Champagne kick-off and live art.

<img alt="" data-caption="RNDD" data-rich-file-id="1449" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1449/original/rndd.jpg" />

<h3>Museums</h3>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/birth-death-breath-an-inflatable-opera-by-diane-christiansen-and-jeanne-dunning">Birth Death Breath: An Inflatable Opera by Diane Christiansen and Jeanne Dunning</a> at Elmhurst Art Museum

Thursday, Sep 22 - Nov 27, 2016

Elmhurst Art Museum presents the world premiere of&nbsp;Birth Death Breath, an opera &quot;performed&quot; by inflatable Christmas lawn decorations in various stages of inflation and deflation.

<img alt="" data-caption="Elmhurst Art Musuem" data-rich-file-id="1440" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1440/original/elmhurst.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/master-drawings-unveiled-25-years-of-major-acquisitions">Master Drawings Unveiled: 25 Years of Major Acquisitions</a>&nbsp;at the Art Institute of Chicago&nbsp;

Thru &nbsp;Jan 29, 2017

Chicago is renowned for its collections of master drawings both publicly and privately held. The Art Institute of Chicago has been collecting these works for over a century and has substantial world-class holdings&mdash;particularly with regard to drawings of the French and Italian schools. This exhibition highlights a selection of master drawings from the 17th to mid-20th century that have been purchased by the museum over the past 25 years but have not yet had occasion to be shown. It is also the final show curated by recently retired department head Suzanne McCullagh&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Grant Wood. &lt;i&gt;January&lt;/i&gt;, 1938. Regenstein Acquisition Fund and Regenstein Foundation. " data-rich-file-id="1434" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1434/original/aicmaster.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/every-building-in-baghdad-the-rifat-chadirji-archives-at-the-arab-image-foundation">Every Building in Baghdad: the Rifat Chadirji Archives at the Arab Image Foundation</a>, on view at the Graham Foundation&nbsp;

Thursday, Sep 15 - Dec 31, 2016

This exhibition examines the work of Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji through the collection of his original photographs and building documents held at the Arab Image Foundation in Beirut.

&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/urth-ben-rivers">Urth: Ben Rivers</a>&nbsp;at the Renaissance Society&nbsp;

Saturday, Sep 10 - Nov 6, 2016

Urth, Rivers&rsquo;s first solo presentation in the United States, presents new and recent moving image works. The exhibition takes its title from the Old Norse word suggesting the twisted threads of fate.

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1448" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1448/original/rivers.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/there-was-a-whole-collection-made-photography-from-lester-and-betty-guttman">There was a Whole Collection Made: Photography from Lester and Betty Guttman</a> at the Smart Museum of Art&nbsp;

Thursday, Sep 22 - Dec 30, 2016

Artists included in the show include William Henry Fox Talbot, David Octavius Hill, Hannah Hoch, Man Ray, Laszlo Maholy-Nagy, Brassai, Berenice Abbott, Helen Levitt, Diane Arbus, Malick Sidibe, Chuck Close, Carrie Mae Weems, among many others.

<img alt="" data-caption="Smart Museum" data-rich-file-id="1450" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1450/original/smart.jpg" />

A round up of Chicago 2016 fall gallery shows and openings 

Early Fall Art Highlights

By ALISON REILLY

One year ago, Emanuel Aguilar and Julia Fischbach opened the doors of their gallery, PATRON. The two had previously worked together as directors at Kavi Gupta Gallery. Since opening in fall 2015 they have doubled the number of artists they represent while presenting impressive shows by Alex Chitty, Daniel G. Baird, and Myra Green, to name a few. I recently sat down with Emanuel and Julia at their space in River West. 
 
CGN: Tell me about your background. How did you get&nbsp;started in the art world? 
 
Julia Fischbach:&nbsp;I&rsquo;m from Chicago. I grew up here, and then I went away to a school in central Kentucky called Asbury University. Soon after I graduated, I came back to Chicago and I met an artist who had started working with Kavi. I started going to the openings and things like that. After a series of conversations I was hired by Kavi when I was 23. I was there for just over 17 years.&nbsp; 
 
CGN: What about you Emanuel? 
 
Emanuel Aguilar:&nbsp;I grew up in the city as well. I went to Columbia College and double majored in art history and marketing. But when I was very young, seventeen, I met a gallerist, Jean Albano in River North, through family and friends. I worked for her for about eight years, through college. When I left school I launched a magazine called Jettison Quarterly with some of my fellow graduates. One of the other founders of the magazine, Peter Skvara, worked with Julia and Kavi, and so I formed a relationship with the gallery. At one point our offices were in the same building. Kavi offered me a job and I took it. I was there for a few years, and then it led to this. 
 
CGN: Was the idea of opening up your own space something that you had been thinking about for awhile?&nbsp; 
 
EA: It&rsquo;s an industry where you eventually reach the point where, either you do it on your own, or you leave. Especially in a city like Chicago, there are only so many opportunities. To continue up the ladder you need to think about how or if you want to continue. It wasn&rsquo;t something we planned for until after we left and thought about what we wanted to do. We had options to leave the city and work for other spaces.&nbsp; 
 
CGN: Are you happy with the decision to stay in Chicago? 
 
EA: Yeah, it&rsquo;s difficult. Chicago is a very difficult place. I think that&rsquo;s something we both learned at Kavi&rsquo;s. Anything you can imagine in the art world globally, we were exposed to. When you have that kind access to the industry at large you have to reflect on&mdash;in order to stay sane&mdash;what aspects of the job are fulfilling. You come out of it really exhausted and you think to yourself, &lsquo;Why do I want to keep doing this for the rest of my life? What is it about this that makes me want to wake up?&rsquo;&nbsp; 
 
But Chicago has a lot of opportunities. There&rsquo;s definitely a void to fill. It has a lot of challenges because the community and the collector base is small. The collector base often isn&rsquo;t as risky; they sometimes wait for the rest of the world to approve something and then they follow through. You have to reach out to the rest of the world. But we&rsquo;re happy because the reception has been great. 
 
CGN: Julia, what about you? Are you happy with the decision?&nbsp; 
 
JF: Yes, for sure. When we left there was no plan for anything because we had different opportunities coming our way. I needed time to completely regroup. We had people who wanted us to go to the West Coast, East Coast, the whole thing, but I was like, &lsquo;You know we have both been here, we love the city.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s easy to leave sometimes, but I felt like more and more of the world&rsquo;s eyes were turning towards Chicago. In my heart I felt like I needed to stay.&nbsp; 
 
CGN: But I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ve both been traveling a lot. 
 
EA: When we were at the other gallery we were on the road so much, flying out almost every other week. I almost felt like a stranger, because I was never here. At one point I was talking to a friend about my apartment and I mentioned that I had slept like five nights out of the last three months in my own bed. Sometimes you disconnect with your own community. Being in Chicago now has helped me to reconnect with what is going on here and to be a part of it. But eventually travel happens. The way that the art world functions these days you have to be on the road.

CGN: You&rsquo;ve said you want to foster connection between South America and Chicago. Have you been traveling to South America this year or do you have plans in the future to do so?

JF: We&#39;re starting the conversations and then doing research. I don&#39;t want the program to feel like &lsquo;These are South American artists! And artists from the States!&rsquo; so we want to make sure that there&#39;s a lot of crossover as far as conversations that can be blended beautifully. We are starting to work with artists from South America who live in Chicago or have lived here for a time.&nbsp;

CGN: Last year, you had a booth at EXPO, but I didn&rsquo;t see you on the exhibitor list for this fall. Are you planning on participating in other ways? 
 
JF: Yes, EXPO asked us to do a project. We will have a piece up by Samuel Levi Jones. It&rsquo;s an earlier work from 2012 called 48 Portraits Underexposed that informed where his work is today. We&rsquo;ll also be focused on Harold Mendez&rsquo;s exhibition opening here. He lived in Chicago at one point, he&rsquo;s down in Houston now. It&rsquo;s going to be very different and fresh. It&rsquo;s really amazing work.

<img alt="" data-caption="Harold Mendez, &lt;i&gt;At night we walk in circles&lt;/i&gt;, 2016 Cotton, graphite, spray enamel, watercolor, toner, litho crayon on ball grained aluminum lithographic plate mounted on dibond, 72&quot; x 60&quot;" data-rich-file-id="1381" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1381/original/hm-at-night-we-walk-in-circles-.jpg" />

CGN: You started with four artists when you opened a year ago, and now you represent eight. How did you get there? 
 
EA: It&rsquo;s a process to build relationships with artists. Not only do we have to believe in the practice and in the work, but we also have to develop good relationships with these artists as people, because we work very intimately with them. We are gallerists who like being in the studio often, collaborating with the artists and working side by side. It&rsquo;s forming a relationship that functions as a productive partnership for both sides to realize whatever it is that the artist&rsquo;s aspirations are. It took some time to get to know who&rsquo;s right for that and whether we can also do something for those artists. There are a lot of artists we like but for whom we&rsquo;re just not the right space. 
 
CGN: The mold making process for Daniel G. Baird&rsquo;s&nbsp;recent exhibition at PATRON seemed very intensive. He travels into caves across the United States and makes molds of the surfaces. Is Baird&rsquo;s project one that you were involved with specifically? 
 
EA: Yes, if you look at our artist roster, I&rsquo;d say 95% of everything the artists are doing we&rsquo;re involved with, at some point, even if it&rsquo;s just a discussion. Dan has very ambitious ideas and his exhibition was laying foundation for those ideas to grow even bigger and get more ambitious. Everything in his show happened through months and months of conversations. 
 
CGN: Tell me about your philosophy for the gallery. How does it relate to the name PATRON?&nbsp; 
 
JF: Even though we&rsquo;re a newer space we want to make sure that we are really accessible to people. We want the space to feel very open; our offices are almost in the middle of the space instead of hiding. Anybody who comes into the gallery is welcome to walk back into the showroom area. We&rsquo;re interested in helping someone who&rsquo;s never bought a piece of art in their life and has no idea how to go about that, as well as working with those who&rsquo;ve been doing it for forty years. Everyone is a different case.&nbsp; 
 
There are many, many ways to be a supporter. The original definition of patron&mdash;usually you think it&rsquo;s someone who has money and is giving to something&mdash;is actually a much more beautiful, generalized term. It&rsquo;s a supporter, a protector. That is our job. We do that everyday when we cross a threshold. We chose the name very carefully. It&rsquo;s at the foundation of who we are as a space.

CGN: What was the most challenging part of opening up a space this year?

JF: Even though we&#39;ve been in the industry for a long time we&#39;re starting from scratch. It&rsquo;s been very thrilling. It&#39;s a completely different thing when your problems are your problems. We&#39;ve had so many experiences in our lives that it&#39;s allowed us to say &lsquo;It&#39;s okay.&rsquo; You make a decision and you move forward.

EA: It&rsquo;s a challenge to redefine your identity and your life. Both&nbsp;locally and&nbsp;internationally people saw us under a certain umbrella&mdash;we belonged to this other place. We&rsquo;ve had to restructure the way that the world sees us and&nbsp;reconfigure our networks into the fact that we&#39;re no longer there and we&#39;re here. But it&#39;s been really good.

For more information visit <a href="http://patrongallery.com/">patrongallery.com</a>

Top image: Samuel Levi Jones, 48 Portraits (Underexposed), 2012, inkjet print on paper, 48-28&quot; x 22&quot; each or 8.5&#39; x 23&#39; overall, Edition of 1&nbsp;with 1 AP, SLJ025

One year ago, Emanuel Aguilar and Julia Fischbach opened the doors of their gallery, PATRON.

PATRON: Committed to Chicago

In conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of Ukraine&rsquo;s independence, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) celebrates with a new exhibition.&nbsp;Reality Check: Directions in Contemporary Art Since Ukrainian Independence&nbsp;is on view August 26-November 27, 2016.

The exhibition presents the work of eight contemporary artists affected by the country&rsquo;s 1991 independence. Reality Check examines the strictures imposed during the Soviet Union with installations, sculptures, and paintings by artists working in the United States, Canada, and Ukraine.&nbsp;For Ukrainian professional artists, the collapse of the Soviet Union created an opportunity to learn and engage with current artistic developments occurring in the west, as well as delve into those of the past from which they had been excluded.

<img alt="" data-caption="Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak Bear T(hugs), 2015 Felted bear, 5 painted wooden nesting dolls 10 x 14 x 6 in." data-rich-file-id="1412" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1412/original/bears-web.jpg" />

The exhibition is curated by Adrienne Kochm, one of North America&rsquo;s foremost scholars of contemporary art of Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora,&nbsp;and includes artists: Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak, Anna Bogatin, Yhelena &amp; Michael Hall, Roman Hrab, Natalka Husar, Yulia Pinkusevich, and Valya.&nbsp;

<a href="http://uima-chicago.org">uima-chicago.org</a>

<img alt="" data-caption="Valya, BABA, Merino wool fleece, felt, silk gauze; 109” x 79”" data-rich-file-id="1380" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1380/original/uima-ed.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Anna Bogatin Aurora, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 in. Courtesy of Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Philadelphia PA" data-rich-file-id="1413" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1413/original/uimablue.jpg" />

Top image: Natalka Husar, Why They Behave Like Russians, 2005, Oil on book cover, 8.5 x 12 in.

In conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, UIMA presents Reality Check.

Artists Mark an Anniversary – Reality Check: Directions in Contemporary Art Since Ukrainian Independence at UIMA

By KEVIN NANCE 
 
On October 3 it will have been a year since the Stony Island Arts Bank, one of the most remarkable new cultural projects on Chicago&rsquo;s South Side in memory, opened its doors to the public. As the Arts Bank&mdash;the brainchild of the multimedia artist Theaster Gates&mdash;prepares to celebrate its first anniversary, the hybrid visual arts gallery, music venue and African-American heritage institution can pride itself on a solid start to a long life of service to its neighborhood and beyond. 
 
The handsome granite Arts Bank building, designed by the prominent architect William Gibbons Uffendell and constructed in 1923 at 6760 S. Stony Island Ave., was once a stately savings-and-loan institution serving the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. But by the time Gates acquired the building in 2012, just weeks before it likely would have been demolished by the city, the bank was in shambles.&nbsp; 
 
Abandoned for nearly 30 years, the 17,000-square-foot structure had suffered decades of rain pouring in through holes in the ceiling; in the basement-level vault, where rows of metal safe-deposit boxes still gleamed, storm water stood chest-high. Nearly a third of the ornate coffered plasterwork on the ceiling of the first-floor great hall had crashed to the floor below.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Rusted safe-deposit boxes" data-rich-file-id="1411" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1411/original/stony-island-6-dxo.jpg" />

&ldquo;People who live in this neighborhood walked past this building for 30 years, and saw it literally falling apart at their feet and above their heads,&rdquo; says Amy Schachman, director of strategic operations at the Rebuild Foundation, the nonprofit group that oversees the Arts Bank and other Gates projects. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a legacy of neglect but also a legacy of possibility.&rdquo; 
 
To keep that legacy clearly visible to visitors, Gates and his team of architects chose not to restore the building to its original pristine state, but rather to leave much of the damaged surfaces&mdash;including the coffered ceiling, interior columns and inner walls of the first floor&mdash;essentially untouched. Intermixed with those areas are several newly designed and constructed spaces, such as the high-ceilinged second-floor room that now houses the 16,000-volume Johnson Publishing Library, complete with a shelving system built in part with reclaimed railroad ties from the nearby tracks that give the neighborhood its name. 
 
&ldquo;By showing what was lost and what was salvageable, by keeping this mixture of old and new, we made an intentional decision to say, &lsquo;Something can be this far gone and you can bring it back,&rsquo;&rdquo; Schachman says. &ldquo;You can make it beautiful, and you can make it an amenity for the people who live in the neighborhood as well as those who come from farther away. If you can take a building this big, and this far gone, and bring it back, that&rsquo;s a pretty strong testament to the work that we&rsquo;re able to do across this neighborhood and that Theaster is doing throughout the South Side.&rdquo; 
 
Although the renovation is still not complete and may never be&mdash;&ldquo;Never,&rdquo; Schachman repeats, noting that the building is in a &ldquo;constant state of reinvention&rdquo; in response to Gates&rsquo;s elastic vision, the capacity of the 12-person staff and the needs of the neighborhood&mdash;the Arts Bank has now settled into something like a comfortable routine. Open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from noon until 7 p.m., the Arts Bank offers a regular schedule of activities that include live music on Thursday afternoons and, on Fridays, House Tea, during which DJs spin music from the Frankie Knuckles collection of vinyl house music recordings housed on the third floor as visitors are treated to home-brewed tea.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="A second-floor reading room features a collection of books on black culture and history recently donated by the DuSable High School Library. Photo: Kevin Nance" data-rich-file-id="1377" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1377/original/stony-island-4.jpg" /> 
 
Patrons can view an ongoing rotation of outside exhibitions &ndash; such as a recent show of photographs by Ghanaian street photographer and portraitist James Barnor &ndash; as well as shows drawn from the various in-house collections, including over 60,000 glass lantern slides of art and architectural history, inherited from the University of Chicago; the Edward J. Williams collection of &ldquo;negrobilia,&rdquo; often mass-produced objects and artifacts with sometimes stereotypical images of African-Americans; and a collection of older books on black culture and history, recently decommissioned and donated to the Arts Bank by the DuSable High School library.

<img alt="" data-caption="Slides in the archive" data-rich-file-id="1410" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1410/original/stony-island-5-dxo.jpg" />

The Arts Bank features regular orientation sessions exploring the Johnson Publishing Library, which includes, among other things, bound editions of Ebony and Jet magazines. As Schachman puts it, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re always having people come in to look up the 1972 Ebony because their uncle&rsquo;s picture was in it.&rdquo; 
 
What&rsquo;s it like to work at the Arts Bank every day? &ldquo;Wonderful,&rdquo; says Demecina Beehn, outreach and engagement manager. &ldquo;To be surrounded by such beauty and such amazing collections, to be able to meet the enthusiastic people who come in every day&mdash;it&rsquo;s just breathtaking.&rdquo;&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1409" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1409/original/stony-island-dxo.jpg" /> 
Special activities to commemorate the Bank&rsquo;s first anniversary are in the works. These were not firmed up at press time, but Schachman promises &ldquo;a lot of music and a lot of late nights.&rdquo; She adds, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to sum up concisely what we&rsquo;re all about&mdash;hybridity is key,&rdquo; Schachman explains. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a single answer that captures everything we&rsquo;re trying to do. So when people ask that question when they&rsquo;re right outside, we just say, &lsquo;Come in. Figure out for yourself what&rsquo;s interesting to you.&rsquo;&rdquo;

Top image:&nbsp;The first-floor main hall of the Stony Island Arts Bank features a mix of partially restored as well as newly designed spaces such as the Johnson Publishing Library (above). Photo: Kevin Nance

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October 3, 2016 marks one year since the Stony Island Arts Bank, one of the most remarkable new cultural projects on Chicago’s South Side, opened.