Contemporary art is happening all throughout Chicago, as well as extending out into the suburbs. The Riverside Arts Center (RAC), located at 32 E. Quincy St., in Riverside, IL, is currently exhibiting J Clayton: Colorspace, Michelle Bolinger in the Project Space, and Michelle Grabner + Brad Killiam in the RAC Garden; curated by Karen Azarnia.

J CLAYTON

When I stepped into the front of the Riverside Arts Center gallery space, it was hard to miss J Clayton’s big, bright paintings on canvas. Working in acrylic on raw canvas – an unforgiving medium – Clayton paints series of color spots marking points in space, establishing both structure and pathways of movement. At first glance Clayton’s colorful, busy paintings recall Yayoi Kusama, although nowhere near as compulsive, though they sit in a more relaxed, spatial manner. Clayton’s organization makes sense when I find out that she was also an architect. Clayton's use of acrylic on raw canvas is impressive, as not many painters can achieve successful paintings with these hard to manipulate materials. I also enjoyed what I perceived to be a little touch of silver flock on one piece. Her color-space paintings are a reflection of an internal world mapped from a lifetime of gathering information, processing data, recognizing patterns and solving problems. For Clayton, her art making practice is her “way of thinking about the world.” Although I obviously enjoyed Clayton’s paintings, I would like to see her to push her works even further, perhaps integrating an element that disrupts the flow or doesn’t seem as comfortable.

MICHELLE BOLINGER

Next I entered the project space, where I stumbled upon smaller-scale but brilliant, intimate, and also colorful paintings by Michelle Bolinger. These works made up for their modest size through intense mark making. I particularly enjoyed the largest of Bolinger’s paintings, and had the lingering wish of how lovely it would be to have this work in my apartment to constantly stare at it. If paintings had feelings, I would hope the beautiful yellow, green painting is aware of its great presence, or at least Bolinger should be. Her use of space, which she refers to as “faux architecture,” was fresh, and it’s clear she’s interested in the balance between concrete geometry and atmosphere. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Bolinger’s works in a similar vein.

MICHELLE GRABNER + BRAD KILLIAM

There was another discovery to be made outside in the RAC garden, where there was a single, large-scale wood and concrete cube, approximately four or five feet wide, built by Michelle Grabner and Brad Killiam, a married couple who have been collaborating on artworks and exhibitions since 1993. Isamu Noguchi’s influence on the piece was apparent to me, but when one sees the texture embedded in the wooden planks, it’s also evident that similar textures are found in Grabner’s own paintings. Killiam described the reasoning behind the space and the particular piece: “The garden has a history with ceramic works, a few trees, crushed rock ground surface and a busy suburban location... A contemplative cube, made from wood and concrete, makes sense in that space.” The structure is peaceful yet it adds a satisfying, considerate, modern element to the reflective air of the garden, allowing the viewer to take everything in with a few, quiet breaths.

The three exhibitions run until November 24. For more details and upcoming events at the Riverside Arts Center, please visit their website.

J. Clayton, 2012, After the Quake: The Thousand Autumns (detail)

Michelle Bolinger, 2012, Tied, Oil on Panel, 34" x 28"

22 is an art and design gallery just west of downtown Chicago, located on 6910 Cermak Road in Berwyn, IL.  The multi-use space is dedicated to exploring the overlap between art and design, highlighting the work of emerging and established artists and designers. Modular22 is the gallery’s most ambitious project to date, a large-scale installation featuring work from over one hundred artists, designers, and architects.
  
The entire structure measures 8 feet tall and 25 feet long, with the artwork displayed on interlocking wooden panels. The artists included in the show are from Chicago, the U.S., as well as internationally. The color palette for the artwork, done only in black and white, is intended to keep the project visually cohesive while featuring work by such a variety of artists and styles. A participatory component of the work is evident on the chalkboard panels that ask for visitors to leave their own mark. The gallery is considered new and upcoming, and the directors believe that art and design are inseparable, as evidenced by Modular22. “The project brings the infrastructure of a gallery display system to the foreground, treating it as equal to the artwork it’s used to display,” stated Calek.
                       
The gallery owners are recent MFA graduates from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Jessica Calek, architect and director of 22, designed the Modular22 Project. Dan Streeting, graphic designer, painter, and creative director of 22 built the infrastructure with Calek, and their intern Erin McGuire, a recent graduate & painter from SAIC. The Modular22 project was funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign over the past summer. The wooden panels were lasercut by Advanced Laser Cutting Technologies in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
 
MODULAR22 opened on Saturday, October 13, and the work is on display until December 22, which is also the closing reception. Make sure to check out this exciting, innovative installation! The gallery is open to the public six days a week. Check 22’s website for more details. Note: the gallery is also accessible via the CTA.

View from the entrance of the Modular22 installation , photographer: Dan Streeting

View of the Modular22 installation from the back of 22's gallery space, photographer: Dan Streeting

close-up of a lasercut panel, and some artwork in Modular22, photographer: Dan Streeting

close-up of some artwork in Modular22 installation, photographer: Dan Streeting

Throughout the month of October, Chicago has had a chance to celebrate its local artists and art spaces - the people and places that add so much to our vibrant city.  With a focus on engaging citizens within the many smaller communities of Chicago, Chicago Artists Month collaborated with more than 200 program partners to present a wide range of activities to get the public involved in the arts.  CAM, which is organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and affiliated partner organizations, is now in its final week.  When it comes to art in October, there is so much to do and so little time,  so here’s a guide with some events to help you take advantage of the final week's activities:

This Thursday Oct 25 at 6:30pm and Friday Oct 26 at noon, the University of Chicago campus will be hosting “On the Ground- A Progressive Discourse on the Socially Engaged and Strategically-Interventionist Artist,” a series of discussions addressing the impact of artists and works of art.  These discussions are happening in conjunction with the opening of The Washington Park Arts Incubator, a mixed-use arts facility located just west of Washington Park at 301 East Garfield Boulevard.  The Washington Park Arts Incubator is the product of the “Arts and Public Life Initiative,” intended to provide support for local artists –specifically those who are underrepresented--in the form of space, community, and mentorship.  The discussions held on Thursday and Friday will be the first public events held in this brand-new building, and are intended as a forum to discuss the impact that the Arts Incubator will have on artists and the community, as well as an introduction to the 2012/2013 artists-in-residence.

Washington Park Arts Incubator

This Saturday Oct 27 from 10am -2pm at the North wall of Athletico building, (4080 Milwakee Ave) Aerosol artist Bill Weyna of Uneek Designs will lead "It's Just A Medium," an event that invites the community to participate in a hands- on aerosol art tutorial.  Community members will have the chance to practice their techniques on a public wall, and Weyna will lead a discussion that addresses the differing styles and informs people about the impact of graffiti versus art.

This Halloween, on Oct 31, the “California Avenue Art Haunt,” is a tour spanning from California and Chicago to California and Division, starting at Reversible Eye Gallery (1103 N. California Ave.), from 6 – 10 pm.  This walk was established to connect varying communities, artists, and local businesses through the celebration of Halloween.

Also this Halloween at 3:30 pm is the opening of Repeat After Me, a solo exhibit by local artist Debra Kayes. Located at Saint Xavier University Art Gallery (3700 West 103rd Street), visitors can expect to find mixed-media works in simple, organic forms, repetition, and layering.  Through her work, Kayes challenges the boundaries between painting and sculpture and explores topics such as swarm theory, emergence, and group-mentality.  Visitors will also get to experience a public lecture featuring the exhibiting artist. 

Debra Kayes, See/Sea

Visit their website for more information about these events and other events happening during this last week of Chicago Artists Month. 

Last night at the MCA, a packed theater clapped and cheered - probably even cried a little - watching a video introducing this year's 10 artist awardees who each received the 3Arts Award.  Now, the award comes with an amazingly generous, totally unrestricted gift of $15,000, but more than the financial reward, or freedom, that comes with such a prize, each artist shared by video interview what the award made them feel like they could do. Bascially, the answer was anything. 3Arts got started just 5 years ago, rising after the sale of the storied Three Arts Building at the corner of Goethe and Dearborn in the Gold Coast.  The building was sold for a sum hefty enough to start a foundation devoted to supporting and raising awareness for artists working in the fields of music, theater, and visual arts, focusing on women, people of color, and people with disabilities in recognition that their work is still underrepresented in mainstream culture. 3Arts provides both direct awards to artists and grants to arts organizations for their support of artists. 5 years later, the foundation's work is growing and the number of artists they reach is expanding.

At the awards ceremony, after a lively, foot-stomping performance by AfriCaribe, actor Kareem Bandealy gave an inspiring opening speech in which he covered all the truly liberating and transformative ways that his 2011 3Arts award affected him.  He said that artists can do whatever they want - fix the breaks on their car, buy chocolate and steaks, or chocolate steaks, or allow him to seek appropriate care for a child on the autism spectrum.  Kareem was light and charming and witty, and you could feel his gratitude and continued amazement that 3Arts gave him a green light for his career and his passion. He made it clear that the beauty of an unrestricted gift is that is helps an artist with their day to day life.  By supporting the human, he said, you support the artist. Executive Director was emotional when she followed on stage to announce one generous family's $300,000 donation to 3Arts, ensuring, she said, that "3Arts will continue in perpetuity." 

The stories of the individual artist awardees in 2012 are too many for me to list here, but I encourage you to check out the 3Arts website to learn about all of these artists - they have each struggled, perservered, and come out on top to achieve what they are most passionate about.  They are each grateful and inspired to do more because of the validation and confidence has given them. There are many ways that individual donors can also support these artists, and 3Arts also has a relatively new program called 3AP - a sort of Kickstarter set-up where artists may have their projects funded by micro-donations (ie: $5, or $500) though 3Arts does not get a cut of those donations.

Last night showed just how important one organization is to supporting arists in Chicago, but it also clearly showed just how important and inspirational so many artists are to all of us every day.

Miguel Aguilar - Visual artist awardee

Visual Artist Awardee - Maria Vergara

Photographer Christopher Schneberger’s new series Glimmer: The Haunting of the Graham House opens at Printworks Gallery this evening. While these photographs would be intriguing year round, Schneberger’s images are aptly haunting as we approach Halloween. 

The featured image of the show, Glimmer, shows a blonde teenage girl comfortably dressed in pajama-like attire sitting on the bathroom counter casually painting her toenails red, in what appears to be her own middle to upper-middle class bathroom with shiny, dark granite counters, clean white sinks, and matching white window trim. After a long second, the viewer notices a ghastly female figure seen only inside the mirror, next to the blond girl’s own reflection. One assumes that the blonde teenager is unaware of the ghoulish figure, but she could also be familiar with the haunting presence. In stark contrast to the richness of the rest of the photograph, and to the youth of the pajama-clad teen, the ghoulish girl, has grey, dead-looking skin, her dark hair swept away from her face. She is wearing a ruffled, flower-print dress that is certainly outdated by at least a century.

This photograph has an interesting back story. Schneberger had done a lot of research on ghosts, and he has exhibited them in previous photographs, usually showing them existing in physical rooms and spaces. For this series, the Graham family (name changed for secrecy) approached Schneberger and told him that “our ghost lives in the mirrors”, not in visible spaces. Skeptical of ghosts, but interested in the Grahams’ story Schneberger asked if he could move into the Grahams’ house to further investigate andhopefully photograph the supposed ghoul. At first Schneberger didn’t see any girl, and thought his skepticism was correct.  John, the dad, pleaded, “She doesn’t know you yet; sometimes I wish she didn’t know me.” After several visits Schneberger was ready to write this off as yet another hoax, until one evening when Sarah, the mom, called from the bathroom, “She’s here!” Schneberger ran to find a young woman in the mirror, as if she were standing next to Sarah.

Schneberger decided to move in after that, and the Grahams agreed. These series of photographs are from the two months the Graham family granted him full access to their Victorian home.

For further information on this photograph, please click here or visit the Printworks Gallery website.

Some of Schneberger's other photograph series include the following titles: Being Nowhere, Magic and Murder, A Case of Levitation, Croswell Twins, and Governess. If this Glimmer series doesn’t whet your ghoulish appetite, I’m not sure what will. Decide for yourself by visiting Printworks Gallery. The opening is tonight October 19, and the exhibition runs until November 24, 2012.

Glimmer Series, Christopher Schneberger

Glimmer Series, Christopher Schneberger

Glimmer Series, Christopher Schneberger