As we promised CGN is here to update you on the next batch of “don’t miss” events in honor of Chicago Artists Month. The events got off to a great start on September 30^th during a weekend packed with opening exhibitions, artwalks, open houses, and much more. Theres something about excess when it comes to art events that just gets everyone excited to be out there and squeezed into the same space with other gallery hoppers.... So, the offerings continue, and it’s already week two. Since we’re trying to be helpful, we thought that highlighting a few opportunities would be key in scheduling your art-filled week. More events will be added regularly.

October 9-16:

Open Studios

• Fine Arts Building – Michigan Ave.

Chicago Artists Month offers great opportunities to visit with and explore the works of local artists, which is what the celebration is all about. An open studio is an intimate invitation for art viewers to step into an artist’s creative space and look at art with the creator, which is always an enlightening experience. The Fine Arts Building on S. Michigan Ave. is a landmark for local artists, and it is one of the last remaining spaces that was built with the intention to be for working artists. The ornate columns and murals throughout offer a nostalgic setting and a great environment for artists. The Fine Arts Building hosts an event every Second Friday of the month, and this Friday, October 14 is no exception. This is a great excuse to visit the historical building and view over 60 local artists works. Second Fridays offers art, theatre, and music and is held from 4:30 to 9:30 pm.

• Lacuna Artist Lofts – Pilsen East

Lacuna Artist Loft Studios is relatively new on the scene, and it is located in the Pilsen Art District. The building houses numerous commercial and artists’ studios in what was once the world’s largest macaroni factory. On October 14 from 3:00 pm to Midnight come to Collaborative Connection, an all-building open studio event. Also, from 6-10pm Hebru Brantley, CGN’s featured artist for the fall issue, is also having an exhibition, Yesterday’s Losers, featuring new works (studio 4A-9). At the open house there are 150+ participants, and the spectacular roof deck with a breathtaking view of downtown from this historic industrial spot is a don’t-miss. There will be live music, DJs, refreshments and snacks as well. Start your Friday off in Pilsen with this great chance to see inside this dynamic community of working artists. 

• Hubbard Open House – West Town

On Friday, October 14, from 6 pm-midnight the doors to 1821 Hubbard Street Lofts will be open.  This is an unusual building, located just west of River North and the West Loop.  Enjoy (free) Drinks, food and music as you tour the steel-lined halls, discovering the magic that happens daily in this seemingly quiet building. Participating in the event are: Platform Studios, Spudnik Press, Saverio Truglia, Doug Fogelson, The Post Family, Gerda Meyer Bernstein, Tsubo Salon, Robyn Rachel Photography and Footworks Shoetique.

Artwalks and Tours

• Pilsen Open Studios:

This last gasp of warm weather cannot be taken for granted, so hit the streets and enjoy the artwalks and tours offered during CAM. 18^th Street Pilsen Open Studios is an amazing artist-run art walk that is held on Saturday October 15 from 12-6 pm and offers a family-friendly celebration of art. The Pilsen community and artists open their arms in this 9^th annual event, and from trolley rides to mural tours, there is an activity for everyone.

• Bronzeville Trolley Tour

Also on October 15 from 6-9pm The Bronzeville Trolley Tour will be holding its last seasonal open trolley to embark on a journey of visiting 6 different galleries, running continuously throughout the night and allowing you to explore at your own pace. The six galleries include Blanc Gallery, The DuSable Museum, Faie African Art Gallery, Gallery Guichard, Little Black Pearl, and South Side Community Art Center. Admission is free, so don’t miss this chance to tour around the Bronzeville Art District.

Presentations and More

On Tuesday October 11 Lillstreet Art Center is hosting A Brand New Artists Talk: Where are Today’s Rural American Artists? at 6pm. This lecture, by rural artist and farmer Dan Brinkmeier, talks about functions of art in the 1930s and how we are faced with similar challenges in today’s world. Artist’s like historians show the reality of how people live in rural America and the social changes that occur. Go to this lecture to learn more about these issues.

Enjoy and stay tuned for more updates!

As one of the largest collaborative artistic efforts ever across Chicago, The Soviets Art Experience has joined together twenty-six art museums throughout the city. The showcase is 16 months long and features numerous artists and their works in response to a communist Soviet Union. The events began in August of 2010 and end in January 2012, so be sure not to miss the remaining few months. These exhibitions present powerful imagery and propaganda from this period and help to create an understanding of what it was like. It includes art, dance, concerts, lectures, and classes that are created and put on by numerous prominent artists.

The Mary and Leigh Block Museum is one among many participants and their Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons exhibition shows us a post-Cold War assessment through posters, cartoons, and photomontages. It is on view now and will run through to December 4th. The exhibition examines these images and the meaning behind stylistic tendencies that are often times suggestive and reinforcing a government message.

The David and AlfredSmart Museum’s Vision and Communism exhibition presents the work of Soviet artist Viktor Koretsky whose emotionally-charged images vividly depict controversies and issues from this time of turmoil. This exhibition opens on September 29 and will be on view until January 22nd. The Smart Museum’s Film Studies Center is also presenting footage by Aleksandr Medvedkin who documents tumultuous events from 1968-1969. These films can be seen on October 12th, 19th, and November 2nd at 7:00 pm at the Film Studies Center. The Smart Museum is also host to another exhibition associated with the Soviets Art Experience, Process and Artistry in the Soviet Vanguard, on view now until January 22nd. This exhibition features works by Gustav Klucis and Valentina Kulagina, and shows a rare look at the creative processes that created the iconic Soviet propaganda.  From preparatory drawings all the way to mass produced posters, you can see the stages and progression of these art forms into a political message.

This amazing collaboration demonstrates how Chicago artists and art institutions can come together to present a conjoined depiction of a dim time in history. Through the images and other infused mediums this powerful experience will leave you wanting more. Please check out this site for remaining exhibition dates and events going on throughout the remaining months.

Fall brings about many changes: changing of the leaves, the cold weather, and as you all guessed by last week’s busy opening schedule, of course new exhibitions for galleries. One art destination not far from the city is the Elmhurst Art Museum, an architecturally significant facility that focuses on contemporary art in the suburb of Elmhurst. Starting on September 16, and currently showing until December 31^st, the museum is presenting four new exhibitions for the fall. Three artists represented by Chicago galleries, artist Matt Woodward (Linda Warren Gallery), Glenn Wexler (Zolla/Lieberman Gallery), and Firat Erdim (Roy Boyd Gallery) are exhibiting their new works, with architecture as a lose but underlying theme. The Art Center is also concurrently presenting their new collection additions in a separate exhibition.

Matt Woodward’s The Tremendous Alone is a collection of immense drawings about architecture and the way in which it becomes a powerful memory, which creates a perception of how we view a given time and place. Six vast drawings fill the gallery space in an intuitive view of the artist’s personal memory. Woodward’s intent to push past the architecture into a suggestive place of life and death creates an overall thought provoking and visually stimulating experience.

Glenn Wexler’s multi-media exhibition Stillness in Motion is based on the in-between spaces of nature and the developed world, all seen through the lens of an urban setting. The collection includes structures lit from within, wall text, and photographic images that all pertain to the close proximity of architecture and its relationship to land and cityscapes.

 The architectural and sculptural work in Firat Erdim’s The Arbor looks at the transformation of objects and places between states of nature, raw material, construction and ruin. Erdim takes standard wood planks and uses them to create structures that comment on the states of arrangement and deterioration.

Collection Highlights: New Acquisitions is made up of the new 18 works that are being added to the Museum’s collection. The generously gifted works add to the contemporary art collection and speak to the current culture. The exhibition includes works from Jerry Cargill, Helen Maurene Cooper, Mark DeBernardi, and many more. Come check out these four fabulous exhibitions and revel in their creative excellence.

When: September 16- December 31, 2011

Where: Elmhurst Art Museum

http://www.elmhurstartmuseum.org/current-exhibitions.html

The Packer Schopf Gallery in the West Loop is unveiling its next exhibition this Friday, September 9, and we will be sure not to miss it as we make the rounds during this big opening night. The gallery will be showcasing three stellar artists including Lorraine Peltz, Doug Smithenry, and Bill Harrison.

Lorraine Peltz’s Dazzling and Bright collection presents an array of work that pulls between the past and present, as well as the nature of private identity and public persona. Her visually stimulating paintings of chandeliers and flowers offer a foreground for the subject matter behind her artwork. She is said to be a “painter of pleasure,” and one would likely agree upon viewing these beautiful baroque-looking paintings. Peltz is also one of twelve artists featured this year for Chicago Artists Month. 

Doug Smithenry is presenting his collection Alexandra Walrus and uses a work of prose to explicate his pieces. The prose explain a state of boredom in one’s relationship and Smithenry’s pieces relay this message through portrayed expressions and moods.

Bill Harrison’s Outlaws and Patriots highlights his realistic life-size charcoal pencil portraits. This new series depicts bikers, more specifically Harley Davidson riders, as the new frontier men. His goal is to capture a non-sympathetic portrait, in which the viewer is neither for nor against the subject. He targets older subjects, allowing for their aged and now characterized faces to provide the story of their inner self. Harrison admires the tribal like aspect to the biker sub culture and the attributes they acquire.

Don’t miss seeing the diverse and inspiring work from these three artists at this Friday’s opening, or anytime throughout the duration of the show ending October 22. You can also mark your calendar to check out the gallery during an upcoming tour event for Chicago Artists Month. On Saturday, October 8, Packer Schopf Gallery will be one of four featured West Loop galleries that will be exhibiting Chicago artists, and included on the tour. Read more about the West Loop and River North tours, organized through CGN and Chicago Artists Month.

When: Opening Reception September 9, 5:00-8:00

Where: Packer Schopf Gallery 924 W. Lake St Chicago, Il 60607

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11:00-5:30

Contact information: packer@packergallery.com 312.226.8984

A Sense of Place is on view now at The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, featuring work by seven Chicago-based artists with Italian ties, including Carl Baratta, Antonia Contro, Stefano Cossu, Marco G. Ferrari, Virginio Ferrari, Sung Jang, and Lou Mallozzi.  

The exhibition is being held in conjunction with the 150^th anniversary of the unification of Italy and the long-standing friendship between the U.S. and Italy.  It also ties in with the 2011 Venice Biennale, in addition to Italy@150 – a series of activities throughout the U.S. organized by the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC, celebrating the unification. 

Curated by Kate Zeller, Assistant Curator of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Sullivan Galleries within the Department of Exhibitions, the exhibition features a range of work including paintings from Baratta, mixed-media pieces from Contro and Jang, photography and installation work from Cossu, film and video from Marco G. Ferrari, sculpture from Virginio Ferrari, and sound pieces from Mallozzi. 

A Sense of Place represents Chicago as one of eighty-nine satellite exhibitions featured in the Italian Pavilion in the World at the 54^th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.  The exhibition will have a presence through a film Marco G. Ferrari is creating about all seven artists and their work.  Click here to watch a video.  The Italian Pavilion brings together Cultural Institutes from around the world to promote Italian art, its history and its emergence over the past decade. 

thru September 16

The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago | 500 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1450

Chicago, IL 60611 |  Iicchicago@esteri.ii

Learn more about video artist Marco G. Ferrari and his father, sculptor Virginio Ferrari in their CGN listing, and on their site, ferraristudios.com.

Virginio Ferrari, video still from A Sense of Place, video essay by Marco G. Ferrari