Have you ever wanted to try out an art studio class, such as wheelthrowing, screenprinting, or jewelry design, but haven’t had the time or money? Lillstreet Art Center is giving all of those interested in classes a free chance to come and try their hand at some different artistic trades this Saturday, March 2. From 12-4pm Lillstreet will invite visitors to try various classes for 1-2 hours to experience what a 5-10 week class would be like. Visitors are also welcome to check out all the different classrooms, galleries, studios and the Artisan Gift Shop. They will also tour Lillstreet’s brand new Lillstreet Loft from 12-4pm. This private 2,000-sq ft loft is designed to feel like an artist’s studio and is available for private rental and team building programs. So come check out all of Lillstreet’s facilities and try out a class! The schedule of events are as followed:

12-4  Kids Activities

12-1 Screenprinting of Paper

12-1 Handbuilt Slab Trays

1- 2Handbuilt Mugs

1- 3  One Bead at a Time

1:30-2:30 Band Rings

2-3 Wheelthrowing

2-3 Monotype Mania

2-3 Sewn Drawstring Bags

2-3 Printed Tote Bags

2-4  Throwing Big 

3-4 Sewn Drawstring Bags

3-4 Printed Tote Bags

3-4  Wheelthrowing

3-4  Bracelets 

Those interested can RSVP on Facebook.

If art classes do not catch your interest, Lillstreet is also excited to host the 6^th annual Empty Bowls Project to benefit First Slice, a local hunger-fighting organization. On Friday March 1 Lillstreet welcomes anyone to join them for a modest meal of soup and bread, served in a bowl donated by a ceramic artist. Each meal is $25 dollars, and the buyer can take the bowl home afterward. The sales of the bowls are first come first serve starting at 5:00pm. There will also be a silent auction of artist-crafted items during this time.

March begins with two days of fun at Lillstreet Art Center. From The Empty Bowls Project on Friday starting at 5:00pm, to the free art classes on Saturday from 12:00-4:00pm, you won’t want to miss out on these exciting events!

Lillstreet Art Center

4401 N. Ravenswood

Chicago, IL 60640

773-769-4226

www.lillstreet.com

Even though in Chicago the weather has been a bit rainy and grey, the holidays are approaching and bringing a new year; we know the snow will be here soon enough!

Chicago Gallery News is excited and ready to celebrate the New Year with our upcoming January-March issue, packed with events and openings in 2012! Grab your copy soon, and visit our website to check for the winter openings schedule, to be posted soon.

You don’t have to wait until January to get out and about though, and December’s not over yet. CGN has a list of things to do to keep you busy for the next couple of weeks when, hopefully, you have a little free time to enjoy the city.

See a movie

at the Gene Siskel Film Center

Regular movie theaters will be noisy and crowded this season, so why not venture to another theater like the Gene Siskel Film Center? December offers opportunities to see anything from Le Havre, a feel good film where a shoeshine man shields an African illegal immigrant child from the law, to The Interrupters, directed by Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, in collaboration with the author of There Are No Children Here and more.

Visit siskelfilmcenter.org for schedules. 

Stop by a gallery

Roots and Culture is presenting an exhibition of international artists through January 8, with a Q+A session December 18 at 2pm to mark the occasion of International Migrant’s Day.

• 1034 N. Milwaukee

65GRAND exhibits Bob Jones through December 31^st in a show called Mountains and matte.  The work featured is in between sculpture and painting.

Bob Jones

• 1369 W. Grand 

Devening Projects and Exhibitions presents Mark Booth: The Sea is Represented by an Irregular Shape until January 29^th.   Booth is a Chicago based artist and received his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

• 3039 W. Carroll

Hear Holiday Music

Stop by the Harold Washington Library downtown to hear holiday concerts throughout the month.  December 15 at 2pm in the library’s grand lobby the Chicago Bar Association Symphony and Chorus performs.

• 400 S. State

Listen

At the Poetry Foundation on December 16 at 7pm Kenneth Goldsmith, poet, DJ, essayist, and UbuWeb founder, will be presenting “My Career in Poetry or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Institution,” a talk about poetic community, ambition, and his new book Uncreative Writing.

• 61 W. Superior

 Hop on the Holiday Express

At the Chicago Botanic Garden, from 10-6 until January 1^st visit the 10,000 sq foot miniature train that winds through Chicago landmarks including Navy Pier, Soldier Field, The Art Institute and Chinatown. The Joutras Gallery will also feature a gingerbread house display. See thousands of festive lights decorating the gardens inside and out! On select days hear carolers and participate in family activities. Visit chicagobotanic.org for more details and to purchase tickets.

Don’t miss the last opportunity of 2011 to shop at the Farmers’ Market at the Botanic Garden.  On December 18 from 10-2 the gardens host a winter farmers’ market with local vendors. It’s a perfect opportunity to purchase some green friendly holiday presents, stock up on your local favorites for the winter, or pick up a few ingredients for your holiday dinner. Expect to see a range of items from free-range meat to veggies, baked goods, handmade pottery, flowers, and soaps! 

Learn more about all of these events and more at chicagogallerynews.com  

As Thanksgiving approaches and relatives arrive in the city, you’re looking for places to show your family, or maybe you finally have the time to escape the hustle and bustle of the holiday. The DuSable Museum of African-American History has several events taking place next week and past the holiday.

November 26^th at 8pm and 27^th at 7pm

DuSable presents Global Rhythms, the first concert series in the United States dedicated to American tap and contemporary percussive arts companies. Celebrate the holiday in the spirit of giving just by attending, as 50% of your ticket will be donated to Chicago based charitable organizations! Performances will take place at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park. Find more info HERE. 

Step Afrika 

Ongoing exhibitions: 

• Spread the Word! The Evolution of Gospel from Chicago to the World

Chicago gets into Gospel music each year downtown during the Taste of Chicago, but Spread the Word! goes beyond to celebrate the rich history of Gospel Music, focusing on gospel’s Chicago origins. Featured will be some of Gospel’s greatest singers, Chicago choirs, and “singing” preachers such as: Mahalia Jackson, Albertina Walker, The Thompson Community Singers, “First Families of Gospel” and Reverend Clay Evans. 

• EVERYWHERE with Roy Lewis is a testament to Roy Lewis’s unique contribution to African American photography and history. Lewis possesses an uncanny ability to not only capture an image, but to tell an engaging visual story. “In this exhibition, each photograph creates a narrative for the various expressions of the African American experience spanning five decades (DuSable).” 

• December 2-4 at the AMC River East theater DuSable will present KINYARWANDA as part of the African American Film Festival.

The story interweaves 6 different tales to provide a grand narrative of human resilience and life during genocide. In KINYARWANDA, a young Tutsi woman and a young Hutu man fall in love amidst chaos, a soldier struggles with being absent from her family to foster a greater good, and a priest grapples with his faith in the face of unspeakable horror. (DuSable) 

The DuSable Museum is located in Hyde Park at 740 East 56^th Place 60637 and is open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm and Sundays 12-5pm

*Closed on Thanksgiving day 

The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) offers an engaging range of exhibitions throughout the year, and like many arts institutions, their programming is possible due in part to the support from donors.  This Friday, the museum is holding their annual benefit auction to drum up that critical support.  Guests will be able to enjoy a festive party while mingling with other photography fans and artists. And the auction is tough to beat, as always.

After the benefit, MoCP is offering their current exhibition, Current Unseen, as well as an upcoming screening and lecture. Read on for all the details. 

The Party 

MoCP’s annual gala and auction this Friday, November 18th begins at 6pm at 301 N Justine St. This year’s theme is prohibition, so get ready for a night full of custom cocktails and rich art. The silent auction offers fine prints by established and emerging artists, and helps support the world of contemporary photography.

Click HERE for a preview 

You may bid on works by artists such as John Baldessari, Penelope Umbrico,  Theun van Rees, and more

Also available during the bidding are several photo ‘experiences,’ including personal portrait sessions with photographer Dawoud Bey and filmmaker/photographer Sandro. You can also bid on a behind the scenes tour of Christie’s, New York for you and a friend!  Absentee bids are welcome (call Jeff Arnett at 312.369.7779 to place a bid. He’s super helpful and really nice.)  Click HERE to purchase tickets 

Olivo Barbieri 

John Sparagana  

At the Museum:

Crime Unseen, MOCP’s current exhibition will run until January 15^th.

Featuring the work of 8 artists who actively engage with myth and reality as they question the roles of memory, the media, and evidence in solving and remembering crime. All of the artists in Crime Unseen grapple with a retelling of disturbing crimes. Using photography and other methods, the artists reactivate historical material and open it up to further contemplation. By drawing on techniques of photojournalism, forensic photography, and documentary landscape (Karen Irvine, Curator and Associate Director). 

Angela Strassheim, Evidence #11 

Upcoming Events

November 30^th from 6-9pm, in conjunction with Crime Unseen, MOCP will screen video work by artists considering the potential for everyday objects, ordinary surroundings and average people to become evidence of something beyond the familiar.

December 1^st at 7pm at the Glessner House Museum, Corinne May Botz will give a lecture about her Nutshell Series of Unexplained Death. Botz photographed a series of miniature crime scene models that were built in the 1940s and 50s by progressive criminologist and heiress Frances Glessner Lee to help detectives learn to better assess visual evidence.  

The Museum of Contemporary Photography is free and is located at 600 S Michigan Ave Hours are: Mon-Sa, 10am – 5pm, Thur 10-8pm+ Sun 12-5pm

   Krisanne Johnson  

Glass Curtain Gallery presents Black Gossamer, a group exhibition opening November 17^th where several artists are exploring black identity.

Glass Curtain Gallery comments, “An anxiousness exists among people of color because there is still an expectation to "perform," explain and react to one's Blackness in society, maybe even make excuses for it, both within and outside "black" culture. One outlet utilized to express this dichotomy is through dress.”

“This exhibition showcases the work of black contemporary artists who use and draw inspiration from clothing, fashion, textiles and fabrications to explore and uncover recent revolutions in black identity.” (Class Curtain Gallery)  

 Wangechi Mutu 

Black Gossamer exhibits an impressive collection of work from several artists, including New York based Kenyan artist, Wangechi Mutu. Mutu’s work has been shown in venues such as: the Tate Modern, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, MOMA, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and at the Royal Academy in London.

Other artists include: Aisha Bell, Sheila Bridges, Myra Greene, Marlon Griffith, Krisanne Johnson, Kalup Linzy, Ebony G. Patterson (colum.edu/Student_Life/DEPS/)

Black Gossamer will include multiple opportunities to attend gallery talks and hear from some of the artists as well as curator, Camille Morgan. See below for a list of corresponding events.

Marlon Griffith, LOUIS (from the Powder Box School Girl series), 2009 

Located at 1104 S. Wabash on the 1^st floor of the historic Ludington building at Columbia College, Glass Curtain Gallery exhibits emerging and mid career artists. By presenting museum-quality exhibitions, workshops, and visiting artist lectures, Glass Curtain acts as a catalyst in the dialogue for students in the arts. 

Ebony G. Patterson 

For more information about the exhibition click here 

Exhibition Programming

November 17: Opening Reception 5:00-8:00pm

November 18 : "Taboo Fashion and Chameleon Identities" Gallery Artist Talk with Artists Aisha Bell and Ebony G. Patterson, 11-12:30pm

November 22: Critical Encounters Cafe Society discussion with artist Myra Greene and Curator, 4-6pm

February 1: Closing Reception - African American Heritage Month Kickoff Celebration, 5:30 - 7:30pm