Those exposed to the art world already know of its powerful benefits. Artists practicing their craft often have open minds, a daring willingness to explore the unexplored, and a special talent for creating and finding profound beauty in the unusual. But perhaps art's greatest gift is its subjectivity. Imagine being in front of a mysterious painting. While our ideas about the painting are swirling around in our heads and we begin to connect our thoughts to meaning, a clarity settles in and we may look up at that painting and say, "Oh, that's what it means. I get it." The person to your right may be going through the exact same process but will probably inevitably come up with a different interpretation. But maybe the person to your left is experiencing art in a way that is disconnected from thought and mind. They may simply be in a state of "being there," just letting emotions and thoughts pass through them without reaction. Who's to say who's right? No one is and we all are.

Living in or near a city like Chicago, we're constantly exposed to opportunities such as the hypothetical example above. Whether we're creating art, sharing it, or just looking at a mysterious painting, it is somehow always affecting us. To better understand this mystifying medium requires a certain dedication and fascination. It also requires discipline. Wednesday kicked off the official start of the summer season--with this new beginning comes several incredible opportunities for people to learn many tricks of the trade. Below is just a taste of some of the fine art classes offered in the city.

Lillistreet Art Center

Offering classes in ceramics, printmaking, painting & drawing, metalsmithing & jewelry, textiles, first-time artists, digital arts and photography, and glass.  Second summer session begins July 9 and lasts eight weeks.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago
High school level summer classes are two to five weeks long and include beginner's studio drawing, intro to portrait drawing, multi-media projects, DIY sound techniques, sound studio practices, intro and intermediate creative writing, beginner's oil painting, advanced portfolio projects, figure drawing, 2D/3D Projects: Found/Recycled, intro to landscape drawing, inspired essays, urban gateways summer film, intro to water-based painting, and choosing and using color.
Summer three week: June 25-July 13
Summer two week: July 16-July 27

Middle school and children's camp classes include multi-arts, animation, web design, painting and drawing, illustration, architecture, fashion, toy design, video game design, and family arts.
Dates for each program vary depending on the number of weeks the student wishes to enroll. Last session takes places August 13-17. 

A range of Continuing Education courses are also available for adults.

Hyde Park Art Center
Creativity Camp (one and two-week sessions from June 11-August 31) provides a wide-range of multi-media activities including painting, drawing, printmaking, mosaics, collage, book and paper making, mask making, fabric dying, improvisation, yoga, story-telling, puppetry, and theatre.
Summer Quarter start date - June 25, 2012
Second-Half Courses Begin (5 week courses) - Week of July 30
Last week of Summer Quarter - August 27 - September 1, 2012
Make-Up Class Week (for holidays and teacher absence only, not student absence) - September 4 - 8, 2012

Evanston Art Center
Workshops: custom band rings (July 16), motion and light in art (July 17), landscapes on the lake (July 21)
Five Week Classes: drawing into painting, creating collage, mosaics, caricature, multi-level drawing, business of art: showing and selling, beginning and intermediate water colors, and intermediate/advanced jewelry.

FM Gallery  BYOB group art events and private painting sessions take place in showroom space.  Call 312-730-0611 for information on specific dates.

Chicago Printmakers Collaborative

Classes include intaglio printmaking, screenprinting (July 3-31) , bookbinding basics (July 8), etching (July 9), photoetching, lithography (stone, plate, and paper), relief (and linoleum), collograph, monoprint, and letterpress.
Make arrangements for private and semi-private classes

Tall Grass Arts Association
Classes include composition (color theory), sketching and painting, experimenting with watercolor, beginner's to advanced knitting, figure drawing, beginner's to intermediate digital photography, mixed media.
Dates for each program vary depending on the number of weeks the student wishes to enroll.

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
A range of options are available at the MCA's hands-on Summer Stuios, every Tuesday this summer there's a great opportunity to collaborate as a family.  From mcachicago,org:

Jun 26: Tell a New Story - Deconstruct familiar books as you redesign them to tell a new story.

Jul 3: From Flat to Fantastic - Transform 2-dimensional materials into standing structures.

Jul 10: Seeing City Sounds - Contribute to a collaborative artwork by drawing the sounds you hear.

Jul 17: Change What You See - Design lenses that alter the way you see familiar things.

Jul 24: City Reflections - Sculpt a structure using reflective and shiny materials.

Jul 31: Capture your Stories - Create a book to hold the stories you write, both real and imaginary.

Aug 7: Together Tower - Collaborate with another person to construct a tower or other standing sculpture.

Aug 14: In and Out of Character - Invent and then draw a new persona on a collaborative and interactive drawing wall.

Aug 21: Transparent Towers - Create your own transparent cityscape.

Aug 28: Body Building - Transform your body into a skyscraper.

Yes, collecting art really is something you can 'learn' to do. Collecting art is not so much complicated as intimidating, and the recent Collectors Colloquium was launched as a way to provide interested art enthusiasts with an overview of the art world and to give access to some local experts who can share their wisdom and insights.  At the end of the course, participants will have learned some basics, met others who are also interested in art, and hopefully seen first hand how open and welcoming our art scene is. Art collecting isn't really a 101 course you can check off your list and be done with - Ah ha!  I've learned how to spot the most valuable up-and-coming artists in order to make my investing forture! - it's a very personal, subjective experience that depends on your own taste and interests.  Everyone says it, but it's true. You should buy the best art that you can afford, and you should buy work that you love - ie: you're willing to live with it and enjoy it for a very long time.   But there are some helpful starting points to developing your eye and making smarter choices.  Most people need some kind of direction to get started.  Like any other dynamic topic, discussion is a big part of the learning process.  If you've joined us already, we're pleased to have you along for the journey, as you are well on your way to a rewarding life-long pursuit to living a unique life by having art as a part of your life.  If you haven't had a chance to join us yet, there's still time!  And we of course would like to offer more classes like this in the future.  To be notified of future collecting groups, please email us. Chicago is home to many unique galleries, artists and cultural institutions, and there are a wealth of creative resources to explore and make your own.  Welcome to the journey!

- CGN

SESSIONS TO DATE:

• A Passion for Collecting - Discussions with younger collectors who have been in the game for awhile and who have their own very personal stories of art and collecting passions.  Panelists shared their collecting philosophies as well as resources.

• In the White Cube - An evening with area art dealers who've nurtured the careers of younger artists, developed friendships with collectors, and those who have worked to spotlight emerging artists as well as those who may have been overlooked. 

• On the Auction Block - an evening with art experts at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, one of the area's most visible and successful auction operations.  Collectors learned the sport of buying at auction as well as the sophisticated nature of the auction treasure hunt (and the spectacular values one can find!)

NEXT UP 

• Eye for Hire (February 28, 2012 hosted by Kavi Gupta Gallery, 835 W. Washington)
This session will provide an overview of the art advisory profession, and help attendees understand why collectors hire art advisors. 

• Art as Investment + The (Art) Fair Game (March 27, 2012)
This session will provide an overview of how and why works of art appreciate.  We'll also cover some highlights of the local and national art fair scene and provide an overview of how to navigate an art fair, particularly now that you've met some other like-minded art enthusiasts!

Participants are still welcome to attend on an indiviudal as well as video basis - please email info@chicagogallerynews.com for more information.

2012 is here, and it'll be blowing past us faster than we can imagine.  Time flies no matter where you are, but when you're in the art world, you're usually thinking a season or two ahead, so we wanted to take the chance to think about about winter and the here and now while we could.  Our January-March 2012 issue is out, and soon we'll be planning for April-August, see what we mean about the time flying by? 

Our website is now packed with tons of information about new gallery shows, exhibiting artists, gallery specialities, galleries and spaces that are new on the scene, and more. Click through our pages to find what you're interested in already, or to discover what you might want to learn about in 2012. Also be sure to read the latest interviews with artists, collectors, and dealers.  Above all, have fun and go out and discover all there is to see and do. Chicago can be a rough place in the winter, but not if you know where to go to stimulate your mind and keep your spirit warm!

- CGN

Here is our list of places for you to start your 2012 art discovery:

• The winter gallery season opens on January 6 so if you're free, come check out the new shows and then hang around the districts for dinner with friends to chat about all you've seen. The shows will be up for awhile, at least until the next round of openings in February.  If your new year's resolution is to see more art (we think it should be!) then this is the night to start. Of course, you can visit the galleries any time, but Friday night is the most social scene.  The January 6 list may be found on our openings page, as well as the rest of the openings schedule for January-March 2012.

Gallery hoppers in Pilsen East for 2nd Fridays, taking place in the Chicago Arts District each month.

• Saturday gallery tours start up again on January 7 (and they don't take a break until Memorial Day since they happen every Saturday). The River North tours are always popular, even in the freezing cold, but we encourage you to make the trip to the West Loop in 2012 for a tour if you haven't yet.  River North tours take place weekly, but West Loop visits are only every 6 weeks.  Saturday afternoons are a great time to visit the galleries around Washington + Peoria and along Fulton Market, since the hubub of the Randolph restaurant scene is still in a quiet pre-dinner phase, and the meat packers playing frogger with their palette lifters aren't zipping around while you're trying to cross the street.  These tours are FREE and they give you total access to dealers, and sometimes visiting artists. Many tour-goers have become regulars each week and some have also become collectors!  The winter schedule of dates and participating galleries may be found HERE.

• Attend an open studio or weekend gallery walk.  Free tours are great, but there are less structured ways to just grab your friends and dive into a neighborhood art center or studio building.  Practically every neighborhood in Chicago has banded together by now to organize a regular monthly event. Check out our full list here, and make the trip to Bridgeport, Pilsen East, Oak Park, Crystal Lake, and beyond. Places like the Chicago Arts District, Lacuna Artist Lofts, Bridgeport Art Center, the Zhou B Art Center, and Lakeside Legacy in suburban Crystal Lake have been running these 1st, 2nd and 3rd Friday events for awhile, and they've gained a following!

• Visit a museum - one that you haven't been to before. Chicago is home to a lot of amazing smaller museums.  We adore the Art Institute and the MCA as much as the next art-lover, but we also want more of you to check out the Block Museum, the Smart Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Elmhurst Art Musem, the Renaissance Society, the Driehaus Musuem, as well as out of state destinations worthy of a road trip, such as the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.  Here is our long list of museums you should see.  Our calendar of events lets you know what's on now.

• Attend an auction or a visit a market.  Everyone loves treasure hunting, and Chicago has some outstanding resources for discovering art and antiques on the secondary market.  Save the dates for some upcoming auctions at Leslie Hindman on Lake Street in the West Loop. Hindman's Marketplace Auctions (January 11-12) are fun for beginners, as basically, anything goes. You can rifle through eccentric collections or pick up unique furniture that just needs a little TLC in order to be perfectly at home in your house or apartment.  Bidding in person or online raises the stakes for some competetive fun.  You can preview the sale online in advance and also visit to see pieces in person during days leading up to the auction.  On the market side, the Randolph Street Market is now taking place all year long!  Don't miss the first Wonderful Winter Market February 4-5.  Besides a lot of great things to admire and bring home, there's free parking and furniture delivery! Details here.

• Take an art class this winter.  Seeing art more often is a great idea, but what about giving it a try yourself?  You don't have to aspire to launch your own career as an artist, but you will most likely discover a range of pleasures that go along with learning a new skill and getting to be artistic in the company of others.  There are several notable centers in the area where you can sign-up to learn any number of specialties.  Give it a try this season! Below are some art centers to get you started, but there may be an organization in your neighborhood that has programs worth exploring as well.  Whatever you do, be inspired and be creative!
 
Lillstreet Art Center Founded in 1975 and today located in a former gear factory in Ravenswood, Lillstreet has a range of classes + opportunities starting next week.  Check out exhibitions and installations for inspiration, as well as visit several artist studios.  Adult classes include metalsmithing + jewelry, painting and drawing, ceramics, textiles, glass, and more.  Kids + family programs are also available. Lillstreet.com

Evanston Art Center + The Art Center Highland Park
On the north shore, the Evanston Art Center offers classes and workshops, for people of all ages and levels of experience, taught by professional artists.  Register online for winter classes that begin January 9. Classes match any interest, from learning to make a cocktail hat, experimenting with lithography, exploring digital design, or navigating the business of art: marketing, ceramics, fashion, painting, and metal sculpture. Evanstonartcenter.org

The Art Center in Highland Park also offers classes and workshops in the visual arts, and they host regular gallery exhibitions, special events and performances for class members and faculty, as well as local artistic talent.  Theartcenterhp.org