<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418803/nmsgtqwfh7wyfkw1nmwh.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;By CGN Staff via PRHot on the heels of EXPO CHICAGO's <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2020/9/expo-chicago-announces-new-fall-2020-programming">EXHIBITION Weekend</a>, a virtual and in-person weekend devoted to spotlighting local spaces in a non-art fair fall, the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) will host another virtually-centered event, the Chicago Gallery Open, September 30 –&nbsp;October 4, 2020. NADA and participating area galleries are staging virtual conversations as well as walkthroughs of their current exhibitions.The beauty of not having competing art fairs taking place around the world and around the calendar this season is that newly imagined events are launching online, with innovative in-person programs and exhibitions following in their wake. And the list of participating spaces and artists seems more dynamic and varied than ever.&nbsp;The Chicago Gallery Open is slated to feature online presentations of available artworks from participating galleries; exhibition listings to promote in-person, by-appointment viewings; and a programming series organized in collaboration with participants to be hosted locally in Chicago and online. Designed by Artlogic and built on their Online Viewing Room (OVR) technology and e-commerce services, the Chicago Gallery Open will present artworks in a centralized dynamic online platform, creating an engaging and unique purchasing experience for collectors. Through the collaborative efforts of NADA and all of the participants, this new event will use this moment to focus on the vitality, importance, and eccentricity of the Chicago art community.Participating galleries – including a range of spaces, from the newly-opened Haynes, to veterans such as GRAY and Rhona Hoffman – are invited to present artworks from, or relating to, their concurrent exhibition to be included in the online platform for the five-day event. For instance, DOCUMENT is presenting rarely seen works by Laura Letinsky in their online viewing room as well as their physical space on Chicago Ave. in West Town.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418804/c1g0bvk26lkn6a2ib3vh.jpg"><figcaption>Laura Letinsky, Coming to the Commons (2), 2013, Archival pigment print, 48 h x 58 w in. (paper size) Edition of 7 + 2APs. On view at DOCUMENT.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;The Chicago Gallery Open follows the success of NADA's New York version, also called the Gallery Open, which is an annual event taking place during Armory Week in lieu of a traditional art fair. The second edition of the New York event took place just before the world shut down due to COVID-19 and featured over 60 art galleries, non-profits, and alternative spaces across New York City, and included a programming series of guided tours, artist talks, performances, dinners, and special events. The Chicago Gallery Open builds upon the momentum of last year’s <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2019/9/nada-s-first-chicago-fair-invites-viewers-to-engage-with-art">Chicago Invitational</a>, a contemporary art fair that took place throughout the iconic Chicago Athletic Association hotel in September 2019 and featured over 30 exhibitors from around the world.<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418804/bvyzblidovcbfzwg2p88.jpg"><figcaption>Dominique Knowles: The Solemn and Dignified Burial Befitting My Beloved for All Seasons on view at <a href="https://goldfinch-gallery.com/dominique-knowles-the-solemn-dignified-burial-befitting-my-beloved-for-all-seasons/">Goldfinch</a> thru Oct 17</figcaption></figure>Featured artists include: Jake Troyli, Danny Dunson, Liz McCarthy, Chris Reeves, Dominique Knowles, Mari Eastman, Edra Soto, Dan Sullivan, Alberto Aguilar, Marina and Cecilia Resende Santos, Olivia Jade Juarez, Remy Lucien Bordas, Faysal Altunbozar, Zakkiyyah Najeebah Dumas-O'Neal, James Kao, and Ann Toebbe.The full list of participating galleries includes: <a href="https://www.062official.com/">062</a> <a href="http://www.4wps.org/">4th Ward Project Space</a> <a href="http://www.65grand.com/">65GRAND</a> <a href="https://ackermanclarke.com/">Ackerman Clarke</a> <a href="http://addsdonna.com/">ADDS DONNA</a> <a href="https://www.apparatusprojects.com/">Apparatus Projects</a> <a href="http://www.aspectratioprojects.com/">Aspect/Ratio</a> <a href="https://www.babybluegallery.com/">Baby Blue</a> <a href="http://biancabovagallery.com/">Bianca Bova Gallery</a> <a href="https://www.chicagomanual.style/">Chicago Manual Style</a> <a href="https://artsoflife.org/galleries/circle-contemporary-chi/">Circle Contemporary (Arts of Life)</a> <a href="http://deveningprojects.com/">Devening Projects</a> <a href="https://documentspace.com/">Document</a> <a href="https://www.everybody.gallery/">Everybody</a> <a href="https://www.extasechicago.com/">Extase</a> <a href="https://thefranklinoutdoor.tumblr.com/">The Franklin</a> <a href="https://goldfinch-gallery.com/">Goldfinch</a> <a href="http://goodweathergallery.com/">Good Weather</a> <a href="https://www.richardgraygallery.com/">Gray</a> <a href="http://kavigupta.com/">Kavi Gupta</a> <a href="https://www.hans-gallery.com/">Hans Gallery</a> <a href="https://haynesartprojects.net/">Haynes</a> <a href="https://www.rhoffmangallery.com/">Rhona Hoffman Gallery</a> <a href="https://www.juliuscaesarchicago.net/">Julius Caesar</a> <a href="https://mleblancchicago.com/">M. Leblanc</a> <a href="http://lvl3official.com/">LVL3</a> <a href="http://moniquemeloche.com/">Monique Meloche</a> <a href="https://www.mickey.online/">MICKEY</a> <a href="http://www.mpstn.com/">MPSTN</a> <a href="https://newworksprojects.com/">New Works</a> <a href="https://patrongallery.com/">Patron</a> <a href="https://pickleman.art/">Pickleman</a> <a href="http://prairie.website/">Prairie</a> <a href="http://www.produce-model.com/">Produce Model</a> <a href="https://andrewrafacz.com/">Andrew Rafacz</a> <a href="http://regardsgallery.com/">Regards</a> <a href="https://www.rootsandculturecac.org/">Roots &amp; Culture</a> <a href="http://www.ruschman.blue/">RUSCHMAN</a> <a href="https://www.secristgallery.com/">Carrie Secrist Gallery</a> <a href="https://slungleg.com/">Slung Leg</a> <a href="http://soccerclubclub.com/">Soccer Club Club</a> <a href="http://wvvolumes.com/">Volume Gallery</a> <a href="https://westernexhibitions.com/">Western Exhibitions</a> <a href="http://jessemalmed.net/">Works Sited</a>The online presentation, featuring available artworks, exhibitions to visit in-person, by-appointment viewings, and collaborative programming, goes live Wednesday, September 30th, 10am CST / 11am EST.<a href="https://chicagogalleryopen.org">For further information visit chicagogalleryopen.org</a>&nbsp;The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) is the definitive non-profit arts organization dedicated to the cultivation, support, and advancement of new voices in contemporary art.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

NADA's Chicago Gallery Open Takes Place September 30 - October 4

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418803/mj1qwrtzsprehj7yz1zt.png"><figcaption>Partners for life, Izzy and Darwin walked through the museum together with a sense of curiosity and&nbsp;wonder. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Photo credit: ©Shedd Aquarium/Brenna Hernandez</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Via PRThe Museum of Contemporary Art hosted viral penguin duo Izzy and Darwin from the Shedd Aquarium earlier this month, providing variety and exercise for the penguins as they explored the museum’s community engagement space, the Commons, and Just Connect exhibition. A bonded pair of Magellanic penguins that are partners for life, Izzy and Darwin walked through the museum together with a sense of curiosity and&nbsp;wonder, making stops at their favorite MCA Collection artworks including dynamic works by Ellen Berkenblit, Andreas Gursky, Paul Heyer, Kerry James Marshall, and Hollis Sigler, among others. The field trip encourages Chicagoans to plan a visit to both cultural institutions, which are open to the public with new protocols in place to ensure the safety and health of visitors.The Just Connect exhibition - which is on view through November 8, 2020 and addresses how the current pandemic has made us more aware of how much we desire connection and depend on our communities, families, and social fabric for a sense of belonging - lured Izzy and Darwin’s attention with its colorful paintings, photographs, videos, and sculptures. MCA Chief Curator Michael Darling observed the penguins taking in works such as Gursky’s Avenue of the Americas, a dazzling, large-scale photograph of an illuminated urban landscape, and Marie Christine, a painting by Margot Bergman that features a portrait of a woman with four eyes. A vivid floor-to-ceiling mural by Ad Minoliti that recalls vintage logos and retro book covers from the 1970s enticed the penguins to explore the museum’s light-filled atrium.The penguins also spent time gazing at the colorful display of lanterns and plants hanging from the ceiling of the Commons, a space in the museum designed for visitors to rest, reflect, and connect with one another. The Commons offers a variety of programs and performances by local artists that are now available online as virtual events at <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017FTb7zP9bHPSxnzwAL5i14p1jO1tQM-Wykkginbk3GtkJalgR1dJUChjJwWStxCUbmmXP2VHDJ95XGshEXmgRA-1v9i9Znm78V5P05WCjyk1WDGgPGW8IT0R_zsFoEXvuzaUU89Ns0eNLR0JTXL-JNoaJMPwoVyukfe7isJgQHo=&amp;c=XQvXADROwMpNRNYg0BPVx-27XZtlBOKzh8oUhMYJwcf9JEp5_eJhtg==&amp;ch=1qualpGwvEjoCviuH2LNDRifnI3Zc_nNi9kWzE360_1c6DnXxQz39A==">www.mcachicago.org/The-Commons-Online</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

In Search of Some Lighter News? Two Shedd Aquarium Penguins Just Visited the MCA Chicago

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418797/xq35z75kezskbn5x6wgs.jpg" alt="image002.jpg"><figcaption>OF WAR, 2017 Virtual reality appInstallation: SOFTER: Jenny Holzer at Blenheim Palace, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, England, 2017© 2017 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NYPhoto: Tom Lindboe</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418797/vbom2czpuosb5uo8dhau.jpg" alt="image003.jpg"><figcaption>VOTE YOUR FUTURE, 2018 © 2018 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. With March For Our Lives. Photo: Collin LaFleche</figcaption></figure>Via PRCHICAGO (Sept. 10, 2020)—The University of Chicago (UChicago) will debut a new public art commission by world-renowned artist and alumna Jenny Holzer (EX’74), YOU BE MY ALLY, premiering October 5 on the UChicago campus andworldwide through a web-based augmented reality app. The text-based artwork is Holzer’s first augmented reality (AR) project using virtual projections in the United States and her first work created in collaboration with a university’s students and faculty.Holzer received UChicago’s Rosenberger Medal in 2019 in recognition of her wide-reaching impact on public art.YOU BE MY ALLY features 29 excerpts from historically significant readings from UChicago’s Core curriculum, including works by distinguished writers W. E. B. Du Bois, Helen Keller, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato, Mary Shelley, and Virginia Woolf. The title of the project itself is an excerpt from If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, a translation by classicist Anne Carson that is among the Core readings. Starting October 5, viewers can access a free, web-based AR app to virtually project and animate these texts on the facades of architecturally significant UChicago buildings. &nbsp;In addition, app users will be able to project the title quote onto their surroundings anywhere in the world. On October 30, additional quotations will become available to project anywhere.Text selections from the Core curriculum will also be featured on LED trucks driving throughout the UChicago campus, South Side, and downtown communities October 5 and 6, bringing the experience to diverse audiences in an unexpected manner. Text excerpts for the project were selected in collaboration with UChicago students and faculty.&nbsp;Another component of Holzer’s work will incorporate original texts in support of nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts. These texts, selected by Holzer from various sources including submissions by UChicago students, will be displayed on LED trucks driven throughout the city on October 24 and 30.YOU BE MY ALLY operates at the edge of arts and technology, responding to the challenges of participation in the arts during a pandemic. It enables a broad audience to engage these historic texts, and to consider the impact of public speech in a democracy in the weeks and days leading up to the 2020 election.“Ever since her early—1995!—creation of an interactive internet artwork, I have admired Jenny Holzer’s resolute mobilization of viewer participation and unexpected media, now including AR app technology,” said Christine Mehring, the Mary L. Block Professor in the Department of Art History and an adjunct curator at the Smart Museum of Art. “Jenny is known for the fiercely critical interventions in public space that lead her to seize those media, but hers is a profoundly generous art all the same: inviting our students to submit content, welcoming the full campus community and general public to engage in the kind of close reading we teach at UChicago, opening the boundaries of academic discourse and a liberal arts education, providing a safe and meaningful experience of art amidst the converging contexts of the pandemic, calls for social justice, and the election season.”AR experiences for YOU BE MY ALLY will be hosted on the web platform 8th Wall and can be activated by users at specific points outside buildings on the UChicago campus: Cobb Lecture Hall (designed by Henry Ives Cobb), D’Angelo Law Library (Eero Saarinen), Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (Tod Williams and Billie Tsien), Joe and Rika Mansueto Library (Helmut Jahn), School of Social Service Administration (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe), Cummings Life Science Center (I.&nbsp;W. Colburn), and Rockefeller Memorial Chapel (Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue). Off campus, viewers can experience the work by accessing the app on 8th Wall. Holzer’s projects have long been inextricably linked to the built environment of their settings. YOU BE MY ALLY will invite viewers to interact with their surroundings and forge new cultural and architectural meanings from the juxtapositions of historic texts and lived urban environments.&nbsp;Artist bio&nbsp;For more than 40 years, Jenny Holzer has presented her astringent ideas, arguments, and sorrows in public places and international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Her medium, whether formulated as a T-shirt, a plaque, or an LED sign, is writing, and the public dimension is integral to the delivery of her work. Starting in the 1970s with the New York City posters and continuing through her recent light projections on landscape and architecture, her practice has rivaled ignorance and violence with humor, kindness, and courage. Holzer received the Leone d’Oro at the Venice Biennale in 1990, the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award in 1996, the U.S. State Department’s International Medal of Arts in 2017, and the University of Chicago’s Rosenberger Medal in 2019. She studied at the University of Chicago in 1970–71 and holds honorary degrees from Williams College, the Rhode Island School of Design, The New School, and Smith College. She lives and works in New York.&nbsp;About UChicago Arts and the University of ChicagoUChicago Arts is the University of Chicago’s robust cultural scene where scholars, students, artists, and audiences converge, explore, and create. UChicago Arts connects and amplifies the impact of the University’s nearly 100 arts organizations, initiatives, and academic programs, bringing together the efforts of students, faculty, artists, and community partners to infuse creativity throughout the intellectual life on campus while solidifying the University’s role as a cultural destination and resource on Chicago’s South Side. For more information about UChicago Arts, visit <a href="http://arts.uchicago.edu/">arts.uchicago.edu</a>.&nbsp;The University of Chicago is a leading academic and research institution that has driven new ways of thinking since its founding in 1890. As an intellectual destination, the University draws scholars and students from around the world to its campus in Hyde Park and to its centers around the globe. The University provides a distinctive educational experience and research environment, empowering individuals to challenge conventional thinking and pursue research that produces new understanding and breakthroughs with global impact. In 2017, the University launched an Urban Architecture and Design Initiative to highlight and grow curricular and research strengths in these fields.The Core curriculum: The cornerstone of the University of Chicago College’s transformative curriculum, the Core prepares undergraduates to explore and debate complex ideas with faculty and peers. Through sequences in the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences and biological sciences, as well as a sequence in the historical development of a civilization, students engage with the language, questions, and methods that characterize broad fields of inquiry. The goal is to engage students with the range of insights, habits of mind, and academic experiences that can enrich their own reflections and activities in the world—while at UChicago and after they graduate.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

U of C Commissions Jenny Holzer's AR Public Artwork During Pandemic

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418797/oydgj5qqusltfy9hexx8.jpg"><figcaption>EXPO CHICAGO 2019. Image courtesy of Justin Barbin.&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;By GINNY VAN ALYEA via PRThe international art fair, <a href="https://www.expochicago.com">EXPO CHICAGO</a>, which usually launches and dominates the region's cultural calendar each September, made the decision to move to spring 2021 <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2020/5/expo-chicago-to-move-from-september-to-april-8-11-2021">earlier this summer</a> due to the global pandemic.&nbsp;Introducing its first predominantly virtual initiative and in an effort to still support the local art community this season while also engaging with collectors, curators and artists around the world, EXPO CHICAGO just announced that it is hosting new 2020 fall programs: EXHIBITION Weekend (September 25–27) and Alternate Assembly (October 15–18).&nbsp;“Given EXPO CHICAGO’s commitment to our community, there was no hesitation to make our first predominantly virtual initiative in support of Chicago—celebrating the breadth and scope of the city’s vibrant creative community while providing an access point for international audiences to connect with local artists, gallerists, and collectors. With support from Presenting Sponsor Northern Trust and others, we are proud to partner with Hook on the development of the online viewing room that will enable EXPO CHICAGO to continue to present the highest quality platform for contemporary art and culture,” said Tony Karman, President | Director of EXPO CHICAGO.EXHIBITION Weekend – taking place during the days the fair was to happen on Navy Pier (September 25–27, 2020) – underscores EXPO CHICAGO’s commitment to local galleries, artists, and institutions, showcasing Chicago-based exhibitions, curatorial projects, and artist programs through a series of virtual programs including studio visits, exhibition and gallery tours, and discussions accessible globally, as well as a custom online viewing and sales platform developed by Hook, an online venue for seasoned art collectors and leading galleries.&nbsp;“At a time when we are all craving more activity and interaction with one another, we are happy to be able to partner with EXPO CHICAGO to provide a way for people to experience EXHIBITION Weekend remotely,” said Hook Founder Jake Nyquist. “Hook will approximate the experience of an in-person art fair, allowing visitors to navigate the fair at their own pace and in whatever direction they choose.”Launching EXHIBITION Weekend on Thursday, September 24, EXPO CHICAGO will present a conversation with artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust, Quintin Williams of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs &amp; Human Rights, and Gabrielle Lyon of Illinois Humanities. With an introduction by philanthropist Agnes Gund, Founder of Art for Justice, this conversation will explore the concepts addressed in the limited-edition print designed by Nick Cave and Bob Faust, a Facility Art/Work collaboration printed by Landfall Press, in celebration of the 2019 edition of the exposition. The limited-edition print can be purchased at <a href="http://www.expochicago.com/">www.expochicago.com</a>, a custom viewing room in the EXHIBITION Weekend (September 25–27) platform, and via the Artsy Marketplace.<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418798/chaf0ai1iojvcdaqjdzx.jpg"><figcaption>Facility, Nick Cave and Bob Faust. 2019 Limited-Edition Print.Limited Edition of 200. 9 color lithograph. 30 in x 21 in, 76.2 x 53.3 cm. Signed by the artist.</figcaption></figure>Virtual program highlights of EXHIBITION Weekend include:·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Artist-led Tours offering intimate glimpses into the studios of Chicago’s leading artists, including Barbara Kasten;·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The premiere performance of Angel Bat Dawid’s composition “Peace: A Suite for Skylanding, A Mended Petal Odyssey” commissioned by The Art Institute of Chicago in response to Yoko Ono’s first permanent public sculpture in the United States, located in Jackson Park on the south side of Chicago;·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The opening reception for the Driehaus Museum's exhibition, A Tale of Today with Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi.&nbsp;EXPO is also known for its robust VIP programming each fall, offering exclusive access to spaces and events traditionally held in person. This fall the program, still available by invitation only, has been adapted to go online and include a range of programming, from highly-sought after collector home tours (one this fall features the home of Chicago collectors Jack and Sandy Guthman) to VIP Art Advisor-led tours of EXHIBITION Weekend. Area curators will also lead tours of exhibitions by Chicago’s foremost institutions, including a behind-the-scenes conversation with Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Manilow Senior Curator,&nbsp;Naomi Beckwith, on the exhibition Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago, co-curated with the Nigerian-born British fashion designer.&nbsp;&nbsp;Participating galleries in EXHIBITION Weekend include:&nbsp;Aaron Galleries, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/jean-albano-gallery">Jean Albano Gallery</a>, Aspect/Ratio, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Devening Projects, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/document">DOCUMENT</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/catherine-edelman-gallery">Catherine Edelman Gallery</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/richard-gray-gallery-gray-warehouse">GRAY</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/kavi-gupta">Kavi Gupta</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/carl-hammer-gallery">Carl Hammer Gallery</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/rhona-hoffman-gallery--2">Rhona Hoffman Gallery</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/mariane-ibrahim-gallery">Mariane Ibrahim</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/alan-koppel-gallery">Alan Koppel Gallery</a>,&nbsp; M.Leblanc, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/mccormick-gallery">McCormick Gallery</a>, MICKEY, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/monique-meloche-gallery">Monique Meloche Gallery</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/richard-norton-gallery">Richard Norton Gallery</a>, PATRON, Jason Pickleman, ANDREW RAFACZ, David Salkin Creative, Ken Saunders Gallery, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/carrie-secrist-gallery">Carrie Secrist Gallery</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/volume-gallery">Volume Gallery</a>, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/western-exhibitions">Western Exhibitions</a>, and <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/zolla-lieberman-gallery">Zolla/Lieberman Gallery</a>, among others. Participating alternative and project spaces include Arts of Life, Chicago Manual Style, The Franklin, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/goldfinch">Goldfinch</a>, Julius Caesar, RUSCHMAN, and <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/weinberg-newton-gallery">Weinberg/Newton Gallery</a>, among others.&nbsp;Chicago audiences will also have select opportunities to view exhibitions in-person (by appointment) aligning with EXHIBITION Weekend. Safety precautions will include limited capacities, social distancing, mask requirements, and non-invasive temperature checks. In-person exhibition highlights include:<ul><li>The Art Institute of Chicago | Richard Hunt: Scholar’s Rock or Stone of Hope or Love of Bronze; Malangatana: Mozambique Modern; El Greco: Ambition &amp; Defiance</li><li>Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago |&nbsp;Chicago Works: Deborah Stratman;&nbsp;Alien vs. Citizen; The Location of Lines; Just Connect</li><li>Driehaus Museum | A Tale of Today: Nate Young &amp; Mika Horibuchi&nbsp;</li><li>Wrightwood 659 |&nbsp;Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People&nbsp;</li><li>Renaissance Society | Nine Lives: Raven Chacon, Bethany Collins, Tamar Guimarães, Kapwani Kiwanga, Hương Ngô, Aliza Nisenbaum, Alison O'Daniel, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Elle Pérez, and Charlotte Prodger</li><li>Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society |&nbsp;Apsáalooke Women and Warriors</li><li>Hyde Park Art Center |&nbsp;Artists Run Chicago 2.0</li><li>DePaul Art Museum |&nbsp;Kathryn Andrews</li><li>Elmhurst Art Museum | A Space Program: Organized by David Salkin</li><li>GRAY | McArthur Binion / Jim Lutes</li><li>Mariane Ibrahim |&nbsp;Amaoko Boafo</li><li>Monique Meloche Gallery |&nbsp;Jake Troyli</li><li>Kavi Gupta |&nbsp;Deborah Kass, Orange Disaster (Linda Nochlin);&nbsp;WHEN FIRE IS APPLIED TO A STONE IT CRACKS;&nbsp;Better Nights</li><li>Rhona Hoffman Gallery | Spencer Finch</li><li>DOCUMENT | Erin Jane Nelson</li><li>Western Exhibitions | Elijah Burgher</li><li>Andrew Rafacz | Melissa Leandro</li><li>David Salkin Creative | Rami George: Untitled (the wars in Lebanon)</li><li>2020 West Town Art Walk</li></ul><figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418798/n8bzogzjp3jgyjrui9qg.png"><figcaption>Amoako Boafo, Green Beret, 2020. Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim, a participating gallery in EXHIBITION Weekend</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;In case you have the travel bug, even if you're local, as a supplement to EXHIBITION Weekend, EXPO CHICAGO is working with official partner hotels The Peninsula Chicago and 21c Museum Hotel to offer 2-night stays for patrons wishing to visit or “staycation” in Chicago during EXHIBITION Weekend. A tailored itinerary of select experiences, gallery exhibitions, and museum openings will be provided.&nbsp;For a full list of additional EXHIBITION Weekend programming and events including dates, times and locations, visit <a href="http://www.expochicago.com/">www.expochicago.com</a>.&nbsp;In early 2021 will present Alternate Assembly 2020, a virtual symposium featuring live-streamed discussions between leading curators, artists, and scholars worldwide addressing environmental impact within the era of pandemic. (October Update: the original dates were posted as October 15–18, 2020)As a continuation of EXPO CHICAGO's year-round programming curated in response to contemporary issues, Alternate Assembly 2020 will engage the fair’s local and global audience through film screenings and live-streamed panel discussions featuring leading curators, artists, and scholars that will be open to the public. Building upon Chicago’s long legacy of supporting alternative models to exhibitions and engagement with contemporary art, the virtual symposium will address the ways in which contemporary art can contribute to rethinking our environment within the era of pandemic. Additional details to be announced at a later date.“Committed to providing a forum for critical dialogue within the contemporary art world, EXPO CHICAGO’s virtual symposium will unite creators, curators, and critics to examine some of the most vital issues of our time," states Stephanie Cristello, Artistic Director of EXPO CHICAGO. “Alternate Assembly invites artists whose works address issues such as environmental racism, colonial histories, and sustainability to engage in meaningful discourse with leaders of institutions and non-profits. Through film screenings and panel discussions, Alternate Assembly highlights the ways in which contemporary art engages and interrogates the physical and socioeconomic structures in which we as individuals co-exist—and in doing so, offers up pathways for meaningful change within the art world and beyond.”For the eighth consecutive year, Northern Trust returns as Presenting Sponsor of EXPO CHICAGO and related programs EXHIBITION Weekend and Alternate Assembly.&nbsp;</body></html>

EXPO CHICAGO Announces New Virtual and In-Person Fall 2020 Programming

By CGN StaffAs the fall art season in Chicago, and the world, continues to shift and be reshaped in order to accommodate life during a pandemic, we are hearing about more art fair updates and evolving programming, virtual as well in person. The latest update comes to us from the Chicago-based fair formerly known as SOFA Chicago. This past April it was <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2020/4/sofa-chicago-announces-new-fair-ownership-and-leadership">announced</a> that Intersect Art and Design acquired SOFA Chicago.&nbsp;The Chicago fair, planned originally to take place in early November on Navy Pier, will now take place in 2020 virtually from November 6–12, 2020 at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sofaexpo.com/">www.sofaexpo.com</a> with a dedicated VIP Preview Day by invitation only on November 5.&nbsp;The fair is the evolution of SOFA – Sculpture Objects Functional Art. It is the intersection of art, design, objects, and lifestyle including daily highlights on Glass, Ceramic and Crafts, Design, Contemporary Art, Outsider Art, Fiber, and Public Art / Sculpture. Intersect Chicago will feature institutions from around the globe with dedicated programming and a selection of galleries showcasing work of these disciplines.Intersect Chicago&nbsp;will feature a special focus for each day of the fair:Friday, November 6: Glass Arts Saturday, November 7: Ceramic Arts and Crafts Sunday, November 8: Design Monday, November 9: Contemporary Art Tuesday, November 10: Outsider Art Wednesday, November 11: Fiber Arts Thursday, November 12: Public Art / Sculpture<figure class="image"><img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c75cd80aadd34632fd01def/1599239027941-7PZ2BMZ48RTFIWH6LFLZ/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kKRrHbCni22Q2C6ff7L0V41Zw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZamWLI2zvYWH8K3-s_4yszcp2ryTI0HqTOaaUohrI8PI3z7txbPPArBBK0dtyy0zHVQ4QH1EpieTsoXKrli_GWQ/_PostcardstoChicago_DesignMuseumofChicago_CopyrightColor4.png?format=1000w" alt="Postcards to Chicago public art installation by Design Museum of Chicago at Navy Pier. Photo copyright Color 4."><figcaption>Postcards to Chicago public art installation by Design Museum of Chicago at Navy Pier. Photo copyright Color 4.</figcaption></figure>Intersect Art and Design’s CEO Tim von Gal explains, “Following on the success of our first virtual art fair in July, Intersect Aspen, we are looking forward to the launch of Intersect Chicago in November. This is a special occasion, as we are launching the future of SOFA. We’ll preserve the spirit and focus of SOFA, continuing to highlight glass, craft, and sculpture, but will expand to include a larger interdisciplinary program across the fields of art and design.”Becca Hoffman, Managing Director of Intersect Art and Design says, “With Intersect Chicago, we’re channeling the momentum and positivity of our inaugural July edition of Intersect Aspen into a new chapter of revamping and innovating theonline space, while encouraging connectivity and an out of the box approach. The November platform will be a form of engagement for the community, highlighting dynamic programs, partners, and activations focusing on SOFA’s original tenets but with an absolutely new vision and fresh approach.”Beginning in September, Intersect Chicago will present&nbsp;SOFA Salons, a series of themed conversations pertaining to art and design, presented online and free to the public. The first will be&nbsp;Art and Mindfulness / The Healing Power of Art and Art Spaces, on Wednesday, September 16, at 7pm Eastern / 6pm Central / 4pm Pacific. Panelists will include January Parkos Arnall, Interim Senior Curator at the MCA Chicago; Monica Garza, the Chartlotte Wagner Director of Education at the ICA Boston; Elizabeth Gerber, Museum Educator at LACMA; and Nora Lawrence, Senior Curator at Storm King Art Center.&nbsp; To register, visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sofaexpo.com/salons">www.sofaexpo.com/salons</a>. Additional SOFA Salons will be announced for October and will continue throughout the run of the fair in November.&nbsp;Cultural Partners of Intersect Chicago will be featured on different days of the fair. These include: Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG); Corning Museum of Glass; Design Museum of Chicago; The Fabric Workshop and Museum; Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers; GnarWare Workshop; The International Sculpture Center (ISC); Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art; John Michael Kohler Arts Center; The Mint Museum; Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; National Museum of Women in the Arts; Ox-Bow; Pilchuck Glass School; Pittsburgh Glass Center; The River North Design District; Roger Brown Study Collection; SAQA: Studio Art Quilt Associates; and Chicago Public Schools.&nbsp;Special Programming will include an exhibition organized by critic and curator Paul Laster (Time Out New York, Galerie, Art &amp; Object, Sculpture, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Cultured, and ArtAsiaPacific) and independent curator and art advisor&nbsp;Renée Riccardo (ARENA) presenting contemporary artists working with glass in innovative ways.&nbsp;Laura Steward, Curator of Public Art at the University of Chicago, will present a series of conversations on Thursday, November 12, between Chicago-based artists and curators who support them.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Intersect Chicago / SOFA, a Virtual Art Fair Coming November 6-12, 2020

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418215/iin5kmjw9523bw9jfcd1.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;By CGN StaffThe Driehaus Museum is the latest local institution to re-open after closing its doors this spring due to the pandemic. The staff says they are eager to welcome the public back to the ‘Haus (we didn't know they called it that!) The Museum will reopen to the general public on Saturday, August 29 with new measures and visiting requirements in place, as well as some new exhibitions planned for this fall.&nbsp;All galleries in the historic mansion will be open to view as well as the special exhibition, <a href="http://driehausmuseum.org/exhibitions">PAN: Prints of Avant Garde Europe, 1895-1900</a>. Museum guides will be on hand to answer any questions as you explore the galleries and current exhibitions.New weekly private, guide-led tour hours are also being offered on Fridays between 11–4 and include tours for up to 6 people with a discussion of the history and architecture of the building, the Museum’s collections, and highlights of the current exhibitions. Guided Tour tickets include general admission.&nbsp;The museum is now closed M–Th but open Friday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays to the public.&nbsp;Guests are strongly encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance of their visit since, due to reduced capacity limitations, purchasing tickets in advance will secure your preferred date and time.&nbsp;The first exhibition to open on August 29 be <a href="http://driehausmuseum.org/exhibitions">PAN: Prints of Avant-Garde Europe, 1895-1900</a>, which documents a new era of printmaking for the turn of the century, as well as the desire of the arts and literary journal’s founders to elevate graphic arts to the same level as the academic fine art of its day.Coming up September 26 is the much anticipated, second exhibition in the Driehaus Museum's new contemporary art initiative, A Tale of Today. <a href="http://driehausmuseum.org/exhibition/youngandhoribuchi">A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi</a> focuses on two Chicago-based artists whose works will engage expectations of the Nickerson Mansion by responding to the design and history of the 1883 building.<a href="https://46316.blackbaudhosting.com/46316/Driehaus-Museum-General-Admission-Timed-Entry-29Aug2020-21">RESERVE YOUR TICKETS HERE</a>If you are having trouble with your reservation, email <a href="mailto:info@driehausmuseum.org">info@driehausmuseum.org</a> or call 312-482-8933.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="http://driehausmuseum.org/images/uploads/visit/reopenguidlines2.jpg" alt=""></figure>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Driehaus Museum Re-Opening

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417846/lniiqlhjihk3zebshrat.jpg"><figcaption>Artists Run Chicago 2.0 installation view including miniature exhibition curated by Julius Caesar. &nbsp;Photography courtesy of Tran Tran.</figcaption></figure>Via PR<a href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/">Hyde Park Art Center</a>, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s South Side, will re-open its doors for limited exhibition hours starting September 1, 2020, with the launch of the <a href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/exhibition-archive/artists-run-chicago-2-0/">Artists Run Chicago 2.0</a> exhibition, celebrating the work of 50 artist-run spaces and organizations that fuel Chicago’s independent art scene.&nbsp; Artists Run Chicago 2.0 highlights the incredible work artists around the city are doing in their apartments, storefronts, on the streets of Chicago, and even a barn, challenging the conventional expectations of exhibition, discourse, and community.&nbsp; Works from each of the spaces will be represented in this exhibition encompassing six galleries, the entire Hyde Park Art Center footprint.“Following the COVID-19-related closure of the Art Center in mid-March, we are delighted to welcome the community back with this massive exhibition, showcasing the incredible diversity and sheer force of independent art galleries operating in Chicago now,” said Kate Lorenz, Hyde Park Art Center Executive Director. “We will be proceeding with care and the utmost caution to ensure the safety of our staff, community, and visitors. While the experience of visiting the Art Center may be slightly altered for the near future, we are excited to celebrate the work of so many creative artist-run spaces and share it with the public. We are confident that visitors and students will encounter the same sense of creativity, curiosity, and community for which Hyde Park Art Center is known.”To mark the ten-year anniversary of the original Art Center exhibition, Artists Run Chicago (2009), Artists Run Chicago 2.0 examines the core motivations, trajectories, and philosophies that have made the past decade generative for new models of artist-run initiatives to exist throughout the city and suburbs. As they did in 2009, artists-run spaces have continued to transform storefronts, apartments, warehouses, garages, and nomadic existences into environments in which art can be experienced at its most experimental and intuitive stage.<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417847/xryhnp05ttjdptcvlec8.png"><figcaption>Installation of Summer Skin w/ Zoe Avery Nelson and Judy Ledgerwood @ PRACTISE (2017), Courtesy of Practise</figcaption></figure>However, the artist-run model has also found a heightened criticality during this time as well. Despite taking on a multitude of forms and models, these spaces have come to represent a merge between artistic practice and social engagement, in which their small, independent, and hyperlocal status can be constantly modified and tailored to serve the communities they call home, whether through online forums to discuss art or engaging with community activists in support of social justice. In a time in which institutions are reevaluating their missions and relevance in a rapidly changing social landscape, artist-run initiatives have found themselves at the forefront of new conversations around art, challenging conventional expectations of exhibition, discourse, and community, while injecting new models, ideas, and faces into our understanding of what experiencing art can be.Art spaces represented in Artists Run Chicago 2.0 hail from a wide range of Chicago neighborhoods, from Beverly to Rogers Park, Englewood to Oak Park; here is the complete list: 062,&nbsp;4th Ward Project Space,&nbsp;65Grand,&nbsp;ACRE Projects,&nbsp;Adds Donna,&nbsp;AMFM,&nbsp;Annas,&nbsp;Apparatus Projects,&nbsp;Bad At Sports,&nbsp;Blanc Gallery, boundary,&nbsp;Chicago Art Department,&nbsp;Chuquimarca,&nbsp;Clutch,&nbsp;Co-Prosperity Sphere,&nbsp;Comfort Station,&nbsp;Compound Yellow,&nbsp;D Gallery,&nbsp;Devening Projects, Document,&nbsp;Experimental Sound Studio,&nbsp;F4F,&nbsp;The Franklin,&nbsp;Heaven Gallery,&nbsp;Iceberg Projects,&nbsp;Ignition Project Space,&nbsp;Julius Caesar,&nbsp;Lawrence and Clark, LVL3,&nbsp;Mujeres Mutantes,&nbsp;Night Light Studios &amp; Gallery, Ohklahomo, Nightingale,&nbsp;Practise,&nbsp;Prairie,&nbsp;Roman Susan,&nbsp;Roots &amp; Culture,&nbsp;Rootwork Gallery,&nbsp;The Silver Room,&nbsp;Slow,&nbsp;The Suburban,&nbsp;Sweet Water Foundation,&nbsp;table,&nbsp;Terrain Exhibitions,&nbsp;Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Trunk Show, TRQPITECA,&nbsp;VGA Gallery,&nbsp;Wedge Projects, and&nbsp;Western Pole. Artists Run Chicago 2.0&nbsp;is organized by Noah Hanna and Allison Peters Quinn with contributions from Max Guy and Andi Crist.Free online public programming accompanies this exhibition, including monthly performances, workshops, and artist and curator-led Art Center tours.&nbsp; Hyde Park Art Center has partnered with Public Media Institute&nbsp;and&nbsp;Sixty Inches from Center to produce a special Artists Run Chicago 2.0 edition of Lumpen magazine for its 136th volume, distributed for free at Hyde Park Art Center and Buddy, located in the first floor galleries of the Chicago Cultural Center.About Artists Run Chicago (2009):Chicago has long been known for cultivating a strong entrepreneurial/Do-It-Yourself spirit in business and the arts. Art organizations like Randolph Street Gallery, N.A.M.E., and the Uncomfortable Spaces in the 1980s and 1990s provided respected role models for independent art initiatives that followed. The 38 artist-run venues that participated in Hyde Park Art Center’s 2009 exhibition were responsible for transforming storefronts, sheds, apartments, lofts, industrial warehouses, garages and roving spaces into contemporary art galleries testing the notion of “exhibition” while complicating the definition of art. Coinciding with the Hyde Park Art Center’s 70th anniversary, Artists Run Chicago reconnected the Art Center to its beginnings as an artist-run space through collaborations with spaces that demonstrated a similar dedication to fostering new projects by new artists.Now a decade later, only six of the spaces in the original exhibition survive: 65 Grand, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Devening Projects, Julius Caesar, Roots &amp; Culture, and The Suburban (relocated to Milwaukee, WI). Several of the spaces included in Artist Run Chicago 2.0 are celebrating a 10-year anniversary and cite the attention around the early 2000s as impetus for their existence.Artists Run Chicago 2.0 runs from September 1-November 1, 2020.&nbsp; The exhibition will be available for viewing Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 12-6pm; Thursdays from 1-7pm; and Fridays from 10am-4pm. There is no admission charge but, to comply with social distance standards, advance reservations are encouraged for 90-minute visits and can be made by visiting <a href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/">https://www.hydeparkart.org/</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;Fall Class SessionIn addition, the Art Center is currently piloting a limited number of artmaking classes for adults in a hybrid model of online instruction coupled with on-site studio access. These include Ceramics and Printmaking Independent Study courses incorporating virtual group class time and on-site independent studio time.&nbsp; Additionally, the Art Center is offering a limited Ceramics “Work from Home” option that will include guidance on how to safely use ceramics in a home studio followed by limited studio access to fire and glaze.&nbsp; For more information on current offerings, including the incredible range of ongoing virtual courses for all ages, and expanded in-person options for fall. For updated offerings and information about fall registration please visit <a href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/education/">https://www.hydeparkart.org/education/</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For more information, please visit&nbsp; <a href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/">https://www.hydeparkart.org/</a>&nbsp;</body></html>

Hyde Park Art Center Re-opening To Showcase 50 Independent Artist-Run Spaces

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417999/c6wb95sr2dtnlwgaccfu.png"></figure>&nbsp;Via PRCHICAGO, IL — Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events&nbsp;(DCASE)&nbsp;are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020&nbsp;CityArts&nbsp;Program grants. Each year, the&nbsp;CityArts Program&nbsp;encourages Chicago-based, arts and culture-focused&nbsp;organizations&nbsp;of all sizes&nbsp;to attain artistic&nbsp;excellence and financial stability&nbsp;by making general operating&nbsp;grants across all artistic disciplines.&nbsp;This year,&nbsp;the Program is awarding&nbsp;general operating grants&nbsp;between&nbsp;$2,000 to $30,000&nbsp;–&nbsp;and special project grants ranging from $2,500 to $56,200&nbsp;–&nbsp;to 191&nbsp;nonprofit organizations&nbsp;for a total of $2 million.&nbsp;The project grants are&nbsp;being awarded&nbsp;in alignment with the Year of Chicago Music, now continuing through 2021.“The COVID-19 outbreak is devastating the creative sector, and the need is tremendous,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “In these very challenging times, the City of Chicago is supporting its local arts organizations through the CityArts Program, other cultural grant programs and the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund. Still,&nbsp;we hope that other public and private sources of funding step up to&nbsp;ensure the sector’s immediate and long-term viability.”DCASE has more than doubled its&nbsp;grants in&nbsp;general operating expenses&nbsp;–&nbsp;unrestricted funds that may be used however the grantee wishes –&nbsp;over the last four years, in recognition that&nbsp;these&nbsp;are&nbsp;increasingly critical for nonprofit organizations to carry out their missions.&nbsp;&nbsp;Further,&nbsp;to make more impactful grants to arts organizations&nbsp;during&nbsp;this time of need, the number of general operating grants made through this program has increased by 25% over 2019 and the average general operating grant amount has increased by 20%.&nbsp;These increases&nbsp;were&nbsp;made possible in part by&nbsp;a&nbsp;$250,000&nbsp;award from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This grant contributes funds to the CityArts Program for distribution to local nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.The 2020 CityArts Program project grants are awarded in alignment with the City’s Year of Chicago Music&nbsp;to&nbsp;strengthen&nbsp;Chicago’s&nbsp;music landscape – one of the most influential music communities on&nbsp;the globe&nbsp;– to highlight its legacy, expand its audience and&nbsp;grow its capacity.&nbsp;Funded projects include audience development and marketing strategies for Chicago musicians and music organizations; initiatives that are documenting, celebrating and preserving Chicago’s unique musical&nbsp;legacy; and innovative programs that could serve as replicable models for the industry.&nbsp;Examples of the organizations supported through project grants include Arts &amp; Business Council of Chicago in partnership with Chicago Reader (Chicago Music Website),&nbsp;Arts Alliance Illinois in partnership with 2112 and CCE&nbsp;(Chicago License Local Initiative), Asian&nbsp;Improv&nbsp;aRts&nbsp;Midwest (Archiving Chicago's Asian American&nbsp;Jazz&nbsp;&amp; Creative Music Collaborations) and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Black Ensemble Theater (Black Ensemble Intercultural Music Festival).&nbsp;Mayor Lightfoot is committed to supporting&nbsp;Chicago’s rich&nbsp;arts and culture community&nbsp;and last fall&nbsp;announced a&nbsp;$1&nbsp;million&nbsp;increase in City funding for&nbsp;the DCASE Cultural Grants Program, bringing the total budget to $2.7&nbsp;million.&nbsp;This increased budget fulfills&nbsp;a commitment to prioritize equitable grantmaking and microfinancing to individual artists, organizations and arts corridors throughout&nbsp;Chicago, particularly&nbsp;in communities of need.&nbsp;Earlier this year, the City of Chicago and DCASE&nbsp;also&nbsp;announced&nbsp;158 project-based Individual Artists&nbsp;Program grants&nbsp;ranging from&nbsp;$850 to $5,000&nbsp;—&nbsp;to resident Chicago artists across all artistic disciplines including film &amp; media arts, literary arts, performing arts (theatre/dance), music and visual arts/design.&nbsp;Additionally, 13 high-qualified artists received the Esteemed Artist Award, a special new $10,000 grant for expenses associated with an artist’s practice, such as studio rental, supplies, travel and equipment.The City of Chicago&nbsp;has&nbsp;also partnered&nbsp;with&nbsp;the State of Illinois, Arts Alliance Illinois&nbsp;and the broader philanthropic community to provide financial relief to workers and organizations in the creative industries impacted by COVID-19.&nbsp;Since its launch&nbsp;in April&nbsp;2020, the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund has awarded&nbsp;well over $5 million&nbsp;to 1,460 artists and 233 organizations across&nbsp;the state.&nbsp;The&nbsp;fund is administered by Arts Alliance Illinois in partnership with 3Arts and Arts Work Fund, long-standing and trusted service organizations and&nbsp;grantmakers.In addition to this&nbsp;important&nbsp;relief&nbsp;fund,&nbsp;Arts Alliance Illinois’s&nbsp;COVID Relief Policy Agenda for the Arts&nbsp;is demanding stronger federal support for nonprofits and small businesses, especially in communities of color; continuation of expanded unemployment benefits; increased incentives for charitable giving; and federal assistance in offsetting state and local revenue shortfalls.&nbsp;For details, visit&nbsp;<a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=Fx6ZlfogyykExOP4a2vWQ7Y-2FGFTBAzql5MZiufKbHE8CFGrVcuZjILFnKXPR4jDqBxfF_BYLPtpUivDHORxxkVXshLCRT3wjV7CgXbLJWP9J5MP9LJ6jv7-2Bb0c97UF1yE1XeiKasl3Q0KHAlfCn9N7XONZksYe5OIXa5kf5eLUqZODuRSP9aq4SJ-2B49W0jH0wJ361M0DLw-2FLrEVI6E6-2FTD59WIsY4V59Qpnpsa7HT4Bi-2BLcrPVYytFq-2FWShLsqFP9j4TZwfPljDpXurpSKvjupFQJxvZJ15d0J74Q79KbkjRMaSifv55g0Wo5sWh19lqTui1P9t-2FlmgSW-2FIF5Yu5amsqZ6pTE5mDttYYp6CDHvoPfbPPhnqGjJOPF6fprosZgmJHRtWmjLTHCImmUToVWKg7FJsNzhez7cGmFJeIOZ6uPX7HZIhTQ-2Fz2xYeRtr-2BzOWG81Rezpcr-2F-2Fm6BDPLJ2caagjjF47GLZqAXDvlXvqeZwF-2B4-3D">bit.ly/ArtsReliefAgenda</a>.Since 1984, the Cultural Grants Program has served as a catalyst to foster a robust, healthy arts community where artists, non-profit arts and culture and creative industries thrive. For more information, please visit <a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=Fx6ZlfogyykExOP4a2vWQ-2FOfdVALjpYZsEGm6zCd-2Bgd4qbfTXA6h20a3N6YR0-2FVRZKhA_BYLPtpUivDHORxxkVXshLCRT3wjV7CgXbLJWP9J5MP9LJ6jv7-2Bb0c97UF1yE1XeiKasl3Q0KHAlfCn9N7XONZksYe5OIXa5kf5eLUqZODuRSP9aq4SJ-2B49W0jH0wJ361M0DLw-2FLrEVI6E6-2FTD59WIsY4V59Qpnpsa7HT4Bi-2BLcrPVYytFq-2FWShLsqFP9j4TZwfPljDpXurpSKvjupFQJxvZJ15d0J74Q79KbkjRMaShCOAk0BDoLTSXLc9rgUuP6MIaepIAm0f1MCObWd9OHubrAiwd1G4a26i6KMn3BxT7c9Ati4I8DwPfHhQJW3xtXMnGzz3dnW3go7UHQm1rE2lFPQ68zYugNU5sE6bPS-2BDuMBS4HsA8IvexVBJALnsF-2BBLWisVffd-2FCTmSMqcDj1jK1fbwVbWCUnHO-2BUi1-2BJy9Q-3D">chicagoculturalgrants.org</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</body></html>

City of Chicago Awards $2 Million In City Arts Program Grants to the Arts

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417993/b8fpgxhubsntqlrpqrm3.jpg"><figcaption>Unity Temple in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park. Photo by Andrew Pielage courtesy of the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation.</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEAAs fall draws near – hard to believe in the middle of the time warp in which we now all live – the calendar, or the version of planned time we used to know – is taking shape. One event many have become accustomed to enjoying is the Chicago Architecture Center's annual fall <a href="https://openhousechicago.org">Open House Chicago</a>. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the event. While it's a relief that the event is happening, changes to its format are inevitable.&nbsp;For the past nine years, OHC has inspired countless institutions to open their doors and welcome in the public to experience behind-the-scenes access to buildings across Chicago. Participants have included arts centers, religious buildings, distilleries, corporate offices, schools, artist studios, and more.&nbsp;Hosted by the&nbsp;Chicago Architecture Center (CAC)—formerly the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the Center is a gateway for visitors, as well as locals, to explore the city through docent-led tours, exciting programs and imaginative exhibits at its own center at 111 E. Wacker Dr. as well as in hundreds of spaces and neighborhoods in the city and suburbs.&nbsp;2019 counted over 350 spaces and engaged 109,000 individuals who made 370,000 total site visits to 352 sites in 39 Chicago neighborhoods, plus the near suburbs of Evanston and Oak Park. This all took place over the course of a single busy, and crowded weekend.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417994/mxqfcmgbn10qkircf38s.jpg"><figcaption>The Overton Business and Technology Incubator in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. Photo by Eric Allix Rogers.</figcaption></figure>In 2020, the event will now span 10 days (October 16−25). In support of public health and with sensitivity to the unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CAC has reconfigured OHC for outdoor and online attendance. This reimagined OHC framework—designed for individuals, families and small groups that have isolated together—will highlight and promote visitation of specific areas, encouraging foot traffic and participants to patronize local businesses while learning more about the unique histories and stories of these featured areas.&nbsp;More than 20 Chicago neighborhoods and two suburbs will be highlighted during OHC 2020, with an intentional focus on, and engagement with, areas and corridors prioritized by the City of Chicago’s INVEST South/West initiative including Auburn Gresham, Austin, Back of the Yards, Bronzeville, Englewood, Humboldt Park,North Lawndale, Pullman, Roseland and South Shore. Fourteen additional focus areas confirmed to date are Chicago’s Loop, Near North Side and Near West Side plus Beverly, Chinatown, Evanston, Hyde Park, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Oak Park, Pilsen, Rogers Park, Wicker Park and Woodlawn.<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417995/oi9z6xhjjppx48vxcqut.jpg"><figcaption>Nichols Tower, formerly the “Old Sears Tower,” in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Photo by Eric Allix Rogers.</figcaption></figure>Visitors to each OHC 2020 area will be supported in their self-guided exploration by free resources available online at openhousechicago.org, as well as through an application for mobile devices. Using these free resources, OHC 2020 attendees will be able to explore and select routes on a variety of themes, learn more about buildings and sites of interest in each neighborhood, browse and register for related OHC online programs and more. CAC walking tours continue throughout the festival, some highlighting OHC neighborhoods. Building upon the success of more than 50 remotely accessible CAC Live programs offered continuously by the CAC since April 4, 2020, OHC will include a variety of online events aligned with its 2020 neighborhoods and themes. Featuring guest presenters and representatives from numerous Chicago organizations, these online events may include classes, discussions and lectures, music and performance presentations, virtual tours and other offerings designed to bring the expressions, flavors and voices of OHC 2020 neighborhoods into the homes of people across and far beyond Chicago. To further embed OHC 2020 into the neighborhoods it spotlights, the CAC will again engage multiple community-based organizations for advice and mutual support in communications and engagement, route creation, site selection, the development of program content and more.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417997/fvefe5gd559hkazynnds.jpg"><figcaption>The Oak Park Art League in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park. Photo by Eric Allix Rogers. &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>Advance registration for most free and paid online events will be required, through the OHC mobile app, at <a href="architecture.org">architecture.org</a> or <a href="openhousechicago.org">openhousechicago.org</a>. Current CAC members will receive exclusive benefits and discounts throughout OHC 2020.2020's realities have meant changes at every level of culture and engagement, but as we are finding, there are opportunities in many places. For this 10th year of Open House Chicago, the changes are another example of what is not cancelled and instead what is indeed open to all.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417998/m9xlsstqeywssbvxiruu.jpg"><figcaption>Austin Town Hall in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. Photo by Eric Allix Rogers.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;</body></html>

Chicago Architecture Center Unveils Changes to Open House Chicago 2020

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417974/zhivsidueijg711qrwtq.jpg"><figcaption>Stonehenge. Photo by Andre Pattenden, courtesy of English Heritage. &nbsp;</figcaption></figure><h3>Where Did Stonehenge Get Its Stones? Scientists Thank 90-Year-Old Retiree</h3>&nbsp;The origins of Stonehenge’s massive stone monoliths, long shrouded in mystery, have at last been demystified. The new research was made possible thanks to a former diamond cutter, Robert Phillips, who was involved in repairs carried out on the prehistoric structure in 1958. Phillips kept a the three-and-a-half foot cylindrical cores, which was set to be discarded, as a souvenir, hanging it in his office. Sixty years later, Phillips, on the eve of his 90th birthday, returned the core to English Heritage, which oversees Stonehenge.&nbsp;By Sarah Cascone, Artnet<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/stonehenge-get-stones-age-old-mystery-finally-solved-1898403?utm_content=from_&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=News%207%2F30%2F20&amp;utm_term=US%20Daily%20Newsletter%20[AFTERNOON]&amp;fbclid=IwAR1fLp320PPVFPLLiExZmulXpdsTgwMb_xviXkFPKNgFxxWWFAcyiCZUVGg">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417975/vh5v9bf1wh3myz0tivkr.jpg"><figcaption>Notre Dame's grand organ pipes with the famous rose window above Photo: Chris Waits &nbsp;</figcaption></figure><h3>Saving Notre Dame's 'voice': mammoth restoration begins on cathedral's fire-damaged organ</h3>&nbsp;The latest stage in the restoration of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral begins today: the gradual removal of its great organ, which must be cleaned piece by piece, according to the public body in charge of the cathedral's reconstruction. Scaffolding was erected in July to enable the operation.During the <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/fire-damages-notre-dame-cathedral-in-paris">April 2019 fire</a>, the symphonic organ was not badly damaged either by flames or by the water used during the firemen's rescue operation. However, the instrument was covered with lead dust and some parts were affected by thermal variations, such as during last July's heatwave.By Anna Sansom, The Art Newspaper<a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/notre-dame-organ">Read More</a>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417976/vevk8jw2oblkdp2r10ad.jpg"><figcaption>Arkady Rotenberg has made a nearly $3 billion fortune overseeing infrastructure projects. Endeavors such as the 12-mile Crimean Bridge have earned him awards in Russia, as seen here where he received a Russian Hero of Labor gold star but also landed him on the U.S. sanctions list for undermining Ukrainian independence.PHOTO: MIKHAIL METZEL/TASS/ZUMA PRESS</figcaption></figure><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>How Two Sanctioned Russian Billionaire Brothers Bought Art Anyway&nbsp;</h3>&nbsp;Two months after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russian construction billionaires Arkady and Boris Rotenberg in March 2014, the brothers sent their art adviser on a shopping spree, according to a Senate investigation report released Wednesday. At a Sotheby’s auction that month in New York, the Rotenbergs, who are lifelong friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, paid $6.8 million for 10 works of art, including a cubist still life by Georges Braque and a swirling tableau by Marc Chagall, the report said.By Kelly Crow, Wall Street Journal<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-two-sanctioned-russian-billionaire-brothers-bought-art-anyway-11596035186?mod=hp_lead_pos13&amp;fbclid=IwAR07-tnz2L-knd-WmiCchnDBE3-CGMHIPmFaWUSkLTNdn3dlDgH2oVHSToM">Read More</a>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417977/nttijoxmcfpta0fw2xvp.png"><figcaption>“Constellation” a sculpture by architect Santiago Calatrava at River Point Park on July 28, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) &nbsp;</figcaption></figure><h3>Farewell, Spire. Hello, spiral.</h3>&nbsp;Remember the Chicago Spire, the planned 2,000-foot condo tower that would twist into the sky like a giant corkscrew but wound up an embarrassing hole in the ground?Well, the architect of that failed project, Spanish-born, Zurich-based Santiago Calatrava, is back, with something considerably shorter — 29 feet short, to be exact.By Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/blair-kamin/ct-biz-calatrava-sculpture-in-chicago-kamin-20200729-alxyyxo6pngb7drpntzmavwml4-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0WEPAgbYph44C8l0EUTRN9n8aCxyV92H6aEkH0C7aIQ0AnFpW9C7xHVJs">Read More</a>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417978/uyhbh2n0zsnqq6atybw2.jpg"><figcaption>Visitors at the Berardo Collection Museum's reopening on July 15, 2020 in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo by Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images.</figcaption></figure><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Most People Plan to Visit Museums Just as Much as Ever and 5 Other Takeaways From Artnet Survey</h3>&nbsp;The pandemic is likely to change the way people do just about everything—the way they travel, the way they shop, the way they work.But for around 60 percent of respondents to a new Artnet News survey, it will have little impact on the way they interact with art.&nbsp;This is one of the surprising takeaways from the survey, which polled almost 2,000 Artnet News readers from 67 countries (though the majority of respondents hailed from the US). All told, the survey paints a picture of an art-engaged audience concerned with safety, but also committed to in-person experiences with art—though maybe not for the reasons you might expect.&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-engagement-survey-artnet-news-1897510">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

News From Around the Art World: August 3, 2020

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417990/kowmqxbp9g28wp1ji8en.png"><figcaption>The 1982 painting "Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump" by Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Art Institute of Chicago on Friday, July 24, 2020. Billionaire, Ken Griffin paid more than $100 million for the large-scale 1982 canvas "Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump" and has loaned it after a pre-pandemic purchase. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)</figcaption></figure><h3>Now hanging at the Art Institute: Chicago billionaire Ken Griffin’s new, $100 million Basquiat canvas</h3>Now that eye-widening sale has turned into news Chicagoans can use. Exuberant, elemental and about 14 feet wide by 8 feet high, the painting is now hanging on a wall in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute, where it will be on view when the museum reopens Thursday after its more than four-month COVID-19 closure.By Steve Johnson, Chicago Tribune<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-griffin-basquiat-art-institute-loan-0725-20200725-g2l2lzlkhfdh7dpobezyvqw4p4-story.html">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417991/iw9jnggncbsc8dbvki22.png"><figcaption>Pablo Picasso, Still Life (1922). Pablo Picasso’s Estate. VEGAP. Madrid, 2020.</figcaption></figure><h3>Stunned Conservators Just Found a Ghostly Picasso Hidden Beneath One of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Most Treasured Paintings</h3>The discovery lends new insight into Picasso's practice.What’s better than one Picasso? How about a second Picasso lost for decades?That’s exactly what a team of research scientists&nbsp;at the Art Institute of Chicago discovered and wrote about in a report published this week in&nbsp;<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42452-020-3136-y#Sec2">Applied Science</a>.By Caroline Goldstein, Artnet News&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/picasso-still-life-1896526">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417992/jerx09nbn9gwg7icrsfc.jpg"><figcaption>Legislation calls for the Smithsonian Institution to study a site for a National Museum of the American Latino on the National Mall in Washington</figcaption></figure><h3>US House votes to establish a National Museum of the American Latino</h3>The US House of Representatives voted today to establish a National Museum of the American Latino under the umbrella of the Smithsonian Institution to promote recognition of the Hispanic community’s role in American history and culture.By Nancy Kenney, The Art Newspaper<a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/us-house-votes-to-establish-a-national-museum-of-the-american-latino">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

News From Around the Art World: July 28, 2020

<html><head></head><body>By CGN StaffThe MoCP is the world’s premier college art museum dedicated to photography.&nbsp;Founded in 1976 by Columbia College Chicago as the successor to the Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography, the Museum began collecting in the early 1980s and has since grown its collection to include more than 15,000 objects by over 1,500 artists.&nbsp;The Museum of Contemporary Photography's popular Fine Print Program allows collectors to affordably buy art by some of the world's most renowned photographers while also supporting the museum's programming. &nbsp;Printed especially for the Museum by some of the most innovative photographers working today, the sale of editioned Fine Prints (many for just $400) directly supports artistic and educational programs at the MoCP.&nbsp; Prints by more than 60 artists are available online including works by artists of local, national and international renown such as Sarah Pickering, Olivo Barbieri, Tony Tasset, Ken Fandell, Brian Ulrich, Anna Shteynshleyger, Anna Fox, Aspen Mays, Kahn and Selesnick, Simon Roberts, Yeondoo Jung, and Tim Davis. Works by internationally-collected artists like Alec Soth, Vik Muniz, Candida Höfer, and Curtis Mann have quickly sold out in recent years.Each image is printed on archival-quality paper and is offered in an edition of 30, numbered and signed by the artist.This year, four artists join the program &nbsp;– all women artists:&nbsp;<a href="https://mocp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9e4250b7536dc23e9352b28ee&amp;id=9233b6e150&amp;e=d76e1da35a">Patty Carroll</a> <a href="https://mocp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9e4250b7536dc23e9352b28ee&amp;id=3858ba12e8&amp;e=d76e1da35a">Beth Dow</a> <a href="https://mocp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9e4250b7536dc23e9352b28ee&amp;id=d7e6f68eee&amp;e=d76e1da35a">Priya Kambli</a> <a href="https://mocp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9e4250b7536dc23e9352b28ee&amp;id=503fd7658e&amp;e=d76e1da35a">Millee Tibbs</a>At a time when many of us have not been able to visit a museum in months, the latest unveiling of MoCP's print program additions means you can (physically! not virtually!) bring museum-quality work in your own home.&nbsp;<a href="https://mocp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9e4250b7536dc23e9352b28ee&amp;id=47cf8dad40&amp;e=d76e1da35a">Explore Fine Prints</a>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418790/az3av3ephtct3uukj3ya.jpg"><figcaption>Patty Carroll (American, b. 1946) Scrapbooking from the Domestic Demise series, 2016 Archival Pigment Print 12 x 12 inch image on 14 x 14 inch paper Signed Edition of 30 $400</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418790/zw8ent9qvnjcizrsx5gf.jpg"><figcaption>Beth Dow (American, b. 1965) Natural Color from the Prediction Error series, 2018 Archival Pigment Print 15 x 12 inch image on 20 x 16 inch paper Signed Edition of 30 $400</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418791/hqiyvkmkbnlh2eetmqfy.jpg"><figcaption>Priya Kambli (Indian, b. 1975) Eye (Muma and Maushi) from the Buttons for Eyes series, 2019 Archival Pigment Print 10 x 14 inch image on 11 x 15 inch paper Signed Edition of 30 $400</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418792/r5cqdoqpyp7c8mudzjog.jpg"><figcaption>Millee Tibbs (American, b. 1976) Untitled from the Mount Analogue series, 2014 Archival Pigment Print 11 x 14 inch image on 11 x 14 inch paper Signed Edition of 30 $400</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

MoCP Unveils Latest Works in Its Fine Print Program (And all the Artists are Women!)

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417978/nl7jbgis6cqp7yq4dext.jpg"><figcaption>Kate Lynn Lewis, The Radiance of Being</figcaption></figure>CGN Staff via PRSpending a beautiful, sunny day walking Chicago's Riverwalk might make you feel a twinge of normalcy, like you're back in 2019. Except now in 2020 you must wear a face mask and be mindful not stroll too closely to others enjoying the same view. However, summer is here, the sun is out, and there is new art to enjoy.&nbsp;This week the&nbsp;Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE)&nbsp;in collaboration with the Department of Assets, Information and Services&nbsp;(AIS)&nbsp; announced new public artworks on&nbsp;the&nbsp;Chicago Riverwalk&nbsp;–&nbsp;including a mural celebrating 100&nbsp;years of Art&nbsp;Deco by&nbsp;artist&nbsp;Kate Lynn Lewis and portraits of Chicagoans by&nbsp;street muralist Dont Fret. Guests&nbsp;to the Riverwalk&nbsp;are required to wear a face covering and practice social distancing.“The new artworks on the Riverwalk continue Chicago's rich tradition of murals and public art," said Mark Kelly, Commissioner of DCASE. “These commissions support local artists and enrich our second waterfront, as Chicago welcomes visitors – and residents – back to our city, safely and responsibly.”Located at the Riverwalk’s Community Marketplace&nbsp;west of Michigan Avenue, the newly completed&nbsp;mural&nbsp;The Radiance of Being,&nbsp;designed and painted by Chicago-based artist Kate Lynn Lewis,&nbsp;celebrates 100&nbsp;years of Art Deco&nbsp;architecture.&nbsp;Spanning over 180 feet&nbsp;tall&nbsp;on two levels, the&nbsp;lead artist and an all-female crew completed the&nbsp;mural over six weeks.&nbsp;In the artist’s own illustrative style, the&nbsp;scene&nbsp;is&nbsp;composed of motifs from&nbsp;some of Chicago’s Art Deco buildings, including the Chicago Motor Club, the St. Jane, One N.&nbsp;LaSalle, 10 W. Elm St., the Palmolive Building,&nbsp;the&nbsp;Palmer House,&nbsp;the&nbsp;Adler Planetarium and many&nbsp;others.&nbsp;A nearby mural on one of the Riverwalk interior walls&nbsp;shows&nbsp;a map of where&nbsp;these&nbsp;buildings can be found&nbsp;in the city.“Having the opportunity to give back to the city that has developed me as an artist and a person has been the experience of a lifetime,”&nbsp;said artist Kate Lynn Lewis.&nbsp;“The Riverwalk is surrounded on all angles by art deco architecture, so it felt like a great opportunity to expound on the immersive experience of painting a deco collage inspired by motifs found in the area. I love that this experience is just one of countless examples of how Chicago has invested in the creative culture that makes it so beautifully unique.”The Confluence,&nbsp;the Chicago Riverwalk’s most western point near Lake Street,&nbsp;will become home for a&nbsp;series of 55 portraits of Chicagoans by street artist&nbsp;Dont Fret later this month. Created by one of Chicago’s most visible street artists&nbsp;–&nbsp;Dont&nbsp;Fret,&nbsp;The People in Your Neighborhood&nbsp;will offer a microcosmic reflection of scrappy and hard-working Chicagoans found throughout the city, each portrayed with&nbsp;Fret’s inimitable documentarian flair.<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417979/wv05g3244xuadwrm0jn6.jpg"><figcaption>Dont&nbsp;Fret, Manny's Deli</figcaption></figure>“There are certain character traits that I think define a true Chicagoan. Tough, full-browed with a sense of ingenuity and midwestern humbleness, but always toiling, working, moving forward with an almost absurd laugh and grin about this crazy, wonderful city,” said&nbsp;Dont&nbsp;Fret. “I was asked to paint 55 portraits of Chicagoans who I think contribute to the hard work that defines our city, although it can only scratch the surface of the millions of stories moving through our streets. These are the people in your neighborhood.”These new artworks will complement&nbsp;several&nbsp;installations&nbsp;that were&nbsp;added to the Riverwalk last year.&nbsp;Between the below..., a series of five intricate and colorful banners by Kingston-born multimedia artist Ebony Patterson, hang at the Riverwalk on&nbsp;Wacker Drive, just east of the Michigan Avenue Bridge.&nbsp;Known for her drawings, tapestries, videos, sculptures and installations that involve surfaces layered with flowers, glitter, lace and beads,&nbsp;Patterson&nbsp;is an&nbsp;associate&nbsp;professor in&nbsp;painting at the University of Kentucky, Lexington,&nbsp;and is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago.Nearby under the Columbus Avenue&nbsp;Bridge,&nbsp;artist&nbsp;Alberto Aguilar's&nbsp;Echo Hecho Fresco was also added to the Riverwalk in 2019. The zigzag pattern made with&nbsp;CDOT traffic paint&nbsp;is intended to&nbsp;reflect the&nbsp;constant movement of people through the tunnel, cars on the bridge above, boats below and river flowing beside.The award-winning Chicago Riverwalk, a 1.25-mile promenade through the heart of downtown, has quickly become one of the city’s most popular destinations for art, music, dining and the enjoyment of natural habitats, beloved by Chicagoans and visitors alike. The Riverwalk is managed by the AIS&nbsp;with programming from DCASE. Access to the space is free and open to the public daily from 6am–11pm.&nbsp;Under the City’s phased reopening, the Community Marketplace is set to open July 17. Face coverings and physical distancing are required for all&nbsp;visitors. Vendor&nbsp;details are available by visiting&nbsp;<a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=Fx6ZlfogyykExOP4a2vWQ9p4frCbFaRwb7jG00BWy2WVcn5INrLroHU97-2BaA4vmLZfu3_BYLPtpUivDHORxxkVXshLCRT3wjV7CgXbLJWP9J5MP9LJ6jv7-2Bb0c97UF1yE1XeiKasl3Q0KHAlfCn9N7XONZksYe5OIXa5kf5eLUqZODuRSP9aq4SJ-2B49W0jH0wJ361NM0FOZiL1GFTzBMt2Gu7zTMc39udau6iXwplVM5stLkNtA1PXGQcyYqH3U27sUP2ldBNVgvvLwIqtzPfTshw-2Bpw9R9LG2fYwolHyZ6pztA-2FlqqcqDo0ty737qTkl0b8ZQFg8LuVuYZ-2BVqYU-2BNY9uTvUFPV35Ut7en9aIfw-2Fd4HZj1msc03pPN7j1vPZ2b6p0FUMAoun-2FZzb-2BC4wCFeJpz2ht1K0A3oYaLLmv7lfIxTb8234mBKLxJBpZoec7VDhRFrGDPv9EdER8fJcwYbcMHH8s-2Bjf3zbL9CdVmDz-2BdPSo-3D">www.chicagoriverwalk.us</a>. &nbsp;</body></html>

Riverwalk's New Art Continues Tradition of Murals and Public Art and Welcomes Visitors Back to City

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417919/rje9vqylh3fbwvkuy5k0.png"></figure>Via PR<a href="https://www.expochicago.com/amanda-williams-what-black-is-this-you-say">EXPO CHICAGO</a>, The International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, which has moved its regularly scheduled fall art fair to spring 2021, launched its new virtual salon series, Dine&amp;, with an artist conversation and dinner featuring artist Amanda Williams and 2020 James Beard nominee Erick Williams (no relation). A new initiative from EXPO CHICAGO, Dine&amp; pairs bespoke culinary experiences with conversations led by prominent figures from Chicago’s artistic and cultural communities. For the first event in the series, Virtual Virtue: What Black is This, You Say?, Erick Williams of Virtue restaurant designed a four-course dinner menu inspired by the many hues of black envisioned by the artist Amanda Williams in her recent digital series What black is this, you say?.Over the course of the meal guests experienced a dynamic discussion between the artist and chef on Amanda’s digital series that originated as her response to the Instagram ‘black out’ on June 2, 2020, when black squares publicly swept the platform in an effort to show solidarity with the #blacklivesmatter movement. Meals were delivered to guests' homes, with an optional wine pairing featuring wines from Black-owned wineries McBride Sisters and Maison Noir Wines. The event brought together collectors, philanthropists, and cultural leaders from Chicago and around the country to experience a dialogue between chef and artist. EXPO CHICAGO has donated event proceeds to Enrich Chicago, a nonprofit organization working to address systemic racism in the arts, and honoraria for both participating artists.&nbsp;“Throughout this incredibly challenging time, I have thought deeply about the role EXPO CHICAGO can play as a connector—between multidisciplinary creators, between artists and arts patrons, and between arts patrons and organizations that are making real change,” said President | Director of EXPO CHICAGO&nbsp;Tony Karman. “In creating Dine&amp;, the exposition seeks to connect our community in new and innovative ways, fostering important conversations and continuing our year-round support of the Chicago arts community. We are honored to work alongside and collaborate with both Amanda Williams and Chef Erick Williams, whose artistic contributions to this event will have a tangible impact on the extraordinary work of Enrich Chicago.”<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417920/icyw2oegjfludj1alird.png"></figure>Director of Enrich Chicago Nina D. Sánchez stated, “The funds EXPO CHICAGO helped raise tonight will further our mission to fund equity research, develop the next generation of aspiring anti-racist arts administrators, and sponsor anti-racism workshops with leading national training organizations for arts leaders throughout Chicago. It is heartening to see our city’s art fair provide thoughtful support of Black artists and Black-owned businesses, and recognize the work we do at Enrich—we hope this series can serve as a model for influential organizations nationwide.”Guests in attendance received one of 32 signed limited-edition artist proofs, an adaptation of Amanda Williams’ series What black is this, you say? in embroidered silk dupioni paired with a work on paper. Produced by EXPO CHICAGO and Open Editions, the work adopts the form of a dinner napkin and conventional swatch card used by fabric manufacturers, acting as a vehicle for messages written by the artist in response to the visual culture of protest.EXPO CHICAGO has also partnered with Williams and Open Editions to produce a collectible and functional edition of What black is this, you say?. Based on her Instagram series, the artist’s interpretation of distinct hues of black will be presented as embroidered fabrics in a set of six dinner napkins. Each napkin in the set is sewn from a different type of fabric to portray a range of shade and texture. This edition includes an artist-designed swatch card, which features the fabrics in a conventional grid, paired with captions used in the original series. The open edition of What black is this, you say? is available for $85 and can be purchased online <a href="https://open-editions.com/products/amanda-williams-what-black-is-this-you-say-napkins">here</a>. Proceeds from the sale of the edition will benefit Enrich Chicago to support anti-racism learning workshops, capacity-building training and leadership development for the Rising Arts Leaders of Color program.<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417921/axg2edrmqy2wahamg7u3.jpg"><figcaption>Amanda Williams. Limited edition AP of 32. Raw silk, silver embroidery, 18 x 18 inches. Hand painted work on paper, watercolor, 4 x 8 inches.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Dine&: EXPO CHICAGO Expands Its New Initiative 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417908/ln4jqizyakouzikbisgz.jpg"><figcaption>Murals on the walls of the Uptown Post Office in Chicago on June 22. The W.P.A.-era murals, painted on ceramic tiles by artist Henry Varnum Poor, celebrate the accomplishments of architect Louis Sullivan and poet Carl Sandburg. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;How will Chicago artists make it through the pandemic? 85 years ago the Feds had an answer. Could it work again?Indeed, 85 years ago this spring, in the darkest days of the Great Depression, with more than 20 percent of Chicagoans out of work, President Roosevelt did something unprecedented. By signing an executive order creating the WPA — one of several federal programs established during the 1930s that provided regular salaries to artists — he was promoting the role of the federal government as arts patron. He was suggesting the government should play a part in directing the cultural identity of the nation itself. And by the late 1930s, about 75,000 Chicagoans — and 12,000 more in the surrounding suburbs — were working for the WPA.By Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-lessons-of-great-depression-art-0719-20200715-pb2at6yaqjd6hhevkj364ip4om-story.html">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417909/oqsjctqzzxwtsqucjfts.jpg"><figcaption>Coming Home, purportedly by Gertrude Abercrombie, sold at auction for $93,750 last year.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Experts weigh in on alleged art forgery ring in MichiganArt historians explain why the work of lesser known artists with rising markets, like George Copeland Ault and Gertrude Abercrombie, might become the target of a fakes schemeBy Ruth Lopez, The Art Newspaper<a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/analysis/experts-weigh-in-on-michigan-art-forgery-ring">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417911/y8sls16yejzeagdz0mud.png"><figcaption>A mural based on the phrase “Beyond Human Dreams of Loveliness” stretches 150 feet along an outside wall at Harry S Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson Ave. in Uptown. Pat Nabong / Sun-Times</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Street artist Left Handed Wave’s Uptown mural ties together neighborhood’s past, present‘Beyond Human Dreams of Loveliness’ at Truman College spells out that phrase, each letter inspired by a place — past or present — central to Uptown and the surrounding area.By Clare Proctor, Chicago Sun Times<a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/murals-mosaics/2020/7/17/21310570/chicago-murals-uptown-left-handed-wave-beyond-human-dreams-loveliness-truman-college-balaban-katz">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417912/cjuzdgviofjelusvjs6f.jpg"><figcaption>TEFAF's spring 2018 edition in New York. KIRSTEN CHILSTROM</figcaption></figure>TEFAF Cancels Fall New York Fair as Pandemic’s Far-Reaching Impact Becomes&nbsp;ClearAs the coronavirus pandemic continues to make it difficult for large events to be held throughout the remainder of 2020, another top art fair has been canceled, marking the second event of its kind to be called off this week alone. The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) said in a statement that it will not host its New York edition, which had been postponed from May until the end of October.By Maximiliano Duron, artnews<a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/tefaf-new-york-fall-2020-canceled-1202694702/">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

News From Around the Art World: July 21, 2020

<figure class="image"><img src="http://i2.cmail19.com/ei/i/E6/51F/945/031908/csfinal/Untitleddesign-6b4bd8bb11a91af1.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Kayla Anderson (left) and Kristin McWharter (right)</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Via PRChicago, IL. July 16, 2020 --&nbsp; Chicago Artists Coalition is thrilled to announce&nbsp;the recipients of the 2020 ENVISION Grant for Chicago-based artists working in the field of time-based digital and electronic art: <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-xkjdya-dlvzir-r/">Kayla Anderson</a> and <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-xkjdya-dlvzir-y/">Kristin McWharter</a>. Anderson and McWharter have been awarded unrestricted grants of $2,500 each for their demonstrated artistic excellence. 2020 is the inaugural year of the ENVISION Grant, which is made possible by a partnership with the Carl &amp; Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation.&nbsp;In announcing the grants, CAC’s Executive and Artistic Director, Teresa Silva said, “We are pleased to provide direct funding to Kayla Anderson and Kristin McWharter for their compelling and rigorous work. Our hope is that the ENVISION Grant will have a positive impact on their studio practice for developing imaginative and experimental new work. CAC is also grateful to the Thoma Art Foundation for their vision and generosity in supporting Chicago artists.”The Thoma Art Foundation’s Curator of Digital Art, Jason Foumberg added: “The Thoma Foundation is thrilled to sponsor this three-year award for emerging Chicago-based artists working in the digital art field. We often look to emerging artists as we would a crystal ball, to see what the future holds in terms of experimentation, innovation, and paradigm shifts. For this reason, we are pleased that the jury has selected Kayla Anderson and Kristin McWharter, two promising artists working at the forefront of virtual reality who shed light on human relations in our technological age. I look forward to seeing the artworks that Anderson and McWharter develop in the near future.”Anderson and McWharter will be recognized for their achievement in an award ceremony by CAC and the Thoma Art Foundation, once it is deemed safe to reopen to the public, anticipated for fall or winter 2020.The next ENVISION Grant application cycle opens May 2021 and&nbsp;more information about the program can be found <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-xkjdya-dlvzir-j/">here.</a>&nbsp;

Chicago Artists Coalition announces recipients of the inaugural ENVISION Grant

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417606/z4xjlmi7smz3ort2frjl.jpg"><figcaption>The murals that Sounding Boards collect as businesses opt to take their plywood down will live in a storage facility until the initiative is able to move on to the next phase of its preservation plan. Mackenzie Crosson / WBEZ</figcaption></figure>Protest Art Has Covered Boarded Up Businesses — Will It Be Preserved?Some businesses were damaged, some were looted, and others sought to pre-emptively safeguard their property from civil unrest by boarding them up—and the blank plywood covering their windows became canvases. Ant Ben hoped his painting would have a life in a Chicago public school once the restaurant decided to take the boards down, but the piece disappeared before that was possible.By Mackenzie Crosson, Steven Jackson, Izii Carter &nbsp;- Via WBEZ Radio<a href="https://www.wbez.org/stories/protest-art-has-covered-boarded-up-businesses-will-it-be-preserved/e3db8017-a6ba-4dde-9bc3-3d17f6ee5392">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417607/svjnd5rw3zqnvhn9xiix.jpg"><figcaption>The installation “Dirty Laundry” on the lawn at Schurz High School. (Erica Gunderson / WTTW News)</figcaption></figure>Artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust Ask Community to Make #AMENDSThe broad front lawn at Carl Schurz High School in Chicago’s Irving Park neighborhood is bisected by two laundry lines strung between trees and festooned with bright yellow ribbons that flap and rustle in the breeze. Scrawled in black marker on the hundreds of ribbons are personal messages about racism.The ropes and ribbons, in place since Thursday, are one portion of the three-part community-based art project “#<a href="http://facilitychicago.org/the-contribution-project/">AMENDS,</a>” which seeks to end racism by beginning with the self. It’s the work of life and art partners Nick Cave and Bob Faust at their multidisciplinary creative space and gallery Facility, right across the street from the school.By Erica Gunderson, WTTW News<a href="https://news.wttw.com/2020/07/12/artists-nick-cave-and-bob-faust-ask-community-make-amends">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417608/vw608cueucb6l7w82kkm.png"><figcaption>Christie's "ONE" auction.</figcaption></figure>Christie’s Nets $420 M. in First Livestreamed Global Relay Auction Led by $46.2 M. Lichtenstein&nbsp;NudeThe global event closes the first set of milestones of the new virtual auction era. The auction hammered at $362 million, above its pre-sale low estimate of $337 million, realizing a total sell-through rate of 94 percent.By Angelica Villa, artnews<a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/christies-one-sale-results-roy-lichtestein-1202694117/">Read More</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417609/gmwwtyaoap7zsfrhxxwc.jpg"><figcaption>Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2020 have been cancelled Photo by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze</figcaption></figure>Frieze directors ‘left with no choice’ but to cancel London fairs in OctoberContinued restrictions on large-scale events and travel due to coronavirus have made the show logistically impossibleBy Anny Shaw, The Art Newspaper<a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/frieze-directors-left-with-no-choice-but-to-cancel-london-fairs-in-october">Read More</a>&nbsp;</body></html>

News From Around the Art World: July 14, 2020

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417594/doqlkyg8pkrautoue9w2.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;CGN Staff, Via PRThe Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is pleased to announce that it is planning to reopen to the public on Friday, July 24, 2020, after several months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. With generous support from Northern Trust, the museum is welcoming back visitors with free admission through the end of August, as well as new museum hours, days, and a lower capacity optimized for the safety and well-being of visitors, following city, state and CDC health guidelines.The MCA will now be open to the public on Fridays and weekends from 11 am to 6 pm, with the first hour of the day dedicated to seniors and people at an increased risk. Visitors are encouraged to make online reservations in advance through a new touchless admission process. The MCA’s reopening features more work on view by Chicago artists and from Chicago collections than ever before in its history. Acclaimed Chicago filmmaker Deborah Stratman’s exhibition on her film The Illinois Parables, includes a re-creation of the WFMT radio studio of the renowned Studs Terkel with a selection of his celebrated interviews. Just Connect is a timely exhibition on how the pandemic has made us more aware of our desire to connect, and how we depend on our communities and families for a sense of belonging. The popular exhibition, Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago has been extended to September 27, featuring an exceptional assembly of works drawn from Chicago’s greatest public and private collections by the British-Nigerian fashion designer Duro Olowu.﻿MCA Director Madeleine Grynsztejn says, “Throughout extraordinary moments in history, artists have always shown us the way forward with work that has the power to heal, connect, inspire, and ignite our creativity. Art museums are among the lowest-risk spaces to visit in the city, and the spacious design of the MCA offers wide-open public spaces to easily accommodate physical distancing while guests experience the art on view. We also encourage visitors to step outside to enjoy time for quiet contemplation in our terraced sculpture garden with some of the best views in the city overlooking Lake Michigan.”With the health and safety of the community as its top priority, the MCA has implemented extensive new safety measures that follow city, state, and CDC guidelines, from a new touchless admission process, to a system of newly designed wayfinding to ensure physical distancing, to enhanced cleaning and sanitization. A full roster of safety measures is online at <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001j_e975AqtCcZm4RiG1uZtYXtPbOHM38JGMAdkgAwJoSlgLZMt-zeTczCZiPblC1cpcLqlEqYqrw2lGc2pxHr0lc5Cmyb3ERGdDzNM4vIv4zYUf1o91eGgJDWKqf1z6Avr4NTe0Gm4PWS4vfXN3cpT8vfuBLfNpbo&amp;c=SqG7nguZ9rNrA4JhIyF9nXlWIltHh4u-vo4-TiJiBVmxl3ypX8_ejg==&amp;ch=6FKRbN0JfcJdzPfvUy9xJLwLVfOj_161TmZbVLMfK7qIVREP0YhFyA==">www.mcachicago.org/safety</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

MCA Chicago Set to Reopen on July 24 with Free Admission and New Hours

<html><head></head><body>CGN Staff, Via PRArtadia is pleased to announce the recipients of the eleventh annual Chicago Artadia Awards:​ Caroline Kent ​and ​Eliza Myrie​. As the 2020 Chicago Artadia Awardees, Kent and Myrie will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds, as well as access to the ongoing benefits of the Artadia Awards program. Applications were open to any visual artist living within Chicago’s Cook County for over two years, working in any medium and at any stage of their career.The decision followed an extensive jury process, culminating in a virtual studio visit between shortlisted finalists and jurors ​Jennifer Carty​, Associate Curator of Modern &amp; Contemporary Art, The Smart Museum at University of Chicago and ​Jessica Hong​, Associate Curator of Global Contemporary Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth.On receiving the 2020 Chicago Artadia Award, ​Eliza​ states, “The process of this award, the opportunity to discuss and present my practice, especially with the discombobulated energy of Covid-19, really reminded and excited me about the investments and commitments I have made. There are so many things to find out by making and many conversations I want to be having as a result of finding those things out. Artadia was a great reminder of that and of course, will enable lots more making.”Of the Awardees' work, ​Jennifer​ notes, “I was so struck by the work of the awardees Caroline Kent and Eliza Myrie, both of which tackle existing power structures and hierarchies in different and nuanced ways. Through a fluency of language with histories of abstraction, Kent extends and alters this legacy through potent means. While Myrie’s exploration into sculpture, performance, and likeness leads us to consider the physical and mental maintenance, often coupled with moments of futility, of subverting patriarchal systems. Both of these bodies of work feel particularly relevant to the current moment in which we live and the futures we endeavor to imagine.”Additionally, ​Jessica​ states, “When we’re facing such extremes and upheavals, it is artists and cultural producers that push us to think, question, and engage in new ways, and this year’s Artadia Awardees are no exception. Though both artists have quite distinct practices, Kent and Myrie seek novel, even revolutionary, potentials of their media and create space for possibility, which is now more essential than ever. It is especially during these times, artists require support through organizations like Artadia to amplify their voices, as it is ultimately the publics that need to hear these voices and experience their work. It was a privilege to serve as juror and connect with all of the finalists and it’s an honor to have a small part in supporting these critical practices.”Artadia is honored to partner with Global Insurer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and the artist LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation, Inc. for the two 2020 Chicago Artadia Awards. Both organizations have generously committed to supporting exceptional artists in Chicago, each with a named Award in the amount of $10,000. The 2020 Chicago Artadia Awards are additionally supported by the Artadia Board of Directors, Artadia Council Members, and individual donors across the country.&nbsp;About the Awardees:Caroline Kent<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417591/uverwcm2wxjj989izgnq.png"><figcaption>Artwork credit: Caroline Kent,​ Language for the Living, 2018 Photo courtesy of the artist</figcaption></figure>Caroline Kent is a Chicago based visual artist that explores the relationship between language, translation and abstraction through her expanded painting practice. Kent speculates in both the potential and the limitations of language, and ultimately questions the modernist canon of abstraction.Caroline Kent earned a BS in Art at Illinois State University (1998) and an MFA at the University of Minnesota (2008). Kent has exhibited nationally at The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, The DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, The California African American Museum, LA, and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Kent has received grants from The Pollock Krasner Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, and The Jerome Foundation. She is currently represented by Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles.&nbsp;Eliza Myrie<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417592/br57szfv6htnwvgrgu8i.png"><figcaption>Artwork credit: Eliza Myrie, ​clothesline/back fence talk​, 2018 Photo of artist by Elizabeth Haynes</figcaption></figure>Eliza Myrie received her MFA from Northwestern University and was a participant at The Skowhegan School and The Whitney Independent Study Program. Myrie is a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a co-founder of The Black Artists Retreat [B.A.R.]. Exhibitions include Arts Club Chicago; Gallery 400; Vox Populi; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; New Museum of Contemporary Art.Myrie’s work explores site and labor through generational inheritance, gender, and authorship. As a sculptor and printmaker, dimension, volume, and examination of how representation and subjectivity are lost/gained via physical and conceptual processes are central to her work.&nbsp;The LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Artadia Award is presented to Eliza Myrie​. "The work of Eliza Myrie elegantly tackles questions of colonialism, race, borders, pronouns, and materiality across a wide range of mediums. These are difficult issues, but Myrie walks that tightrope, often managing to demonstrate how such concepts can be both fictional and vitally important at the same time. LeRoy Neiman's own art was deeply engaged with the contemporary moment, and I'm sure he would have been thrilled to support an artist like Myrie, who carries on that legacy with a similar dedication to beauty and wit.”&nbsp;The Liberty Specialty Markets Artadia Award is presented to Caroline Kent.​ Robert Pittinger, Senior Vice President – Fine Art &amp; Specie at Liberty Specialty Markets said: “We are thrilled that Caroline Kent is this year’s recipient of Liberty Specialty Markets Artadia Award. We hope the award will help this Chicago-based visual artist to continue pushing the boundaries with her bold yet highly sophisticated explorations of the relationship between shape, line and color. As one of the world’s leading fine art insurers, we’re dedicated to playing a positive role in the art community, helping it flourish and protecting its creations. The Artadia program, which supports innovative visual artists in their local communities and the wider world, is precisely the type of initiative that aligns with our commitment to supporting the arts.”Awardees were selected from a shortlist of ​five finalists: ​Yvette Dostatni​, ​Azadeh Gholizadeh​, ​Caroline Kent​, ​Yvette Mayorga​, and ​Eliza Myrie​. The finalists were chosen by ​Jennifer Carty​, Associate Curator of Modern &amp; Contemporary Art, The Smart Museum at University of Chicago; ​Daonne Huff​, Director, Public Programs &amp; Community Engagement, The Studio Museum in Harlem; and ​Laura Mott,​ Senior Curator of Contemporary Art and Design, Cranbrook Art Museum.&nbsp;About the Artadia Awards: Artadia is a national non-profit organization that awards artists with unrestricted grants followed by a lifetime of program opportunities. This is Artadia’s eleventh Award cycle in Chicago. Applications were open to any visual artist living within Chicago’s Cook County for over two years, working in any medium and at any stage of their career. Finalists and Artadia Award recipients are selected through Artadia’s rigorous, two-tier jury review process. In the first round of review, jurors evaluated all submissions and collaboratively determined the five Finalists. Artadia is unique in that it allows any artist to apply, engages nationally recognized artists and curators to review work, and culminates in direct grants. Since 1999, Artadia has awarded over $5 million to 342 artists across Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Artadia Announces the 2020 Chicago  Awardees

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418783/uerw1f8byyhce24eu96u.jpg"><figcaption>Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (American, 1910-1983). Untitled #289 (detail), 1955. Oil on oak tag board, 17 x 14¾ in. Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Lewis, Jean and Dan Greenblatt, 2003.3.9. Photo by John Faier.</figcaption></figure>﻿Written by Alison Amick, Senior Manager of Exhibitions and Development, Chief Curator at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art&nbsp;Did you know the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) features works of art at their stations? Recently, the CTA renovated the Chicago Avenue Blue Line Station, just kitty-corner from Intuit. As part of this process, the CTA engaged Intuit about artists and artworks from the museum’s collection that could be reproduced in light boxes gracing the renovated station. After discussing numerous possibilities, the artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was selected as the choice.﻿Self-taught artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein created striking artworks in the Milwaukee home he shared with his wife, Eveline Kalka, whom he nicknamed “Marie.” In the 1940s, he began a series of photographs of Marie, before turning his attention to painting around 1950. At the time these two paintings were created—the mid-1950s—Von Bruenchenhein, like many Americans, was thinking about the possibility of nuclear warfare and possible annihilation.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418784/dbno1br0llutguk3a7sk.jpg"><figcaption>Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (American, 1910-1983). Ruins of Palenque #216 (detail), 1955. Oil on oak tag board, 17 x 14¾ in. Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Lewis, Jean and Dan Greenblatt, 2003.3.8. Photo by John Faier.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Excavated in the mid-20th century, the ancient Mayan city of Palenque would have appealed to Von Bruenchenhein as a subject. The artist was interested in past civilizations, believing himself to come from royal lineage, and may have seen parallels between the rise and fall of Palenque and the uncertain era in which he lived. Ruins of Palenque #216 incorporates Von Bruenchenhein’s technique of using his fingers to manipulate paint, here, to create the stacked geometric forms that comprise his structure. Its vibrant pinks, purples and blues contrast with the more muted orange and green of the swirling smoke-like background. Von Bruenchenhein, who worked as a florist for a time after high school, also created brightly colored fantastical landscapes filled with vegetation and flora. His dynamic composition Untitled #289 incorporates botanical elements set against a fiery background of reds and yellows, suggestive of an apocalyptic vision.The light boxes are now in! Stay tuned to our social media channels for updates.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Outsider Artists Featured at CTA Blue Line Station 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418783/iwulcx4ibb9gfna6xjvd.jpg"></figure>CGN Staff, Via PR&nbsp;<a href="https://www.designs4dignity.org/art-for-dignity/">Art for Dignity</a> is demonstrating support for racial justice and social responsibility presented through art and visual expression with the help of Chicago’s talented and passionate community. In creating awareness of the ideals of equity, inclusion, empathy and empowerment through the power of art, River North neighbors and business owners with boarded windows are partnering with Chicago- area artists to bring this vision to life. Representing unity, peace and community through original artwork, Designs for Dignity stands together through Art for Dignity in empowering lives through design.&nbsp;Artwork will later be auctioned off with proceeds benefiting <a href="https://www.formyblock.org/">My Block My Hood My City</a>, participating artists and Designs for Dignity.&nbsp;Participating artists include: Cleveland Dean, Shawn Micheal Warren, Sam Kirk, Caswell James, Veronica Martens, Janeallison Ng, Bahar Shirkhanloo, and Malcolm Poe, among others.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418784/cppmrcywtxlrhi4jvaid.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;Painted boards will remain on display in River North over the next week. You can find images of the already completed boards <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bg5wmmhk1skgnsu/AABcH68t43kpUhlZRKpPfCzva?dl=0">here</a>. If you are interested in capturing the painting in action, we can continue to update you on scheduled installations. The next opportunity to capture the artwork taking place will be:&nbsp;&nbsp;Completed Art for Dignity boards can be found at:&nbsp;Artists Frame Service: 1867 N. Clybourn Ave.Jo Chicago Communications: 126 W. Kinzie St., 2nd FloorOscar Isberian Rugs: 120 Kinzie St.&nbsp;Glamour Closet: 209 W. Illinois St.&nbsp;&nbsp;ABOUT DESIGNS FOR DIGNITYDesigns for Dignity is a 501(c) nonprofit organization that transforms nonprofitenvironments through pro bono design services and in-kind donations – empowering lives through design. Celebrating its 20th year, the organization’s mission is to serve marginalized communities by harnessing the talents and resources of the design community at large, with the ultimate goal of providing spaces that inspire hope and dignity. By engaging the design community and all of its resources, Designs for Dignity has positively impacted hundreds of thousands of lives by transforming 250+ nonprofit spaces and leveraging $13 million in donated materials. <a href="http://www.designsfordignity.org/">www.designsfordignity.org</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Designs for Dignity Initiates Art for Dignity Campaign to Raise Money for Social Justice

CHICAGO – Threewalls, a Black-led non-profit organization providing support and visibility for ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American) contemporary visual artists in Chicago, today announced the 2020 recipients of the RaD Lab+Outside the Walls fellowship. Awarding grants of $32,000 for 8 total projects, nine fellows will imagine alternative ways towards racial equity through the lens of radical imagination and racial justice. Dedicated to ALAANA artists who are working at the intersection of art, community and justice and doing so to build a racially just society, the fellowship is generously supported by the Surdna Foundation, who awarded Threewalls $1.2 million in 2019 to expand the organization’s racial justice work.Program fellows will spend a year researching, developing and testing an idea that addresses a racial justice issue pertinent to their neighborhood community. 2020 Fellows Jenna Anast, Ireashia Bennett, Aquil Charlton, Safiya Eshe Gyasi &amp; Chineze Mogbo, Felicia Holman, Salvador Jimenez-Flores, Youree Kim and Chandra Christmas-Rouse will address a wide range of racial justice issues, including dismantling weaponized media, food apartheid, environmental and educational racism, segregation, ableism, abolition, decriminalization of mentally disabled People of Color and disinvestment from Black communities. Each project will engage community members based in Chicago neighborhoods, including Bronzeville, Bucktown, Little Village, North Kenwood, Pilsen, South Shore, Uptown and Washington Park. Project summaries and artist bios are available <a href="https://carolfox.box.com/s/kiunh3c0b566avkjqp3oj9ra0kgf3d3r">here</a>.“The artists and creatives we have awarded represent critical and imaginative thinking necessary to create a racially just Chicago, and by extension a racially just world,” said Threewalls Executive Director Jeffreen M. Hayes. “Our organization has radically reimagined what it means to truly support ALAANA artists, with funding going towards not just their projects but also their needs as individuals. Additionally, recognizing that many of our artists are part of communities in which the coronavirus has had a disproportionate impact, we increased the award amount to $32,000.”Fellows are offered technical and creative assistance throughout the program, including financial and digital coaching sessions, creative counseling and accessibility workshops. Threewalls serves as a thought partner and engages the fellows by offering curatorial and administrative support.“This year's RaD Lab+Outside the Walls fellows demonstrate the power of artists to challenge the status quo and reimagine a more just world in which everyone can thrive,” said Robert Smith III, program officer of the Surdna Foundation's Thriving Cultures program. “As communities across the nation work together to dismantle anti-black racism, we are proud to partner with Threewalls to support this powerful cohort of artists to work within their communities to use their collective experience, strategies, and creativity to realize a racially just Chicago.”The fellowship takes place sequentially over two years, with fellows developing their projects in RaD Lab during the first year and Outside the Walls in the second year. Once completed, fellows will receive an additional $32,000 and their research projects will be presented as installations and interventions in their neighborhood.&nbsp;“We deeply appreciated all who applied for this fellowship, reflecting the expansive and distinctly creative force of ALAANA communities in Chicago,” said Threewalls Director of Programs Barak adé Soleil. “The 2020 cohort affirms complexities of our culture that cannot go unnoticed; dynamic intersections of disability, queerness, Black feminism, migration and healing that shape how they will collectively reimagine - within and across this city’s neighborhoods - a more equitable future.”Fellows were selected through an open call process and reviewed by an external panel of individuals who are actively involved in artistic work, who identify as members of an ALAANA community and the majority of whom are Chicago-based. 2020 panelists were Addis Aliyu, Justin Cooper, Chandra Méndez-Ortiz and Nikki Patin.&nbsp;About the Surdna FoundationThe Surdna Foundation seeks to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States --communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures. Learn more at <a href="http://www.surdna.org/">www.surdna.org</a>.&nbsp;About ThreewallsThreewalls was founded in 2003 to provide support and visibility for the visual arts community in Chicago. In 2016, the organization was reimagined through the lens of blackness and is an evolving Black-led nonprofit organization, that unapologetically celebrates blackness, intersectionality, and exists through Black feminist practice. Threewalls fosters contemporary art practices that respond to lived experiences, encouraging connections beyond art. We center ALAANA (African, Latinx, Arab, Asian, and Native American) artists, creatives and collaborative projects, especially those which are best presented outside of traditional art spaces. Learn more at <a href="http://three-walls.org/">three-walls.org</a>.&nbsp;

Artists Will Receive $256,000 to Support Eight Year-Long Neighborhood-Based Projects in Chicago

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417774/kqgawlmuzm80qkfzu5h0.png"></figure>CGN Staff Via PR&nbsp;The International Museum of Surgical Science is one of 20 science centers and museums around the country selected to receive $5,000 in support of STEM engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic from the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) and made possible by the Voya Foundation.This flexible program is designed to support science and technology centers and museums to continue to serve their missions and community by developing, enhancing, or adapting programs or resources, helping maintain STEM learning as children, families, and educators adapt to a new normal. Twenty institutions were selected to receive funding, from among 96 science centers and museums that submitted applications.The International Museum of Surgical Science will use the award to develop a STEM-engagement program that includes downloadable education materials and do-at-home activities, designed for grades 6–8. The packet and associated activities explore core concepts on topics including pathology, patent medicines, cardiology, ophthalmology, anesthesia and medical imaging. Each activity highlights artifacts from the museum, including a photograph and inquiries for observation. The project extends the museum’s mission of enriching people’s lives by enhancing their appreciation and understanding of the history, development and advances in surgery and related subjects in health and medicine. These resources will be made available digitally, and for local families in need, the museum will provide kits of materials. The packet and resources will be available by the end of June on the Museum’s website at&nbsp;<a href="https://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1047035384&amp;msgid=2239760&amp;act=GR1O&amp;c=428141&amp;destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imss.org%2F&amp;cf=66669&amp;v=776a947d47d6b73f91637fa56a9daed4d65747cedb5fd07501f8109ca0ee74f7">http://www.imss.org</a>.“We are thankful for this opportunity to create new materials for our younger audience. Since being closed, we have been working on ways to further engage our community through online education. This STEM packet has been developed with our educators and interns to cater to a need in our community that will benefit those learning at home. These funds help our organization greatly during this uncertain time,” said Michelle Rinard, Operations Manager, International Museum of Surgical Science.“We know the important role the International Museum of Surgical Science’s STEM program play in our communities because of the success of Voya STEM Futures, one of our signature programs,” said Angela Harrell, SVP, Chief Diversity and Corporate Responsibility Officer and President, Voya Foundation. “We’re proud that our rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic can keep our children learning during this unprecedented time.”“We are thankful that Voya recognized a need for continued exploration and learning opportunities—even when science centers and museums are closed—and stepped forward to help them keep doing what they do best,” said Cristin Dorgelo, President and CEO of ASTC. “Community-based organizations like the International Museum of Surgical Science are well-positioned to help meet the need for increased understanding of—and engagement with—science and technology among all people, which is needed now more than ever.”Members of the public can further support the International Museum of Surgical Science’s STEM project by making a contribution at&nbsp;<a href="https://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1047035384&amp;msgid=2239760&amp;act=GR1O&amp;c=428141&amp;destination=https%3A%2F%2Fimss.org%2Fdonate%2F&amp;cf=66669&amp;v=627a36a7d28cabb64076d14aeb7e01920908c3337b3b05b196faa0a9c1a6ac95">https://imss.org/donate/</a>.&nbsp;About the International Museum of Surgical ScienceThe International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS), a division of the International College of Surgeons, maintains over 10,000 square feet of public galleries committed to the history of surgery, and an exquisite permanent collection of art and artifacts from the history of medicine. The museum supports its mission through medically themed exhibitions and programs, in addition to a strong contemporary art exhibition program. IMSS is housed in a historic landmark mansion located at 1524 North Lake Shore Drive, one-half block south of North Avenue, in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. IMSS is open to visitors Monday through Friday 9:30AM – 5:00PM and Saturday and Sunday 10:00AM – 5:00PM. For more information visit&nbsp;<a href="https://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1047035384&amp;msgid=2239760&amp;act=GR1O&amp;c=428141&amp;destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imss.org%2F&amp;cf=66669&amp;v=776a947d47d6b73f91637fa56a9daed4d65747cedb5fd07501f8109ca0ee74f7">www.imss.org</a>.&nbsp;About Voya FoundationVoya Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life in communities where Voya Financial operates and its employees and customers live. Voya Foundation provides grants and establishes signature partnerships in the areas of financial literacy and children’s education and fosters employee engagement to deepen our positive impact on the community. For more information, visit&nbsp;<a href="https://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1047035384&amp;msgid=2239760&amp;act=GR1O&amp;c=428141&amp;destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.voyafoundation.com%2F&amp;cf=66669&amp;v=cc46548bb0d8614fa7d760c4b18307f554a3988aee2f18017738e2cd3fbef3f5">http://www.VoyaFoundation.com</a>.About ASTCFounded in 1973, ASTC is a network of nearly 700 science and technology centers and museums, and allied organizations, engaging more than 110 million people annually across North America and in almost 50 countries. With its members and partners, ASTC works towards a vision of increased understanding of—and engagement with—science and technology among all people.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.astc.org/">www.astc.org</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

International Museum of Surgical Science Wins Highly Competitive Grant to Support STEM Engagement During COVID-19 Pandemic

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418782/jo2ppddshaxammr5qh3f.png"></figure>Via PRCHICAGO — The Richard H. Driehaus Museum today announced the four artists who will receive its 2020 A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellowship. Launched in 2019, the annual Fellowship provides four emerging Chicago-based ALAANA (African, Latino, Asian, Arab, and Native American) artists with an unrestricted stipend of $2,500. It also provides the artists with support from the Driehaus Museum’s professional networks to advance and promote their careers, plus access to the Museum’s resources and its home, the Nickerson Mansion. To help with the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis, the stipend this year will be given at the outset of the program, allowing the Fellows to immediately use the funds for anything from studio supplies to housing and other basic needs.The Fellowship is a six-month program which includes meetings with art professionals, career counseling sessions, public programming experiences, and exhibition opportunities, including a pop- up exhibition at EXPO Chicago in April 2021. Inspired in part by the Nickerson Family, who in the late 19th century often invited art students to sketch and study their collection, the Fellowship encourages artists to use the Museum and the mansion as a creative center for developing their work and careers.The 2020 A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellows are: Maryam Taghavi, Alexandria Eregbu, Devin T. Mays, and Unyimeabasi Udoh. Brief bios on each of the Fellows follow below.“We are committed to supporting our local artists and the creative community in Chicago,” said founder and president of the Board of Trustees, Richard H. Driehaus. “Our Fellows this year reflect the diversity of Chicago’s cultural scene and the variety of contemporary art being created in the city. We want the Driehaus Museum and its home, the Nickerson Mansion, to serve as an inspiration for Chicago’s creative energy.”This year’s four Fellows were selected by a committee comprised of Lisa Lee, Associate Professor of Public Culture and Museum Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago; artist Nick Cave; gallerist Monique Meloche; and Hendrik Folkerts, Dittmer Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. An open call application process invited artists to submit their portfolios and describe how their practice would develop through the Fellowship, how the Driehaus Museum’s space and history related to their work, and how they would contribute to their Fellowship cohort.“Following the success of last year’s program, I am thrilled to welcome the second cohort of A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellows to the Driehaus Museum,” said the A Tale of Today Curatorial Fellow, Kekeli Sumah, who also leads the Fellowship program. “As our world has transformed over the past few months, so too have the topics we will explore in the program, including resiliency, adaptability, and perseverance in the face of adversity. At times like these, strengthening one’s community is especially important, and I look forward to working with the Fellows to do just that.”This summer, the Driehaus Museum will also launch a virtual conversation series featuring the A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellows. The conversations will explore the Fellows’ current projects, practices, and techniques in light of the themes being explored in the A Tale of Today Fellowship.The A Tale of Today Emerging Artists Fellowship is made possible in part through a grant award from the Terra Foundation for American Art.&nbsp;About the 2020 A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellows:MARYAM TAGHAVIMaryam Taghavi is a Tehran-born Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist working in photography, installation, video, publication, drawing, and performance. She employs a post-studio, site-specific practice that weighs in on and intervenes in existing modes of production. Interested in the interchangeability between the observer and participant, Taghavi locates agency in the role of the language to mark the experience of displacement and expose complex layers of difference across social and cultural levels. Taghavi’s work has been exhibited at LAXART, the Queens Museum, and the Chicago Cultural Center, among others.ALEXANDRA EREGBUAlexandra Eregbu is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice draws from history, lived experiences, and her own imagination to deepen her connectivity to the natural world. Her work is driven by memories, whether lived or dreamt, and surrealist activity across the diaspora — spanning from West Africa and the Caribbean, to her native city in Chicago. Frequently working with natural dyes such as indigo, dried roots, and other plant-based pigments, Eregbu is also motivated by the stories of the material world and views her work as a quest to unlock the unifying mysteries that exist within them. Her work has been presented at Public Space One in Iowa City, the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, Casa Rosada in Salvador, Brazil, and the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans, among others.DEVIN T. MAYSDevin T. Mays’ practice is driven by an investigation of the so-called “in-between” space created by the social polarities of his understanding. He is interested in developing a visual language that defines and re-defines the “in-between” being. Through performances, spatial interventions, and installation work, Mays’ practice questions and complicates how we view our identities and understand ourselves subjectively. His work has been exhibited at the DePaul Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, as well as the Chicago Artists Coalition.UNYIMEABASI UDOHUnyimeabasi Udoh is an artist and graphic designer who seeks to make peace with the void. They are concerned with surface and absence, text as image, blackness as color and construct, and how systems of communication and knowledge—particularly the Western canons of art and literature, and the position of black people and African artifacts within them—are created and maintained. Udoh has exhibited work at the Chicago Artists Coalition, SITE Galleries in Chicago, and the Porto Design Biennale in Portugal.&nbsp;About A Tale of Today The A Tale of Today initiative launched in March 2019 with the opening of the Driehaus Museum’s inaugural contemporary art exhibition featuring the work of Yinka Shonibare CBE. Since then, A Tale of Today has expanded into the Fellowship program, which launched in June 2019, with an aim to engage Chicago-based emerging artists, promoting their careers and expanding their networks. The second class of Fellows coincides with the second A Tale of Today contemporary art exhibition, featuring site-specific work by the Chicago-based artists Mika Horibuchi and Nate Young. The initiative takes its name from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, the 1873 book by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that gave the era its name.&nbsp;About The Terra Foundation for American Art The Terra Foundation for American Art is dedicated to fostering exploration, understanding, and enjoyment of the visual arts of the United States for national and international audiences. Recognizing the importance of experiencing original works of art, the foundation provides opportunities for interaction and study, beginning with the presentation and growth of its own art collection in Chicago. To further cross-cultural dialogue on American art, the foundation supports and collaborates on innovative exhibitions, research, and educational programs. Implicit in such activities is the belief that art has the potential both to distinguish cultures and to unite them.&nbsp;About <a href="driehausmuseum.org">The Richard H. Driehaus Museum</a> The Richard H. Driehaus Museum explores the Gilded Age through the art, architecture, and design of the late 19th century to the present. Once known as Chicago’s “Marble Palace” and located just steps from the Magnificent Mile, the collection of period decorative arts is presented in an immersive experience within the mansion. Temporary exhibitions organized by the Driehaus Museum and its partners place the Gilded Age in context, as do vibrant educational and cultural programs designed to illuminate the history, culture, and urban fabric of Chicago.Richard H. Driehaus, the museum’s founder and namesake, is a Chicago businessman and preservationist with a long history of supporting the arts and culture.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

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