Thursday, December 14, 2006

Caren Yusem School of the Art Institute of Chicago



RESS RELEASE

Contact:
Caren Yusem School of the Art Institute of Chicago
312.629-6189cyusem@saic.eduprinter friendly version

NEGOTIATED LOCALITIESPresents Contemporary Views on Sustainability in ChicagoNEGOTIATED LOCALITIES ExhibitionSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago Betty Rymer GalleryNovember 17, 2006 – January 5, 2007NEGOTIATED LOCALITIES: Artists, Designers, and Citizens in a Green City(A Day of Related Interactive Events)Sunday, November 19, 2006The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Betty Rymer Gallery joins the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development to present Negotiated Localities, a provocative examination of the related concepts of sustainability and locality and their impact on contemporary artistic practices.

Co-curators and SAIC faculty Cindy Coleman and Claire Pentecost have assembled ecologically sensitive artists, designers and writers who propose unexpected approaches to putting the local and the sustainable into practice through specific works and ongoing projects.

Participating artists and artists' collectives include Collective Inferno (Irina Botea, Nikko Coleman, Odile Compagnon, Drea Howenstein, Michael Holmes, Angela Lo, Jayve Montgomery, Britney Rutherford), Earthscraper (Max Reinhardt and Simon Slater), Ellen Grimes, JAM, Adam Reid Janusz, Material Exchange (Sara Black, Charles McGhee Hassrick, and John Preus), Nance Klehm, Adelheid Mers, Jeroen Nelemans, Joy Olson, SIMPARCH, Bruce M. Tharp and Stephanie Munson Tharp, and Kyoung Ok Yu. NEGOTIATED LOCALITIES ExhibitionNovember 17, 2006 – January 5, 2007Opening Reception Friday, November 17, 2006Curators' talk at 6:30 p.m.Free admissionBetty Rymer Gallery280 S. Columbus Drive Chicago, IL 60603 312.443-3711

saic_brg@saic.eduwww.saic.edu/bettyrymerGallery hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., free admissionNEGOTIATED LOCALITIES: Artists, Designers, and Citizens in a Green City (A Day of Related Interactive Events)Sunday, November 19, 2006Tickets $25, $15 with student IDReservations call 312.443-3711; space is limitedThis day of interactive events takes a dive into the subject of how a city is best sustained. Workshops and installations by leading artists and thinkers will focus on Chicago as a site for sustainable urban practices.

The symposium also features refreshments from local green eateries, an expert-guided bus tour of sustainable initiatives in Chicago, and the chance for participants to have their voices heard through an Open Mic session. Chris LuebkemanGene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State Street10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Chris Luebkeman is leader of the Foresight and Innovation Initiative at Arup, the UK global design consultancy, and author of Drivers for Change (2006). Educated as a geologist, structural engineer, and architect, he works with some of the world's largest companies to develop scenarios for understanding the opportunities change is creating for them in the built environment. Luebkeman will conduct an interactive workshop to identify the leading drivers of change that will affect Chicago's future. Eames DemetriosGene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State Street10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Filmmaker, writer, photographer, and design consultant Eames Demetrios is the grandson of legendary designers Charles and Ray Eames and director of the Eames Office. He will bring his aesthetic and historical perspective to an interactive work session that takes a unique look at the interconnectivity of our city?its people, places, and their values?by exploring the issue of scale. Veronica Cordeiro's Roamless. A Nondetermined Composition. A Pilgrimmage to No Where.Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State Street, Lobby Cafe 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. London-based Brazilian artist and writer Veronica Cordeiro's projects combine performance, interactive installations, and urban actions that question the place of contemporary art within lived experience. Roamless . . ., shot in Chicago during a residency at SAIC in 2005, documents Cordeiro's performance-pilgrimage throughout the city and surrounding regions, clad in a garment constructed from recycled blankets to be distributed to the homeless. The 58-minute video will be screened continuously.

RIDER Project InstallationState Street near Gene Siskel Film Center 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. The RIDER Project is an artist-created, Brooklyn-based do-it-yourself mobile gallery located in the back of a fifteen-foot truck. Bringing contemporary work to diverse neighborhoods in New York City, the "art-on-wheels" project invites city residents to enter the truck, view the exhibited art, and interact with the artists. Founder and director Michele Gambetta will discuss the project's function as "social sculpture" that facilitates personal transformation and social change, and that works to encourage ecological sustainability in urban environments.

Chicago City TourBus departure and return at 164 N. State Street1–3 p.m.Russell L. Lewis, Executive Vice President and Chief Historian at the Chicago History Museum, will serve as guide on this tour to two hotly debated locations in the city: Northerly Island and the North Lawndale neighborhood. A box lunch will be provided to participants as they discuss how to make these locations truly sustainable. About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)A leader in educating artists and designers for nearly 140 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (www.saic.edu) offers undergraduate and graduate programs to nearly 2,800 students from around the world. In addition to the time-honored study of painting, sculpture, printmaking, and fashion design, SAIC embraces film and new media, electronic arts, designed objects and architecture, and visual and critical studies. Located in the heart of Chicago, SAIC hosts exhibitions, lectures, and other public programs through venues such as the Gene Siskel Film Center, Betty Rymer Gallery, Gallery 2, Video Data Bank and the Division of Continuing Studies; and in conjunction with the Poetry Center.

Chicago Art News / Releases:

For immediate release
Media Contact:Zak Boerger School of the Art Institute of Chicago312.629-6190zboerger@saic.edu

Kate Schaefer, 2006
December 1 – The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is pleased to announce that three SAIC alumni are recipients of 2006 US Student Fulbright Grants for foreign study and the furthering of their creative pursuits. An article in the October 20 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education listed SAIC as one of the “Top Producers of Fulbright Awards for U.S. Students.”

Maris Curran (MFA 2006), Kate Schaefer (BFA 2006), and James Sweetbaum (MFA 2006) were selected by the Fulbright Program to pursue international study that expands on the work each did while at SAIC. Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 273,000 participants worldwide with the opportunity to observe each others’ political, economic, and cultural institutions, exchange ideas, and embark on joint ventures of importance to the general welfare of the world.

Ms. Curran will use her fellowship to embark on a three-part project in Mexico: teaching workshops on experimental filmmaking in Mexico City; filming a narrative short with her colleagues in the Mexican filmmaking community; and curating a series of film screenings in conjunction with the workshops.

Traveling to Iceland, Ms. Schaefer will investigate the concept of “home” in one of the most remote and volcanic regions of the world, paying attention to the ways in which the uniqueness of the island’s culture and landscape relate to one another. “In Iceland, as it is everywhere, the concept of home is in flux. In Iceland however, the movement is more than the turmoil of people shifting—it is also a shifting of the land itself. The island is continually being formed from the ice inside, from the ocean around it, and from volcanoes bubbling deep beneath the surface… I want to know how feelings of home are made different by such a tumultuous landscape.”
Mr. Sweetbaum will use his award to begin work on a film examining masculinity in contemporary Moroccan society. Preparing for the project, Mr. Sweetbaum recently traveled to Morocco to conduct independent study; through discussions there, he says, “I began to understand that Moroccans have a different conception of identity and how male gender roles are formed and performed…possibly as a result of these differences, a very different kind of camaraderie exists among men from that which I have experienced in the United States.”
About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)A leader in educating artists and designers for 140 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (www.saic.edu) offers undergraduate and graduate programs to over 2,600 students from around the world. In addition to the time-honored study of painting, sculpture, printmaking, and fashion design, SAIC embraces film and new media, electronic arts, designed objects and architecture, and visual and critical studies. Located in the heart of Chicago, SAIC hosts exhibitions, lectures, and other public programs through venues such as the Gene Siskel Film Center, Betty Rymer Gallery, Gallery 2, Video Data Bank, and the Division of Continuing Studies; and in conjunction with the Poetry Center.

Chicago Art News


ILLINOIS ARTS COUNCIL ANNOUNCES FY06 ARTISTS FELLOWSHIP AWARD RECIPIENTS

Chicago ---The Illinois Arts Council (IAC) is pleased to announce the fiscal year 2006 Artists Fellowship Award recipients. Non-matching fellowships in fixed amounts of $7,000 are awarded to Illinois artists in recognition of their outstanding work and commitment within the arts. This year 53 Illinois artists (including two collaborations) will receive Fellowships totaling $357,000.
Finalist Awards of $700 were also awarded to 96 Illinois artists for a total of $20,300. The Finalist Award category recognizes and encourages additional applicants who demonstrate considerable talent.
The Artists Fellowship Program offers funding for 12 artistic disciplines on a two-year rotating cycle. This year's Fellowship and Finalist Award recipients were selected from 486 creative artists working in the disciplines of Choreography, Crafts, Ethnic and Folk Arts, Media Arts, New Performance Forms, Prose, and Scriptworks. In fiscal year 2007, awards will be offered in the five other disciplines of Interdisciplinary/Computer Art, Music Composition, Photography, Poetry, and Visual Arts.

The following jurors reviewed this year’s – 2006

CHOREOGRAPHY: Donna Faye Burchfield, Roanoke, VA; Chung-Fu Chang, Fort Collins, CO; Susan Hadley, Worthington, OH;

CRAFTS: Beth Ann Gerstein, Boston, MA; Bunny McBride, Iowa City, IA; Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, Cupertino, CA;

ETHNIC AND FOLK ARTS: Christina Barr, Elko, NV; Brent Björkman, Columbus, OH; Olivia Cadaval, Washington, DC; William Westerman, Ph.D., Chicago, IL (non-voting, in-state juror);

NEW PERFORMANCE FORMS: Octavio Campos, Miami Beach, FL; Shelley Hirsch, Brooklyn, NY; Michael Smith, Brooklyn, NY/Austin, TX;

MEDIA ARTS: Gretjen Clausing, Philadelphia, PA; Guillermo Galindo, Oakland, CA; Herb Smith, Whitesburg, KY;

PROSE: Diana Abu-Jaber, Miami, FL; Hilary Masters, Pittsburgh, PA; Brent Spencer, Denton, NE;

SCRIPTWORKS: Elizabeth Brown-Guillory, Houston, TX; Charles Deemer, Portland, OR; Dennis Safren, North Hollywood, CA.

Editors Note: These people will be looked at during internet searches for the year 2007.