June 2024 Newsletter
CSI Outdoor Committee News
Photo credit: Laurie Irwin
Ragdale Tree Project
The CSI team at Ragdale are having an awesome time! Ragdale Foundation is collaborating with Chicago Sculpture International for “The Diversity of Birds” tree project by creating a public art sculpture out of a 20-foot-tall elm tree that passed away from Dutch Elm disease. It's now getting a second life as a sculpture. CSI Sculpting Team: Julia Sulmasy, Margot McMahon, Anthony Heinz May, Fredy Hauman Mallqui, Mia Capodilupo, Jyl Bonaguro, and Nicole Beck. Photography by Laurie Irwin
Public Opening: Thursday, June 6, 2024 4-6pm
Location:
Ragdale Foundation
1260 N Green Bay Road
Lake Forest, IL 60045
Photo caption: Bruce Niemi with his sculpture Tall Ships II at Marquette Park. Photo courtesy of Akilia McCain.
Marquette Park Purchases Bruce Niemi Sculpture
Friends of Marquette Park of the Legacy Foundation and Miller Garden Club recently purchased CSI member Bruce Niemi’s Tall Ship II as a permanent sculpture for Marquette Park, Indiana, and the City of Gary, Indiana. The sculpture was first installed in the park in May 2022 as a result of a call put out by Chicago Sculpture International. Another sculpture selected through that call, Here, by CSI member Ruth Aizuss Migdal, will remain on display in the park for the upcoming exhibition season. The display of both sculptures and subsequent purchase of Tall Ships II are part of the two organizations' collaboration with CSI and its initiative to bring public art to the City of Gary, Indiana. The organizations hope to have another sculpture by a CSI member selected by this fall for installation.
CSI would like to thank Miller Garden Club president, Karin Crane, and Friends of Marquette Park chairperson, Carol Smith, for championing sculptures by CSI members and coordinating the purchase.
Learn more and visit Marquette Park, Indiana.
Learn more about Miller Garden Club.
CSI Indoor Committee News
CSI x ALMA Group Exhibit
Exhibit runs through September 1, 2024
About CSI x ALMA: Both Indoor and Outdoor Sculptors were invited to enter up to three works for the Annual Spring Exhibition at ALMA Art and Interiors in Chicago, IL. Alma Art and Interiors, established 2021, is a contemporary fine art gallery in the historic Bridgeport Arts Corridor featuring over 80 artists in 10,000 sq. ft.
Exhibiting artists: Nikki Rene Anderson | Nicole Beck | Hilda deBruyne | Donna Castellanos | Michelle Corazzo | Ei Cullina | Brian Divis | Victoria Fuller | Musa Ghaznavi | Shelley Gilchrist | Karen Gubitz | Donna Hapac | Indira Freitas Johnson | Fred Klingelhofer | Yvette Kaiser Smith | Seoyoung Lee | Michael Litewski | Luba Mendelevich | Ruth Aizuss Migdal | Bill Mitchell | Chris Newman | Connie Noyes | Kaia Olsen | Louise Pappageorge | Chris Perri | Nancy Lu Rosenheim | Olya Salimova | Dominic Sansone | James Stafford | Roberta Ulrich-de Oliveira | Nancy VanKanegan | Bruce Webber | Jamie Weinfurter | Chris Wubbena | Toby Zallman
ALMA Art and Interiors
3636 S. Iron Street
Chicago, Illinois 60609
(847) 922-5736 or (224) 522-4525
Gallery hours: Open Sundays 12 to 5pm
Contact the gallery at: hello@almaartandinteriors.com
For general information about the exhibit: info@chicagosculpture.org
CSI Project Space News
Midsummer Dreams
Exhibiting Artists: Micki LeMieux, Maeve McGale, and Jeremy P Wong
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 20, from 6-9 pm.
Exhibition Dates: July 20 – August 11, 2024
Gallery Hours: Friday 2-6 pm, Saturday 12-8 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm
CSI Project Space is located at 1912 N Damen Ave.
Midsummer is for dreaming. It’s a time for celebration, romance, and new possibilities. This time has served historically as inspiration for European conceptions of fantasy, epitomized through the Scandinavian festival of Midsummer and the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In both examples, the forest sets a stage for magic and mischief.
Our tale takes a distinct Americana approach. Midsummer Dreams brings together three Chicago artists working in the Midwestern Surreal- a discourse that refers to integrating belief-oriented meaning mechanisms into secular systems. This is displayed through a midwestern sensibility, grounding whimsical imagery in familiar landscapes, rituals, and materials. In a forest of our own making, themes of bounty, desire, shelter, body, and landscape are explored and challenged in sculptural form. Fantasy becomes a powerful tool to reimagine and reflect our reality.
Visit www.chicagosculpture.org for more information.
CSI Grants Committee News
Grants for Arts Projects (GAP)
Deadlines for FY25
GAP 2: July 11, 2024 for project start date of June 1, 2025
Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) provides funding to strengthen US arts/culture ecosystem
NEA is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and mutual respect for diverse beliefs and values of all individuals and groups. Please see link for possible funding eligibility:
www.arts.gov/grants/grants-for-arts-projects/artistic-disciplines
CSI, as an arts organization can help support application processes for CSI members. If any member of CSI is interested to apply for any of of these grants please email: Anthony May - Grants Chair - anthonyheinzmay@chicagosculpture.org
Land Acknowledgement
The City of Chicago, and its surrounding areas, have always been and always will be, home to numerous Native American communities. As a team dedicated to the uplifting of Indigenous People's sovereignty everywhere, we recognize that each program and exhibition associated with this project is taking place on the traditional homelands of the Council of Three Fires - the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa - as well as the Menominee, Miami, and Ho-Chunk Nations. Further, we acknowledge that Chicago is home to one of the largest urban Native American communities in the US. We therefore invite each of our non-Indigenous colleagues to learn more about the forced removal of many of the communities listed above from the state of Illinois and to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into their line of work. To provide immediate assistance to Native American Communities in Chicago, you can send donations to the city's American Indian Center here
Current CSI Exhibitions
Opening: Saturday, June 8, from 6-9 pm
Artists periodically ask themselves, "How am I doing?" A closer look often inspires auto-biographical work. Objects are born of thoughts and feelings, then made from an examined life. Self / Portraits invites sculptors to check-in on their condition.
Exhibiting Artists: John E. Bannon, Ted Sitting Crow Garner, Amanda Gentry, Set Gozo, Peter Gray, Philipp Groth, Carol Hammerman, Lillian Heredia, Catherine Jacobi, Stacee Kalmanovsky, Kasia Kay, Micki LeMieux, Bill Mitchell, Scott Mossman, Greta Olson, Dominic Sansone, Mary K. Seyfarth, Rachel Stork, Lisa Walcott, Nathan Ward, Bruce Webber, Yimei (Emair) Zhu.
Curated by Thomas Plum
CSI Project Space
1912 N. Damen Avenue
Chicago, Il, 60647
Image credit: Amanda Genry, Brother John, Myself
CSI Members - Teachers Needed for Workshops
The educational art workshop program wants to build a stronger presence in the community for CSI that promotes marginalized communities to use art as a way for people to connect with each other.
Presently, we are looking for artist members with creative projects to be completed in roughly 60 minutes for the boys and girls club at the Lathrop Homes, located at Damen and Diversey in Chicago.
Artists receive a stipend and materials budget. Any interested members with ideas for a kid’s art workshop activity that is roughly 60 minutes please reach out and email or call Set Gozo at setgozo84@gmail.com or (773) 372-5508.
Land Acknowledgement
The City of Chicago, and its surrounding areas, have always been and always will be, home to numerous Native American communities. As a team dedicated to the uplifting of Indigenous People's sovereignty everywhere, we recognize that each program and exhibition associated with this project is taking place on the traditional homelands of the Council of Three Fires - the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa - as well as the Menominee, Miami, and Ho-Chunk Nations. Further, we acknowledge that Chicago is home to one of the largest urban Native American communities in the US. We therefore invite each of our non-Indigenous colleagues to learn more about the forced removal of many of the communities listed above from the state of Illinois and to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into their line of work. To provide immediate assistance to Native American Communities in Chicago, you can send donations to the city's American Indian Center here.
Current CSI Exhibitions
Image credit: (left) Bruce Webber, Targets (right) Bill Mitchell, Amalgam
CSI x ALMA Group Exhibit
2024 Chicago Sculpture International Juried Exhibition at ALMA Art and Interiors
Exhibition runs through September 1, 2024
Art After Hours on Friday evening of EXPO ART WEEK, and features extended hours at over 45 galleries and creative spaces throughout the city of Chicago. With a myriad of exciting events unfolding throughout the evening, be sure to plan your night accordingly using the Gertie programming schedule and map. No matter your background—whether you’re an art aficionado or a newly minted collector—Art After Hours is a great place to forge relationships with new galleries, artists and other collectors!
About CSI x ALMA: Both Indoor and Outdoor Sculptors were invited to enter up to three works for the Annual Spring Exhibition at ALMA Art and Interiors in Chicago, IL. The exhibition will coincide with Expo Chicago, International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art, April 11- 24, 2024 Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois. Alma Art and Interiors, established 2021, is a contemporary fine art gallery in the historic Bridgeport Arts Corridor featuring over 80 artists in 10,000 sq. ft.
Exhibiting artists: Nikki Rene Anderson | Nicole Beck | Hilda deBruyne | Donna Castellanos | Michelle Corazzo | Ei Cullina | Brian Divis | Victoria Fuller | Musa Ghaznavi | Shelley Gilchrist | Karen Gubitz | Donna Hapac | Indira Freitas Johnson | Fred Klingelhofer | Yvette Kaiser Smith | Seoyoung Lee | Micheal Litewski | Luba Mendelevich | Ruth Aizuss Migdal | Bill Mitchell | Chris Newman | Connie Noyes | Kaia Olsen | Louise Pappageorge | Chris Perri | Nancy Lu Rosenheim | Olya Salimova | Dominic Sansone | James Stafford | Roberta Ulrich-de Oliveira | Nancy VanKanegan | Bruce Webber | Jamie Weinfurter | Chris Wubbena | Toby Zallman
ALMA Art and Interiors
3636 S. Iron Street
Chicago, Illinois 60609
(847) 922-5736 or (224) 522-4525
Gallery hours: Open Sundays 12 to 5pm
Contact the gallery at: hello@almaartandinteriors.com
For general information about the exhibit: info@chicagosculpture.org
CSI Call for Entries
By Degrees III (2024): Call for Submissions
Entry Deadline: Sunday, July 28, 2024, midnight central standard time
Notification by: Sunday, August 18, 2024
Artwork Drop-Off Date: Sunday, September 8, 1-5pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 14, 6-9pm
Pick-Up/Deinstall Artwork: Sat/Sun, October 5-6, 1-5pm
Exhibition Dates: Saturday, September 14 - Friday, October 4, 2024
Often an artist’s most groundbreaking work comes from being immersed in a culture of study and intellectual pursuit. Chicago, home to some of the most globally revered academic arts institutions, could be considered a sort of proving ground for tomorrow’s most promising contemporary emerging artists. Chicago Sculpture International (CSI) is calling for artists who are enrolled in, or recently (2023 or later) graduated from a degree-seeking program to submit works of sculpture, installation, and media work to be featured in the third annual juried group exhibition By Degrees, scheduled for September 14 - October 4, 2024, at CSI Project Space in Chicago.
Artists will be able to submit up to 3 works for consideration. There is no fee for entry. Accepted artists will be granted a one-year non-transferrable student membership to CSI. This call is not limited to students and graduates of Chicago-area institutions, but accepted artists will be required to gallery sit for at least one 4-hour shift during the exhibition run.
Please complete the application form HERE.
Look HERE for submission information.
For any questions contactprojectspace@chicagosculpture.org
Caption for photo: Above (left to right): Fairy Ring by Greta Olson, Soil Samples by Kristina Rogers, Two-Headed Fawn by Ariana Hocking, and Rest Area by Stella Moon
Members News
Olya Salimova's sculpture for Flight Of Butterflies project
The sculpture is presently installed on campus of the Nature Museum but will be relocated to Chicago park land on July 15th where it'll spend a year.
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences (Nature Museum) at 2430 N. Cannon Dr. Chicago, IL 60614
The Nature Museum introduces the Flight of Butterflies! This city-wide exhibit merges nature, art, and story telling, creating a memorable experience for all in Chicago. Olya Salimova, among other local artists, was invited to adorn butterfly sculptures with original designs, expressing her unique connection to nature.
Each of the exhibited butterfly is a testament to the artist, their journey, and their connection to nature, and this project uniquely intertwines artistic expression with a call to action for wildlife conservation. The Nature Museum creates a platform to inspire, support, and amplify nature champions across Chicago, and it all begins with the Flight of Butterflies. Be sure to stop by the Nature Museum to be inspired by these incredible pieces.
Olya Salimova's statement on her sculpture: The way we treat humans is the way we treat nature. The reverse is equally true. If we want to save our home Earth we have to care and guard freedoms of all her citizens – human and non-human. There is no separation between the two. Today, every being on Earth faces a time of incredible transformation within continual cycles of political, social and environmental changes. Let this Wisdomkeeper guide you to the change.
Jyl Bonaguro featured in Chicago Fra Noi
Jyl Bonaguro was featured in the Italian American magazine of Chicago Fra Noi. Bonaguro tells Fra Noi about her passion for art, how she found her way to sculpting, and her determination to see Modern Athena become reality.
https://franoi.com/profiles/modern-michelangelo-jyl-bonaguro
Memorial Sculpture by Nicole Beck
On May 24 at 12:15 there will be a dedication ceremony for the memorial sculpture created by Nicole Beck for Copeland Manor Grade School in Nicole’s hometown, Libertyville, IL. All are welcome.
The initial contact for the sculpture’s design was facilitated through a CSI contact to create a customized work to celebrate the life of a beloved 10-yr old student, Charlotte Frank who lost her life tragically to an aggressive cancer. Nicole worked with the school’s principal, art teacher, family members, school community and grounds keeper to create a work appropriate to the site, her family history and limited budget. Specifically, they wanted a figurative component that resembled Charlotte who loved the color purple/lilac, often sported Chuck Taylor high tops and displayed the deaf friendship sign (because her younger brother was deaf.) The school is collaborating by their students creating cement mosaic stepping stones around the site.
Liminal Space
The art of Bethany Cordero & Deborah Newmark
Opening: Friday, May 10, 2024 5-9pm
Show runs through June 8, 2024
Workshop: May 18, 1-4pm
Olivia Gallery, 3816 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL
www.olivagallery.com
Cordero explores issues of identity, memory, and the impermanence of self. As we are left with vestiges of thoughts-memories of a life that no longer exists. We are in a perpetual state of transition from one state of consciousness to the next. By grafting, binding, and welding these materials together, she uses the remnants to create sculptural assemblages that serve as a symbolic bridge between her selfhood of today into the liminal space of tomorrow. Each iteration is equally referential and abstract, and serve as containers for space, composition and the inherent congruency and contradictions between her past and the present.
Newmark is curious about where things touch, where one thought ends and another begins, what is left unsaid. She acknowledges that singular moment in time, one that will never exist again. Using a mix of media, a layering of materials and gesture, she finds beauty in surprising relationships, often improvised or accidental.
Kara Cobb Johnson in System and Dialectics of Art
Member Kara Cobb Johnson will be in the spring group show, "System and Dialectics of Art" at Madron Gallery
The exhibit runs through June 14th
Exhibiting Artists: Andrew Arkell, Zach Balousek, Michael Banning, Shel Howard Beugen, Jess Beyler, Margie Criner, Matthew Cortez, Kara Cobb Johnson, Matt Kuhlman, Ruben Lima, MISU, Alison Mosher, Kristen Phipps, Joseph Royer, and Bruce Thorn
Featuring live music with the Steve Knight Trio, cocktails, and passed d'oeuvres.
Free parking available at Madron.
Madron Gallery
1000 W North Ave
Third Floor, Chicago, IL 60642, USA
Image: Artwork by Kara Cobb Johnson
The following are not CSI-sponsored calls
but may be of interest to our members
Art-In-Architecture RFQ for Purchase of Artworks
The Art-in-Architecture Program of the Capital Development Board is pleased to announce a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to Illinois professional artists for the purchase of permanent original art for the College of Lake County (CLC), Lakeshore Campus in Waukegan, Illinois.
Type of media for this project is open and includes two-dimensional media such as painting, drawing, photography, textiles, collage, mixed-media, and small-scale three-dimensional pieces suitable for hanging.
The submission instructions for this RFQ are for purchase and not commission. Artists from the Waukegan area are especially encouraged to apply. Final Deadline: Wednesday, May 22, 2024 at 4:30PM. Applying before deadline is encouraged.
Submit Your News
Have any news to share?
Shows, awards, residencies etc? Submit here and we'll include them in an upcoming newsletter.
While you're at it, your profile and images on CSI’s website are important. When CSI applies for grants and upcoming shows, images are solely chosen from those you have uploaded to our website. Please take a minute to look over what you have posted and make sure you are presenting the best work. Member Shelley Gilchrist sgilchristart@gmail.com has volunteered to help you if you need it, so feel free to contact her.
CSI projects are partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.
