November 2024 Newsletter
CSI Project Space and Gallery News
Existing is Political
Exhibition Dates: October 19 – November 22, 2024
Gallery Hours: Friday 2-6 pm, Saturday 12-8 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm
CSI Project Space at 1912 N. Damen in Chicago
“Existing is Political” explores the notion that simply "being" - existing in one’s body, culture, gender, or identity - carries political weight and significance. In an era marked by a two-party system with sharply defined platforms, this exhibition examines how the principles of "equality and justice for all" fit into contemporary society. By showcasing diverse voices and perspectives, it aims to inspire dialogue and foster a deeper understanding of existence as a political act in order to inspire action towards a genuinely inclusive society.
Exhibiting Artists:
John E. Bannon, Roland Biermann, Heather Brammeier, Jyl Bonaguro, Charlotte Briskin, Andrew Cantu, Musa Ghaznavi, Carol Hammerman, Hoda Hasanpour, Sarah Holden, Azadeh Hussaini, Michael Gallagher, Set Gozo, Catherine Jacobi, Karl Johnson, Kelly Lawler, Micki LeMieux, Jose Trejo Maya, Thomas Plum, Marci Rubin, Dominic Sansone, Dena Sadik Daman, Zelene Jiang Schlosberg, Samuel Schwindt, Cheuk Yan Cherry Tung, Nancy VanKanegan, Siwei Xu
The Curators of this show would like to begin by acknowledging that this gallery sits on the traditional unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other tribes, such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, and Sac and Fox, also called this area home.
In an election year marked by deep societal divides and contentious policies, "Existing is Political" takes on an urgent significance. As we witness ongoing genocides that continue to unfold with little intervention, this exhibition confronts the reality that existence itself can become a political act.
Through sculpture, painting, and mixed media, the artists in this exhibition explore how their identities, communities, and bodies are implicated in larger struggles for justice, visibility, and human dignity. Whether by resisting oppression, speaking out against erasure, or bearing witness to violence, their works make a powerful statement: in an era where not only rights are contested, but also who has them.
"Existing is Political" compels viewers to reckon with the consequences of silence, the weight of erasure, and the resilience of those who refuse to disappear. In a time when the stakes of existence feel especially precarious, this exhibition is a reminder that to live, to be seen, and to take up space is a profound and radical act of resistance.
– Musa Ghaznavi and Micki LeMieux, exhibition curators
Little, but BOLD!
CSI Member Benefit Art Auction
Opening Night Live & Silent Auction: Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 from 5-8pm
CSI Project Space announces the Little, but BOLD! CSI Member Benefit Art Auction of small works at our member gallery space in Bucktown. On opening night, we will offer food, fun and fabulous art. There will be a live auction of 5 sculptures and a silent auction of over 30 sculptures. Buyers get to take art home that night!
Little, but BOLD! is in celebration of all things un-monumental. Often flying under the radar, small things have the special ability to bridge private and public spaces. Within the sculpture field, there has been a projected narrative that bigger is better. We are here to assert that small things can hold the same importance as the largest monument.
All proceeds will support the CSI exhibition and outreach programs and CSI members. So please bid early, bid often and of course, bid high! The event is free but RSVP’s are required!
Grant Awards for CSI
Chicago Sculpture International is proud to announce that it has been awarded another cycle of grants by both DCASE CityArts and IAC General Operating Support! Securing these grants allow CSI to continue shaping engagement with Chicago communities and neighborhoods (and beyond) with public art, exhibits at CSI Project Space gallery, and free education workshops at Lathrop homes Boys and Girls Club; to push accessibility of art while spreading its importance throughout the far reaches of CSI’s expanding platform. Thank you to CSI members and leadership for their continuing efforts to share vision and expression in exploration of creativity as a centerpiece for reconnecting communities and people through art!
IAC Creative Accelerator Fund Grant (for Individual Artists)
Deadline: November 20,2024
https://arts.illinois.gov/granting-opportunities/grants-programs/creative-accelerator-fund.html
More IAC Opportunities for Individual Artists
https://arts.illinois.gov/about-iac.html
Interested in learning more about writing grants for Chicago Sculpture International, or getting involved in CSI leadership? Reach out to Anthony at anthonyheinzmay@chicagosculpture.org
Left: The Struggle Against Death by Ron Gard; Right: Ron Gard, circa 2014 with his sculpture Dying to Survive located at 2045 N. Lincoln Park West.
In Memory of Ron Gard
Ron Gard was an amazing designer, sculptor and person.
Ron owned and operated a prominent set building company in Chicago and returned to his first love of sculpture when he retired from the film and advertising industry. He was quickly recruited onto the Board of CSI, where he served as Treasurer for several years. Ron was an exquisite and exacting craftsman with a vast knowledge of materials and methods. His circle of peers was numerous and he was always ready to pitch in and help.
In 2020, Ivy Gard graciously donated the CSI Project Space Gallery to the members of CSI in memoriam of Ron's commitment to the organization.
Thank you Ron and Ivy, we love you.
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
Member News
Scott Mossman: Pictures & Forms
November 8, 2024 to January 3, 2025
Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago IL
An active painter and sculptor since the early ‘80s, Mossman’s work has always involved the relationships inherent in elements and objects within a given space. Through his sculpture, Mossman’s geometric forms interact with architectural elements within a space and comment on the viewer’s relationship with the work, and existing elements such as soffits, baseboards, ceiling height, windows, and doors, among other features within a space. For this reason, the viewer never finds his sculpture placed at eye-level, where one would find a painting, and subsequently, ignores the rest of the room. Mossman’s paintings also pose this challenge, as elements within the work, such as color, perspective, and composition, work together to push the limits of a flat canvas. Painted tableaus derived from postcard images are paired with illusionistic space to create windows within the canvas. In Mossman’s PICTURES& FORMS exhibit, he has chosen a handful of two- and three-dimensional works that are perhaps his largest and most complex ever.
Diane Ponder in Venice Biennale
Energy Center in Korea and SoNo Gallery
November 8 - January 11, 2025
SoNo Gallery 1527 N. Ashland Ave.60622
Diane Ponder is exhibiting in the Climate Change group show at the Energy Center of Ulsan, Korea, part of the ECU in Palazzo Bembo in Venice Biennale and Gabriel Fine Arts of London.
Group show “Lightness and Being”at SoNo Gallery, 1527 N. Ashland, Chicago is open till January 11, 2025.
Image Credit: by Maia Peters
“Besides the Heaps” by Ei Cullina
Sculpture show on display featuring the work of Ei Cullina at Gallery 1619.
On display until November 15
Gallery 1619
1619 W. Summerdale
Chicago, IL
Gallery 1619 looks like another neighborhood “little free library” but a second glance reveals a high-art showroom featuring a rotating collection of pint-sized paintings, drawings and sculptures. Local artist John Airo hosts Gallery 1619 — a miniature art gallery — at 1619 W. Summerdale Ave. in Andersonville. The gallery has since secured work by artists from across Chicago and as far away as France and the Netherlands, and it is already booked until next July.
Nicole Beck to install Fiat Lux in Davis, CA
In November, Nicole Beck will be traveling to Davis, CA to install and unveil Fiat Lux, a site specific sculpture for Sycamore Park. The stainless steel, custom-laminated dichroic and prismatic glass commissioned work is a commemorative sculpture specifically designed to embody the life& spirit of Karim Abou Najm. Nicole was commissioned by a joint committee of Karim's parents, the Davis Phoenix Coalition and the City of Davis following Karim's tragic death by a mentally ill youth who went on a stabbing rampage in the city last year. The sculpture is intended to promote healing and well-being within the community. CSI member Vector Custom Fabricating collaborated with Nicole in fabricating the steel work.
Unveiling: Friday, November 22, 2024 at 4pm
Looking Exhibition at Trout Museum of Art
September 20, 2024 – January 12, 2025
Free & Open to the Public Exhibit Admission: $10
Participating Artists: Rubén Aguirre | Chicago, IL Seth Clark | Pittsburgh, PA Margie Criner | Chicago, IL Morgan Echols | Huntsville, AL James Fowler | Toronto, Canada Emma Daisy Gertel | Milwaukee, WI Egypt Hagan | Tempe, AZ Leif Larson | Oshkosh, WI Brendan MacAllister | Boston, MA James Rees | Spanish Fork, UT Trina May Smith | Oshkosh, WI Denise Stewart-Sanabria | Knoxville, TN
Above (left to right) All is Not Lost, Swim, and While I Sleep by Margie Criner
Weisses Gold
Work by Roland Biermann
September 8 - November 24, 2024
Weisses Gold is the title of Roland's current solo exhibition at Parsonage Gallery, Maine. At the centre of the show is a new Rheingold installation, consisting of hundreds of plastic bottles and containers in trash bags, car tires, oil barrels and other materials, all sourced locally in midcoast Maine. On the walls in the background are two large screen prints on tinplate panels, showing a plastic bag floating in used engine oil. The work explores the relationship between human greed, plastic and the environment and especially, our continued dependency on plastics and other oil derivatives, polluting oceans, atmosphere and soil.
www.parsonagegallery.org
69 for 69 A Magnetic Fields Art Show
Curated by Janelle O'Malley
Show running to November 30
Side street studio arts 15 Ziegler Ct, Elgin, IL 60120
69 for 69 is a nostalgic filled ode to Magnetic Fields album, 69 Love Songs. A love song, the most common and often banal tune on the radio. So pervasive the idea in music that how could anyone possibly make a love song that stands out. Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs bible thick collection uses every conceivable genre to explore the depths of the love song. Stephin Merritts’ lyrics take you through the stages of love spanning from lust, terror, excitement, denial, torment, passion, to tenderness. The most personal emotion is expressed in each song like a small epiphany about lusty human connection. The albums duality of absurdity and sincerity create a space for contemplation. As an homage to the album's 25th year in existence, each artist created a piece decoding a selected song of their choice. Each piece echoes 69 Love songs' sentimental goopiness and cynicism. The exhibition serves as a collective look into our perception of relationships and all the taboos that follow.
Leather and Fur: Uncommitted Crimes
by CSI Members Catie Burrill and Samuel Schwindt
November 8 - December 11, 2024
Parlour and Ramp in November presents "Leather and Fur: Uncommitted Crimes," a duo show of CSI members Catie Burrill and Samuel Schwindt. In an epoch riddled with mixed signals of luxury and economic subterfuge, Fur-dom Catie Burrill and Leather-dom Samuel Schwindt provoke seductive aesthetics to skewer cultural normativity. The exhibition delves into the intricate relationship between materiality and message, and the artists utilize charged materials to remix stereotypical stories. Potential energy permeates the work in a state of “uncommitted crimes” as Theodore Adorno wrote in a rallying cry to artists who work against the status quo and celebrate the counter-cultural.
https://parlourandramp.com
The following are not CSI sponsored projects
But may be of interest to our members
Northeastern Illinois University Spring 2025 Semester
Art + Design Visiting Artist Program
KEY DATES:
November 1 - 30: Open Call
Mid-December: Emailed Acceptances
January 3: Public Announcement of Spring Semester's Visiting Artists
January 13 - March 14: Visiting Artist Program Session 1
March 17 - May 16: Visiting Artist Program Session 2
Each semester, the NEIU Art +Design Visiting Artist Program offers two residency opportunities for emerging to mid-career Chicago-based artists:
The Visiting Artist Program strives to create visible connections between our diverse population of art and design students with working artists who embody these identities. This interaction provides invaluable insights and inspiration to our students, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas and techniques. Visiting Artists should demonstrate a commitment to their artistic practice and an interest in engaging with NEIU’s students and creative community.
Each Visiting Artist is awarded an honorarium and has 2-months full access to NEIU Art + Design Facilities specific to their project. Over the course of their residency, the Visiting Artist showcases their work in a public academic forum, leads a hands-on workshop and participates in a Portfolio Review Day for NEIU’s Art + Design students.
For more information, details, and benefit about NEIU's Visiting Artist Program and past residents, visit the website HERE.
Krasl Art Center – ART & ABILITY OUTDOORS
Project Budget: $10,000 all inclusive
Entries must be submitted no later than November 15, 2024
Important Dates:
Letters of Interest due November 15, 2024
Artist Selected December 20, 2024
Project Install May 12 - 23, 2025
Krasl Art Center (KAC) seeks artist proposals for an interactive, accessible, and multi-year outdoor installation in the East Garden of the museum’s campus to be installed May 2025. The selected artist will conceptualize, design, and fabricate a site-specific installation that must be structurally sound and creatively interactive with a specific lens of accessible, universally designed art that engages all ages and abilities. The artwork will be accessed by the general public at all times of day.
This project is open to artists and designers regardless of whether they have achieved a project of this scope previously. Creativity, vision, competence and drive are key characteristics required for its fulfillment. The goal is to have an artist-envisioned, visually unique and engaging artwork. There is not a mandated theme or use of materials.
Above: Liberte by Chris Wubbena
2025 Perryville Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit Call for Artists
Deadline for submission is December 6, 2024, by 5pm
Exhibition Dates: April 25, 2025, to April 24, 2026.
All entrants will receive email notification of results by December 20, 2024.
The City of Perryville is excited to announce its annual sculpture exhibition beginning in the spring of 2025. As artists, you are invited to submit sculptures in consideration for Perryville’s Sculpture Trail located at Miget Park and historic downtown Perryville. The juror for this year’s selection of artwork is Jessica Lambert. This year, the juror will be choosing five sculptures from those entries submitted.
All work entered must be durable and freestanding. Each sculpture or sculpture proposal must be safe for the general public and be suitable and maintenance-free for this one-year outdoor exhibition. Each sculpture will be bolted to a concrete pad using Tapcon anchor bolts supplied by the artist.
Each artist selected for the exhibition will receive a $1,500 honorarium to cover transportation, installation and de-installation of the sculpture, and all other expenses involved. Any costs over $1,500 are entirely the responsibility of the artist.
For more details and application, download the full RFQ here.
Call for Artist Exhibits at Harold Washington Library Center
Deadline for submission is 5pm, December 15, 2024
Decisions will be announced by January 15, 2025.
Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St., Chicago, IL
The Music, Arts, Social Science and History Department, located in the Harold Washington Library Center is looking to schedule exhibits on the 8th floor beginning April 2025 through March 2026. Artists working in any visual media are encouraged to apply.
Selected artists will have an eleven-week exhibition in the 8th floor exhibit cases.
As part of each exhibit, were quest artists be willing to teach at least one tactile art or craft class to adult library patrons. Previous workshops have included drawing, printmaking, watercolor, illustration, book making, collage and knitting, among other topics. Workshops generally run 90-120 minutes with up to 15 adults. A small honorarium will be offered plus the cost of materials covered.
For submission requirements and to apply, please visit this link.
Eligibility: Visual artists who live in Chicagoland (city and suburbs).
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.
Chicago Sculpture International acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency for CSI programming including exhibitions and funding for Project Space Gallery.
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
Cover image: View of mini exhibit at 619 Gallery by Ei Cullina
CSI projects are partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.
Chicago Sculpture International acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency for CSI programming including exhibitions and funding for Project Space Gallery.
