Wednesday April 11, 2012

Unofficial Publics: evolving definitions of identity and community engagement

7-9 PM

It’s commonly accepted that identity—both individual and collective—is constructed in relationship to the communities and spaces people operate within.The artists in this month’s SALON are working with real people in real space, building relationships, and engaging with the conditions in which people live their everyday lives. We’ll be discussing their process, the responsibility of representation, and how the relationships developed over their projects have transformed their own creative identities. 

threewalls hosts a variety of public programs aimed at engaging audiences in a conversations about the visual arts. The salon program is an open, topical conversation, where the public is invited to participate in a moderated conversation around current issues in contemporary art practice. SALONS invite a group of respondents to be on hand and part of the discussion, but everyone is welcome to come and be apart of the dialog. The SALON 2012 series Of Other Chicagos also highlights Propeller Fund awardees and other artists and creative thinkers who work in the public realm.

More information on the entire series here

Participants:

Todd Diederich (b.1982) is a photographer, mixed-media artist, and poet. He attended Columbia College Chicago from 2000-2003 and in 2003 won the Jack Jaffe Award for Documentary Photography. Feeling good, Diederich left Chicago for the South and embarked on a mission to become a photo anthropologist. His street level style captures the energy and vibrance of the people and neighborhoods of Chicago. Recently, a Propeller Fund grant has allowed Diederich to continue his adventures whether it be underground Ball Scenes, celebrations for hometown teams or local characters, Diederich's keen eye reveals the electric activity hidden in the city. Currently he shoots for Vice.

Andres L. Hernandez is an artist-designer-educator who works both independently and collaboratively to interpret, critique, and re-imagine the physical, social, and cultural environments we inhabit.  Since 1997, Andres has worked within a variety of institutions to develop and implement innovative, standards-based art and design curricula; train school teachers and youth program staff in arts-integrated curricula and project-based learning; assist with research, planning, installation, and educational activities for museum exhibitions; and organize collaborative, community-based art projects throughout the city of Chicago.

Samantha Hill is a transdisciplinary artist from Chicago, IL with an emphasis on archives, oral story collecting, social projects & art facilitations. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA from Moore College of Art & Design.  Hill works in a variety of media including installation, sculpture, performance and new media technologies.  Hill has received several honors including The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Trustee Merit Scholarship in Sculpture, Philadelphia Sculptors Award and International Sculpture Center Award in 2006 & 2008. Her work has been reviewed in TimeOut Chicago, AREA Chicago, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Hill is the creator of The Gift Project Chicago and was the 2011 Spring Artist-in-Residence at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago.

Son of Norwegian Lutheran missionaries and ministers going back 6 generations, John Preus (rhymes with choice) spent his early years on a seminary campus running barefoot under a cathedral of trees in Makumira, Tanzania, an experience which informs his spatial and mythic imagination.  His work as a builder, teacher and artist explores the complex ecology between humans and their things and environments.  He founded Dilettante Studios in 2010 which designs and builds cabinets and furniture, residential and commercial interior spaces, and does art fabrication, relying as much as possible on 2nd hand materials.  He also co-founded the art group Material Exchange and until 2010 collaborated with co-founder Sara Black. Preus has roughly 16 years of building and designing experience, beginning with a 2-year apprenticeship with award-winning hand-tool furniture-maker John Nesset, and stints in various cabinet shops and carpentry crews. He holds a BA from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, and an MFA from the University of Chicago. He studied in Montagnana, Italy with art gurus Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky, and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Exhibitions of his work include the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Portland Museum of Contemporary Craft, the Betty Rhymer Gallery, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Smart Museum of Art, and the Devos Museum of Art, Marquette, Michigan.  He lives with his family in West Rogers Park on the north side of Chicago and currently serves as the creative director of the Rebuild Foundation, and lead fabricator for the Chicago artist, Theaster Gates. 

Laura Shaeffer is an artist, mother, wife, and teacher, interested in relational aesthetics, community organisation, alternative education and the built environment. Founder of the Op Shop, a temporary nomadic cultural center in Hyde Park, Co-Founder of SHOP: Southside Hub of Production: a grass roots community arts and cultural center on the south side and co-director of Home Gallery, a series of experimental art exhibits in a domestic setting. In addition to serving as artistic director of SHoP and a member of the curatorial committee, Laura will work as the co-director of exhibitions and events for the HPK, the Community Museum at SHoP. Laura will also facilitate and teach workshops throughout the year with all ages.

Image: Todd Diederich