ML - Michigan Avenue

2015 - Issue 4 - Summer - Art of the City - Hebru Brantley

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exhibition at the well-respected Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York. In preparation, gallery represen- tatives came to Chicago, making the art center their first stop. He participated in the recent third edition of "Ground Floor," a biennial exhibition that highlights work by some of the most promising graduates of the area's five MFA programs. The show, conceived by noted photographer Dawoud Bey, chair of Hyde Park's exhibition committee, has become an important vehicle for bringing these top young artists to the attention of gallerists, critics, and curators who make a point of attending. The art center, which marked its 75th anniversary last year, began work this spring on what it is calling the Guida Family Creative Wing, on the second f loor of its building. Architect Grant Gibson of Camesgibson Inc. oversaw the reconfiguration of 5,000 square feet of space, which will add seven private and shared artist studios as well as such amenities as a digital lab and a teen learning center. Formed in 2003 in the wake of the closing of two earlier organizations, Threewalls (119 N. Peoria St., 2C, 312-432-3972; three-walls.org) set for itself the primary mission of providing exhibition opportunities to artists who are not widely shown in the city or beyond. Each year, it presents solo exhibitions and many other kinds of offerings in its 3,400 -square-foot West Loop space. "We're quite old-fashioned in the sense that this is about the presentation of work. It's very much about respect for artists and the work they do," says Shannon Stratton, who stepped down in April as Threewalls' executive and creative director to become chief curator of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. Threewalls' other activities include the Propeller Fund, in which it distributes $50,000 annually to artist-run platforms across the Chicago area, and Phonebook, a directory of independent art spaces across the country. The online Chicago Artists Resource, which includes everything from cultural job openings to how-to videos, is the most prominent offering of the Chicago Artists Coalition (217 N. Carpenter St., 312-491-8888; chicago artistscoalition.org). The organization also presents an assortment of workshops and creative incubators, including its juried BOLT Residency program, which provides 10 artists a year with on-site studios as well as mentoring and exhibition opportunities. "Professional development," says executive director Caroline Older, "is a through-line for everything we do." MA co-prosperity sphere (c-ps) This experimental cultural center in Brideport hosts a diversity of exhibitions, installations, and performances in a 5,000-square-foot storefront space and is home to the Public Media Institute, which produces the Version Festival and such publications as Proximity Magazine. 3219 S. Morgan St., 773-655-6769; coprosperity.org devening projects + editions Early studies in printmaking and visits to fexible European art spaces known as "Kunstvereins" sparked artist Dan Devening's interest in producing mul- tiples, which began in earnest in 2006 with a curated suite titled "Wherever." A little later he opened this small Garfeld Park gallery, where he encourages participating artists to produce editions alongside their exhibitions. 3039 W. Carroll Ave., 312-420-4720; deveningprojects.com document Founded by artist Aron Gent in 2011 in one of the city's best- known West Loop gallery buildings, this space doubles as a gallery emphasizing photography and video art and a facility that assists artists in the production of large-scale exhibition photography. 845 W. Washington Blvd., 3rd Fl., 262-719-3500; documentspace.com the mission This intimate storefront gallery near Eckhart Park showcases diverse emerging and established art- ists in its main space as well as The Sub-Mission, a downstairs room with exhibitions selected by a rotating com- mittee of area art professionals. 1431 W. Chicago Ave., 312-243-1200; themissionprojects.com roots & culture contemporary art center Twice a year, a panel reviews proposals from young Chicago-based artists for solo and two-person shows as well as other curatorial projects in this unusual non- proft gallery, which shares space with a foyer garden and the home of founder Eric May. 1034 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-580-0102; rootsandculturecac.org An exhibition space in the West Loop, Threewalls has presented installations such as (from top) Orchid/Dirge by Fraser Taylor, 2015, and Show Room by Carson Fisk-Vittori, Laura Davis, and Julia Klein, 2012. Five chicago spaces where contemporary art thrives.

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