Art Coming To A Block Near You

17th Annual Chicago Artists Month Celebrates Visual Arts Community throughout Chicago This October

2012-08-30 — /travelprnews.com/ — As the City of Chicago prepares to unveil a new Cultural Plan, this year’s Chicago Artists Month (CAM) takes its theme from the process with Art Block By Block.  This annual month-long celebration in October explores the impact of artists throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods by highlighting their work, their studios and a wide range of exhibitions, programs and events.

“Vital to the success of our cultural future, is cultivating artistic communities throughout the city in every neighborhood,” said Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Michelle T. Boone.  “Chicago Artists Month offers a chance for the public to experience the extraordinary quality and depth of our arts community.”

Chicago Artist Month is a non-juried program featuring more than 200 events throughout October including open house/open studio tours, neighborhood art walks, informal discussions, workshops and exhibitions.

CAM features 15 of these events, including the Chicago Sculpture Exhibit that displays 30 public artworks in five different neighborhoods (Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Wicker Park, Bucktown and Edgewater) and continues through May 16, 2013; Womanmade Gallery’s 20 Neighborhoods, an exhibition which chronicles the artistic collaborations between 20 artists and 20 community organizations, and runs from October 5 – 31, 2012.

More than 45 neighborhoods and approximately 3,000 artists who live and work in Chicago will participate in this year’s event .

A pair of CAM Featured Artists offer an opportunity for everyone to participate when Anne McNamee and Seana Higgins present I Am From: Identity through Exploration of Place, Saturday October 13, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. at the South Chicago Art Center (3217 E. 91st St.).  Participants of all ages are encouraged to explore the intersection of identity and place through a series of interactive visual and performance-based artistic exercises.  The final hour of the event will be a multi-media exhibition showcasing the work created there.

Another featured program demonstrates that art can be accessible to all and accessible at all times of day, The Installation Experiment, which runs from September 9 through October 31.  Seven storefront galleries along the 1800 block of South Halsted Street will feature the work of seven Chicago-based artists, ranging in age from their twenties to their eighties, who have created installations on display which the public can view from the sidewalk any time, any day during the installation.  Several evening and day-long receptions and performances have been scheduled to provide opportunities for the public to meet and interact with the artists (Nikki Renee Anderson, Gerda Meyer Bernstein, Barbara Cooper, Chelsea Culp, Ben Foch, Barbara Hashimoto, and Bernard Williams).

For more information about Chicago Artists Month, including a comprehensive calendar and event descriptions and images, visit www.chicagoartistsmonth.org and pick up the Chicago Artists Month Official program guide in the September 27 issue of Time Out Chicago.  Programs will also be available for free at the Chicago Cultural Center Visitor Centers and participating organizations.

Chicago Artists Month is presented by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.  Additional support is provided by 98.7WFMT and WTTW11, Chicago Gallery News and the Chicago Artists’ Coalition.  The official dining partner of Chicago Artists Month is Lettuce Entertain You® Enterprises, Inc.

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Cindy Gatziolis    312.744.0573

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