download

This week: The second part of our survey of residencies in the area. We speak with Nicholas Wylie and Emily Green about ACRE.

Then on to with Elizabeth Chodos and Michael Andrews from Ox-Bow. Wrapping it up with Joe Jeffers for Harold Arts.

——————————————————————————-

ACRE (Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions) is a volunteer-run non-profit based in Chicago devoted to employing various systems of support for emerging artists and to creating a generative community of cultural producers. ACRE investigates and institutes models designed to help artists develop, present, and discuss their practices by providing forums for idea exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and experimental projects.

Residency: Steuben, WI
Exhibitions: ACRE Projects / 1913 W 17th St / Chicago, IL 60608

http://www.acreresidency.org/

——————————————————————————-

This is Ox-Bow’s 102nd year as a school of art and artists’ residency. We are proud to celebrate our history and the thousands of artists who have passed through Ox-Bow’s campus since 1910.

Each year Ox-Bow evolves and responds to new developments in the visual arts in order to serve artists, students, and the community in relevant ways. This year’s course selection reflects our commitment to developing a dynamic curriculum that bends genres into new formats, but also has deep roots in traditional craft-based practices. It is this dynamic between tradition and innovation that makes taking a course at Ox-Bow such a singular and rich experience. The group of faculty and visiting artists for 2012 is comprised of ambitious thinkers and makers, and we are excited to have them join us in the same remarkable landscape that inspired Ox-Bow’s founding 102 years ago. We look forward to seeing you on campus this summer!

Anyone, whether they are a degree-seeking student, or a life-long learner can take a course. Courses can be taken for SAIC credit or for non-credit

SAIC advanced registration begins in-person on Monday, March 12th at 8:30 AM in the Ox-Bow office. General Registration opens March 26th online through our website, www.ox-bow.org.

Residencies-Fall

September 2- October 6, 2012

Two week to five week residencies for artists

Fall at Ox-Bow is dedicated to the residency program. It is a unique time to gather artists from around the world, working in a wide variety of media. Given the small nature of the program, residents have a remarkable opportunity to create a close community. Most nights feature slide lectures, studio visits, or informal conversation that can open an individual practice to discussion, engagement, and challenge.

During the fall season, Artists’ in Residence have the opportunity to work in studios not available during the summer session. They also enjoy a more intimate community of like-minded, and diverse professionals. The fall season is also an ideal time to propose group or collaborative work.

Deadline: May 11th, 2012

Cost: $250 per week, (includes room and board and use of studio), due at the time the residency is awarded.

Financial aid available, see application to apply.

Fall residency scholarships and stipend made possible with support form the Joan Mitchell Foundation will be available. These funds are awarded to 10 individual painters and sculptors who are able to spend 4-5 weeks at Ox-Bow during the fall session. Selected artists will have their residency fees waived and receive a stipend after completing their residency.  Apply on the application. Please include a brief statement of financial need.

Additional funding for the Fall and Summer Residency program is provided by the John Hartigan Memorial Scholarship for Painters (acrylic and/or oils).

Residencies-Summer

June 3 – August 18, 2012.

Two-week Residencies for Arts Faculty

Over the summer, Ox-Bow offers 2-week residencies for artists who are also faculty members in the arts, in an adjunct or full time capacity. This program is designed to give teaching artists the much needed time to focus on their own work throughout the summer and also to connect to other faculty who are teaching at Ox-Bow.

Artists are selected upon the merit of their work and written statements describing their proposed use of the residency. During their stay, artists are encouraged to present a slide lecture or reading of their work and to participate in the community life at Ox-Bow. Recipients receive a small private studio and room and board. Please note that the classroom studio facilities are not available to ARs.

Deadline: April 6. 2012

Cost: $550 for 2-weeks, (includes room and board and studio use), due at the time the residency is awarded.

——————————————————————————-

This summer Harold Arts offers three sessions, as well as a few weekend opportunities for those of you with tighter summer schedules.

Residencies at Harold Arts offer participants shared and individual studio facilities, comfortable accommodations, and chef-prepared meals. For musicians and others interested in working with sound we have our Poolhouse recording studio; a huge room, a wide array of gear, and engineers ready and willing to plan and execute your audio endeavors. Other facilities available for residents include modest wood-working facilities and and a wood-fired kiln for ceramic works.

And of course, the rolling hills and majestic white pine forests of Haven Tree Farm are yours to explore.

http://haroldarts.org/

This week I do have a full Top 5 for you, and this isn’t all there is out there worth seeing this weekend. Golden Gallery is opening a new show, as well as their annex. HungryMan is hosting a solo exhibit curated by Jason Lazaus. NoCoast and Perigrineprogram are both rocking out with new shows over in Pilsen. Revolution Tattoo looks like it’s hosting some fucked-up version of the Muppet show, and the grand ole’ ‘Tute is beginning a fantastic tribute show to Louis Sullivan. And to top it off, you can go see punk-folk at CvsD. And this isn’t even the Top 5 picks yet! It’s squaring up to be a good weekend. No sitting at home drinking beer, get off your ass and go see some art!

1. Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is…A LOVE STORY at Western Exhibitions

The second iteration of a joint show featuring the works of Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Daniel Albrigo. Also opening that night at WesEx: The Power of Selection, part 2, curated by Ryan Travis Christian and featuring the work of Evan Gruzis, Denise Kupferschmidt, Keegan McHargue, and Dana Dart-McLean.

Western Exhibitions is located at 119 N. Peoria St., suite 2A. Reception is Friday from 5-8pm.

2. My Funhouse at Eastern Expansion

Oh ICP, you will never cease to inspire amazing things. My Funhouse, a series from Johanna Wawro and Andy Resekis, is a photo and video installation about the Juggalo Family.

Eastern Expansion is located at 244 W 31st St. Reception is Saturday from 7-11pm.

3. Remembering the Future at The Hills Esthetic Center

And I quote, “A conglomeration of new photographs, drawings, sculpture, moving image and sound by the founding members of ACRE, Chicago’s newest Artist Residency (that takes place in the great state of Wisconsin!).” Including the work of Caitlin Arnold, Olivia Ciummo, Scott Cowan, Kyle Cronan, Melissa Damasauskas, Rachel Ettling, Aron Gent, Henry James Glover, John Paul Glover, Emily Green, Brieanne Hauger, Katy Keefe, Jason Lazarus, Greg Stimac and Nicholas Wylie.

The Hills Esthetic Center is located at 128 N Campbell Ave, G. Reception is Friday from 8-11pm.

4. Passionate Holiness at La Llorona

And I quote, “The images depict influential, yet highly overlooked and occasionally controversial Christian figures who, had they lived in the present, might have been a source of inspiration to gays and lesbians.” Work by Robert Lentz, Lewis Williams, William Hart McNichols, and David Lee Csicsko.

La Llorona is located at 1474 W. Webster Ave. Reception is Friday from 6pm-1am.

5. New Directions in Collage “Contemporary Collage” at the NEIU Fine Arts Center Gallery

And I quote, “Contemporary collage inspired work by Juan Angel Chavez, Lydia Diemer, Stephen Eichhorn, Clark Ellithorpe, Chad Kouri, Alexis Mackenzie, Leslie Mutchler, and Neva Sills.”

NEIU Fine Arts Center Gallery is located at 5500 N St Louis Ave. Reception is Friday from 6-9pm.

I first met Nicholas Wylie back in 2006 when we were both working for the Nova Art Fair.  Nicholas is well known in Chicago as a co-founded of Harold Arts Residency. Recently he  formed a new residency program, ACRE (Artists’ Collaborative Residencies and Exhibitions). Nicholas took some time out of his very busy schedule (completing his MFA degree at UIC and preparing for ACRE’s inaugural residence) to answer some of my questions about the new residency program and some of his interests.

Recently you co-founded ACRE, a residency and exhibition program in Wisconsin. Previously you had been a co-founder of Harold Art Residency. Could you talk about your interest in residency programs?

When I first moved to Chicago from Berlin I was gearing up to start applying for residency programs, but couldn’t really find one that fit my needs as someone a couple years out of his BFA, new to a city, without a lot of support. It seemed like going to some residency in the northeast or southwest would be fun, but I didn’t really see how it would help my practice or help me build long-lasting collaborative relationships. When the opportunity arose to help design a program, I jumped at it. Five years later, I remain dedicated to providing the sort of residency experience that I couldn’t find back then, one that pulls together a large number of people with disparate practices for a relatively short period of time and then offers them support for the rest of the year in the way that a gallery would. I have had an amazing time trying to hone this model, and can’t wait for it to be freer, bigger, and more critical and experimental in the coming years.

What type of facilities will ACRE offer artists?

We’re really excited about our new facilities. Basically each living space, of which there are tons, is like an apartment, with bathroom, kitchenette, living space, and bedroom. The buildings are all amazing, built from salvaged timbers, with decks and porches on all sides, and great views all around. What I’m most excited about, though, is the studio building, which is basically a giant repurposed air force hanger with a brand new, huge, archetypical Swiss chalet built on top of it. Each of the four floors is about 5000 square feet, and we couldn’t have asked for/designed a more ideal, idiosyncratic, gorgeous building for our residents to work in. More specific stats can be found at our website, acreresidency.org .

I noticed on ACRE’s site that you will be offering programming. What  do you guys have in mind?

We’re working with our visiting artists to stage mini-experiments in residency programming. Each visiting artist will come from 3-7 days, and might operate as if they’re programming like a mini-BAMF, or are teaching a quick Bard seminar, but they can really try out anything. This will mean different things for different visiting artists; expect studio visits, conversations on the tops of hills, lectures, experimental workshops, big collaborative group projects and happenings, forays into the neighboring areas, arguments about new texts, concerts, utopian plans for the future of the property and the project, and the unexpected.

We’d like for this spirit to extend to the residents as well. This is the first year of a brand new endeavor. We can handle the infrastructure, we want our guests to help us handle the innovation. Residents will be encouraged to share skills with each other, call crits when they need them, organize pre- and post- residency gatherings, reading groups, trips, etc. All of this will be facilitated by us; we’ll provide online resources and make sure everyone gets fed, knows what’s going on, and feels supported, but we as staff will be participants in and facilitators of programming, not designers of it.

When I first asked what you would be interested in covering in this interview the first thing you mentioned was “alternative models today vs. the 20th century”. What are your interests in these models and how do you compare/contrast?

This is still a big area of research for me, and I think a lot of people are looking into it right now. The obvious distinction has of course got to be funding strategies. We shouldn’t fall into the trap of painting a completely rosy picture of 20th century arts funding, but the facts are that public institutions, non-profit ventures, and individual artists receive far less state funding than they did 25 years ago. The difference is rather drastic, and as a result, artists and administrators of our generation have largely fended for themselves. We never operate under the pretensions of ever getting paid for this work, we scrape our funding from our own pockets, from little bits and pieces from peers who want a beer or a t-shirt, from fundraisers traditional and alternative, and from online initiatives like kickstarter . The last place we expect to get funding is from wealthy donors, foundations, or the state, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try for that too.

There are more interesting non-monetary shifts going on, too, but most of the writing I’ve read about real innovation is coming from European perspectives, which are drastically different from ours, largely because of the insane funding gap between the US and EU.

One trend that’s rather exciting is the open-sourcey model spreading. The obvious example of this is InCUBATE’s Sunday Soup model, which is spreading like wildfire.

This idea that we can have little labs all over the country testing which models for artist support and community growth work/don’t work is getting me really amped. The idea that the most successful ones can then spread to other cities and countries is exciting, and provides a solution to the (arguably valuable) contemporary inability for one org to grow into a sprawling institution. Bad At Sports’ model of different bureaus works a little like this, I think, but you guys provide support and infrastructure for all of them, which sounds a little harder than just letting them pop up, but also lets them jump right on to the international stage.

I’m wary of millenarian knee-jerk opportunistic reactions to crises, but have found the on-the-ground ecology of alternative arts orgs in our contemporary crisis to be pretty amazing, and I would probably choose this time to be an arts administrator over any past moments.