April 2023 Newsletter
Welcome to the April Newsletter
You will find:
News from the CSI committees
Opportunities to exhibit your work
Ongoing member exhibitions
News from the Outdoor Exhibition Committee
Image credit: Telos by Ray Katz, and Angele by Chris Wubenna
2023-2025 Sculpture in the Parks
Submission deadline is Friday, April 21, 2023, 11:59 PM CST
Chicago Sculpture International, in collaboration with the Chicago Park District and parks in the surrounding Chicago area, is seeking proposals from artists for the 2023-2025 Sculpture in the Parks Exhibition.
Works must be large scale and suitable for outdoors. They will be installed on hardscape or softscape (grass), so artists must be prepared for either type of installation. Only select sites have concrete pads; all other sites are softscapes. Sculpture will be on view for two years, from October 2023 - October 2025 (exact dates to be determined). Each sculpture will receive a $3000 stipend.
Eligibility:
This RFP is open to professional artists or artist teams 18 years of age or older. Artists whose proposals are accepted, if they are not already CSI members, will be asked to join.
How to apply:
Artists can submit on or two sculptures for review. Click here for submission requirements and application
News from the Indoor Exhibitions Committee
Call for Entries for Color/Form
Chicago Sculpture International Juried Exhibition at the College of Lake County
Entry Deadline: Friday, June 2, 2023
Email notification of acceptance: June 7, 2023
Delivery of Accepted Work: June 13, 2023, 10:00-4:00
Exhibition dates: Thursday June 22-August 9, 2023
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 22, 5-7 pm
Pick-up of work: Thursday, August 10. 10:00-4:00
No other element impacts aesthetics so directly and urgently as color. Artists who combine color with structure understand the boundless and captivating energy of this synthesis. Using color to evoke a mood is essential in their practice and message. Color/Form’s purpose is to compile creations that celebrate color and form interpreted in three dimensions.
Sculptors are invited to enter up to three works in the Chicago Sculpture International Juried Exhibition at the Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, IL. The Wright Gallery’s curator, Ann Rintz, will jury and curate the exhibition.
Find more information click here.
News from the Membership Committee
Chicago Sculpture International Announces:
2023/2024 Inclusion Fellowship for AALANA
or BIPOC-Identifying Artists/Sculptors
In an effort to expand and enrich our community in 2023/2024, CSI Membership is offering three (3) AALANA or BIPOC fellowships in total. The fellowships will be offered to three (3) new AALANA or BIPOC identifying artists of exceptional promise and interest. Fellowships will cover the cost of one year's membership dues.
Click here for more details and to apply
Application Deadline: May 31, 2023
SAVE THE DATE: August 19th, 2023
Chicago Sculpture International Annual Membership Picnic at The Chicago Riverfront (with a rain date of August 20th). More details to follow . . .
News from CSI Project Space
Upcoming CSI Project Student Exhibition:
By Degrees 2023
Notice: Upcoming call for student and recent grad work.
Chicago Sculpture International (CSI) will be calling for artists who are enrolled, or recently (2022 or later) graduated from a degree-seeking program to submit works of sculpture, installation and media work to be featured in the second annual juried group exhibition By Degrees, scheduled for summer 2023 at CSI Project Space in Chicago. (Exact dates and call info TBA.)
Artists will be able to submit up to 3 works for consideration. There will be no fee for entry, but accepted artists will be required to gallery sit for at least two 3-hour shifts during the run of the exhibition. Accepted artists will be granted a one year non-transferrable student membership to CSI.
Please share this with any students or recent graduates that you know. Important dates, including exhibition dates, submission terms and deadlines will be shared on the CSI website by May 1.
Story Time! Exhibition Extended to May 5
Story Time!, the current group exhibition at CSI Project Space, featuring work by 19 CSI members, is extended through May 5, 2023. Each of the works in this compelling exhibition utilize or reference narrative in some way.
Story Time! will be CSI’s feature offering for International Sculpture Day on April 29. If you have not yet seen this exhibition in person, plan on stopping by before May 5.
We are grateful for the support of Otocast, who provided the facility to include recordings of artists’ stories, as well as the generosity of Ivy Gard and legacy of longtime CSI member Ron Gard, for making it possible for us to exhibit in the lovely space at 1912 N Damen Avenue. Artists included in Story Time!: Janet Austin, Nicole Beck, Berthold Boone, Ted Sitting Crow Garner, Sarah Goodermuth, Carol Hammerman, Caroline Jacobson, Kara James, Stacey Lee Gee, Gina Lee Robbins, Micki LeMieux, Riley Lauren Lynch, Scott Mossman, Olya Salimova, Anne-Joelle Tan, Nancy VanKanegan, Jeremy Wong, Niko Woroniecki, Chris Wubbena
CSI Project Space, 1912 N. Damen Ave., Chicago, IL
At the corner of Cortland and Damen, in the Bucktown neighborhood
To listen to the artists “tell a story” about their work in the exhibit, use the QR code below:
News from the Education Committee
On March 7th, Ei Cullina shared a creative art workshop with the youth through The Boys and Girls Club, located in the Lathrop Homes. We had fun and turned cardboard objects into wonderful sculptures.
News from the Membership Committee
2023/2024 Inclusion Fellowship for AALANA or BIPOC identifying Artists/Sculptors
In an effort to expand and enrich our community in 2023/2024, CSI Membership is offering three (3) AALANA or BIPOC fellowships in total. The fellowships will be offered to three (3) new AALANA or BIPOC identifying artists of exceptional promise and interest. Fellowships will cover the cost of one year's membership dues, a range of perks, and opportunities to exhibit your work.
Application Deadline: May 31, 2023
Click here for more details and to download an application.
International Sculpture Day
International Sculpture Day is April 29, 2023
Look ahead to April and submit images of your work, details about an artist talk, or schedule an open studio afternoon in celebration of International Sculpture Day! International Sculpture Day, our most anticipated event of the year returns on Saturday, April 29th! Join the global sculpture community when you register your event and use #ISDAY on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Contact isday@sculpture.org or call 609-689-1051 x319 to learn how to participate in International Sculpture Day 2023 or for more information.
Join the International Sculpture Day Mailing list.
REGISTER
Also, for the entire month of May 2023, ISC offers CSI members 50% discount on membership dues!
News from the Membership Committee
Happy Women's History Month!
Happy Women's History Month…continued! In honor of this special month and continuing acknowledgement of CSI Womens’ accomplishments, please click the link! 94 Women strong from the website membership page. The links represent each artists’ singular “greatest hit” it is not exhaustive and may not be what they chose, but it is IMPRESSIVE! Congratulations Ladies, I am honored to be in service to each and every one of you!
Click here to view
Land Acknowledgment
To provide immediate assistance to Native American communities in Chicago, you can send donations to the city’s American Indian Center here.
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.
Land acknowledgments are not rhetorical gestures, but rather calls to action. 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. We also encourage everyone to ask themselves how they may benefit from the continuation of settler colonialism, militarism, and warfare. Confronting these realities allows us to break down our privileges and adopt anti-colonial practices that can one day help us in creating a more equitable society.
To provide immediate assistance to Native American communities in Chicago, you can send donations to the city’s American Indian Center here.
Member News
Members are welcome to submit news regarding exhibitions and professional development achievements to info@chicagosculpture.org. We would love to see what you are doing!!
Image credit: Christine Forni
In Reciprocity: Humans & Nature
Closing Reception and Artists' Talk: Thursday, April 6 (begins at Noon)
In Reciprocity: Artists and Nature, three person exhibition - curated by Sherri Denault. Visual Arts Gallery, 1 University Parkway, University Park, Illinois.
Invited Artists: Deanna Krueger, Joanne Aono and Christine Forni
Congratulations to Bobbi Meier, 2023 Chicago Artadia Awards Finalist
The Finalists will each hold virtual studio visits with second-round jurors, who will ultimately select three artists to receive $15,000 in unrestricted funds. The 2023 Chicago Artadia Awards application was open to visual artists working in any visual media, at any stage in their career, who have been living and working within Cook County for a minimum of two years. Look HERE for more info.
Image Credit (Top, left to right): SaraNoa Mark, Nyeema Morgan, and Julia Phillips. (Bottom, left to right) Orkideh Torabi, Jacqueline Surdell, and Bobbi Meier.
Exhibition by Marie Magnetic
Location: Little Broken Things
2031 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 773-799-8828
Hours: Monday - Closed; T-Th, 8am-8pm; Fr-Su, 10am-6pm
CSI member Marie Magnetic is having an upcoming exhibit at Little Broken Things, an arts-centric hair salon in Logan Square. The opening exhibition reception is on April 8th from 7-9 pm. The exhibit is from April 8th through May 19th.
Image Credit: Marie Magnetic, hang me out to dry, 2022, found object sculpture, 14" x 18" x 8"
"I Find Me In the Strangest Places"
Bronzes by Micki LeMieux
Kara Cobb Johnson presents Falcon Gallery. I am pleased to announce the first show, a solo exhibit by Chicago sculptor, Micki LeMieux. On view exclusively during EXPO CHGO: After Hours April 14th, 2023 from 6-9pm at MANA CONTEMPORARY 2233 South Throop Street, Chicago IL 60608 #913.
In this group of works, LeMieux casts specimen from her garden in bronze to masterfully capture the things that fill her harvest and reveal her unique humor. Root like tendrils appear excavated from deep earth to tether fickle leaves in Once (pictured above). Bulbous and shiny peppers stack into an impish jester in Pepper Clown while Creatures and Flowers evoke a sort of moss covered fairy-garden warming of paws at a truffle like campfire. Her works give the viewer a glimpse into magical places and sharpen our focus to a fantastical sculptural collection inspired by the strangest places.
The following are not CSI sponsored projects, but may be of interest to our members:
Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce
Call for Two Utility Pole Sculptures
Proposal Submission Deadline: May 15, 2023
Artist Notification: May 31, 2023
Ribbon Cutting Celebration at Ravenswood ArtWalk: September 16, 2023
The Ravenswood Community Council, in partnership with the Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce and Special Service Area #31, is seeking proposals from artists to beautify two decommissioned utility poles along Ravenswood Avenue. The goal is to transform these structures and add new art to the Ravenswood Sculpture Garden. Artists are invited to submit proposals for work on both poles.
The total stipend for this project is $5,000, which includes all artist fees, supplies, permits (if necessary), and travel expenses.
Click here to download RFP with submission details.
Three Requests for Qualifications
1. Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts
The Art-in-Architecture Program of the Capital Development Board is pleased to announce a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to Illinois professional artists to create permanent original public art for the Fine Arts Complex at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois.
The Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts “foster(s) curiosity and critical thinking, illuminating the human experience through collaboration, applied learning, and artistic practice.” It includes the School of Music, Wonsook Kim School of Art, School of Theatre and Dance, and the Creative Technologies Program. In addition, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, University Galleries, Design Streak, Normal Editions Workshop, and the String Project celebrate the arts and community collaborations.
Interior Artwork Design Stipend: $1,000
Exterior Artwork Design Stipend: $3,500
The budgets for the project are:
Interior Artwork Budget: $90,000
Exterior Artwork Budget: $200,000
Click hear to download the RFQ and apply for the call
Application Deadline: Friday, April 13, 2023, 4:30 P.M. (Applying before the final deadline is encouraged.)
2. Quincy Veterans Home
The Art-in-Architecture Program of the Capital Development Board is pleased to announce a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to Illinois professional artists to create FIVE permanent original public art pieces for the Long-Term Care Facility (LTC) at Quincy Veterans Home in Quincy, Illinois. These public art commissions and potential purchases are open to all professional artists that live and work in the state of Illinois.
Project Summary: The Quincy Veterans Home is currently undergoing a $230 million construction enhancement project to upgrade and replace many of its aging buildings and provide upgraded amenities to its veteran residents. Founded in 1886, it was originally known as the Soldiers and Sailors Home. It is now the largest and oldest veterans' home in Illinois. This project will add a new 261,000-square-foot residential Long-Term Care Facility and a 74,000-square-foot independent living building. The project also includes upgrades to existing buildings, infrastructure, utilities, hardscaping, and landscaping to support the new facilities. Art will be an integral part of the entire campus. In addition to providing beauty to the built environment, artwork will provide a sense of placemaking to create an atmosphere of home and well-being for the entire Quincy Veterans Home community—residents, families, staff, and volunteers.
The design proposal fee ranges from $1,500 to $3,000 and artwork budget ranges from $75,000 to $200,000.
Click here to download the RFQ and apply for the call.
Final Deadline: Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 4:30 P.M.
3. Chicago State University Health Simulation Labs
A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to Illinois professional artists to create permanent original public art for the Health Simulation Lab in Douglas Hall at Chicago State University in Chicago, Illinois.
The Committee is interested in artwork that explores wellness, well-being, and health within a broader context including economic stability, education access and quality, health care access and quality, the neighborhood and the built environment, and the social and community context. The committee does not intend for the artwork to be limited to iconography related to the healthcare field.
The piece must be durable, safe, and cost effective to maintain with limited annual maintenance.
The Committee does not wish to limit artists. Artists are offered the walls throughout the second floor and the ceiling space above the oval conference room as potential locations for their artwork. The artwork can consist of one piece, multiple pieces, or an installation.
Click here to download the RFQ and apply for the call
Final Deadline: Friday, April 28, 2023 4:30pm
City of Batavia’s
West Cemetery Sculpture Competition
Call for Sculpture Proposals
The City of Batavia, Illinois announces a sculpture design competition for a work of public art. In 2021, the City completed construction of a columbarium structure within its west cemetery. The west cemetery was originally established in 1845. It consists of 21 acres of wooded property, just west of the Fox River. The City desires to have a work of public art installed atop the new columbarium structure (see photo). The sculptural work will become a woven part of the fabric of the cemetery and will remain in place for at least the next century. As such, the sculpture should present a timeless design that reflects a level of reverence, honor and dignity befitting of those who rest within the cemetery.
The City has budgeted up to forty thousand dollars ($40,000.00) for commission of the completed and installed sculpture. The actual award value, as well as timing of distribution, will be negotiated with selected the artist prior to the commission grant. A $500 stipend for materials will given to five (5) finalists for the creation of maquettes.
Submission deadline: Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum Biennial
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
In 2008, the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum established a sculpture biennial exhibition to support working artists. The Museum invites artists working in sculpture to submit work for the 2023 Regional Biennial Juried Sculpture Exhibition. This year we have expanded our eligibility to Great Lakes bordering States. This call is open to all artists working in sculpture who reside in the Great Lakes States of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Submission deadline: April 20, 2023.
Awards: Merit awards are monetary prizes awarded by the juror. 1st place, $2,500; 2nd place, $1,500; 3rd place, $1000; 4th place, $750
Application fee for 1 to 3 entires: $25 for MFSMs, $35 for Non-members
For details and to apply, visit: marshallfredericks.org/rbjse
Evanston Art Center's 26th Evanston and Vicinity Biennial 2023
Submission Deadline: June 5, 2023 at Midnight
Exhibition Dates: August 26 - October 1, 2023
The Evanston and Vicinity Biennial is one of the Midwest’s largest and most prestigious juried exhibitions, offering artists an opportunity to have their work viewed by three talented curators: Chantal Healey (Executive Director, Chicago Public Art Group, Denny Mwaura (Assistant Director, Gallery 400, UIC), and Erica Warren, PhD (Art Historian, Curator, Editor, Craft Quarterly)
Click here for more details.
Request for Proposals: 2023 Wicker Park Fest - Arts Area
Application Deadline: Friday, April 21, 2023
The Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce and Special Service Area #33 in Chicago are accepting proposals for the Arts Area at the 2023 Wicker Park Fest. This Arts Area is intended to enhance the Wicker Park Fest experience and contribute to the rich and vibrant neighborhood art scene. Artists are invited to propose highly compelling, professional quality visual artwork and/or interactive installations, or other engaging works of art that are free-standing or self-sustained and can be exhibited during fest hours.
Stipends range on average $5,000 but cannot exceed $10,000.
The festival will take place the weekend of Friday, July 28th through Sunday, July 30th.
Click here for details and about how to apply.
Calling all Metal Workers/Artists!
Participate in UIC Study
Detecting Lead & Other Metals in Saliva and Exhaled Breath
The study focuses on metal workers/artists in the Chicagoland area and their exposure to heavy metals that may be affecting their health. This can include welding, soldering, brazening, or any process which would produce high amounts of dust particles with metals (such as certain paints or grinding). We would like to monitor your work area for dust samples as well as collect bio-fluid samples prior to the beginning and at the end of the next project you plan to work on.
Here is a breakdown of the work our team would be doing as well as the approximate duration:
· Administer a short survey – (1 time only during the first visit, 15 minutes)
· Monitoring airborne dust at your workspace utilizing a stationary instrument as well as personal monitor attached to your clothing (1st and 2nd visit from morning to afternoon, stationary device would stay at the workspace throughout the study)
· Collect samples of your exhaled breath, saliva, blood, and urine – (1st and 2nd visit, ~ 1 hour per visit)
All information collected will be anonymous so as to protect your privacy, however the data collected from your workspace will be shared with you so as to inform you of any hazards that may be present.
You will be compensated $50 for each of the two visits ($100).
If you are still interested in the study, kindly respond to this email at uicheavymetal@gmail.com to schedule a time that works best for you. We understand that having extra bodies when you work can be a hinderance and will do the best we can to minimize any extra interactions.
While you're here...
Have any news to share? Shows, awards, residencies et al.? Send the particulars along to info@chicagosculpture.org, 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.
