May 2022
Welcome to the May 2022 CSI Newsletter
In this issue you will find:
CSI Tour of Northeastern Illinois University tour of art studios and Fine Arts Gallery
CSI Biennial “Sculpture Invasion 2022” at Koehnline Art Museum updates
Calls for Big Marsh Park project, Scale exhibit at 3D4D gallery, Wicker Park Arts Fest,
and the 2022 Fuzhou International Urban Sculpture Design Competition“Mindscapes” exhibit at 3D4D gallery
Educational Outreach request for volunteers
Members news and announcements
While You’re Here…
Picture above: NEIU’s Fine Arts Gallery
CSI tour of NEIU art studios and Fine Arts Gallery & General Membership Meeting
CSI tour of Northeastern Illinois University's art studios and Fine Arts Gallery & General Membership Meeting
CSI Members are invited to a tour of Northeastern Illinois University’s art studios and Fine Arts Gallery at 5500 North St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, IL
Saturday, June 4
12:00 - 2:00 PM
The art studios tour will begin around 12:30PM, with a 1:00PM meeting in the lecture room to discuss CSI business. We ask that those interested to RSVP and meet at 12:00PM in the Fine Arts Gallery. Refreshments will be served.
To RSVP, please click here or send an email to info@chicagosculpture.org and provide your name, phone number, and number of guests.
Information regarding travel directions and parking can be found here.
News from the Indoor Exhibitions Committee
SCULPTURE INVASION 2022 / CSI Biennial
Koehnline Art Museum
Thank you for submitting your work to the SCULPTURE INVASION 2022 / CSI Biennial at the Koehnline Art Museum. It will be CSI’s fourth time sharing our members' work at the Koehnline Museum of Art at Oakton Community College, and it will serve as a CSI Biennial exhibition.
An email notification will be sent out to artists next week.
Here are the important dates:
Drop off pieces: Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Start of show: Thursday, July 14, 2022
Last day of show: Friday, September 30, 2022
Pick up: Monday, October 3, 2022
News from the Outdoor Exhibitions Committee
Pictured above: Possible locations for new sculptures at Big Marsh.
RFP: Public Art Projects in Big Marsh Park
Chicago Sculpture International (CSI), in collaboration with the Chicago Park District, is seeking experienced artists and artist teams to create original, site-specific, public sculptures for Big Marsh, a 280-acre park on the Southeast Side.
Big Marsh had been the site of a waste and slag dumping ground from surrounding industrial operations since the late 1800s. In the early 2000s, the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District teamed up to restore this area to a healthy habitat and eco-recreation park.
This is an opportunity to create an artwork that will emerge from the park; the majority of the materials used will be found in the park. There are available natural materials such as rocks, stones, standing dead trees, logs and certain plants—for example, the plentiful phragmites. And although Big Marsh has undergone an extensive renovation in this century, one can still find remnants of its industrial past, such as shipping containers, tires, bricks, cobblestones, cement fragments and slag; these materials can be used for the artwork as well. Durable sculpture materials such as stone, metal and wood that artists need but cannot be found in the park can be brought in to create the artwork.
Artists will be asked to commit to two talks about their completed projects at the Ford Calumet Environmental Center in Big Marsh Park.
Stipend: $10,000-$30,000
Timeline: Submissions due on Friday, June 3, 2022, at 11:59 pm CST. Projects must be finished by November 30, 2022.
Click here for more information about Big Marsh, the call, and image galleries of the Big Marsh area as well as possible sites and materials for sculptures.
News from the Education Committee
Request For Volunteers
Pictured above: Images from “Have Your Art and Eat It Too”, collaboration with Casa Central and 3D4D by CSI, summer 2021.
Dear CSI Members,
In follow up to the new page listing on the CSI Website, we are implementing a new creative outreach educational program to build a stronger presence in the community for CSI and the 3D4D Gallery space.
We are looking for artists with creative projects to be completed in roughly 60-90 minutes through virtual artist workshops. All supplies needed for project(s) will be given out to communities in individual boxes paid for by CSI grant funds. We would rather have simple materials and supplies to maintain a feasible budget, so those CSI members interested should keep simplicity in mind. All we need are interested members, with ideas and an accompanying supply list with concepts for the workshop/activity.
Groups including the Lathrop Homes (low income/mixed income), Boys and Girls Home, Wicker Park Senior Housing CHA Property, and A Special Place for Veterans have all showed interest in participating. If you are interested in specific audiences please outline that in response.
Artist stipends will be provided, so any CSI member interested in participating and helping 3D4D/CSI to obtain more exposure, as well promote advancing marginalized communities using art as a way for people to become more connected, should reach out with their ideas to Anthony Heinz May.
- The Education Committee
3D4D Gallery
Mindscapes
The Mindscapes exhibition continues through Sunday, May 29th at Chicago Sculpture International’s 3D4D gallery in the Bucktown neighborhood. The exhibit runs until Sunday, May 29th.
The concept of differences between the interior and the exterior saturates many aspects of life. From the microscopic to the vastness of space, the notion of inside verses outside has shaped our view and understanding of the world. We create the illusion of separation by viewing the body and mind in contrast to the outside world, but we are all part of our living planet. How entwined are the elements we are composed of and the world we live in? The artwork in this exhibit explores these ideas: imaginary or real, and ranging from the personal to the scientific point of view.
The exhibit features artists: Ange Altenhofen, Nicole Beck, Tomas Co, Amanda Gentry, Barbara Goldsmith, Peter N. Gray, Suzanne Horwitz, Victoria Fuller, Caroline Jacobson, Fred Klingelhofer, Micki LeMieux (3D4D Artist-In-Residence), Boruch Lev, Ellen Lustig, Suzanne Pratt, Howard Sandroff, Philip Spangler, Nancy VanKanegan, Patrick D. Wilson, and Chris Wubbena. This exhibition is curated by Micki LeMieux.
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 1-6pm
Location: 1912 N. Damen Ave, Chicago
Click here to visit our online shop to purchase works from this exhibit!
Call for Submissions: Scale Exhibit
DEADLINE EXTENDED!
The relationship between artwork and audience is often informed by a sense of scale. Concepts of size, perspective and space can all be employed to create or enhance presence of a piece: Small, intimate pieces draw one in; maquettes suggest a size beyond their proportions; art can create unexpected spatial relationships or shifts of perspective in the audience’s mind. The show aspires to examine and juxtapose these various approaches to scale.
Chicago Sculpture International’s 3D4D Gallery is seeking submissions of work that examine or employ the idea of scale. The show will include 2D and 3D work; maquettes; miniatures; jewelry; and wall, pedestal or freestanding works.
To further investigate the idea of proportion and space, some of the pieces may be displayed in “micro-galleries” with a 1:12 scale.
No submission fee. Must be a current member of CSI.
Submit work here.
Submission Deadline: Sunday, May 8th. Midnight
Artwork due by: May 27, 2022
Show opening: Friday, June 3, 2022
Show end date: July 24, 2022
Member News
Ongoing Exhibitions
Christine Forni, Fragments (detail)
Daryls Ewoldt, Broken Steps and Fragile, Ladders, bronze, copper, and patina
Crystal Ball, May 14, 2022
CSI member Christine Forni is exhibiting in a group show, Circuition, with artists: Abraham Cone, Hai-Wen Lin, Katie Vota and Jake Fagundo at Mu Gallery, located at 1542 W. Chicago Ave, opening reception is May 6, 6-10pm at 6pm, 5/6 - 5/28.
CHRISTINE FORNI'S 'FRAGMENTS'
"In my new paintings I capture light though glass, porcelain, minerals and paint-skins. I’ve pulled from a hybrid of my past memories and skills using my archive of small porcelain sculptures made during residencies at The Comparative Anatomy Gallery in Paris and École du Breuil d’Horticulture.There I studied the naturalists’ collections of plant fossils and animal bones. While examining the relics of distant eras, I was struck by the realization that all life has souls, intertwined together, carrying a memory of the past forward. All we have to do is look closely enough to experience it."
CSI member Darlys Ewoldt’s sculpture Broken Steps and Fragile Ladders (bronze, copper, and patina) was juried into the Smithsonian Craft Show at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. The exhibit ran from April 20-24, 2022. Congratulations, Darlys!
CSI member Samuel Schwindt will be part of the return of the The Crystal Ball, a night of live music, food, and art installations at Chicago Art Department on Saturday, May 14, 2022. The opening reception is from from 7-11pm. Click here for tickets.
Other Events and Opportunities
The following are not CSI sponsored projects, but may be of interest to our members.
RFP: Wicker Park Fest ARTS Area 2022
Proposal Deadline: Thursday, May 5th until 5:00PM
A special deadline extension was granted for CSI members until this Thursday, May 5th until 5:00PM. The deadline is firm. The festival will take place the weekend of July 22nd through July 24th.
Please address your submission directly to Jordan Miller at jordan@wickerparkbucktown.org You may also email him at this email with any questions or concerns.
THE FEST:
Wicker Park Fest is one of the largest and longest running annual neighborhood street festivals in Chicago on the near northwest side. Wicker Park Fest is organized by the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce and includes over 50 bands split between multiple stages, the best food and drinks from around Chicago, and features hundreds of local vendors, stores, and artists. Wicker Park Fest is free with a $10 suggested donation. Milwaukee Ave. will be closed to car traffic from approximately North Ave. to Paulina St. to accommodate this event and pedestrians may enter to access local establishments or their homes at any time regardless of donation to the event.
WPF ARTS AREA:
Every year during the festival a special section (or sections) of Milwaukee Ave. is designated for high quality works of art and/or art installations. This Arts Area is intended to enhance the Wicker Park Fest experience for attendees and showcase the rich and vibrant arts scene in the local Wicker Park Bucktown community. All funding for and curation of the WPF Arts Area is provided by WPB SSA #33, the Special Service Area for Wicker Park Bucktown, which includes the entire stretch of Milwaukee Ave. used for Wicker Park Fest.
Look here for more information on the qualifying artwork, funding details, proposal suggestions, and submission details.
The 2022 Fuzhou International Urban Sculpture Design Competition
The city of Fuzhou, in China, is hosting an international outdoor sculpture design competition.
Submission due May 15
Awards for 37 short-listed works: $12,616 per nomination
Awards for 2-3 finalists: $23,655 per work
All short-listed works and invited works will be published in the 2022 Fuzhou International Urban Sculpture Design Competition Collection.
More details and application forms at the 2022 Fuzhou International Urban Sculpture Design Competition.
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. CSI member Shelley Gilchrist sgilchristart@gmail.com has volunteered to help you if you need it, so feel free to contact her.
