Hey friends, Chicago Artists Month 2015 has officially started. There are literally tons of art openings and events lined up for the entire month. I find it to be an exciting month to go out and about discovering venues that perhaps I had not visited before. It was hard to choose my recommendations but here is my list SEVEN art exhibitis not to be missed this weekend. Click on the title to visit their event pages. See you around town!

Friday, October 2nd

1. Dangerous Lullabies – 1st Friday Opening Night

Lakeside Legacy Arts Park
401 Country Club Rd, Crystal Lake, Illinois 60014

Dangerous Lullabies is a group fine art exhibition that explores the curious allure of things that frighten us. Artists from across the country have conspired to fill a historic mansion with paintings, sculptures and fine art creations which examine the beauty found in the ashes of terror and the magnetic pull things of that are disturbing, on-edge or dark.

The exhibit will be in Crystal Lake’s Lakeside Legacy Arts Park, in the Dole Mansion, an intricately detailed 1800’s building and is rumored to be haunted by previous owner, Eliza, widow of the circus magnate, Al Ringling.

The exhibition is open October 2 – 29.
Opening night for the show will be Friday, October 2, 5:00 -8:00 pm
Admission is free, but any donations to the Arts Park are appreciated.
Complimentary food will be served and a cash bar will be available to purchase drinks.

This show is curated by J + K Isacson in partnership with the Lakeside Legacy Arts Park. Find out details about the Dangerous Lullabies show and other exhibitions at: http://xculturearts.com/

2. Unfolding Matter

Fulton Street Collective Gallery at
1821 W. Hubbard St Lofts, 3rd Fl., Chicago, IL 60642

Tanya Gill
Gunjan Kumar
Marzena Ziejka

Events:
Opening – October 2nd at 6pm

Music to Unfolding Matter – October 10th at 7:00pm
by Cameron Pfiffner, Joshua Abrams, Tim Mulvenna

Artist Q&A / Closing – October 14th at 6:30 pm

Unfolding Matter brings together three independent voices united through their interests. Each artist touches on the idea of matter through their material use, imagery or both. What has emerged is a body of works inspired by essential elements – primarily earth, soil and water. With materials such as crushed earth minerals, plant extracts, soil and Landsat satellite images, these artists explore their vastly diverse artistic practices rooted in age-old knowledge. The artists work independently and produce a deeply personal yet integrating voice. Each artist strives to achieve simplicity and a quiet balance between self and nature through their practice. Their sensibility, backgrounds, experiences and research create a diverse but converging body of work.

In addition, we are honored to announce a collaborative event by Cameron Pfiffner with bassist Joshua Abrams and percussionist Tim Mulvenna on October 10th at 7pm. Piffner will play an improvisational score in response to the works in “Unfolding Matter”.

3. Migrations In Black And White

Calao 22 Space Art and Interiors
2320 N. Damen Avenue Chicago, IL 6064

Opening Reception: Friday, October 2, 2015, 6:00 PM until 10:00 PM
Artists Talk: Sunday, November 1, 2015,
Noon until 3:00 PM
Closing Reception: November 6, 2015,
6:00 PM until 10:00 PM

Featured Collaborative Mavericks Artists Include:

Marcus Sterling Alleyne, Lindsey E. Bates, Janice Bond, Paul Branton, Michael Burton, Fanta Celah, Robert Lewis Clark, Reynaldo Ferdinand, David Anthony Geary, Rhonda Gray, Liz LaRue, Makeba Kedem-DuBose, N. Masani Landfair, Oscar Lester, James Nelson, Dana Tod,  Pope, Adrienne Powers, Cheryl Toles, Max Sansing, Yemonjah Smalls, Patricia A. Stewart, Martha A. Wade, Minnie R. Watkins

From 1910 to 1970 an estimated six million Black Americans ventured from the southern regions of the US to cities like New York, Detroit and Chicago. They wanted to escape the social and economic deficiencies of a slave system that once ended, was replaced with the deplorable racial caste of Jim Crow.

The exhibition Migrations in Black and White takes its cue in part from that movement and specifically speaks to the lack of visibility South side Chicago-based Black artists have in the northern stretch of the city. The establishment of the Calao 22 Space art gallery in Bucktown freely crosses that divide. The brainchild of artist, curator and (now) third time gallerist Makeba Kedem-DuBose, the space fits into the algorithm of a community that’s referred to as Chicago’s ìcreative epicenter.î

Migrations In Black And White, the gallery’s inaugural exhibition ñ flips the script on the racial and artistic implications of the term ìblack and white.î Its usage in the show’s title is not a reference to race, but a description of the graphic appearance of the works: black and white are the only colors in the pictorial (or structural) plain.

The exhibition features the work of 22 Black artists selected out of 110 total members, uniformly known as Collaborative Mavericks. Collaborative Mavericks was named by Kedem-DuBose, and is the creation of co-founders, artists Kedem-DuBose and Dana Todd Pope. The artists collective formed as a result of a group of visual artists who bonded during the Farragosto Beach Umbrella project hosted by Lacuna Artists Lofts, and Peroni Beer of Italy in 2013. The artists painted umbrellas were subsequently featured at a VIP attended reception at Chicago’s Oak Street Beach, though ironically, most artists in the group maintain a studio practice in communities pretty much under-the-radar of Chicago art denizens.

Surprisingly, Migrations in Black and White is not a show about race. It’s an appropriate assumption given the fact that it showcases black artists who live in black communities of Chicago, a city with an ugly racial past. Migrations transcends that past by focusing on a broad spectrum of aesthetic and compositional concerns.

4. “Escape” – the City as Studio – Cydney M. Lewis & Sara Dehghan

Elephant Room, Inc.
704 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60605

In conjunction with Chicago Artist’s Month, Elephant Room Gallery is excited to present “Escape” with artists Cydney M. Lewis and Sara Dehghan. “Escape” embraces the theme of “The City as Studio” as these artists repurpose found materials in order to create inspiring, sculptural works. The opening reception is on Friday, October 2nd from 6pm to 9pm and runs through November 7th.

For this exhibition, the gallery is transformed into a new environment through the abstract repurposing of the discarded. By plumbing the city for material and inspiration, Lewis & Dehghan change our experience of the everyday, giving the mundane a new reality. “Escape” is a reflection on the condition of waste: physical, social and emotional, we are asked to reconsider beauty in what is often ignored. Through the evolution of materials, the artists create a new environment, an imaginary place of hope.

“The materials used inhabit our streets as waste and are man made and contradictory. Useful, yet difficult to replace. Harmful, flexible, durable, and destructible, yet difficult to destroy. I want my work to help people think and reflect on their relationships with themselves, each other, the environment and their attitudes toward waste.” – Cydney M. Lewis

Elephant Room Gallery is located at 704 S Wabash Ave. in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago. Hours are Saturdays 11am to 5pm or by appointment. More information can be found on the gallery’s website: www.elephantroomgallery.com.

Saturday, October 3rd

5. Night of Illumination: Opening Celebration

6760 S Stony Island Ave, Chicago Il 60649

Please join us to celebrate the opening of the Stony Island Arts
Bank.

On October 3, 2015, we open our doors in celebration of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial and our first exhibition,
an installation by Portuguese artist Carlos Bunga.

The Stony Island Arts Bank is a new kind of cultural amenity, a repository of African American culture and history, and a laboratory for the next generation of artists and cultural leaders. Free and open to the public; please RSVP at http://night-of-illumination.eventbrite.com/  Please note that an RSVP on eventbrite or facebook will not guarantee access if the building has reached capacity

6. 3rd Annual International Shortcut 100 Film Festival 2015 (The Red Carpet)

Shortcut 100 Screening Room, 1629 N Halsted, Chicago, IL

Third time is a charm. Shortcut 100’s partners (Nebula Creatives, Key Concept, Lure Izakaya, and Macku Sushi) invite everyone to join us at this year’s festival reception (conveniently located right above Strings Ramen Shop in Lincoln Park) with COMPLIMENTARY Japanese tasting menu, wine and beer. The selected films have been announced.

The Program:
3 – 4pm : Red Carpet Reception with Tasting Menu and Wine
4:15 – 5:15pm : Film Screenings Part 1
Frankie (US/Italy) by Francesco Mazza
Lamby’s Day Out (US) by Jon Silver
Summer Triangle (Hong Kong) by Ng Mei Yu
The Two Rickies (US) by Juan Remirez
Comic Potential (IRELAND) by Ross Carey

5:15 – 5:30pm : Break

5:30 – 6:30pm : Film Screenings Part 2
Rabbitland (Serbia) by Ana Nedeljkovic, Nikola Majdak Jr.
Behind the Veil (Italy) by Niccolò Scavo
Nowhere (US) by I-Cheng Lee
The Stranger (Hong Kong) by Wong Ka-Ki
1440 and Counting (US) by Tony Gapastione

7 – 9pm : After party at LURE Izakaya (2925 N HALSTED)

Suggested Attire: Dress To Impress
Space is limited so please RSVP by email shortcut100FF@gmail.com

Sunday, October 4th

7. CAM Kickoff and Open House

Chicago Industrial Arts and Design Center
6433 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60626

As part of Chicago Artists Month schedule of events, the Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center will host the Rogers Park Arts Alliance Art Round Trip Kickoff Party and Open House!

The afternoon will feature artist talks by members of the Chicago Sculpture International, demonstrations in our Metalworking, Woodworking, Casting, and Technology Departments, live music by The New Switcheroo, and the Opening Reception to our Members Gallery exhibit, Architecture: Form and Feature, featuring works by Janet Austin, David Curry, Victoria Fuller, Emily McCormick, and Victor Nelson.

Self-guided maps will be available highlighting the other Art Round Trip venues throughout Rogers Park. Oh yes, and food + drinks!

~THE END~