Art=Ammo joins families in protest against gun violence in Chicago
Mothers of young victims affected by gun violence, along with Art=Ammo (Artists Against Gun Violence) came together in the Chicago downtown area to honor their loved ones during a silent demonstration in April. The group created an artistic display in an effort to protest gun violence in the city underneath the Picasso display outside of the Daley Center [...]
Latino theater company works to combat stereotypes
Twenty young adults stood in a circle smiling and laughing about their favorite toppings on hamburgers one late Friday afternoon, the regular routine for students in Latinos Progresando’s Teatro Americano after school program. Teachers Luis Crespo, 34, and Emmanuel Gutierrez, 23, both bring years of experience and expertise to Latinos Progresando‘s theater program, which aims to teach young Latinos how to perform stories that express [...]
Calling all zinesters, readers, and writers to Chicago Zinefest 2013
Chicago Zinefest starts on Friday. According to the Zinesters at Chicago Zinefest, ”A zine (an abbreviation of the word fanzine, or magazine; pronounced “zeen”) is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images.” Chicago has been home to Zinefest for several years. The official site describes ”The Chicago Zine Fest is an [...]
Yo-Yo Ma serenades Swift Elementary Specialty School community
Grammy award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed for students at Swift Elementary Specialty School in Edgewater on Monday morning to encourage education through music. Hundreds of students, faculty and parents got to see and hear Ma perform. Ma captivated his young audience using sound and imagination.
Hack Like a Woman
When you open the door of the Pumping Station 1 (PS1) at 3915 N. Elston you enter one of Chicago’s hackerspaces. Anything might be going on there, but on a recent Saturday, the work tables on the 2nd floor were shoulder to shoulder with members of Chicago Women Developers on hand for a session called “eTextiles using Arduino.” [...]
Columbia professor followed Superman into journalism
Before he became a journalist, and long before he became a professor at Columbia College Chicago, Len Strazewskiwas reading and writing comic books. Strazewski, who is an associate professor in Columbia’s journalism department, estimates he has written between 160 and 200 comic books and collaborated with dozens of artists. A small fraction of that work [...]
In the company of comic books
On Thursday Feb 14, Columbia College Chicago will host the opening reception for “Five Collaborations,” an exhibit showcasing the work of Columbia professor and comic book writer Len Strazewski. As the name implies, the exhibit will feature the work Strazewski has done with five different comic illustrators. It will run until March 29. Strazewski has [...]
The Seldoms: Ten years of dancing in the windy city
2012 marked the 10 year anniversary for The Seldoms, a small contemporary dance theater company based in Chicago. In their decade working in the city, artistic director Carrie Hanson and her band of loyal dancers have diligently sustained the relevance of their art in the windy city. The Seldoms, a non-profit company, labels itself as [...]
Critical Mass Polka Ride
This coming Friday, January 25th, Critical Mass is doing a Polka Ride. Assemble at 5:30 p.m. start riding around 6:00 p.m. but remember that you can’t take a bike on the Brown Line from Albany Park between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. because of Rush Hour restrictions. You can get on before 4 p.m. or [...]
Video: Aztec dreams on Pilsen’s walls
Murals are a Mexican art form. In Mexico, they were part of public art in state buildings. In Chicago, the art form continues, transformed by conditions today, and the messages the artists want to convey. Chicago murals are created outside, on walls around Pilsen. Shot and edited by Mathew Cunningham Music ”Aztec Dreaming” by Andrew [...]
ZAMRIE does fashion for (storm) relief
The cute ivory skirt with a blue, red, and gold plaid print and tempting “on sale” tag, could be dressed up or down, and Ashley Zygmunt, the creative mind behind the maker of the skirt, Chicago label ZAMRIE, exclaims, “nobody understands that skirt! Only an editor at Vogue really got it.” For her Fall 2012 [...]
‘Blues Session’ at Buddy Guy’s offered for student musicians
Next month, noted blues musician, educator and scholar, Fernando Jones will present Blues Session at Buddy Guy’s Legends, 700 S. Wabash Ave. Blues Session is a three hour blues training camp for musicians between 11- and 14 years old, and will be capped off by a rare solo show by Jones. The Blues Session is [...]
Artist Turns Passion, Hobby into a Business
When Nora Nieves was a 13-year-old girl in Puerto Rico, she started making handmade jewelry with seeds. As she grew older, even though she continued to make necklaces, she considered her passion for jewelry to be just a hobby and not a profession. Nieves went to the Escuela de Artes Plásticas en Puerto Rico to [...]
The Curse of the Billy Goat: Fact or Fiction?
Thousands of fans poured into Wrigley Field on Oct. 6, 1945 to watch their beloved Cubs play in game four of the World Series. Also in attendance that day was a goat. On that chilly day 67 years ago an attendee, William Sianis, was asked to leave the stadium because he brought a goat with [...]
Graffiti removal in Wicker Park tagged in more ways than one
The Wicker Park-Bucktown neighborhood is finding faster ways to alleviate masses of graffiti missed by the city’s new Graffiti Blaster program, which community leaders say is too slow to effectively combat tagging in the area. “Since the city has cut back some of these services, we’ve been looking for other ways, so the graffiti doesn’t get [...]
Chicago’s Multifaceted Artist: Darryl “Lil Man” Howell
Darryl “Lil’ Man” Howell, 24, Chicago-born drummer started playing the drums at the age of 4 with the children’s choir at his church. “The beginning of playing drums for me was God given,” said Howell. Growing up around music, Howell‘s passion for the drums grew. By 17, he had decided to make his passion his [...]
Stella Blue Designs Boutique
Angela Gianfrancesco, executive designer and owner of Stella Blue Designs, says she used to play with her grandmother’s jewelry tower while growing up in St. Louis. She recalls coming upon a box of jewelry a neighbor had thrown away and finding a spinning ballerina surrounded by piles of shiny jewelry. “One man’s trash is another [...]
Haute Tech Brings Science Fiction into Fashion
Is there any room for fashion in technology and can technology be fashionable? Thanks to movies such as “Revenge of the Nerds,” a certain stigma is attached to the word technology that instantly evokes an image of flooded trousers, pocket protectors and intense glasses frames. The current “hipster” trend does a wonderful job recreating Robert [...]
