Get to know the HPAC crew: Michelle Beckett!
Today we bring you HPAC’s lovable Studio Manager, Michelle Beckett!
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Get to know the HPAC crew: Colleen Coyne
Today, learn a thing or two about HPAC’s Communications and Events Manager, Colleen Coyne! Stay tuned for more HPAC staff profiles.
Get to know the HPAC crew: Allison Peters!
Enjoy the next installment of our series on the great staff at HPAC. Today’s featured staff memeber is Allison Peters, Director of Exhibitions!
Get to know the HPAC crew: Blake Bradford!
Get to know more about your favorite staff members at the Hyde Park Art Center. Every few days or so there will be a new entry on another one of the great HPAC team. Find out everything from where they went to school to what their favorite part of working at HPAC is. Check back often and learn something new about the friendly folks at the Hyde Park Art Center! We’d love to hear your thoughts and any further questions you may have so please post comments on the blog entries!
This week, meet our Director of Education, Blake Bradford!
An Introduction
If you visit the Hyde Park Art Center within the next month, you’re bound to see a new face around. That face belongs to me! My name is Hillary, I’m a senior at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School and I will be volunteering at HPAC from May 12th to June 6th. Fortunately for us seniors, Lab offers us the option to go on what is called “May Project” and do something meaningful in our last weeks as high schoolers instead of learning in the conventional classroom environment. I have been making art since I was a child and I fully intend for it to play a significant role in my adult life in some way. Because of my love for art, it was only logical for me to see what I could do to help around the Art Center while also learning about how it functions. I will be interacting with staff in all the various departments at HPAC and doing everything from simple, everyday tasks that must get done, to assisting in a children’s class, to more significant projects. By the end of my time here I hope to have gained a well-rounded understanding of just how much it takes to run a successful and thriving community center like HPAC.
A Special Mother's Day Second Sunday
Despite the rain yesterday, lots of families came out for a fun and exciting Second Sunday. Amanda Innis encouraged everyone to accessorize their refrigerators by making some colorful magnets while next door people made Georgia O’Keefe inspired drawings. In Studio 2 parents and kids made wish collages out of origami paper and then hung their wishes on a wishing tree. People wished for a wide array of things from world peace to super hero powers. On top of that, HPAC helped wish mothers a Happy Mother’s Day by giving out beautiful tulips. What better way to spend Mother’s Day than with art and flowers at the Hyde Park Art Center!
Chuck and Bruce become radio stars in New Zealand!
Chuck and Bruce will be talking about the Close Encounters project on Radio New Zealand this weekend!
The interview is available on the Radio New Zealand website for anyone to listen to: Click here to listen / download the clip or go to http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/programmes/artsonsunday and click on the Close Encounters link.
Check it out - find out more about the project - laugh at New Zealand accents!
Chicago Underground Railroad???
Naomi Davis and Martha Boyd from the group C/CURE (Chicago/Calumet Underground Railroad Effort) shared their thoughts on Monday about historical preservation, sustainability and urban development. C/CURE’s mission is to aid the development of the Riverdale area (located at the southernmost city limit on the Calumet River) by using a historical Underground Railroad site, the John Ton farm, as a basis for boosting tourism initiatives and economic growth. The organization wants to develop the area holistically with consideration for the area’s social and cultural diversity while keeping in mind sustainability and green initiatives. These initiatives require a great deal of support, both politically and financially, and C/CURE is in the process of spreading the word to both politicians and the general population. Great conversation arose from the talk, and centered on development trends in the city of Chicago and the importance Underground Railroad heritage. Naomi and Martha are not artists per se, but their work has great cultural significance. In the end the question arose “How can artists play a part in this effort?”
New Zealand invades Hyde Park
Image: Wayne Youle, 12 Shades of bullshit, 2003, laser cut acrylic and spray paint, 23 × 55 inches
If you encounter any people wandering around Hyde Park looking lost and talking with strange accents, introduce yourself - they might be the New Zealanders from the Hyde Park Art Center!
The Hyde Park Art Center is playing host to 6 New Zealanders: 4 artists and 2 Maori representatives, who will be arriving in the next week for Close Encounters, a project that will result in a 2009-10 exhibition at the Center. The New Zealanders will be joined by 4 US artists who are also involved in the project.
The group are converging for a hui (traditional Maori meeting) that will be held at the Maori meeting house at the Field Museum. They will be discussing some big issues - race relations, development of communities, and the relationships in social groups.
Bruce E. Phillips, who is co-curating the project with HPAC director Chuck Thurow, arrived in April with his partner Fiona Moorhead. Bruce may be familiar to HPAC regulars - he had a curatorial residency here last year. Bruce and Fiona have been busy organizing the upcoming events.
Wayne Youle, one of the New Zealand artists, arrived on Tuesday night. He’s busy soaking up Chicago atmosphere and is looking forward to going to a baseball game on Friday night!
Have a look here at the HPAC exhibition page for a description of the project and more information about the artists.