ArtShop invests in teens particularly talented and interested in the visual arts by providing hands-on training, guidance in developing a portfolio, mentorship from a working artist, assistance with college applications, and involvement in the broader Art Center community. Under the supervision of artists Lee Blalock and James Jankowiak, teens explore their creative voices as they create new drawings, photography, prints, and collage for the exhibition.
New drawings, photography, prints, and collages demonstrate the intense study by teens participating in Hyde Park Art Center’s in-house arts mentorship program, ArtShop. The program gives youth access to free training in the visual arts, assisting them in building their portfolios by providing open access to all the resources in our studios. Over the course of the program, teens work on individual, self-directed art projects, receiving guidance, critique, and feedback from their artist mentors to produce exhibition-ready work. Through outreach programs like ArtShop and their focus on our surrounding community on Chicago’s south side, Hyde Park Art Center works to ensure that our city’s future artists and cultural leaders have a support system, equitable access to opportunities and resources within the arts, and are representative of the rich diversity that makes our city great.