New paintings, drawings, photography, prints, videos, and collages demonstrate the intense study by over 20 teens participating in Hyde Park Art Center’s five teen programs: Writer’s Block, @rt+Tech Studio, Photo Studio, Youth Art Board and ArtShop. Under the supervision of artists, teens explore their creative voices as they develop artwork for the exhibition. The program gives youth access to free training in the visual arts and writing, assisting them in building their portfolios by providing open access to all the resources in our studios. Over the course of the 15-week program, teens work on self-directed art projects, receiving guidance, critique, and feedback from their artist mentors to produce exhibition-ready work. For Beyond the Mirror, teens focused their talents to create works addressing the politics of identity. What does it mean to be an activist? Privileged? a budding pop Culture critic? Or Black in America?
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.