Arts of Life in West Town in collaboration with Center on Halsted in Lakeview
Untitled
hanging mobile sculpture with blue paint, prints, and found objects
Participating Artists – Christianne Msall, Frances Roberts, Linda Ruzga, Eva Skye, Debbie Vasquez,
Marianne Wehr, Jean Wilson, Christina Zion
Teaching Artists – NIC Kay, Elyse Schauer, and Veronica Stein
We are women and genderqueer artists living throughout Chicago; from Rogers Park, west to Harlem, and south to 82nd street. We come together united by our love of art, desire to grow, and need for collaboration. Some of us are resident artists with The Arts of Life, where collaboration among persons of different abilities happens every day. For others, this project is a unique opportunity to work with a community of people who have different strengths and needs.
The 20 Neighborhoods Project has a goal of to uniting artists and communities from all over the city. Because Chicago is so segregated, there are many barriers to building community beyond one’s own family, neighborhood, and interest groups. 20 Neighborhoods highlights the intersections that exist between our communities, and the differences, to create lasting bonds.
We aim to express a similar concept in the creation of our mobile sculpture, which is a product of collaborative artistic process. Lake Michigan unites us all, hence our choice to use the color blue to unite the individual elements of our piece, which dangle, tangle, and orbit around each other like the communities we represent.
We are eager to see our mobile sculpture interact with the environment, especially when displayed with the other 20 Neighborhoods collaborations. This project has challenged us to be intentional, communicative, and broaden our experience of community and collaboration.