Where Art Works: Artist Communities and Creative Placemaking
The artists on view in “Where Art Works,” include Nelson Armour, Doug Birkenheuer, Sara Boyle, Katherine Drake-Chial, Doug Frohman, Beth Kahmi, Jason Messinger, James Parenti, Madeline Shea, Tiphanie Spencer, Tiffany Stronsky, Kevin Swallow, Sharon Swidler, Kathryn Trumbull Fimreite, Kathy Weaver, and Eric Weinstein. Working in a range of mediums, and at different points in their careers, this group show highlights the importance of supporting working artists through affordable studio space and professional community.
In addition to maintaining their private art practices at The Cornelia Arts Building, each of these artists participates in the larger Chicago community through teaching, public art projects, lectures, coordinating group exhibitions and art experiences, open studio events, and other professional creative practices. Being an artist requires entrepreneurial skills but, unlike operating a small business, commercial activity is not the end goal in the studio. Rather, the artist’s studio is a third place -- a space to experiment and discover, to envision the future, and to manifest connections.
According to 2020 data, approximately 70,000 artists live and work in Illinois, contributing to the development of a diverse cultural experience for residents and tourists. These individual artists and groups form a network of tributaries that feed our creative economy, provide jobs, sustain local businesses and make the city a desirable place to live and work.
The Cornelia Arts Building has provided studio space for working artists to develop their work since 1986. Since 2010, The Cornelia Arts Building has become renowned for hosting festive, quarterly open houses, providing neighbors a chance to explore working artist studios and to meet artists in an informal atmosphere. They also offer exhibition space for guest artists during these events, allowing emerging artists to expand their audiences and gain professional experience. Visitors can see studio work in progress, learn about the artist's processes, and connect to their own neighborhood on a deeper level. This creative placemaking has emerged organically through the efforts of a core group of building artists and has made the Cornelia Arts Building a Northside anchor.
Eat Paint Studio is located at 5036 N Lincoln Ave in the Lincoln Avenue North Arts District (LANA), close to public transportation and metered parking. Chicago artist Emily Rapport opened the gallery in 2018 with an aim toward combining her studio practice with a public exhibit space. The gallery mission is to engage people in the art-making process and, through exhibitions in its storefront gallery, to integrate art into daily lived experience.
Where Art Works:
