Friday, October 26, 2007

closing reception and concert


Closing Reception "Among Saints, Survival, War, and a Russian Friend," a group show featuring David Fernández, Ricardo Santos Hernández, Salvador Jiménez, Rudolf Kolitkov, Marcos Raya, James Shrimpf, and Gabriel Villa.

The live music will be performed by LFT, a local band from Pilsen. The hours for the closing reception are from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. APO Building 3rd Floor

On the same evening, ska en español in the lower level of the APO Building. The bands include Enemigos de Pakita, Nahuales, Tambores de la Rebellion, and much more. This is an 18 and over concert. The concert starts at 9:00 and ends at 1:00am

Casa de la Cultura Carlos Cortez on tha main floor of the APO Building will be presenting a group show of mexican art.

APO(Pro Workers Association)
1438 w. 18th St
Pilsen Chicago, IL 60608

Environment Illinois Meeting


Environment Illinois Meeting
come join us!

Saturday October 27th at 5pm

EFEBOS CAFE
1640 S. Blue Island Ave
Pilsen Chicago 60608

for more info:
emily@environmentillinois.org

Mission:
We all want clean air, clean water and open spaces. But it takes independent research and tough-minded advocacy to win concrete results for our environment, especially when powerful interests stand in the way of environmental progress. That's the idea behind Environment Illinois. We focus exclusively on protecting Illinois' air, water and open spaces. We speak out and take action at the local, state and national levels to improve the quality of our environment and our lives.

Environment Illinois is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization. Our professional staff combines independent research, practical ideas and tough-minded advocacy to overcome the opposition of powerful special interests and win real results for Illinois' environment. Environment Illinois draws on 30 years of success in tackling our state's top environmental problem.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

This is for you...

not Pilsen but I'll be part of it.

-mc
-------



This is for you...

James Beckman
Holly Sabin
Stephen Shapiro
Kyra Termini
Miguel Cortez
Sarah Perez
Arielle Bielak
Marc Salha
Michael Una
Renee Prisble Una
Nikki Hollander
Blake Lewis


Saturday November 10 from 7pm-midnight
ONE NIGHT ONLY!!

Happy Dog Gallery

1542 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622

Friday, October 19, 2007

Migrants in Pilsen


Repertorio Latino Theater Company is initiating its fall season with a production of Migrants, based on the popular work The Uprooted by Mexican playwright Jose Humberto Robles.

The play is set in the 1950’s and tells the story of the Pacheco family who immigrates to the United States (Texas) from Mexico, fleeing from the social and political insecurity that plagued their country as a result of the Mexican Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century. But they pay a high price for the “security” they seek as they encounter a nation wrapped up in an imperial war that will kill several members of their family and convert their dreams into nightmares. They find themselves “living like a strange animal,” far from their home and immersed in a dominant culture that only values them as workers or soldiers for the war while treating them as second class citizens.


Migrants will run from Friday, October 26 through Sunday, November 17 of 2007 . Performances will take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 6:00 pm.


This timely play features the talent of Sarahy Knapp, Danilo Duran, Carmen Cenko, Freddy Cerrato, Angie Martinez and Jose Burgos, who is also the director.


There will be a suggested donation of $12 or $10 for students with valid identification.
For further information, please contact: Jose Burgos, Artistic Director Repertorio Latino Theater Company 312-415-0810

"GRACIAS POR APOYAR AL TALENTO LATINO!!!
"
-Repertorio Latino Theater Company


Opening night Friday October 26 @ 8pm


Meztli

556 West 18th Street
Pilsen Chicago, IL 60616

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Goin' Mobile

Goin’ Mobile

Out in the woods or in the city
It's all the same to me when I'm driving free
The world's my home
When I'm mobile
Going Mobile, The Who


Inspired by The Who song of the same name Goin’ Mobile is an on-the-road inspired traveling exhibition that investigates the literal sense of travel—point A to B, beginning to end, start to finish, back and forth, one way and dead ends—Goin’ Mobile ventures in every direction to guide the viewer on a trip to those familiar and unknown places along our traveled and explored routes.

Featured Artists:
Adam Blumberg (New York, NY)
Min-Tse Chen (Beijing, China)
Mark Hogensen (San Antonio, TX)
Michele Monseau (San Antonio, TX)
Tao Rey (Miami, FL)
Mark Schatz (Houston, TX)
Ethel Shipton (San Antonio, TX)


Curator:
Kimberly Aubuchon, Founder and Director, Unit B (Gallery), (San Antonio, TX)

Adam Blumberg’s photographic works explore travel by way of bicycle. Traveling back roads, Blumberg doesn’t take for granted the road less traveled. Min-Tse Chen’s drawings wander down roads and pathways that suggest no end but only a contemplation of what is. Mark Hogensen’s vibrant paintings are abstract views of rural roads and highways as architecture. Michele Monseau’s video walks you along a residential street passing by the passers by. Tao Rey’s street signs provide friendly reminders on the crowded highway known as life. Mark Schatz gives miniature sculptural examples of various routes via arranged childhood travels. Investigating the history of highway systems, Ethel Shipton’s wall sculptures entertain how these systems serve our needs and how motion dictates the shape of our landscapes.
Paying special attention to the driver’s seat view of landscapes in our daily and worldly travels, Goin’ Moblie is a memoir to places we expect to know.

Also this month's Mini-Exhibit: Amy Mall

Opening Friday November 16, 2007 from 6pm-9pm
November 16 – December 15, 2007

Polvo, www.polvo.org
1458 W. 18th St., 1R Chicago, IL 60608
773.344.1940
info(at)polvo.org

Friday, October 05, 2007

5th Annual - GRASSROOTS MEDIA FESTIVAL!

5th Annual - GRASSROOTS MEDIA FESTIVAL!
An outdoor celebration of Community, Culture and Alternative Media

Saturday, October 13th, 2007
4-11pm at the

Manuel Perez Plaza – 26th & Kolin, Chicago IL
(6 blocks west of Pulaski on South 26th Street in Little Village)

*Alternative Rain Location: 2657 S. Lawndale (West of Kedzie/ East of Pulaski) – ( the show must go on!)

The Grassroots Media Festival (GMF) is the combined effort of independent media producers, media organizations, artists, and those who appreciate the importance of independently produced media and diverse forms of cultural and community expression.

The 2007 Grassroots Media Festival will feature:
* Live Music & Cultural Performances
* Independent Video Documentaries
* Interactive Multimedia Arts Activities and Installations
* Information on local Independent media outlets and how to get involved!

GMF 2007 Schedule
4:00pm - Ng Family Martial Arts - (Chinese Kung Fu Martial Arts Demonstration)
4:30pm - A Flor de Piel - (Latin American Music)
5:00pm - Folkloric Dance - (Mexican Traditional Dance)
5:30pm - Matli - (Youth Contemporary Dance)
6:00pm - Fandanguero - (Son Jarocho Music)
7:00pm - Video Screening:
"Forgotten Revolt" by Video Machete
"Accept Us" by Community TV Network
"Global Issues" by Video Machete
"Breaking the Stereotypes" by Eli Whitney School

7:30pm - Crib Collective - ( Hip Hop Ensamble)
8:00pm - Video Screening:
"American Madness" by Keeping it Real Productions
"Fading Away" by Community TV Network
"People Think" by Eli Whitney School
"Broken Voices" by Free Spirit Media

8:30pm - Ramon Marino - (Trova Music)
9:00pm - Video Screening:
"Beginning of a better life" by Video Machete
"Primavera del Inmigrante" by En el Ojo productions

9:30pm - Gangadoppler - (Ska/ Punk Music)
10:00pm - Video Screening:
"Doing it – Sex, Disability and Videotape" by Beyondmedia

10:30pm - Palomazo - (Video images inspire a live music performance)
11:00pm - Closing


*Donations accepted but not required. All proceeds from the GMF are granted, via a micro grant, to support cultural or multimedia related community workshops.

For more information or to learn about the many ways you can contribute to the Grassroots Media Festival contact the Planning Committee via phone at 773.988.2252 or via email at alixmaria@yahoo.com.

PEDAGOGO, The Teaching Artists of Yollocalli Arts Reach


YOLLOCALLI ARTS REACH
A youth initiative of the National Museum of Mexican Art
1401 W. 18TH Street
Chicago IL 60608

www.yollocalli.org


PEDAGOGO, The Teaching Artists of Yollocalli Arts Reach

Reception: Friday, October 12, 2007, 6:00- 9:00PM
October 13 and 14 2007, 11:00AM-6PM

This event is part of 18TH Street Pilsen Open Studios and promoted through Chicago Artists Month “Creative Alliances” October 2007. This exhibition features the work of Yollocalli Teaching Artists celebrating the creative individuals and collaborative forces that assist, inspire and mentor students at Yollocalli Arts Reach.

Featuring works by:
Alejandro Medina
Rahmaam “Statik” Barnes
Ricardo Santos Hernandez
Maria Gaspar
Rachel Perrine
Vanessa Sanchez
Juan Carlos Macias
Antonio Martinez
Max Reinhardt
Jose Luis Gutierrez
Leo Ruiz
Gabriel Villa
Monica Cruz

LATINO INTERNATIONAL ARTIST OPEN THEIR STUDIOS:



18th St: Pilsen Open Studios
Saturday and Sunday Oct 13-14, 2007
from 11am-7pm


37 Spaces, 60 plus artists, 18th Street to Cermak Rd., Western to Racine

18th STREET, PILSEN – On October 13th and 14th artists from the Heart of Pilsen will open their doors to the public in the 18th St. Pilsen Open Studios, the largest opening of Latino/a International artists’ studios in the city of Chicago.

The weekend event features 37 spaces-most of them private studios-and more than 60 artists. Dozen of artists who grew up in the area or have lived and worked for years in the community will participate. Neighborhood cafes and community art spaces are also showing work from artists who have connection and participate in the neighborhood.

Participating artists include well-known painters, muralists, sculptors, performers, installation artists and printmakers as well as emerging artists.

Pilsen has long been known for its murals and culture and dozens of artists’ studios and homes are scattered throughout the Latin American and Mexican/Mexican–American neighborhood. This is the sixth year Pilsen artists have opened their studios.

The weekend represents an opportunity to get insight into the art, the artists and a closer glimpse to the process of creating works of art. During the weekend of the 13th and 14th interested individuals will have the opportunity to share a unique experience with the artist(s), ask questions and discuss ideas. The space where art is created has a doorway to the past while the artists create in present time. To Gabriel Villa, an oil painter and participating artist, “You get to see how an artist really works-you’re in the environment. You get to see how an artist think”.

There will be a free bus provided by LATINO EXPRESS between studios all day Saturday and Sunday.

Participating Artists Include:

POLVO shows cutting-edge and contemporary art, run. This year artists participating are Harold Mendez, Brandon Alvendia, and Derek Chan. 773.344-1940.

Visual artist, MARK NELSON, will exhibit a workshop of mysterious political-parody paintings, sculpture and artifacts dealing with current events. He has received several Fellowship Awards from the Illinois Arts Council. This past summer the State Department purchased a mural from Nelson which was installed at the new U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Panama as part of their permanent collection..

MONTSERRAT ALSINA born in Venezuela and has been making art in Chicago since 1985 when she came to the School of the Art institute of Chicago where she attended the Masters program in Performance. She is a multi-disciplinary artist whose works include drawings, paintings, prints, installations and performance. The Aztec Culture and traditions of the native people of the earth in all the Americas and around the world play a big role in her life. She has practice the Aztec tradition for the last 15 years. She also explores the role of woman throughout the ages in her series called “The Re-awakening of the Goddess”, and her earth installations express her concerns with socio-political issues in the world. She will be showing her surrealistic expressionistic landscapes and a new series of paintings based on endangered species at her studio/gallery Colibri. 312.733-8431

ROBERTO FERREYRA He studied at the School of Fine Arts “La Esmeralda”, in Mexico City. He has a long list of solo and group exhibits in Mexico, Canada, Cuba, U.S.A., and other countries. He has been a professional artist since 1978. Ferreyra came to Chicago in 1993 for the first time invited by Urban Gateways and later in 1995 through the Sister Cities International Program when he decides to make Chicago his permanent residence. His works are like life codexes, images influence by his Mexican heritage with strong colors, characters, stories, almost taken from a dream. He prefers watercolors but his draftsmanship is outstanding, and is an accomplished printmaker.

FRANCISCO MENDOZA has been the lead artist on many of the neighborhood mosaic murals including the Virgin of Guadalupe mural outside the 18th Street train stop and the murals outside the new Orozco School on 18th and Damen. He has been working on a mosaic for the Irving Art Center. Showing in his studio at APO and at Café Duvall. 773.890.1433

JEFF ABBEY MALDONADO will present a series of paintings that “combine contemporary female figures in an interior or exterior settings with hints of magic, mystery and menace.” 312.498.2669

ANTONIO MARTINEZ will exhibit at the Yollocalli Arts Reach his narrative style paintings that are inspired from various human relationships, commonly rooted in the world of everyday, where beauty plays an important role.733.501.6298

GABRIEL VILLA a painter and printmaker presents works of art that isolate an idea giving each painting an individual object, challenging the viewer to participate. 312.829.
5117

Recognized Chicago spray-paint artist RAHMAAN “STATIK” BARNES has a number of murals in the area and shows his oil paintings and spray works. 773-454.0233

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND MAP OF THE STUDIOS PLEASE VISIT: www.pilsenopenstudios.com

TRANSPORTATION: CTA 54/CERMAK BLUE LINE, exit at 18th street, Damen and Western.

DOWNLOAD POSTER
DOWNLOAD MAP


Monday, October 01, 2007

No better, no worse, no change


No better, no worse, no change
Harold Mendez


Also this month:
Mini-exhibit: Brandon Alvendia and Derek Chan

Opening Friday October 12 from 6pm-10pm

October 12 - November 10, 2007

Taking the notion that silence is an expression of something, Harold Mendez presents No better, no worse, no change, his second solo show at Polvo. Mendez´ large drawings and sculptures depicting barren landscapes, conflicted sites and borders circumscribe space into place by searching politically charged sites with significant histories as they address conventions of place and humanity where something has seemed to occur.

Sifting through the everyday, politics, literature and criticism, Mendez forges iconic forms and spaces into a socially familiar here and now. With references to past events, using memory and photography’s ability to index history, he employs stark and haunting compositions; open to interpretation, delicately juxtaposing disparate media including black silicon carbide, marking chalk, popcorn, natural dyes, reflective beads and other transient materials.

A serenely muted river, central to the exhibition, offers little or no recognizable evidence of either historical incidents or recent conflict. Hinting towards the sublime, Mendez´ fossilized sculpture Winter in America leads us to bring our collective knowledge and experiences between place and loaded landscape with human experience to find emptiness of an exposed history. A drawing of an eroded interior with a window reflects the sentiment that something has occurred, and nothing has occurred, nothing at all.

Gloom and beauty make recognition difficult.

Harold Mendez received his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007. He recently exhibited with Western Exhibitions in a two-person show and will be participating in Consuming War, an upcoming group exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center in November. He's been included in group shows at the Commerce Street Warehouse in Houston, vuspace in Australia, the University of North Umbria in the United Kingdom and the University of Science & Technology in Ghana, West Africa.

Brandon Alvendia and Derek Chan’s first collaborative project will consist of a sculptural installation investigating the sites of contestation inherent in spaces of heterogeneous populations. Questioning the promises offered by the developing built environment, Chan and Alvendia locate a moment in the cycle of renewal, stasis, and decay.

Brandon Alvendia completed his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007. Since 2004, under the guise of artLedge, Alvendia along with co-curator Caleb Lyons has facilitated the work of upwards of 150 emerging and established Chicago artists, in venues both nationally and abroad. He is currently planning an independent curatorial venture entitled Peso Neto that will be exhibited overseas at Quartair Contemporary Art Initiative, The Hague. He was recently appointed to sit on the advisory board of the Chicago public art initiative Hammer and Chisel. Alvendia’s own practice is concerned with the relationship of the individual to material and societal architectures.

Derek Chan recently received his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007. Challenging the conventions of representation and abstraction Chan's paintings investigate the constructs of place as tied to the self. He has been included in group exhibitions in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Polvo, www.polvo.org
1458 W. 18th St., 1R (entrance on Laflin St.)
Chicago, IL 60608
773.344.1940

The Little Village Arts Fest

The Little Village Arts Fest is back!
October 12-14th
12-8pm

* More spaces to check out
* The Grassroots Media Fest is part of this year's Fest
* Art workshops, performaces, photography, painting, sculpture and much more...

ALL THE EXHIBITS, PERFORMANCES, WORKSHOPS ARE FREE!!!

For more info please visit www.lvcdc.org/artsfest or e-mail analia@lvcdc.org

The Little Village Arts Fest is presented by the Little Village Community Development Corporation.