CHICAGO} Visiting the historic Chicago Cultural Center? Have an interest in outsider art (and/or an open mind in general)? Then don’t miss a visit to the studios and gallery of Project Onward, a unique and fascinating surprise tucked away in the middle of the building’s ground floor. Here’s the description from their website:

“The mission of Project Onward is to support the creative growth of visual artists with mental and developmental disabilities. Project Onward provides studio space, art supplies, and professional guidance to emerging artists in a communal workshop environment. With the program’s support, Read more

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[AMSTELVEEN, Holland] Was lucky enough on a summer art sabbatical to Europe and the Middle East to visit the Cobra Museum, home of contemporary work by artists of the COBRA movement (from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam). Karel Appel is a favorite, so I was excited to be able to visit and learn more about this movement. A few highlights of the exhibits, and the facilities, can be found at my Flickr photo album.

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From the exhibit signage:

“The biggest source of inspiration for the Cobra artists were children’s drawings and the art of early cultures, in which the doing of something, or process, was more important than the final result. In this way, the artists established themselves in direct opposition to art theory.

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“The group grew quickly. Adherents of Cobra thought included not only painters, but sculptors and word-artists. And people worked together on projects; Read more

[Photo by Ron Reason]

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A surprise finale to a 4-week tour of Africa was being routed home on Air France, which allowed me to extend my layover in Paris. I only had a day, due to commitments back here in Chicago, but what a day it was. Finally got to visit the wonderful Centre Pompidou, and you can see highlights of what I liked here. Link here to another photo set, 24 Hours in Paris. Weather was fantastic – the first nice day in ages, I was told – and I look forward to returning this summer, for a longer stay!

Always love catching up with my pals at the M2 Studio in the Kibera slum while traveling through Nairobi, Kenya, and today was another great visit. (Such encounters are one of the upsides of having to put the Chicago gallery to sleep over the winter, as I focus on travels and photography pursuits.)

The M2 guys were excited about the prospect of procuring the deed to their studio. It’s a ramshackle, 2-story shack, basically, but it’s a wild explosion of colors and materials and spirit, and in my eyes, an amazing  anchor of life and hope in this little corner of the 1-million population Kibera.

They also showed more of their political portraits, including some fun new Obama stuff; talked about bursting at the seams with participating artists; and shared their excitement over an upcoming show in Nairobi. You can view a photo set of the artists and their current art here. You can see a previous set of photos here, from spring 2008.

within(Reason) is proud to have supported the M2 guys via donation to help them purchase the deed and make the home a permanent one. For information about seeing more of their art, procuring anything you might see here or in my albums, or sponsoring the studio, email me at any time, at ron@artwithinreason.com

Found stuff is often fun stuff. For more from the secret collection of oddball found art, go here.

Art should be fun. Art should be a 2-way street. Art should be ephemeral. Why not? These were motivations behind an installation in our exhibit, “Change Today. Change Tomorrow.”, featuring the work of Firebelly Design. Why limit the contemplation of change to just the artists on hand? Why not let everyone take a crack at the question, “what would YOU change?” In every show it’s cool to hang back and watch people ponder the art (or not), but in this case, you could watch them ponder and then PRODUCE. A myriad sentiments from silly to serious adorned a 6×20 foot stretch of craft paper by the end of the week. View more scenics of the installation, and closeups of some of the scrawled messages of personal change, at this Flickr photo gallery.  (Related: an album looks at the installation of the entire show, and closeups of other work by Firebelly.)

[Chicago] One of the down sides of owning a gallery in a fun neighborhood like Pilsen is that when open-house time comes around, you feel trapped in your space if you are hosting a show. Then around 8 o’clock, friends and strangers start pouring in and telling you about the great stuff they’ve seen, resulting in a terrible case of the FOMS (fear of missing something).

This month, during the Pilsen East Artist’s Open House weekend, I was lucky enough to have the crew from Firebelly design not only showing and selling their fine work in my space (raising money for arts programs in Pilsen schools), but manning the store most of the time as well. (Thanks guys!) This freed me up to spend a bit of time both Friday and Sunday, checking out the art, meeting the artists, and snapping photos. If you missed out or just want to see someone else’s impressions, here’s a link to my Flickr gallery of some random works that stood out.

[Chicago] “Change Today. Change Tomorrow.” A simple sentiment with a good heart – that was the theme offered up by Dawn Hancock for a group show at my gallery produced by her crew, the talented team at Firebelly Design in Humboldt Park in Chicago.Known for their award-winning web design and print work, the tight-knit collective of Firebelly’s artists, writers, designers and filmmakers have created work for the gallery as a way to promote change as participatory action. “We all want change because it helps us develop as people,” says Firebelly’s James Matthews. “It’s the everyday things – small changes for ourselves – that create positive change in the world around us.” Ranging from collage and graffiti to digital video and fabric arts, the show’s work will be sold to raise money for school arts programming in Pilsen, where the gallery and the burgeoning Chicago Arts District are located.

Links:

More on the show.
Learn about Firebelly and its commitment to social justice.
Flickr album of an interactive installation asking gallery visitors, “What would YOU change?”
Flickr album of work shown at this exhibition, and some of the installation process.

[Chicago] – So cool to see the connections made out of the gallery (physical and online) and into the “real world.” Check out the murals being painted by Andrew Skwish, who exhibited at within(Reason) in August 2008, on the doors of the Nettelhorst School in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. Check out the work he exhibited at the gallery show (including a few things remaining for sale).  Check out the rest of the beautiful surroundings of the Nettelhorst School, pretty much created by pupils or parents, or donated by community artists, in my Flickr gallery.

Good news – starting Oct. 1, 2008, you can help build a church library in Kenya! Even better – no expensive airfare required. No getting dirt under your fingernails. No sweat under the Africa sun. No huge outlay for your strapped holiday budget (unless you want).

Nope! Just contribute even a small amount toward the shipping of a heaping pile of books. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Struggling to think of a holiday gift for that person-with-everything? You can contribute in honor of a friend, loved one or co-worker and we’ll send them a handmade gift card announcing your thoughtfulness, shipping Dec. 1 (or really, anytime in the holiday season or beyond that you designate).

For more information and links about how to get started after Oct. 1, and the motivation behind our mission, visit this web page on our gallery site. Happy holidays!