Nathan Peck Tenure Dossier: Service

Evidence of SERVICE

TABLE OF CONTENT

4.1 My Approach to Service

4.2 Service to the Art & Design Department Macintosh Computer Lab Senior Seminar Information Projects Moving the Department Student Clubs Sponsor

4.3 Service to the University / College of Art & Design University Committees Service Courses Outreach - Exhibitions Bronzeville Genesis - Political Science Arts of Science - Biology Department

4.4 Service to the Discipline Introduction Chicago Art Department - Zoom Perspective Pilot Program - LoveIt or Leave It Second Term - Man vs Machine Visititing Artist Series - CAD-TV Learning the Art of Teaching Big or Small Exhibition - Curation Pilsen Gallery 501(c)(3)- free classes Press

4

81014182630

444646507074

788084889496

104106108110116122

4 SERVICE ESSAY

4.1

5SERVICE ESSAY

I think that there are several ways to analyze service. This book, per request, is divided into service to the department, university

and discipline. For this essay I would like to look at service in a slightly different way. I think that there are three distinct phases that many instructors go through during their time at this or any institution. These include maintenance, analysis, and leadership. By examining service in this way we can see not only who is served but also why or how they are being served.

I grew up in a small town. My father served for many years as volunteer fire fighters. It is neces-sary that men and woman answer the call, suit up, and battle the blaze every time the fire bell rings. It is equally important that all members of the organization scrutinize the successes and failures of every call that they respond to. Care-ful examination of each fire provides lessons for the next call. As each firefighter gains more experience they can share that with the new recruits, preventing a repeat of any avoidable accident. When it becomes clear that certain lessons should be translated into laws govern-ing firefighting behavior it falls to the fire chiefs to institute regulations and provide training opportunities to slightly or completely change the traditions. Some of these changes are

cumbersome at first, or perhaps more difficult than the way that they are used to acting, but they save lives. This combination of maintaining the traditions, examination of procedure and leadership to change ineffective practice serves both the firefighters and the community that they protect.

My mother performed very similar services to both the Red Cross and the Catholic Church. These service role models helped me see that it is important to first understand the organization or community that you serve before you can proceed to evolving it.

Although my rols at Saint Xavier University does not serve to save lives or souls I might be saving their future career of a student by evolv-ing the processes and information that they study. When I entered Saint Xavier University I had a wealth of experience as an artist and some experience as an art educator. As I have traversed the past seven years I have learned the complicated process of teaching and evaluat-ing artists and their art. I have seen systems in place that function very well and need only be maintained, things that need minor changes and other practice that requires an entirely new approach.

MY APPROACH TO SERVICE

6 SERVICE ESSAY

MAINTENANCE

When I was hired to teach at SXU I immediately was pressed into ser-vice maintaining the computer lab

that serves our entire department. Although the machines were a bit out of date and lacking im-portant hardware and software I did not insist that we overhaul the entire system immediately. I needed more information before I could make sweeping changes. As our program ballooned following a shift to Art & Design, it became nec-essary to reassess the situation and eventually make necessary changes. Along with hardware and software improvements we added a much needed laboratory technician. I suggested that the technician be hired from our pool of gradu-ating seniors, (recruits that we had trained that already has a basic understanding of our situa-tion).

I was also asked to maintain the tradition of sev-eral of our student organizations. In the case of Opus the traditions is clear and has a record of previous editions to reference and learn from. After two years of maintaining this organization I have begun evaluating and evolving it to better serve its constituency. Spectrum, on the other hand, had very little visible tradition to work with. In this case I had to work with students to establish its role from the beginning. My roles in department and university committees have had similar variables.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

After the completion of my first four years I watched the freshmen that started with me graduate. I had formed strong creative relationships with many of these students

and was able to speak very frankly with them about our program. On one occasion four recent graduates and I sat at a White Sox game and discussed our department between innings. Along with fond memories there were a handful of concerns. Students felt that there were a few things that our program could work on. Among their concerns were a lack of exhibition opportunities, inadequate studio space and less community among Art Majors than other programs. I had to agree with many of their observations. Several of these concerns had been raised in department meetings. We were not sure how to change these things but I decided to begin looking for solutions.

Over this same period of time I had also participated several con-secutive portfolio reviews. It became clear that our portfolio ex-pectations were not being met. The quality of portfolios ranged from adequate to unacceptable. Attempts at leading portfolio workshops and unofficial critique sessions yielded little improve-ment. Knowing that the portfolio is an artist’s primary credential and currency, I felt it necessary to change our underlying ap-proach.

Not long before that I had also begun working with a group of art professors at my downtown studio. We had many late night con-versations about teaching strategies, grading, and issues specific to the types of universities that we taught at. Through a series of visits to their institutions, and exploring their syllabi I was able to see strategies that could be employed not only in my classroom but also in the broader department.

These conversations and the years spent studying our program lead me to a few conclusions. There was a necessity for clearer communication, more exhibition opportunities, greater access to studios, and the need to overhaul our portfolio process.

7SERVICE ESSAY

LEADERSHIP

I chose to lead the charge toward clear com-munication of our expectations. I believe that transparency in this area is critical. In

their first semester students should be intro-duced to all significant deadlines and protocol in order to avoid snags along their way. If they are told what is expected and choose not to de-liver it is their fault. If they are never told it is our fault. We were making too many exceptions to our rules because of poor communication of our expectations. I worked with our department and chair to clarify the process. Once I understood the expectations I could communicate it to stu-dents in a variety of different ways.

Another key leadership role that I took also dealt with communication but specifically in the area of portfolio expectations. This time it wasn’t clarifying deadlines but being explicit as to what was to be delivered. I wanted to fundamentally change our process of teaching the portfolio. The Major Seminar is designed to flip our sys-tem. Instead of teaching portfolio fundamentals on the way out of our program, in Senior Semi-nar, we would teach it on the way in, in the first semester. This allows students to compose and maintain a portfolio throughout their years at SXU and understand that it is instrumental to their success in any art related career. Beyond that, the Major Seminar also functions to evolve the program by creating unity among it’s mem-bers. Students not only learn the portfolio, they meet the faculty through their portfolios, other students through peer interaction, and meet the Chicago art institutions through group trips. In short, they learn how to be community minded artist. These important lessons can be used in all future classes and ultimately their career.

I have also decided to spearhead an initiative to bring students to the art scenes that have been so significant to my advancement as an artist in Chicago. The Chi-cago Art Department (CAD) functions in two ways. First it introduces artists and students from all over the city to the gallery and second it provides students with resources such as tools, space and collabora-tors. By providing access to these things, CAD serves perhaps the greatest needs of young artists. Without these invaluable resources too many art students have a difficult time sustaining their practice after gradu-ation. SXU students have taken part in CAD for aca-demic credit (as independent study), and as an ex-tracurricular activity both while attending SXU and after graduation. Several SXU students have had their first solo exhibit in the CAD gallery and / or sold their first artworks their.

I have also brought several of the CAD strategies and principles back to SXU. Large-scale, theme driven exhibits have become an annual occurrence under my leadership and hundreds of friends, parents and community members have visited campus because of them.

As we look forward to our move off campus I see many opportunities to lead. It will be necessary to communicate our plans with students and get them involved in the process. We must redesign many fac-ets of our program to fit in this new space. We must create opportunities for the rest of SXU and our new Spaulding Street neighbors to see what we are doing and become involved. All members of our depart-ment will be pressed into extra service in the next few years. I think that my fundamental understanding of our program, unique skills as a community arts orga-nizer, communicator, curator and curriculum devel-oper will significantly facilitate this process.

8 SERVICE TO THE DEPARTMENT

4.2

9SERVICE TO THE DEPARTMENT

SERVICE to theDEPARTMENTof Art & Design

MACINTOSH COMPUTER LAB - page 10 Preparation / Lab Monitors 2002 to 2005 Troubleshooting / Maintenance 2002 to present

SENIOR SEMINAR - page 14 Critiques 2002 - Present Summer Proof 2005 - Present

COMMUNICATION - page 18 Major Print Projects 2002 - Present Web Versions 1 & 2 2003 and 2006

MOVING THE DEPARTMENT - page 26 2008 STUDENT CLUB SPONSOR - page 30 Spectrum Art Club 2002 to Present Scribble TV (formerly SXU-TV) 2004 to Present Opus Literary Magazine 2006 to Present



Preparation / Troubleshooting / Maintenance

When I arrived at SXU the job of main-taining the department’s 18-seat computer lab was Monte Gerlach’s

responsibility. Although I started out as a half time instructor, it was still understood that I would take on a portion of this daunting task. Between every class the lab requires some level of troubleshooting. Almost every moment that I spend at Saint Xavier, I am either teaching or troubleshooting.

The SXU Art & Design Department uses Macin-tosh computers. This is because all professional art & design firms use them. The regular SXU computer technicians that specialize in PC’s do not usually have many Macintosh answers. Therefore, Monte Gerlach and myself have be-come the people that all campus Macintosh questions come to.

SERVICE TO THE DEPARTMENT

Art &DesignMacintosh ComputerLab


When I became a full time instructor, I took on even more responsibility. Among these respon-sibilities were hiring and training lab technicians and ordering replacement equipment.

At the end of every fall term, we spend a week or so repairing and preparing the lab for the next semester. At the end of every school year, we spend two weeks completely overhauling the computer lab. The tasks involved are: operating system upgrading or reinstallation, 10 software packages updates or reinstallation, hardware repair, network maintenance, printer and print server update, and maintenance.

L-120 LAB 2001 - 2006


For the two of us, this is a fairly manageable sec-ond job. But in the fall of 2004, when Monte took his sabbatical, I was suddenly responsible for the entire job: preparation, maintenance and hiring / monitoring lab technicians.

Finally, in the fall of 2005, we hired a half-time lab technician. Although their role is to serve all of the department’s 7 studios, they often spend a good deal of time in the computer lab. This has relieved me of a great deal of the day to day responsibilities in the lab but still requires me to be an expert troubleshooter, as my classes sel-dom meet when the technician is on campus.

L-116 LAB 2006 - Present



Critiques / Portfolios / Summer Proof

Every member of our department has their specialty. During our Senior Seminar critiques, both the students and faculty

often direct questions to the faculty members that can offer the most informed opinion on the direction of their project. My area of expertise is in the area of time-based art (performance, video and animation). Although our Senior Seminar is not part of my course load, it is un-derstood that I will lend my expertise to our se-nior students in a number of different ways. The quarterly critiques, portfolio reviews and one-on-one tutorials are just a few.


Art &DesignSENIORSEMINAR


Over the past several years, I have also worked with students independently to develop ‘last chance’ alternatives for graduation from

the Senior Seminar. In the case of two senior semi-nar drawing students, the fast paced public drawing workshops that I set up introduced them to alterna-tive approaches to their media, a fuller understand-ing of long term concept and style development and a more sophisticated use of their tools. This ‘inter-vention’ provided them with a broader sense of their media and much more sophisticated final projects.

Part of our department’s annual Senior Seminar port-folio review also involves working with students inde-pendently, especially those who propose projects that seem beyond their reach. We advise these students to either reconsider the depth or breadth of their project, or provide us with proof over the summer that they are capable of completing such ambitious projects.

In the summer of 2005, I worked with two such stu-dents. Both students were interested in creating video projects but had little video experience. Through a series of weekly instructional meetings and deadlines, these students were able to provide the evidence nec-essary to convince the faculty that they were able to pursue complex innovative projects. Both of them completed sophisticated final projects in the follow-ing semesters of Senior Seminar that would have not been possible had it not been for their extra-curricu-lar summer projects.

In the summer of 2006, I worked with a student who proposed a video performance. Although she had a great depth of experience in theater, her video shoot-ing and editing experience was relatively nonexistent. After a series of off-campus workshops in my studio, she had the technical ability necessary to reassess her proposal and see her project to fruition.

Last summer, I worked with a student interested in creating digital illustrations for animation. Through a series of tutorials and a slight change of course, I helped her find a process that would allow her to first create a series of comics to flesh out her stories, and eventually move on to animation.

These are not independent studies and I am not com-pensated, therefore, I usually only choose to accept these projects if I know that the student is capable of accomplishing the goals we set up. In many cases, the weekly summer meetings with these students are de-signed to provide them with the basic technical expe-rience and studio discipline that they lack.

LAST CHANCE &SUMMER PROOF



top: Art Department

Website Before I arrived

middle:Art & Design Department

Website I designed in 2003

bottom:Art & Design Department

Website I designed in 2006

opposite page:poster & web announcements

regarding portfolio requirements

next page:information series I designed

regarding stages of our department


Communication / Transparency / Multiple Formats

My position as one of the digital art instructors on campus often puts me in the position of graphic de-signer for poster, web, and interactive projects from

all comers of campus including my own department. I either find a qualified student or lab technician for the job or more often, take on the project myself.

In the fall of 2005, after a discussion with a group of students, I took on a departmental design project that I felt was long overdue. Over the past five years, I have attempted to clarify our department’s multi-stage portfolio process. Most students did not comprehend the weight of these checkpoints in their progression through our program. I worked with the depart-ment chair to develop a simple, transparent 4 stage process for all art majors to follow on their path to the art / design degree. Upon clarifying the process, I decided to create an informative poster series that would be on permanent display in our three large classrooms and the hallway. These posters also announce upcoming portfolio workshops, offered to help students navigate the most important stages.

Communicating this complex process in an easy to read form has gone a long way towards alleviating confusion over loom-ing deadlines and calming fears of missing important stages in our program. One senior told me that year that their class discussed this project as the most helpful advancements in our department in the time that they had spent at SXU.


Art &DesignInformationProjects




I also teach the web design class in our department, making me the logical candi-date to compose our department’s web site. Over the time that I have been here, I have created two entirely diff erent versions, each requiring weeks of work and rework. Th is project was much diff erent than a usual client driven website be-cause I am designing for designers. Th is can be very intimidating, especially for the new instructor. Aft er a period of extensive sketching, as seen on this page the fi rst site launched in 2003, the second, as seen on the next page, launched in 2006.

I agreed to design, and eventually redesign the site with the understanding that updates would be a shared responsibility by all members of the department. I have off ered to even post any information given to me, but with the exception of Michael Rabe, I have had very few contributions by other faculty members.

Web Site Art & Design


Art & Design DEPARTMENT WEBSITE

Version 12003 - 2006



Art & Design DEPARTMENT WEBSITE

Version 22006 - Present


The new Art & Design Campus... Off -Campus

The last year has been perhaps the most difficult balance of service, teaching and research. In Feb-ruary, in the midst of preparing midterms and at-tending conferences, our department was hit with a bombshell. We were informed that we were going to be moved. Although I was initially excited about the prospects of new facilities, it became clear that the timeline for relocation was very, very short.

After a series of public meetings in which the broader faculty expressed it’s dismay at the lack of communication between our department and the administration, a compromise was struck. The move would be put off to a later date in exchange for our department’s consideration of alternative locations for our program.

The remainder of the semester and throughout the summer, multiple meetings were held and a reason-able option was found. Throughout this process, we spent a great deal of our spare time thinking, planning, arranging and rearranging blueprints and schematics. Our department has rallied around this project in a way that I have not previously seen during my time here.

On several occasions, I felt it prudent to attempt to sum up the collective feelings, and concerns that I had witnessed in those meetings and try to provide my opinions on a direction for our program.

The following text is the most recent of those.


Art &Design

Moving theDepartment



1, 2, 3 Proximity / parking / shuttle / neighborsOf the two options currently on the table, Spaulding (Baptist) and St. Louis (Methodist), there are several dramatic differ-ences. Spaulding is closer to campus has more parking and is a shorter shuttle ride from the main campus. We will obvi-ously need signs, posted on the main campus and on 103rd to guide visitors. The shuttle will have to be dedicated and designed by us (and in my opinion equipped with a DVD player for learning on the way to class and supplying a captive student audience with important dates and information). The Spaulding location is closer to a supermarket, hardware store and several convenience stores. The neighbors on Spaulding have lived next to a growing church (that is moving into a larger space), St. Louis neighbors have been living next to a church that is closing for lack of parishioners. The St. Louis building has a smaller physical footprint than our current space with less room for new construction. Spaulding has an adjacent lot for new construction and allows us a total of three buildings (our own visual arts campus!).

4 security / hours / staffWith our own campus we should have an appropriate amount of control over our domain. A swipe card security system should be employed allowing variable access to students of different status. Seniors should have 24 hour access to their studios. Advanced laboratories should have separate security allowing access to only students in advanced classes. As stu-dents move through the portfolio cycle (from major candi-date to seminar candidate to degree candidate) they should be given increased access. Art campus jobs such as lab moni-tors, guest reception and security should be offered first to Art Majors whenever possible. We must have a (non-student) staff person on duty during all public hours, this should be from one hour before the first class of the day to one hour after the last class ( 8 am to 10 pm - 14 hours, two full-time positions).

5, 6, 7, 8 size / style / involvement / compensationMoving to a new campus will change the way we operate in many ways. We must be in absolute agreement that it is a good idea. We will not have the option to turn back, and we probably will not be up for remodeling for years after. We must get it right the first time. We must be involved in the process. Because we must believe that we have done the right thing and done it correctly. We must believe it if we are to convince our students. I have to be sincere when I tell a stu-dent that it is worth it to leave the main campus.

We must create a destination worthy of the journey. Al-though that journey is only 5 blocks - it is 5 blocks both ways, 30 times per semester (thats 300 blocks) and that is for only one class. Our majors average two classes per semester over 8 semesters. Can we create a destination worthy of 4800 blocks journey, ( 500 miles)? It will have to be an interesting build-

10 CONCERNS1. proximity to campus2. parking & shuttle3. proximity to resources and neighbors4. staff, security, control of our building’s hours5. size & style of the building6. size & style of the studios7. faculty & staff involvement in the design8. faculty & staff overload for summer studio move - hiring art students9. representation on the main campus professional gallery & student showcases 10. student recruitment & retention

There is little doubt that moving the Art & De-sign Department off the Saint Xavier Universi-ty main campus is not the BEST option. There

will be a disconnection. There will be a learning curve for students, faculty, staff and our new neighbors. We will have to reinvent our program.

We can also be sure that SXU is not building an on-campus art building any time soon (If ever). They are not going to build any more add-ons to the main building and they will not likely cut into the library to expand our program. And I am sure that they will be much more reluctant to offer us any other space if we refuse to work with them. All of this points to our only expansion option being relocation.

So we must ask ourselves:1. Are we satisfied with our current size and location from this point forward?2. Can we say with absolute confidence that they will not reduce our size if we turn them down?3 How many transfer students from community col-leges have commented on the fact that our depart-ment is smaller and less elegant than their previous school?

If we want to grow we must relocate. If we choose to relocate we MUST grow. Our footprint must grow. Our offerings must grow. Our Major population must grow. The university must help us grow.

My Opinions on the Matter of

DEPARTMENTALRELOCATION


ing from the very first glimpse. This includes both the inte-rior and the exterior. The colonial style facade of the main church building, with minor name change, needs little more than a coat of paint. The exterior of the academic wing must be modernized. The new 3D space should be designed to fit harmoniously with the other two. If we are building a campus, we should consider how the buildings will stand as a unified group of buildings within a residential neighbor-hood.

We must put the same time and energy into the design of each of the interior studios. We must consider all of the in-tricacies of rooms like L-116, the Pacelli print studio, ceram-ics, darkrooms, 2D and 3D. We should also consider the public spaces. The walls should be designed to constantly collect and present works in progress, they should be easy to hang on and well lit. We must ensure that everything is designed appropriately. Again, we may only get one shot at this. We should not expect all new equipment or top of the line fixtures but we should demand appropriate layout and construction of our studios and galleries. Although our ar-chitect friends were once art students, they have never taken our classes, only we know where our tools should go. Fac-ulty should be very involved in the next blueprint stage. All faculty, staff and many students should plan on spending next summer relocating the studios. They should be com-pensated appropriately for their work.

9 GalleryWe must not lose our connection to the main campus. The most obvious way to maintain a presence is through our gallery. Our most recognized public face will now be our primary link. Our department must maintain it’s autono-mous control over this space (wherever it ends up), includ-ing selection of exhibitions, hiring reception staff and final approval of any non-art department function taking place within it’s walls. Student work should also be on display on the main campus (preferably in its current location on the route between the dorms and the cafeteria) and the respon-sibility for assembling and exhibiting that work will also re-main ours.

10 Students - recruitment & retentionI saved student recruitment and retention to last because this will really be the biggest area of discussion. I believe that we should take this opportunity to reevaluate our program and our students. I think that our current offerings are correct but will need to be rearranged. We must, for many reasons, separate our major classes from our non major classes. Al-though this will not be a clean cut, we should move toward a clear cut. We need to chart a two and four year strategy that allows students to complete our program sufficiently and our faculty to contribute to both the majors and core offerings. This course chart will also have to take into consideration a slightly longer commute to main campus and avoiding the necessity of anybody shuttling too often in any one day.

The administration will have to give us an appropriated amount of time to deal with restructure. We have never dealt with these issues before and neither has the school. The dean will have to allow either smaller class size or last minute cancellations without penalty to the instructor. With all of this, we still may end up with smaller classes. There is no way to overpower the fundamental urge of some apa-thetic students to take the easy way out. Our department is currently between the dorms and the cafeteria - we are very easy to get to. If a walk, shuttle or re-park is necessary, some students will definitely choose a different on-campus option. We should be prepared for several students every semester to drop the class after the first day of class.

We must be proactive or we risk dying off due to insufficient enrollment. Did somebody say that 70% of our enrollment is non-major? Should we get more majors? Can we retain more majors? Can we actually recruit majors? I think that we can, but we must change our procedure. We currently rely on admissions to fill our classes and we do no recruiting, because we have nothing to offer as incentive.

One solution is to have a series of portfolio driven scholar-ships. There should be four, one per class (freshman - senior) and they should be full-tuition, room and board. We should offer a second and third place prize to lure / retain students that are promising. The distribution of these scholarships should be through two methods, high school portfolio day competition (for the freshman award) and annual art major portfolio day (for the rest). Recipients must re-apply every year, so every student has a chance every year. Sophomores compete against sophomores and juniors compete against juniors.

Recipients become resident or fellowship artists for the next year and can concentrate on developing their own art with-out the need to work. Each scholarship / fellowship offered increases the likely hood of receiving one as a student and therefore improves the quality of the application. Students have a new drive to succeed because they have the oppor-tunity to be ‘hired’ by the art department. They would be responsible for a certain number of hours in the lab / gal-lery / reception and in return they get free tuition, room and board (preferably in closest apartment to our campus). We can dangle this option in front of every student that looks at SXU. And we can offer it to any promising artist we ever see elsewhere.

We recruit and retain with the same simple tool. We employ the most appropriate people on our campus - the best artists. In doing so, we create a new type of art ma-jor, recruited, competitive, and above all, invested in our new space! We then use these students to create interesting events in our new space. Those events become recruitment opportunities.

Nathan Peck


“... I am now responsible for organizing & supervising all of the art department’s extra-curricular activities.”


Scribble TV / Spectrum / Opus

Since my first semester as a full-time instructor at SXU, I have had several responsibilities having nothing to do with

teaching. One of these is to engage students outside of the classroom. I am not sure how it happened exactly, but I am now responsible for organizing & supervising all of the art depart-ment’s extra-curricular activities.

I offer three ways for people to become involved. Spectrum is a club geared around visiting art galleries and museums. Scribble TV is focused on creating and presenting original video content on campus, and Opus is a literary journal that has a long tradition of collecting the best writing and art from SXU students. I promote them all aggressively through e-mail, showcase posters and newspaper articles.


Art &DesignStudent ClubsSponsor



“Nathan Peck is the man who is leading the charge

of art enthusiast who wants to add a breath of creativity on campus.”

-Xavierite


SCRIBBLE TVThe Scribble TV club is usually the small-

est yet we have maintained a quarterly exhibition in the department’s showcase

in which students create programs out of content from my student archive. The two giant TV’s donated to Scribble from the Media Center light up the showcases and always catch the attention of passers by. Two of the Scribblers, Rico Davis and Chavez Epps, after working on an internship that I arranged with UIC Athletics, have begun experimenting with creative broadcast and live web-cast of SXU athletic events.

SPECTRUM

Spectrum on the other hand always gener-ates a great deal of interest, at least initial-ly. We usually schedule two trips during

Chicago Artist Month. We attended the annual Around the Coyote festival and the Pilsen Art Walk. Anywhere from six to twelve students usually attended each trip. In some semesters, there have been bursts of student energy that have lead to working on larger projects such as the RED Show in 2005, a color specific art exhi-bition in a Pilsen gallery. But more often than not after the first trips downtown attendance at meetings falls off. Every year I start it up again in hopes that the right combination of person-ality and student leadership will pursue a more substantial university or community contribu-tion.

OPUSThe SXU Opus Journal has maintained a

long tradition of collaboration between university students and faculty from both

the English and Art & Design Departments. With a relatively small budget and a fairly short timeline, we develop a sophisticated collection of words and images from the SXU community.

This journal serves as both entertainment and archive. Within the art department, there is no other collection of student work that compares. Although it is not a comprehensive archive, it is an overview of successful works of art and writ-ing from the past forty-eight years.

This year, we also decided to promote the Opus Journal through a series of open mic events called OPEN OPUS. Student attendance was better than expected for all four performance / presentations. They were held in the afternoon in the cafeteria and included readings from past Opus books and presentations of new works for submission. There were often surprise perfor-mances by a group of slam poets from the SXU - BSA organization. This direct interaction and performance really fueled an intense interest in the project and infused our project with more excitement and energy than usual.

Last year, we had a smaller than usual budget, yet as a group we decided that we wanted to produce a more substantial journal. We agreed that if we had to choose between the size of the magazine and the number of magazines we could print, we would choose to print fewer. We finished the collection and jury process a bit later than usual in the spring semester, as we had many more than usual submissions. We then lost a very important week (due to school closing) in which we had scheduled two important layout sessions. The lost time put our project below other semester-ending priorities. We have since completed the layout and met with the printer. OPUS #48 will be due out in the fall semester.

In consultation with previous faculty advisors, I have redesigned the approach for future editions to OPUS. We will be pursuing an editor in their junior year, (instead of the traditional Senior editor), as most seniors have many more second semester obligations. We have also decided to have more faculty involvement in the pre-jury selection process. Encouraging instructors to select good artworks right away when they ap-pear in classes rather than trying to remind stu-dents late in the busiest part of the semester.

“This year, we also decided to promote the Opus Journal through a series of open mic

events called OPEN OPUS.”






“The SXU Opus Journal has maintained a long tradition of collaboration between university students and the faculty of

both the English and Art & Design Departments.”




“This journal serves as both entertainment & archive. Within the Art & Design Department, there is

no other collection of student work that compares.”


44 SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY

4.3

45SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY

SERVICE to theUNIVERSITY&College of Arts & Sciences

UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES, CONFERENCES - page 46 2005 - Bylaws & Handbook Committee 2006 - General Education Task Force Retreat 2006 - Higher Learning Commission – Assessment Symposium 2007 - University Assessment Committee 2008 - Teaching & Learning Symposium – Assessment Panel

OUTREACH - CURATED EXHIBITIONS -page 50 Off Campus Exhibitions 2002 - Red Show 2003 - Sacrifice 2003 – 2008 - Chicago Art Department On Campus Exhibitions 2003 - Data Plot, Matthew Butler 2005 - Street Studies 2006 - Art of Games 2007 - Before & After 2008 - Hero Show

SERVICE TO COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES - page 70 Internet Studies Committee 2002 - Proposed Orland Park Major / Minor Bronzeville Genesis 2004 - Website - Political Science Dept. Project Courses Required for Other Majors 2002 – 2008 – Visual Communications 2002 – 2008 - Multimedia Arts of Sciences 2008 - Biology Dept.’s Global Warming Symposium



Symposia / New Majors / Service Courses

Bylaws & Handbook CommitteeMy first attempt at involvement in University committees was a bit of a disappointment to me.

Several colleagues told me that involvement in faculty governance was critical to the advancement of the uni-versity. In the spring of 2005, I ran for and was elected to the University’s Bylaws and Handbook Committee. I received a congratulatory message from the election committee but after the first semester came and past, I had heard nothing from the committee. I eventually tracked down the chair of the committee, but was never informed of any meetings or tasks to perform. I received a letter later that year thanking me for my ‘service’.

SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY

Saint XavierUniversityCommittees &Conferences

Teaching & Learning Symposium After reviewing all of this year’s proposals and notifying the winners, it was time to see how previous year’s projects were going. Built into the award is the expectation of presenting data that has been collected. In past years, this has been done in a poster presentation. The most interesting thing about this process is the idea that we are assessing the assessment projects. I wanted to encourage recipients of our prize to keep considering the intention of the award, and to follow through beyond the completion of the project, to the stage of making their data public. I was also interested in seeing recipients at different stages of completion, share their process of research, project snags, timelines, and distribution approaches with others. I decided that by changing the format from poster presentation to a panel discussion, might allow more conver-sation and more of an opportunity for cross-talk.

I organized two panel discussions, scheduled to take place within the spring Teaching and Learning Symposium, sched-uled for late April. I arranged for each panel discussion to include awardees from all three years of the project so that each panel would have people in the creation, collection and distribution phases of their project. The panel Teaching and Learning Symposium was rescheduled for the fall due to the weeklong school closure.

Internet Studies Major CommitteeIn 2002, I was invited by the Dean of Arts and Sciences, to be a part of an exploratory committee for a new area of study for continuing education at Saint Xavier’s Orland Park Campus. I worked with Dean Frank, Jayne Hileman, and Flo Appel to research a possible Internet Studies Major. My Computer Graphics and Web Design classes would become required classes for the new program. I also proposed a Multimedia course that would offer advanced web and video skills. Al-though we spent several semesters looking into a possible structure and learning objectives for the new major, Dean Frank’s retirement abruptly ended our project.

Service CoursesTwo of the courses that I regularly teach are designed to serve university departments outside of Art & Design. Visual Communications, ART 100, is not recommended for any art majors, it’s primary function is to introduce the visual end of the communication spectrum to Mass Communication Majors. In many semesters, this course occupies half of my teaching load. Many students also take this course to fulfill their Fine Art general education requirement.

When I first proposed offering Multimedia at SXU, I was working with Flo Appel, from the Computer Science Depart-ment, on the Internet Studies Major. She agreed that this course would function as an advanced class for that program but could also fill a need within her department for advanced visual interactivity, an area that they wanted to pursue. Since then Multimedia, ART327 / CMPSC310 has served both of our departments. The class is regularly divided evenly be-tween students from both departments.


Gen Ed Task Force RetreatIn the summer of 2006, I attended a three-day retreat or-ganized by the General Education Task Force. I had been nominated by the chair of my department, to replace Cathie Ruggie Saunders on this committee, charged with rework-ing the universities core requirements. During the retreat, the committee chair, Lawrence Muscgrove, lead us through a series of exercises, designed to look at our general education offerings with ‘fresh eyes’. We also discussed issues dealing with communicating the complexities of a new program to colleagues that might not be interested in change.

This retreat allowed me to comprehend the breadth of the project at hand and I learned quite a bit about the university politics and how policies are effected. I regret, however, not taking a more active role in this important university com-mittee during the following academic year.

HLC Assessment SymposiumSeveral years ago, in response to a call from Dean Alaimo, I attended a symposium out in the west suburbs, dealing with the larger questions of University Assessment. This 3-day symposium was designed to cover the fundamentals of what the Higher Learning Commission would be looking for in its forthcoming evaluation of Saint Xavier University. Although I was not currently a member of the University Assessment Committee, I had recently been a co-recipient (with colleague Michael Rabe) of an Innovation in Assess-ment award. Our work in the area of portfolio development had peaked my interest in the arena of assessment, and I wanted to learn more.

University Assessment CommitteeIn the following spring semester, I intended to run for elec-tion to the University Assessment Committee, but was dis-couraged by my colleagues in the Art & Design Department because they felt, that as a junior faculty member, an ap-pointment on that particular committee during the extreme-ly important HLC review might be a bit too time consuming and that I might be under-qualified for such an important appointment. I took their advice and decided to wait.

In the spring of 2007, I decided it was time. I ran for and was elected to the assessment committee. Over the past year, I be-came most involved in the Innovation in Assessment Award process. I think that there is no smarter approach to creat-ing an atmosphere of assessment than to encourage people to think about the process creatively and to award those that design a unique approach. The best-case scenario is a proj-ect that not only creates usable assessment data, but also has built in a system of distributing and employing the data both within that department and elsewhere on campus.


“Two courses that I regularly teach, are designed to serve university departments outside of Art & Design...

...most semesters these courses occupy half of my teaching load.”

50 SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY - Community Outreach

51SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY - Community Outreach

Invitation / Exhibition / Interaction

One of my highest priorities in my time at Saint Xavier University has been to introduce my stu-dents to their audience and vice versa. One way

that I have done this is through large-scale exhibitions of my students artworks. The process goes one step beyond just putting art on walls. It is also important to invite peo-ple to see the art. The simple strategy that I have employed is to insist that every student presenting art invite ten peo-ple to the event. With over fifty students involved in each show, over five hundred spectators are usually invited.

The beauty of this strategy goes beyond family and friends seeing each students project. The ten people that one student invites also become the audience for the other forty-nine.

SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY

Saint XavierUniversityCommunityOutreach



Themed Exhibitions Student Work - 2005 - Present

War, Street Studies, Art of Games, Before & After, & HeroesStarting in the spring of 2005, I decided to institute a few of the approaches that had been working in my studio art school, the Chicago Art Depart-ment (CAD). Central to the CAD philosophy is the practice of exhibiting the work that is created in order to create an artist audience experience for our students. We want to help students close the creative feedback loop. When they make something that is trying to communicate a message, they must put it before the people that they consider their audience. The audi-ence will respond somehow by receiving the message or misunderstand-ing the message. Or they will not respond at all and move on to another piece. By insisting that the students engage their audience and initiating conversations, my students receive feedback from their audience and ei-ther adapt the work or create their next piece with that newly acquired information.

My students had previously contributed to a group show in the early days of the second Gulf War titled War - A World Wide Web, sponsored by the Center for Religion and Public Discourse. I found that the themed as-signment approach worked particularly well for young students learning a new media for the first time. Instead of having the entire world to choose a topic for their projects, they had a slightly tighter focus.

I have since created four themed multimedia events that showcased the work of fifty or more artists each. We have transformed the university’s theater, athletic center and gallery for these large-scale exhibits. The stu-dents are responsible for promoting the events and they are very well at-tended. Our department has gained several art majors and minors as a direct result of this hands-on approach to academic art study.

Many of these events also travel, so artists interested in testing their mes-sage on different audiences need only attend the next event. Our students’ work has traveled to IIT, Hyde Park Art Center, the banks of the Chicago River downtown and to neighborhood art centers in Pilsen, Bridgeport, Wicker Park and the South Loop. Saint Xavier’s student artists have prob-ably visited these places as part of their introduction to Chicago’s art scene but have probably never had this sort of backstage access to present their work in these cultural hot spots. For more about these exhibits and the Chicago Art Department, please see the CAD section in ‘Service to My Discipline’, later in this book.

ON CAMPUS EXHIBITIONS

Candice Insalaco - War: A Natural DisasterWar Show, 2003



Kristin Vasiliakos - ...ever?War Show, 2003



Top: Crowd Shot & Students Take a Bow

Left to Right:Kate Bingham - Walking Belmont

Kinyata Horne - 94 & 95th

Joanna Beituni - Make my own Map

Matthew Alvarado - Western Avenue

STREET STUDIESMcGuire Hall - April 20, 2005





Left: Vasenia Carrasco - Explore the World Board Game Top: Brian Scaperdine - Cubs / Sox - Cross Town Classic

Bottom: Janet Falcon - Reformatory Boot Camp

ART OF GAMESShannon Athletic CenterApril 20, 2006



RED SHOW/ALLOYSpectrum Art Club &Adv. Drawing Students

The first exhibition that I curated of my students work outside of the university was also the first exhibition that I ever

curated. I have collected and hung my work on many occasions but had never selected or organized the presentation of other people’s art-works. The SXU students involved in this show were members of the Spectrum Art Club. This club had toured Pilsen in the fall and several members wanted to know how their work might end up on those walls.

I had just accepted an invitation to be an artist in residence at the up-and-coming Drive Thru Gal-lery in the Chicago Arts District – Pilsen. The gallery curator asked me to design a show for the month of March and I decided to use this op-portunity to showcase the work of my advanced drawing students. They had all made drawings based on a very unconventional computer-generated text called ALLOY. The text formed quirky nonsequiters through random word jux-taposition. The text imediately spawned mental pictures that the students used as inspiration for charcoal drawings.

One wall was all charcoal drawings the other all red artworks by the Spectrum art club. I thought that the process driven artworks and the com-position driven artworks created a nice contrast both visually and conceptually.

OFF CAMPUS EXHIBITIONS


“I offered ‘The Arturos’ the opportunity to compose new works for an exhibition and spent the next 3 months working with them at SXU and at Drive Thru Gallery.”


SACRIFICEArturo Galan &Arturo Olivarez

Later that year, I had another opportunity to curate. This time, I chose two Saint Xavier students and offered them the chance to

speak their mind on any subject.

My friend, Ed Marszewski, was holding his annual Select Media Festival and was interested in doing a series of exhibitions in different ethnic southside neighborhoods in Chicago. He put out a call for emerging artists and galleries specifically, rather than shedding more light on already established commercial galleries. I was currently doing an artist residency and had curated several events at Drive Thru Gallery in Pilsen, a predominately Mexican neighborhood. I had also been working with two Mexican students, Arturo Galan and Ar-turo Olivarez, at SXU that grew up in Pilsen. I offered ‘The Arturos’ the opportunity to compose new works for the exhibition and spent the next 3 months working with them at SXU and at Drive Thru Gallery. Their exhibit drew a very interest-ing crowd as audience members were shuttled from Bronzeville to Chinatown, to Pilsen to Little Italy in one evening.

Arturo Olivarez’s work titled, ‘Sacrifice’ was a 5 screen digital video installation comparing the Aztec leader, Montezuma and the American lead-er, George Bush. Arturo Galan’s multi-layered glass and wood paintings were created to inform the public about the tragic murders of several hundred women in the Mexican border town of Juarez City. Also performing at the exhibition was William Serrano, a Chicago / Mexican musician that recently composed a song about the Juarez City tragedy.

OFF CAMPUS EXHIBITIONS


DATAPLOTMatthew Butler - 2003

In the Fall of 2003, Cathie Ruggie Saunders, SXU Gallery curator, took a one semester sabbatical and offered me an opportunity

to guest curate. I was torn between creating a group exhibition or a one-artist show. A group show would allow me to introduce my students to a wide range of artists with different creative approaches. I eventually decided that one of my favorite artists, Matthew Butler, would be a good choice for a solo show because he, himself works in so many different media: print to video to performance.

After using Butler’s text ALLOY in a 2002 draw-ing class at Saint Xavier, I invited him to exhibit his work in the SXU Gallery. As a Multimedia Intermedia artist, Butler was a perfect artist to introduce to the SXU community, considering Intermedia and Multimedia were offered in the following semester.

The opening night performance took the form of a traditional artist gallery lecture but with members of the 2003 drawing class sitting around a large boardroom table. Throughout the performance, students took turns reading passages from Butler’s ironic / often nonsensical computer shuffled text, Alloy. The performance was part lecture / sermon, part graphic design conspiracy theory, and part digital magic show. He finished by signing copies of Alloy for stu-dents and fans.

ON CAMPUS EXHIBITIONS



“Butler was a perfect artist to introduce to the SXU community, considering Intermedia and Multimedia were offered in the following semester.”


70 SERVICE TO THE COLLEGE

71SERVICE TO THE COLLEGE

African American History Week

Mike Clark in the Political Science Department contacted me to see if I would help him prepare a website

and slide lecture for a presentation series about the history of the Great Migration from the American Southeast to the Chicago South Side.

I did a great deal of research into Chicago’s African American photographers and histori-ans. I happened to have a great deal of access to Chicago’s historical archives because this project coincided with research I was doing with the Chicago Historical Society’s Teen Chicago Project.

Months of image gathering were followed by months of design and revision as Mike and I fine-tuned our message. The website is current-ly a part of Saint Xavier’s new Political Science Visual Archive.

SERVICE TO THE COLLEGE

College ofArts & Sciences

PoliticalScience Project





Contribution to Biology’s Global Warming Symposium

In late November of the Fall 2007 semester, three different groups of people came to me looking for artworks dealing with global warm-

ing. One was the Biology department (specifically Dr. Tatiana Tatum) who asked if my students could contribute visually to a symposium she was host-ing in late January on the topic of Global Warm-ing. The second group was a team of architects and Chicago City Managers, eager to contribute to a Green themed riverfront exhibit for the annual Looptopia event. Finally, a group of students from the Fall semester asked what theme we would pur-sue if they were to take a follow-up course with me in the spring. – (For more on themed exhibitions please see the Chicago Art Department section later in this book or my Teaching Communication essay in the Teaching book.)

After careful consideration during Christmas

SERVICE TO THE COLLEGE

College ofArts & Sciences

BiologyDept.Project



break, I designed a semester that would not only fit the needs of the three groups listed above but also the concerns of some students and faculty that felt that the themes might be too constrict-ing. In this semester, students did a very specific design project based on global warming and a much broader art project on the vast theme of science (even permitting invention of new or hybrid sciences).

The design projects were shown twice, once in January and again in May - but to two entirely different audiences in very different locations. The first exhibit was in an art showcase and on cafeteria tables on the SXU Main Campus and was viewed by a group of science specialists, the second exhibition was a projection in the back of a UPS truck outside on the corner of Wacker and Wabash to a crowd of art enthusiasts.

This exhibit follows a tradition that I have set for presenting my students artwork both on and off campus and is the first of many ideas for inter-departmental creative collaboration. I am tentatively planning an interaction with the History Department that will focus on Abraham Lincoln. The upcoming two-hundredth anni-versary of his birth will provide an interesting backdrop for a series of history driven art and design projects.

“This exhibit follows a tradition that I have set for presenting my students artwork both on and off campus and is the first of many

ideas for inter-departmental creative collaboration.”

78 SERVICE TO THE DISCIPLINE

4.4

79SERVICE TO THE DISCIPLINE

SERVICE to the

DISCIPLINEStudio / Gallery ArtsCHICAGO ART DEPARTMENT (CAD) Introduction - Background - Mission

2003 - 2005 - CAD @ Transamoeba Pilot Program - Student Profile Theme Based Classes / Exhibitions 2003 - Love It or Leave It 2004 - Man vs. Machine 2005 - Street Studies CAD TV - Visiting Artist Series Ann Tyler and Connie White (SAIC) Hans Breder (University of Iowa) Jane Gilmore (Mount Mercy) Matthew Butler / Kelli Spengler (Iowa City) EDMAR (Chicago)

2005 - Present CAD @ Pilsen Monthly Exhibitions - Curatorial Arts Curated Exhibits 2005 - Co.Lin.Da - Colin Luce, Linda Rinaldi 2006 - I, Miss Ng - Pei San Ng 2006 - Go Go Video Show - Featuring Richard Sprague, Chrystal Gryz 2006 - Grade B Collage - Myra Musgrove 2006 - I Want Candi - Candi Helsel 2006 - Reactionary Drawing - Featuring Myra Musgrove, Mimi Robichau, Arturo Galan Theme Based Classes / Exhibitions 2005 - Street Studies 2006 - Art of Games 2007 - Heroes Skill Based Classes - Guest Instructors - Exhibitions 2005 Sound, Video, Books, Performance 2006 DJ, Drawing, Dance, Cosmetic 2007 Paint, Magazine, Gallery DJ 2008 Book, Photo, Video Press 2003 - Present

STUDIO ARTIST COALITION 2007 - Studio Rental Pool 2008 - Inter-City Studio Coalition



SERVICE TO THE DISCIPLINE

Space / Tools / Collaborators / Exhibition Opportunities

The primary service that I provide to my discipline is the cultivation and sharing of access to space, tools, collab-orators and exhibition opportunities. These are the nec-

essary yet unfortunately scarce resources of the urban studio / gallery artist. Through the creation of two organizations, the Chicago Art Department (CAD), and the Chicago Studio Artist Space CO-OP (CSASC), I have served my discipline diligently and creatively for the past five years.

An important disciplinary distinction exists between com-mercial artists and studio / gallery artists. The easiest ways to distinguish these disciplines is by looking at how projects are instigated and how they function. Commercial art projects are usually instigated by a client and often functions as either pro-motion or branding. Studio / gallery art projects, on the other hand, are generally instigated by the artists and function as per-sonal reflection, entertainment or social commentary. These lines often blur but this distinction will serve as the basis for the profession /discipline that I serve. Another key distinction is where the work is done. With the exception of freelance artists, a great deal of the commercial artwork is done in an office or studio provided by the company equipped with the necessary tools for the trade. Studio / Gallery artists, on the other hand, are responsible for finding their own creative space and tools.

SERVICE to the

DISCIPLINEStudio / Gallery Arts



I am a studio / gallery artist. In the city of Chicago I cur-rently have keys to four magnificent studios outside of SXU. The space and inhabitants of these studios each offer unique opportunities. I paint at Catalyst, in Humbolt Park. I record music at Transamoeba, in the South Loop. I shoot video projects and curate exhibitions at the Chicago Art Depart-ment in Pilsen. My residence and home studio under the 18th street Pink Line serves as my office and solace for pack-aging and portfolio projects such as this one. I have either initiated or helped foster each of these studios and regularly collaborate with the other artists in each.

When I first moved to Chicago, though, it was a whole dif-ferent story, I was still working in all of these art forms but had to fit them all into the tiny bedroom of my north-side apartment. My last Iowa studio was roughly twice the size of a racquetball court. Imagine trying to make this adjust-ment. My clothes were in boxes so my tools could be in my closet. The scale of my paintings, the volume of my music and interaction with collaborators were all directly impacted by the size of my room and the patience of my roommates. I changed my art to fit in this creative space. As I built col-laborative relationships and investigated the city, I was able to grow my studios. I traded time and expertise for access to work space, tools, collaborators and eventually exhibition space.

I have found that mine is not a unique story. The experience that I just described plays out every spring as studio artists graduate from institutions rich in these limited resources. I had the benefit of insiders that introduced me to the rich Chicago art scenes that also hold these resources. I want to share that access. Through the Chicago Art Department, CAD and CSASC, I get to do just that.

The CSASC offers affordable residence, work, and perfor-mance space to creative studio artists. CAD offers collabora-tion, tools and exhibition opportunities. These are not lim-ited to recent graduates. There are dozens of other audiences for these resources. Many people, like myself, migrated to Chicago from other cities. Some are long lost artists return-ing to their craft after years of professional life, and of course there are always folks that become inspired by the art on the walls and want to contribute their unique voice.

SPACETOOLS AND AUDIENCE


THE COMMON STRUGGLEFOR ACCESS TO USABLE




Collaboration / Experimentation / Creation / Exhibition

The Chicago Art Department was founded in 2003, in my South Loop studio called Transamoeba. Nat Soti, Mike Nourse and myself, all art professors from different Chi-

cago institutions, decided to invite our favorite students and working artists to agree to a ten-week experiment in which, we would meet, collaborate on artworks and share expertise.

Transamoeba has a tradition of fostering creative organizations. Three prolific visual art groups (PRDF, The Conjugate Projekt, Entheon) and several musical groups (including Hive of Fives, VCR, Boy-Deb) had sprung from this inspirational refuge. We had the benefit of working with several of these groups and tried to design CAD to take advantage of the most successful parts of each of these organizations, and avoiding common pitfalls.

The best thing about these collaborative art groups was the op-portunity to be constantly introduced to new approaches to making art. We hoped that by introducing our friends and stu-dents to a wide range of different medias, styles and techniques, by way of different types of artists, each would teach the other something that they didn’t already know. We were also aware that some structure helps drive the creative process. There is a tendency for artists to get so excited about discussing their proj-ects that they might not get around to actually fabricating them. The opposite tendency is also true in which the artist makes many artworks but never actually show them to anybody. We wanted to help people take the creative process all the way to the gallery wall. We reduced these basic tendencies down to create our super simple creative approach: TRY IT – MAKE IT – SHARE IT

We chose to use the metaphor of ‘school’ because it is a form that everybody, including the founding professors, were quite famil-iar with. When we started the ‘school’, the idea was more used as a metaphor. Our primary goal was encouraging people to create exhibitions using our collaborative theme driven strategy. We were more like creative directors than teachers because we expected the ‘students’ to teach each other techniques. As time went on, the school metaphor has turned into a reality.

Chicago ArtDepartment

Studio / Gallery Arts

CHICAGO

PILSENprecint



At CAD, we adopted a technique that was used quite successfully by several of the former arts organiza-tions at Transamoeba. Each exhibition would have

a cohesive theme. This would allow both artists and audi-ence members to engage in a very specific conversation. A room full of unrelated artworks tends to creates a room full of unrelated conversations. Our idea was to engage both the artists and the audience in the creative dialogue. We decid-ed that the politically charged phrase, “Love It or Leave It” would be a fitting conversation starter.

Each of the first five weekly meetings, we would attempt to make the artists look at that theme from a different perspec-tive. Week one was an ultra personal perspective, Loving / Leaving Home, in which artists were asked to discuss and sketch on the idea of the moment that they decided (if they had) to move out of the house of their parent(s).Week two: Love/Leave your community (friends / romance)Week three: Love / Leave your countryWeek four: Love / Leave the planetWeek five: Love / Leave your Life. We call this approach to studying a subject, The Zoom Per-spective. The zoom steps might change from subject to sub-ject but the idea is a simple approach to looking at an idea from multiple angles. We have since used this approach quite successfully for themes like Heroes or Man vs Machine.

We offered three semester length classes at Transamoeba. Each one was capped with it’s own exhibition. Everybody that attended these events commented on how different the room looked. For each exhibit, the artists had spent three hours per week transforming the room. The pieces were made in that room, for that room, and with the piece next to it being created at the same time.

THEME DRIVEN ART WITH THE

ZOOM PERSPECTIVE

THE CHICAGO ART DEPARTMENT

Pop Culture Heroes, Zoom Perspective discussion in Heroes Class



Pictured from top left

STUDENTS -Phil Basile (SXU)Colin Luce (SXU)Ben Chappell (DePaul)Gerry Sheehan (Columbia)KS Rives (Columbia)Rebecca Rounds (School of Art Institute)Pei-San Ng (UIC) – not pictured

ARTISTS -Deb Vogt (DeLevo)Caton Volk (Method Media)Laura Chiaramonte (Creative Arts Melting Pot)Aaron Edwards (Creative Chaos)Dan Simborg (Artisans in Construction)Ryan Bockenfeld (RSB1000)

INSTRUCTORS -Nat Soti (01 Projects, DePaul Prof)Mike Nourse (01 Projects, School of Art Institute Prof)Nathan Peck (Rook-TV, SXU Prof)

Chicago ArtDepartmentPilot Program Student Roster:



LOVE IT ORLEAVE ITSpring 2004

This first, pilot program class brought art-ists together to examine the phrase “Love It or Leave It”, create artwork based on

that theme, and produce an exhibition. The class connected the themes of Love It or Leave It from a personal, family, city, nation and world perspectives.

SOUTH LOOP STUDIO

top left:Love It then Leave It - TrashKS Rives

bottom left:American War PoemCaton Volck

top right:AdoptionRebecca Rounds

bottom left3D Interactive Mandala for lLve and LossDeb Vogt


In the Studio: Love It or Leave It




MAN VS.MACHINEFall 2005

Man Vs. Machine dealt with issues of humanity and technology in both a social as well as artistic context. Stu-

dents explored art made “by hand”, art made by using technology, as well as art made with ele-ments of both.

SOUTH LOOP STUDIO

this pageI Am... I Think I AmVideo / Photography InstallaionKim Schlecter

next page - leftDistastefullPolaroid animationMyra Musgrove

Your My Man-Machineinteractive danceLaura Chiarmonte

Hall of Tialsmisc artworks from first 5 weeks

next page - rightWhat’s on TV What’s on my MindVideo-Sculpture InstallationChristian Hales





In the second term of CAD, we instituted one of my favorite art school traditions, the visiting artist. Our visiting artist se-

ries had a twist. Instead of the ‘students’ sitting politely in chairs watching a slide presentation, they were operating the CAD-TV studio cam-eras and mixing boards. Transamoeba became a television studio and the instructors became talk show hosts. Each program followed a dif-ferent model of talk show from Late Night style to Hardball style .

VISITING ARTIST SERIES

CAD-TVHANDS-ON CONVERSATION



Hans Breder (The University of Iowa)Hans Breder, the “godfather of intermedia”, started the Intermedia program at The University of Iowa in 1968. Since then, he has brought his Intermedia approach to exhibitions throughout America and Europe, including three Whitney Biennials. Hans was a visiting artist and guest on CAD-TV.


Ann Tyler & Connie White (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)

Ann Tyler and Connie White are instructors in visual communications and were our first guests on CAD-TV. They dis-cussed their collabora-tion on a project which explores lynching.


Jane Gilmore (Mount Mercy Collage) Jane Gilmore teaches art at Mount Mercy College and a celebrated Interme-dia artist. Jane presented examples of her artwork around the loft, while of-fering consultations from her tent on the main floor. In addition to being a guest for CAD-TV, Jane also ran a special one night art class/project for our students.


Matthew Butler and Kelli Spangler (University of Iowa) Matt & Kelli are recent graduates of the In-termedia Program at the University of Iowa. Matthew is a video composer and inventor that teaches at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. Kelli is a performance artist that has per-formed at the MCA and the Iowa City Ameri-can Legion. They were invited to be guest for CAD-TV. They debuted their collaborative video sound and performance composition.

Ed Marszewski (Lumpen, Version)Edmar has been a prolific producer of artistic and cultural events in Chi-cago. Two days after the Presidential election, Edmar was invited to dis-cuss his point of view on the state of Chicago’s political and art scene.



The Chicago Art Department is a link between my teaching and my personal artwork; it lies halfway between the studio and the classroom. I, like my

students, require this critical outlet and the opportunity to showcase my artwork. I create best in a collaborative envi-ronment. I am most successful when I have people to talk to about an artwork in its first stages and all the way through to its exhibition. CAD provides a time and a place for me to teach and learn with like-minded, creative people.

On the other side of the table, CAD also allows me to test teaching strategies on a group of receptive curious students. Several innovations in my classroom over the past five years have direct ties to CAD workshop experiments.

LEARNING THE ART OF

TEACHINGTHE CHICAGO ART DEPARTMENT

Chicago Art Department Instructors Left to Right: Nathan Peck, Nat Soti, Christian Hales, Mike Nourse



In the spring of 2006, CAD graduated to it’s own space, and the rules changed a bit. The space that we chose for the new incarnation of CAD was as different from

Transamoeba as one could imagine. It was roughly a third of the size, nowhere near a CTA line and for the first time, outside of the personal residence of the instructors. With these disadvantages came a wealth of resources, primar-ily audience. Transamoeba was essentially a private space. Although hundreds of people might attend any given event there, every person had to be invited. Nobody would guess that behind the meek exterior of 1325 South Wabash, lay one of the underground jewels of Chicago’s creative culture. 1837 Halsted, on the other hand, is very public. The gallery storefront was located on a street with a thirty-year tradition of celebrating the arts. Once a month, on Second Friday, three to five hundred art enthusiasts from all over the city descend on the Pilsen galleries, specifically those near the corner of Halsted and 18th streets.

We were interested in making CAD, a serious endeavor and the new location contributed to that in the most important way. It is understood, though some weaker galleries of-ten disappoint, that every gallery on that strip will present fresh artworks every month. We decided to meet this chal-lenge head on. We began recruiting more instructors, ini-tially from within our ranks and eventually from the Pilsen community. The classes that were offered were still geared around creating and exhibiting in the same space but some of the classes offered technical training instead of strictly concept courses.

BIG OR SMALL

SPACEPUBLIC vs PRIVATE


Hero Show at the new Chicago Art Department



I decided to take advantage of the time between our move-in and the first class exhibit, to feature some of the brightest CAD alums in solo exhibitions. Over the

course of the first year at CAD, I was involved in all twelve exhibitions. I curated six exhibits, contributed art to four and was involved directly in the other two. I strongly en-couraged all of the artists, those showing art and those assist-ing with the event, to instigate conversations with as many audience members as possible. The soloist can describe his artworks, and discuss his intentions, but cannot assign suc-cess to their own work. Everybody else can. By making sure other members of CAD knew something about the featured artist, they could have informed discussions with audience members and debate the value of the art. Artists in CAD classes are interested in learning how to exhibit art. Part of that practice is assigning conceptual, compositional, or craft, success to a piece of art and ultimately financial value.

TEACHING THE ART OF

EXHIBITION


LEARNING THE ART OF

CURATION



Chicago ArtDepartmentPilsenExhibits 2005 June Street Studies July Co.Lin.Da - Luce / Rinaldi Aug CAD-TV - LIVE Sept 2nd Annual Caddies Oct CAD Invitational Nov Faculty Show Dec CAD Meets SAIC

2006 Jan I, Miss Ng Feb Reactionary Drawing - Peck Mar Everything Must Go - Art Sale Apr Art of Games May CAD InterMEDIA Openhouse June CAD-TV July Your Trash Mike & KS Aug RE:new:all - Bridgette Sept Group Show – Pilsen Art Walk Oct Grade B Collage - Musgrove Nov I Want Candi - Helsel Dec Curtain Wall - Bridgette

2007 Jan Video by Tesia Kosmalski Feb House on Fire Mar The Day After - Nat Apr The Day After That May Up and Down - CAD Residents June Shifting Stories - Marwen July The Language of Travel - Stacy Aug Growing Up CAD Benefit Sept Transfer-Mation - Mike Oct Torn From Britannica - Peck Nov Video Frames Dec Heroes

2008 Jan Plushinality - Kerry Feb Entres les Deux - KS Mar Returning - Jen Apr Photo Projects - Mike May CAD Resident Show June Re:introduce - Hales July Nature Calls -Petersen

Grade B Collage - Solo Exhibit by Myra Musgrove


CHICAGO

PILSENprecint







Non Profit status was attained in the winter of 2007 and we began offering free classes, with a catch. At Transamoeba, classes were essentially free, though

we asked for contributions to pay for frozen pizzas and video tapes. When we moved to Pilsen we tried to extract ‘tuition’ from students to offset the cost of the space. We found that fewer students became involved and those who did attend classes, were starving artists like us. The reasons for our shift to our current policy were not completely driven by our NPO status, because we could officially accept tuition as long as the money was spent for the space.

The biggest challenge at our new location was keeping stu-dents for the duration of the class. At Transamoeba, we invited people that we knew were driven artists. In Pilsen, many of our students became interested in our classes by at-tending our exhibits. These students needed an additional incentive to finish what they had started. We devised an ap-proach to tuition that was entirely fair and rewarded com-pletion. Every class costs one-hundred dollars (check only). If the student finished the course and exhibited in the final show, their check was torn up, otherwise their check was considered a donation.

501(c)(3)Non-Profit = Free Classes



Novel Designw/ Nat Soti

Novel Design is an exploration of interMEDIA design - or collaborations between writing, painting, drawing, photog-

raphy, even video, sound in the context of design. This class will examine the subject of interMEDIA, produce content,

and ultimately collaboratively design a book prototype.

MAG+ZINE: In an effort to increase opportunities for artists beyond our physical gallery space, we will be producing a monthly in-

gallery magazine that accompanies each exhibition. People will be able to submit art and content to the magazine

through a series of assignments.

Go Go Video w/ Mike Nourse

A nuts and bolts video editing and production class, this class takes you through the tools, software, techniques, and

concepts in editing video. Students can expect to edit a range of video from multi-camera event documentation,

to narrative, as well as to more non-conventional or artistic approaches to video editing. Personal project development

opportunities as well. Great for those who want to learn professional skills in a more stimulating, artistic

environment.

Reactionary Drawing w/ Nathan Peck

For drawers of all levels, this class introduces you to a unique drawing and artistic experience: drawing to music,

drawing uptempo, drawing with people, drawing games, drawing with the eyes and ears, unexpected art, surpris-

ing art, reactionary art. Ideal for those who are interested in creating art in a high-energy, social, and experimental

environment.


Live Visualsw/ Nat Soti An introduction to live visual production and performance. “Live visuals”, “visuals”, “vjing”, “projections” are some of the terms used to describe this exciting and still relatively new artform of performance-based video. You will learn the tools, content-creation strategies, performance, and installa-tion issues around live visuals.

Movement Studiesw/ Laura Chiaramonte An introduction to movement of the body as art. Students will be exposed to movement improvisation, contact improv, and composition, with an emphasis towards connections with other artistic media such as drawing, writing, music and video. The class offers “non-dancers” an introduction to movement, awareness of your body, and your body in space through expression. This class may also be of interest to experienced dancers who are interested in connecting dance with other artforms.

Polarovew/ KS Rives & Mike NourseThe Chicago Art Department takes on New York City through the lense of a soon-to-be-extinct medium; the Polaroid. 5 Chicago artists will travel to New York to work on a weekend polaroid project of their choosing alongside 5 New York artists, on the theme of “Death/Extinction”. Each artist is responsible for creating a work or series of work that will be exhibited at a show at the Chicago Art Department during the summer.

{sound}amentalsw/ Alex, Alfredo, RSB 1000 + Special Guests{sound}amentals introduces you to the basics of recording, manipulating, processing, editing, mixing and performing sound & music. This class will also explore the interactions between sound and other media such as video. A unique experience to work with active musicians and sound artists on the Chicago scene. Ideal for students interested in learn-ing sound within a multimedia/collaborative environment.



DJ TapedekAUDIO OPERATORS DJ TEAM: Audio Operators is a fun new course offered by the The Chicago Art Department which gives anyone who has ever been interested in being a professional DJ a chance to get some hands on experience. The course will be taught by The Afters Cool Society’s DJ Tapedek and will feature guest DJ’s as well as chances to perform at various events. All experience levels are welcome!

DJ Duke and the Abominable TwitchMix N’ Scratch 101 The turntable is a powerful multi-faceted tool that has become far more than just a record player and our aim is to expose you to the potential you have with such a tool. Whether you want to spin records profes-sionally, play in you bedroom, scratch, or use the turntable in completely unconventional ways altogether, this class will give you the know-how and the flexibility to accomplish that aspiration.

MAKE AND SHOW WORKSHOPS Need a quick art fix? In this new series of monthly workshops, a guest artist will create a project for you to make art and create an exhibition in one day. The Make and Show workshops is a fun way to meet interesting emerging Chicago artists while also learning and making art. Art from these workshops will be included in our monthly exhibitions.

Visiting Instructors: One-Night ClassesMason Dixon IMAGE / MOVEMENTMason Dixon is a video artist and the man behind the Chicago Motion Graphics festival. Mason Dixon taught a one-night video and motion graphics workshops at CAD.

Celia RacicotKITSCH-EN COSMETICSCelia, a north side hair stylist and member of Laura’s Movement Studies class, decided to teach a class based on home-made cosmetics. Her class started as a one nighter but has since continued in her home.

Byron Durham INSIDE THE GL2This one day workshop is about learning how to use the Canon GL2, digital video camera. All of the features and functions of the camera will be covered and a few experienced videographers who have used the GL2 will be on hand to share their experiences with the camera. While geared towards GL2 users, some of the topics covered in this workshop of basic videography would be of interest to camera owners of all types.



All three of the founders of the Chicago Art Department teach for a living, but, says Mike Nourse, “We’re not con-vinced that taking classes that fit into a larger curriculum that leads you to a degree is the only method of developing art skills.”

Nourse teaches video art and digital photography at DePaul and the School of the Art Institute. Nat Soti, his partner in the design firm Zero One, is a part-time art prof at DePaul as well. Nathan Peck teaches computer art at Saint Xavier. The three of them came up with the idea for their informal school, launched in January, last fall at a monthly meeting at the two-story Transamoeba loft, a near-south-side collective where the three have studio space alongside a jewelry de-signer, a construction company, and several other artists.

“We were talking about what this place could be,” says Peck. “It could be a cool bar, a nightclub, cool for raves, whatever. People kept throwing out ideas. Then someone said, ‘You could put a school in here,’ and everyone chuckled. Then we were like, ‘Whoa, whoa, you certainly could.’ It kept com-ing up.” After a while, he says, “we had to decide--should we do it or should we keep coming up with ideas and never do anything about them?”

They spent a few late nights hammering out a syllabus for a 15-week pilot program, and handpicked the first group of 13 students. Several come from their college classes; the oth-ers include a bartender, an interior decorator, and a culinary school graduate. The program’s modeled on martial arts schools, which allow students to work at their own pace and share their knowledge with each other. “This environment is not a class where you sign up and have a midterm and a final,” he says. “You come when you can, and learn as much as you can, and your progress up the educational ladder is dictated by you and not so much by us.”

Transamoeba has a shared performance space, ten computer workstations, and traditional art supplies such as paints, canvases, and musical instruments. In the first five weeks the students were taught different techniques: traditional and digital painting, Photoshop, video editing. “Right now the equipment in the space is all of our personal stuff that we

use,” says Nourse. “We’re literally opening up what we own to the students.”

Initially the students did a series of exercises in various me-dia loosely based on the theme “love it or leave it.” Some of the results were exhibited at the DJ bar Sonotheque last month. In recent weeks they’ve been working on projects for this weekend’s open house like an interactive digital piece that’ll use color to chart the mood of a room and a multi-media “totem pole” made of video monitors showing their work. The last few weeks of the class, which ends in mid-May, will be devoted to documenting the work and figuring out what to do next, whether that’s burning DVDs and CDs or trying to get shows at other venues. “We’re trying to mix real-world experience with a regular art-school type of edu-cation,” says Soti.

Students paid just $35 to take the course, and chipped in an additional $30 each to cover promotional expenses for the open house. Along the way they made some invaluable connections, says Peck. “One of the guys here [Caton Volk] started Buddy and has been running alternative art spaces for a while. I could bring him to my class [at Xavier] and he could smile and shake hands with my students, but it’s not enough to really know him. Whereas when you spend every Sunday for 15 weeks with someone, they’re on your cell phone.”

In the future, the trio--who’ll show raw footage from a short video documentary they’re making about the class at the open house--hope to secure funding for the project and eventually move it to another location so that the school can grow. They probably won’t hold another session until the fall, and they’re not sure what form the class will take next, but one thing that won’t change is the name. “We joked about it,” says Soti. “If you have a fire department and a police depart-ment, why can’t we have an art department?” The Chicago Art Department open house runs Friday and Saturday, April 23 and 24, from 7 PM to midnight at Transamoeba, 1325 S. Wabash, suite 101. Demonstrations and performances are at 8 and 11; there’s a suggested dona-tion of $5. Call 312-286-8655.

April 23, 2004

Group Efforts: Hey Let’s Start An Art SchoolChicago Reader: Article by Cara Jespen

THE CHICAGO ART DEPARTMENT PRESS


It’s a hot night and the Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” blares out through the open windows of my car as I make it a Pilsen night once again. It’s the right tune for what’s clearly becoming more and more a scene--people are out in significant numbers. First to Parts Unknown Gallery for “The Funky Four Plus One Show”--definitely a funky show, as in not all that good. Nice text pieces by Matt Granstrom, though: an acrylic on found-wood signage that spells the word “Youth” in black and orange letters and one of cut aluminum that spells the word “Solitary” in gothic script. Simple, ritual melodrama for its own sake; they’re the best pieces here. Next, across the block to the Perry Ehlen and Mo Jacques show at the new Three Vue space for some okay work.

A quick peek into Vespine Gallery’s bland new photo show “No Brakes, No Steering, Have A Great Day,” yields an equally apathetic response in me to round the room once then back out the door. As does Fou-rArt’s traumatic show, “The Collection”--few of the works from which should end up in any. It starts get-ting depressing until I hit the CAD/XO space, a poorly thought-out acronym for the Chicago Arts District Ex-hibition Space, now showing San Diego artist Richard Keely’s “Sift.”

Although Keely’s assemblages simply can’t contend with all the open space here, no matter how orderly they’re hung, curator Sallie Douglas Gordon from Co-lumbia College has managed this as well as she could. But they’re simply too tiny. They’re also clever trans-

mutations of common castoffs, such as rubber gloves and serving platters, into décor of some insectoid plan-et’s royal palace. His useless, beautiful objects include “Untitled,” a fibrous balloon-shaped gourd emerging from twine that grips the outer membrane, tipped at one end with an elaborate metalworked frontice and at the other with a silver serving platter that acts as wall mount. Its posture of ennobled junk in the grip of a blood struggle against outright absurdity has the effect of charming the viewer with the very antiquity of such notions. They all succeed, as hopefully will this new art space. A project of the Chicago Arts District program, the space is available as a rental for “visiting curators and exhibitions.” If there’s one thing in short supply, it’s sufficient spaces for artists to do their thing free of constraint and the CAD/XO should help close that gap a little, as does the next and final stop in tonight’s tour: the Chicago Art Department.

It’s hopping at the new space for the art school started by Mike Nourse, Nathan Peck and Nat Soti. Ten-foot posters advertise classes in “Live Visuals” to learn the art of VJing (video jockeying), “Movement Studies” on the subject of dance, as well as basic video editing and production. They’re videotaping interviews with art-ists showing work, moving to the courtyard out back for the cigarette-safe zone. A few students lounge on couches in the rear. TV monitors are everywhere, in the kitchen above the microwave. Everywhere, there are laptops, wire, cameras. How is CAD the future of Pilsen art? Check back next week for the answer.

August 16, 2005

Back to SchoolNew City Chicago: Article by Michael Workman



House burning to the ground with you in it? Call the fire department. Ski-masked stranger with a chainsaw chasing you down the street? Call the police department. Wake up with an urgent need for art? Call the art department. That’s how Mike Nourse views the Chicago Art Department (www.chicagoartdepartment.org), the fledgling art school he founded with Nat Soti and Nathan Peck. They have ambi-tions of growing the school into a teaching and arts center, and recently relocated it to a storefront space on Halsted in the Pilsen neighborhood. They’ve already started enrolling students for September classes.

Newcity recently caught up with Nourse and Soti to discuss future plans for the Chicago Art Department in a neighbor-hood known for its culture of working artists.Newcity: How has relocating to Pilsen changed the Chicago Art Department in terms of how you serve its mission? Are their inherent benefits to working out of Pilsen for you?

Nat Soti: We were running our old location at 1325 South Wabash out of our loft; the main benefit of this new location is having more public access. People can see you from the street. The old location was bigger, but it was inside an office inside the building. As far as hosting events and classes--see, we lived there as well, so moving to this new space was about having a separate workspace. And so far so good. We’re ex-cited about being in a neighborhood with a bunch of other art. It’s an exciting idea for us--this neighborhood with these artists living in it and galleries--to have that as part of our “campus.”

Mike Nourse: We had a great situation at the old space, but the reality is that walking around here is a much different experience for us and our students to come down and, in-stead of saying, “let’s talk about photography,” we can go next door to the Pilsen Photo Group. Instead of talking in abstract terms about art-making, we can bring artists in and our students can go around and see artists. That’s huge. We’re also really happy to have open hours. That’s a big step for us to accept the public just walking in.

Newcity: Will you offer the same kind of courses you did at the loft? How do you think the new location will affect enrollment?

NS: We just moved in this May. Mike Nourse and I also run this video-production and design business, Zero One Proj-ects, and so the first three months have been about getting settled in, and we’re just now starting to offer the fall lineup of classes. We’re expecting modest enrollment. Our classes

are usually about ten to fifteen people. But before, we were running just one class, these themed-based classes: “Love it or Leave It,” “Man vs. Machine.”

MN: This is the first time we’re offering five classes at once. Themes run through what we teach. Nat and I kind of be-lieve in that; it’s our personal teaching philosophy. It started with teaching out of grad school at universities and just be-ing new to teaching in general: we started asking an awful lot of questions and what it came down to was that we like learning new skills or techniques, so long as they apply to a bigger picture. We have social issues we’re interested in that we like to fit into whatever we’re learning technically. “Love it or Leave It” was the first example of a class that addressed those issues, dealing with politics at a time when a lot of people were questioning the country and whether or not they wanted to stay here. And then, looking at that from a bunch of different levels: individuals, small groups, families and communities all the way to country and world then back down to individuals. We’re not just working with technical skills and not just working with social issues, but trying to have a combination of both. I think it makes for a healthy learning environment. [More established] schools tend to focus on one or the other, and we’ve been all about trying to bring multiple concepts together: one of the things we first started out with as a concept was bringing “intermedia” learning into this environment. Trying to learn about multi-ple art forms at the same time. How can you learn something in painting that applies to video and vice versa? And we’ve really kicked up the programs a notch. Let’s look at move-ment, drawing, DJing visuals, video production.

Newcity: How do you see the mission enhancing the experi-ence of the neighborhood’s art culture? What kind of public programs are you planning to offer this fall?

MN: We serve the art community in different ways, kind of like putting out the art fires, putting out art. Whether it’s getting art out there and serving some need for expression in the community or, beyond that, trying to tip the scales a little bit where people can come in and instead of buying some art, they can come in and make some art. In Septem-ber, we’re doing the Second Fridays opening night, and we’re going to focus on signing up people for the fall program. At the end of September, during the annual gallery walk for the district, we’re doing what’s called our CADIES, a Chicago Art Department awards show where we give our awards for artwork made by our students. It’ll be a full-on red-carpet thing with paparazzi and tuxedos and stuff like that. So look out for that.

August 23, 2005

Campus PilsenNew City Chicago: Article by Michael Workman



It’s a familiar story. Artists want workspace. They move into rundown buildings and fix them up, only to see the neigh-borhood become fashionable and expensive. They move elsewhere and the cycle soon repeats itself. This has hap-pened over and over again in most major U.S. cities.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Chicago has an artists’ district nicknamed Podmajersky Village, after John Podmajersky, Jr., who went into real estate in the early 1960s. He acquired clusters of decaying low-rise multi-unit buildings three miles south of the Chicago Loop, made repairs and began to rent space to artists.The best of these buildings surround large interior gardens, so that the artists had an opening to the street on one end of their unit and light, air and a view on the other. Since the gardens were shared, the artists got to know each other and a community spirit developed. Soon they decided to have a weekend open house every fall where the public could look and make purchases.

“Not a Street Fair”In early October, we visited the 35th Annual Open House, which is sponsored nowadays by Podmajersky, Inc., the real estate firm that owns the artists’ buildings. Podmajersky has renamed the area the “Chicago Arts District” and the open house, which was once a rather casual affair, now has a di-rector, an assistant director, an advertising budget and the inevitable website. The arts district is about six blocks long and three wide, with artists’ and photographers’ studios, art galleries, a café, a taco place and even a small art school. Maps listing 55 possible attractions were everywhere at the open house.

Cynthia West, director of the non-profit Chicago Arts Dis-trict, explained that the Podmajersky family sponsors the open house, a winter festival and coordinated monthly gal-lery openings. “We’re trying to raise public awareness of this

art community,” she said, “and encourage people to purchase artwork at its source. This is not a street fair. No food or beer is sold.”

The open house also promotes Podmajersky, Inc., which has plenty of commercial and residential real estate for lease. The 97 tenants listed on podmajersky.com include artists, designers, architects and more. Though rents may be ris-ing -- reports differ about how much -- the district has not changed character. Podmajersky has kept Starbucks and Subway at bay.

Most of the artists at the open house seemed to be in their 30s and 40s, but we met some recent graduates and a man who was 70-plus. Few of the artists have downtown dealers; their names are not familiar to us. The work varies wildly in quality, but some was very well done. Overall, the art at this open house was noticeably stronger than what we remember from ten and 15 years ago.Chicago Art Department

The Chicago Art Department, which we visited first, teach-es “interMEDIA,” a hybrid art form that is said to embrace digital video, painting, graphic design, writing, music, 3D animation, architecture, installation and much else (at the artist’s discretion). A student show was up when we visited.

CAD was founded by three young artists -- Mike Nourse, Nathan Peck and Nat Soti. Nourse has made video shorts, which are focused on entertainment, news and political media commentaries that he considers “investigations” or “re:constructions,” as they follow rules to yield results. His “earliest memory” of interMEDIA “was in grade 7,” he ex-plains. “Like many other budding young teenager, I was in-terested in art, but questioned whether or not it was a smart career move. . . .”

August 16, 2005

Chicago Open HouseArt Net Magazne: Article by Victor M Cassidy



September 29, 2005

Best New Art SchoolNewCity Chicago

It’s unfair to compare what Pilsen’s Chicago Art Department does to that of the Art Institute or the University of Illinois at Chicago. But it takes some real moxie to even feign competition with such goliaths. And if there’s one thing that founders Nat Soti, Nathan Peck and Mike Nourse have in excess, it’s moxie. Offering a curriculum of a mere five-to-six classes per semester, the school’s not accredited in any way, though each of the instructors have university-teaching experience. The school offers a great way for the general public to pick up skills in video editing, VJing, dance and drawing and who-knows-what-else as its roster grows and list of subjects expand. Keep current with what’s on offer online at www.chicagoartdepartment.org.


January 2006 Top 5 Alt-Space or

Emerging ShowChicago Art Department

NewCity Chicago

In the desperate pursuit of scarce creative resources, such as space, collaborators, and exhibition opportunities,

many Chicago artists find refuge in the studios of CSASC.

These studios pool their rent to create a very inexpensive creative environment

for a wide variety of artists.

The facilities at each location vary widely based on size and the needs of the artists including

galleries, theaters, studios and residences.

Each contains musicians, painters, designers,

photographers, dancers, sculptors and promoters.


1608STUDIOS

600 SQ. FT.S

studio

CHICAGO ART DEPARTMENT

1,000 SQ. FT.M

TRANSAMOEBASTUDIOS

4,000 SQ. FT.L

CATALYSTSTUDIOS18,000 SQ. FT.

BACKGALLERY

XL

CHICAGOSTUDIOARTISTSPACECOOPERATIVESTUDIO RENT POOL


1608 STUDIOSSTUDIO / RESIDENCE

aprox. 600 SQUARE FEET3 STUDIOS - 3 RESIDENCESMAX. CAP. - 30

SecondFloor

studio

MainFloor

kitchen

backresidence

frontresidence

residence

upperstudio

backstudio

frontstudio


SecondFloor

FirstFloor

studiokitchen

FRONTGALLERY

MAINGALLERY

BACKGALLERY

BACKSTUDIOFRONT

STUDIO

CHICAGO ART DEPARTMENTGALLERY / STUDIO

aprox. 1200 SQUARE FEET3 GALLERIES - 2 STUDIOS

MAX. CAP. - 150


TRANSAMOEBA STUDIOSSTUDIO / RESIDENCE / GALLERY

aprox. 4,000 SQUARE FEET5 STUDIOS - 4 RESIDENCES - 3 GALLERIESMAX. CAP. - 300

library

studiostudio

SecondFloor

residence residencestudio

MainFloor

residence

studio studio

kitchen

stage

tools

residence

frontgallery

backgallery

maingallery


CATALYST STUDIOSSTUDIO / RESIDENCE

aprox. 18,000 SQUARE FEET6 STUDIOS - 4 RESIDENCES

MAX. CAP. - 1000

MainFloor

gallery

studio

studiostudio

studio

studio

kitchen storage

storage

residence

UpperFloor

BACKGALLERY

residencestudio

frontstage

residence

residence

rearstage


Theses are the doors that I open.I have the keys so my students have the keys.

Documents

Nathan Peck Tenure Dossier: Service