Amanda Friedman & Miss Aniela Reviews, Season Opener

Next week marks the conclusion of our current exhibit, Amanda Friedman & Miss Aniela.

Read reviews by Michael Weinstein in Newcity, and by reporter Lauren Veira in the Chicago Tribune and come out by next Saturday to see the show.

Our next exhibit features a solo show from David Burdeny's new series Sacred & Secular and a group show in galleries 2 & 3 with prints from the Yale University School of Art 2010 MFA Photography candidates. Check out the press release on our website, and come out for the season opener on September 10. Galleries in every district will be open; this is a night to clear your schedule and make sure you get out and see some art!

You can find a complete list of galleries that will be premiering new shows for the season opener (September 10), and a schedule for the rest of the year on Chicago Gallery News' website. They also now organize the Saturday morning art tours around River North, and you can find that schedule here.

Images: (above) Amanda Friedman, Santa Monica #8
(below) David Burdeny, River Nile, Cairo, Egypt, 2009

Educational Program Experience

Written Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Maria the intern here with more good experiences to share!

Wednesday's visit to Horizons for Youth was a success in my eyes. As mentioned in the earlier post, we worked on a printmaking project with first through third graders. I later found out how this is connected to the gallery. As the Education Program Director at DWG, Meghan reaches out to nonprofit organizations, like Horizons for Youth, to provide students with art education (not just 'gallery school'). When I look back to my elementary years, I can't say that I remember much at all from my art class. Students these days may not even be exposed to art because of the recent economic crisis. If educational funding gets cut, art or music seem to be the first to disappear. Therefore, I commend DWG for reaching out to the community in such a great way.

Anyway, about the class. At around 3:30PM, students began to slowly file in to the cafeteria (substituting as an 'art room'). As I walked around each table to make name tags for students, I noticed many of them were gloomy, quiet, and even irritated. Some just shook their heads when I asked for their name, while others said, "I don't want to do art," under their breath. It made me feel bad, especially since it was one of my first teaching experiences and none of these kids were even close to excited. Meghan explained a simplified version of printmaking. She took a soft, thin block, rolled paint onto it, and drew designs on the block using a wooden pick. She then placed paper on top and pressed down. Tada, a print! Eyes began to light up, mouths began to chatter about designs and patterns. The energy completely changed! The kids had a really good time creating prints at each station. Each station had a different color of paint - the young students could barely wait to get to the next table for the next color. Time quickly passed, leaving many students disappointed that they couldn't continue printmaking. After being in school the whole day, their disappointment faded when they realized it was time to go home.

This educational program made me realize a couple things about myself. As an incoming freshman at Columbia College, my future plans are to become a photography teacher and give students a creative escape when life throws crappy obstacles at them. I've never thought of myself teaching crafts to elementary students. In fact, I have always found little kids to be, let's say, quite challenging. Although I won't base my changed thoughts completely on this experience, it has definitely sparked ideas for potential opportunities. This experience mainly helped me realize that I do love to help, a whole bunch, in any way shape or form, which is obviously important for teaching. And even though my public speaking skills could use some work (as well as my patience), teaching seems like the right field for me.

I hope Meghan takes me along on another trip to Horizons!

-Maria

DWG from an Intern's Perspective

Written on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Hi! My name is Maria and I am a brand new intern at the David Weinberg Gallery. Thanks to Marwen, a nonprofit organization which offers free courses and learning opportunities to underprivileged kids, I was assigned to work for DWG for six weeks. I got the internship by applying for the Art @ Work program at Marwen. I had to select five internship sites, explain why I wanted to work for them, and what I could contribute to each site. I was fortunate enough to be chosen for DWG! For the next four weeks, I hope to post a few blog entries about my experiences in the gallery (good or bad!), personal opinions on the current show, as well as introduce certain areas of the gallery via photos that I will take and post.

I am about to finish my second week here, and I have to say, I feel quite comfortable in an environment I did not originally envision myself in. As I walk to the gallery from Marwen, I notice how busy and on-edge life can really be - crazy drivers, everyone running to the subway stations, etc. The city is very fast-paced, which to me can get fairly stressful after a while. However, when I come here, it's the indoors version of a breath of fresh air. Warm welcomes and happy faces greet me, mixed in with some casual conversation but serious work. There is a solid team of people here (as well as a strong leader and great photographer, Mr. David Weinberg) who run this gallery smoothly. I never realized how much really goes into operating a gallery, but these talented and dedicated people make it look easy (which I'm sure it's not!).

My duties thus far have been mostly administrative work: finding new contacts, entering them into the system, organizing tear sheets into their designated artist folders, etc. I would not give that "six flags" on the fun-o-meter, but it is important work that needs to be taken care of. It is good to know that I can help handle all the small tasks so that Aaron, Meghan, Johnna and Heather can move on to bigger and better tasks. I did get the chance to help install two pieces in the display window to advertise for the current show, though. It was nice to physically see my help, even if it was just holding tools and erasing pencil marks.

Today is different! First, I am making this post, which is totally awesome. Right after, I get to travel with Meghan to Horizons For Youth to assist with a printmaking lesson. Meghan has been doing a collaborative special summer program with Horizons for Youth kids as part of their summer school program, meeting nine times over three weeks. I'm really looking forward to being a part of it! I am sure I will be learning along with the kids. It looks like it's about time to go, so until my next post, enjoy some art and have fun!

-Maria

Jordan Eagles in review and museums

Jordan Eagles is suddenly everywhere these days. We couldn't be happier. The Everson Museum of Art in New York just acquired a great piece for their permanent collection, Eagles' UR23. And today, we saw that critic Charlie Schultz wrote of Eagles' work that it was the "most spectacular" work in the group show currently Causey Contemporary in Brooklyn. We agree. We are very excited for his solo show with us opening November 5. Jordan, a New Yorker, will be here in Chicago that night so mark your calendar now, stop by the opening, and meet yourself a great young artist.

Jordan Eagles, UR23, 36x36x3, Blood preserved on plexiglass, UV resin