Gapers Block has ceased publication.

Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
 Thank you for your readership and contributions. 

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Friday, March 29

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A/C

Business Wed Aug 12 2015

Prime is Now Comin' to Town

I want it, and I want it NOW. And now, there is an app for that, too. Well, kinda sorta. In a culture that has become all too obsessed with instant gratification, Amazon has prevailed once again in delivering its customers a *seemingly* fantastic product, Prime Now.

Now, we can shop from the convenience of our phones, and by the time we get home from work that day, all of our groceries, appliances, clothing and any other worldly goods you can think of will be sitting on our doorsteps. No errand-running required. And it's free. This sounds like something that is too good to be true. In some ways, it is, and in others, it's not.

Continue reading this entry »

Jennifer Prohov

Art Sun Jun 02 2013

Intel's Global Tour Comes to Grant Park

city-chicago.jpg

Experience interactive art from Intel at Grant Park Friday, June 7 through Sunday, June 9 at "Experience Intel. Look Inside." This global tour aims to introduce customers to the Intel's broad array of innovative devices. The Grant Park installation will combine art, film, fashion, music, and interactive performances that are all powered by Ultrabook. The weekend will include an interactive installation from Universal Everything, a gaming experience from Hide & Seek and a visual history of computing by The Office for Creative Research. Bring your old laptops to be recycled and receive a discount coupon redeemable for a new Ultrabook. In addition, several Ultrabooks will be given away to guests every day of the installation. The event is free and open to the public.

Photo courtesy intel.com

Caitlin Bergh

Business Fri Oct 19 2012

Fantasy Costumes: "The Second Best Place on Earth"

Halloween is by far the best holiday for many reasons. It exists purely for fun. It is not partial to particular religion, culture, race, or what have you. Anybody can celebrate Halloween by dressing up as anything his or her heart desires. It's the one day of the year that it's socially acceptable to walk around looking like a freak show.

If you take Halloween seriously, boy do I have the place for you.

Fantasy Costumes, at 4065 N. Milwaukee Ave., certainly does Halloween justice with its impressive selection. The 18,000-square-foot store occupies an entire city block and boasts "over one million items in stock."

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Continue reading this entry »

Brianna Kelly / Comments (2)

Business Wed Aug 29 2012

Doing It For the Dead Animals: Andersonville's Woolly Mammoth

By Alicia Eler

WoollyMammoth_Adam_Skye.jpgAdam Rust and Skye Enyeart-Rust live for adventure. Whereas a more practical business owner will tell you they opened their shop because they saw a market need, this couple did it for the thrill. For the kill, you might even say.

"We were on a belated honeymoon and had been traveling all over Turkey and Romania," explains Skye. "In Romania, we were hot on the trail of Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula, and kept thinking to ourselves: How can we ever go back to Chicago Mundania?"

An adventure was in order. But how was that even possible in Chicago?

"To have something that is sedentary but also an adventure everyday — that's what Woolly Mammoth is to us," says Adam.

Continue reading this entry »

A/C / Comments (2)

Business Mon Aug 27 2012

Travelers Find Welcome in Englewood

By Robert O'Connor

Englewood is usually said in hushed tones in conversation. It is regarded as one of the most unsafe places in Chicago, and if one reads the police blotter, it is hard not to come away with that impression. Despite its poor reputation, there are people still trying to make their way and bring people to the community, whether it's Kennedy King College or local businesses. One woman turned her grandmother's home into a place where travelers could come and stay for as little as $11/night. And they've come from all over the world.

Annie Wonsey runs one of the more popular Airbnb spots in Chicago. The website allows people to put apartments, rooms or even just couches up for rent by people who can't afford a hotel.

Continue reading this entry »

A/C / Comments (4)

Interview Mon Dec 05 2011

Artman/Businessman: An Interview with David Leonardis

Leonardis.jpg

(left to right:) Bill Kurtis, David Leonardis & Alfred Llahí Segalàs, Prince Héritier de Tanna.

David Leonardis is a gallery owner, a TV show host, an art entrepreneur and man in charge of the late Howard Finster traveling folk art exhibit. Leonardis began his career in the arts first working for a gallery so he could afford Finster prints, to befriending Finster, to now working on this traveling exhibit as well as raising funds to maintain Howard's permanent residence, the Howard Finster Vision House Museum, in Georgia. The Village of Long Grove, IL is playing host to the late Howard Finster exhibit, now through January 31. On his TV show, the "Chit Chat Show", Leonardis will turn the microphone around and interview Elysabeth Alfano of "Fear No Art" next.

Continue reading this entry »

Kelly Reaves / Comments (4)

Film Thu Oct 20 2011

The Grid: Move-Tastic!

"Move-Tastic!" is the fifth installment of our short film series, The Grid. These documentaries are posted throughout Gapers Block and compiled in their own multimedia feature section.

Move-Tastic!, "Chicago's premiere athletic moving force," wows customers and employs over 40 Chicagoans on their way to careers in other fields. Read more about Move-Tastic! at Chicago magazine and WBEZ.

About The Grid

The Grid is a series profiling Chicago businesses, subcultures and landscapes. These short, lyrical documentaries aspire to be art cinema, ethnographies and experiments in form. Ben Kolak and Brian Ashby's directorial debut, Scrappers, won Best Documentary at the 2010 Chicago Underground Film Festival and made Roger Ebert's top 10 list of documentary films for that year. Editor Dave Nagel is a recent University of Chicago graduate. Graphic designer Akemi Hong is a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

David Schalliol / Comments (1)

Business Thu Jul 14 2011

Chicago Firm Turns Big Ideas Toward the Little Guys

insight.jpgNot-for-profits set out to help society in one way or another. But who helps the not-for-profits? Donors can give money, volunteers can give time, but here in Chicago, Insight Labs is giving non-profit companies some things many of them desperately need: ideas and solutions.

Several weeks ago, on a Friday morning, I sat in a room full of people gathered specifically to solve a problem. We were virtual strangers, with only a tangential connection to the task at hand -- how to put the "playtime" back into the Boys & Girls Club experience. Our common bond? We were thinkers, idea people brought together by a local king of idea men, Jeff Leitner, and his partners.

Leitner, a senior strategist at Manifest Digital, held his first Insight Lab over two years ago. Along with co-founder Howell J. Malham, Jr., the new company set forth with a simply mission: take the kind of brainstorming that is typically applied to commercial businesses, and apply it to the not-for-profits that are trying to improve our world. Highly selective, the labs are held at a a rate of about one per month, and each one brings together a new collection of brains to pore over a different not-for-profit's conundrum.

The topics vary from lab to lab, but the Boys & Girls Clubs discussion was one with far-reaching implications. As mounting evidence suggests that unstructured playtime is key to child development, Mary Ann Mahon-Huels, the executive director of Union League Club (ULC)-sponsored Boys & Girls Clubs here in Chicago, felt that the Clubs' environment had become too structured. Along with peers from other area clubs, she recalled her own childhood experiences at her local Boys & Girls Club, noting that the prospect of unadulterated "free play" was what got her excited about coming back week after week. Now, the ULC Boys & Girls Clubs' reps feared, daily activities were planned within an inch of their lives. At least one club was requiring kids to finish their homework before having fun.

Continue reading this entry »

Marissa Flaxbart / Comments (2)

Feature Tue May 17 2011

Co-op Image Group Teaches Kids to Sculpt their Own Art Educations

cooptruck.jpg
photo courtesy of Mike Bancroft

There are many ways to a teenager's heart; you just have to know where to start. Co-op Image Group started with a few video cameras and has kept the kids interests by adding stencils, samplers, molten glass and hot sauce.

It all began in 2002 when Mike Bancroft (who was working for Street Level Youth Media at the time) and his sister, Bridget, were working on a project with the SLYM kids called "Post Our Bills." The idea was to use boarded up buildings as exhibition opportunities -- rather than looking at plywood-covered windows, wouldn't you rather look at paintings? Although they didn't get a lot of cooperation from the city, they attracted a lot of volunteers and positive attention from the neighborhood, and before they knew it they received a donated building and a community garden -- now the Campbell Co-op Garden (1357 N. Campbell St.).

Continue reading this entry »

Kelly Reaves

Art Tue Apr 12 2011

Rumble's in Trouble

Humboldt Park art and community center Rumble Arts (maybe you remember last year's feature story profiling them?) is in trouble because the family-owned pawnshop that provides its primary source of funding is in danger of being overthrown by a Cash America. It's like a civil war over there. Support the little guys! Support arts programming!

There are several ways you can help:

  • Sign the petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/rumblearts

  • Contact Alderman Roberto Maldonado, 26th ward: 773-395-0143; Fax: 773-395-0146

  • Attend the Town Hall Hearing TONIGHT at 6pm at the Humboldt Park Fieldhouse, (1400 N. Sacramento Ave.) and/or the Zoning Board of Appeals, April 15 at 2pm at City Hall, (121 N LaSalle St, 3rd Floor). The hearing on April 15 determines if Cash America will receive a business license. If you need a ride, a bus will depart Rumble Arts (3413 W. North Ave.) at 12:45pm to travel downtown. A second bus will load at Fullerton Red Line (943 W. Fullerton Ave.) at 12:45pm.

  • Stay tuned for important updates at rumblearts.com and on their Facebook page.

  • Spread the word!

Kelly Reaves

Business Mon Apr 11 2011

The Bolt Residency Program Debuts this June

4_Future-Artist-in-Residence-Space.jpg

Bolt Residency Studio Space

Are you one of the legions of artists out there lamenting your lack of productivity, chalking it up to not having a proper studio space, or perhaps feeling alien from the artistic community and generally uninspired? Do you need a muse, or an excuse to get out of your living room, away from your kids and your dirty dishes and start making art again? Or maybe you've been working your ass off in your basement but your work never sees the light of day and you would like some serious, critical feedback from someone other than your dog hiking his leg on it. OR maybe you're fresh out of college and you worry that you're going to fall into atrophy without some continued structure.

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, the newly-established Bolt Residency program may be a good option for you. The Bolt Residency is a highly competitive and juried artist program housed in the former FLATFILEgalleries, an 8,000 square foot space in the West Loop. It features a one to two-year artist residency program consisting of nine subsidized studios and professional exhibition space with daily, ongoing professional development and in depth collaborations with prominent Chicago curators, visiting artists, gallery directors, dealers, and collectors-- from Candida Alvarez to Monique Meloche. The idea is to not only provide studio space for artists, but to serve as a support structure and a network for artists to develop their creative practices into viable careers. It is not an easy thing, after all.

Continue reading this entry »

Kelly Reaves

Art Tue Apr 05 2011

Six Healthy Servings of Fresh Work From Your Local Art Farm

Community Supported Art Chicago.jpg

We know that Chicago is full of great art. We've got a bunch of internationally-renown educational institutions, attracting artists from all over the world. On top of that, we've got almost as many exhibition spaces as we've got artists and perhaps even more journalists who are just dying to write thoughtfully and comprehensively about the work being made. So why do artists keep on moving away to New York and LA? Money. Artmaking is not a viable sole source of income for most Chicagoans. Many artists have to work two, three, maybe four jobs at a time to get by. And that doesn't leave much time for sitting in the studio, staring at blank canvases, trying to come up with ideas.

The brainy people over at threewalls have come up with a brilliant idea, however, to start to solve this problem: Community Supported Art-- an art subscription service much like the increasingly popular community supported agriculture programs, in which shareholders invest in a local farm and receive a monthly payout of fruits and vegetables.

Continue reading this entry »

Kelly Reaves

Event Tue Mar 29 2011

We Don't Need No PhD

threewalls_artseducation.jpg

If you've been craving some serious art talk but don't have the loot to go to art school, stop by threewalls tonight (or across the hallway at Western Exhibitions, rather) for their "Unschooling Arts Education" SALON-- part of their monthly, (free!) super-educational and interactive discussion series.

Starting at 7 tonight, the discussion will start off with questions along the lines of: Do I really need a MFA to be a successful artist? What does the fact that you can get a PhD in visual art say about the baseline criteria that art professionals need to meet before being allowed to do anything in the arts? Is formal education valued over experience, and if so, what does this mean for the democratization of voices in the art world?

Invited guests who will be driving the discussion include Zachary Cahill, Erica Meiners (Northeastern Illinois University), Bert Stabler, Jacqueline Terrassa (MCA) and Rebecca Zorach (University of Chicago). This event is free and open to the public. Details here.

Kelly Reaves

Business Tue Oct 19 2010

Inkling Makes East Lakeview a Little More Colorful

inklingstore.jpg

All photos of the shop are by the author


On an eclectic strip of North Broadway St. in East Lakeview sits a new(ish) store called Inkling, where Stephanie Keller sells her wares-- from hand-printed wrapping paper and greeting cards made by local artists to wacky porcelain knickknacks she's collected at antique stores and estate sales over the years. It's like Etsy, but you get to touch stuff.

The store oozes cozy creativity and smells really good, too. There are so many interesting objects packed into the space that a fair viewing will probably require a good half hour, at least. Take your time. I would recommend bringing a coffee to aid with digestion and a few bucks, because you're going to want to buy something. Luckily, though, a few bucks are all you'll need because the prices are surprisingly low, especially considering that many of the items are hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind pieces. $5-$10 will get you a quirky, thoughtful little birthday/housewarming/baby shower gift for someone and $20 will get you an original screenprint.

Continue reading this entry »

Kelly Reaves

Business Thu Aug 12 2010

The Bench

Unemployed? Maybe you're sitting around in your pajamas at 2 in the afternoon watching Hulu in between bouts of job searching on Craigslist. Maybe you're training yourself to eat like an eighteen year old again because you can't afford grown-up food anymore. Maybe you're getting a little depressed because all you're finding is jobs you don't want. Or maybe you're finding jobs you'd love to have but you're bombing at the interviews.

You know what you need? You need some moral support. And maybe a beer, too.

Fellow A/C writer Whitney Stoepel has teamed up with the super-talented and hilarious local writer Natalie Edwards and created an unemployment club of sorts, called "The Bench", which meets at the Maproom every Friday at 1pm. Armed with pints of beer and/or fancy coffee, they go over resumes, share job-finding tips and techniques as well as interesting job opportunities, and perhaps most importantly, they pat each other on the back and give each other a reason to get out of their pajamas and go out into the world every Friday. Every meeting focuses on a theme, like how to interview well and how to stay relevant in your field while working freelance jobs to get by.

Continue reading this entry »

Kelly Reaves / Comments (1)

Art Fri Mar 26 2010

A Brand New Op Shop for the Brand New Season

mainimage.jpgAs spring settles in, I have been drawn outside more and more, this week I headed to Hyde Park, where Laura Schaeffer is preparing to open her second Op Shop. Laura's Op Shops start as vacant store fronts or businesses that she transforms into creative retail spaces. With the help of local artists and visionaries Laura will be offering a space for artists and community members to come together and teach, learn, witness and connect, as well as buy, sell, display and observe. This sort of balance is not easy to maintain, but seeing as Laura is also the owner of the Home Gallery, and hanging the beautiful shows she has at Home, definitely qualifies her to make this an absolute success.

Her artistic eye scans everything as it comes together, artists run amuck in the 3,000-square-foot space of 1530 E. 53rd St., and Laura takes pictures and so she is sure to recount the process. In the short time I was there I found out that the space, built in the '30s, was a Walgreen's, a Kroch's and Brentano's bookstore, and a Hollywood Video, but according to a project being done for the Op Shop, the most influential incarnation of the space was the Hyde Park Federal Savings and Loan. Although Laura is directing the resurrection of the Op Shop for Saturday's opening, I would like express that this is an evolving space, the items and projects within the space will alter and grow throughout its existence, which will be until, at least, May 1.

Opening Reception: March 27, 6-10pm
Open Wednesday through Sundays 11am - 7pm
Closing Celebration: May 1, 6-10pm

MartinJon

Media Wed Jan 13 2010

Chicago Community Trust Wins Second Knight Foundation Grant

The Chicago Community Trust has received a second journalism-oriented grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The $202,000 grant is from the foundation's Knight Community Information Challenge and will provide funding for a second year of the Community News Matters program, of which Gapers Block is an awardee. Other regional recipients of the Challenge include community foundations in Michigan and Wisconsin.

The official summary of the Trust's project reads as follows:

To stimulate new ways to provide the Chicago region with critical local news and information, The Chicago Community Trust has launched Community News Matters, a grant program to support the city's media innovators. The Knight Foundation support will help fund projects designed to increase the flow of high-quality information to the public and to develop new distribution and business models. In addition, the Trust will conduct a study examining the region's information infrastructure -- its strengths and weaknesses -- and convene a conference on the topic.

David Schalliol

Business Mon Jan 11 2010

Pearl Art and Craft Closing Stores

Pearl Art and Craft is closing several stores across the country, and the Chicago store is among them. Everything in the store is 50% off, so deals are to be had even with furniture and easels. How often can you pick up a solid oak easel for half off?

Christian Scheuer / Comments (3)

Art Mon Nov 16 2009

Opportunity for the Arts

The directors of Home Gallery, in Hyde Park, have an exciting and interesting pilot event coming up called the Op Shop. The name refers to Opportunity Shop, and the idea here is to open a temporary space where artists can bring their work, as well as services and ideas, in order to barter, sell and openly exchange. I don't want to give the impression that this is a just retail space, although that is one aspect of what will happen within this space. Artists are being encouraged to be a part of this event organically, utilizing the space to create a dynamic and evolving installation. All mediums are welcome, so artists may host a workshop, lessons, or performances as well as sell paintings or sculptures.

Another aspect of this pilot project, which, if all goes well there will be more of, is to work in conjunction with property owners, bringing attention to their vacant spaces while helping to keep the Op Shop's costs down. This will also attract new consumers to an area and will aid in revitalizing neighborhood shops that may have seen a drop in sales over the past few months. This Op Shop will be located in a vacant space currently owned by Mac Properties in Hyde Park at 1613 E. 55th St.

If you are interested in participating in The Op Shop, you should contact the Laura Shaeffer immediately. They are also looking for people to donate time to help run the space during its open hours.

laura.shaeffer@gmail.com
www.thelarch.org

The planned timed and days for this event are as follows

Dates: 11/27 Fri - 12/31 Thu
Visitor hours: 11am-7pm, Thu-Sun,
Evenings, coinciding with events.

Opening reception: 11/27 Fri, from 6-10 p.m.
Silent Auction: 12/5 Sat from 6-10 p.m
Closing party: 12/31 Thu from 6-10 p.m.

MartinJon / Comments (2)

Art Wed Oct 21 2009

I <3 the Internet

Forgive me if this is old news, but I've just discovered the goldmine of videos on CAN TV's website. This is especially exiting because I don't have cable, so I don't get CAN TV on my television, which seems ironic somehow, but whatever. Money doesn't grow on trees.

Anyway, check out the great videos they've got on there. The local events videos are super interesting, and they have a pretty awesome collection of art-related stuff. Like this video documentation of a recent Artists at Work forum about how to make money outside of the white cube.

Kelly Reaves

Business Tue Sep 15 2009

How to Be a Non-Starving Artist

CAN-TV has just posted a video of a panel on making a living as an artist, featuring those who figured out a different solution to the art/money conundrum.

Lindsay Muscato

Architecture Wed Jul 08 2009

Got $300k? Buy This Landmark

Looking to buy some property? $300,000 might fetch you a nice two-bedroom condo in Lincoln Square, or you could invest in something more spacious: how about a 14-floor, 3 million square foot fixer-upper in the West Loop? Something that, say, straddles the Eisenhower as it becomes Congress Parkway?

sortingfloor.jpg

On August 27, 2009, the United States Postal Service is liquidating the former Chicago Main Post Office at auction with the suggested starting bid of just $300,000. The building has been vacant since 1997, when the need for modernized sorting equipment forced a move from the old location at 404 W. Harrison to its current site at 443 W. Harrison. But vacant buildings still require heat, and the owners still have to pay property tax. So this hulking structure -- which occupies four city blocks -- has been a major thorn in the Postal Service's side for 11 years. In fact the Postal Service has tried to sell the facility by "traditional methods" before, resulting in a few failed bids.

mainpostofficelobby.jpg

Enter Rick Levin and Associates, the auctioneers hell-bent on bringing the gavel down once and for all on this massive structure.

The real estate auction firm announced in June it would offer the building, "to be sold absolute, regardless of price." Postal Service higher-ups believe the transparency of an open auction -- not to mention the eyebrow-raisingly cheap starting bid -- will result in its sale. Finally.

Continue reading this entry »

Katherine Raz / Comments (2)

Architecture Mon Jun 15 2009

Attention to Detail: Furniture Designer Suzanne Trocmé at NeoCon

Think you could fill a Soldier Field-size stadium with people interested industrial furniture design? Well, you can. For the next three days more than 50,000 people will be descending upon the Merchandise Mart for NeoCon, the National Exposition of Contract Furnishings. It's the largest exhibition of "contract furnishings for the design and management of the built environment" in North America. In other words, a trade show for people looking to furnish (mostly) public spaces.

trocmeblackdress.jpg

And it is massive. With over 1200 exhibitors featuring everything from readymade classroom murals to hospital waiting room chairs, the conference will occupy 1.2 million square feet inside the Mart from Monday the 15th through Wednesday the 17th.

Continue reading this entry »

Katherine Raz / Comments (5)

Business Wed May 13 2009

Mucca Pazza, Sock Holders

At AREA Chicago's online version of its latest publication, Everybody's Got Money Issues, the members of Mucca Pazza discuss their unique artist-centric structure. Like, they issue socks to represent stocks.

Lindsay Muscato

Business Thu May 07 2009

Last on the To-Do List: Arts Funding

In Mechanics, Jeff Smith explains why the arts sector is sinking.

Lindsay Muscato

Business Tue May 05 2009

The Arts, Seeking Your Smarts

These days, arts organizations flounder as the economy slouches towards a Hooverville redux. Plus many of those wacky liberals gave all their cash to Obama instead of their fave arts nonprofits. But you can help. The Arts & Business Council of Chicago seeks volunteers with business experience to act as pro bono consultants for local arts organizations.

Qualifications are:

-A minimum of five years of professional experience
-Expertise in marketing, public relations, strategic and business planning, accounting, financial management, IT, and human resources
-An interest in the arts
-Willingness to commit 5-10 hours per month

Joining the program means a sense of accomplishment (finally!) and a resume booster for you, while the arts organizations get some extra smarty-pants help when they need it most.

The deadline to apply is June 12th, and the training for accepted applicants is June 19th. There is a $100 fee for participating, but discuss with the organizers if that's a hardship. Details and application are online (disregard the outdated deadlines).

Lindsay Muscato / Comments (3)

Art Mon Feb 09 2009

You Decide: the Future of the Hyde Park Art Center

Among cultural centers dramatically affected by the economic downturn, the Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) has been particularly affected. In anticipation of even rougher times, the Board of Directors has reduced its budget by 15% for 2009 and four employees -- a quarter of the staff -- have been laid off. In response, the HPAC is holding a public forum tonight in which they "want your questions, reactions and suggestions to changes at the Center." The event starts at 6pm in its 4833 rph space, 5020 S. Cornell.

David Schalliol

Business Tue Dec 16 2008

The Poor Artist's Guide to Health Care

The Chicago Artists' Coalition maintains a list of health care resources for artists. While there are currently no magical solutions for artists without health care, the page offers a few good suggestions for finding insurance and a list of low-cost clinics. Handy for when the viral cloud of winter descends.

Lindsay Muscato

Business Tue Nov 18 2008

Artisan Gives Back

Artisan Talent turned 20 this year, and it recently celebrated with its Match That Gives Back creative competition, which matches a nonprofit organization in need with a talented designer or design team.

The winners of this year's competition were David Weik of Vik Design, who produced work for Snow City Arts, a foundation that teaches hospitalized children creative writing, music, painting, photography and filmmaking.

Artisan Match DavidWeik KateNeisser BejanDouraghy.JPG
David Weik, Vik Design; Kate Neisser, Board Member, Snow City Arts; and Bejan Douraghy, Founder and CEO, Artisan

Andrew Huff

Business Wed Oct 01 2008

So You Wanna Start an Arts Organization

If you've ever wanted to run your own non-profit arts organization, check out the Q&A with Seth Boustead, co-founder of Accessible Contemporary Music, posted at Chicago Artists Resource. It briefly lays out the basics (planning, staffing, fundraising, promoting) and gives a glimpse of the red tape labyrinths, champagne-popping good times, growing pains and high-five-inducing successes that could be in your future.

Lindsay Muscato

Art Fri Sep 26 2008

Auctioning off the Bunny's Collection

In further Playboy news, the venerable men's magazine is auctioning off 17 illustrations from the archives. Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas will auction off pieces from "Playboy: The Art of Beauty" on October 15th but bids are already being taken online. Some of the artists include Patrick Nagel, LeRoy Neiman, Erich Sokol, Harvey Kurtzman and pinup master Alberto Vargas.

Christian Scheuer

Gallery Mon Sep 08 2008

DvA Gallery: End of an Era

DvA Gallery is closing its Lincoln Park location after five years, and merging with Rotofugi Toy Store & Gallery. David van Alphen will be taking the position of Gallery Curator at Rotofugi in order to devote more time to caring for his son Jack, diagnosed with Down Syndrome. David's other venture, Slingshot! Press, a source for limited edition affordable prints, will continue to bring top notch underground artists to your collection. DvA Gallery's Going Away Party will be held Saturday, September 13th from 6-9pm, and the last official day will be Sunday, September 28th. Be sure to stop by and say hello and goodbye to one of the more interesting underground artist galleries in Chicago.

DvA Gallery is located at 2568 N. Lincoln Ave.
Rotofugi Toy Store & Gallery is located at 1953-55 W. Chicago Ave.


Christian Scheuer

Business Tue Jun 24 2008

Money Talk at Mess Hall

This Thursday, June 26, Lucky Pierre and Mess Hall host a discussion and "dinnerluck" about politics and arts funding. How do artists stay true to their political beliefs and values when applying for and receiving arts funding? Do artists flat-out say "no" to certain funders for political reasons? Bring a dish or beverage and pipe up. 7 p.m. 6932 N. Glenwood.

Lauri Apple

Business Wed Mar 05 2008

The End of Winter (for Crafters)

A heads-up for those of you who like their craft concentrated: this Saturday will be the Handmade Market’s last market of the season. Hosted at The Empty Bottle, the Market strives to create a sustainable crafting community by putting buyers directly in contact with the people who make their goods (and putting the money from those goods directly back in the pockets of makers). Included in this Saturday’s will be Junk Metal Artist, Dancing Girl Press, Enzo’s Bakery, and a slew of other skilled creators. Entry is free, and for those 21 and older, and parents with children. The last winter Market will take place this Saturday, March 8th, from noon to 4:30pm. Can’t make it? Most of the sellers’ wares are available on the good ol’ internet - though, really, don’t you spend enough time there?

Jaime Calder

GB store

Architecture Tue Nov 03 2015

Paul Goldberger Describes the "Pragmatism and Poetry" of Frank Gehry's Architecture in His New Book

By Nancy Bishop

Architecture critic Paul Goldberger talks about Frank Gehry's life and work in a new book.
Read this feature »

Steve at the Movies Fri Jan 01 2016

Best Feature Films & Documentaries of 2015

By Steve Prokopy

Read this column »

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A/C is the arts and culture section of Gapers Block, covering the many forms of expression on display in Chicago. More...
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Editor: Nancy Bishop, nancy@gapersblock.com
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