Hyde Park Art Center, which offers over 200 programs annually that are free-to-the-public and designed for artists of all ages, is proud to announce public programming and opening shows for summer 2023. This year, the Art Center builds on programmatic partnerships that extend beyond the galleries with free, family-friendly art activations at the Hyde Park Farmer’s Market and the Hyde Park Flea, as well as an outdoor film screening of Hairy Who & The Chicago Imagists. Other highlights of the season include BOMBA!, a lively Puerto Rican musical performance that celebrates Edra Soto’s largest solo exhibition to date, Destination/El Destino: A Decade of GRAFT, and the Art Center’s second annual celebration of Pride Month, “The Art of Pride.”
Ciera McKissick, Public Programs Manager at the Art Center, says, “This summer we are excited to build upon our existing program partnerships for the season like the Hyde Park Farmer’s Market and Hyde Park Flea curated by our neighbor, Gilda’s Vintage and Thrift Boutique, and expand into new networks and audiences through our exhibitions and annual events. Our Edra Soto, William Estrada, and Teen exhibitions have offered space to invite dynamic performances like our upcoming Las BomPleneras concert during our July Center Days, engage other teen focused organizations across the city with our second annual Teen Arts Fest, and formalize partnerships with the National Museum of Mexican Art through programs occurring at both of our institutions.”
The centerpiece of the season, Center Day, will welcome visitors to experience the first solo exhibition of Chicago-based artist and educator William EstradatitledMultiples and Multitudes and the opening of the Art Center’s Teen Show: A Universe of Self Experience. The full schedule is below and online at hydeparkart.org.
PROGRAMS
El Desiño: On LatinX Design in Public Space at Chicago Cultural Center
Saturday, June 3, 12 – 2pm
In partnership with the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Edra Soto, Chicago Architecture Biennial artists-in-residence, and leaders of Human Scale–a nonprofit dedicated to creating meaningful public spaces in disinvested Chicago neighborhoods, will have a discussion on designing community spaces through the lens of identity, drawing inspiration from LatinX culture and design practices.
Hyde Park Art Center at the Hyde Park Farmers Market (1525 E 53rd St.)
Sunday, June 4, 9am – 1pm
Sunday, July 9, 9am – 1pm
Sunday, August 13, 9am – 1pm
The Art Center offers hands-on art-making activities for visitors supporting local vendors at the Hyde Park Farmers Market.
The Art of Pride
Sunday, June 11, 12 – 4pm
The Art Center plans an afternoon of performances and artmaking with local LGBTQIA+ artists for their second annual Pride celebration.
Virtual: From Quiebrasoles to Rejas: An Exploration of Afro-Caribbean Architecture and Culture with Edra Soto and Cruz Garcia
Thursday, July 13, 12 – 1pm
Exhibition artist Edra Soto and artist and architect Cruz Garcia gather for a virtual conversation to discuss the unsung influence of Afro-diasporic cultures on Puerto Rico’s decorative architecture, a recurring theme in Soto’s decade-long GRAFT series.
Center Day
Saturday, July 22, 1 – 4pm
Center Day is a recurring program that marks the opening of new exhibitions with free talks and experiences that connect artists, audiences, and communities. At summer Center Day, the Art Center presents BOMBA!, a lively Puerto Rican musical performance that celebrates Edra Soto’s largest solo exhibition to date, Destination/El Destino: A Decade of GRAFT. In addition, the Art Center welcomes visitors to experience the first solo exhibition of Chicago-based artist and educator William EstradatitledMultiples and Multitudes and the opening of the Art Center’s teen show, A Universe of Self Experience.
Big Blender: Teen Arts Fest
Saturday, August 5, 12 – 4pm
In conjunction with the exhibition A Universe of Self Experience, Big Blender: Teen Arts Fest will feature art-making activities led by teens, a teen vendor market, an open mic event with performances from the Art Center’s teen program artists, and other teens from programs around the city.
Hyde Park Flea
Sunday, August 27, 12 – 4pm
Hyde Park Flea is an exciting curation of unique vendors offering vintage, fashion, art, furniture, jewelry, and antiques presented in partnership with Gilda’s Vintage Thrift Boutique in the Art Center’s outdoor plaza and parking lot.
Movies in the Lot: Hairy Who & The Chicago Imagists
Thursday, August 31, 8 – 10pm
The Art Center hosts a screening in their outdoor parking lot of Hairy Who & The Chicago Imagists, a documentary celebrating Chicago’s pioneering young artists of the 1960s including Roger Brown, Ed Paschke, Jim Nutt, and others who helped secure a place in Pop Art history.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITIONS
William Estrada: Multiples and Multitudes
July 22 – November 19, 2023
Multiples and Multitudes is the first solo exhibition of artist and educator William Estrada, whose socially engaged practice has been rooted in Chicago neighborhoods for over twenty years. The exhibition will bring together works by Estrada, his collaborators, and students that exemplify his radical commitment to empowering communities through art making and self-representation. Drawing inspiration from the Chicano art movement and Taller de Grafica Popular and spanning print, photography, performance, and video, William’s work is committed to political advocacy and storytelling with and for communities of color in Chicago. Estrada is an alum of the Art Center’s Jackman Goldwasser Residency Program.
A Universe of Self Experience
July 22 – October 15, 2023
The annual exhibition celebrates new paintings, drawings, photography, ceramics, prints, animation, and multimedia work by young adult artists participating in Hyde Park Art Center’s Teen programs over the course of a 30-week process under the guidance of professional artists. Unanimously titled A Universe of Self-Experience by The Youth Board of Artists (a dedicated cohort of teen leaders at Hyde Park Art Center), the exhibition audaciously recognizes the boundlessness and complexity within the time in which these young artists exist. Through a diverse range of media and styles, more than 40 artists investigate the intertwined vastness and intimate side of self-experience. The exhibition is a testament to these young artists’ evolution and dedication, who have taken on the challenge of expressing complex thoughts, feelings, and emotions into individual works of art.
Destination/El Destino: a decade of GRAFT
April 22 – August 6, 2023
Destination/El Destino: a decade of GRAFT is the largest exhibition to date of the prolific Puerto Rican artist, educator, and community organizer Edra Soto. Rooted in themes of cultural hybridity, the exhibition addresses the unsung influence of Afro-diasporic cultures on Puerto Rico’s decorative architecture. A highlight of the exhibition is a new, large-scale commission of the artist’s GRAFT series with porous sculptures, documentary photographs, drawings, and games that activate the Art Center’s indoor/outdoor main gallery. The culmination project of a year-long residency of Soto at the Art Center, Destination/El Destino: a decade of GRAFT paves way for new understandings, dialogue, and communal healing.
Amuleto
April 22 – August 13, 2023
Amuleto is a collaboration between the independent art spaces The Franklin, Mayfield and Hyde Park Art Center to present artwork by artists that address the ideas of the amulet/amuleto: portable objects that are attributed magical, emotional or sentimental value. Civilizations have believed in the energy of amulets going all the way back to ancient times. These talismans are often worn to aid or protect their wearer or given a spiritual significance that varies from person to person and is symbolically compared to an armor. How do contemporary artists incorporate the alchemy of artifacts in their work? This exhibition concept originated from the artists Edra Soto, Madeleine Aguilar and Alberto Aguilar in relation to their own art practices and how they consider found, personal objects to be infused with power from memories generated from the object’s history of use or existence. The exhibition will take place in three companion shows spread throughout the three venues in the spring/summer of 2023 and run simultaneously at the Art Center with the solo exhibition Destination/El Destino: A decade of GRAFT by Edra Soto.
ABOUT THE HYDE PARK ART CENTER
Hyde Park Art Center, at 5020 South Cornell Avenue on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, serving as a gathering, production, and exhibition space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks. Since its inception in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center has grown from a small collective of artists to establishing a strong legacy of risk-taking and experimentation, emerging as a unique Chicago arts institution with social impact. Today, the Art Center offers a diverse suite of programs for artists and art lovers of all backgrounds, ages, and stages in their careers including: contemporary art exhibitions in six galleries; open-access community-based school with 1,500 annual enrollments; weekly arts education to 1,000 elementary school students in public schools; weekly and summer teen programs for 100 teen artists; professional-advancement programs for artists; a local and international artist residency; and public programs that connects residents with Chicago art and artists. The Art Center functions as an amplifier for creative voices of today and tomorrow, providing the space to cultivate new work and connections. For more information, visit www.hydeparkart.org.
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