5th International Book & Paper Arts Triennial at Center for Book & Paper Arts
Media Contact: Elizabeth Burke-Dain 312.344.8695
Chicago, IL (June 17, 2008) - Fifty-nine art works from the papermaking and artists’ book genre will be on view during the 5th International Book & Paper Arts Triennial at Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book & Paper Arts from June 25 – September 12, 2008 at 1104 S. Wabash Ave., second floor. A closing reception will be held on Friday, September 12
from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
This juried exhibition features fine and letterpress printed and bound books, broadsides, artists’ books, book objects, sculptural paper, pulp painting and altered books that have been selected from an international base of some of the most recognized artists working in this medium today. Art works range in size from paper vessels that dangle from ceiling to floor down to sculpture that is 2” tall. Challenging the traditional definition of the book, the 5th Triennial features a book that is “written” in broken glass and another that contains the mnemonic bird calls of Midwest songbirds. Also included are etchings of Paris gardens, a taxonomy of urban fowl, illustrated poems, corn stalks made of paper, a photo journey through a car wash and many more wonderful and curious book and paper objects that comprise this triennial exhibition.
The Center for Book & Paper’s gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information, call 312.344.6630 or visit www.bookandpaper.org. A catalog of the exhibition will be available for purchase during the closing reception on Friday, September 12.
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CDC Gives Nod to Land Sale for MPC
Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383, mleventhal@colum.edu
NOTE: Jeanne Gang will present a Lunchtime Lecture on the MPC at the Chicago Architecture Foundation Wednesday, June 18. Details at http://architecture.org/programs.html#lunchti
CHICAGO, IL – The city’s Community Development Commission today unanimously voted to recommend to the City Council the sale of a parcel of land on the southwest corner of 16th and State to Columbia College Chicago for the construction of a Media Production Center. The project, designed by Studio Gang Architects, is the first new construction for the college.
The 38,000 square foot building will feature two sound stages, a motion capture studio, animation lab, classrooms and space for production design, costumes and more. Total project budget is $21 million.
Officials at the college have worked closely with Third Ward Alderman Patricia Dowell, to ensure that the facility will be a good fit with the primarily residential character of the area.
“I am delighted to support the sale of city-owned land to help create the Media Production Center for Columbia College. We are proud to have this leading educational institution expand into the South Loop in the Third Ward. With this facility, Columbia will be able to meet the educational needs of our future filmmakers and visual artists,” said Alderman Pat Dowell. “I continue to work with Columbia to assure minority hiring and contracting for this project, provide community access to the facility and address parking needs.”
“The redevelopment of this long-vacant parcel of land is important to the ongoing revitalization of the South Loop neighborhood,” said Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Arnold Randall. “With its unique design and environmental features, the Center will become a tremendous asset to the community and the city as a whole.”
W.E. O’Neil Construction Co., the firm selected to bring Studio Gang’s architectural designs into being, has a history of working on similar high quality and unique projects. They also have extensive experience working with local communities and the firm has been instrumental in developing the Construction Career Opportunities Program at Dawson Technical Institute. O’Neil has pledged to provide five apprentice construction jobs to graduates of this program.
“W.E. O’Neil Team is excited to be included with Columbia College and their entire team in the planning and development of this unique facility,” says Michael Faron, chairman of W.E. O’Neil Construction Co.
Studio Gang is headed by Jeanne Gang, designer of the much-anticipated Aqua tower. Gang, who was the principal designer of Columbia’s MPC, was recently featured in a Chicago Tribune article by architecture critic Blair Kamin. Kamin dubbed Gang a “rising ‘starchitect,’” and credited her with “a gift for coaxing visual poetry out of the most prosaic materials.” Ms. Gang and the work of her firm are also featured in the June issue of Metropolis magazine.
Regarding Gang’s design for the MPC, Alicia Berg, vice president for campus environment, says that, “working with Studio Gang, we have designed an environmentally sustainable building with a distinctive and significantly transparent façade that will be an asset to the emerging neighborhood. Jeanne and her team have worked with us to keep design elements consistent with the fresh, creative approach that is the hallmark of Columbia College.”
As plans move ahead for the MPC, anticipation mounts for students and faculty. “Columbia College Chicago is very excited to be in the midst of planning and fundraising for the Media Production Center, the college’s first new construction project,” says Columbia President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. “The Center will provide students with a state-of-the-art professional production facility that will enable Columbia – one of the top ten film schools – to remain competitive in our increasingly technological environment.”
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Mapping: Cartographies of Learning Exhibit to Open
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2008
Media Contact: Elizabeth Burke-Dain, 312-344-8695
(Chicago, IL) As part of the City of Chicago’s Festival of Maps, Mapping: Cartographies of Learning showcases multi-media arts installations from Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) Project AIM, and the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE). The exhibition runs from June 26 – August 8 at Columbia College Chicago’s C33 Gallery, 33 East Congress and is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9am to 7pm, Friday, 9am to 5pm and Saturdays by appointment. Opening reception Thursday, June 25 from 5 – 7pm. For more information call 312.344.8177.
Mapping is a culmination of curricular and conceptual explorations of mapmaking from students in nine Chicago Public Schools (kindergarten through high school). The installations, directed by professional artists and teachers, feature compelling social and cultural histories as well as visionary images of students’ sense of place in their neighborhoods and the world. Mapping is curated by Scott Sikkema and Cynthia Weiss, with Mark Diaz and Shawn Renee Lent.
Participating Schools: A.C.T. Charter School, Crown Community Academy, Hawthorne Scholastic Academy, Edward Jenner Academy of the Arts, John B. Murphy Elementary School, Northside College Prep High School, South Shore High School, and Telpochcalli Elementary School.
Participating Artists and Teachers: Luke Albrecht, Meg Arbeiter, Charles Barbera, Lindsey Caplice, Phillip Cotton, Peter DeLaurentis, Guillermo Delgado, William Estrada, David Jordan, Rebecca Leverenz, Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, Jorge Lucero, Colby Mecher, Olivia Mulcahy, Walter Ornelas, Mathais “Spider” Schergen, Wendee Shavocky, Eric Silverberg, Margy Stover, Jamie Lou Thome, Joel Wanek, Megan Williamson, and Mirtes Zwierzynski.
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Busted Amp Opens June 26
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2008
Media Contact: Elizabeth Burke-Dain, 312-344-8695
(Chicago, IL) Anchor Graphics at Columbia College Chicago will bring together a dozen of Chicago’s most sought-after screen printers who work in the music poster, t-shirt and album cover genre for an exhibition of their personal work at Columbia’s Averill and Bernard Leviton A+D Gallery, 619 S. Wabash Avenue from June 26 to July 23, 2008. This free exhibition will have its opening reception on June 26 from 5 to 8 pm. For more information call 312.344.8687 or visit www.colum.edu/adgallery.
Fine art prints by some of the leading screen printers associated with Chicago music are Jay Ryan’s Bird Machine, Nick Butcher’s Sonnenzimmer, Steve Walter’s Screwball Press, just to name a few.
Participating Artists: Nick Butcher (Sonnenzimmer), Nadine Nakanishi (Sonnenzimmer), Jay Ryan (the Bird Machine), Mat Daly, Dan Grzeca, Steve Walters, Billy Baumann (Delicious Design), Jason Teegarden-Downs (Delicious Design), Diana Sudyka, Kathleen Judge, Dan MacAdam, Rob Doran, John Solimine, Keith Herzik.
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Really Big Paper and Postcard Art at Book & Paper Center
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 3, 2008
Media Contact: Elizabeth Burke-Dain, 312-344-8695
(CHICAGO, IL) The exhibition Really Big Paper will run from June 7 – July 12 at the Center for Book and Paper Arts, 1104 S. Wabash Avenue. This free exhibition has an opening reception on Saturday, June 7 from 5:30 – 7:30pm. More information at 312.344.6630 or www.colum.edu/bookandpaper.
Papermaking artists Peter Sowiski and Jill Littlewood have decided that size matters. They make very large paper that can accommodate the theme they have both tackled in their work: death.
“I chose death as a topic because I wanted something big enough to be both mythic and encyclopedic,” says Jill Littlewooed. “It was a good choice. Death takes you everywhere.”
Peter Sowiski’s large scale art grew out of his experiments with pulp painting and his boyhood obsession with weaponry and military accoutrement. Sowiski decided to investigate scale with magnified images of war planes, bombers and what are known today as WMDs in his collection of works that will be shown in this exhibition.
POSTCARD ART COMPETITION EXHIBITION:
The Curk Teich collection at the Lake County (IL) Discovery Museum sponsors a biennial “design a postcard” competition. The winners of this competition get their art reproduced as a real post card and the honor of showing in this unique exhibition. The original postcard designs are available for purchase at the Center for Book & Paper Arts.
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