WHAT: "Paper Hats" Party, Exhibition and Auction -
A Bodacious Benefit for Columbia's Center for Book & Paper Arts
Whimsical, wonderful, elegant and outrageous Paper Hat creations by hundreds of top artists will be auctioned to benefit the Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago. The evening event will feature a pre-auction exhibition of Paper Hats, wine and hors d'oeuvres reception and a live and silent auction of the one-of-a-kind chapeaux. WXRT DJ Terri Hemmert will serve as auctioneer. Attendees are encouraged to "dress to the nines" and expect a fine time.
Artists include: Audrey Niffenegger, Beatrice Coron, Nick Cave, Bill Drendel, Karen Stahlecker
(bios follow).
WHERE: Wood Street Gallery, 1239 N. Wood St., Chicago
WHEN: Saturday, April 9, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $30 general public
($25 members of the Columbia Center for Book & Paper Arts)
RESERVATIONS & INFORMATION: 312-344-6630
Bios of a small selection of participating artists:
Beatrice Coron, is originally from France and now lives and works in New York. She is one of the foremost paper "cutters" in the world. Recently, Chicago inaugurated a set of Coron-designed stainless steel gates at the Kostner stop of the CTA Blue line.
Bill Drendel, book artist and designer. Internationally known for his inventive structures and humorous bookforms, he is currently the co-ordinator of the gallery at the Book and Paper Center.
Nick Cave is a performance artist and fashion designer who creates astounding one-of-a-kind full body "Soundsuits" made of metal, plastic, fabric, paper and hair. His work has been exhibited in museums in New York, The Netherlands and Germany.
Audrey Niffenegger, is an award winning artist and author. Her debut novel, "The Time Traveler's Wife" is back on the New York Times best seller list and has been optioned for film by New Line Cinema.
Karen Stahlecker is an internationally known installation artist who pioneered the use of hand made paper in her sculptures and installations. Her work has been seen in The Czech Republic, Belgium, Japan and Switzerland. She is the recipient of Fulbright and NEA Fellowships. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Stahlecker recently returned to reside at her family home in Woodstock, IL.
CHICAGO, IL - Editorial cartoonist Clay Bennett of The Christian Science Monitor is the winner of the 2005 John Fischetti Award. This is the second Fischetti Award for Bennett, who also won in 2001. Honorable mentions went to Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune and Nick Anderson of The Louisville Courier-Journal. Bennett and Breen are both past recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning; Anderson won the Fischetti Award in 1999. The 23-year-old competition is sponsored by Columbia College Chicago.
The winning cartoons, along with two dozen original cartoons submitted by past Fischetti winners and others culled from the Fischetti archives, will be exhibited and auctioned on April 7. Student winners of the college's Paula Pfeffer and Cheryl Johnson-Odim Political Cartoon Competition will also be honored that evening. Their work, which is also for sale, will be shown alongside that of the professionals.
The Fischetti/Pfeffer '05 celebration of editorial cartooning will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, at the HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo Avenue, Chicago. Individual tickets are $35. For reservations call 312-344-7936. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Fischetti Endowment, which provides scholarships to Columbia College Chicago journalism students and student cartoonists.
All three Fischetti-winning cartoons reflect turmoil over the war in Iraq. Bennett's First Place cartoon shows servicemen, in a posture reminiscent of the famous photograph of World War II soldiers planting the American Flag on Iwo Jima, propping up a house of cards, with the word "IRAQ" on the back of each card. Anderson's cartoon depicts a grinning President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney driving a steam roller over crushed debris, labeled "Environment," "Fiscal Responsibility," "Civility," "Geneva Conventions" and "We the People." Breen's cartoon shows Osama Bin Laden standing amidst a huge crowd of Muslim men, hoisting the now-familiar image of an Abu Ghraib torture victim high overhead. The caption reads, "A Picture is Worth a Thousand New Al-Quaeda Recruits..."
More than 200 cartoons by 72 cartoonists, all published in 2004, were submitted and given careful scrutiny by the panel of judges, which included three prominent cartoonists. The 2005 award carries a $5,000 cash prize for the winner. All three finalists are flown to Chicago for the Annual Fischetti Awards ceremony and reception. Bennett, Breen and Anderson will be also be honored on April 6 at the annual Studs Terkel Awards Benefit, sponsored by the Community Media Workshop.
John Fischetti was a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist whose work was published in the New York Herald-Tribune, the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times. Shortly after his death in 1980, friends created the endowment in his honor, which has helped educate more than 400 students, many of them now award-winning journalists. More information is available at www.johnfischetti.org.
The Paula Pfeffer and Cheryl Johnson-Odim Political Cartoon Contest for Columbia students was established three years ago to engage students in current political discourse and provide them an opportunity to express their artistic and analytical skills. Endowed by Columbia lifetime trustee Samuel Pfeffer, the contest is co-sponsored by the Columbia Chronicle student newspaper and the departments of Liberal Education, Art and Design, Journalism and the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Also new this year is a public discussion on the future of editorial cartooning, Lampooning for a Living. The event takes place from noon to 2 p.m., at the HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo. The 2005 Fischetti Cartoon Competition Award winners will be joined by cartoonists Chris Britt of The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois, Steve Kelley of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans and Ann Telnaes of Washington, D.C., who is nationally syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The symposium is co-sponsored by The State Journal-Register and the Journalism Department of Columbia College Chicago.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
NOTE: Michael Hernandez de Luna is available for interviews.
Images are available electronically.
WHAT: Axis of Evil: The Secret History of Sin
Axis of Evil is an international exhibition featuring 47 stamp artists from eleven countries, thematically peeking into the depths of sin in search of the evils in our world and culture.
Curated by Chicago-based artist Michael Hernandez de Luna, the exhibition includes work by artists from Russia, Mexico, England, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, France, Canada, the former Yugoslavia, Uruguay and the U.S.A.
"The results are a provocative visual labyrinth in social commentary, reflecting a historical parallel to protest art of the 60s and 70s," says Hernandez. "Every piece has one aim, to define evil through the print making form of the postage stamp sheet. We can truly say that this exhibition is a carnival of images and adjectives that can be described by the alphabet's A's through Z's."
This exhibition originated with the book Axis of Evil: Perforated Praeter Naturam, published by Qualiatica Press in 2004.
WHEN: Exhibition: April 6 - May 11, 2005
Reception and gallery talk by the curator: Thursday, April 7, 5-8pm
WHERE: Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash, 1st floor
[Gallery hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.;
Monday & Thursday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.]
HOW MUCH: Free and open to the public
MORE
INFO: 312-344-6643 or gweiss@colum.edu
Chicago, IL - The Center for Asian Arts and Media of Columbia College Chicago will present "Starting from Scratch: Celebrating Creativity," the third biennial Woman Warrior Festival, with a week of events beginning on April 27 and running through May 6, at several locations on campus and throughout the city. The festival kicks off with an opening night gala reception and benefit that includes entertainment, auction and an awards ceremony recognizing women leaders in the Asian and Asian American business and arts communities.
Festival pricing: Opening reception $65; festival pass for additional events $25 general admission, $15 students; single program ticket $10. Admission to a number of events is free. For reservations and information call 312-344-7870 or visit www.asianartsandmedia.org/womanwarrior2005.
The Woman Warrior Festival celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of Asian and Pacific Island women. Starting from Scratch focuses on the varied yet similar processes of artistic creations in film, theater, music, design, performance, media and the culinary arts and explores how women use their creativity to assert and articulate their visions and voices to change, transform and further their lives.
Oscar nominated filmmaker Christine Choy exposes the outcry of the social unjust and human conflicts through her investigative documentaries such as Who Killed Vincent Chin? Playwright Velina Hasu Houston's Calling Aphrodite, performed by Silk Road Theatre Project, explores the states of survival, recovery, renewal and the fluctuations of identity in terms of gender, transnationalism and race through the perspective of a Hiroshima bombing victim. The Korean women's percussion group, OO-RI SO-RI creates No-Ri (a Korean traditional gathering for all people to dance, sing and play - typically dominated by men), to support and empower victims of domestic and sexual violence. In the Helen Fong Dare Story documentary, Nancy Tom and Wenhwa Ts'ao explore the life of Chinese immigrants in the Midwest, as seen through the eyes of Helen Fong Dare - an intrepid and unconventional pioneer who defied gender and cultural discrimination years before the rise of feminism and affirmative action in America. Other highlights of the festival include a discussion on women in the culinary arts and food sampling with local celebrity chefs, a lecture on the changing role of Asian American women and a workshop on drag king and Asian masculinity. The 2005 Woman Warrior Awardees being recognized at the opening reception are Christine Choy (Lifetime Achievement), Julia Zhu (Business Leadership), Libby Chiu (Community Service) and Yoko Noge (Creative Arts).
NOTE: David Flatley is available for interviews.
Chicago, IL - The appointment of David Flatley (40) to the position of Executive Director for the Office of Community Arts Partnerships (OCAP) at Columbia College Chicago has been announced by the college's Office of the Provost. He will assume his post on March 14.
"David is the perfect person to lead OCAP as they continue to work on behalf of Columbia in the areas of arts literacy and education," says college President Dr. Warrick L. Carter. "As the foremost provider of innovative higher education and professional practice in the visual, performing, media and communications arts, Columbia is committed to the kind of work David has been doing in the public schools. We will certainly put his vision, expertise and creativity to good use."
Flatley comes to Columbia with vast theoretical and practical experience. Over the past ten years, as the Executive Director of Corchea, Inc--a consulting firm dedicated to developing and implementing educational and intercultural initiatives designed to improve teacher practice, student achievement and whole-school change in targeted schools--he has led a wide array of projects locally, nationally and internationally. Notably, he designed and led a professional development workshop series in Galway, Ireland; provided strategic planning and training for three federally funded arts integration initiatives in Greenville, South Carolina; and served as an advisor with the Scottish Arts Council and the Scottish Educational Authority as they have begun to replicate throughout Scotland the model of arts integration that Flatley and his team developed. Through the Chicago Teachers' Center--an academic unit of the College of Education at Northeastern Illinois University--David created and managed multiple programs that utilize the arts as a vehicle for learning across the curriculum in city schools. He currently serves on the Professional Development Committee for the Americans for the Arts' Arts Education Council.
"I'm eager to join the OCAP team at Columbia College, to help provide leadership as they further develop the programming that has made such a difference in Chicago's youth," says Flatley. "Using the arts as a vehicle to engage kids, whether it be integrated into the curriculum or provided as enhancement after school, has gained tremendous momentum throughout the country. Chicago has been at the forefront of this movement, and I'm delighted that I will be leading one of the cutting edge organizations that have helped forge this new ground."
Flatley holds a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Organizational Behavior from the University of Illinois-Champaign. He received his practitioner's certification in intercultural communications through the Intercultural Communications Institute in Portland, Oregon.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
The Office of Community Arts Partnerships (OCAP) was created to assist the College in developing the long-term relationships and formal structures necessary to support the college's central urban mission of providing access and opportunity in arts and media education. OCAP currently works in the area of school partnerships, community partnerships and cultural partnerships.
For Immediate Release
March 9, 2005
Chicago, IL-- Legendary actress Mary Tyler Moore will be in town on Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at The Film Row Cinema Theater of Columbia College Chicago, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., for the final program in the inaugural season of Columbia College Chicago's series, "Conversations in the Arts: Up Close With..." Journalist and award-winning documentary producer Bill Kurtis will interview Ms. Moore. After the interview, Ms. Moore will take questions from the audience. At the conclusion of the conversation, members of the college's President's Club will join her at a private reception.
Tickets are $35 and may be purchased by calling Ticket Web, 866.468.3401 or at www.ticketweb.com. To learn how to join the President's Club, call 312.344.7817.
The April 14 conversation with Mary Tyler Moore is the final program in the first season of Columbia's high-profile series, Conversations in the Arts: Up Close With..., which opened with Lauren Bacall in November 2004 and welcomed Ben Vereen in February. The program series is designed to provide an educational opportunity for students, attract donors to the school and strengthen the arts and media college's position as a major player in Chicago's cultural life. Columbia presents hundreds of public programs annually, including art exhibitions, dance and theater performances and literary events, which attract more than 300,000 arts patrons to its campus each year. On November 17, Columbia will launch the second season of "Conversations" by visiting with Julie Andrews.
Mary Tyler Moore is best known for her work on television, beginning with her role as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. During the 1970s, she starred in the Mary Tyler Moore Show, which earned 29 Emmys during its seven-year run. She has appeared in a number of television mini-series, including Gore Vidal's Lincoln and Stolen Babies, for which she earned her seventh Emmy Award. She starred with Dick Van Dyke in The Gin Game on PBS and the adaptation of Anna Quindlen's Blessings on CBS. In film, she co-starred with Dudley Moore in Flirting with Disaster and she received an Academy Award nomination for her work in Ordinary People. A humanitarian who is devoted to issues of animal welfare, she is also International Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
For Immediate Release Media Contact: Micki Leventhal 312-344-7383
March 8, 2005
WHAT: A Day With Lauren Tom
Obie Award Winning actress Lauren Tom joins Chicago's arts and film communities for a benefit brunch reception followed by a conversation with Tom who will screen selections from the films in which she has appeared.
"A Day With Lauren Tom" is presented by The Center for Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago, the Foundation for Asian American Independent Media and the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in conjunction with the Foundation for Asian American Independent Media's 10th Asian American Showcase. The proceeds will benefit the Center for Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago, the Foundation for Asian American Independent Media and the educational programs of the Gene Siskel Film Center.
WHEN: Sunday, April 10, 2005
·Brunch Reception: 11:00 a.m.
·Screening & Discussion: 1:00 p.m.
WHERE:
·Brunch Reception: Renaissance Hotel, 1 West Wacker Drive
·Screening/Discussion: Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State Strett
HOW
MUCH:$65 per person
includes brunch reception and admission to the screening/discussion.
RESERVATIONS
& INFORMATION: 312-344-7870
Lauren Tom is an Obie Award-winning actress, best known for her role as a dutiful daughter in the film The Joy Luck Club, and a recurring role as Ross's girlfriend on NBC's Friends. Raised in Highland Park, Illinois as part of the only Asian family in a largely Jewish neighborhood, she started as a dancer with the Hubbard St. Dance Company and at 18 moved to New York to perform in A Chorus Line on Broadway and in numerous plays at the New York Shakespeare Festival including "American Notes" for which she received an Obie Award. She most recently appeared in Bad Santa with Billy Bob Thornton, and is currently shooting "Synergy" with Scarlett Johannson and Dennis Quaid. Other film credits include When A Man Loves a Woman, Mr. Jones, With Friends Like These, Catfish in Black Bean Sauce, and Manhood with John Ritter. As an accomplished actress and featured voice on shows like "King of the Hill" and "Futurama," Tom is opening doors for Asian American women in the film and television industry.
For Immediate Release Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383
February 4, 2005
Chicago, IL - After an extensive nationwide search, Jane M. Saks (42) - cultural leader, community activist and poet - has been appointed as the founding Executive Director of Columbia College Chicago's Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media.
"I am thrilled with the selection of Jane as our founding director," says Ellen Stone Belic, Columbia trustee and search committee member, "this project has been a dream of mine for years." Belic, who not only envisioned, but helped fund the Institute, notes that "the exploration of the intersection of gender, culture and creativity is a passion of Jane's and her high profile in the Chicago arts and philanthropic communities means she can hit the ground running to develop the Institute into something truly significant."
Saks, who has been serving since 1996 as the Director of Advancement for the College of Architecture and the Arts, University of Illinois at Chicago, views this as an opportunity to build a world-class initiative from the ground up.
"This is an incredible opportunity for me professionally and personally. Columbia is one of the most innovative arts and media educational institutions in the country. With the internal resources of vibrant, creative faculty, staff and students, I believe the Institute can be a place to debate, present, investigate and respond to some of the most important issues of our society and culture, and will become a rich civic resource for the city and a model of programming, policy and scholarship." Saks explains. "There is no Institute like this one anywhere in the country. With unprecedented institutional vision and support from Columbia College and guidance from key faculty, students and an advisory board that will include a broad base of community representation, and critical philanthropic support, we can create an Institute that is local, national and international in its vision and engagement."
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JANE SAKS/ADD ONE
The focus of the Institute - which also received federal funding support through the efforts of Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) - will include production, presentation, partnerships, research and scholarship addressing issues of women, gender, arts, media, representation and access. Programs will include interdisciplinary, curriculum-based resource development with a wide range of external partners and Columbia faculty collaborators; mentoring and leadership development; visiting scholars, Columbia faculty scholars in-residence, research on issues of gender and the media; public programming, conferences, performances, lectures and publications; and an international artist-in-residence program.
"I envision the Institute bringing together the poetic and the practical, the theoretical and the applied, the academic and the 'real world.' I look forward to the Institute working closely with the academic departments and schools of the college and with the other prestigious Centers at Columbia including the Center for Black Music Research, the Center for Arts Policy and the Center for Asian Arts and Media, providing a strong resource base for Columbia's students and faculty and for the larger arts and civic communities." Saks said.
"Our search took more than 18 months, but it was worth the wait," says Cheryl Johnson-Odim, Columbia's dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and head of the search committee. "The scope and success of Jane's work around issues of gender in relation to culture and creativity, her outstanding record of community development, commitment to inclusiveness, diversity and youth development, expertise in collaborative initiatives and her breathtaking level of energy will make our dreams for the Institute a reality."
Jane M. Saks is a Chicago native and graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. Her experience includes art gallery management, exhibition curation, collaboration building and consulting in the areas of philanthropy and programming for clients including the Chicago Community Trust, the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation and the Chicago Public Library.
During her tenure at UIC, in addition to her fund raising and communications/publications responsibilities, Saks helped to create and advance a wide range of educational, interdisciplinary projects, public/private collaborations and community partnerships. Examples include: "Mayors' Institute on City Design, School Design as a Catalyst for Community Development," "International Summer Institute in Digital Media," "At the Edge"-- an annual series of six artist-curated exhibitions, the exhibition "Between Sound and Vision," "Architectural Graduate Design Studio Focused on Brooks Extension, ABLA Homes" -- and extensive visiting artists and artists-in-residence program.
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JANE SAKS/ADD TWO
Saks has created projects in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Chicago Housing Authority, the Joyce Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Schools, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Chicago Public Library, The Field Museum, The Rural Studio, The Mexican Fine Arts Museum Center and many arts and community groups.
She sits on several advisory boards including the Chicago Foundation for Women, South Africa's Constitutional Court Architectural Artworks Programme Committee and the City of Chicago Mayor's Design Initiative.
In addition, she serves, or has served, on numerous other boards, task forces, advisory boards, juries and committees including The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Annual Individual Artists Awards, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Individual Artists Grants, Sculpture Chicago, Randolph Street Gallery, Horizons Community Services, City of Chicago/Public Arts Program, Chicago International Artists Program, Young Women's Leadership Charter School, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, the Chicago Reporter and Project 2000/Human Relations Foundation. She was a 2003/2004 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow.
Jane M. Saks has published poetry and essays in literary and art periodicals including Dialogue Magazine, The Poet's Voice, Miami Art Museum, and ApexArt.
As a writer, she has collaborated with visual artists including, Kerry James Marshall, Jim Hodges and Inigo Ovalle-Manglano. She has been a visiting lecturer and critic and has taught workshops at institutions and organizations that include, Northwestern University, DePaul University, the School of the Art Institute, New York University, PEN International, the Harlem Community Center, the Orleans Parish Prison, the College Art Association and the Guild Complex.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.