Category: Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys

Our Next Workshop: Kenneth Fearing

6/29/2015

Monday, July 6th
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public
all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next workshop, which is inspired by Kenneth Fearing. Poet/novelist/essayist Kenneth Fearing was born in Oak Park in 1902. More than fifty years after his death in 1961, he remains one of the most original & under-appreciated Chicago-born writers. He published numerous pulp stories, seven collections of poems and eight novels, including The Big Clock (1946), a thriller that helped to define the genre of film noir when Paramount adapted it in 1948. Few of his works remain in print today, probably because of his radical politics. In the 1930s, he was one of the most respected poets of the Popular Front and a founding editor of The Partisan Review; in 1950 he was called before HUAC. In response to the question, “are you a member of the Communist Party?” he is said to have replied, “Not yet.”

Fearing's poems and novels are machinic assemblages—big machines made of words—that critique the mechanization and mediation of white American society. In Clark Gifford's Body (1942), he uses multiple narrators to describe a futuristic version of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, which leads to a proletarian/capitalist civil war. The raid is conducted not on an armory, but a radio station, reflecting Fearing's belief that broadcast media was the most important weapon in modern America. In Loneliest Girl in the World (1951), he employs multiple narrators—including a rudimentary computer—to ask what might become of romance in a bureaucratic, post-human society.

Come to learn more about / debate / be inspired by Kenneth Fearing. We will use Infernal Machine Poetics (IMP) technology to further our understanding of one of our region's most engaging political artists.

Bring your musical instruments, art supplies and notebooks. These workshops are interactive and multidisciplinary. We have supplies and equipment on hand that workshop participants can use -- including pencils, pens, paint, a piano, other musical instruments.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the summer term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Our Next Workshop: Fred Anderson, Tatsu Aoki, Renée Baker & Mwata Bowden

6/17/2015

Monday, June 29th
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next workshop, which is inspired by Fred Anderson, Tatsu Aoki, Renée Baker & Mwata Bowden --

We will talk about and listen to music and other works created by Anderson, Aoki, Baker and Bowden;
We'll discuss examples of people and organizations that are linked to and/or inspired by those four artists' work; and
Workshop participants will have opportunities to create music and writings inspired by Anderson, Bowden, Baker and Aoki.

Bring your musical instruments, art supplies and notebooks. These workshops are interactive and multidisciplinary. We have supplies and equipment on hand that workshop participants can use -- including pencils, pens, paint, a piano, other musical instruments.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the summer term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Our Workshop on June 22nd: Susan Kelly Power, E. Donald Two-Rivers and Dorene Wiese

6/10/2015

Monday, June 22nd
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next workshop, which is inspired by Elder Susan Kelly Power, E. Donald Two-Rivers and Dr. Dorene Wiese --

We will talk about Power, Two-Rivers and Wiese's work, including their connections with the Native American community in Chicago and contributions to Chicago's arts and culture;
We'll discuss examples of people and organizations that are linked to and/or inspired by those three individuals' work; and
Workshop participants will have opportunities to create music and writings inspired by Power, Two-Rivers and Wiese.

Bring your musical instruments, art supplies and notebooks. These workshops are interactive and multidisciplinary. We have supplies and equipment on hand that workshop participants can use -- including pencils, pens, paint, a piano, other musical instruments.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the summer term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Our Workshop on June 15th -- Win Stracke and Lois Weisberg

6/1/2015

Monday, June 15th
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next workshop, which is inspired by Lois Weisberg and Win Stracke:

We will talk about Weisberg and Stracke's work, including their connections to Chicago;
We'll also discuss examples of people and organizations that are linked to and/or inspired by Weisberg and Stracke's work and legacy; and
Workshop participants will have opportunities to create music and writings inspired by Weisberg and Stracke. your musical

Bring your musical instruments, art supplies and notebooks. These workshops are interactive and multidisciplinary. We have supplies and equipment on hand that workshop participants can use -- including pencils, pens, paint, a piano, other musical instruments.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the summer term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Registration Is Open for the Summer Term

5/30/2015

You're invited to register for the summer term of the arts workshop series that Borderbend has been offering at Mozart Park since January 2014. The summer term begins on June 8th.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the summer term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

The summer term for Borderbend's arts workshop series begins on June 15th, and you're invited to join us as we learn about great people who have influenced Chicago, and we create artworks inspired by those innovative individuals. Click here and here to register via the Chicago Park District website.

above: images of individuals and artworks they have created, which have been covered during our workshop series at Mozart Park

Our Next Workshop: Simone de Beauvoir in Chicago

5/4/2015

Monday, May 18th
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

In 1947 Simone de Beauvoir -- the author of The Second Sex, one of the early and still seminal texts on the dynamics of asymmetrical gender relations and the cultural construction of woman as inferior to men -- came to Chicago and had a famous affair with Nelson Algren. Despite de Beauvoir’s reputation and relationship with fellow philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in France, she took a Walk on the Wild Side and fell for the macho Algren. Chicago photographer Art Shay documented their life and times in Algren’s Polish Triangle neighborhood.

This workshop will discuss the relationship between the Realist writers, de Beauvoir and Algren, and importantly, some of de Beauvoir’s pivotal philosophical ideas about subjectivity. We will discuss these ideas where we find them and go on to write, draw or improvise around the ideas of subjectivity, Realism and love in times of inequality and what that means. We will share our written, visual or musical responses.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the spring term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Our Next Workshop: Enrico Fermi

5/1/2015

Monday, May 11th
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next workshop, which is inspired by Enrico Fermi. We will:

Talk about Fermi's work, including his connection to Chicago;
Explore examples of people and organizations that are linked to and/or inspired by Fermi's work and legacy; and
Write poetry and prose based on writing experiments described in The Art of Science Writing by Dale Worsley and Bernadette Mayer.ring your musical instruments, your poetry, your art supplies! These workshops are interactive and multidisciplinary. We have supplies and equipment on hand that workshop participants can use -- including pencils, pens, paint, a piano, other musical instruments.

Discoveries by Lindsay Olson (22"x 30", silk,
DMC embroidery thread, cotton, acrylic on linen)

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the spring term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Our Next Arts Workshop: Elizabeth Catlett, Archibald Motley and Charles Wilbert White

4/27/2015

Monday, May 4th
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next workshop, which is inspired by Elizabeth Catlett, Archibald Motley and Charles Wilbert White. We will:

Talk about their work, including their connections to Chicago;
Make music and create text-and-image collages inspired by work by Catlett, Motley and White.

Bring your musical instruments, your poetry, your art supplies! These workshops are interactive and multidisciplinary. We have supplies and equipment on hand that workshop participants can use -- including pencils, pens, paint, a piano, other musical instruments.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the spring term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Our Next Workshop: Ken Nordine and Howard Levy

4/12/2015

Monday, April 20th
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next workshop, which is inspired by Ken Nordine and Howard Levy. We will:

Talk about their work, including their connections to Chicago;
Make music and create text-and-image collages inspired by work by Nordine and Levy.

Bring your musical instruments, your poetry, your art supplies! These workshops are interactive and multidisciplinary. We have supplies and equipment on hand that workshop participants can use -- including pencils, pens, paint, a piano, other musical instruments.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the spring term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

"Will Ken Nordine Ever Grow Up?" by Adam Langer (The Chicago Reader, 7/12/1990)

Wide Weird World of Shorty Petterstein (Henry Jacobs MP3s on WFMU's Beware of the Blog)

"'Word Jazz' pioneer Ken Nordine's career gets a closer look at film festival" by Christopher Borrelli (Chicago Tribune, 10/9/2012)

Our Next Arts Workshop: Margaret Walker, Haki Madhubuti, Carol D. Lee, and Sterling Plumpp

3/31/2015

Monday, April 13th
(6:00-7:00, 7:15-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next workshop, which is inspired by Dr. Margaret Walker, Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti, Dr. Carol D. Lee, and Sterling Plumpp. We will:

Talk about their work, including their connections to Chicago;
Make music and create text-and-image collages inspired by work by Walker, Madhubuti, Lee, and Plumpp.

Bring your musical instruments, your poetry, your art supplies! These workshops are interactive and multidisciplinary. We have supplies and equipment on hand that workshop participants can use -- including pencils, pens, paint, a piano, other musical instruments.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys: Click here or here to register for the spring term at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Portraits & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links: