Hyde Park Art Center, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, announces three exhibitions and related free public programming slated for Fall 2023. The eclectic quarter of programming bustles with free artist talks, public workshops, resident artist open studios, the 84th annual gala, with the centerpiece being the largest solo exhibition to date by Chicago‐based artist Candace Hunter, exploring themes of otherhood and alienation inspired by speculative fiction author Octavia E. Butler’s works. For program updates and more details, visit hydeparkart.org.
The Fall 2023 exhibitions and programming at the Art Center are as follows, in chronological order:
Free Exhibitions
NOT JUST ANOTHER PRETTY FACE 2023
September 14 – November 5, 2023
This exhibition is the culmination of the 2020 and 2023 iterations of Not Just Another Pretty Face, a triennial program created by Hyde Park Art Center in the mid-1990s that allows the Art Center to play matchmaker for artists and potential art buyers. This dynamic project facilitates a fun and accessible commissioning process that builds lasting relationships between artists and patrons, creates a new base of support for artists, and invests in the vitality of Chicago’s cultural community. The completion of each iteration is celebrated by an exhibition, a catalog documenting the process, and a lively event to unveil the finished pieces, which will make their way to the patrons’ homes following the exhibition.
Not Just Another Pretty Face unveiling newly commissioned works, 2019. Photo by Tran Tran.
To date, the Art Center has raised over $1 million via the triennial program since its inception—half of which goes directly into the hands of artists, with the other half supporting Art Center programs. Through Not Just Another Pretty Face, 375+ original works of art have been commissioned by 275 new and established collectors interested in investing in Chicago’s artists. For a complete list of artists and patrons involved, visit hydeparkart.org.
MARIAN CAROW: SALVAGES
October 28, 2023 – February 18, 2024
What are the true surfaces of an object? Chicago-based artist Marian Carow considers this philosophical perspective and other formal concerns in her upcoming solo exhibition. Salvages will present new sculptural work rendered in cardboard, through which Carow explores minimal forms referencing architecture as well as the constant flux and impermanence of human’s built urban environment. Carow is an alumna of Hyde Park Art Center’s Center Program (2016) and has been making drawings and sculptures for several decades.
Marian Carow, Untitled (201003), 2020, corrugated cardboard and acrylic, 14 x 11 x 6.5 inches.
CANDACE HUNTER: THE ALIEN-NATIONS AND SOVEREIGN STATES OF OCTAVIA E BUTLER
November 11, 2023 – March 3, 2024
Chicago‐based artist Candace Hunter’s largest solo exhibition to date explores ideas from works by speculative fiction author Octavia E Butler (1947‐2006). Hunter will present a series of collage‐based works, installations, video, and sound works that illustrate the meticulously sculpted worlds Butler imagined in her novels, examining their significance for Black bodies and future societies.
The exhibition creates an “alien lush space” and examines the concepts of nationhood, asking questions about who is other, in what situations one sees people as other to oneself, and how people become universal. Comparing Parable of the Sower to the Trump era and using Xenogenesis Trilogy (Lilith’s Brood) to explore what “alien” worlds might exist beyond America and its race relations today, Hunter’s exhibition creates a speculative space where multiple generations come together to envision a better future.
Free Public Programs
Flow • embody in site 2023
September 21, 12-1:30PM, 2-3:30PM
An annual symposium organized by Out of Site Chicago!, an independent art space from the Art Center’s Artist Run Chicago 2.0 exhibition in 2020, featuring guest lectures from Anette Friedrich Johannessen, a multidisciplinary artist and sun Lynn Hunter, an interdisciplinary performance artist.
Not Just Another Pretty Face Conversations on Collecting
Saturday September 30, 1-3PM
Two pairs of artists and patrons will speak to their experience participating in this commission-based project and exhibition at the Art Center. Featured artists will give insight about their practice and their process creating commissioned work and how the final product was produced. Collectors will speak about their journey as a collector, how they chose which artist to work with, and their personal connections to the final produced artworks.
This program is part of the inaugural Chicago Exhibition Weekend (CXW) taking place September 29–October 1. The weekend will bring together over 50 galleries, institutions, and artist-run spaces to present exhibitions that encourage everyone from seasoned collectors to those new to engaging with Chicago’s visual arts scene to explore unique programs, extended hours, and more. The event emphasizes Chicago’s multitude of non-conventional exhibition spaces as well as the geographic range spanning neighborhoods from Streeterville to West Town, Englewood, and Irving Park to encourage participants to explore the full breadth of the city’s creativity. CXW will also welcome the city’s next generation of talented business, civic, and philanthropic leaders to engage with gallerists, artists, and curators through community dinners, programming, and a closing celebration that aims to cultivate the relationships needed for the city’s arts scene to continue to thrive. CXW is co-presented by EXPO CHICAGO, the International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, and Chicago-based cultural agency Gertie.
Poetry & Art-Making with William Estrada @ National Museum of Mexican Art
September 30, 12-3PM
Educators, poets, and art lovers are invited to take part in a poetry writing workshop and art making project led by Estrada. Before the workshop, participants will enjoy a guided walkthrough of the Carlos Cortéz 100 Años exhibition to draw inspiration. This workshop is for adults ages 18 years+, and requires a $10 registration non-refundable fee that includes all materials needed. Space is limited, and for registration, email angela@nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org to register.
Building Legacies in Public and in Practice
In partnership with National Museum of Mexican Art
October 5, 6-8PM
William Estrada and Cesáreo Moreno (Chief Curator of the National Museum of Mexican Art) share a conversation that aims to trace parallels between the practices of Estrada and the late artist and activist Carlos Cortéz (1923-2005). The conversation will highlight the influence of Cortéz onto generations of Mexican-American artists in Chicago and pay particular emphasis on shared values and methodologies present in Estrada’s and Cortéz’s practices. This program is a collaboration between the two organizations on the occasion of Estrada’s current exhibition at the Art Center and the centennial commemoration of Carlos Cortéz's legacy.
Center Days: Open House Chicago
Saturday October 14, 12 - 4PM
The Art Center joins Open House Chicago with its quarterly family-friendly Center Days where the entire building is activated with intergenerational art making activities, artist workshops, artist talks, open studios, and community collaborations. This Center Day will celebrate exhibitions, Not Just Another Pretty Face, Multiples and Multitudes: William Estrada, and the final weekend of our Youth Board of Artists exhibition, A Universe of Self Experience, plus a community exhibition featuring the work of award-winning photographer, Julius Williams in the Mueller Meeting Room on the first floor. William Estrada, will activate his participatory Mobile Street Art Cart on display in the exhibition, with a print based drop-in workshop that introduces print-making as a tool for political activism, education, and highlight local voices and issues facing communities across Chicago. Artists in residence will host Open Studios, including Radicle Residents, Eric Perez, Sofía Fernández Díaz, Kushala Vora, and Rhonda Wheatley, and Guida Family Creative Wing studio artists, Candace Hunter, zakkiyyah najeebah dumas o’neal, Juarez Hawkins, and Malika Jackson.
To Ponder with Visiting Artist Rufina Bazlova (Belarus)
Thursday, October 26, 6 - 8PM
To Ponder is an artist-to-artist conversation series featuring exhibition artists, Guida Family Creative Wing resident artists, and alumni. To Ponder, named after one of the Art Center’s program spaces colloquially named “the pond,” is also a space for artists to think through projects they are currently in practice with or bring a question or theme to the table “to ponder.”
Catwalk Concert featuring Veronica Salinas and Juliana Castro Duperly (Colombia)
In partnership with Experimental Sound Studio
Thursday, November 9, 6 - 8PM
On the Jackman Goldwasser Catwalk overlooking the Art Center’s main gallery, launches Catwalk Concerts, a new music series in partnership with Experimental Sound Studio sponsored by the Art Center’s grant initiative Artists Run Chicago Fund. The inaugural concert will feature a performance from Chicago-based sound artists, Dorothy Carlos and BSA Gold, alongside illuminated video projections and film-based art on the building façade.
Fundraiser
Hyde Park Art Center 84th Annual Gala
Friday, November 17, 5:30-11:30PM
The annual gala serves as a pledge to artists, to Chicago’s South Side, and to reinventing who owns contemporary art. Co-chaired by Kim and James Elbaor, Wendy and John Minor, Angelique Power, the 2023 Gala will bring together hundreds of artists, civic and business leaders, and creatives of all types to celebrate Hyde Park Art Center. Guests will be immersed in artist-led experiences and performances while helping to raise crucial funds for the Art Center’s programs. Attendees explore resident artist studios during cocktail hour and then enjoy a seated, family-style dinner, followed by an After Party featuring DJs from Lumpen Radio and artist interventions throughout the building. The 2023 Gala will feature artist interventions by Jonathan Castillo, Young Kim, Jordan Knecht, Mariana Noreña, Chris Tasior, and teen artists in the Art Center’s Youth Board of Artists.
ABOUT 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, please visit www.hydeparkart.org.
For more information, please visit www.hydeparkart.org.