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[snip] Trust but don’t verify? In 1989 the Army Corps of Engineers promised to ensure that this country would have “no net loss”of wetlands. The Government Accountability Office recently visit- ed seven of the corps’ district offices and examined 152 cases in which the corps had required “compensatory mitigation”—someone who wanted to fill in one wetland was required to create or Our Town restore a wetland somewhere else. Yet in only 15 percent of those cases did the corps do an inspec- tion to see if the party had complied. —Harold Henderson | [email protected]

Art The Odd Couple Bob Hiebert and Sid Block celebrate 25 years of work- ing in eerie harmony at the city’s only gallery devoted to works on paper. By Jeff Huebner ob Hiebert and Sidney Block have been in business together B longer than many people have been married, and as with many cou- ples their friends tend to think of them as inseparable—Sid and Bob, Bob and Sid. It’s been 25 years since they opened Printworks, still the city’s only gallery dedicated exclu- sively to works on paper—contempo- rary prints, drawings, artists’ books, and the occasional painting or pho- tograph. For the past 15—five days a week, nearly every week of the year— they’ve sat on opposite sides of a sin- gle desk in their cramped, 600- Y square-foot space in River North. Printworks is associated with some

of the most prominent names in post- JIM NEWBERR Sid Block and Bob Hiebert war Chicago history, including the first generation of imagists—Leon modest attention until 2003, when the Bookplate,” a 25th-anniversary spare darkroom in CMO’s photo The Art of the Golub, , Roland her debut novel, The Time Traveler’s celebration. Seventy-two artists asso- department and used it often. “We Bookplate Ginzel, Theodore Halkin, , Wife, became a best seller. That led to ciated with the gallery were asked to had similar interests as far as music, WHEN Through Evelyn Statsinger. But it’s also kept two nearly sold-out shows of her design a bookplate honoring a person art, theater,” says Hiebert. “We liked Sat 2/4: Tue-Sat pace with the artists who’ve followed. paintings, drawings, and prints—and who’s influenced their lives. opera and classical music, and we’d 11 AM-5 PM Audrey Niffenegger, who teaches at a newfound cachet for the gallery. Niffenegger, for example, chose run into each other at Orchestra WHERE Printworks, Columbia College’s Chicago Center Aubrey Beardsley. Hall. We became fast friends.” 311 W. Superior for Book & Paper , has been chose Soren Kierkegaard, while Tim In the 70s the two visited England #105 exhibiting her fable-like, surrealist- Lowly liked Andrei Tarkovsky; Jim regularly, joined by Block’s wife, INFO 312-664- Nutt chose his wife, artist Gladys Hanna, and occasionally mutual 9407, printworks Nilsson, and Bert Menco was drawn friends. During one trip, they made chicago.com to the Elephant Man. what Hiebert calls a “crazy decision.” “After 25 years, we’ve ended up They both admired the kind of fine-art knowing and befriending so many posters and prints they used to peruse artists,” says Hiebert. “We wanted at the Van Straaten Gallery, then locat- to include as many of those people ed on Michigan Avenue, so they as possible.” hatched a plan to start a business sell- ing similar items overseas. “There iebert is 58. Block turns 82 next were some wonderful posters all over H week. They met by accident. Europe,” Block says. “Wonderful works Hiebert, a Minnesota native, moved of art by all the big names, some hand- to Chicago in 1969 to work as a signed, and very affordable.” physical therapist at the In 1979 they incorporated as NY PHILLIPS TO ONGER Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Printworks Ltd., but setting up shop Niffenegger doesn’t take full credit then on East Ohio Street; Block, who in London proved to be too expensive.

WILLIAM C for the gallery’s new audience, though. grew up on the south side, was work- Back in Chicago, however, they were “Once people got curious about me, it ing across the street at the graphic able to lease a third-floor space at 620 inspired pieces there since 1986, turned a few people on to all the design firm Coventry, Miller & Olzak N. Michigan, then home to galleries when Hiebert and Block discovered groovy things that Printworks has (now CMO Graphics). Hiebert, such as Richard Gray, Carl Hammer, her at a School of the Art Institute besides me,” she says. She helped who’d been dabbling in photography Frumkin & Struve, and Sonia Zaks. student exhibit. Her work drew only curate its new exhibition, “The Art of since moving to the city, rented a continued on page 16 CHICAGO READER | DECEMBER 9, 2005 | SECTION ONE 15 16 CHICAGO READER | DECEMBER 9, 2005 | SECTION ONE

Boutique of the Week Our Town

continued from page 14 into the gallery. An internationally Printworks opened on September 5, known painter of huge, provocative 1980, with an exhibit called “The Art political canvases, Golub left of the Poster,” featuring works by the Chicago in 1959 for Paris and then likes of Matisse, Miro, Chagall, and but was still closely iden- De Chirico, some of which were tified with his hometown. “Nobody signed limited editions. Soon artists knows about my prints,” Block who taught at the School of the Art remembers Golub saying. “Do you Institute started bringing in their guys ever take on new people?” In work. “At that time nobody was really 1985 the gallery held a show of his into selling prints by Chicago print- prints and drawings concurrently makers,” says Block. The gallery kept with a Golub retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art and exhibits of his paintings at two other galleries. The show put Printworks on the map. Hiebert and Block sold many of the pieces, some to museums like TO CIER the Tate Gallery, the National A YA Gallery of Australia, and the Art MIRE Institute. “Museum purchases are Elizabeth Floersheimer the most satisfying, because it vali- dates what we’re doing,” says Hiebert. He and Block visited Golub Eliana Lily and his wife, artist , at their SoHo studio often until his death in August 2004. They tried to lizabeth Floersheimer has been fashionable purse she originally made for a trip to Italy that can be interest a curator at the Museum of

YN PROPP as long as she can remember (“I dressed in slung over the shoulder with a strap or carried by two Modern Art in some of Golub’s litho- pin-striped suits in seventh grade,” she wide metal rings. Customers can choose from ready- MARIL graphs, but its purchase committee E says), but what she really wanted was to made bags or customize with different handles, fab- afloat in its early years thanks to cor- took a pass. “Leon admired us for be in the movies. Her dream was sidelined by rics, and leather. The boutique also offers a careful- porate clients who were interested in our chutzpah,” Hiebert says. “He her own fears and the arrival of two children ly chosen array of accessories and clothing with a works on paper because they “didn’t always made us feel special.” until two years ago, when she began taking decidedly dressy bent, like tunics in washable classes at Second City. But then destiny chocolate cashmere and wide-sleeved V-neck silk have to spend a fortune.” stepped in. About a year and a half ago, chiffon dresses in red and black with gold and Hiebert’s father, an inventor and s word got around, other Floersheimer started making her silver embroidery. Floersheimer will even self-made businessman, was leery of A established artists from New own handbags, and when strangers “restyle” items languishing in customers’ clos- the enterprise. “He said you should York and the midwest—including started stopping her on the street to ask ets—turning a mink stole into a shrug or a never have a business partner,” Hiebert Philip Pearlstein, Ellen Lanyon, about them, she knew she had a viable business bag, or both, for example. With its white vel- idea. She started selling vet curtains, fur rugs, and mirrored walls, says. “He’d never heard of a partner- Richard Hunt, and Hollis Sigler Eliana Lily them at parties, and last the interior is a crisp, modern take on an ship that could last. But my parents —brought their pieces to Print- 1628 N. Wells month opened Eliana Lily, art deco boudoir that cries out for a dry absolutely fell in love with Sidney.” works. The gallery’s roster now 312-337-0999 named after her daugh- martini. As it happens, Floersheimer also A rent increase prompted includes 50 artists, from imagists ter, right down the rents the space for private events: birth- Printworks to move to its current such as Robert Lostutter and Karl block from Second City on North Wells. days, wedding showers, “divorce par- location in 1983. The two figure Wirsum to mid-career artists Floersheimer’s bags are the focus of the ties.” “Drinking and shopping,” she store; she offers seven different styles, says. “How often do you get to do they were the tenth gallery to settle such as Michiko Itatani and including the Florence, a long bucket both?” —Heather Kenny into the burgeoning River North Nicholas Sistler. district. (“I know it was early Many exhibit bigger-ticket items because in the morning you could like canvases elsewhere, but that park anywhere,” says Hiebert.) By suits Hiebert and Block fine. 1984 Hiebert was able to quit his “Painting galleries mostly don’t want job at a medical-supply company; to have anything to do with prints or that big, expensive painting off the bring in “minuscule amounts of the following year Block went part- drawings,” Block says. “They don’t wall and walk out the door with it.” money” compared to other pieces. time at the graphic design firm. He want to open their drawers and go Mark Pascale, associate curator of Many of Printworks’ sell for three retired from it in 1990. through 30 or 50 prints and explain prints and drawings at the Art figures, with high-end pieces by Also in 1984, walked prices. No. They want you to take Institute, says that works on paper continued on page 29 The Re ader ’ s

Great presents,from haute to homemade 28 CHICAGO READER | DECEMBER 9, 2005 | SECTION ONE CHICAGO READER | DECEMBER 9, 2005 | SECTION ONE 29

[snip] Fear of flying. “Imagine that it is 1900,” writes J. Storrs Hall of Nanorex Inc. in the Futurist. “Some people (like the Wright brothers) believe heavier-than-air flight is possible, and others don’t. Some people have become alarmed by the idea, and they spin out ascenario in which a group of bandits builds a plane, at the level of a World War II B29 bomber. In 1900, such a group could have leveled Washington without resistance and dictated terms to the country. An alarmist might well have drawn such a picture and urged that heavier-than-air research be banned. People building kites and wood-and-silk gliders would have scoffed at the proposed capabilities of a B29.... Such alarmism and scoffing can clearly be seen in public discussions of nanotechnology today. Neither side has a handle on the truth.” —HH

continued from page 16 serpentine work on paper composed would be fun to do it in a contem- artists like Golub selling for upward of foot-long segments by 215 artists. porary vein,” Hiebert says. of $6,000. But the gallery has been Jules Feiffer made the head, Ed But for Hiebert and Block, “con- able to stay in business, Pascale says, Paschke the tail. Hiebert admits temporary” is often only a relative thanks to a low overhead, an “inter- that some of the plotters feared term. “I love them because they’re esting stable of important artists,” Block would be too surprised. “I extremely old-fashioned,” says and its owners’ ability to cultivate might have a heart attack,” Block Niffenegger. “They’ve got their long-term relationships with clients. told an Art on Paper writer covering roles. They don’t tread on each “[Printworks] has a print-cabinet the show. “But it would be worth it.” other. They’re very kind and courtly atmosphere where you’ll find a vari- “The Art of the Bookplate” isn’t as and low-key in a certain way that ety of things—some on the walls, S-FERRIS elaborate, though Niffenegger says makes them easy to be with, so I can some in bins, some in drawers,”he the initial list of artists was “three see how they’ve managed to be says. “It’s like a one-on-one personal times as long as the number of peo- together for so long.” relationship—you don’t get this ELEANOR SPIES ple who could be in the show.” “Somebody once said that, not mass-marketing thing at all. That’s Hiebert got the idea for the exhibit counting spouses, you only have one the way dealing was.” months secretly coordinating a col- earlier this year, when he came or two good friends in your lifetime,” Two years ago Hiebert and laborative project as a surprise gift. across a book, The Art of the says Hiebert. “And obviously, Niffenegger pulled off the most Lured into the nearby Jean Albano Bookplate by James Keenan, which Sidney’s mine.” ambitious of the gallery’s occasional Gallery on December 16, Block was featured works by the likes of “I feel the same way,” says Block. “I themed group exhibits: to celebrate greeted by hundreds of well-wish- Albrecht Durer, William Hogarth, feel very privileged to do this with Block’s 80th birthday, they spent 14 ers—and The Exquisite Snake, a and Paul Revere. “We thought it Bob every day.” v