ARTS IN CHICAGO q ◊ q ◊ q ◊ q ◊ q ◊ q THE 60s & 70s ═► NOW b ChloeHoward b TABLE OF CONTENTS THANKS TO. 1- THANKS u 2- INTRODUCTION Susan Cahan 3- TIMELINE Dean of Tyler School of Art 4- A CONVERSATION WITH GLADYSS NUTT Temple University for providing Undergraduate Student Research Grant 5- CONVERSATION CONTINUED 6- EXHIBITION REVIEW: u BARBARA JONES-HOGU Keith Morrison – Project Advisor 7- EXHIBITION REVIEW CONTINUED m & m 8- A CONVERSATION WITH ALEX & GRACE Faculty of Painting Department 9- CONVERSATION CONTINUED at Tyler School of Art 10- PHOTOS- AROUND CHICAGO for feedback & support throughout the project 11- PHOTOS CONTINUED 12- PHOTOS CONTINUED u 13- PHOTOS CONTINUED Rob Squiteri and Jenna Mazza for hosting & showing me around Chicago 14- A CONVERSATION WITH KEITH MORRISON 15- CONVERSATION CONTINUED 16- CONCLUSION 17- MORE TO SEE! 1 Introduction Timeline: A brief overview of significant events happening both q ◊ q ◊ q ◊ q ◊ q ◊ q inside and outside of Chicago throughout the 60s and 70s I was first drawn to Chicago through looking at the art of the Hairy Who, a k k k group of young Chicago artists who showed at Hyde Park Art Center, the oldest not-for-profit alternative exhibition space in Chicago. The body of work made by the CHICAGO . ELSEWHERE Hairy Who and their preceding group the Monster Roster, in addition to other artists q 1954 – 1968 q surrounding the movements became the “brand” of Chicago-style art. These were . Civil Rights Movement . the Chicago Imagists, many of their works were relatively isolated and idiosyncratic - q q more bizarre than New York’s Pop Art. 1961 Dusable Museum is founded . Berlin Wall erected The Imagists rejected the trends in the 1960s and 70s art world and their q 1966 q imagery elevated “outsider” art. At the same time as the Imagists were breaking Hairy Who begins exhibiting . Black Panther Party founded from the conventions of fine art, the Black art and Feminist art movements were . First major protests against Vietnam war . emerging in America. Chicago was a central location in the Civil Rights movement, Riots, mayor to calls National Gaurd . and the artist collective AfriCOBRA was based out of Chicago, developing an MLK Jr. discussses integration with mayor . aesthetic for the Black art/Black Power movement. q 1967 q Museum of Contemporary Art opens . All of these artists exhibited a do-it-yourself (and your own way) mentality, “Wall of Respect” is painted . challenging aesthetic and/or social and political conventions. The 60s and 70s saw a Phyllis Kind Gallery opens . revival of Chicago arts and a rise in arts as a medium for social and political action. q 1968 q I am interested to see how Chicago has changed in the past 50 years, and how the AfriCOBRA is founded . MLK Jr. assassination legacy of these artists may be reflected present-day. Democratic National Convention & anti-war protests . q 1973 q Please enjoy my glimpse into Chicago! The New Art Examiner is first published . US Signs cease-fire with Vietnam q 1974 q . “Made in Chicago” exhibition at XII Bienal de São Paulo . b Chloe Howard q 1977 q Chicago Cultural center opens . 2 3 In the 70’s the feminist art movement was beginning. You depict a lot of women in your work – would you consider any of your work feminist art? A CONVERSATION WITH . GN: I don’t think about it one way or the other, quite frankly. I think a lot of my work is commentary, but not in an aggressive manner. GLADYS NUTT Is it more so observational? GN: Yes, actually. My work is so quiet, that I don’t know how anybody who might be a feminist artist would react to my work. If somebody finds an underlying current – there’s always w • q • w • q • w an underlying current – then, ya know, that’s fine. If not, I don’t care. How has Chicago changed over the years? GN: Well there’s a lot more going on. What is Hairy Who? Gladys Nutt: We were a group of people that happened to be working in a relatable vein. It started Art-wise? at the Hyde Park art center. At Hyde Park, they would seldom put on a one-person show. It was GN: Yes, as a young art student there was maybe four galleries, and very little opportunity for always massive group shows, 30 or 40 people. Jim (my husband) and I went to Don Baum, the art someone to show besides alternative spaces. So artists were very willing to form, find a wall, and director at the time, with a list of 5 people. With 5 people, you could have more than one or two have massive group shows. pieces but you wouldn’t have to be responsible for filling an entire gallery. He thought it was pretty good – but he didn’t like the number 5, he wanted 6. So he added Karl Wirsum to our list and we Do you think artists in Chicago have become more individualistic with more opportunity? decided it’d be kind of fun to have a name, and it was arrived at – Hairy Who. From that, there were GN: No, I don’t think so. I think there’s always going to be groups that might show when there are younger artists after a couple years decided that would be an interesting thing to do as well, and a lot more opportunities. There are massive amounts more galleries than there used to be, huge all these little groups were formed. Nobody looked like anyone else, but there was a relationship. amounts of opportunities for a young artist if they’re willing to work at it. Go to a gallery and ask if There was an interest in figure, not just representationally. One of the critics was referring to the they accept looking at work slides, and some of them do. It used to be slides… group of artist very loosely and used the term Chicago Imagist. You had brought up plexiglass painting as specific interest, a catalyst for coming here? No slides now… unless it’s a powerpoint slide! GN: Boy, does that take getting used to. Yes! There are not many plexiglass paintings in Philadelphia... GN: It’s an interesting medium certainly. My main experience with it was watching Jim work. He How did you learn practical skills of being an artist after art school? had a couple years of working on plexiglass. He would have a cartoon down to the wire, including GN: We learned it by just going out into the hard, cold world. I can remember my husband had a collaged elements that he’d trace over. And I thought, that looks like fun – but I would just start show somewhere back in the early 70’s, we were at a luncheon that had been thrown by big painting. Once I was finished I’d paint a coat to cover it all up, and then I would see the collectors. And we were talking to another young artist, all holding flutes of champagne other side – that’s what it was about for me. very awkwardly. And he said, “I don’t know about you, but no one in art school told us how to hold a flute of champagne and talk to a collector.” We had no idea how to do anything, even pay The grand reveal! So how many plexi paintings did you do? Most of your pieces are watercolor. income tax. How do you hang a show? What do you when you get there? Do we want to do a mailer? GN: The second Hairy Who show in ’67 was strictly plexiglass pieces. Works on paper are my How? Where do we buy stamps? Really stupid questions, but they’re all valid. primary medium, but I would have adventures in a variety of things because I needed to wander away. I’ve actually been working on canvas for the past year, for a show coming up at And now you teach at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Garth Greenan Gallery in New York. What do you like about teaching? GN: Well, teaching at SAIC gets me out of the house once a week, out of the suburbs. I think I’m What medium are you using? fascinated with watching the students class after class solving the same kinds of problems and ar- GN: Acrylic on canvas, with touches of collage depending on how I feel about it and how large the riving at the same conclusions as I did when I was a student, same as they did probably 2000 years images are. ago, and I find that fascinating. I’m still intrigued - I was teaching at one point and I was planning on stopping, but then I signed another contract. Do you have any favorite artists currently working in Chicago? GN: I don’t follow many younger artists… my husband is always my favorite artist. I tend to look You said you like to look at older artists, but you’re certainly looking at a lot of young people’s art! more backwards than I do forwards, I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I like the idea of generating GN: Well I am still getting out enough enjoyment out of it. When it ceases to do that, then I don’t enthusiasm back to your own studio. If you see something you like a lot, you generate enthusiasm. have to be down here once a week. But, I was very flip when I said it gets me out of the house.