|
NOTES FROM THE 2nd ARTISTS MEETING ON THE CHICAGO ART FOUNDATION
Tuesday, May 17th, 2005 marked the 2nd meeting held to discuss the creation of the Chicago Art Foundation - a new museum dedicated to showcasing the work and creativity of Chicago artists. Paul Klein, Bob O'Connell and Tony Fitzpatrick led the discussion of 130 local artists. (This was the second meeting held for Chicago artists.) Following are notes taken from the discussion. Please note that these are not direct quotes.
Paul Klein The idea of the Chicago Art Foundation began when several people realized that there was not enough attention being paid to the local art scene and the artists of Chicago. Our goal is to create a museum that focuses on nurturing a positive attitude towards the local art scene. We want to reinvent the idea of the museum and build the "Foundation" from the ground up. We will demystify art and make it accessible to the public. Up till now Chicago has been competing for its place in the art world but has not been able to reach a truly international level. Our vision is big, looking to raise somewhere in the ballpark of $100-$150 million. We want the building to rival the MCA in size. But the most fundamental aspect of the "Foundation" that we will not forget is that it is going to be about the artist. With this new museum we will create a model that others will want to follow. No other cities currently have an institution to the extent of the vision we want to see through. By incorporating a huge system of flat files to hold works on paper the "Foundation" will enable artists right out of school to be part of its collection. No matter what stage an artist is in their career, they will have the opportunity to be part of this museum. In the past there have been a lot of barriers that prevent artists from having the opportunity to communicate through the generations. The "Foundation" will provide room for synergy and collaboration. We will spotlight Chicago and Chicago art. Curators from all over the world will be invited to curate exhibits, bringing together Chicago artists that otherwise might never before have been included in the same show, much less introduced.
We want to explore ways to create publications for the "Foundation" and explore possibilities for joint projects that would incorporate theater, dance, poetry, etc. Not limited to one building, we want these projects to be able to travel to other venues so to mix up the dialogue that the projects will generate.
Even though the "Foundation" will revolve around Chicago art and artists, we are using the term "Chicago" loosely. For instance a show could be curated of one Chicago artist and an artist from outside the city as well. Chicago has 50 sister cities, and the possibilities are endless.
Two weeks ago we found a group that wants to make us their first pro bono project. One thing they stressed above all else was to think BIG. We have also learned that the Mayor is very excited for this project. Two things he stresses are that he wants us to locate as close to Millennium Park as possible, and he wants us within walking distance for tourists. With all this in mind we've begun searching for locations. One building is at 2300 S. Michigan Avenue where there are rough and dirty buildings with amazing potential. Another location is at Wabash and Roosevelt. We could establish the building 180 days before we receive our loan. We've found that a time limit encourages others to come forth with their donations.
There has been much difference of opinion regarding the choice of the Chicago Art Foundation as the name for the museum. Nothing is set in stone. It could be that the Chicago Art Foundation becomes the parent organization to the museum with a name to be chosen at a later date.
We need your help to get the word out to Chicago artists. We don't want the "Foundation" to come across as a group of white boys. We want to get a cross section of Chicago culture, including everyone, excluding no one. We also need help with content. If you have ideas for exhibits, programs, museum organization, etc. - let us know. We want the "Foundation" to be almost completely artist driven. Tony Fitzpatrick is the head of the Artist Advisory Board. This board will be involved in every step of the process. Be sure to let him know if you wish to participate.
The "Foundation" will be about the artist. Let us know what you would like this museum to be.
Dierdre Fox There needs to be attention to interactive media projects - a resource for artists to have access to and encourage collaboration.
Tony Fitzpatrick Part of that will include outreach to promote career building. We will provide this equipment for artists to use and benefit from, creating an incubator for new media to grow.
Bob O'Connell This is a project that has been talked about. We aren't going to worry about the cost. We're just thinking about what we want to do. Another idea is lifetime free membership for artists. We're creating a place for artists to belong. Outreach ideas include HDTV to help us break into the community and develop collaborations. We can film content and run it 24 hours a day through the website.
Rob Jillson Artists in general have so little support when they leave school.
Tony Fitzpatrick We're trying to create a supportive model - an institution that's available to graduates right out of school and can provide them with mentors. It's about building the community and lifting each other up.
Bob O'Connell Many artists are lacking the important educational element of the idea of art as business. This is something we could educate artists about. We want an interactive museum that includes the artists of today as much as the artists of yesterday - we want a museum, not a mausoleum. Paul's Art Letter website is an example of a great tool for establishing dialogue between artists.
Victoria Fuller Will you show unknown artists?
Tony Fitzpatrick We would like to have 2-3 exhibits showing simultaneously that could show artists at all different stages of career.
Bob O'Connell We want a multi-storied space that could reflect the multi-generational artists we exhibit.
Michael Brown What kind of contemporary archives would there be?
Bob O'Connell All kinds of documentation will be used, and I strongly encourage the use of HDTV. Capture the historic aspect of what we're doing through our own TV channel.
Tony Fitzpatrick The flat file will also be a great source, being all-inclusive and available to the community.
Michael Brown What about a library?
Paul Klein Sure
Tom Burtonwood How will the architectural design work with the multi-generational exhibits?
Paul Klein It would be great to have a building with lots of raw space to develop. There's also the idea to build new and develop our own space.
Bob O'Connell The raw space we saw today in Motor Row was an old car dealership. The history of the building was exciting. The craftsmanship is excellent and it would be exciting to see how we could incorporate the old with the new.
Terry Karpowicz For new members of the "Foundation" it might be a good idea to offer insurance.
Tony Fitzpatrick We don't want to interfere with the CAC. This will not be a coalition but a community.
Bob O'Connell We will be inclusive, not exclusive. It would be possible to work with the insurance industry to fill the gaps that currently exist.
Tony Fitzpatrick The Artist Advisory Board will be there to represent the art community's best interests.
Bob O'Connell Currently the Board has seven people - the Artist Advisory Board will help expand that.
Ruth Migdol The CAC is there to protect artists' rights, thus exhibiting was not originally important. This new museum will be all about the art.
Jeffrey Breslow It's important to get the building to start - we can always build later.
Tony Fitzpatrick The building on Motor Row was exciting with its historic ties to Chicago.
Jeffrey Breslow Can we know who is taking us on pro bono?
Paul Klein For now we are keeping that under wraps.
Chi Jang Architecture could work in such interesting ways depending on how we choose to interpret it. The idea of this museum could benefit looking at the model of PS1 to help emerging artists.
Tony Fitzpatrick PS1 is a terrific model and we've had it in the back of our minds, but we want something even more fluid that will honor careers as well as assist emerging artists. History will co-mingle with the new and we'll develop the intergenerational communication. Rather than look to past models we're trying to keep an open mind.
Bob O'Connell In addition to the physical building we have much to explore in terms of the website and how we can curate and export exhibits on line. We're sick of the 2nd City mentality. We want to show everyone that Chicago is a strong force and we can take care of our own.
Tony Fitzpatrick We are continuing to lose our talent pool to New York and L.A. We need to provide an end game for our talent here in Chicago.
James Mesple Mentoring is a strong idea. We don't currently have a lot of interconnection. We might look at Oprah's model for mentoring business women as an example. In this city we're so spread out that we don't know one another.
Tony Fitzpatrick Tonight we're here and we need to go out and meet each other.
Mary Jane Duffy I want to say congratulations, this is a wonderful thing. I teach contemporary art at DePaul and it's hard to show students contemporary Chicago artists.
Tony Fitzpatrick Part of our mission is to showcase contemporary Chicago artists. We also need to recapture some of the work that's been done in Chicago over the last 150 years.
Paul Klein We need to acknowledge others in the field from the past as well as the present.
Mary O'Shaughnessy Regarding the old vs. the new building, building new would take so long and face so many difficulties in the process. It's also next to impossible to build in Grant Park.
Tim Van Laar Buildings can set the terms for an institution. What about having more than one building with a different function for each? Even 10 different store fronts?
Tony Fitzpatrick It's an excellent thought that has been considered but we feel there needs to be a central location to draw attention.
Paul Klein By bringing people to the one location we have everything there and can show them things they wouldn't normally go see otherwise.
Bob O'Connell We're thinking of the influence the artist can have - we're not worrying about the artistic media. We'd like to go into the community and work with other venues - the Steppenwolf for instance.
Tony Fitzpatrick We want to provide a conduit to as many art forms as possible.
Susan Sensemann Archiving material is incredibly important. There needs to be plenty of storage for paper as well as the digital.
Tony Fitzpatrick Whatever building we decide on will definitely have a lot of space for storage.
Bob Emser The flat file is good, but what about for sculpture? Could there be a sculpture garden that could rotate? Chicago is a sculpture city but it's hard to find the work.
Tony Fitzpatrick You can organize that.
Paul Klein A video database will be available as well.
Gary Justis This institution needs to circulate information. We need to publish the written word and form publications.
Paul Klein A periodical is of critical value.
Gary Justis Publish books and catalogs of shows.
Bob O'Connell Archive shows on film and export them through HDTV.
Tony Fitzpatrick Every exhibit should have some sort of catalog.
Judy Robins We have a flat file, perhaps a maquette room.
Barbara Koenen Could there be residencies? Work space within the building?
Tony Fitzpatrick That will be a longer term goal after the bricks are laid. It depends on the type of facility we could offer.
Paul Klein I think it’s a short term goal - we could show people working.
Doug Fogelson This is an opportunity to look at the problems of why we have that 2nd City mentality. We can pinpoint the problems plaguing us and focus on the mission - to serve history and change the 2nd City mentality. We need to take advantage of the moment.
Tony Fitzpatrick It's a great step in the right direction. We're not 2nd anything. We're here in the present participating in our careers.
Bob O'Connell We want to try and keep as much of the grass roots as possible. We don't want to let the collectors and the benefactors take over the vision. This is a great mix of people and we're going to turn the model of a museum upside-down. We're starting with artists as the foundation and going up from there.
Doug Fogelson We need to bring the working-class artist into the fold and bridge the gap between the artist and the public.
Tony Fitzpatrick We're going to make ourselves as accessible to the public as possible.
Bob O'Connell We'll nurture, help and show artists how they can get up to the next level in their careers. We'll educate people not to be afraid.
Dima Strakovsky Things lacking for Chicago artists include that we're more likely to get a write-up if we show outside the city. We need to get links with a publication and create a synergy with the critics.
Tony Fitzpatrick It's vital to have critical publications. Perhaps create a magazine. We'll cultivate the will to do what we want. We're not 2nd class to anybody.
Karen Indeck As an educator, curator, art historian - I've watched neighborhoods that are frightened of museums. As outsiders museums are not going out to the community. Education is a mandate. I'm tired of museum education as it is.
Bob O'Connell We need everyone to help bring in the public. We'll get out what we put into the system.
Paul Klein Share your perceptions and join this development.
Karen Indeck We need to focus on education for everyone - even those as young as 5 and 6.
Marc Hauser A big problem for Chicago artists is lack of communication. We need to get together to communicate. As of now many are afraid of other artists stealing ideas and the like. This community needs to help one another.
Paul Klein We want the "Foundation" to be a place to hang out as well as visit. See art, bring a pillow - we may need a liquor license.
Mary Lou Zelazny We could use this for career building. A public relations firm for artists could help solve some the 2nd City problem.
Tony Fitzpatrick Publicists could be great for artists. The right person could do a great deal of good - but how do we feel about that?
Daniel Tucker There needs to be a project to make more transparent the advisory structure and guide the content. How do we want to set up the organizational structure, what kind of participation do we want? Do we continue the "town hall meeting"? There needs to be attention to meeting facilitation - it's easier to participate with different types of meeting structures.
Tony Fitzpatrick We wanted to speak to the artists first to develop the advisory boards.
Rob Jillson We should look at the Cleveland May Show for an example. Every year they have a juried art show of only Cleveland residents - it's a great way to participate in exhibits if your work doesn't fit in elsewhere.
Bill Dolan Regarding the organizational agenda, we need to bring up the question of "why" for future meetings. Think about why we're doing this, what others aren't doing that we want to improve, why we're doing it this way?
Tony Fitzpatrick We're doing it to spotlight Chicago art.
Bob O'Connell We're reaching out to the community to tell you what we want to do. We want to be inclusive, not exclusive, and supplement pre-existing institutions. The group that is making us their pro bono project reminds us we need to be able to take the criticism we'll be getting and have thick skins. This vision needs support and encouragement. We don't want to come across with an attitude of you've failed at this and we're going to do it better.
Tony Fitzpatrick We'll shine a light on Chicago art.
Paul Klein We'll augment the other existing institutions.
Colleen Plumb This vision will create community and pride in Chicago - we'll WANT to be a part of it.
Paul Klein After 5 years the Tate Modern Museum is considered the center of the art world - we need to generate that same synergy.
Jim Mesple After going through the academic system we find we have no place in Chicago to really go SEE what we've learned. Archiving is essential. I've found that though artists have left Chicago, Chicago doesn't leave the artists.
Paul Klein Art defines a place, a place doesn't define art.
Bob O’Connell Engaging the art world is seriously important.
Paul Klein What is the role of the museum, the artist in the 21st Century?
Bernard Williams One issue to be addressed is that unlike Chicago, New York provides the potential for collectors to buy art.
Tony Fitzpatrick I agree - we need to create more collectors in Chicago.
Paul Klein People with money are enthusiastic about this museum. They're interested in us - not other institutions. We need to go after another league of people then before and create new collectors.
Bob O'Connell The other museums are telling us not to go after their donors - we don't plan to. With open studios and dialogue we will bring people in. The pull will be contagious.
Tony Fitzpatrick There's a reason I have a storefront studio. We need to demystify art to the public and be more accessible to collectors.
Bob O'Connell Something as small as using your real names when commenting on the Art Letter will help to sell yourself.
Ted Sitting Crow Garner We'll bring back the history of having 20 shows simultaneously in one building and bring together the art community.
Tony Fitzpatrick If anyone is interested in sitting on the Artist Advisory Board please let me know.
|
