Spoke

Farewell Letter From Spoke

2011-08-18T10:54:00.002-05:00

Dearest friends and affiliates of Spoke,

It is bittersweet to share with you that after almost three years of hosting 40+ events, exhibitions, experimental artist projects and residencies, Spoke will be closing its doors this month.

Spoke served as an opportunity for us to form a multifunctional space that combined group studio practices with an experimental project space in a shared environment. Our mission was to create opportunities for creative use and interaction promoting resourcefulness, spontaneity, and experimentation in a space that was accessible and open to all types of people and creative work. We feel we’ve accomplished much over this period of time: the past three years at Spoke have been filled with vibrant projects and gathered a wonderful community of creative people. We are very fortunate to have started a space in Chicago, a city that embraces such endeavors.

We want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement, for stopping by, for all your reviews and articles. We would especially like to thank all of the creative individuals who took part in and organized projects, and all of the artists who have worked at Spoke. You have contributed and influenced so much of what we have done.

Those of us who founded Spoke have either moved out of Chicago or have made the decision to shift focus and dedication to our own art practices and careers. This has been an invaluable experience personally and professionally for all involved. It has left an impression on our practices that will undoubtedly be incorporated into our futures. Although Spoke will be ending, the space will still be functioning as a group studio space. We are excited to pass on the space to such great artists.

We invite you to check out our blog as it will remain an archive of Spoke. We hope that the work we have put into Spoke can continue to be shared as a valuable resource for all.

Thank you and have a wonderful August.

Sincerely,

Spoke Founders & Creative Directors

Rana Siegel (2008-2011)

Heather Mullins (2008-2011)

Monica Herrera (2008-2010)

Rachel Moore (2008-2010)

A special thanks to past & current artists working at Spoke:

Deirdre Colgan current

Chelsea Goodwin past

Jean Frater current

Kristin Mariani current

Jereon Nelemans current

2011-07-15T14:21:00.006-05:00

For a long time, all I could do was surrender.

2011-07-05T19:43:00.005-05:00

Marissa Perel
July 1-31, 2011
Opening Reception, July 23, 5-8pm
On view July 23-31, by appointment 312.593.8691

Perel will open her solo show, For a long time, all I could do was surrender. The show will feature photography, writing, video and performance made in collaboration with artist Oliverio Rodriguez. The artists will expose their collaborative relationship occupied within the context of performative submission. Their work probes surrender in its myriad definitions; 1 a : to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand b : to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in favor of another 2 a : to give (oneself) up into the power of another especially as a prisoner b : to give (oneself) over to something (as an influence). Through mutually generated texts on childhood memories, romantic love, the limitations of the body and sexual abandon, the artists create landscapes of distanced roleplay, in which they perform with/for one another live and for the camera.

MARISSA PEREL is a performance artist, writer and independent curator. Her performance
work is rooted in the somatic experience as a mode of expression for writing, dance,
painting, sculpture, photography or video. She sees the body as a communicative tool
where pain, shame and trauma are sources of dialogue. Her performance, text and video
work have been shown at LVL3 Gallery, Links Hall, A + D Gallery, MCA, Chicago Cultural
Center, Epiphany Church, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Elastic Arts and Outerspace Studio
(Chicago, IL), The Chocolate Factory Theater, Dance Theater Workshop and Judson
Memorial Church, (NY), D.I.V.O Institute (Czech Republic), Medium Gallery (Slovakia).
“Gimme Shelter,” Perel’s column on performance, recently launched on the Art21 Blog. Her
writing can also be found in Bad At Sports and Time Out. She received her BA from the
Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University and MFA from the School
of the Art Institute of Chicago.

OLI RODRIGUEZ is an interdisciplinary artist working in video, photography and
performance. His projects conceptually intersect and dialogue within consent, queerness,
childhood and sexuality. Oli has screened, performed, lectured, curated and exhibited at
institutions and museums such as, Schwarzer Kanal, Berlin, Germany, Smart Museum,
University of Chicago, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago IL, X Initiative Gallery, New York, NY,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, The Swimming Pool Project, Chicago, IL and Nightingale,
Chicago, IL. Currently, he is a part of the Photography Department faculty at the School of
the Art Institute of Chicago. He received his BA from DePaul University and MFA from the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Project Summary and past events
Marissa Perel will utilize the exhibition space of Spoke as a space to consider the body.
Her performance work is rooted in the relationship between somatic experience as a mode of
expression and interdisciplinary art-making. She is interested in the intersection of
movement and writing in performance venues, on-line platforms and in this instance, the
gallery. As a performance artist, writer and independent curator, Perel believes in the
potential of the artist as world-maker, and she will provide an aperture into the
interconnectivity of these roles for the month of July.

On July 10, 2-4 PM Perel and artist, R.E.H Gordon, will host a reading circle of Being
Watched: Yvonne Rainer and the 1960’s by Carrie Lambert-Beatty. The reading circle is open
to the public, and topics in the book will be used as for general discussion of what makes a
dance, and the history and future of dance in contemporary art.

On July 16, 7-9 PM Perel will guest curate an evening for the literary series Red-Rover,
entitled: “Magnetic Affinities & Altered Relations.” The event is open to the public and will
feature text-based performances, sound and video works that channel haunting
discontinuities between identity,place, desire and visibility by San Francisco-based artist Jai
Arun Ravine, and local artists Zihan Loo and Oliverio Rodriguez.

On July 23, 5-8 PM, Perel will open her solo show, For a long time, all I could do was
surrender. The show will feature photography, writing, video and performance made in
collaboration with artist Oliverio Rodriguez. The artists will expose their collaborative
relationship occupied within the context of performative submission. Their work probes
surrender in its myriad definitions; 1 a : to yield to the power, control, or possession of
another upon compulsion or demand b : to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in
favor of another 2 a : to give (oneself) up into the power of another especially as a prisoner
b : to give (oneself) over to something (as an influence). Through mutually generated texts on
childhood memories, romantic love, the limitations of the body and sexual abandon, the
artists create landscapes of distanced roleplay, in which they perform with/for one another
live and for the camera. Perel’s show runs from July 23-31 and is open by appointment:
312-593-8691.

Project Resident, Christopher Tourre | Public Brewery

2011-04-21T10:38:00.005-05:00

April 28th - May 31, 2011

Closing Reception
Friday, May 27 - 6:00pm - 9:00pmThe final exhibition will display the development and accumulation of artifacts, materials, documentation and research within the brewery, as well as a tasting of all drinks made throughout the term of the project.

PUBLIC BREWERY will unite the general public of Chicago with urban foragers, gardens, and local food experts to create a temporary and experimental brewery inside of Spoke's Residency Project Space. Throughout the length of the project, members of the community will contribute ideas, stories, materials and local ingredients to create beers and sodas inside the brewery. Weekly workshops will also be open to the public throughout... the length of the residency teaching beer and soda-making techniques. As the residency builds, so will the brewery, the accumulation of ingredients/equipment, and most importantly, stories. The final exhibition will display the development and accumulation of artifacts, materials, documentation and research within the brewery, as well as a tasting of all drinks made throughout the term of the project.

WORKSHOPS (Open to Public, limit to 25 participants) Workshops will demonstrate to the public home-brewing techniques. Participants are encouraged to bring an ingredient they have grown or purchased locally that they feel would be an excellent ingredient within a beer or soda. Local urban agriculturalists will also be present at each workshop to facilitate discussions on local food production:

Saturday, April 30th, 3-8 PM (Beer, 21+)
Saturday, May 7th, 3-8 PM (Beer, 21+)
Saturday, May 21st, 12pm-3pm (Soda, Open to families and children)

OPEN STUDIO BREWING (Open to public to come and go) Members of the public are free to stop into the Spoke Residency Project Space to informally chat with artist Christopher Tourre and learn more about brewing practices as he brews specialty batches of beer.

Friday, May 6th, 6-10 pm
Friday, May 20th, 6-10 pm

BIOGRAPHY
Over the past three years his practice has transformed from a sculptor and video-maker to, as he describes it, a social aggregator. Some of his most recent projects involved raising chickens in the Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen and delivering the harvested eggs to local residents. In 2010, he and his studio partners, Unit 2, created a public workspace at the MCA Chicago, which centered on conversations, designs, and construction of furniture pieces made from leftover scraps of demolished Chicago houses. In 2010, he also began the Artisan Beer Series, a project aimed at entwining communities, stories, personal narratives, and education through the creation and distribution of beer and soda-making.

Tourre often finds alternative outlets to display his work, but has been featured in various spaces in Pittsburgh and Chicago including Pittsburgh Film Kitchen, Gallery 400, Eel Space, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. He lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

For more information regarding this project, contact christopher@christophertourre.com

Please see Project Resident Blog for details and updates.

Erin Thurlow

2011-04-12T18:05:00.002-05:00

OH WHY DID I DID IT MY WAY
The IPhone Monologues:
(We Have) Hard Drives/ The Prison Planet.
A work in progress.
by Erin Thurlow

Wednesday, April 27th, 6-8pm

Erin Thurlow's new performance/ social sculpture, set in the dystopian near-present, incorporates aspects of action poetry, prop-art and an interactive comedy work-shop. Erin Thurlow is a sculptor and the April artist in residence at threewalls. He will open his studio as part of the threewalls Community Supported Art launch, April 30th, 6-9pm.

Supported in part with funds from the Toronto Arts Council.

More information about Erin Thurlow: erinthurlow.blogspot.com
Three walls: http://three-walls.org/calendar/2011/04

UPDATE: WORK IN THE WOODS, Project Residency

2011-03-17T11:20:00.008-05:00

PRIVATE VIEWING

Appointments available March 27 - 30

Hello Friends:

Contrary to earlier publicity, there will be no separate invitations going out for private viewing before the public reception. I’m taking all the time between now and March 26 to “set the stage” for DISCIPLINE’s BEARbrand concept presentation. The reception itself will act as an invitation to a more private collaborative viewing. My priority is building real relationships between viewers and characters, which is the central notion behind the “slow play” format. Get to know DISCIPLINE in the real time processes of BEARbrand-ing!

For friends who are unable to attend the public reception, consider this your invitation to a private viewing. Private viewings will take place by appointment, March 27 – 30. You may make appointments at the reception or by contacting me directly. Email at gvg.hinge@gmail.com or telephone (864) 247.8207.

Looking forward to performing for you.

With enduring esteem,

G. Vincent Gaulin

Spoke Project Resident

Writing as SCARCITY

Performing as DISCIPLINE BEAR

Project Resident: Vincent Gaulin

2011-03-08T11:04:00.001-06:00

March 1- March 31

Project Resident: Vincent Gaulin

WORK IN THE WOODS from SCARCITY asks,

“IS THIS YOU, WANT?”

A slow play by G. Vincent Gaulin

PUBLIC RECEPTION Saturday, March 26, 6pm - 8:30pm

For more information, follow the daily media feed on Spoke's blog (www.spokechicago.blogspot.com) under Project Resident Blog.

March’s Project Residency WORK IN THE WOODS is act I, scene II in a sprawling “slow play” called IS THIS YOU, WANT? Written, directed, and performed by SCARCITY, a character created by interdisciplinary artist, writer, and performer G. Vincent Gaulin as a personification of the foundational conditions of economics. The first act of the play, POPULATION, is based on a saying handed down by the artist’s grandfather: “Used to, there was just three bears [of Goldilocks and the Three Bears] in the woods, and now the woods are full of them.” This act dramatizes the confounding affect of population growth on the state of politics, and translates large-scale political dynamics into interpersonal, relational dramas between its characters and viewers.

WORK IN THE WOODS is a darkly comical scene. The main character DISCIPLINE BEAR, workshops his BEARbrand, “a lifestyle corporation” with five administrative agencies and six product and service divisions, approaching every corner of life from food to clothing, exercise, occupation, scheduling, and even entertainment. The BEARbrand’s corporate structure aims to ensure comfort and security in the WOODS, as countermovement to ETIQUETTE BEAR’s leaving. At best, DISCIPLINE is an attentive and charismatic young executive. At worst, he’s an exploitative megalomaniacal sentimentalist. In a tragic confusion of motivations, DISCIPLINE spends a month wrestling with his compulsively cumbersome ultra-bureaucracy under the guise of attending to ETIQUETTE’s increasingly obstructed needs.

Desperate for any sources, the protagonist turns to the viewers of the work, ordinary humans with no experiential knowledge of the WOODS, to help him define and resurface conditions that ultimately have no potential for bolstering his far-reaching romantic project. The drama attempts to portray the dark energy massing in the wake of failing societal conventions like gender roles and dominant ideologies (religious, nationalistic, militaristic, industrial, and progressive), and also the mounting tensions between social “norms” and contemporary efforts to define and orient identities distributed across life’s real conditions, in real time.

Due to the relational nature of the project WORK IN THE WOODS will be open for viewing on an invitation and referral basis only. Viewing the work is not like viewing a conventional play. Participants are invited to schedule a personal meeting with DISCIPLINE BEAR to digest the work in conversation with the character and/or collaborate through exchange as he workshops his BEARbrand. Invitations will go out the first full week in March.

PUBLIC RECEPTION Saturday, March 26, 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM open to the general public for viewing the play’s artifacts and some culminating action for the scene. Daily media feed available on Spoke's blog. (www.spokechicago.blogspot.com) under Project Resident Blog.

To solicit an invitation call 864.247.8207 or email gvg.hinge@gmail.com with a description of your interest in or existing relation to the work, artist, arts community, or space.

G. Vincent Gaulin is an artist, writer, designer/builder, percussionist, and performer based in Chicago, IL. His work draws from diverse influences including classic literature, fashion, art history, theology, family heritage, American regionalism (esp. Southern history), urban and rural studies, Hip-hop entrepreneurial models, Jazz lifestyles, industrial manufacturing, human ecology, storytelling, “women’s work”, commercial marketing, and folk traditions. Gaulin is a self-proclaimed NPR junky, avid non-fiction reader, long-winded conversationalist, and compulsive kitchen-talker. The artist is a contemporary family man—a dedicated grandson, son, nephew, brother, cousin, friend, and romantic. He fancies a comical outlook and presentation, and believes in playful realism, the necessity of abstraction, and the transformative potential of criticism. He is an optimist.

Project Residency Program

2011-02-27T12:14:00.000-06:00

We at Spoke are happy and excited to begin our new programming series.

Our Project Residency Program is geared towards projects and art practices that are socially engaged, process oriented, participatory and multi-layered. The Project Residents can treat the malleable project space as a laboratory, test-site, classroom, studio, experimental gallery or social space. We encourage our residents to take time to explore and experiment without pressure for creating a completed work or final product.

March - Vince Gaulin (details coming soon)
May - Christopher Tourre (details coming soon)

Please check out our future tab to see what other events are happening at Spoke.

Spoke: A Collective Studio Practice

2010-10-16T09:21:00.002-05:00

October 16, 2010 - October 31, 2010

Open House and Reception: Thursday, October 28th, 6-9pm

October 28 -31, open by appointment (spokechicago@gmail.com)

As our group of artists grow and we expand our studio space at Spoke, we have decided to use the old Surrealist game of "The Exquisite Corpse" as a tool to get to know one another better as artists. We all have to work within the same space and thus see this collaborative artwork exploring, in a physical way, the power of our collective "studio mind".

This project reveals a "behind the scenes" look at the working process by a group of artists. This unique collaborative effort reflects and questions the collaboration of interdisciplinary artists who usually work alone. This project also examines how group dynamics affect the creative process and explores how individuals relate and respond to the process of collaboration and group work.

Using a set of guidelines, a collective artwork will be made describing the shared atmosphere of the studio and exhibition/project spaces that are Spoke. Each artist will have two opportunities to install, interact and respond to the collective artwork over a two week span of time. Seeing the project as a weaving of practices and a material conversation, all the artists will come together after the first week to discuss and reflect on the project thus far before resuming for the second week.

List of artists, their working schedules, and open hours:

Saturday, October 16, Jeroen Nelemans, 12-5pm

Sunday, October 17, Heather Mullins, no open hours

Monday, October 18, Deirdre Colgan, no open hours

Tuesday, October 19, Kristin Mariani, 12-5pm

Wednesday, October 20, Rana Siegel, 5-8pm

Thursday, October 21, Jean Alexander Frater, 1-7pm

Friday, October 22, Closed for group discussion

Saturday, October 23, Jeroen Nelemans, 12-5pm, Deirdre Colgan, 5-8pm

Sunday, October 24, Kristin Mariani, no open hours

Monday, October 25, Heather Mullins, 12-5pm

Tuesday, October 26, Rana Siegel, 5-8pm

Wednesday, October 27, Jean Alexander Frater, 1-7pm

Spoke: A Collective Studio Practice is part of Chicago Artists Month 2010, the fifteenth annual cerebration of Chicago's vibrant visual art community coordinated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. For more information, visit www.chicagoartistsmonth.org

Cairo On the Length | Amira Hanafi

2010-09-17T16:35:00.000-05:00

Cairo On the Length

A Project by Amira Hanafi

Spoke Chicago

October 3 through October 15, 2010

Calendar of Events

Sunday, October 3 1:00 – 4:00pm

Walk #1, The public is invited to walk in the West Loop and collect material documentation, followed by discussion at Spoke

Thursday, October 7 7:00 – 10:00pm

Readings of work by Chicago writers who responded to walks performed in Cairo

Saturday, October 9 1:00 – 4:00pm

Walk #2, The public is invited to walk in the West Loop and collect material documentation, followed by discussion at Spoke

Friday, October 15 6:00 – 10:00pm

Closing reception

Gallery open hours (or walk by appointment)

Mondays, Tuesdays & Fridays 1:00 – 7:00pm

On the back of every U.S. dollar bill, there is a depiction of an incomplete pyramid with an all-seeing eye hovering over it. The image appropriates two ancient Egyptian symbols: the Eye of Horus and the Great Pyramid. Inscribed underneath, Novus Ordo Seclorum—“New Order of the Age”—an era in which Pharaonic culture has faded, yet the American psyche remains tangled in an archaic and mystified imaginary of Egypt.

In the days following September 11, 2001, Clear Channel Communications distributed a memo to 1,200 of their radio stations. Along with songs referencing bombs, bullets and airplanes, the Bangles’ 1980s pop hit “Walk Like An Egyptian” was included as “lyrically questionable.” Executives strongly suggested that DJs avoid playing it.

Do these instants represent what Cairo looks like from America? What does the city look like close up? Cairo On The Length is a project that taps the imaginations of over 50 people to construct a collective image of contemporary Cairo. Viewers are invited on a collaborative passage through the city, guided by both locals and outsiders, via a collection of photographs, maps, drawings, texts, videos, and an evening of readings.

Over four months, the artist, a citizen of the United States and of Egypt, drifted for 100 hours with 30 different people in Cairo. Some of the walkers had spent their entire lives in Egypt; some were tourists who had been in the city for a day. Each of 28 segments of the walk began from the end point of the previous segment; conversation and encounters on the walks dictated their paths.

Each segment was documented with photographs and with writing composed by the walkers, as well as through a process of call and response with Chicago artists and writers. Over the course of the four-month project, the artist sent photographs from each walk to Chicago artists and writers, requesting a response in whichever form each individual saw fit.

During the project at Spoke, the artist will host walks from the space through the West Loop. The public is invited to join in a process of observation, collection, and discussion about our own evolving city. The materials produced from these walks will be sent to artists in Egypt, who will in turn create responses. Through this cycle of exchange, a collective image of Chicago’s West Loop will be produced.

Walkers

Ahmad Shawkat, Anne-Marie McManus, Amr El Kafrawy, Azumi Hasegewa, Belle Gironda, Chitra Kalyani, Chris Marrs, Dagmar Stelkens, Doaa Fatouh, Ehab Effat, Elizabeth Metzger Sampson, Hamdy El-Gazzar, Hamdy Reda, Hoda El Shakry, Hossam Elouan, Hussein Mahmoud, Ian Parks, Jack Shenker, Leila El Shakry, Linda Cleary, Mia Jankowicz, Mohamed Alaa, Mohamed Fatouh, Mona Madgavkar, Nick Rowlands, Ramy Yahya, Rana, Shannon Tyman, Shayma Aziz, Stephanie Matti

Respondents

AD Jameson, Aurora Tabar, Ben Lipkin, Calvin Forbes, Caroline Picard, Devin King, Edward Salem, Elizabeth Cross, Ellen Rothenberg, Eric Vandemark, Ira Murfin, Laura Goldstein, Mark Booth, Megan Milks, Michael Thomas, Michelle Tupko, Rachel Araujo, Raja Halwani, Rana Siegel, Robin Morrissey, Rowland Saifi, Sally Alatalo, Shannon Schmidt, Stephanie Nadeau, Stephen Hastings-King

Contact

Artist Contact

Amira Hanafi

(908) 644-3314

onthelength@gmail.com

The Ways of Connecting the Floor to the Ceiling | Elizabeth Metzger Sampson and Shannon Schmidt

2010-08-18T10:24:00.002-05:00

Exhibition: September 1 - 15

Opening: Friday, September 10, 6-9pm

Reading: Tuesday, September 14, 7:30pm

September 1st - 9th: Open Studio Hours
Weekdays (excluding Friday) open from 7:30 - 10 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 3rd by appointment only
Saturday, Sept. 4th open from 2 - 5 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 5th by appointment only

The Ways of Connecting the Floor to the Ceiling investigates the creative process through the use of material and language. An installation or a material component of process, tufts of raw wool and hair will morph into an abstract surface of felted fibers, growing out of the architecture and spreading throughout the gallery. The artists will open the gallery to visitors as they construct the space, ultimately creating an environment of process. The visitors will become participants as they move through the space, creating a collective path by felting the raw materials on the floor with their feet. As the space congeals, a reading will occur at the end of the show, bringing writers whose process is evident in their final product into the space, to build upon the environment of experiment, chance, intention, and the spirit of continuum.

The Ways of Connecting the Floor to the Ceiling is a collaborative exhibition by Elizabeth Metzger Sampson and Shannon Schmidt, both writers and artists living and working in Chicago. The exhibition is ongoing from September 1st to the 15th with an opening on Friday, September 10th and a reading on Tuesday, September 14th.

Replication Machines, Territorial Markers and Preliminary Drawings | Mark Porter

2010-07-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

August 2-13, 2010
Reception, Friday August 6, 7-9pm
Gallery hours by appointment.

Spoke presents Replication Machines, Territorial Markers and Preliminary Drawings, an exhibition of recent kinetic sculptures and mixed media drawings by Chicago based visual artist Mark Porter.

Through the fusion of found and custom made objects, Porter creates mechanical prototypes which mimic human and animal behavior as well as natural phenomenon. Emphasizing the quality of hand-made object, Porter's sculptures serve as performative prototypes, which embrace experimentation and the relationship between inventor and invention, as well as invention and user.

___________________________________________
For more information, or to make an appointment please email Spoke or markwilliamporter (at) yahoo (dot) com

All works in the exhibit were created with funding generously provided by The Illinois Arts Council, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and City of Chicago.

If Nature Could Talk | Grant W. Ray

2010-07-17T11:00:00.001-05:00

Exhibition: July 23-25

Opening Reception: July 23, 6-9pm

Open Hours: July 25, 10-6pm

If Nature Could Talk is an interactive event that explores the uncanny relationship between art, science, and nature. Based on the investigation of Human/Nature dynamics through marks, traces and symbols of pseudo- scientific experiments, the work suggests what nature might be thinking and feeling in an evidentiary context. Chicago based artist, Grant W. Ray has photographed these strange attempts at communicating with nature. He will be presenting this historic archive and five extraordinary inventions for two nights only at Spoke Gallery. Participants will be invited to interact with ordinary objects that have extraordinary functions such as, “Ronald Johnson’s Talking Plants,” which reportedly translates the thoughts of domesticated houseplants into a language you can understand.

www.grantray.com

Closing and Prizes | So, You Think You Can Paint?

2010-07-16T09:25:00.001-05:00

Below is the list (in no particular order) of excepted artists in to the So You Think You Can Paint? The Chicago Edition. Our Judging panel was pleased with much of the work, and the So, You Think You Can Paint? video will be playing at the reception.
Congratulations! Thank you for participating and I hope to see you all at the reception Friday night from 6pm to 9pm, with Prizes awarded at 8:00pm!
Sincerely,
Vincent Kral

Claudia Smalley

Matthew Schlagbuam

Christine Parisi

Vernetta Edwards

Steve Ruiz

Steven Frost

Jui Desai

Lauren La Rose

Margaret Clay

Betsy Zacsek

Michael Reynolds

Mike Lenkwoski

Rex Flodstrom

Allen Vandever

Kristina Gosh

CALL FOR ENTRIES: So You Think You Can Paint...

2010-07-03T11:01:00.009-05:00

Call for entries/ Drop off dates:
3pm-5pm
SUNDAY, July 11
MONDAY, July 12
TUESDAY, July 13
_____________
Exhibition dates:
11am-5pm
WEDNESDAY, July 14
THURSDAY, July 15
FRIDAY, July 16
_____________
Closing Reception/ Awards Ceremony:
6pm-9pm
FRIDAY, July 16
_______________
Pick Up Entries:
FRIDAY, July 16 After 9pm
or
SATURDAY, July 17 10am -Noon
________________

So, You Think You Can Paint? is at once a project to take the anthropological pulse of the city of Chicago where artists, hobbyists, enthusiasts, professionals, and naysayers have a leveled playing field to exhibit their work; and second an irreverent look at the competitive framework network television promotes. The entire project is a timely reinterpretation of the reality judging show So You Think You Can Dance (Fox July 20, 2005 – present) mixed with a dash of Art Star (Gallery HD June 1, 2006 – July 19, 2006) and a pinch of Work of Art (Bravo 2010 - present). Just like those unscripted displays of genius, hidden talent, and atrocity on television, what happens next is entirely up to the participants with paintings, the judges, the camera...and only at Spoke can you be involved.

Anyone can bring in up to three paintings - any subject, size, or format accepted.

Fill out an entry form (download now, or pick up a copy at Spoke).

A panel of guest judges will critique your work, the entire event will be filmed, and the best will be hung in the show.

Award winners will have the opportunity to have the work travel to compete in “So You Think You Can Paint? Tampa Bay Season Two!”

Pick up work at designated times.

Spoke:

119 N Peoria #3D

Chicago, Il 60607

spokechicago.blogspot.com

spokechicago@gmail.com

Organizer:

Vincent Kral

vince@vincekral.com

vincekral.com

Never painted before?

Order painting supplies online from www.aoeartworld.com or call toll free at (888) 240-6173

I’ll Be Your Mirror

2010-06-02T22:01:00.003-05:00

Reception: Friday, June 11, from 5-8pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday (6/15), Wednesday (6/16), Fridays (6/11 & 18) & Saturdays (6/12 & 19) 11-5pm and by appointment.

Like any city, Chicago is composed of a complex set of relationships that work in concert to cultivate a unique identity. Connections between neighbors, friends, acquaintances and strangers create unique opportunities whose scope is beyond calculation and influence exceeds territorial boundaries.

From June 11 - June 19, 2010 Lise Haller Baggesen (Chicago, USA), Gitte Bog (Mexico City, MEX), Gudrun Hasle (Copenhagen, DK), Anni Holm (Chicago, USA) and Berit Nørgaard (Copenhagen, DK) will focus their energy on exploring the possibilities of mutually beneficial relationships rooted in conversation, exchange and sincerity.

Baggesen looks at her relationship with America through her experience as a recent immigrant, while Bog invites visitors to form relations with residents of Mexico City. Hasle examines a break up, while Holm brings people together through personalized songs and Nørgaard explores the kindness of strangers.

2 re[public] in/decency events

2010-05-07T10:33:00.007-05:00

______________________________________________________________________

WHAT: re[public] in/decency animates empty storefront on the edge of Jeweller's Row as part of Pop-Up Art Loop Gallery Walk presented by Chicago Loop Alliance in association with Chicago Artists' Coalition

WHEN: Thursday, May 6th 2010 5:00 - 8:00 PM

WHERE: 220 S. Wabash (south of Adams)

______________________________________________________________________

WHAT: re[public] in/decency will speak about their research as inaugural Artists-in-Residency at Spoke

WHEN: Saturday, May 15th, 2010 6:00 - 8:00 PM

WHERE: Spoke, 119 N. Peoria Street #3D, Chicago, IL

______________________________________________________________________

KEY INFORMATION: re[public] in/decency (co-founded by Erica Mott and Coman Poon) is an inter-artsactivist initiative and creative think tank that explores the trans-national intersections between live art, social justice activism and arts-informed pedagogy.

In collaboration with dress-maker and fabric-based artist Kristin Mariani, re[public] in/decency are the inaugural artists-in-residence at Spoke from April 26-May 23, 2010.

Our cross-disciplinary and community-engaged research envisioning the creation of embodied and large-scale installation of community-interactive “palimpsests” to unearth hidden cultural memory and promote dialogue amongst and between diverse “diasporas”. The Palimpsest Project (phase one) will employ the creation of an environmental and performative chalkcloth "palimpsest" to trace the intricate relationships between the physical body, transgenerational memory and landscapes of belonging. We view the chalkboard and chalk cloth as metaphoric contemporary incarnations of the historical palimpsest, a manuscript on parchment which has been effaced to make room for later writing, but of which antecedent traces remain. It is our hope that enlarging and collectively engaging in the rite of inscribing and re-inscribing personal narrative will create unique and powerful (individual and collective) connections whist engaging in an accessibly expressive and socio-cultural dialogue.

Palimpsest Project | re[public] in/decency

2010-04-25T20:00:00.002-05:00

April 26-May 23, 2010 We are closed during the research period of Spoke residency

Performance Installation and Dialogue: Saturday, May 15th, 6pm-8pm

Open House for Art Chicago: May 1st, 2010, 6-8:30pm

re[public] in/decency, a Canadian-US arts-activist collaboration is developing The Palimpsest Project, an interactive live arts installation on trauma and the erasure and recovery of transgenerational and trans-cultural memory. re[public] in/decency, in collaboration with Chicago-based dressmaker, designer, and artist, Kristin Mariani Frieman will talk about their process working with select individuals, invited groups and communities over the course of their residency and to the general public during a culminating interactive installation.

re[public] in/decency is an inter-arts activist initiative and creative think tank that explores the trans-national intersections between live art, social justice activism and arts-informed pedagogy.

Created in 2008 through a collaboration between two professional artists: community-based developer, theatre and performance artist Coman Poon (Toronto, Canada) and cultural worker, choreographer and performance maker Erica Mott (Chicago, USA), re[public] in/decency seeks to engage diverse audiences in our interdisciplinary work while acting as a conduit between social justice activism and conceptual art practice.

Our art-making practice is highly collaborative and we work with both artists across disciplines as well as diverse inter and intra-national communities. Key collaborators include teacher, video and performance artist Sheelah Murthy, experimental media artist Juana Awad, performance artist and scholar, Lisa Biggs and artist and designer, Kristin Mariani Frieman. Our work embraces cross-cultural perspectives and is fueled by experiential research with arts-mediated dialogue about social, economic and racial justice. We place the artist as a central participant in our society. We believe that through performative action, the creation of strong and resonant images and the power of play, artists may act as catalysts to encourage citizens to reframe and possibly revise their in/action. Our creative projects are informed by personal experience and strives towards building connections between ‘local’ and ‘global’ issues. We focus on inclusively examining the ‘relational’ (composites of unique bodies and stories, political, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, gender inhabitation and artistic constitution) as a key component of collaborative creation.

THIS IS ART NOW | Thomas Garman

2010-04-20T13:06:00.002-05:00

April 25, 11-5pm

THIS IS ART NOW is a series of posters, flyers, and postcards made using stencils, rubber stamps and photocopies. The posters and flyers have been hung throughout the city of Chicago on bulletin boards, empty exterior walls, and in windows for the last two years. The postcards have been mailed (unsolicited) to artists and art galleries throughout the United States over the same period.

When used in the context of a poster, flyer or postcard, the phrase “This is art now” functions as an illocutionary act. To give another example of an illocutionary act: the chairperson of a meeting closes a meeting by saying “This meeting is adjourned.” The meeting is adjourned because the chairperson said that it is adjourned. In the realm of conceptual art, John Baldessari's I am making art also functions as an illocutionary act: the utterance creates the aesthetic reality by means of the utterance itself.

I approached Spoke because I am interested in the way that the poster hangs conceptually in the gallery space: how the space plays a legitimizing function that gives a context to the phrase THIS IS ART NOW and elevates the poster into the realm of real art object. In particular, I find the reference of the word “This” aesthetically interesting insofar as it occurs in the context of an art gallery.

Push The Envelope | Rachel Moore

2010-04-18T21:23:00.003-05:00

April 23, 2010 – May 14, 2010

Preview April 23^rd 20:30

Conversations

April 24^th-25^th, May 8^th- 9^th

18:30-21:30 (Thessaloniki)

10:30a.m. - 1:30p.m. (Chicago)

Opening

May 11^th 20:30

Contact Information

Push The Envelope

DYNAMO project-space

Typou 5, 54622

Thessaloniki, Greece

++2310522672,

dynamoprojectspace[at]gmail[dot]com

Τu.-Sa. 11:00-15:00 και 18:00-21:00

chicagothessaloniki[at]gmail[dot]com

Push the Envelope is an art product and public program enabling dialogue between artists in Chicago, Thessaloniki, and Athens. The participating artists were selected after an open call by an international jury.

Over the span of three weeks DYNAMO project-space in Thessaloniki, Greece and Spoke in Chicago, U.S.A. will host the commencement of dialogue between selected artists. The conversation will spring from an open, collaborative process and will be used to identify topics relevant to the group. Invited curators, artists, and historians will lead discussions during weekends for the duration of the DYNAMO exhibition.
Initially, artists will display past work at DYNAMO (preview: April 23^rd 20:30), while an exchange of knowledge, ideas, and influences will spur each artist to create new work in response to discussion, as they each contend with where they situate themselves politically in contemporary culture and within their historical past. The exhibition space will reflect the organic nature of conversation, continually evolving and displaying evidence of discussions along side with both past and newly created work. The process will be evident, presented at DYNAMO just before the end of the exhibition (opening: May 11^th 20:30).

Project Organizer
Rachel Moore
Artist Participants
Lena Athanasopoulou
Kim DeBord & Rachel Moore
Monica Herrera
Georgia Kotretsos
Areti Leopoulou & Theofanis Nouskas
Dimitris Michalaros
Jeroen Nelemans
Shannon Schmidt
Briana Schweizer
Hui-min Tsen
Chryse Tsiota
Vasilis Zografos
Guest Participants
Stephanie Bertrand
Ellen Rothenberg
Syrago Tsiara
Shannon Stratton

This project is made possible with support to Rachel Moore (project organizer), from the Fulbright Foundation in Greece.

Hagia Sophia | Gwendolyn Zabicki

2010-03-30T14:25:00.001-05:00

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Closing Reception: Saturday, April 17th, 6 to 9pm

Open by appointment: April 11th to April 17th
Hours: By appointment. Contact us at spokechicago(at)gmail.com or gwensmail(at)gmail.com

The Hagia Sophia Basilica in Istanbul, Turkey is famous for its history, beautiful dome, and the mystical quality of light that reflects inside of it. Built in 330AD, it withstood no fewer than 17 sieges between the time it was founded and 1204 when it finally fell to the Christians of the west (the Normans). In its long history, the Hagia Sophia has been home to Pagans, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and is currently preserved as a museum.

Saturday, April 17th from 6 to 9pm, Spoke will be home to a miniature version of the Hagia Sophia. Complete with gold dome, marble floors, and 168 windows, this recreation is just big enough to seat one adult inside. Come hear about its colorful history, and enjoy the warm golden light of seasonal affective disorder therapeutic lamps housed inside its walls.

This project is supported by a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Read about Waiting Room

2010-03-25T13:20:00.002-05:00

Check out the NEW CITY Article about Stephanie Nadeau's Performance Waiting Room.

Also, we hope to see you there for one day only on Saturday, March 27th.

Addition: Also read the preview at Bad at Sports!

Waiting Room | Stephanie Nadeau

2010-03-12T01:02:00.001-06:00

ONE DAY ONLY!

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

Hours of Operation: 12-8pm

Presented by Stephanie Nadeau, hosted by Spoke, and back by popular demand, Waiting Room invites you to come spend your time. Our mission is to allow you to contribute your time comfortably and productively while remaining completely idle. Wait for as little or as long as you like, it’s entirely up to you. Stop by anytime for your free timecard and we’ll get you started on a rewarding and enjoyable waiting experience. We look forward to seeing you!

Join Waiting Room on Facebook

Waiting Room is a performance that operates much like a place of business. On March 27th, from 12-8pm, Spoke will be transformed into a waiting room, complete with comfy chairs, a variety of reading material, and soothing music. A camera will monitor the room, automatically capturing digital stills at regular intervals.

As a participant, you will be asked to sign and stamp a timecard, and we’ll set a timer for your desired wait time. This can be as short or as long as you like, minutes or hours*. Then relax and enjoy an aimless span of time. An attendant will call your name when your wait is over, and you’ll again be asked to stamp your time card to conclude the experience.

The images and minutes collected during the performance will be used as documents of the event, and presented together as a monument to moments lost in waiting. Nadeau is interested in how these performed instances of waiting function within the larger narrative of the mechanics of time, as well as how they engage the politics of production, and offer a new valuation of idle time.

*Refreshments will be made available to anyone wishing to wait for an hour or more.

Chicago Q Ensemble | One Night Only!

2010-02-13T12:34:00.001-06:00

Dreams, Prayers, and Mozart: An Evening at Spoke
February 28, 2010 | 6pm
Chicago, IL

Join the Chicago Q Ensemble for an intimate performance at Spoke. There will be wine, cheese and conversation both before and after the performance.

The Chicago Q Ensemble is thrilled to announce our inaugural series of concerts this February.

We've chosen a program of beautiful, interesting music from a variety of cultures and time periods. The Mozart Clarinet Quintet, in our opinion, is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever written: glorious singing in the clarinet, lush textures in the strings, and some of that sparkling champagne music that makes Mozart so much fun to hear.

We'll also be performing a work by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. If this will be your first time hearing his music, you're in for a wonderful treat: his music is infused with the tango of his native country and the Klezmer music of his Jewish heritage. The piece is called "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," and we've included a recording in the 'Listen' section of our website.

We're also throwing in some Gershwin tunes (arranged by our conductor and mentor Cliff Colnot) and a brand-new arrangement by our clarinetist, Yevgeny.

Did we mention there'll be wine?! We look forward to seeing you in late February.

All the best,
The Chicago Q Ensemble

W.A. Mozart - Clarinet Quintet in A major
Osvaldo Golijov - The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind
George Gershwin - Songs

Suggested contribution $15 :: $10 students
Make reservations online in the 'Tickets' section of the Chicago Q Ensemble website.

http://www.chicagoqensemble.com/html/contact.php

Reservations encouraged!

Reclaimed: Clybourn Place Bridge

2010-02-02T17:04:00.001-06:00

February 12th - 27th

Hours: Noon-3pm, Feb. 12,13,14, 20, and also by appointment just email us spokechicago{at}gmail.com
Opening Reception: Friday, February 12th, 6-8pm.

Participants were encouraged to utilize reclaimed floorboards to create functional objects. By using a large stock of salvaged pine flooring and expanding its use through innovative design and construction, we hope to highlight the value of creative re-use. Along with completed projects, documentation of the creators’ design and building process will be exhibited.

Work by:
Amber-Carla-Lia
Luke Boehnke
Kim & Zach DeBord
Kazuki Guzman
Andy Hall
Scott Jarrett
Kevin Kaempf
Heather Mullins

Happy New Year from Spoke

2009-12-30T12:51:00.000-06:00

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year, from of one Jason Foumberg's top 5 new art spaces!
Check out the New City article and all of the other top 5's here.
See you in 2010!

The Object of the Game

2009-12-07T10:03:00.000-06:00

One Night Only!
Saturday December 12th 7pm-10pm

“The Object of the Game” is a collection of works that consider games in the art world, whether altering a classic game or re-imagining what it is to play a game. These works use games as a lens through which to consider questions of participation and broader art concerns. Because games require players, many of the artworks are reliant on audience participation, so come and play!

Show includes discreet objects, performances, pep, competitive matches, existential challenges, showdowns, snap judgments last second buzzers, and faith-based initiatives...

Artists:
Phil Chesnick, Vince Gaulin, Robert Lococo, Noah Logan, Amanda Maranca, Nick Williams, Victoria Young, Tyler Culligan

Coordinated by: John Preus

Co-Paintings, Cute Puppies | Henley and Frederiksen

2009-11-23T15:14:00.007-06:00

5pm - 8pm Saturday, December 5th, 2009
Emmett Kelly, Jim Dorling, and Michael Hartman will provide the live music!

Open ONE NIGHT ONLY...

Working with limitations of time, Henley and Frederiksen craft paintings which start with the intent of expanding the others' visual vocabulary but end as a series of overlapping choices exemplifying each artist's personal strengths. "Co-Paintings, Cute Puppies" features an inter-generational collaborative effort that explores the processes that develop when the ancient collides with the inexperienced, piling up the known and the unknown like surplus freight in a junkyard. With puppies.

Everything is for sale. Please join us for art, drinks, and please watch your shoes.

Collective Crosshatch Study | A Sample of Making

2009-11-19T01:37:00.004-06:00

The Collective Cross Hatch Project is well underway, with visitor and student contributions from classes at Columbia College and SAIC. The collective pieces will be on display at the closing event.

Please come and join us to celebrate the closing of Kristin Mariani Frieman's A Sample of Making. Participate at the craft table where you can make your own mittens and felted wool hats, and help yourself to some chili (con carne and vegetarian) to match the RedShift sweater palette.
Saturday, November 21st 6-8pm.

Participants:

Kim Debord, Julia Toepler, Amanda Helmer, Olivia Strautmanis, Julia Rothblatt, Ryan Hrovat, Andrew Love, Allegra Tansey, Victoria Myrick, Jessica Ma, Gracia Yoo, No H Sara (Sara Riley Douglas), Heather Mullins

Drawing I- Columbia College:
Dylan Luloff, Cynthia De Jesús, Brandi Wickert, Emily Ponce, Eric Cimino, Rebecca O'Brien, Jessica Quintero, Karmen Petersen, Emily Callaghan, Brittney O'Keefe, Heriberto Lopez, Chris Terrill

Fundamentals of 3-D Design-Columbia College:
Elric Gerard Sabb, Alice Xiao, Dana Scheibe, Stephanie Gabrys, Cecilia Tito, Brittany Hill, Megan Brown, Jessica Egan, Becky Conterio, Patty Galarza-Hernandez, Jennifer Johnson, Paige Kingsley, Fernando Garcia

Previous participants:
Chelsea Goodwin, Carla Duarte, Sarah Amariat, Kelsey Heiniger, Coral Manor, Michael Clarke, Liz Weamer, Carlotta Parisi

Studio Visit with Kristin Mariani Frieman

2009-11-07T11:21:00.008-06:00

Come see the work in progress, have some coffee, and chat with our resident artist and designer...

Open Studio Hours
Monday-Saturday, closed Wednesday
12-6PM

Closing Event
Saturday, November 21st
6-9PM

Collective Cross Hatch Project:

To participate, come any time during open studio hours.

You're invited to come and create a stitched cross-hatch drawing to build a collaborative gradation study. Think pencil cross-hatch, but with needle and thread.

Choosing two tones from her collection of over 20 spools of gray thread, the objective is to stitch two tones together until they read as one. Your study will be labeled and placed according to its value in the expanding grid on the wall. Kristin will provide you with muslin, needle, and embroidery hoop. The exercise will take about 30 minutes to complete.

This Collective Cross Hatch Project will be part of Kristin's final installation at Spoke, viewed in its entirety at the closing event on Saturday, November 21st.

(see sample photo top right)

Pencils2Pixels: Design Show Closing Reception

2009-10-29T13:27:00.003-05:00

See you there on Friday!
Friday, October 30, 5-9pm

A Sample of Making | Kristin Mariani Frieman

2009-10-27T21:51:00.008-05:00

November 2 - 21, 2009

“Après moi, le déluge” Valentino: The Last Emperor

Kristin Mariani Frieman is a Chicago based dressmaker, designer, and artist who founded the label RedShift, a line of contemporary couture created from salvaged materials and found garments. A Sample of Making is a RedShift design project that provides a platform for the intensive labor involved in making clothing. For a period of three weeks the designer will produce singular garments within the Spoke gallery space from her collection of salvaged wools in a spectrum of colors. Seeking to present her process of design alongside the product of her practice, she aims to create opportunities for critical exchange by engaging others in the design process. Working with several interns, the designer will have open studio hours, hold a workshop, and host a closing event to view the work created at Spoke.

GrayScales Workshop
Saturday, November 7th and 14th
1-5 PM, $95
Spoke 119 N Peoria 3D, Chicago, Il

How we see gray informs how we see color. This is a do-it-yourself (make yourself cozy) workshop based on Josef Albersʼ gradation study from his book Interaction of Color. Working from salvaged gray wools from the RedShift collection, participants will create a gray wool scarf or pair of mittens using a combination of hand and machine sewing processes. The workshop takes place over two consecutive Saturdays and is open to all skill levels, ages, and disciplines. Participants are welcome to display their final projects as part of the closing event for A Sample of Making.

To participate please contact: Kristin@redshiftcouture.com

Open Studio Hours
Monday-Saturday, closed Wednesday
12-6PM

Closing Event
Saturday, November 21st
6-9PM

Kristin Mariani Frieman would like to thank the following interns for the time
and handiwork that they contributed to RedShift for A Sample of Making:

Sarah Amariat
Kelsey Heiniger
Rosemary Lee
Coral Manor
Danielle Wyman

RedShift Kristin Mariani Frieman Dressmaker/ Designer
PHONE 847.226-4559 | EMAIL kristin@redshiftcouture.com | WEB www.redshiftcouture.com

Pencils2Pixels: Design Show

2009-10-14T15:33:00.006-05:00

drawing, photography, print, video,
animation, handmade books + a paper snake

October 16 – 31, 2009

Closing Reception: Friday, October 30, 5-9pm

Hours: Saturdays 11a.m.‐5p.m. or by appointment

This multimedia extravaganza exhibits a wide range of works from Westwood College’s Design Department. From the curious first stages to the refined final product, the show features drawings, photography, print, video, animation, and handmade objects. The clean lines of digital technology meet the textures of fine art processes to formalize commercial and personal concepts.
Come see what our best have been up to!

Hosted by Westwood College, Loop Campus, Organized by the Design Faculty. With Special Thanks to Ryan Swanson, Dillon Rasmussen, and Brian Olson for making this happen.

Call for Schubertiad

2009-09-25T20:02:00.004-05:00

Dear musicians/artists/performers,
We invite you to a Schubertiad at Spoke.
3:30pm
Sunday October 4th
119 N Peoria 3D

Please invite your friends.

Traditionally, The Schubertiad was an evening of performances amongst friends of Schubert, where guests performed.
Let us imagine a contemporary Schubertiad. An invitation to make musical performances together, to try out a collaboration, or meld the musical practices with those of a Social Art Space.
We hope to see proposals for experimentation, and an imaginative tribute to the tradition, interpreted in a variety of forms.

To be considered:
Include your contact information along with a brief written description* of your plan (or statement) in the body of an email addressed to Spoke SpokeChicago(at)gmail.com

musicians/artists/performers are invited to visit the space and meet each other and bring props or equipment on Saturday, October 3rd from noon to 6pm. We will hold one performance on Sunday October 4th at 3:30, and a possible encore or additional performances through the week. The Schubertiad will be videotaped as documentation of our work, and distributed for a small donation. If any special considerations are needed (and we hope there are) we will try to assist.

*musicians/artists/performers are asked to submit a title and short description for our records. However, as this format is more of a collaborative experimental event to be held in the presence of peers; strict adherence, rigid rehearsals, and previous performances, musical or visual are not necessary.

Objet Petit A : conclusion and thankyou

2009-09-23T16:53:00.009-05:00

For those of you who couldn't make it to our fund raiser and want to give, and those who still need to pay for your winning bid; you may use our paypal Donate button on the right column.... It's yellow, under the heading Support our Mission.

A note from Matt & Dayton (curators):

Thank you for helping make Objet Petit A a smashing success-- we couldn't have done it without you! As you know, the artists involved in our show generously gave their time and artworks to help raise money for Spoke and for Chicago Rarities Orchard Project. Together we raised nearly $300 and we had a lot of fun doing it!

The winning bids are listed below:

Justin Cooper bought the Ben Fain for $45.00
Emily and Brenna Quinn bought the Harriet Salmon for $37.50
Brian Kirkbride bought the Astri Swendsrud for $25.00
Destiny Sinacola bought the Jose Lerma and Cristina Tufino for $35.00
Adam Fung bought the Michael Jones McKean for $55.00
Roz Matthews bought the Abby Christensen and Emily Vanhoff for $50.00
Dave Snyder bought the Tomas Moreno for $35.00

Thanks Again! from Spoke

2009-08-26T14:15:00.002-05:00

OBJET PETIT A

The exhibition, auction, and public destruction of artist-made piñatas

Show runs August 26th – September 11th, 2009

Pinata smashing spectacle & reception: Friday, September 11th, 6-10pm

Pinatas by:

Abby Christensen
Ben Fain
Jose Lerma & Cristina Tufino
Michael Jones McKean
Tomas Moreno
Harriet Salmon
Astri Swendsrud
Emily Vanhoff

Curated by Dayton Castleman and Matthew Dupont

Objet Petit A is an exhibition and auction of artist-created piñatas at Spoke, an artist-run space located in the West Loop gallery district of Chicago, Illinois. Auction winners will be invited to destroy their piñata at a public performance spectacle on the evening of September 11, 2009. The auction will benefit both Spoke, and Chicago Rarities Orchard Project, an organization founded to establish community rare-fruit orchards in Chicago, and preserve open space.

The expression “Objet Petite A” is a term coined by French philosopher Jacques Lacan referring to the idea of an “unattainable object of desire.” Meaning literally “object little-A” the label is summed up in Lacan’s statement: "I love you, but, inexplicably, I love something in you more than yourself, and, therefore, I destroy you." The piñata-smashing spectacle is intended to exaggerate the tension between the art object as a value-invested commodity, and the art object as a mediator of meaningful public discourse. Art can be both, of course, but by leveraging the piñata as a form intended to be engaged in a particularly violent manner, the show forces the question: Will the owner choose to preserve their object, or—whether out of personal curiosity or public pressure—will they destroy it?

The obvious risk is that the “deeper meaning,” revealed in this case by the piñata’s contents, may not be satisfying to the object’s owner or to the waiting public. The piñata’s teleological climax may very well be phenomenologically anti-climatic. The piñata may just as easily contain horse manure, nothing at all, or a golden baby. The winner of the piñata must gamble on whether to preserve the object at hand, or to destroy it in the hope of attaining something of greater cultural, conceptual, or monetary value.

An historical fascination with this dynamic is evident in a wide array of cultural myths and events spanning from antiquity to the present day. From the fabled destruction of the goose that laid the golden egg, Pandora’s Box, or the Trojan Horse, to contemporary examples such as White Elephant gift exchanges and Geraldo Rivera’s legendary 1986 television special “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault,” the tension between the value of present realities and a thirst for the unknown emerges as a universal human theme. Focusing on personal greed, the commodification of art objects, and the problematics of interpretation, Objet Petit A seeks to support a public good while creating a communal occasion to explore these cultural phenomena.

http://alcaponesvault.blogspot.com

-----------------------
Chicago Rarities Orchard Project is an organization founded to establish community rare-fruit orchards in Chicago. These orchards, designed for reclaimed spaces, are dedicated to preserving a few of the thousands of varieties of tree fruit that aren't commonly commercially grown, while providing open space and educational opportunities to Chicagoans. http://www.chicagorarities.org/

2009-08-03T11:54:00.004-05:00

August 7-22, 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, August 7, 2009

Open hours: Saturdays 11am-5pm or by appointment.

Tirtza Even and Toby Millman each translate their experiences of personal encounters in Palestine into 3-D animations and cut paper works, spanning moments between 1998 and 2008. Using text that reflects on and questions the coherence and perception of the visual material, incorporating both humor and nuanced prose, each project attempts to address the characteristics and consequences of the ongoing Israeli occupation on life in Palestine.

Karolina Gnatowski: In Memory Of... A Love Story

2009-07-05T18:19:00.008-05:00

July 10th thru July 31

OPENING: July 10th 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Please join Karolina Gnatowski for a one time performance of In Memory Of...A Love Story.

Enjoy an evening of classic rock, whiskey, puppetry and bitter sweetness as K.G. performs a tragic tale of romance. Taking cues from popular culture, Polish folklore, and psychedelic stage shows k.g. will illustrate the love between herself and her MacBook computer in a star studded pageant.

Performance starts at 7:00 sharp, limited edition DVDs for purchase at the door.

Claire Ashley: Inflatabubble

2009-06-21T00:04:00.004-05:00

June 23 - July 4, 2009
Reception: Friday, June 26, 5-7p.m.

For this project, Ashley has constructed an architectural fragment from her home in the gallery space. The fragment is a large scale inflatable sculpture (mattress) which takes the form of a wall with openings that can be interacted with; windows can be looked into voyeuristically, or out of, much like a fairground attraction booth. Photos will be taken and given to anyone who wishes to participate.

Anne Wilson: LOCAL INDUSTRY

2009-05-09T17:10:00.002-05:00

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION: Saturday June 20 + Sunday 21
SPOKE, 119 N. Peoria, Unit 3D, Chicago, IL 60607
www.SpokeChicago.blogspot.com / spokechicago@gmail.com

Anne Wilson: LOCAL INDUSTRY, phase one-Chicago to Knoxville
Come join Anne and studio assistants to learn how to wind fiber bobbins and contribute to a large collaborative weaving project, opening at the Knoxville Museum of Art in January 2010. The names of all Chicago participants will be included in the project archive. This event is free and open to the public; all ages are welcome!

Bobbin winding teaching and production sessions will be scheduled each
day (6/20 and 6/21) in the following time periods (8 people per session):
10:00 - 12noon: Session 1
12:30 - 1:30: All invited -- both days Anne will present an overview of the Knoxville Museum project and invite interactive discussion
1:30 - 3:30: Session 2
3:30 - 5:30: Session 3
All materials are provided. Additional donations of fiber and sewing threads are welcome -- please bring to SPOKE anytime on Saturday 6/20 or Sunday 6/21.

Email SPOKE to sign up for a time period!
___________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND
LOCAL INDUSTRY, a participatory cloth-making project at the Knoxville Museum of Art within exhibition "Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave," January - April 2010

One museum gallery at the KMA will be set up as a bobbin winding/weaving production site -- tables and winders positioned at regular intervals for groups (adults, college/university students, and school-age children) to wind hundreds of bobbins of colorful fibers. Using the bobbins wound during the run of the exhibition, experienced weavers from Knoxville and surrounding states are invited to take turns weaving a continuous bolt of weft-faced, selvedge-to-selvedge, striped cloth. Once one weaver has completed a passage of stripes, the next weaver responds to that passage, making a color transition that moves into new striped color passages of individual choice. Proceeding this way, although abstract, relates to the Surrealist exercise of "exquisite corpse" drawing.

"Local Industry" emphasizes all weavers as visual thinkers, working collectively to create a visually dynamic striped cloth. The completed cloth bolt will be given to the KMA collection with an archive of all who participated, from Chicago to Knoxville.

Participation in this collaborative group process invites discourse and debate about the contemporary production of textiles, and the crisis of production, worldwide. Rich histories of both handcrafted and industrially produced textiles in the southeast are a key reason to locate this project at the KMA. The fibers/threads we use are not bought new but collected from both factory mill ends and individual studio contributions; this is a re-use project. "Local Industry" also engages in the multi-faceted discussions about new participatory forms in contemporary art.
___________________________________________________________________
Anne Wilson is an artist and teacher in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. To see some of her work, go to: http://annewilsonartist.com/

Spring Benefit & Soirée

2009-05-02T00:38:00.006-05:00

Spoke Spring Benefit & Soirée

May 2-15, 2009

Please join Spoke May 8^th from 6-9 p.m. for a night of music, food, drinks, and conversation. Art work & fresh goods by the founders of Spoke will be available for purchase to help raise money to support Spoke and enable the continuation of their mission.

Spoke is a small collaborative enterprise interested in maintaining a spirit of resourcefulness, spontaneity, experimentation, access rather than exclusion and interaction. Spoke is dedicated to providing opportunities for creative individuals and groups.

Featuring work by: Monica Herrera, Rachel Moore, Heather Mullins and Rana Siegel.

Open hours during benefit:

Saturday, May 2, 11-5

Tuesday, May 5, 11-5

Friday, May 8, 11-9

Saturday, May 9, 11-5

"I try to erase you but you're still here" Regina Mamou & James Rigato

2009-04-09T18:29:00.007-05:00

April 17-28, 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, April 17th 6-9p.m. with readings by James Rigato at 6:15p.m., 7:15p.m., and 8:15p.m.

I try to erase you but you’re still here is a collaborative project with photographs by Regina Mamou and writings by James Rigato. Raised in Michigan, Mamou and Rigato collectively respond to the idea of nostalgia based on location—as an origin of pain and yearning for the past. I try to erase you but you’re still here implies the simultaneous need to desire and dismiss juvenile experiences. The failure of trying to erase sentimental memories becomes source material for their project. In her photographic series, Mamou returns to a location she frequented with her family during her adolescence. Spending one week in relative seclusion in a cabin, she examines the construction and fragmentation of her memory in a familiar place. Through his writings, Rigato reconnects with relationships he developed in his teenage years. His writing utilizes techniques employed in romantic and lyrical poetry, and explores the naïveté and pang of young love.

Be a part of Chicago’s Art Parade!

2009-04-05T10:29:00.003-05:00

How creative can you be with cookies & seeds?

In the spirit of resourcefulness and gifting, we are asking you to contribute sets of 12 or more cookies or baked goods (with recipes) or seeds (with planting instructions or planted) that can be creatively packaged by you and given away by us as we push, ride or pull moveable sculptures through the Chicago Art Parade on May 2nd. Cookies and seeds will be passed out to people on the streets watching the parade. The items created must be made in a resourceful & responsible manner, creating no waste and as much nourishment and life as possible. All participants will be invited to share their recipes, ideas or furthur descriptions of the lives of their cookies & seeds on our blog www.spokechicago.blogspot.com in an effort to continue dialogue past the parade.

RSVP to spoke at spokechicago@gmail.com with your idea by April 20th. Drop off party & preparation party at Spoke April 30th (details will follow).

All parts of this project are based on Spoke’s mission as a small collaborative enterprise interested in maintaining a spirit of resourcefulness, spontaneity, experimentation, access rather than exclusion, and interaction. We are dedicated to providing opportunities for creative individuals and groups to produce unique and innovative projects, events, performances, workshops, exhibitions and creative endeavors of all kinds.

Recesselation

2009-03-27T20:02:00.005-05:00

March 29th - April 9th, 2009
Rememberance Reception April 1, 5 – 8 p.m.

Closing Give Away April 8, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

"The Foolish Toys" will build a post-decadent shrine or memorial to our excessive past. Materials, objects, sounds, actions, and images, will be incorporated into one large sculptural form that evolves over time. Viewers are invited to leave a remembrance of things past: useless, excessive, non-essential items.

Performance by Juliana Pivato

2009-03-20T13:24:00.004-05:00

Saturday, March 21st, 11-5pm

Coinciding with Binford Experience's exhibition and installation, Juliana Pivato will perform live a 6 hour repeated-song:

Comfort Songs: 6 hours, 3 verses, 1 chorus.

Song List: Company, Rickie Lee Jones; I Fall to Pieces, Patsy Cline; Goodbye to Love, Karen Carpenter, Don’t Worry ‘bout Me, Ella Fitzgerald, etc.

Comfort Songs is an ongoing elaboration on the performer-audience relationship. For the work, Pivato uses specific power ballads as a technologies of transformation. Through repetition, visceral transmission in song becomes flattened out, stabilized, diluted into background. Singing a cappella, real-time vulnerability enables her to situate herself with the viewer in the rupture that ultimately materializes between expectation and experience.

****

Juliana Pivato is currently completing an MFA in Sculpture at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Originally from Montreal, Canada, Juliana works in a variety of media including live performance, bronze casting, drawing and sound. Since 2008 she has been hosting a weekly radio show on freeradiosaic.org entitled Songs from the Loop.

The Binford Experience: Paring Down

2009-03-02T09:08:00.010-06:00

March 2-26, 2009

Closing reception: Thursday, March 26th 6-9p.m.

Spoke is excited to present the Binford Experience. Artists Andrew CopperSmith and Keith Skogstrom have developed an art practice where the “architect and engineer meet”. This permits the tandem to discourse on “aesthetics of function obtained via manipulation of scientific laws”. Through Skogstrom’s kinetic mechanics and CopperSmith’s push and pull structures the two create a symbiotic relationship that spurs equivocal dialog.
The Binford Experience will create an “in progress” installation. From March 2nd through March 19th, they will be working in-situ to finally complete the installation by the third week of March. The closing reception will be March 26th from 6:00 to 9:00p.m. when they will have the completed installation on view. The gallery will be open throughout the installation process, and people are invited to visit the gallery during this time. This will serve as an opportunity to interact with the artists and better understand their working process.

Please see the slideshow on the right to follow the installation progress & performance.

Open Hours (in addition to Saturdays & Tuesdays 11a.m.-5p.m.): Tuesday, March 10th 11a.m.-8p.m.; Wednesday, March 11th 11a.m.-8p.m.; Tuesday, March 17th 11a.m.-8p.m.; Saturday, March 21st 11a.m.-8p.m.; Tuesday, March 24th 11a.m.-8p.m.

Nitey Nite

2009-02-22T21:00:00.003-06:00

Friday, February 27, 2009
6p.m. - 9p.m.

Come in from the cold. Bring your snacks, drinks, pillows, sleeping bags and stories. Kick back to readings and performances by Diego Leclery, Charles Mahafee, Karolina Gnatowski, Dan Gunn, Shannon Schmidt, Amira Hanafi, Kevin Fink, Lane Williams, Eric Lebofsky, Rory Jobst, Kayce Bayer, Chris Lin, Ryan B. Richey and you.

My Whole Life

2009-02-10T21:32:00.010-06:00

Thirty paintings from the pages of Ryan B. Richey
February 14-28, 2009

Opening: Friday, February 20th 6p.m. - 9p.m.

Richey's words capture flashes from his experience quicker than visuals. At the heart of his practice, they spring from the page and have manifested into his latest ongoing projects - his painting series, My Whole Life, and his music collaboration, Hannis Pannis.

Opening night will feature readings from the text and a performance by Hannis Pannis.

Closing Event Friday, February 27th 6-9p.m.: Readings and performances by Diego Leclery, Charles Mahafee, Karolina Gnatowski, Amira Hanafi, Kevin Fink, Lane Williams, Eric Lebofsky, Rory Jobst, Kayce Bayer, Chris Lin, Ryan B. Richey and numerous other artists.

Spoke Open Hours: Tuesdays & Saturdays 11a.m. - 5p.m.

www.ryanbrichey.com

please visit www.SpokeJournal.blogspot.com to view Ryan B. Richey's project of ongoing collective works as part of this exhibition.

Quilting Project Continues

2009-02-10T15:00:00.000-06:00

Thank you to Spoke for hosting the quilting events this month and last. We've had so much interest that Kim Jackson DeBord and Rachel Moore will be adding two more days at Lill Street Art Center. Feel free to join us. As usual all materials and supplies will be provided, however we could use donations of quilt batting or old blankets such as fleece for the middle layer.

For more information, please see: www.usaservice.org

Special thanks to those who have volunteered and donated already.

Thursday, February 12th 11a.m. - 3p.m.

Sunday, February 15th 2p.m. - 6p.m.

Lill Street Art Center

4401 N. Ravenswood Ave.

Chicago, IL 60640

(773) 769-4226

lillstreet@lillstreet.com

Call for Events

2009-02-01T09:49:00.000-06:00

Spoke invites you to submit your creative event ideas!

Do you have an event you want to make happen? Are you a member of a community group who needs a place to meet? Do you want a venue to teach a small workshop or class? Do you have a film you want to screen? Are you a musician or performer who needs a place to play? Are you a writer who needs a venue for a reading?

You get the point. We want to make your events happen!

These events are an opportunity for you to be spontaneous, while keeping in line with Spoke’s mission.

Events will take place between February and August 2009 and last for one day only. Entry Deadline: on-going. Event Fee (if accepted): $25.

To apply, send a brief description of your idea to spokechicago@gmail.com.

Quilting Days

2009-01-22T17:36:00.000-06:00

Collaborating artists Kim Jackson DeBord and Rachel Moore will be continuing their quilting project inviting anyone, regardless of skill, to participate in sewing days.

There was an overwhelming amount of fabric generously donated on the January 19th. As a result of interest by those who donated, the artists will be hosting two sewing days. All equipment and supplies will be provided.

This is a great opportunity to learn how to sew while continuing in the spirit of service!

The artists are still accepting donations of quilt filler (batting or fleece blankets) which can be dropped off during the following sewing hours:

Thursday, January 29th

3:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, January 31st

10:00 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Participate in the National Day of Service

2009-01-15T16:38:00.000-06:00

Donate Fabric Scraps

Monday, January 19, 2009

10a.m. - 3p.m.

Collaborating artists, Kim Jackson DeBord and Rachel Moore, will be making quilts to give away at a local Chicago warming center.

Please help by donating scraps of fabric on this Day of Service for us to sew or, donate a quilt of your own.

Moore & DeBord will be collecting fabric scraps on Monday, January 19th at Spoke from 10a.m. to 3p.m.

Spoke space dimensions

2009-01-07T20:51:00.000-06:00

These are the dimensions of Spoke, for those of you interested in applying for our Call for Proposals.

Review of Collection: Brought, Bought and Stolen

2008-12-06T13:50:00.000-06:00

Collection: Brought, Bought and Stolen
Review by Stephanie Nadeau

When Joseph Beuys imagined Social Sculpture in the 1960s, he freed creativity from the history of art. He pictured society as a creative collaboration, a work of art that is continually re-produced as each individual finds his own way forward, creating culture by making the world habitable. His politics expanded the scope of art to include social change, and declared creativity a matter of responsible public practice.

What are the implications of that image on the art world now? Certainly there is still something called Art that is the purview of the trained artist and the intellectual, a sphere of inquiry that progresses in the institution and thrives in the marketplace. The gallery system is still framing that inquiry, naming the outsiders and indexing the stars. The struggle to broaden the scope and reach of the art scene in Chicago has had everything to do with envisioning an alternative to this system.

Alternative exhibition spaces thrive in this city. Some host regular programming, while some spaces spring up unexpectedly for a short while before returning to their former states as living rooms and studios. Almost all of them are independently funded and most are artist-run. Their presence in the city distances creative production from a strictly commercial context, and allows artists the freedom to make and exhibit work that is uncertain and risky. New networks are created, collaborations fostered, and discussions facilitated, charging Chicago art culture with a spirit of making and creating that is useful, open, and aligned with Beuysian artistic praxis.

The DIY Chicago art scene has recently expanded by one more venue, accepting into its many variegated folds a small space in the West Loop called Spoke. Tucked above ThreeWalls on the 3rd floor of the 119 Peoria Street building, Spoke is remarkably well positioned to offer challenging programming to a mainstream art audience.

Co-founded by Monica Herrera, Rachel Moore, Heather Mullins, and Rana Siegel, Spoke aims to challenge and re-invent the role of the traditional art gallery, by providing a platform for a diverse range of creative people, projects, and endeavors of all kinds. Their inaugural show, Collection: Brought, Bought and Stolen, is an exhibit by Canadian artists Sarah Febbraro and Jesse Levine, who have decided to use the gallery to exhibit their personal collections.

Levine performed a sample of his music collection at the opening, remixing and manipulating it with added effects and keyboards. In a very nostalgic gesture he also created a mixed CD of songs from his collection, available at Spoke throughout the month.

Febbraro installed 59 works of art acquired as gifts or garage sale purchases, bought on the street, in thrift stores, or rescued from the trash. Comprised of paintings, drawings, collages, a finger puppet, street art and memorabilia, the collection hangs on two walls in the gallery, filling them completely in an earnest and cluttered array. The objects have been arranged on the walls en masse, without labels or identification, too close to one another to be considered individually.

Her collection champions the novice and the outsider, and is political in the way that an artist’s living room might be. A beautifully hand-drawn poster of Barack Obama hangs near handy-craft Christmas tree ornaments, opposite a colored pencil Spiderman drawing from an artist on Monroe Street, pinned up under a large and terrible oil painting of a leering, green baby.

Taste is not the validating context for the work in this exhibition. In fact the work is not the work in this exhibition. Febbraro and Levine have framed their collections within the gallery as a gesture intended to broaden the definition of artistic practice, allowing the scope of theirs to include the quotidian ways in which they accumulate and value the creative work of others.

December 6, 2008 @ 2p.m.

2008-12-05T13:24:00.000-06:00

Tour @ Two

Come to Spoke this Saturday to hear Sarah Febbraro give a tour of her work in "Collection: Brought, Bought, and Stolen." This is an opportunity to hear about her process of collecting and the origins of the work itself.

The limited edition of CD's by Sarah Febbraro and Jesse Levine to benefit Spoke will be available during the event.

November 21, 2008

2008-11-12T09:30:00.000-06:00

Sarah Febbraro & Jesse Levine

Collection: Brought, Bought, and Stolen

Opening Friday, November 21, 2008

7:00-9:00p.m.

Live music by Jesse Levine at 8:00p.m

Collection: Brought, Bought and Stolen is an exhibit and performance by artist Sarah Febbraro and musician Jesse Levine. Febbraro exhibits her personal art collection that comes from art given to her as gifts, found at garage sales and thrift stores, sold on the street and art that students or peers threw away. By positioning herself as an artist and collector, Febbraro diminishes the gap between buyer and maker, exposes art that was not intended for the gallery and revels how to have access without having a lot of money. Jesse Levine resamples the music he collects and collages it in new ways in his live performances; playing keyboards over it, looping and adding affects like delay, distortion and ring modulation.

Tours of Collection will be given by Sarah Febbraro on Saturday November 29 & December 6 at 2:00pm

October 23, 2008

2008-10-23T09:12:00.000-05:00

"What is your ideal space?"

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

7:30-10:00p.m.

We will open Thursday with our first event, an open forum asking, "What is your ideal space?"

With refreshments and conversation you'll be asked to write your comments on paper pinned to the walls. This will be used to wallpaper our space, transforming dialogue into form and serving as a document of our first invitation for conversation.

A new space by Monica Herrera, Rachel Moore, Heather Mullins, and Rana Siegel.

Application

2008-10-01T18:09:00.000-05:00

Spoke
at the intersection of ideas, dialogue and change

Situated in Chicago’s West Loop gallery district, Spoke is a small collaborative enterprise interested in maintaining a spirit of resourcefulness, experimentation, access rather than exclusion, and interaction. We are dedicated to providing opportunities for creative individuals and groups to produce unique and innovative projects, events, performances, workshops, exhibitions and creative endeavors of all kinds.

As we excitedly begin our inaugural year, Spoke invites you to submit your creative proposals!
Proposals are encouraged to be experimental and range in genre and length of time (1 day/night to 1 month, weekly or bi-weekly).

Entry Deadline: January 15, 2009 (receipt of all application materials)

Exhibition/Event Dates: Between February and August 2009

Notification: Applicants will be notified by Feb. 1st

Entry Fee: $5.00 cash donation *all donations directly support Spoke’s programming

Selection Process: Applicants will be selected by the 4 founders of Spoke. Once accepted, the artists will meet to determine scheduling needs.

Contact: Please direct all questions to spokechicago@gmail.com.

Application Instructions:
Please include the following in your application packet. We suggest you either visit the space or view it online (www.SpokeChicago.blogspot.com) before you submit your proposal. Also, please see terms for participants to better understand the needs and ideas of the space during events/exhibitions.

1. Application form/cover sheet
2. Personal/artist statement (max. 1 page)
3. Short proposal of suggested event, project or exhibition (max. 1 page)
4. Current résumé
5. 10-15 examples of work including images and/or 3-5 minute audio/video or web-based projects. All images should be put into a powerpoint labeled with your name. Each image/project should include its title, date, description and other important information including websites or blogs.
*Please include your name and contact information on each form.

Please send all entries by January 15, 2009 to: Spoke
119 N. Peoria #3D
Chicago, IL 60607

Spoke terms for participants

1. Spoke will provide:
a. A highly trafficked space
b. Staff during open hours
c. Electronic mailings & announcements
d. Printed posters for the event
e. Basic tools for installing

2. Participants are responsible for:
a. Any printed materials, other than posters, if desired (postcards, etc.)
b. Refreshments for events and openings
c. Insurance (Spoke does not provide insurance for objects or individuals in the space and is not responsible for loss or damage)
d. Space maintenance (Participant must return the space to its original condition: repairing holes, repainting, etc.)
e. Design/Limited Edition*

*Spoke will not take any percentage of participants’ work sold in the gallery. In exchange, to help offset the cost of the space, we ask that each participant either 1) create a design for the exhibition/event to donate to Spoke that will then be used to produce a limited edition of objects based on reuse or 2) the artist will work with us to create an edition of hand made objects. This limited edition will be for sale to support the space. Each artist and member of Spoke will receive one of these items free of charge.

In addition, there will be events held in the space during the exhibitions (such as meetings, dinners, conversations, and readings). Each person(s) that use the space will need to work with Spoke to ensure that there will be space for these events to take place. Participants will be notified prior to each event.

Spoke entry application form & cover sheet

Please print clearly!

Name/s: ________________________________________________________________

Street Address: ___________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip____________________________________________________________

Telephone: ______________________________________________________________

E-mail Address: ___________________________________________________________

Web Site/s: ______________________________________________________________

Checklist
__ Application form/cover sheet
__ $5 cash donation**
__ 10-15 examples & descriptions of work or 3-5 audio/video clips in Powerpoint format
__ Personal/artist statement (max. 1 page)
__ Short proposal of suggested event, project or exhibition (max. 1 page)
__ Current résumé

*Please include your name and contact information on each form.
**All donations directly support Spoke’s programming