In preparation for Sounds Like Community, an online event that the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center has been organizing ever since the pandemic started over a year ago, I thought I would (re)post these lists of Tips and Tricks that were collaboratively generated in 2014 when I had a fellowship at the University of Bristol in […]
Examining White Supremacy, Again
Places of Intervention, Spaces of Possibilities
Alberto Aguilar moves on a human scale, Gallery 400
Chicago-based artist Alberto Aguilar has assembled a wonderful exhibit, “moves on a human scale,” at Gallery 400. The show closes June 15, 2019. I left feeling buoyed by family love and delighted at the way the Aguilars–four children, Aguilar’s wife, Sonia, and Alberto himself–all seemed invested in daily art creation. For example, “Pizza Parade” of […]
Wings/Swing: A Vehicle Offering
I have been lucky to know Sabra Moore since 1990, when I met her at a Women’s Caucus for Art meeting. I was so pleased when her wonderful memoir about her roles in the women’s art movement in New York City, Openings, came out in 2016. Over the years she has sent me many beautiful […]
Countering Pusillanimosity
I’m reading Ali Smith’s Autumn: a novel (Pantheon Books, 2016). The main character is an art historian (and she’s employed!) But it is really about deep relationships among a few people across a number of decades. This excerpt made me sad, angry, sympathetic, and distressed, because it captures my swath feelings as we start 2018: […]
Joliet Wedding at the Henry Mansion
In July 2016, Renner Larson and Audrey Schlofner got married at the Jacob Henry Mansion in Joliet. I wrote up this long-ish version of the place where the event happened, for those who want more than the short insert in the program! So, who was Jacob Henry? Jacob Apgar Henry (1825-1908) made his substantial wealth […]
Seeking Monograph Publisher
I just sent the email below to a bunch of people, but thought I would post this query here too: As many of you know, I have been writing a book on Stephen Willats for a good many years now. A couple of publishers have not worked out, but I now have a nibble and […]
Designing Differently
We at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, got an email on November 25, 2015, inviting us to town hall meetings in early December about a campus-wide Design Center that has been in the works for a couple of years. The Design Center website also solicits input, but does not indicate to whom this input should […]
Gift Horse
Hans Haacke’s sculpture for the Fourth Plinth, Gift Horse, installed in Trafalgar Square in March 2015 has been much on my mind. The prominent public location in London, the ribbon of stock prices scrolling in a bow around the skeletal horse’s neck, and the conversation Haacke had with Jon Bird at the Institute for Contemporary […]
