Friday 10/3 – Thursday 10/9
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“The primary function of art is cultural power,” says art collector Patric McCoy. “Just like people look to music, or dance, or to the spoken word to define our culture, art also defines our culture.” He and fellow collectors Carol Briggs, Joan Crisler, and Daniel Parker founded a group called Diasporal Rhythms: Collectors of Works by Contemporary Artists of African Descent as a way to promote African and African-American culture, history, and art after they met on a panel last October. Their first event, the Collectors’ Series Invitational–part of Chicago Artists’ Month–includes an exhibit of pieces from their own holdings as well as the work of ceramic artist Marva Pitchford Jolly and painters Dale Washington, Makeba Kedem-DuBose, Adedayo Laoye, and Julian Williams. The free show’s up through October 5 at the South Side Community Art Center, 3831 S. Michigan, and there’s a reception tonight from 6 to 9. On Sunday, October 5, the group’s founders will lead gallery tours from 1:30 to 5; there’s a suggested donation of $25 for tickets, which can only be picked up at the reception. For more information call 773-373-1026.
4 SATURDAY David Nelson’s controversial 1988 painting Mirth & Girth, which depicted the late Harold Washington in women’s lingerie, won’t be on display at the Chicago Historical Society today, but just about anything else you can think of related to Chicago’s first black mayor will be. The new exhibit, Harold Washington: The Man and the Movement, includes, among other things, a re-creation of Washington’s Hyde Park apartment, a desk used by him during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, the 1,245-page stack of petitions he submitted to the city clerk’s office to get on the ballot in 1982, and a wall of 500-odd campaign buttons–both official and homemade–whose messages range from “Honkies for Harold” to “Bigots for Bernie.” The exhibit runs through May 31, 2004, at the Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark. There’ll be a free opening celebration today from 10 to 2 that includes readings of Washington’s speeches plus live theater, music, and dance. Call 312-642-4600 for more.
9 THURSDAY “You can’t live off scenery, and I wanted to be in a bigger cultural pond before I died,” says fiber artist Lynn Basa about her decision to move here from Seattle last year. She says her new hometown has both inspired her and boosted sales–“which allows me to make more art.” Tonight from 6 to 8 she’ll take part in a free Artists at Work forum called Being Here: How Place Affects Practice, where she’ll be joined by fellow relocated artists Lina Bertucci and Accra Shepp. Part of Chicago Artists’ Month, it’s at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. Call 312-744-6630.
