Attend UIC’s Free Art School This Summer
By Jessica Mlinaric in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 29, 2014 4:00PM
The University of Illinois at Chicago is offering accessible arts programming to Chicagoans this summer with its Free Art School. The school will feature over 20 art and art history classes in a variety of disciplines from July 6 through August 10.
Funded by a $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the program requires no application or fees and is filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
“It is part of our mission to make the arts accessible, advance the rights of all people to creative forms of thinking and expression, and foster visual literacy and aesthetic and critical thinking through art history,” Lisa Lee, director of the UIC School of Art & Art History, told Chicagoist.
The Free Art School was inspired by the belief that “everyone is an artist,” a concept championed by Joseph Beuys and his Free International University for Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research.
“This phrase expresses the belief that the activation of creative and innovative expression in all people can contribute to positive social change and a reinvigoration of society,” Lee said.
In staffing the Free Art School, UIC assembled an impressive body of esteemed artists and academics, about half of whom are UIC School of Art & Art History faculty.
Classes range from brushing up on graffiti art skills with Kane One, to exploring community and performance at Theaster Gates Studio, to examining the implications of historic Parisian renovations over café au lait and croissants with Hannah Higgins. The diverse scope of classes will be held on UIC’s campus and throughout the city.
Diversity was key in selecting teaching artists and curating the program.
Lee sought out “racial, gender, intergenerational and disciplinary diversity, as well as making sure to include disabled artists.”
UIC partnered with 3Arts Director Esther Grimm, whose organization champions Chicago’s women artists, artists of color, and artists with disabilities, to get recommendations.
“I spent time talking with each artists to find a project, space and subject that would provide a participants with a range of experiences for perceiving, making and noticing the world in a fascinating and engaging way,” said Lee.
Potential students can register for the Free Art School online. Classes are filling quickly, but new sessions are expected to be added.
Lee's goal for the Free Art School surpasses art for art's sake.
"We want nothing short of a radical creative transformation of Chicago’s landscape for making art and learning about art history," Lee said.
"I believe in the great power of the arts and of art history as a mode of learning to help challenge expectations and allow people to apprehend the world around them in curious new ways. There is nothing we need more now as a democratic society than to incite the creative imaginations of all people- and art has that ability."