Bridgeport Art Walk Showcases Growth of South Side Art
By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 19, 2011 7:00PM
Bridgeport has had an art walk in conjunction with Chicago Artists Month for years. This year's walk, scheduled Friday through Sunday, is a great way to gauge how the South side neighborhood's artist community has grown over the years. People won't be mistaking Bridgeport with Pilsen, Glenwood Ave. or Wicker Park anytime soon, but there galleries and artists spaces that make a trip to "The Neighborhood of Mayors" worthwhile.
Let's start with the Zhou B Art Center. This multi-use space combines galleries, artists studios and special events spaces to serve as an anchor for Bridgeport's art scene. The Zhou Brothers are fairly hands-on with the center's operation and can be seen frequently at the center during its "Third Fridays" open house tours. A couple of blocks west of the Zhou B Center, the Artists of Eastbank in the Bridgeport Art Center (1200 W. 35th St.) will feature an exhibit celebrating the centennial of the Albert Pick Co. Building on West Pershing Saturday from 6:30-10 p.m. The MDW fair at the Geolofts (3636 W. Iron St.) is showcasing an exhibition of emerging galleries, non-profit arts collectives and independent curators.
With galleries in nearby McKinley Park and on the IIT campus, it may be a stretch to call this a walk, but enough galleries are within blocks of each other to get a feel for why Maria's owner Ed Marszewski (who also owns the gallery space the Co-Prosperity Sphere) has long called Bridgeport "the Community of the Future."
Download a map to the Bridgeport Arts Walk here.