UIC opens Free Art School, July 6 – Aug. 10
Students of a wide range of ages and any level of experience can take a month’s worth of free classes in art and art history, taught by renowned artists and scholars like Theaster Gates, Hannah Higgins and Dan Peterman, in a new program offered by the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The UIC Free Art School, funded by a $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, will run from July 6 through Aug. 10. It will include studio workshops, tours, a graffiti institute, social practice projects and “participatory art interventions — an eclectic range of courses that reflects the urgency of our historical moment,” said Lisa Lee, director of the UIC School of Art & Art History.
Christine Sun Kim, a performance artist who is deaf, will lead a class on sound, silence and gesture. (Click on image to download larger file.)
“We believe that everyone is an artist,” Lee said. “The atmosphere of the school will be playful, but it embraces a cornerstone of democracy — the right to artistic expression and cultural rights for all people.”
In addition to Gates, Higgins and Peterman, other instructors will include Alberto Aguilar, Miguel “Kane One” Aguilar, Elise Archias, Catherine Becker, Kevin Coval, Krista Franklin, Christine Sun Kim, Jason Lazarus, Riva Lehrer, Faheem Majeed, Matthew Metzger, Jennifer Reeder and John Yau.
Enrollment requires no application and will be on a first-come, first-served basis, except when an instructor asks to teach a particular age group or those with special learning needs. Classes will vary in size and will take place in several locations on the UIC campus and across Chicago.
“This is an art school that demands a very different type of engagement. It will invite students to use their intelligence in unusual ways, to explore the new and curious. It will require a willingness to discuss issues and to make things with strangers,” Lee said.
Class descriptions and registration are available online. New classes will be added throughout the summer, and new sessions will be added as classes fill.
