Sky Cubacub wears leather holsters that hold her Lindstrom pliers. Essential tools at hand, she is ready to chainmaille at any time. “It also makes me feel like a cowboy with his guns, ready for the quick draw,” says the petite young artist.
Read the rest of the article about Ms. Cubacub in this week’s edition of Newcity Magazine here.
Poetry illumination by Marco Nereo Rotelli
Poetry and light installation tomorrow at 6 pm at Northwestern University Campus! One of Italy’s most famous and popular artists, Marco Nereo Rotelli, is here in Chicago, and he is creating a stunning display on the University’s library.
Light installation by Marco Nereo Rotelli
Rotelli, who is best known for his dramatic light installations at landmarks across Europe, such as the Arc de Triomphe and the Petit Palais in Paris and the Venice Biennale, promises to create another splendid spectacle. On Tuesday, March 12, the University’s historic Deering Library will be transformed into a luminous page of poetry, a projection of the work of eight Chicago poets.
Read the full article on the Examiner here.
Mary A. Osborne with Exsalonce owner Tony Odisho and stylist Joan. Why can't I learn to blow dry my hair the way they can?
At risk of writing slightly off topic, I offer a little post about my favorite hair salon, Exsalonce, in Roscoe Village. It’s a beautiful salon where the ambiance dazzles and weary artists and authors with ink and paint-stained fingers can rejuvenate.
The owner, Tony Odisho, is something of an artist himself. His eye for design, both with hair and decor, is spot-on. Young, ambitious, and perhaps a perfectionist, he started cutting hair when he was still a kid.
Read the full article on the Examiner here. 
Painting by Mario Gonzalez Jr., ZORE
I would not call myself an art collector, but the walls of my home are filled with paintings by various artists. My mother, Lori Bloom Bohaty, was a painter, and so her work is well represented. There are also a several lithographs, a religious icon, a sculpture of welded iron, and a stained glass window. It might be true that I didn’t need any more art. And yet, when I see a piece of art that belongs in my home, I somehow know it. That’s why I bought a piece by Mario Gonzalez Jr. AKA ZORE, this week.
Painting by Mario Gonzalez Jr., ZORE
An original piece of art transforms a room in a way that even the most beautiful set of furniture from Room and Board cannot. When the energy of an artist mixes with his medium, a mysterious alchemical transformation occurs. The resulting work of art imbues the space it occupies with the the living spirit of creativity. Every time you look at a piece of art you love, it reminds you of what it is to be alive. For we are all here to create, to be artists in whatever it is we have chosen to do.
In my humble opinion, the mass-produced prints available at IKEA or Target might be somewhat pleasing to the eye, but the feeling they produce is just not the same. And if you can afford a big screen TV, an iPad, or a smart phone, you can afford original art.
Before you settle in with the big screen and chicken wings tonight, have a healthy taste of art. You can read about Chris Silva and the collaboration of Chicago artists in the era of gridlock on the Examiner here.
Chris Silva is the artist who created the stunning mosaic mural of birds in circular flight from heart to heart at the California station on the pink line. He also, along with artists Anthony Lewellen, Brian Steckel, David Cuesta and John Heenan, crafted an award-winning installation that won the 2012 ArtPrize in the 3D category. The three-dimensional sculpture is ingeniously embellished with light and sound. Fabulous.
From As You Are: A Decade of You Are Beautiful
I love the youthful idealism of Matthew Hoffman. He started the You are Beautiful movement a decade ago when he shared 100 stickers, printed with the now iconic slogan, among friends. Requests for more stickers started flowing in, and a decade later half a million stickers have scattered about the globe. The message went from stickers to murals to public installations and exhibitions here and abroad.
From As You Are: Decade of You are Beautiful
Throughout the month of February, “As you are: A Decade of You Are Beautiful” will fill the raw spaces of the Green Exchange in Logan Square with 
its optimistic mantra in a retrospective collection of works. Please check out my coverage of this wonderfully optimistic exhibition in the Feb. 7 issue of New City magazine. In the meantime, Hoffman is fundraising to raise $25,000 to produce a You are Beautiful book comprised of photos and stories about the campaign. You can donate through kickstarter through Feb. 11, 2013 at www.kck.st/Y6xjDa
Some find little merit in the graffiti that adorns the walls of abandoned buildings or the sides of subway trains here in Chicago. And yet the graffiti artists persevere, wielding their cans of spray paint, creating spontaneous arabesques and turns in various colors.
At the Zhou B Art Center in Bridgeport, from Friday, Jan. 18 through Saturday, Feb. 9, you can take a look the work of 20 some graffiti artists who started forging their urban style and gaining notoriety in the 80′s and 90′s. Now they’re all grown up, mature visual artists who have exchanged the thrill of spraying a subway train for the comfort of painting in warm studio space. Having pioneered one of the most controversial and influential urban art movements of our time, they continue to expand their artistic vision
Read the full article on the Examiner.com HERE
The new year, still unwritten, looms large and open and full of promise. Miracles can happen if you imagine them, if you work hard enough, if you try over and over and over again. So make a wish, write it down, put it in a safe place, and believe.
Handcolored image by Adam McLean
If the old world is ending, as the Mayan calendar suggests, then a new world is beginning. Celebrating this auspicious day, 12-12-12, Hilton | Asmus Contemporary is hosting a stunning exhibition which opens tonight, 5-9 p.m. Artist and poet Arica Hilton explores the ancient mystery of body and soul in her latest works.
Throughout the history of Western thought, philosophers, perhaps beginning with Plato, have sought to define the human soul. Following the ancient tradition, artist Arica Hilton aspires to express this ineffable essence of life.
Read the rest of the article on the Examiner.com here.
Imagining 12-12-12, this auspicious day, as the beginning of a more just, peaceful, awakened world. Sending good wishes to the light workers, to all of you who go about your work, quietly making a difference. Let it be the end of the world as we know it, let it be the start of something entirely new.
