Marwen dot org was featured today on Fox News's "cool websites" section...

Every day on Fox News in the Morning, and again at Noon, Nancy Loo takes a look at some of the best websites around.

As you can imagine, it's a tough job surfing the web and picking the "cream of the crop" - and that's where you come in.

12/12/06

www.marwen.org - Chicago holiday cards by underserved kids

New Study Shows Students Lack Tech Literacy
"A report released by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) finds that high
school and college students do not have many basic information literacy skills,
including the ability to solve information problems using technology. Researchers
observed 6,300 students who were asked to perform a variety of information-
related tasks, such as locate reliable information online, and communicate
information effectively. Over half of participants were unable to evaluate the
quality of a Web site, and students demonstrated especially poor skills in being
able to narrow search engine results. Experts hope the study will raise awareness
about the importance of young people's mastering these skills. Alexius Macklin,
Associate Professor of Library Science at Purdue University, said, 'It's important
to help our students better evaluate, manage and communicate information so
that they can succeed in school, at work and in life.'"
URL: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/11/15/infolit
Referred by: The Children's Partnership's Newblast

On November 10th, Marwen's Student Advisory Board partnered with Catherine Forster and LiveBox Gallery and facilitated a field trip to Unfolding Spaces, a virtual reality exhibit by Julieta Aguilera at Kasia Kay Art Projects.

"The tridimensional shadow of a four dimensional textured grid unfolds in a virtual reality environment. Julieta Aguilera places the viewer within the abstract version of a walk into a forest, at the precise moment that light causes foliage and shadows to merge into a unified pattern." - LiveBox

Students had the opportunity to explore the artwork and talk with the artist, curator, and gallery owner. After the exhibit, everyone hopped on the bus and visited Swim Cafe on Chicago Ave. for cookies, coffee and an open discussion about the artwork.

GlowGadgets with Artist-teacher Sarah Fox created laser installations and light-art craziness in class last week.

"The students are so engaged in class. Working with electronics is something new at Marwen," said Sarah Fox while picking up LEDs, unused wire, and Plexiglas after class was over. "They are consistently surprising me with their ideas and projects."

Come to Marwen's Fall Term Gallery Opening / Holiday Party on December 15 and see the students present their sculptural light work.

Allison Jones in Marwen's Development Office writes: "Yes, the future is now." as she forwarded me the article below. One cannot deny how technology has reshaped the way we learn and remember. I can't help but wonder about two things: 1. In an environment created in partnership with Microsoft Corp, will students be able to learn about non-Microsoft platforms, softwares, and approaches? 2. Is it seriously called the School of the Future? What is their mascot, a cyborg?

'School of the Future' opens doors
First-of-its-kind school seeks to meet the needs of 21st-century learners
By Corey Murray, Senior Editor, eSchool News
"A paperless environment; flexible classroom furniture that easily can be arranged to support collaborative, project-based learning; high-tech tools to support hands-on instruction; and a sustainable architecture designed to save thousands of dollars in energy costs--all of these innovations mark Philadelphia's new School of the Future, which opened its doors to students for the first time Sept. 7. Built in conjunction with Microsoft Corp., the school is more than just
a showcase for new technology; project leaders hope it will serve as a replicable model for other districts to follow as they look to design learning environments that can engage, motivate, and address the unique needs of every student."
URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=6579
Referred by: eSchool News

65GRAND is reopening after a long summer break and is extremely pleased to
present:

Bob Jones: New Work and Ian Pedigo: Hallway Installation, Avion

September 15 - October 14,
Opening Reception: Sept. 15, 7:00 - 10:00 pm.

Bob Jones has exhibited in group exhibitions most notably COMA #4 and Autumn Salon at Bucket Rider both in Chicago. This will be the first solo exhibition of his work in Chicago. Bob was also co-curator (with Ed Schad) of Between the Forest and The Cavern, an exhibition at The Guest Room Project, Chicago, IL.

In 2006 Ian Pedigo presented a solo exhibition Original Products have Lapsed at KLAUS VON NICHTSSAGEND Gallery in Brooklyn and has participated in numerous group exhibitions, most recently in CRG Gallery presents: Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, at CRG Gallery, NY. 65GRAND is honored to debut a new work Avion in the hallway space.

65GRAND
1378 W Grand Ave. -entrance on noble- (312-719-4325, 65grand.com).

EL: Blue to Grand. Bus 65 Grand. Fri-Sat. noon-5:30pm.

Betty Rymer Gallery, Chicago:
"Fool's Paradise" (exhibition on view August 15 - September 22)
Reception: Thursday, September 7, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

A nation, a home, the pastoral, urban, a city, a forest, suburban, rural. How do we define these places? Where does one start and another begin? In this exhibition, each artist explores the elusive geographic and metaphoric meaning of a particular place. What emerges are new landscapes that seek to fictionalize, rather than represent the environment, by using imagination to fashion a fantasy. Whether romantic or mythical, bleak or idyllic, the artwork questions the future of landscape art while investigating the evolving boundaries of place in today's society.

Artists include Stephen Eichhorn, Brock Enright, Ivan Hürzeler, Rashid Johnson, Jessica Labatte, Rich Mansfield, Thomas Rapai, and jon.satrom.


This exhibition is curated by Murphy Dunn and Madeline Nusser and is supported, in part, by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state
agency.

Betty Rymer Gallery
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
280 S. Columbus Drive
Chicago, IL 60603
312.443.3703
saic_brg@artic.edu
http://www.artic.edu/saic/bettyrymer
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm

Marwen Alum and current Artist-teacher will be in a small group show opening at Polvo this Friday. Stop by and see some of his new work: artists' books and drawings.

Regin Igloria: Gone Backwoods
mini-exhibit: more stuff from the polvo archives/collection
flatscreen dvd: Michael Gumhold (Austria)

Polvo's summer continues by showcasing the work of Regin Igloria. For this show Regin will exhibit a series of drawings and artists' books. He describes his work: "My drawings and books utilize the tactics of popular imagery seen in catalogs, outdoor magazines and public phenomena-examples of cultural media-to convey this emotional plight. Longing to be elsewhere, of finding a home which may never be lived in is a joy in itself. The physical act of creating my work is a slow, methodical process. I participate in such an activity as I might on an outdoor hike, experiencing its difficult moments, continuing forward, finding a place to stop and rest, and moving forward once again."

Regin has an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is responsible for active recruitment for Ragdale, collaboration with other arts organizations, managing all phases of the application process including panel selection and review, serving as a liaison between residents and staff during residency and establishing a strong alumni program.

Opening Friday August 18 from 6pm-10pm
August 18 - September 9, 2006

Polvo
1458 W. 18th St. 1R
Chicago, IL 60608
773.344.1940
http://www.polvo.org
Hours: Saturdays from Noon-5pm or by appointment

Meet Mike Nourse...
Mike joined the ranks at Marwen as Marwen's Manager of Studio Programs in early July.

Mike Nourse is a man of many fingers, but he works primarily in digital video. Since graduating from SAIC'’s Visual Communication program in 2002, he has been teaching media studies at both Depaul University and SAIC. Mike has produced a series video shorts focused on entertainment, news, and political media commentaries that he considers "investigations"” or "re:constructions", as they follow rules to yield results. While he works with various festivals (both as contributor and curator), he also paints digital transfers which have also been showcased in Chicago galleries and in the loop'’s Thompson Center. In 2003, Along with 2 other like-minded instructors, Mike co-founded an intermedia arts school called The Chicago Art Department, which has recently moved into a new location in the Chicago Arts District.

Mike recently showed me his blog:
http://fnewsmagazine.com/mikenourse/

Marwen presents
On the Verge: Youth Video Festival
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago IL

PERSONAL, POLITICAL, HUMOROUS, CUT-UP, DOCUMENTARY, ANIMATION, NARRATIVE, RE-MIX, EXPERIMENTAL...

On the Verge is a Youth Video Festival developed by Marwen's Student Advisory Board. Participating organizations include The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Early College Program (Chicago, IL), The Institute of Contemporary Art's Fast Forward Program (Boston, MA), Free Spirit Media (Chicago, IL), Marwen (Chicago, IL), Street Level Youth Media (Chicago, IL), and The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN).

Young artists from across the country present work shot in bedrooms, classrooms, and neighborhoods; sampled from tapes and found footage; and filmed in imagined landscapes. Using video to express their stories, create their visions, and document their experiences, these youth projects illustrate diversity in time-based and screen-based media. From animation to documentary, experimental to narrative; On the Verge: Youth Video Festival reflects contemporary youth culture by representing a wide range of styles, techniques, and perspectives.

On the Verge: Youth Video Festival
Presented by Marwen
Saturday, August 12, 2006

11AM to Noon: Opening Reception and Info Fair Noon to 2PM: Screening followed by a raffle drawing

Gene Siskel Film Center
164 North State Street
Chicago, IL. 60601

Marwen was founded in 1987 to provide high quality visual arts education, college planning, and career development programs--all free of charge--to Chicago’s under-served youth in grades 6-12. In addition to after school and weekend programs for middle and high school students, Marwen offers opportunities for its alumni to continue their involvement with our organization; courses for Chicago public school teachers of all levels and disciplines; and school partnerships that take place during the day in our studios. With our facility welcoming students, alumni and teachers from every neighborhood in the city, Marwen is a thriving center for the arts in Chicago.

Participating organizations:

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Early College Program
The Institute of Contemporary Art's Fast Forward Program
Free Spirit Media
Street Level Youth Media
The Walker Art Center

Art @ work sneak peak!
This picture is a composite of the current wall where the Art @ Work Mosaic will be and the design chosen last week by the students.

PAINTALLICA @ Western Exhibitions
opening: July 29, 2006
Group-show w/ Marwen Artist-teacher Jeremy Tinder

Paintallica is a roving collaborative group of artists founded and directed by Dan Attoe, Jamie Boling and Bill Donovan. The sole mission of Paintallica is to mold random crap into something cool. Paintallica shows, influenced heavily by pop culture, incorporate drawing, painting, sculpture plus things, as well as stuff. Their materials come from Wal-Mart, lumberyards and garbage bins and their members from all over. For their show at Western Exhibitions, the men and women of Paintallica will utilize the talents of a video artist, a cartoonist, an editor of a nudist magazine, a ceramicist/Iraq war vet, a video game designer and a Fulbright scholar/designer, among other trained artists. Four of them ride Harleys. There is no predetermined direction to a Paintallica installation, which always start with a drawing session, followed by a trip to get supplies, then an all-nighter of alchemy. The resulting collection of artifacts easily fills a space and often incorporates the gallery walls, ceiling and floor. Some elements are site specific and some exist independently.

[URI:] http://www.westernexhibitions.com/current/paintallica/index.html

::project:: 100 images
Every Monday, for fifty weeks, you will see two new photos that Marwen Artist-teacher Eduardo Angel, in collaboration with Timothy Campbell have taken in Chicago. They are both adding a new photo every week without seeing the other’s photo. The pictures are placed next to each other on the 100 images website.

Week 14 of the 100 Images Project:
Cell phones have us asking, “Where are you?” instead of “How are you?”
There’s an obsession with location over condition. Geography over emotion.
Remember to check the 100 Images web page every Monday for two new photos.

[URI:] http://www.eduardoangel.com/100images.html

.:studio blip:.
Using Marwen's Painting and Dawing studio in conjunction with the TechStudio, Artist-teachers jon.satrom and Ann Worthing created the above collaborative work. Marwen's Pixel & Paint course mixes the digital and physical worlds by utilizing software and paint.

Marwen Summer 2006 has officially started.
A couple of TechStudio courses are on the global info super web.

Fine Art Graffiti w/ Hilesh Patel
http://marwengraf.blogspot.com/

Tell Your Story Comics w/ Jeremy Tinder
http://marwencomics.livejournal.com/

Artward Bound Maine students are back from Maine...

Each summer a select group of Marwen students are chosen to travel to Little Babson Island, Maine, for a full week of intense art making. This creative endeavor is combined with island exploration and the opportunity to learn from mentors, educators, and peers. Removed from the familiar routine and the hustle of city life, students are given the freedom to test their limits as they delve into the wonderful world of nature on this art making adventure.

In the past, over 72 students have participated in the Artward Bound Maine program and all have come back inspired and empowered by this unique art making experience.

Congratulations Antonia!

A packed house of 300 arts, business and foundation leaders joined The Arts & Business Council of Chicago on Thursday, June 15 to recognize the extraordinary achievements of individuals and organizations behind the scenes in the arts at The 2006 ABBY Awards. The Ballroom at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago provided a beautiful backdrop for the evening's festivities.

As co-writer of the charter and mission of Marwen, Antonia Contro has guided the growth of an organization where more than 1,000 students from all over Chicago come free of charge
each year to participate in arts education, college planning and career development programs. Executive Director since 1993, Antonia brought the original vision for the organization to a reality, providing disadvantaged youth from grades 6-12 with an enriching after-school art program that helps to transcend barriers—whether economic, racial, educational or social—and prepares them for a successful future.

Marwen’s diverse student body finds encouraging mentors everywhere they turn—among artists, teachers, alumni and staff. This is a reflection of Antonia who, in addition to serving as an outstanding administrator, is a celebrated artist and educator herself. In 2004, with co-author Philip Yenawine, Antonia wrote and published Fuel: Giving Youth the Power to Succeed, an extraordinary exercise in disseminating the “Marwen method” to colleagues in the fields of youth development and arts education.

In 2000, Marwen purchased and renovated a wonderful new facility, and in this period of growth and success, Antonia always kept an eye on the bottom line. In fact, in Marwen’s nearly 20 year history, the organization has never carried a deficit. As a result of her strong leadership, Marwen has been awarded with several honors, including the 2003 “Coming Up Taller Award” from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Antonia is an accomplished artist and an exemplary manager, nurturing a financially sound, socially responsible organization where no idea is discounted and new ideas are always encouraged from staff and students alike.

For more information on Marwen, visit: www.marwen.org.

[Ripped From] the ABBY Program Book
[URI] hyperlink

The Long Hike From Lake Forest
New Work by Regin Igloria

Damen Studio
4528 1/2 N. Damen
Chicago, IL 60625
(1 block south of Damen stop on Brown Line) Friday, April 7, 2006
6-9 pm

Food, drink, the company of nice people...it's definitely worth the hike, AND...

Souvenirs! Get your limited edtion "Lake Forest to Chicago" patch...

**FREE if you buy a drawing!**

Darrell Roberts, a Marwen artist-teacher, is in a show. See details below!


"how did I get here" Ten Artist
Opening Saturday, March 18th 6-8pm
2830 N. Milwaukee 2nd floor
comments on hereness by ten artist
karin patzke brenda moore rima grybauskas brian curtis aviva alter janeil englestast leah schreiber darrell roberts allan winkler alan lerner

Jeremy Tinder has a new book out, its called Cry Yourself to Sleep.

You should also stop by the Steve and Susan Berkowitz Gallery at Marwen to check out the mini-comic made by students in his winter 2006 course, Comic Creations.

Check out Cry Yourself to Sleep at Amazon.

Review Ripped from Amazon:
Cry Yourself to Sleep explores the disappointments of early adulthood by following the lives of three unique characters: Jim, a minimum wage rabbit struggling to pay his rent; Andy, an aspiring novelist dealing with rejection; and The Robot, a machine who just wants to be a better man. In this stellar debut, Jeremy Tinder mixes sadness, sweetness and humor to tell a quirky little story of pride-swallowing, fake moustaches, car crashes and friendship.

jon.satrom has a low-fi installation called SUBTXT up @ 65GRAND

jon.satrom: SUBTXT
rebekah levine: COLONEL PANIC
February 24 - March 31, 2006
Opening Reception: February 24, 2006 (7 - 10pm)

"Satrom has essentially translated the architecture of the space with a program used for translating images into text. Using the artificial light taken from nighttime photographs of the walls of Gross's apartment as his map, Satrom translated the light-and-shadow pattern into text. His program output as standard keyboard characters the various light gradients in his source photos. The capital letter "X," for instance, produces a higher density of dark ink on the page than the rows of small-letter "c." These pages were then output onto rolls of paper that stretch floor to ceiling, perfectly matching the existing light in the room. Two intense spotlights from ceiling tracks are positioned right in the middle of the center rolls, producing an odd layering effect of light and light reproduced as text-based work on paper. I sat down with Satrom and Gross to discuss the work, scheduled to open this coming weekend."

Eye Exam: Wall Text
by Michael Workman
New City Chicago

Marwen Artist-teacher Jon Gittelson has a solo show; Gitelson rawks the "The Car Project" at Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago Illinois
One Man Show, March 17-April 22

Jon Gitelson presents his "Car Project" at Peter Miller Gallery
East Gallery: Jonathan Gitelson — Photographs: The Car Project Jonathan's photographs and sculpture offer a wry commentary on nightclubs and mass
advertising. He collected 1000s of flyers (the kind you find stuck under your windshield
wipers) and sewed a car cover with them. He then photographed his car wearing this
cover while it was parked in front of various dance clubs in Chicago. The obsessive nature of this activity, the compulsion to catalog, index and organize is spun away from sobriety into
the comical and the absurd.

Subject: visual mashup
Article URI:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/14028718.htm

Media Referenced:
http://www.tomatopatch.com/films/sleepless.htm
http://www.ps260.com/molly/SHINING%20FINAL.mov
_________

A rudimentary article about visual mashups.

so, i've wanted to do this for a bit. there are so many interconnections that happen between work + art + life. i hope this blog can act as both an idea-base + a resource for ppl in/around marwen.

we come across things every day that could be useful tools for educators, students, and ppl. we'll see how this goes... thnx for stopping by!