Visual Arts

Current Exhibit in the Harris Gallery

Why Things Happen:

artwork and text by the students of EXCEL Academy/Orr Campus in Chicago

Opening Reception Friday, May 2nd, 2008, 7-9pm

Exhibit runs April 24th-May 31st, 2008

Why Things Happen is both a statement and a question, and most perfectly captures the quest behind the stories and art of the students of EXCEL Academy/Orr Campus, a Chicago Public School on the West Side of Chicago.

The theme for the school year was War and Peace and it was my intention for my art classes to spend the year in an effort to understand the root causes of violence and to work together to seek solutions. We had several community partners working with us on this project. The Steans Center for community-based service learning at DePaul University mediated a partnership with Professor Pete Vandenberg and tutors from the Writing Center to work with my students on the stories they wrote that are displayed with their linoleum prints. The Oppenheimer Family Foundation funded the publication of an anthology of the stories and prints, titled Journey. Additionally, we were a part of Mikva Challenge and Issues to Action, with our issue centering on what it would take to reduce school violence.

Why Things Happen is a view into the lives and dreams and honest observations of my students. They were challenged to visually express the root causes of violence, to show their audience why different aspects of violence such as racism, sexism, adultism, classism, gang violence, school violence, and dating violence mattered to them. They wrote about events in their lives that were life changing. While these projects may have had disparate timetables, when the two pieces, writing and art, were put together, they began to weave together an exhibit that courageously illuminates ÒwhyÓ in a profound way.

Jeanne Walker

Art Specialist/Service Learning Coach

EXCEL Academy/Orr Campus

Chicago, Illinois

For a preview of stories and images, please visit www.exceljourneys.com

Upcoming Exhibits in the Harris Gallery

Gallery Information

The Old Town School's Lincoln Avenue location features rotating exhibits of visual art in the Harris Gallery, which is in the main hall of the second floor.

The Harris Gallery is available for viewing during open school hours: Mon-Thur 9am-10 pm and Fri-Sun 9am-5pm

The Harris Gallery curator accepts artists' exhibition applications at any time. Please send a cover letter, including a description of your work and yourself, as well as any other pertinent information. Along with the letter, please provide examples of your work either electronically or in the form disc or slides. If you have a website, please provide a link to it. If submitting by mail, send to:
Alicia Manson, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, 60625.

If submitting your information electronically, send to amanson@oldtownschool.org.

For more information contact Alicia Manson, Visual Arts Curator.