"What they said."

A showing of unity through agreement, generally toward an unpopular opinion.

Guest curated by Facility (Nick Cave and Bob Faust)
Circle Contemporary, Arts of Life
2010 W Carroll Ave., Chicago, IL 60612
March 28, 2025 — May 9, 2025

Featuring work by John W. Bateman - SHENEQUA - Saumitra Chandratreya - Joel Ebner - Dan Gamble - Ted Gram-Boarini - Ted Hamel - David Krueger - Lawrence M. - Tim Stone - James Schenck - Lisa Solar - Oly Trindl - Maria Vanik - Frank Vega - Jean Wilson

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John W. Bateman writes and draws stories hiding in plain sight. His work has appeared in places like Ponder Review, Salvation South, the Chicago Tribune, Electric Literature, as well as on the silver screen and gallery walls. He has a not-so-secret addiction to glitter and, contrary to his southern roots, does NOT like sweet tea. John has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was a 2023-24 Watson-Brown Fellow in the Southern Studies Fellowship in Arts & Letters. John is currently living near the third star to the left. You can find him virtually at www.johnwbateman.com.

Born and raised in Mumbai, Saumitra Chandratreya is a Fiber-Installation artist who lives in St. Petersburg, FL and Chicago, IL. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017 with a Master of Design in Fashion, Body and Garment. He has a BFA in Textile Design from the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bengaluru, India.

Chandratreya was awarded one of the Individual Artist Grants from St. Petersburg Arts Alliance in 2020, Emerging Artist Grants from Creative Pinellas in 2018 and he was one of the emerging artists at the 2019 Gasparilla Festival of Arts in Tampa, FL. Chandratreya was one of the selected artists for Inaugural Qinfolk Festival in Ithaca, NY in 2019. He was one of the Finalists who exhibited at the Union League Club of Chicago for Luminarts Cultural Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship Show. Chandratreya was awarded the Shapiro Graduate research fellowship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was nominated by his department for the James Nelson Raymond Fellowship while studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His works have been collected nationally and internationally in private and public collections including in major institutions. Chandratreya has shown in group and solo shows in Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, and United states. Chandratreya's work has been exhibited at the John and Mable ringing Museum of art among other major institutions recently. Chandratreya is an active member of 24-Hands Printmaking collective and Collate Printmaking Collective. He is a Full Time Visiting Artist at SAIC for 2024-2025 school year.

Joel Ebner is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Chicago, IL. His work addresses what it means for us to be living in an age of rapid technological advance, and in particular, how access to information via digital technology shapes how we see, how we interact, what we consume, and what we believe.

With years of experience in the design industry-first as a print-based marketing designer, and later via UI and digital products-Ebner's work also deals with mediums of communication and how design frames our understanding of the world.

Dan Gamble was born in Beloit, WI. He received a BFA from the University of Wisconsin and an MFA from the University of New Mexico. He lived in Chicago for nearly 30 years where he exhibited work at numerous venues including the Roy Boyd Gallery and The Chicago Cultural Center. He currently lives in Mason City Iowa.

Born in 1984, Ted Gram-Boarini is at once a visual artist and musician, and his preferred modes of artistic expression are mutually influential. This is witnessed in the mesmerizing rhythm of his brush strokes, and in the artistry of the lyrics he has written as a member of the North Shore studio band, Van Go Go. Gram-Boarini reimagines music and movie references into acrylic paintings on canvas. Distinctively, his introspective nature and personal connection to the reference always shine through. Gram-Boarini allows us to see him through his work, while leaving space for the viewer's personal reverie. Ted is also a member of the agency's educator track and has given artist talks in other community spaces. His work has been included in Spirits Spirits guest curated by Eli Greene and Devin T. Mays and Perceptions of Flow: Movement at the Evanston Art Center.

“The weirder the better. I like being out there with the titles I do. I want all these images I use as reference to show who I am as a person and where I get ideas from. I use the image and then kind of abstract from that. It’s how I hold on to the image in my head and then make it as abstract as I can.”

To view Ted Hamel's (b. 1990) artwork is to enter a strange and delightful world of fictional characters from the silver screen interacting with political figures, current events, train lines and locomotives. Ted finds meaning in his artwork by exploring his emotions through subject matter and color in his narrative based artwork. "It helps me feel my feelings. Red: that's an angry color. Dark blue: sadness. Yellow for happiness. Pink is a love and happiness color."

Ted presents raw emotion in his artwork. The results are engaging and relatable as the viewer witnesses feelings of anger, sadness and rage in reaction to news media reporting.
"I'd like to work harder. Get stuff out of my head. It's when I sleep. Dreams and sometimes nightmares."

Born in 1962, David Krueger approaches everything in life with boundless enthusiasm and imagination. Heavily inspired by pop culture and storytelling, Krueger's work is saturated with symbols, vibrant colors, graphic shapes, and detailed patterns. His geometric style is characterized by horizontal bands drawn across the canvas which break up the frame into narrative sections, reminiscent of comic book layouts. Between these lines, he incorporates elaborate decorative elements that include stars, zigzags, squares, crosses, X's, and radiating lines.

Krueger's previous exhibitions include Art Fair Asia Fukuoka with Sho +1 in Japan, Untitled Art Fair in Miami, the Outsider Art Fair in NYC, In Good Company at the Chicago Cultural Center, as well as Dog Show and All Well and Good at Circle Contemporary. He has an ongoing collaborative practice with artist Ben Marcus, creating comics about the character Love Man. Krueger's practice has been featured in Disparate Minds and he can be heard on the Arts of Life Band's 2017 album Kinda Weirdy.

I make paintings with my own two hands – these are my tools. These are the magic fingers, I’ve got the Midas touch. I get ideas from watching TV or my imagination. My brain tells me everything and I’ll do a sketch. It could be any sketch I choose, then I draw it out on canvas. Everything fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. People like my art, they say ‘Ohhhh Krueger, you’ve got talent!’”

Born in 1994, Lawrence M. joined Arts of Life to begin developing his studio practice. Working primarily in drawing, painting, and collage, he engages with a process and aesthetic reflecting his everyday interests - gathering imagery of animals, watching cartoons, and a spontaneous layering of diverse materials and ideas. Lawrence also enjoys traveling with his family, spending time with friends, and playing basketball, shot put, and a variety of other sports. Among other exhibitions, his work has been included in Duck Feet guest curated by Ricardo Partida, If a Mountain Could Love guest curated by Cody Tumblin, and Dance Dance Dance guest curated by Tyson Reeder.

James Scheck lives and works in Chicago, IL. He received his MFA at The University of Cincinnati, DAAP School and his BA from Vassar College. He was raised out of Cincinnati, OH and spent most of his life traveling and observing; weaving a unique career that blends art, entertainment, and commercial styling. His conceptual practice is at the heart of all his actions, and he always lets his artistic spirit guide the way. Schenck is the Gallery Manager at ENGAGE Projects and is professionally represented by Ford Artists.

SHENEQUA is an Afro-Caribbean multidisciplinary Artist and Teaching Artist who received her Master of Design in Fashion, Body, & Garment at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago under the mentorship of Nick Cave. Founder of Weave Your Dreams Into Reality Studios LLC, she shares her stories with the world one thread at a time using the traditional craft of weaving, her familial background, conversations with others, and her Ghanaian experience.
She has collaborated on the Identity Column III with Germane Barnes: Columnar Disorder at The Art Institute of Chicago museum in Chicago, IL and exhibited her works Wove at 108 Contemporary in Tulsa, OK, in Continuum at Textile Center: Joan Mondale and Mary Giles Galleries in Minneapolis, MN, UNCONVENTIONAL: THE LEGACY OF JOSEPH BEUYS at Goethe Pop Up in Kansas City, MO, Deep, Far, Home at Epiphany Center for the Arts in Chicago, IL, and Performing Labor at Patricia Sweetow Gallery in San Francisco, CA to name a few.

SHENEQUA's professional achievements include being a 2022 For Freedoms Fellow from For Freedoms in New York, NY, and a Center for Craft Career Advancement Fellow from the Center for Craft in Asheville, NC. She has also been recognized as a Featured Artist for Ties that Bind in American Craft Magazine. Her work has been acknowledged in the Kansas City Star, where she discussed her process of weaving synthetic hair about the African-American hair Experience. Notable lectures include the Distinguished Artist Series at James Renwick Alliance For Craft, the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, the Surface Design Association, and the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. She was 2014's Windgate Fellow of the Center for Craft and 2017-2018's recipient of the inaugural YoungArts Daniel Arsham Fellowship, presented by the Ridinger-McLaughlin Family.

Lisa Solar (b. 1973, United States). I currently live and work in Chicago and have had or been in exhibitions at Carrie Secrist Gallery, The Saw Room, Flatfile Gallery and Gallery A. Inc.

Tim Stone was born in Park Ridge in 1973, where he grew up living with his family. Over the years, Stone has created an expansive and cohesive body of work across media, including graphite, watercolor, and acrylic. For the past few years he has focused primarily on grayscale drawings of loose grids in graphite, with titles that hint at personal inspirations. Focused and methodical in his practice, he maintains a diligent studio routine and steadfast artistic vision informed by concepts of abstraction. Stone's process is driven by labor-intensive, repetitive mark-making that burnishes the graphite and slowly wears away the surface of the paper over time. He's also an active member of the curatorial committee, assisting guest curators with exhibitions at Circle Contemporary featuring studio artists alongside artists from the broader contemporary art community.

“I start drawing squares with a B pencil. Then I keep drawing over them until they become glossy and thick. The B pencil helps the graphite become bolder and shinier, then some of it fades away.”

Oly Trindl (b.1995) creates paintings full of rich, velvety hues that burst with dynamic movement. Her expressive works deliver drama, contrast, energy and depth.
“Getting better at my technique. I find myself focused very hard working.”
Trindl engages in art making with deliberate patience and focus, as her natural charisma flows from her brush to the canvas. Expansive color palettes are carefully preselected for each work and then masterfully applied with individual distinction. Each piece beams with warmth and earnest dedication.

“I’m included in so much art shows this year. My Instagram is blowing up with comments and, like, I never was a part of a community like Arts of Life.”

Born in 1970, Maria Vanik is a lifelong Chicagoan. While she has an extensive background in experimenting with fiber and sculpture materials, she's currently focused on a prolific studio practice based in drawing. Vanik expands on references ranging from found imagery to pop culture to personal memories through the inclusion of patterns and vibrant colors, paired with a distinct approach to symbolism and mark-making. She has been a member of Arts of Life's Chicago studio since 2017.

"I like to make artwork. The colors are very very bright. I like to use markers to draw raindrops, a rainbow, a tree. Next time I will do it different. I like to start with a white blank background. I like to use bright colors with dark colors. I like to use a lot of them, and mix them together."

Frank Vega (b. 1992, Ecuador) is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, painting, sound, and installation. His practice explores the material and symbolic value of everyday objects through Desencanto, a process of deconstruction and reconfiguration that challenges systems of utility and value. By stripping objects of their original function and activating them through sound, movement, and collaboration, Vega opens new possibilities for meaning, sustainability, and co-creation. For Vega, each element is a fragment or Unidad (Unit); when these parts come together, they create a larger whole-a space of belonging. Rooted in Ecuadorian and South American traditions, Vega's work engages with indigenous local craftsmanship and contemporary craft, exploring how materials absorb collective memory and cultural identity. His installations function as living ecosystems, where objects shift in meaning through improvisation and sonic activation.

Vega has exhibited at No Lugar (Ecuador), Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago), Devening Projects (Chicago), MDW Fair at Mana Contemporary (Chicago), Koik Contemporary (Mexico City), The Green Gallery (Milwaukee), El Lobi (Puerto Rico), among others. He has been awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as the Frankenthaler Scholarship, the Florence M. House Scholarship, and the Leroy Neiman Fellowship from Ox-Bow School of Art.

Through a hybrid approach that merges tradition and innovation, Vega redefines how audiences engage with materiality, sound, and collective experience.

Jean Wilson was born in Chicago in 1958 and has been a member of the Chicago Studio since 2007. Drawn to beasts both real and fictional - ranging from wolves and wildcats to bats and birds of prey to werewolves and three-headed hellhounds - Wilson is most inspired by the feared and respected nature of these subjects. Immediately visible across her body of work are sharp talons, ragged tufts of fur, glowing eyes, and jagged teeth lining unhinged jaws. While her feral menagerie serves as a collective talisman, it is also directly linked with her creative identity and related aspirational acts in the studio; she'll often watch favorite creature features while wearing elaborate animal masks, fantastical wolf montage T-shirts, or a full body gorilla suit. As an avid consumer of pop culture, her paintings also sometimes depict stereo systems, CD players, headphones, or favorite musicians. For another ongoing series, Wilson has created yellow legal pad drawings over the years, poetic missives listing bits of text transcribed from various source material, including magazines, album covers, and online advertisements.

Wilson's work has previously been featured in With a Little Help From My Friends curated by Megan Foy and Julian Van Eer Moere, Jesse curated by Peter Anastos, Opening Night curated by Liza Eilers, Face in the Crowd curated by Noёl Morical, Hand Drawn Circle at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Party Animal at The Franklin, and In Good Company at the Chicago Cultural Center, as well as a limited edition print run with Summertime Gallery in Brooklyn. She can also be heard on the Arts of Life Band's 2017 album Kinda Weirdy.



It’s literally a pretty cool collaboration!

For the month of September, Nick, Bob and Pretty Cool Ice Cream have teamed up to release boxes of Mystery Flavor Ice Cream Pops (4 per box)! Each ice cream bar is inspired by an iconic soundsuit - a rainbow marbled cookie-dough interior, dipped in white chocolate and covered in original, confetti and sequin sprinkles. It’s truly almost too pretty to eat, but once you overcome your hesitancy to bite into it, you’ll taste one of 4 flavors: cinnamon, mint, orange blossom or chocolate. These unidentified flavor soundsuit pops dance about the tongue and ask you to identify which flavor you picked. They are all delicious and we hope they spark joy, thought and a bit of conversation!

Grab a 24$ box of Nick Cave x Pretty Cool Mystery Flavor Ice Cream Pops and challenge your taste buds with buds! 5$ of each purchase will go towards The Facility Foundation Scholarship fund.

Visit Pretty Cool Ice Cream Shops
Logan Square ,2353 N California Ave
Lincoln Park, 709 W Belden Ave
open 12-10 daily

Bonus! There is a “Relentless Standing Power” window cling in each box. See post below for more details!

Relentless Standing Power

As a response to the killing of shop owner, Laura Ann Carleton, for displaying a PRIDE flag, Facility is providing window clings, stickers and magnets to anyone who wants to show relentless courage and support for our community.

Clings will be distributed throughout the communities that surround Facility but also available to anyone who wants them via the storefront windows as well as distributed via our Nick Cave x Pretty Cool, ice cream pop collab. and the Pride Jam at the Salt Shed September 3.

This Facility Artwork is part of a community-powered, pride project to post as a symbol of solidarity toward love and equality for all humans. 

Drag Me to the Daytime Disco: (inter)mezzo-Pride '23

Somedays you wake up and it’s pretty easy, most other days it’s quite the opposite. So we created a morning rule… to wake up like each day is the kick off to PRIDE. And then use that energy to step into the day a little bigger, a little more extra and sometimes with a full on political agenda… whatever it requires.

So we kicked off PRIDE month with our friends from Gertie by gathering "creative Chicago" together for a daytime dance party with the intent that everyone might leave the party having made a new friend, identified a new collaborator or maybe even fallen in Love. “Drag Me to the Daytime Disco,” became a real vibe, real fast as so many amazing folks who brought their fits and came out to dance to the beats of @blesstonio and @woodsadie on June 11 at the Blind Barber.

When guests first entered the barber shop they could add some color or get their face fully beat by @thegothkardashiian or @la.cindynero. And then bring their best selves to the dancefloor out back. Here’s a video recap!

Special thank you to Abby Pucker and Cortlyn Kelly for pulling the laces together… and check out the pics by @feltonkizer!

Katrin Schnabl opens EWNS with dance activations by Nicolas Blanc

Please join us for another sidewalk opening reception Sunday April 16 from 1-4pm.

Katrin will activate her newest installation across all three storefont galleries with a dance work choreographed by Nicolas Blanc and performed by Evan Boersma, Lucia Connolly, Yumi Kanazawa and Davide Oldano. The 5-minute piece will run hourly at 2:15, 3 PM, and 3:45 so come walk through the space, take in a performance and catch up with the Facility community. This experimental work continues her collaborations with The Joffrey ballet, but this time at intimate scale and within her artwork.

If you can’t make the opening, the installation is always viewable from the sidewalk.

Additionally, Facility will be presenting a new Niche Project on the Addison facade by artist James Jankowiak titled Happiness Is.

Making #AMENDS: Exhaustingly Cathartic, Ultimately Uplifting

By Vasia Rigou for NEWCITY

“As Americans we are all aware that our country is founded on freedom. Black people know all too well the value of it, but white people actually get to feel it. Until all the unaccounted for racist actions are aired and real amends are made, with subsequent and sustained changes in the best interests of ALL, our American foundation is a false one.” Bob Faust is right.

More here.

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A Public Art Project Devoted to Dismantling Racism at Every Level

With “Amends,” the artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust have created a multipronged platform for self-scrutiny and, they hope, lasting change.

By Megan O’Grady for New York Times Style Magazine

It’s Juneteenth and at Facility, Bob Faust and Nick Cave’s art lab and studio space in Chicago, the installation of the first component of their latest community-based project, “Amends,” is underway. For it, the artists have invited friends and colleagues to hand-write personal testimonials on the gallery windows, to reflect honestly on aspects of themselves that have contributed to holding our society back from equality.

More here.

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Air your AMENDS on our Community Clothesline

Please join Facility and Carl Schurz High School to make AMENDS s part of a city-wide, community correction toward the eradication of racism.

July 9-12, 2020 from 11am-6pm | Carl Schurz High School front lawn

Facility is honored to be working with Carl Schurz High School to realize the participatory component of AMENDS — a community clothesline to shed light on our individual roles around systemic racism. Our neighbor and a neighborhood pillar, Schurz is the perfect partner to help us connect with Chicagoans for this city-wide community correction. We invite everyone to use this moment and this project to find and share things they can change or ways they can help dismantle racism. 

We will be on the front lawn of Schurz July 9-12 from 11am-6pm to launch the project, as well as welcome contributions throughout the summer at the yellow “AMENDS” table on the front lawn of Schurz.  If you would like to participate in the project, but would prefer to do it at home, OR if your community group, church or student organization would like to participate, please email Bob at Facility at info@nickcaveart.com and we will be happy to assist you.

Dismantling systemic racism starts by making sure that everyone has a voice.  That is why we have decided to align this project with a voter registration event where volunteers will be on hand to assist with voter registration and census submissions. 

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Making #AMENDS: "Letters to the World Toward the Eradication of racism""

As the heart of the AMENDS project Facility asked many friends and leaders in the Chicago community to contribute to “Letters to the World Toward the Eradication of Racism.” Below is the letter we sent and a selection of what we got back.

If you are so moved, please contribute in your own way, and on your own timelines to the AMENDS project. Identify the pieces of yourself that have contributed to holding our society back from genuine equality and equity. See them, say them and then share them (with #AMENDS) to hold yourself accountable and to contribute to the eradication of racism.

Make #AMENDS

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Re: “Letters to the World toward the Eradication of Racism”

June 9, 2020

At this moment, we as individuals, and we as Facility in collaboration with our communities, must be an active part in the eradication of racism. While this goal has always been embedded in our practices, now more than ever that intention needs to become action.

We are in the process of creating a multi-part project called “Amends” that originates at Facility and connects across Milwaukee Avenue to the public lawn of our neighbor, Carl Schurz High School. At its heart, the project’s goal is to ignite change through collected individual actions, by confronting and making public the many ways each of us has contributed to racism. It is a simple but personally confrontational act of looking in the mirror and acknowledging where each of us can each make necessary changes for the good of all people immediately, but even more so for the empowerment and success of our successors, our children.

We will use Facility’s storefront windows for public facing, unapologetically transparent letters to the world from individuals like you from our personal and profession circles, that bring to light their roles around racism through acknowledgments, confessions, and apologies. Those who come from especially
privileged backgrounds have enormous responsibility in this moment. They must be more than allies, they must actively root out the truths so long buried and ignored, beginning with self. 

“Those born into privilege like myself are part of the problem until we commit to being part of the solution. Regardless of where on the spectrum the offense lies, all racist actions contribute to the continuation of this malignancy. Often, what we as white people see as light hearted or even funny are the daily offenses that don’t get checked publicly. We need to commit to anti-racist actions without fear of making mistakes or saying the wrong thing. Our missteps and subsequent corrections will allow more light to be shone on the problem and for real change to take root.”
 — Bob Faust

We need your voice to be part of this project. We are asking for you to contribute a letter, a quote or a note as well as your time to actually write this on our windows. This is urgent, so also ask that you commit now for an install date the week of June 15 at your convenience. We will do all possible to ensure your safety and instate all social distancing measures needed.

“As my heart continues to weep, my emotions continue to ask myself how can I be more purposeful. I rarely ask for you help but at this time I need yours.” — Nick Cave

This part of the “Amends” project will then be used as the starting point of the community-wide public project that asks any and all individuals to identify their own role in racism and make amends with our country’s citizens as well as themselves by writing these on yellow ribbons and then staking them in the front lawn of Schurz High School. With time and commitment we envision the lawn filled with thousands of these “amends” and the grass continuing to grow alongside this pubic collection and community correction.

With sincerity and respect, 

Nick and Bob

Thank you for your thoughtful and often times very vulnerable contributions:

Akilah Haley
Amy Bluhm
Amy Eshelman
Angelique Power
Anke Loh
Carre Lannon
Courtney Lederer
David Greene
Elisa Tenney
Elizabeth Hayes
Ginger Farley
Justin Ahrens
Kahil El Zabar 
Katrin Schnable
Lucy Slavinsky
Lulia Rodrigues
Marilyn Fields
Marshall Svendson
Michael Workman
Monique Meloche
Naomi Beckwith
Nathan Hoyle
Rob Rejamin
Ross Fiersten
Sandro Miller
Stephanie Sick
Tanner Woodford
Tanya Quick
Tony Karmen
Vicki Heyman
Zoe Ryan

Select texts

I grew up in a small predominantly white town on the east coast. When I was young, racism was common place among friends, their families, and my family as well. It took the form of name calling, ignorant assumptions, and judgements towards black people and other races. It was ingrained behavior and thought, born of a total lack of diversity. Moving to Chicago after high school, I quickly started to realize how toxic these unexamined notions were as I was plunged into a diverse environment for the first time in my life. When isolated physically and mentally, those different than you become the “other”, that kind of categorization is the root of mistreatment and cruelty. Once we collectively realize we are all just human beings, different backgrounds and ethnicities will foster expansion of the mind, not fear. 

— Marshal Svendson

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I am privileged. 

My whiteness gives me an advantage. This is an undeniable fact that is hard to learn and easy to forget. This time, I will not forget. 

The horrific and inherent truth is that privilege requires cruelty. It's toxic. For me to "get," you have to "give." 

Laquan McDonald, Paul O'Neal, and Rekia Boyd gave everything.

While I cannot wish away my privilege, I acknowledge it, apologize, and commit to justice in any way that I can. 

A better world is possible. I will listen, and be a part of building it.

— Tanner W.

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Even in New York, one of the world’s most diverse cities, the Stuyvesant Town of the 1950’s that I was born into was entirely White. As a child, when a Puerto Rican New Yorker crossed 14th Street into “my” neighborhood, I thought of them as “invaders” with no attempt to know them or think about their lives. It wasn’t until high school, during the civil rights era of the 1960’s and my first friendships across racial difference, that I understood how wrong the discriminatory racist feelings I’d inherited were. A first amends, a first unlearning.

At this moment, there are other amends to make, new challenges to unlearn, and many questions to pursue. And that pursuit will have to be more important than knowing the answers in advance. It feels—not scary, exactly—but consequential. Heavy. Acknowledging that weight, I immediately want to decenter myself, my White self. I want to be informed by my better angels without applause. I want to will take action without authorship. To sign this letter without a sense of achievement.

— Elissa Tenny

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I WAS RAISED AS A WHITE SUPREMACIST

in a violent, physically abusive household that instilled in me the values of hatred, fear and despair. As a young white schoolboy, when another black boy or girl raised their voice at me, I thought nothing of giving them a smack in the face. I simply believed this was the way of the world.

Years later, as I found the ability to de-program my self and end the cycle of casual violence toward others, this ill empowerment of a despotic and sick soul, I discovered that I had not been wrong, that this has indeed been the way of the world for centuries.

My hope now is for the final and permanent destruction of that world, an eradication of all it represents so that we may replace it with one capable of nourishing and valuing not only my life, but the lives and prosperity of us all in the human village.

If *I* can change myself, it gives me hope eventually we may discover this new world -- together.

— Michael Workman

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WHEN WILL WHITE PEOPLE LEARN TO LISTEN AND NOT BECOME DEFENSIVE ABOUT AN ENORMOUS ISSUE WE ARE CAUSING?

WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THE BLACK EXPERIENCE AND HOW IT IS TAINTED BY EVERY INSTITUTION IN AMERICA/THE WORLD.

— Nathan Hoyle

——— 

My white privilege needs to be checked—in my every thought and action.  I need to dig deeper, self-reflect and commit to growing and changing the systematic racism embedded in my mind and body. I need to claim my racism. I need to listen more. I need to be louder. I need to demand more. I haven’t been loud enough. enough is enough. Why did it take until now to move us toward change?  Over who else’s dead body? Enough is enough. ENOUGH. We white people need not just use our words, our banners, our posts and expect change. Our words are empty until we live and breathe them. Breathe. Breath. His breath. He couldn’t breathe. Her breath. She can’t breathe. We can no longer remain silent. I will not remain silent. We must carry that weight. I will carry the weight. We must be the change.  

— Cortney Lederer

———

I was born into a white middle-class family in a small town in Germany. Growing up in my limited environment of family and a few friends from other countries, I never appreciated what kind of difficulties they might face. Even though we played, learned and partied together, I never thought they were being treated differently from me, perhaps because I never stood in their shoes. Moving to Chicago improved my exposure and understanding, when I began to interact with friends, students and colleagues who actually spoke about issues of inequality. I now realize how woefully inadequate my understanding of racial bias has been. Inaction, silence and not questioning the status quo is a crime. My outlook has been transformed. I am encouraged to be more courageous and rise to the challenge by asking questions and actively being part of the solution.

With Love, Anke Loh

———

Listen.  You better think hard before sheltering in righteous outrage over the racist actions of others. You have been the others. You surely will be again. Ignorance is measured on a sliding scale, not pass fail. Every person you know denies being racist.  Yet, here we are… racism so deeply rooted that three other officers gracelessly watch the casual murder of a black man, as if it were an embarrassing joke being told by an uncle in mixed company.  Look at these others now, stunned and squinting in the light of our outrage.  Think hard about the multitude of tolerated things that must be in place to create that horror scene – there are as many as the words in your spoken language - as many as the cells in your body.  Is there anything normal about America’s normal?  Is there anything normal about you?

— Rob Rejman, Note to Self

———

Dear Megan,

Systems built against humanity have socialized you into feeling powerless.

So, unlearn systems by building for humanity instead.

Sincerely,

Higher Self

— Megan Rejman

———

“The expression of one’s voice, their action and the simple act of standing together in the name of both justice and compassion contains both a power to heal and a powerful force to elicit change”.

— Tony Karman 

———

Sometimes the searing light of the truth of systemic white supremacy makes it through the leaden armor of whiteness that encases me. I have white skin, I have white privilege, and I have white blindness. I am finding that I’m further armored by liberalism. I have deluded myself by thinking that because of my views and the way that I was raised that I was somehow an automatic ally. I have a long way to go before I can earn that, be that. I’m in for the work.

— Ginger Farley

———

"We cannot simply check-off dismantling racism. Race work is not a race, it's life's work."

— Akilah Halley

———

Silent. I have been silent in situations where I could not figure out how to act.  I recognize that this posing no risk for me is part of my white privilege. Yet harm can come to a person of color in a similar situation. Or when I stay silent. I failed to see the inequality in that. And the responsibility that comes with such privilege. So I must raise my awareness to act unselfishly, kind, and open, regardless of whether I can figure "it" out or not. It is not upon me to provide solutions, but presence.  Presence of heart.

— Katrin Schnabl

———

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin

Sadness. Remorse. Discomfort. These are feelings I experience when I confront the chasm in my knowledge and understanding of the depth of racism that surrounded me in my 60 years of life. In writing this letter, I find myself thinking about my earliest memories…

I grew up in Ashland, Kentucky in a racially segregated town. Mine was a small-town, southern childhood that was rife with symbolism from the “Old South”. Our maid was a Black woman named Jessie. Jessie cleaned our home and cared for me as a little girl. I loved her very much.  Our bartender for family parties and events was a Black man named Ben. Ben had a beautiful smile and was a true “Southern Gentleman” who possessed that enveloping charm long exalted as “Southern Hospitality”—he made those special occasions so memorable. And our family deeply respected him.  

In writing this letter, I must not let this anecdote from my childhood end without asking a painful question:

Despite my love for Jessie, despite our family’s deep respect for Ben, would this Black woman and Black man have come into our lives if they had not worked for us? The answer is no. And while I was only a child, while my family raised me in a home without overt racism, the culture of the South and America at large was inherently racist. Yes, I was a child and a product of my surroundings. But I am ashamed to say that it would be many years into my adulthood before Black men and women entered my life as cherished friends, mentors, and members of my chosen family.

For much of my life, I accepted the world as I saw it. I did not ask questions. I did not seek answers. I did not engage. I did not amplify. I did not take action. I am deeply sorry. I must do better.

Even now, in writing this letter, I want to share with you the ways in which my life changed when I stopped turning away from injustice—when I started to engage—when I took action. But this letter is about examining hard truths, not celebration. Even as I began to become more conscious of systemic racism and the injustice faced by our Black and brown community members, I still had and have chasms in my knowledge and understanding. For example:

20 years ago, I bought an Aunt Jemima cookie jar at a flea market. As a collector of cookie jars, I viewed this as a piece of “kitschy Americana” and displayed it in my home without a second thought. Even though the purchase wasn’t made with malice, even though the display wasn’t meant to provoke pain, I must ask myself “Why didn’t I know this was wrong?” “Why wasn’t I curious about the imagery of this Black woman and what she was meant to represent?” “Why did I just accept that this was ok?” “Why does white America use Black imagery without understanding the historical context?”

When I was challenged on displaying this cookie jar, I finally learned the history of Aunt Jemima. The R.T Davis Company based Aunt Jemima on a real person, Nancy Green.  Nancy was born a slave in my home state of Kentucky in 1834 and she portrayed Aunt Jemima as a live model until her death in 1923. Green’s portrayal was shaped by the racist cultural stereotype of a “Mammy” and it is the most well known and enduring stereotype of Black women.

Yes,I bought this Aunt Jemima cookie jar without knowing the racist and deeply painful history of this imagery. But I must ask myself “Why didn’t I know?” Is it because I am a white woman and that has afforded me the ability to remain ignorant of the insidious manner in which racism shapes so much of the imagery and portrayals of Black women in our culture? The answer is yes.

It is not enough to be sorry—I must examine the ignorance that informed my actions and unlearn the unconscious biases that guided those actions. In order to move forward in my commitment to practice anti-racism, I must stand in my discomfort with my eyes and ears open. This is uncomfortable. I feel shame. “...but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands.  You need to be able to throw something back.” — Maya Angelou

Systemic racism is upheld by both those actively working to maintain it and those in positions of privilege blinding themselves to it. I want to make amends for the years I spent focused solely on my path without opening my eyes to the paths of those in my community facing racial and economic injustice. I know now that this kind of blindness also hurts the one who cannot see. I am committed in my anti-racism to sharing the stories of how opening my eyes, my ears, and my heart for connection allowed my path to cross with Black and brown youth from our city and how the good I did for them was monumentality surpassed by the good they did for me. 

I regret underestimating how much I would learn from the Black and brown youth that came into my life through Embarc Chicago. I thought I would teach—but I learned.  I learned strength, resiliency, and unconditional love. I learned just how damned hard life and poverty can be. I learned how even young people faced with obstacle after obstacle not only survive but thrive when they are supported by adults who create space for them and amplify their voices and their gifts. I’m sorry it took me so long to understand just how much I could learn from young Black and brown voices. If you are reading this, don’t wait any longer to learn this lesson.

If you are reading this, learn from my wrongs.

If you are reading this, examine and learn from your wrongs.

If you are reading this, join me in the discomfort of understanding just how much we still need to unlearn.

If you are reading this, make amends.

If you are reading this, join me in a commitment to practice anti-racism.

Anti-racism in our homes.

Anti-racism in our communities.

Anti-racism in our workplaces.

Anti-racism in our government.

Anti-racism together.

Every.

Day.

— Vicki Heyman

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My blood is half German and half Southern, which means I am of 100% racist ancestry. And yet, growing up in the south, I came to identify more with black culture than white. Or I should say, I came to identify with those outside of power- - the outsiders, trying to be different, to have style and expression that was their own voice, to be evolution. Which in the south, meant blacks and jews and women. As one of two daughters growing up in the middle class 70s, I also was raised to believe in bootstrapping optimism. If you work hard, if you keep your nose to the grindstone, if you believe in yourself, you can do anything kind of optimism. The power of positive thinking. And as I've grown into a professional woman, I've surrounded myself in a bubble of the same. I've led my team with that strategy. I've showed up to work, and life, every day with that attitude. I've listened and read and sought those who subscribe to optimism. Together with curiosity, it has become the closest thing to my identifying culture. The problem with optimism is that it is a form of blinders. It keeps you from seeing bias and injustice. It keeps you from hearing the truths of those who are working hard, and still can't get a leg up, because they are devalued through systemic and institutionalized barriers. It keeps you from anger. I feel betrayed by optimism. I am mad at my race. I am mad at my systems. I am angry at myself. This is not my story, this is not about me. And, yet, it is. Because I am inherently part of the problem. In my blind optimism. In my silence. In my lack of association with a group that I can change.As a brand consultant, I have used economics to argue for representation. What I see now is that I have been complicit in a culture that doesn’t respect black lives by arguing for their dollars, by using their image, and not just calling the system out for what it is—advantage white leadership. My privilege has been to be listened to. To be trusted with things I’ve never done because the system believes in white people’s skills. That privilege meant speaking to mostly white male CEOs and helping them paint a coating of “diversity” to buy more time for the system. Optimism let me think this is progress, while people are being lynched.

— Tanya Quick

———

I have been an advocate of equality since I was only two 

but amends and reparations are seriously overdue

I am white, but I continue the fight

until a JUST world is our truth 

— Monique

———

Dear Naomi,

A few years ago, an artist very dear to me made me commit to speaking my mind and meaning what I say. It was a performance work, theoretically, but the hope was that by performing forthrightness, I could make a life practice of being forthright. But I have to admit: I haven’t always spoken my mind, I have held my peace when I should have been fighting some battles. I must speak out, even if for a lost cause. No minds or behavior or language will change unless I speak up. If I were to be honest with myself, none of those things will change even if I do. But I don’t have a choice: I made a promise and I owe it to myself and the world I want to see.

— Naomi Beckwith

———

I'm a human being, I am white and I am racist. 

None of these were my choice, but all put me in the center of a system that was built to help me succeed. I never questioned that system because it was working for me. Racism settled in me quietly, simply by my association with others in the same situation. The N word was used regularly in these communities and while I understood its' demeaning meaning and its' oppressive purpose by its context, it wasn't until I got older and chose to widen my communities that I connected the many incredible people that filled my world with the riches that make it worth living like art, music, dance, poetry, scholarship, and enlightenment as the very ones this word was being wielded against. Because I recognized this and loved them, I thought I was an ally, but I did not to back that title up. I misinterpreted my closeness with "woke"ness and misused my permissions by voicing inappropriate comments cloaked in bad humor. That had to hurt more deeply coming from me than the comments from others I also saw and let go through my complicent choice to be silent. I am sorry for these actions and inactions, and for not calling them out for what they are in myself sooner. And I am grateful for all the gifts black human beings and their culture continue to share despite the oppression and obstacles and we put in their way. 

I thought I was a woke human being, but I am a white human being, and that makes me nothing more than a work in progress. 

I promise to keep working.

With love and respect, Bob Faust

Facility Foundation announces 2020 All-City Visual Arts Scholarships

Each year, the Chicago Design Museum presents the All-City Visual Arts Exhibition. It is comprised of works from art students across the entire Chicago Public Schools network through their departments of art. Facility Foundation is proud to offer scholarships to both high school and elementary school students. These unrestricted scholarships are intended to support students’ ongoing pursuit of creativity, whether it be in purchasing supplies, taking classes, or other applications.

We are proud to announce the 2020 winners. Congratulations on your exceptional work!

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Edmonde Olongo: Untitled
Teacher: Jackie Nykiel
Grade: 12

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Stephany Ramoz Toquica: Just Imagine
Teacher: Jeni Crone
Grade: 7

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Moses Duenez: Character Drawing
Teacher: Dana Holgerson
Grade: 3




"Disturbed Awakening" Opening at Facility | Saturday, Sept 7, 2-5pm

A state of emergency.

A state of shock.

A state of being.

Disturbed Awakening is a group show curated by Nick Cave that explores three artists most personal and pressing issues. The ones that we wake up to each morning and push or pull our decision making regardless of how directly it is attached to the moment at hand. Featuring Katrin Schnabl in collaboration with Anne Guitteau, Carley Brandau and Shihui Zhou.

Opening: Saturday, Sept 7, 2-5 pm
Continuing through: September 7 - November 15 (viewed through Facility’s storefront gallery windows)

Facility
3616 North Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago

———

Katrin Schnabl, in collaboration with Anne Guitteau.

GYRE is the amplification of the vortical structure that makes up plastic on a molecular level. This knitted environment provides a way of exploring this unique dimensional space through the sensory capacity of our bodies, and to open up conversations: about the materials themselves, about repurposing the plastic coverings that most often are intended to be immediately thrown away, about the invisibility of the environmental crisis of this disposable culture and these relationships to fashion as a reflection of deeper cultural shifts. 

GYRE (8’ x 8’ x 8’) 2018; post-consumer high density polyethylene (aka drycleaner bag), PVC.

GYRE (8’ x 8’ x 8’) 2018; post-consumer high density polyethylene (aka drycleaner bag), PVC.

Carley Brandau

Changing circumstances challenged my pre-existing realities. As a result, fear and shame emerged from the depths of my subconscious. The reality was always there, but I could not see it. With an accumulation of new knowledge and narratives, what I had previously accepted as truth was suddenly uprooted, as was my grasp on myself. As I extracted the old perception, I turned to language as a means for shedding and redefining this newly displaced truth. Through sculpture and language, I materialize the blockage that obstructed me from the place of fear and shame. I magnified and transformed it into a display: a physical, built structure whose scale requires confrontation. My process became about reconsidering what and for whom a word represents, the limits of language as communication, and the need for reparation. Legibility shifts throughout this work as I continue to struggle with confrontation. 

This work is driven by two statements. One is by my family, white, who claims that race was not a factor in the 2016 election for them. The other is the idea that white supremacy was built by white people, and white people need to fix it. So my question is: How will white people challenge the structure, when so many of us can’t see that we’re white? 

Land of the ______ (dimensions variable) 2018; industrial felt, linen thread, wood.

Land of the ______ (dimensions variable) 2018; industrial felt, linen thread, wood.

Shihui Zhou

An exploration of Human Intersubjectivity, Shihui Zhou collects and captures the status of people’s everyday life; connections made between multitudes of people and activities illustrated through the garments we wear and the forms we occupy throughout our journey and self-discovery. The curtain, clothes and the absence human forms instantly create discussions or even conflicts between the unborn and the born, private and public, interior and exterior, the past and memories, relationships and individuals. The whole dimension become a complex, monumental sphere, both familiar and mysterious, yet intriguing and touching.

Human Intersubjectivity (12' x 10' x 8') 2018; found garments, fabric, grommets, steel rods.

Human Intersubjectivity (12' x 10' x 8') 2018; found garments, fabric, grommets, steel rods.

About The Artists

Katrin Schnabl is an artist, educator and curator working at the intersection of fashion, performance, and installation. Known for her eponymous line of fashion, as well as designing for acclaimed dance companies and performance artists, German-born Schnabl investigates garments as sensory environments. The process of imbedding meaning through pattern-cutting techniques further informs much of the artist’s installation work. By placing her hand-cut and sewn assemblages into unexpected locations, she heightens our perception of garment as a membrane that filters information between individuals and their shifting contexts and interactions. Her current body of work builds on the exploration of these sensory interactions through spatial dynamic surfaces. Schnabl is Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has also served as Sage-Endowed Chair of Fashion in the Department of Fashion Design.

Anne Guitteau is a Chicago-based knitwear designer and artist. Her work explores the complex relationship between fashion, form and function, blurring the line between garment and sculpture. Combining traditional techniques and alternative materials, she lets her shapes form organically and playfully. Her work has been featured on the cover of the Chicago Tribune style section, and has been exhibited in the Sullivan Galleries’ 2014 Graduates Show, and the 2015 BFA Show. Making her mark as knitwear consultant to fashion labels, her contributions have been featured in prominent fashion publications including Harper’s Bazaar, WWD, Elle Magazine, and shown on the runway during New York Fashion Week and at The Walk, SAIC’s annual fashion show.

Carley Brandau was born in North Carolina to a family of builders, stuff-collectors, artists and musicians. She received her Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Sculpture from the University of North Carolina Asheville in 2013. Before entering the Master of Design in Fashion, Body and Garment program at SAIC in 2016, Brandau was working at the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center in Asheville, NC, and maintaining her independent studio practice. Driven by material exploration, her experiences from growing up in the south, and the political climate, her work is a haptic and somatic exploration of the limitation of our hands, bodies and language.

Artist Shihui Zhou was born and raised in China, where she attended Tsinghua University in Beijing for her bachelor degree in Design. Traveling to the United States for graduate study, Zhou worked closely under Americian visual artist Nick Cave at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She moved to New York for the artist residency in Textile Arts Center shortly after her graduation in 2018. Zhou is now living in Brooklyn, NY, USA. She has a series of shows scheduled for 2019 both in the States and overseas, and just finished ChaShaMa’s Artist residency in upstate New York.

About Facility

Facility is a place. It’s a multi-disciplinary creative space. And it’s home to Nick Cave Studio, Faust Associates and $oundsuit$hop while also serving as a creative hub for other artists, artisans, designers and architects. Additionally, Facility plays host to myriad pop-up special projects such as exhibitions, performances and fresh retail experiences.

Facility is a philosophy. It believes that art and design can create peace, build power, and change the world ... that by fostering an environment and community built from your dreams you will wake up daily within your destiny. 

Facility is an action agent. It reaches deep into our communities, employing the collective powers of art and design as a means to empowerment and social change. Facility Foundation provides scholarships and opportunities for young, promising and emerging artists, collaborations with fierce, like-minded established artists and partnering with outside, organizations and institutions to galvanize their outreach programming.