New Documentary Series Highlights Stories of Chicago's Art & Design History
WDCB’s Gary Zidek talks to Emmy-winning producer Dan Andries about WTTW’s new 4-part documentary series, ART & DESIGN IN CHICAGO.
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“There’s a feeling in the show of stuff happening where you are. In the park, down the street from you live, or on a wall somewhere, that you’ll understand the city as a place of creativity that’s within reach.” - Dan Andries talking about what he hopes viewers take away from the documentary series, ART & DESIGN IN CHICAGO.
Writer/producer Dan Andries
Some truly fascinating aspects of Chicago’s art and design histories have been highlighted this year through the support of the year-long ART DESIGN CHICAGO initiative. The Terra Foundation-led project has provided support to a number of institutions for a variety of exhibitions and other programming. A new documentary series, airing on WTTW, will engage Chicago-area residents in a different way.
Gallery owners John Corbett and Jim Dempsey
Each episode of ART AND DESIGN IN CHICAGO covers a different theme relating to the city’s creative past.
Episode 1: If You Build It… (aired October 5)
MCA curator and host Naomi Beckwith introduces stories of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and sculptor Lorado Taft, told by artist Dessa Kirk and DePaul University’s Mark Pohlad; the School of the Art Institute (SAIC) through bios of six artists; the Institute of Design (ID); Exhibition Momentum, an annual exhibition organized by SAIC and ID students; the Southside Community Arts Center; and the Hyde Park Art Center.
Episode 2: The Black Metropolis of Art (October 12)
Hosted by artist Faheem Majeed, subjects include: painter Archibald Motley, Jr.,; sculptor Marion Perkins; The Wall of Respect, a 1967 mural created by the Organization of Black American Culture featuring Ernest Dawkins and his band; women in the Black Mural Movement; and ceramicist Marva Lee Pitchford-Jolly of the women’s artist collective Sapphire & Crystals.
“Black Women Emerging” mural
Episode 3: Give the Customers What They Want (October 26)
Hosted by Alisa Wolfson, Head of Design at Leo Burnett Chicago, subjects include: typeface designer Robert Hunter Middleton; artist and advertising designer Charles Clarence Dawson; Marshall Field’s department store; graphic designers Dorothy & Otis Shepard; Depression-era creator of high-end serving dishes Helen Hughes Dulany; potter and wood carver Jesus Torres; and television commercial director Joe Sedelmaier.
Designer Robert J. Zeni with typefaces designed by Robert Hunter Middleton
Episode 4: Off the Grid (November 2)
Hosted by muralist/educator Miguel Aguilar, who introduces us to painter Gertrude Abercrombie, with author Thomas Dyja and writer/artist Audrey Niffenegger; naïve author/artist Henry Darger; the Hubbard Street Gallery Scene of the early 1970s; photographer Vivian Maier; and artist Joseph Yoakum.
“Mt. Jura Between Switzerland and France and Lake Geneva in France” by Joseph Yoakum
