Division|Collective

WINTER YARD SALE 2/5 7:00 p.m. Cornelia Arts Center

2011-01-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

The Division|Collective is hosting a Winter Yard Sale/Salon on February 5th from 7 to 11:30 p.m. at the Cornelia Arts Center, 1800 West Cornelia Avenue.

THIS JUST IN: ** COMPOSER, DR. NOMI EPSTEIN** will showcase her latest experimental compositions via interactive lecture/performance.

Nomi's performance and academic experience is vast. She has taught as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, and Roosevelt University. She is a founding teacher of piano and theory at the British Music School of Chicago, a faculty piano teacher at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

Her past projects have included a commission from Chicago Symphony Orchestra cellist, Katinka Kleijn for a solo cello piece to be performed on the Chicago Humanities Festival and a collaboration with the New York based, British Sculpture/Installation artist Jane Benson for an ongoing exhibition at the Henry Street Settlement in New York.

FUTURE PROJECTS for Nomi include:

-Residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach Florida with composer/sound artist David Berhman, February-March 2011.
-“Aperiodic,” a new experimental concert series at Elastic Arts Foundation, Chicago, February 2011.
- Collaboration NYC based sculptor Jane Benson on “The Splits” will be featured as a sound installation through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center at the “Vault,” April 2011.
-Performance of her percussion sextet This Too Shall Pass at the University of Houston, April 2011.
-Premiere of For Tenor and Six Percussion by the New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble in Boston, April 2011.
-Residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, June 2011.

WAIT THERE'S MORE!

This cozy winter fête turned bizarre bazaar is just the thing to chase away those winter blues . . . art/music/YOUR STUFF . . .

Want to participate? Drop us a line and let us know you're coming. If you plan to set up a table, please make sure to bring it along. There are none in the space.

Questions? Contact: info@divisioncollective.com

December Salon - 12/4, 2009 West 21st Place, Apartment 2 Chicago, IL

2010-11-29T17:08:00.000-08:00

The Division|Collective presents its Featured Artists for the month of December. Please join us for what promises to be a warm winter wonderland of art . . .

MARIO ROMANO

Originally from Syracuse, New York, Mario Romano is a painter who is known for his abstract landscapes and still-lifes. His abstractions and use of stark, colorful brush gestures merge seemingly random limbs and protuberances that ultimately - and meaningfully - find an expression and commit to the picture plane.

Mario has a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Oswego. He also studied painting at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is currently attending The School of the Art Institute Of Chicago for his MFA in painting.

ELIZABETH ELLIS

Elizabeth most recently performed with Shapeshifters Theatre as Moira in "And Neither Have I Wings to Fly" for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Acting Irish International Theatre Festival.

She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Second City's Children's Theatre, in Vanguards at the Bailiwick Arts Center, The Yellow Wallpaper at EstrogenFest, at Theatre Building Chicago, and in the improvisation show "The Game of Love" at London's Canal Cafe Theatre.

She is a graduate of De Paul University, and studied at the Royal National Theatre Studio in London.

MICHAEL GREENWALD

Michael is a Chicago-based novelist working on his debut novel about a suburban Chicago family coping with three certainties in life: death, taxes, and pesky ghosts.

He is currently a student at StoryStudio Chicago. To read more of his work, visit his http://sleepsunshine.com/ or go to StoryStudio Chicago's blog, http://cooler.storystudiochicago.com/, where he is a featured blogger.

AMANDA GUTIERREZ

http://www.guvarchive.net/

Amanda Gutierrez was born in Mexico City in 1978. She received her BFA at ENAT (National School of Theater) in Mexico City, and completed her MFA in performance at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as recipient of the Trustee Scholarship. She was awarded the SAIC Fellowship Competition in 2007, and the CAPE 2008 (Chicago Community Arts Assistance Program) in 2008. In 2010 she was asked to participate in a residency program at Banff Centre in Canada.

Her work work is centered on the analysis of media and performance projects in which sound art is the fundamental element.

She is currently in the planning and research phase of a long term project -- several audiovisual essays, that comprehend metaphors of geographic representations, in relation to emigration. These essays will be based on the testimonials of emigrants living in industrial cities.

STEVE FROST

http://www.stevenfrost.com/
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/dc/artwork/peek-into-local-artist-studios-the-studio-visit-110752

Zoom! November is here!

2010-11-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

JAMIE KAZAY

http://www.colum.edu/Academics/English_Department/Faculty/Faculty_Profiles/Jamie_Kazay.php

Jamie Kazay is a California native living and writing in Chicago. She holds a BA in English from California State University, Northridge and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia. Jamie currently teaches in the First Year Writing Programs at Columbia College and Harold Washington College. Her work has appeared in Mount Voices, Northridge Review, and Columbia Poetry Review.

SHARON A. MOONEY

http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/People/Pages/facultyinfo.aspx?fid=550

http://www.gosharongo.com/

Sharon is a Chicago-based video artist from Richmond, Virginia. Her neo-realistic work in documentary portrait, narrative, and animation has screened internationally in festivals and galleries.

She has an MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media from The School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has taught at DCTV, SVA, and the University of Cincinnati, Raymond Walters College.

She currently works as an educational multimedia producer and teaches in the Digital Cinema program at DePaul University.

CHRIS TERRY

http://vocalo.org/explore/content/59813

http://www.kneejerkmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104%3Ahell-where-barry-manilow-sings-by-chris-terry&catid=8%3Areviews&Itemid=8

http://gulliblezine.blogspot.com/

Chris was born in 1979 and grew up on the East Coast, he now lives in Chicago and is a student at Columbia College in the Fiction MFA program.

You must, must listen to the links above! Both are links to creative nonfiction pieces he has written about growing up in a biracial family.

Chris's story 'I, Wigger' is forthcoming in the book The Audacity of "Post-racism," Mcsweeney's, 2010. He has published his blog Gullible Zine since 1995.

ETHAN A. WHITE

http://thinkpinkradio.com/2010/05/04/ethan-a-white-professional-artist/

Ethan is an artist, writer, DJ, curator, and professional cat lady whose work presents a constellation of performative approaches to the queer voice and artistic production. Using humor and playful critique, he aims to make the invisible but resolutely fabulous work of the marginalized and forgotten haunt mainstream consciousness.

He is a member of Chances Dances, a queer dance party collective in Chicago that also administers a micro-grant for queer artists, and he co-curated a video program called CHANNELING: an invocation of spectral bodies and queer spirits, which toured internationally and is distributed by the Video Data Bank.

LA RIB MEAL

Chicago break-out band La Rib Meal is an experimental group of music makers, whose in your face sound exists somewhere between Dr. Strange Love and . . . . . . well, join us to find out!

This just in: "Our band is made up of Lars Maibel and Air Bllame. We are spies for competing countries and are dead."

A Return to the Living Room

2010-10-06T00:03:00.001-07:00

Pictured below is poet, Jessica Mazza, the Division|Collective's lovely hostess for the month of October. With over 30 people in attendance the event was an incredible success -- yes, that many people in one living room! The added intimacy of Jessica's home was perfect.

The diversity of each of our Featured Artists and their work made for an evening of engaging conversation and exchange. For the first time we pioneered remote participation with Harjant Gill, a doctoral student in Anthropology at American University via skype video chat. A clip was screened from his forthcoming movie "Roots of Love." While poet, Rakel Delgado read poetry nearly entirely in Spanish. Our latest Salon spanned the boundaries of both distance and culture.

Thank you to all who participated and attended.

Our Featured Artists for October 2

2010-09-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

HARJANT GILL

http://www.tilotamaproductions.com/HOME.html

Harjant is an award-winning film maker and doctoral student in anthropology at American University. Harjant was born in Chandigarh, India and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He now lives in Washington, D.C.

For Harjant, making films is about casting a spotlight on urgent and often overlooked social issues, and making marginalized members of society feel less isolated and more understood.

His films include: "As if it Matters", "Everything", "Some Reasons For Living", "Mission Movie/Una Pelicula de la Mision" and "Milind Soman Made Me Gay". He is the recipient of The Point Foundation award.

JESSICA MAZZA

Jessica, our lovely hostess for this month's event is a poet enrolled in the School of the Art Institute's BFA Writing Program. Her most recent work explores the subject of death from the vantage point of a child, she seeks to test and explore notions of death using age as reference point.

HEATHER McSHANE

http://www.elimae.com/2010/09/Thursdays.html

http://fictionatwork.com/DSSJJ09.aspx

http://the2ndhand.com/web69/theliars.html

http://vocalo.org/about-us

Heather McShane is an MFA candidate in the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work can be found in elimae.com, fictionatwork.com, the2ndhand.com, and Chicago Public Radio’s Vocalo.org.

CYNTHIA PELAYO

Cynthia has her B.A. from Columbia College in Journalism. And a Masters in Integrated Marketing Communication from Roosevelt University. She writes Latin American Magical Realism, embracing folklore, superstition, and legends.

She has written for Extra News, Venus Zine, Time Out Chicago, and In The Fray. Her most recent work includes novel in progress, La Santa Muerte and a short story collection whose inspiration is founded in each of the Mexican Loteria Cards.

CORTNEY PHILIP

Cortney Philip writes fucked-up fairy tales for grown-ups who aren't. Her work has appeared in elimae, The First Line, Feathertale Review, and At-Large Magazine.

OLI RODRIGUEZ

http://olirodriguez.com/

Oli was born in Chicago and grew up in Humboldt Park. He received his B.A. from DePaul University in Psychology and Gender Studies with a minor in Media Art.

Oli has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, working within the departments of Film, Video & New Media, Photography and Performance.

He is Adjunct Faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Photography Department, as well as at Westwood College in their Graphic Design Department.

Oli's work centers around conceptual ideas of childhood memories and recreations, the emergence of gender constructions and identities, the questioning of perception and the idea of inhabiting and "passing" in relation to societal perspectives of race, class, age and orientation.

September Featured Artist Lectures @Facets Night School 8/14

2010-08-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

@Facets Cinémathèque, Midnight - 2am, Video artist/DePaul media instructor Sharon Mooney looks inside the warped buddy/road-trip film: Rubin and Ed, Directed by Trent Harris, 1991, 86 mins.

This off-beat, dark and unsettling road movie stars the talented though truly bizarre Crispin Glover and Howard Hesseman as two unruly souls traveling through the desolate Southwest, attempting to bury a cat and make a killing in the real estate market. Video-artist and teacher Sharon Mooney will be our guide through this weird comedy, looking at its relation to other buddy and road-trip films and more. She will also examine the unique career of star Crispin Glover!

Sharon A. Mooney is a Chicago-based video artist who hails from Richmond, Virginia. Her neo-realistic work in documentary portrait, narrative and animation has screened internationally in a variety of festivals and galleries. She holds an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from The School of Visual Arts in New York City and has taught at DCTV, SVA, and University of Cincinnati, Raymond Walters College. She currently is an educational multimedia producer teaches in the Digital Cinema program at DePaul University. She currently is an educational multimedia producer and teaches in the Digital Cinema program at DePaul University.

Via Facets Night School

Natalie Edwards: Featured Artist Saturday, August 7

2010-07-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

If you're a Chicagoan and haven't heard of FeatherProof Books you're missing out. A Chi-town gem, FeatherProof is in their own words, "an indie publisher dedicated to doing whatever we want."

This lighthearted spirit carries over into the work they select for publication and the means used to publish it. The kidz at FeatherProof have perfected the made for download mini-book. These mini-books are to be printed and assembled in high D-I-Y fashion in the comforts of a reader's own home. And I have to say I LOVE this punk rock attitude. HEY little birdies, It's CHEAP and CHIC. They have also launched an experimental iPhone app called Triple Quick which features downloadable stories from FeatherProof writers. I'm amazed at how cutting edge this truly is.

But enough of my fawning! One of our Featured Artists for August 7^th, is a young woman by the name of Natalie Edwards. Natalie, has a mini-book out by FeatherProof Books called "Crop Milk" available for download here: Crop Milk Please make sure to assemble and read. The focal point of Crop Milk is Southern breakfast chain, The Waffle House. Crop Milk is fantastic, if I do say so myself.

I met Natalie at the Art Institute in a fiction seminar taught by Carol Anshaw. That semester Natalie recounted a wild story about a rattlesnake festival San Antonio, Florida.

The festival occurs annually in a park across from Natalie's former Catholic school, a place she spent "eight very long years." Something about the image of nuns and rattlesnakes is priceless. The Florida girl in me latched on to this moment and before I knew it this story had wedged itself into my mind permanently.

Look out for Natalie on Saturday, we at the Division|Collective are delighted to have her as our Featured Artist!

by Anndell Quintero

Joseph Altshuler presents CHIRP! at PechaKucha Night Chicago

2010-07-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Come see Joseph present at our next event August 7th!!