BREACH — Issue No. 1: Welcome Letter
Who are we?
Doreen Abril Albuerne Rodriguez and Ruth Johnson
We are both journalism students at Columbia College Chicago. Read our full mission statement on our about page :)
DOREEN
I’ve always been enamored with the arts, (ignore the corniness but it’s true,) I admire all sorts of artworks and gawk at them for as long as I can. Pretty colors and abstract shapes are what really attract me though I wish I had the right kind of knowledge to be able to stare at a painting and say, “Oh it looks like they took inspiration from so-and-so” or “This does a beautiful job portraying ___”. I feel as though I’m not as connected to art as everyone else at my liberal arts school and it makes me feel like a left-out loser. On this journey, I also want to try and hunt down and connect with as many Hispanic and Latino artists as I can and give them the attention they deserve. (Anything I write will be italicized.)
RUTH
For me, I used to be visual artist — mainly large figure painting — but started to grow apart from it as I began college. I am surrounded, still, by many creative peers, and I get to witness all their beautiful artistic endeavors. But that’s all! I don’t know the last time I went to an art show. I so dearly love hearing people talk about the things they have created and what it all means to them. That’s my main goal, here — to meet all the incredible and smart artist minds across Chicago. (Anything I write will be bolded.)
What is this?
Chicago has long been a hub for artistic expression as well as a canvas for emerging artists! Being students from an art school, this has always been common knowledge. Yet I’ve never fully submerged myself into it — despite having a burning desire to dive headfirst into the fine art world, especially with all Chicago’s unparalleled local artists.
Through this newsletter, we’re going to pull back the curtain and, little by little, share every revelation and experience we have with you. We’ll have the opportunity (hopefully soon) to chat with a wide range of artists, soak up new galleries, and immerse ourselves in this creative scene.
Related media
The Visualist provides an extensive, interactive calendar of visual art exhibitions across Chicago. They keep calendars live, too, for a large archive of past events. This publication will be fantastic for finding new shows and artists to explore and talk to as we progress with our newsletter.
This essay, Why the Silence Around Class and the Art World Needs to Be Broken, written in 2019 by Mike Pinnington, brings up great points about the disparities within the art world, and the financial blocks that make it inaccessible to many. A study done in 2018, cited in the piece, found that only 18% of their poll pool of artists came from a working-class background. And, as already said in the essay, that is something many of us already believed to be true all over. I want to make sure we read the fine print of every art event we go to, analyzing whether everyone went to an art school or not. The last thing I’d like to do is create a newsletter only to highlight upper-class wealthy artists! I especially want to find community-based local artists, especially those who couldn’t access an art school education.
This video, Erasure by Exclusion: How Art Schools and Institutions Uphold White Supremacy, features an in-depth conversation about the institutional ways racism and capitalism permeate through the art world. Held at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, this panel discusses ways art schools uphold these structural, societal problems — and offer ways to fight against this in the classroom. This video, albeit a time commitment to watch, gave great insight and context of the ways white supremacy permeates through all types of institutions in our lives, and has given great tools for how to make sure we do not continue to uphold this imbalance through our newsletter and art-world journey.
What’s next?
We will attend our first gallery event to begin our exploration on Friday, November 3! Join us if you’d like at Circle Contemporary Chicago from 5 to 9p.m. This exhibition is hosted by Arts of Life, a nonprofit organization that provides artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities a space to expand their practice.
In our following newsletter, Doreen and I will share photos, thoughts and conversations with artists from the show. We are thrilled to go to our first art opening with BREACH.
Can’t make it to the opening? It’s open until Dec. 15 — just contact the gallery to set up a time.
If you didn’t completely hate this, subscribe and we’ll talk to you guys later! CHEERS
— Doreen and Ruth