So, what is your connection with the Chicago Art Community?
At the age of 8, my family relocated to Pilsen from Mexico City, following the trajectory of many families running from an oppressive environment to a place seemingly abundant with opportunities. And it was really through Marwen [marwen.org] that my connection with the Chicago art community started and developed. A member of their outreach staff came to explain their free art program at Saucedo, where I was a sixth grader, and since drawing had been as natural as playing ball, I signed up for painting classes. Later, I became a teaching assistant for a few of their teachers. I'm really proud that I recently had an intern from Marwen at the Arts Club of Chicago, where I work as an exhibitions preparator. The experience of introducing a student to the work that goes on behind the scenes of an art show was rewarding, especially since Sarah was a Marwen student. Also, my job at the Arts Club keeps me engaged in the Chicago arts community in a very unique way. It's a position where I act as the caretaker of art that Chicagoans get to enjoy and engage and it allows me to remain a student of art.
I was in New York for college, and my coming back to Chicago was a move to regain some balance. I was living in the Bronx which is the poorest and saddest looking borough in NY and where there's all sorts of contradictions, like people driving Hummers while living in public housing. My apartment was above Yankee stadium and even there it was really hard to pay rent, so I grew frustrated at not having time for art projects. The intensity of the New York art scene is incomparable and there's so much exciting stuff going on but I couldn't make time for it. My need for a better quality of life finally won out and my loved ones here in Chicago made it very easy to jump back.
How do you feel your art career may have differed without the influence and impact of Marwen?
Some experiences have a way of defining one's path in profound ways and Marwen is doing that for many kids in Chicago in positive ways. Their success underlines the shortcomings of the Public school system. In a few words, I know I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for warm hearted individuals who took arts education seriously and dedicated a heroic effort to pushing us along.
Your passion for teaching about art and culture has allowed you to have some great experiences. Tell us about your travels to Latin America and the La Capacidad program.
La Capacidad [www.lacapacidad.org] is a collective of artists who give free art workshops during summers in El Salvador. The project evolved among my college peers out of an enthusiasm for learning the history of Latin America and a shared discomfort with simply working in the studio. I jumped into the project in 2006 by traveling to the town of El Polvo, where a home base had been set up to teach drawing classes to kids. It was my first time with the full responsibility to engage a class in an art course. I found that beyond the technical work of drawing and using materials, it was the cultural exchange that was most valuable. And while we as teachers hoped to give something of value through our classes, there was a hand of solidarity that our students were stretching out to us by simply showing up to class.
Although you are an artist, you seem to have dedicated more time towards the activism of art and culture. You stated that painting & drawing take energy, but activism is more rewarding? How so?
I want to believe that my paintings carry a striking energy that moves a viewer. And, while I find myself consistently returning to painting as my main gig, being in the studio can be lonely and unproductive. So I find the need to interact directly with people and dedicate time to organizing projects really necessary and exciting. Among my friends, there's a discernible alarm with our political landscape and news outlets, among many problems. So dedicating time with others to nourish a cause is rewarding in a way that my studio work cannot be. Some of my proud volunteer work is with DemocracyNow [www.democracynow.org], Amy and her team are an invaluable asset to those who are sick of the bullshit.
What projects are you working on now?
Along with some friends, Zoe, Zach and Arielle, I am organizing a show of Art Books that will open in December at Marwen. We are still in the process of distiling the direction of the show, but in general it will be a collection of the best Art Books that we can find being made here in Chicago. If you know of dedicated artists working on an art book idea, please let me know, we are open to cool ideas and can match people up on collaborative books.
- By Pepper Coate
