Sassy Aphrodite has gone Uptown

“The world basically and fundamentally
is constituted on the basis of harmony.
Everything works in co-operation with something else.”
~ Preston Bradley

It is such fun to explore the city and discover pockets of artistic support in so many places, especially during Chicago Artists Month. This weekend I dropped off my Sassy Aphrodite at the Uptown Arts Center on Lawrence. She will be part of The Sacred Show, featuring 19 other artists. The Sacred Show, curated by Colette Wright Adams, opens (tomorrow) Saturday, October 20 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

On October 27, the Uptown Art Center will host an Artists Talking session with members of the show, from 3 to 5 p.m. The Artists Talking series continues with fiber artist and UU minister Reverend Adam Robersmith discussing “Creativity and Spirituality: Humanist and Pagan” from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 11. An RSVP and $6 for an afternoon breakfast is requested for these events. Additional viewing hours are Saturdays 1 to 4 p.m. or by appointment  773-450-7246, or at an open house November 17 from 6 to 10 p.m.

The Uptown Arts Center just opened in June, and includes galleries that focus on contemporary painting and drawing by emerging and mid-career artists. In addition to the exhibition space and shared studio space, the center offers workshops and classes, an Artist and Collectors Group with two membership levels, and rental space that gives artists, producers, community organizations and event planners an opportunity to develop their own art practices and business ventures centered on community and arts education.

 

Collette Wright Adams’ studio space at the Uptown Art Center

The Uptown Arts Center is located on the fourth floor of the Preston Bradley Center, at 941 W. Lawrence in Chicago, IL. This building also houses the Peoples Church of Chicago.

 

The hard-to-miss awning of the People’s Church of Chicago

The Preston Bradley Center honors the Peoples Church of Chicago’s  pastor, Dr. Preston Bradley, who served the church from 1912 to 1978. Per the web site, he marched with Jane Addams for woman’s suffrage and with Martin Luther King for civil rights. Among the first to broadcast his sermons over the radio, Preston Bradley’s radio ministry inspired the TV show “Guiding Light”.

This historic 1926 six story building has an auditorium on the main floor, a theater and galleries on the fourth floor, and meeting rooms available to the public, including musical events, weddings, lectures, and public meetings. Molly’s Café is located on floor 3 ½.

Sassy Aphrodite put on her raincoat (of wax paper) on a stormy day, and enjoyed the ride to her new sleepover location.

The Sacred Show artists include:

• Collette Wright Adams
• Andrea Dauser
• Benjamin DeMott
• Margaret Garrity
• Larry Hart
• Katherine Harvath
• Brian Hofmeister
• Mari Lamp
• Andrew Larson
• Beatriz E. Ledesma
• Jeffrey Littleton
• Janet Metzger
• Jonas Middleton
• LeNardo Nelson Sr.
• Robert Pockmire
• Erin Weseli Rossi
• Maike van Wijk
• Laura Wetter
• Gail Willert
• Scott Gordon Wills

“If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred.”
~ Walt Whitman

While in Greece, I was struck by the Goddess statues reflecting women of all shapes and sizes. Each Goddess reflected humanity and personality, aspects popular culture of airbrushing and skinny ideals tends to downplay.

Sassy Aphrodite encaustic collage by Maike’s Marvels

Yet each woman is a unique creation, and divine in her own right. Sassy Aphrodite — Goddess of Love — is everywoman, confident in her pose, and present in the moment. Love begins with self-love: appreciating one’s own exquisiteness, elegance, and extraordinary existence. In recognizing our sacredness, that love spills out onto others.

“I’ve never met a person, I don’t care what his condition,
in whom I could not see possibilities.
I don’t care how much a man may consider himself a failure,
I believe in him, for he can change the thing that is wrong in his life
any time he is ready and prepared to do it.
Whenever he develops the desire, he can take away
from his life the thing that is defeating it.
The capacity for reformation and change lies within.”
~ Preston Bradley

You can see my work in other locations as well. Superior is up at the Kinzie Community Corridor Gallery, Migrant Danaus is fluttering among colorful works at Dick Blick Evanston, and my Malachites are admiring encaustic works at The Buzz with FUSEDChicago in Zhou B Art Center.