Community Calendar

Stemming from the roots that gave rise to Blues, Jazz and Gospel music, My Way: African American Art from the Black South surveys a collection of 156 works of art representing the styles and practices of this incredibly unique and inspired group of 46 artists including 8 original quilts constructed by the Gee's Bend quilters in rural Boykin, Alabama. <br/><br/>Artists include: Thornton Dial, Purvis Young, Lonnie Holley, Mary T. Smith, Joe Light, Lorraine Pettway, Mose Tolliver, and more.

The BIPOC Initiative - Artists Select Artists<br/><br/>October 23rd marks the opening date for two new solo exhibitions under the umbrella of the Freeport Art Museum’s Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) Initiative. The BIPOC Initiative aims to encourage artists and patrons of color to view the museum as a welcoming venue for artists of color to exhibit their work. Moreover, the initiative seeks to develop an improved relationship with the broader BIPOC community so that a more socially inclusive and diverse audience feels welcome. The overriding goals are to create an environment where the BIPOC community participates in programs and activities and broadens the art exhibited in ways that establish social and racial equity and shares our diverse community's knowledge and contributions. <br/><br/>To achieve this goal, the Freeport Art Museum (FAM) has established a new system for selecting artists whose works will be featured in the main galleries. Over next five years two solo shows per year will be awarded to artists of color selected by artists of color. This systemic change aims to help center Native American personhood, address anti-Blackness, dismantle white supremacy, and advance racial justice. <br/><br/>The inaugural BIPOC artist to show this year is Patrick Earl Hammie, professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign. Hammie selected the second artist, Milwaukee-based Tyanna J. Buie, to show concurrently in an adjacent gallery. Each artist is creating new work to install in FAM’s main galleries this October. Buie will select the artist for 2022, establishing the succession of artists for the series. The guiding principle will be that all chosen artists self-identify as BIPOC. FAM’s aspiration is that over the course of five years FAM will become known as an organization that encourages, supports, and reaches BIPOC artists. FAM recognizes this initiative as an essential step towards fulfilling our mission for a more inclusive institution. <br/>FAM has also committed to cultivating a diverse board and staff so that people of color participate in planning, programming, and policymaking for the organization. <br/><br/>About The Artists Patrick Earl Hammie: I Am… Legend is a collection of wall installations and works on paper that study American experiences haunted by racialized angst and terrorism, visualizing how far we go to allay fear and pursue happiness. Referencing Soul Train and early lynching photographs, Hammie explores embedded anxieties and self-heroization, disrupting nostalgia to propose how personal connections to collective experience allows space for empathy and action. Through the lens of the ethno-Gothic, a sub-genre of horror developed in Black speculative culture, Hammie taps into and comments on the fear of the Other to ask: From where and by whom do Americans narrate, remember, and commune with our pasts? What stories do we tell to create meaning for ourselves and inform meaning around others? We have survived the past—how do we imagine the future? <br/><br/>Patrick Hammie, MFA is a painter, draftsman, sculptor, and illustrator. He uses portraits and allegories to examine personal and shared Black experiences and presents stories that expand our understanding of others. Hammie’s art has been exhibited in Germany, India, and South Africa, among other places, in venues such as the California African American Museum, Kunstwerk Carlshütte, The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art. Hammie currently serves as Associate Professor and Chair of Studio Art at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the School of Art + Design. Tyanna J. Buie: EMBODIMENT(S) In response to a previous work titled: I’M SPEAKING: Listen to Black Women, based on the Vice-Presidential debate in 2020, Embodiment(s), is an exhibition that features large-scale works on paper while continuing to explore her connection to images, fragmentation, appropriation, the contemporary condition, social media/commentary, and identity, using Deep-Fake technology and easily accessible tools such as smartphone applications (ReFace, Momento, Giphy), all combined with images and texts solely derived from mass-media, referencing significant black popular cultural moments. <br/><br/>Tyanna Buie, MFA is a Chicago/Milwaukee native. She lives and works out of Detroit, Michigan and specializes in printmaking. Buie works from found family photographs often incorporating collage or drawing into her prints. Buie’s inspiration comes from a family history of incarceration and the mugshots recorded and publicly displayed on digital platforms. She seeks to, “take the power away from what the image means, what it could mean, and give it another narrative.” Buie imbues celebration within these images by, “putting the family on a platform that they never thought they could exist” because of their history. Buie has completed multiple residencies and has been awarded numerous fellowships. Her works are included in major institutions and private collections nationally. In 2020, Buie collaborated with Shepard Fairey on the Voting Rights are Human Rights mural in Milwaukee, WI. Buie is an Assistant Professor/Section Chair of Printmaking at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI.

The Freeport Art Museum is pleased to present the work of Angie Redmond, a recent Master of Fine Arts graduate from Northern Illinois University. Redmond’s figurative paintings are full of energetic color and brushwork which emphasizes the complexities of human emotions and behavior. Her paintings of friends, family, and strangers focus on the beauty of just being, uncluttered by all the various identities that may be adopted by them or attached to them by others. Addressing social change and justice, she wishes her work to emphasize peace and to speak to all, respecting differences, and honoring similarities. <br/><br/>Angie's artwork has been shown nationally in various museums, galleries, and universities (including Governor’s State University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northern Illinois University) ranging from Chicago, New York City, Miami, and Michigan. She had her first solo exhibition at Albion College in Michigan in 2018. She was a finalist in the first Rush Philanthropies Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series in 2010 and exhibited at N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Art for the semi-finals. She also exhibited artwork in the 2015, 2019, and 2020 Museum of Science and Industry’s Black Creativity (winning Best in Show of the 2020 installment) and was voted winner of the Ultimate Painting Chicago Live Painting Competition in 2015. <br/><br/>This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and sponsorship by FHN.

This exhibit of original works in all media focuses on landscapes that feature scenes of nature: mountains, lakes, gardens, rivers, etc., or cityscapes – views of an urban setting, urbanscape – same as cityscape, or seascapes – views of the ocean, or waterscapes – views primarily featuring fresh water.

Fri. 6-9pm & Sat. 9am-4pm. Super shopping for great gifts by local artisans. Music & sweet treats. Chili on Sat. 50 cent donation at 1021 State St.

Join us for formal Zen sitting instruction, meditation, and discussion. Zen Sitting Group DeKalb is an ongoing activity occurring twice monthly on a variable schedule. The group is open to all persons and will be housed at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of DeKalb, 150 N. 4th Street. Please check our Zen Sitting Group DeKalb Facebook page for the schedule and for further information. You can also email John at birdsfan53@yahoo.com or call 630/779-5962.

New works created by Stephanie Brooks will be exhibited at the Riverside Art Center Freeark Gallery. Opening reception on Friday, 3 December from 6 to 9 PM. The exhibition, titled "Obstacles and Intimacies", will continue until 8 January. <br/><br/>With the works in this exhibition, she interrogates ways in which intimacy and barriers intersect. Using barricades both literally and metaphorically, she asks viewers to think on what is a barricade and what is intimate in their lives...how do we navigate and negotiate public and private spaces? <br/><br/>Stephanie Brooks is a conceptual artist, writer, and curator living in Chicago. She earned her BFA degree from Ohio University and MFA degree from University of Illinois Chicago. She exhibits her work nationally and internationally including exhibits in Atlanta, Chicago, Denmark, Indianapolis, London, Los Angeles, Louisville, San Francisco, New York, Vienna, Phoenix, and Hawaii. <br/>She is an Adjunct Professor teaching in the Sculpture Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. <br/>Her publications include Love Is A Certain Kind Of Flower, Green Lantern Press; Poem and Poem Forms, Illinois State University Press; The Virginia Quarterly Review, and Critical Inquiry. Her art is included in the permanent collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Microsoft Corporation, and Philip Morris Corporation, as well as many private collections. <br/>Curatorial projects include Humor Us, and Oli Watt, What? At The Riverside Arts Center. stephaniebrooks.com riversideartscenter.com <br/><br/>Also exhibiting will be the executive director of Riverside Art Center, Liz Chilsen, a Chicago-area artist, educator and arts administrator. Her work explores connections between human spirit and physical place. <br/>She has been exhibited throughout the US and internationally, and her work is held at Detroit Institute of Arts, Wisconsin Historical Society, Nicaragua Cultural Center, the University of Illinois’ Comer Archive, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. <br/>She is recipient of numerous awards and honors, including an Individual Artist Fellowship from IL Arts Council, an IL Humanities Bicentennial Action Grant, residencies at Ragdale Foundation, Chicago Artists’ Coalition, and The Center program at Hyde Park Art Center. <br/>Chilsen holds an MFA in Photography from Columbia College and a Bachelor of Science in Art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is Director of “Lessons of Place”, a photographic study of endangered places funded by Illinois Humanities, and a Teaching Artist with Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) in Chicago Public Schools.

The Celebration Chorale is pleased to announce the return to live performances, with the Christmas cantata, “There is Peace in the World Tonight,” which will be presented at 7:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, December 3rd and 4th, and Sunday, December 5th at 2:00 p.m. The production will be held at First United Methodist Church, 317 North 4th Street in DeKalb.<br/><br/>Although the Celebration Chorale practices and performs at FUMC in DeKalb, the musicians come from all over the area and include professionals and amateurs, longtime Chorale members, and those who are new to the group. The Chorale has singers representing over nine different church denominations and more than 10 local communities. The Celebration Chorale and Orchestra are under the direction of Christine Monteiro. <br/><br/>The church is an accessible facility. Please enter from the Fourth Street ground level entrance to reach the elevator easily. There is parking available adjacent to the church and across Fourth Street. There is no charge for the performances at the church, but there will be a free-will offering.<br/><br/> Due to COVID-19 protocols, attendees will be required to wear masks inside the building. Additionally, there will be no fellowship or post-cantata reception. <br/><br/>For information about the concerts, or for information on joining the Celebration Chorale call Sally Mullis, Celebration Chorale Leadership Team President at (815) 739-6087 or visit their Facebook page at, The Celebration Chorale.

The St. Charles Singers will present a signature mix of Christmas favorites and stylish, lesser-known seasonal songs, including a world premiere, at its December 2021 Candlelight Carols concerts in St. Charles and Chicago, continuing a Yuletide tradition that began with the choir’s founding in 1984. <br/><br/>Hailed by American Record Guide as “a national treasure,” the St. Charles Singers will perform 18 seasonal songs, including five that are new to the choir’s repertoire <br/><br/>The mixed-voice chamber choir of professional and professionally trained singers will present Candlelight Carols at 7:30 p.m. Friday, December 3, at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles, Illinois; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, December 4, at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St., Chicago; and 3:00 p.m. Sunday, December 5, at Baker Church, St. Charles. <br/><br/>Among songs to be heard for the first time at a St. Charles Singers concert is a new work by multifaceted musician Scott Stevenson of Downers Grove, Illinois, commissioned by the St. Charles Singers. Receiving its world premiere will be Stevenson’s “Whose woods are these,” a musical setting of Robert Frost poetry. <br/><br/>Choirmaster Jeffrey Hunt says, “The piece is unusual in that it uses a whirly tube and harness bells to illuminate the ethereal and stark colors of the work.” <br/><br/>Other works on the Candlelight Carols program are Boris Ord’s setting of “Adam lay ybounden,” Jan Sandström’s arrangement of Michael Praetorius’s melody for “Lo, how a rose e’er blooming,” Javier Busto’s setting of “Ave Maria,” Shawn Kirchner’s arrangement of Glenn McClure and Wes Kennison’s “One Sweet Little Baby,” Alice Parker and Robert Shaw’s arrangement of “Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella,” Robert A. Boyd’s arrangement of David Willcocks’ “Silent Night,” and Christopher Robinson’s setting of “Rejoice and be merry.” <br/><br/>Also: Carolyn Jennings’ arrangement of “Ding Dong! Merrily on High,” Robert Pearsall’s arrangement of “In dulci jubilo,” Paul Manz’s “E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come,” R.R. Terry’s “Myn Lyking,” John Rutter’s “Mary’s Lullaby,” Willcocks’ “Birthday Carol,” Rutter’s arrangement of “Sans Day Carol,” David Hill’s arrangement of “Away in a Manger,” Peter Warlock’s “Balulalow,” and Arthur Warrell’s arrangement of “A Merry Christmas.” <br/><br/>Hunt says Sandström’s setting of “Lo, how a rose” will captivate listeners with its “ethereal” spirit. Robinson’s “Rejoice and be merry,” Hunt says, “is very stylish in how it moves through interesting harmonies and counterpoint.”

This holiday season the WSSR presents a hilarious Peter Pan adventure for the whole family! <br/><br/>Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter And The Starcatcher is an imaginative retelling of the origins of Peter Pan as he escapes his orphanage, battles pirates, discovers Neverland— and learns how to fly! <br/><br/>Featuring 11 actors portraying more than 100 unforgettable characters, Peter And The Starcatcher uses live music, ingenious stagecraft, and the limitless possibilities of imagination to bring the story to life.