Art Encounter
927 Noyes St.
(847) 328-9222
Nov. 9, 1:30-3 p.m.
$20 per person; advance registration
A local program is getting people out of the gallery and into the homes, studios and galleries of area artists.
Joanna Pinsky, a painter and the artistic director for Art Encounter, said she and a few other artists founded the program in 1978 to increase art awareness and appreciation within their community.
“We found that people often didn’t know what was going on in contemporary art, and schools all over the area were cutting art programs,” Pinsky said. “We started doing programs for the general public and bringing original art into schools and the community to conduct presentations.”
The program organizes tours for patrons on selected Wednesdays.
On Nov. 9, Art Encounter will visit the home of Daniel Parker, a 3,200 square foot apartment filled with African-American art and furnishings from Asia, such as oriental rugs.
Pinsky said the Parker tour is a good example of the program’s main goal – to help non-artists understand art.
“It emphasizes that there are different ways to interpret a work of art,” Pinsky said. “People always ask ‘what did the artist mean?’ because they’re too insecure with their own perceptions. Our goal is to make art more accessible.”
A Festival of Jewish Stories
Piven Theatre
927 Noyes St.
(847) 866-8049
Nov. 10 – Dec. 18
Preview showings 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 and 9, 2:30 p.m. Nov. 6
$10 tickets for students on Thursday and Friday (must call 24 hours in advance)
To kick off the 2005-06 season, the Piven Theatre company is presenting “A Festival of Jewish Stories,” a series of four theatrical storytellings from classic authors such as Bernard Malamud and Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Founder and artistic director Joyce Piven said performing literary theater is a large part of the company’s mission and part of its base as a performance group.
“Instead of transforming narration into dialogue, we keep the text intact and animate the narration with the ensemble of actors guiding us through the scenes,” Piven said in an e-mail to The Daily. “This allows us as a theater to expand our explorations beyond the traditional play canon.”
This particular production is a good seasonal choice because it explores the meanings of Hanukkah and Christmas and the way religion affects secular American society, Piven said.
Northwestern sociology professor Bernard Beck, who teaches theater classes for the company, will perform in the ensemble for the show.
Mindscape Adornments
2114 Central St.
(847) 864-2660
Through Nov. 17
Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday, noon – 5 p.m.
Free admission
At Mindscape Adornments, human dreams are ceramic.
The gallery is showing a collection of sculptures by Mark Chatterley that examine the nature of the subconscious.
“It’s figurative work that’s sort of otherworldly,” said James Leterneau, co-owner of the gallery. “There’s a timeless, dug-up-from-the-earth sort of look.”
Leterneau said the artist wanted to use large-scale sculptures of bodies to look at what people think about when they’re dreaming.
“It’s a very creative way of looking at the figure and stimulating the imagination,” Leterneau said.
The 32-year-old gallery doesn’t specialize only in sculpture – it also features jewelry, clothing and glass, as well as some housewares.
Prices range from $15 for small trinkets such as ornaments and earrings to more than $1,000. Everything in the gallery is on sale.
“We have some fabulous little toys and ornaments and things for the home or entertaining – a lot of really fun stuff,” Leterneau said. “And, it’s right down the street.”
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