Isaac Jacobs – Page 4 – Clef Notes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

Art Winter 2021

Patterns in History: Bisa Butler Portraits at The Art Institute

January 28, 2021 Isaac Jacobs Art Institute of Chicago, Bisa Butler

Creating a historical narrative can easily become an artform all its own. Weaving a cultural narrative with the potent messages worthy of conveyance from one generation to the next is no light pursuit. Transform that narrative from written language to a visual tapestry, and you bring real depth to history and culture merging into the realm of artistry. This winter, The Art Institute of Chicago will present a new exhibition that showcases the kind of artistry that makes history come alive. Bisa Butler: Portraits, on view at the museum through April 19, 2021 showcases 22 quilts in four galleries and engages viewers with poignant themes of family, community, migration and the promise of youth, artistic and intellectual legacies. Meticulously stitched with vivid fabrics that emerge in painterly portraits, Bisa Butler’s quilts convey rich, one-of-a-kind, multidimensional narratives of Black life.

Theater

Goodman Theatre to Present Debut “Future Labs” Reading, Layalina by Martin Yousif Zebari

January 28, 2021 Isaac Jacobs Goodman Theatre

ayalina by Martin Yousif Zebari, the first play of Goodman Theatre’s Future Labs, makes its virtual debut, launching the theater’s newest effort to develop new plays. Directed by Azar Kazemi, Layalina examines how families maintain their love in the midst of turbulent global and social change. Future Labs develops works authored and directed by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, AAPI and other artists of color, curated by Quenna L. Barrett (Associate Director of Education and Engagement), Jonathan L. Green (Literary and New Works Manager) and Ken-Matt Martin (Associate Producer) and a Goodman Staff Evaluation Team composed of individuals of intersectional identities and in areas across the theater. The live virtual reading of Layalina streams on January 30.

Art Autumn 2020

Surreality: Preview of “The Long Dream” at MCA

November 3, 2020 Isaac Jacobs COVID-19, Dawoud Bey, Jim Nutt, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Nice Cave, William Pope.L

Equal parts farce and harsh reality, the year 2020 has been something of a surreal moment for most of us. Few, if any, can boast of lives untouched by the events that have thrown our nation, nee world, into flux these past eight or night months. On our hands, we’ve got a worldwide pandemic which has amassed millions of victims worldwide and killed more than 200,000 (and still counting) in the U.S. alone; public unrest has mounted quickly over what is seen as unjust, state-absolved killings of unarmed African-Americans at the hands of police; shutdowns from coast to coast that have upended any sense of normalcy for most households; pulsing upticks in white-nationalism have taken place in the public square; and on top of all of that, we’ve got a contentious presidential election on our hands.

Art Summer 2020

Finding El Greco

June 1, 2020 Isaac Jacobs Art Institute of Chicago

There’s something quite fascinating about a historical figure whose life’s work has transcended generations. When that figure is someone who’s motivations and movements were shrouded in mystery, their work bears even more scrutiny. Their works take on even more meaning. A new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago seeks to unveil the mystery behind one such master by examining the works he left behind.

Museums Summer 2020

Shedd Aquarium Boards New Guests in Support of Conservation Efforts

June 1, 2020 Isaac Jacobs

Even though it may be closed to visitors, the Shedd Aquarium has invited new guests to the institution in an effort to further its important conservation efforts this spring. Joining with Tennessee Aquarium earlier this year, Shedd launched a new effort to safeguard the endangered Barrens Topminnow (Fundulus julisia) from extinction. Welcoming six individual fish from the species, Shedd began a head-start program for the fish, listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in October 2019. In the short time since its launch, the effort has already marked an important milestone.

Par-Excellence-Redux-at-Elmhurst-Art-Museum

Art Museums Spring 2020

The Art of Golf

March 29, 2020 Isaac Jacobs Elmhurst Art Museum, School of the Art Institute

Back in the summer of 1988, 18 Chicago painters and sculptors assembled at the School of the Art Institute to design and build what has become one of the most wildly popular exhibitions it has showcased to date. In a fully immersive experience that melded art and recreation, these artists designed a unique indoor 18-hole mini-golf course comprised of stations as disparate as they were creative.

Museums Spring 2020

The Stories They Tell

March 29, 2020 Isaac Jacobs Museum of Science and Industry, U-505 Submarine Exhibit

History is all about storytelling, conveying not only facts and figures but facets of daily life, hopes, dreams and the very ethos that surrounded an event or time of interest. These are the meat and bones of truly meaningful stories of the past, stories that not only depict ideas about a historical period or event, but those that convey the very humanity of those central to the period’s focus. One of the best ways to tell such stories is through access to a physical place, ephemera or items stemming from the period or time in question. Examining such items and spaces offers a first-hand look at how a historical subject lived, their chief concerns, their daily life and the culture in which they lived.