Join Colossal and Joy Machine on March 2 for an embroidery workshop with Peter Frederiksen, who will share his unique approach to image-making followed by his signature Stitch Circle. Dive into the artist’s process, learn to embroider, and make a friend or two.

All skill levels are welcome, and tickets include all materials and snacks.

This workshop will be held at Joy Machine, a new contemporary art gallery in Chicago. It coincides with the inaugural exhibition, Light Preserver, which features Frederiksen’s embroideries alongside works by eight artists who cultivate and ritualize joy.

Colossal Members can use the discount code in their account for $5 off.

Save your seat!

About Peter Frederiksen

Working mainly with textiles, Peter Frederiksen pulls imagery from vintage cartoons and embroiders them into intricate works of art. Frederiksen is interested in the aesthetics of American animation’s “Golden Age,” which spanned from the 1930s to the 1950s. These TV shows’ dark humor, anthropomorphism, and kitsch pervade Frederiksen’s depictions of cartoon characters like Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, and the Looney Tunes. The artist points out the fragile nature of nostalgia in these woven works and how the past is often romanticized. A Chicago native, Frederiksen studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and still lives and works in the city.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Colossal x Joy Machine Workshop: Stitch Circle with Peter Frederiksen appeared first on Colossal.

For the second annual Chicago Exhibition Weekend, we’re teaming up with Art21 for a special workshop led by teaching artist Alex Mendez. Join us at Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S. Cornell Avenue, Chicago) for a spray painting demonstration and an all-ages opportunity to make art together.

All supplies, including water-based paint, will be provided.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Colossal x Art21 Workshop: Spray Painting with Alex Mendez appeared first on Colossal.

We’re excited to share a Colossal-curated project debuting April 11 at The Other Art Fair Chicago. On opening night, usher in spring with a magical edible installation by Chicago-based artist Hyun Jung Jun of Dream Cake Test Kitchen.

In “Dreamscape,” sweet meringues float amid an ethereal garden, with delicate drawings airbrushed on site. Jun is known for sculptural pastries evocative of mountains, streams, and birds, which she refers to as “landscapes of joy.” Meant to be shared among friends, the desserts are inherently ephemeral, becoming an epicurean reminder to savor moments of beauty and pleasure. Viewers are invited to eat the meringues throughout the evening, transforming “Dreamscape” from one diaphanous scene into another.

Join us on April 11 at Artifact Events in Ravenswood for The Other Art Fair, and use the code COLOSSAL20 for 20% off tickets.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘Dreamscape’ at The Other Art Fair Chicago appeared first on Colossal.

Join photographer Pablo Ortiz Monasterio and Colossal to discuss Frida Kahlo: Her Photos.

In 2007, Monasterio was asked to curate an exhibition of images from Kahlo’s vast archive of photography, never before seen by the public. Hidden for decades within a bathroom in La Casa Azul in Mexico City (the artist’s famous home, now the Frida Kahlo Museum), the collection contained more than 6,000 photos taken by and belonging to the artist and her husband Diego Rivera. Monasterio ultimately gathered 401 of the most significant findings in the illuminating book, Frida Kahlo: Her Photos, now in its fifth printing.

Join Colossal and Monasterio to discuss the process of sorting through Kahlo’s expansive collection and what we’ve learned about her life and work as a result.

This virtual conversation is free and open to the public. Register to reserve your seat.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Curating ‘Frida Kahlo: Her Photos’ Talk with Pablo Ortiz Monasterio appeared first on Colossal.

We’re thrilled to welcome artist Ýr Jóhannsdóttir, better known as Ýrúrarí, for our first Colossal Workshop of 2024. During this one-hour session, Ýrúrarí will offer insight into her process and teach the needle-felting technique she often uses in her creative mending projects that transform sweaters into friends. The techniques are suitable for complete beginners, just grab a needle and some wool and join in.

Colossal Members receive $5 off. Find the discount code on the membership dashboard.

Register to reserve your seat.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Workshop: Make Your Sweaters into Friends with Ýrúrarí’s Cheeky Needle-Felt Mending appeared first on Colossal.

Paradigm Gallery + Studio is pleased to present Lone Splendor, a group exhibition curated by Colossal founder, Christopher Jobson, marking his fourth guest-curated exhibition with the gallery with his largest artist selection to date. Lone Splendor will be on view on the first floor of the Paradigm Arts Building (12 N. 3rd Street) from December 1, 2023, through January 7, 2024, with a public opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, December 1.

Featuring works by Adrian Landon Brooks, Allison May Kiphuth, Andrew McIntosh, Bunnie Reiss, Christina Keith, Danielle Clough, Danym Kwon, Duy Huynh, Eli McMullen, Graham Franciose, Hari & Deepti, Jeremy Miranda, Lindzeanne, Lorraine Loots, Lucy O’Doherty, Michael Dandley, and Toni Hamel.

From the curator:

Growing up in rural Texas, our nearest neighbor was a three-minute hike across a long dam. As it happens, that neighbor, Larry, was an astronomy professor at the University of Texas, and next to his house was an enormous white building capped with a huge dome. On warm summer nights, he would invite students from the university to look at the sky, unobstructed viewing away from the lights of Austin, complete with a cardboard “STAR PARTY” sign that hung from his mailbox. When I was seven years old, we made the walk at night across the dam and through a yard filled with telescopes on trailers and telescopes mounted in the back of pickup trucks, everyone smoking cigarettes, drinking beer, and pointing at the sky.

My mother walked me up to the strange domed building where I encountered a telescope the size of a refrigerator angled toward the night sky. Larry lifted me onto a stool, and I peered into a small lens. It seared something into my mind forever. A speck of light in the sky had been magnified to such a degree that it was suddenly right here in front of me, and it wasn’t a moon or even the shape of a star as I imagined. Instead, it was an orb banded in brilliant colors and ringed by a wide halo swathed in a gradient of light: it was Saturn. A pinprick that glimmered in the sky right above me every night was infinitely more complex than a twinkle. It was an entire world. And another realization: there were things all around us that we could see but not see. Only with the help of science, art, and technology could we ever hope to make sense of these invisible things all around us.

I have since developed a deep love for unseen worlds. Borrowing a phrase from John Keats’ famous love poem “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art,” Lone Splendor brings together 18 artists from around the world who have interpreted their own imaginations and realities for us, revealing a love for art, wonder, and the unknown. With paint, thread, paper, and light, they have each taken this poem and held a telescope to it, sharing their visions of the night sky and illuminating our unceasing interest in what lies just beyond.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘Lone Splendor’ at Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia appeared first on Colossal.

Colossal is beyond thrilled to welcome South African artist Danielle Clough to Chicago for a pair of in-person workshops on embroidered color theory. On September 8 and 9, Clough will teach her unique thread-blending techniques, how to create dimension, and the basics of stitching vibrant, fiber-based renderings.

Students receive a kit of materials designed specifically for Colossal, and all skill levels are welcome. She will teach different projects and skills in both workshops, so we urge you to join both sessions.

September 8: Vibrant Thread Blending Workshop

September 9: Sew Far Sew Good

These workshops are held in partnership with 21c Museum Hotel, a multi-venue contemporary art museum with locations around the Midwest. They are also supported by DMC, a leading global needlecraft company based in Mulhouse, France.

If you’re a Colossal Member, be sure to use the discount code in your account for $10 off. If you plan to travel and stay at the hotel, participants can receive a 25 percent discount on rooms at 21c Museum Hotel in Chicago. Reach out to us at hello@colossal.art so we can help you book your room.

If you’re in Philadelphia, our friends at Paradigm Gallery + Studio are also hosting the artist for a three-day class on abstract embroideries.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Workshops: Thread Blending and Color Theory Embroidery with Danielle Clough appeared first on Colossal.

Join Colossal and the Design Museum of Chicago at Gene Siskel Film Center for a screening of Tasha van Zandt’s After Antarctica (2021). The award-winning feature-length documentary follows renowned polar explorer Will Steger’s life journey as an eyewitness to the greatest changes in the polar regions of our planet. Thirty years after his historic expedition across the coldest continent on Earth, Steger is not only known for being the first in history to complete this historic feat–he is also the last.

A discussion with glaciologist Doug MacAyeal and cosmochemist Maria Valdes will follow the screening.
 

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘After Antarctica’ Screening at Gene Siskel Film Center appeared first on Colossal.

Join Colossal and the Design Museum of Chicago for a volunteer day at the Happy Returns studio, home of Redemptive Plastics. During this four-hour session, you’ll learn the ins and outs of the team’s innovative plastic recycling process and lend a hand in repurposing household waste.

Space is limited to 16 volunteers, so reserve your spot.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘At the Precipice’ Volunteer Session at Happy Returns Studio appeared first on Colossal.

What does justice look like in the age of the climate crisis? Artists Morel Doucet, Chris Pappan, and Migwa Nthiga join moderator Justin Dwaun Redding to talk about the links between environmental destruction and racism, how those differ across regions, and the role of art in shaping a more equitable future.

This virtual conversation is hosted by the Design Museum of Chicago and will be recorded.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘At the Precipice’ Artist Talk: Art + Climate Justice appeared first on Colossal.