“Art is creativity. It’s about touching other people,” espoused artist Luis DeLaTorre this past weekend during an open studio event at the Bridgeport Art Center.
The converted warehouse has rented studio space to artists, now numbering over forty individuals, for the past eleven years. The community of artists opened their doors to the public for an event held as part of the Chicago Artists Month.
DeLaTorre was engaged in a discussion about an artist’s purpose with fellow artist JB Daniel, who is based out of a studio in Pullman. This afternoon’s experience was quickly transcending my expectations of a mere gallery viewing. I felt like a spying child, overhearing a conversation not meant for my ears. I had seen De La Torre’s work on display for all to see, but was now taking part in his private lament of the commoditization of art.
The conversation was interrupted by DeLaTorre’s computer loudly proclaiming the hour, and he explained that these hourly reminders helped him stay on track while working in the studio.
Time-keeping computers, coffee makers, an exercise bike, a small dog, imposing music – all these were the incredibly human touches that leant poignancy to the crossing of each studio’s threshold. The spaces seemed almost too personal to admit visitors.
Yet this intimacy, once broached, greatly enriched interaction with the art displayed through the halls, in the main gallery, and in individual studios, by thrusting it into dialogue with the artists themselves.
An abstract work featuring the words “she is person” was a striking presence viewed sans any context in the space of Amanda Williams’ studio. However, the piece gained a distinctive complexity and powerfulness after Williams explained that the words were taken from a document signed by her great-grandmother, a freed slave, after whom Williams is named.
Williams spoke of drawing inspiration from this document’s call to establish that her great-grandmother existed through her signature. She pointed to a work-in-progress that used this signature, giving a glimpse of the artistic process that unfolded in this sunlit studio.
Around the corner, Lisa Limas voiced the comfort of knowing that people other than herself appreciated her art, as I purchased a beautiful necklace she had crafted. I was delighted to realize she had also created my favorite piece from the main gallery, an installation of a bird’s nest nestled in a wire basket, under which stood a beaten wooden sawhorse. Her tale of discovering in the streets the three individual components that eventually found their homes in “Now commonplace and overlooked,” as the work was titled, made the finished piece more dear.
With each successive artist who welcomed me, and fellow visitors, into his or her studio, a window was opening into the different ways in which they expressed life through the mediums of their work. While art in itself may be a meaningful manner of touching others, glimpses into the worlds of the artists that create this art only enrich this form of communication.
The Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35th St. See their website, bridgeportart.com, for information on any upcoming events, as well as a listing of artists’ studios
