Carrie Gundersdorf: July 7, 2009

Come check out painter Carrie Gundersdorf as she works on-site at the MCA on Tuesday, July 7 from 11 am - 7 pm. Have a chat with the artist, ask questions, be inspired.

Carrie Gundersdorf creates abstract paintings that explore color, spatial tension, and movement. Her works refer to themes in early 20th-century art and utilize images from astronomy. Carrie received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Chris Uphues On-Site: June 2

It was fabulous to have Chris Uphues as our Works In Progress artist for June. Traveling in from Brooklyn, Uphues was able to work on several projects on-site at the MCA. He chatted with visitors and even got to show them several of his finished pieces.

Chris Uphues on Tuesday June 2, 2009

We are really excited to have artist Chris Uphues participating in Works In Progress on Tuesday June 2, 2009 from 11am- 7pm. Be sure to stop by and see his work and chat with him about his process throughout the day.

Chris Uphues' paintings and drawings are concerned with a distinct visual vocabulary, embracing pop culture, graffiti, video games, comics, and all things Japanese. His work is included in major art collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. An Illinois native, Uphues received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and now lives and works in Brooklyn.

Check back for Chris' answers to the WIP Blog's questions about his process.

Sara Schnadt on May 5th

Sara Schnadt was our Works in Progress Artist on May 5th and it was great to see all of the books and images that inspire her work, as well as the materials she is working with right now. Nice to have her back and see what she has been up to since her 12x12 show and also think about her work as it relates to themes addressed by the amazing Take Your Time:Olafur Eliasson exhibition which is currently on view at the MCA.

Deb Sokolow on-site

It was great to have Deb Sokolow back for Works In Progress this April. Deb was our very first WIP artist back in October of 2007 and was a very willing participant in our little experimental program when we weren't really sure what would happen if we invited artists to work on-site for a few hours. This time we were able to invite her back to try out the new temporary wall and tables that were built just for Works In Progress.


Deb Sokolow back in 2007

Sara Schnadt

Sara Schnadt will be working on-site at the MCA on Tuesday May 5th from 11am- 7pm.

Sara Schnadt is a performance and installation artist, originally from Scotland. She creates performance installations that use found objects and everyday gestures. Through her work she explores the unifying rituals and values of western cultures, gift giving, mortality; and collective knowledge. Sarah received her MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Check out more about Sara at her website: http://saraschnadt.com


1. Could you describe an average day in the studio? Do you have any routines?
I don’t spend a large chunk of consecutive time in my studio unless I am in production for a project, so I don’t have a set usual routine. Things that I consider part of my studio practice include research, seeing a lot of art, going to hear artist and other lectures regularly that relate to my work (I fold most of my social time into these activities to get more out of my free time and to have great creative dialogue with friends), sourcing (I spend a lot of quality time at home depot), and testing ideas and construction methods in my studio. The decision-making process for my work happens at any time during my day (on the train, at work, talking to another artist, researching online) and so the time in my studio is usually about refining an idea, making drawings about how to execute it, writing proposals, and straight building/fabricating.



2. What do you collect and how does it inspire you?
I collect vintage post cards, old national geographics, recipe books from different time periods, books about engineering, physics, the philosophy of math, architecture, interesting images on Flickr, diagrams, vintage maps. I love ephemera about the history or ethos of technological progress. This material inspires my work and also often becomes its raw materials.

3. What do you like to listen to/watch while creating?
Pandora (all sorts of music, I like to try new genre combos and test Pandora’s algorithms’ curatorial skills), and if I am doing something super repetitive, a movie (esp. I like to watch Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle -which I own- when I am cranking on building something because of its fabulous uber-can-do women who are also funny). Love that film.

4. What are some of your favorite websites/blogs to visit?
Flickr, a starting place for image sourcing, so helpful, I use it a LOT.
Facebook, for a daily sense of my art community and things going on.
Wikipedia, as a starting place for most of my research, especially when it is outside of my current knowledge base. I also find it super inspiring as a project.
Inventibles, for sourcing and inspiration. An insanely amazing site to help you find new innovative materials.


5. What would you consider to be Chicago’s best kept secret?
The beaches and beautiful lakefront public spaces. Every visitor I have hosted over the years has been surprised and very impressed by these - as well as the city’s urban planning in general.

6. What is your favorite piece in the MCA collection?
Sarah Sze’s installation Proportioned to the Groove (2005), for the architectural use of found materials, especially string. And the spectacular scale, inventiveness, grandness and whimsy of it all.

7. What do you do in your studio when you are procrastinating?
My studio is in my house, so usually that means I fold studio activities in with general house puttering (watering my plants, talking on the phone, tidying – I often like to be doing several things at once). Then after a while I settle down and can focus.

8. Who (living or dead) would you invite to a cocktail party?
Amelia Earhart.

9. Do you keep a sketchbook?
No. I keep a running list of bookmarks and a Google doc of to do’s and ideas though.

10. What's the last great book you read?
Haruki Murakami’s ‘Dance, Dance, Dance’. He is my favorite author. His narrative structures are so ingenious and his books are so curious and beautiful.

11. What do you do when you hit a creative block?
I keep the materials and visual references for the idea sitting out in my studio, move on to something else, get outside inspiration from surfing the internet, going to talks, openings, etc., and just let the idea percolate until it gels. Sometimes this takes several months or longer, sometimes it resolves quickly.



12. If you weren’t an artist what would you be doing?
I have a dual career, and I am most satisfied when I am working for my own art and also creating infrastructure for other artists in support of their careers (I oversaw design and build for Chicago Artists Resource website, which is also in the planning phase of going national based on my design). This gives me a much broader and richer relationship to the art world than working exclusively on my own art. If I were to do something else altogether I think astrophysics would be my first choice - you know, understanding the universe and all ( : I studied physics in college and it is an ongoing fascination.

Deb Sokolow

Deb Sokolow will be working onsite at the MCA on April 7, 2009 from 11 am - 7pm.

Deb Sokolow's elaborate drawings map relationships among various people and places in her apartment complex, neighborhood block, and office, chronicling her feelings about them. Using materials common to office supply closets such as highlighter, pen, correction fluid, pencil, thumbtacks, in addition to found images and other materials, her penetrating observations of human behavior and folly offset the often comical tone of her storytelling. Sokolow received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute in 2004.

To see more of Sokolow's work check out her website: http://debsokolow.com/home.html


1. Could you describe an average day in the studio? Do you have any routines?
An average day in the studio involves drinking a pot of tea, eating peanut butter sandwiches, gazing out the studio window at the 8 lines of train track (I'm always hoping to see hobos) and browsing through news headlines on the Internet. If I see anything interesting, especially a story relating to drug lords, politics, or scandal, I bookmark it for future reference. Then I start in on whatever long-term project I'm working on at the time. Right now, I'm working on a commission for the Spertus Museum, but I'm also trying to working on some smaller, unrelated drawings and books.



2. What do you collect and how does it inspire you?
I like to have a lot of mystery and spy novels lying around the studio. Reading them from time to time helps when I'm trying to write in the voice of my paranoid narrator.

3. What do you like to listen to/watch while creating?
I listen to the radio pretty much non-stop; One of my favorite radio shows is "On the Media" on NPR, which often focuses on the political, behind-the-scenes aspects of media coverage. I'm also a big fan of Joe Frank's haunting radio narratives.

4. What are some of your favorite websites/blogs to visit?
www.carpenoctem.tv - a great resource for information on the mafia, haunted places, military leaders, and conspiracy theories.

www3.canisius.edu/~emeryg/time.html - an amazing online archive of time lines

http://chicago.everyblock.com - a website where you can type in any Chicago address to find a list of reported crimes that have recently been committed in that area.

5. What would you consider to be Chicago ’s best kept secret?
During the more temperate months, there are wild flowers and grasses growing along what appears to be an unofficial biking/walking trail next to the 8 lines of train track outside my studio window. These tracks travel through the heart of Chicago. One of these days I'm going to take the trail and see where it goes.

6. What is your favorite piece in the MCA collection?
Aernout Mik's "Refraction" video installation, but I also dig Richard Prince's "Good News, Bad News" screenprint on canvas.



7. What do you do in your studio when you are procrastinating?
I surf the Internet and read about conspiracy theories. My current favorite conspiracy theory is about the New World Order headquarters being located beneath Denver International Airport. The theory claims that several clues placed throughout the airport indicate this, including a creepy, apocalyptic mural in baggage claim. I haven't been to the airport but have seen images of the mural, and it is definitely creepy. I'm planning a trip out there to investigate it further.

8. Who (living or dead) would you invite to a cocktail party?
Ted Koppel and Oliver Stone. I'd like to hear what their different perspectives are on who killed JFK. I'd also ask them advice on what news stories I should be following right now.

9. Do you keep a sketchbook?
Yes, several.

10. What's the last great book you read?
"Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press" by Alexander Cockburn (Author), Jeffrey St. Clair

The revelations in this book about the CIA are incredibly disturbing.
11. What do you do when you hit a creative block?
I watch tv. There are some excellent dramas like "The Wire", "Deadwood", "Mad Men" and "Battlestar Galactica" that are rich with ideas about the narrative form.

12. If you weren’t an artist what would you be doing?
I think about this a lot - If I wasn't an artist, I'd be running a business where people would pay me to go into their homes and play with their cats (no litter scooping would be involved in this endeavor). Either this, or writing for a television drama.

Christa Donner: Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Christa Donner was onsite work this last Tuesday March 3rd for this month's installment in the WIP program. It was fabulous watching as she worked on her large scale work- painting and drawing on the floor while chatting with museum visitors.

Christa Donner

Christa Donner is a multimedia artist who will be working onsite at the museum on Tuesday March 3, 2009 from 11am - 7 pm.

Christa Donner explores issues of women's health and body image through her ink and collage works on paper, comics, and large-scale wall drawings. Through public projects and collaborative zines, Donner exchanges stories of bodily experience to provoke dialogue both in the art world and beyond it. Her inquiry transforms anxiety and misunderstanding into personal, magical, powerful re-visions of alternative anatomies. To see more of her work, check out her website: http://christadonner.com

1. Could you describe an average day in the studio? Do you have any routines
Usually I've got three or four drawings going at different stages at any given time, so I'm less likely to overwork things. While one thing is drying I'll start working into other drawings. Some get cut up into parts that I use elsewhere... recombined into other drawings-in-progress. My zines come together in a similar way, with editing and moving bits around, both on the computer and physically, with glue and scissors and paper.

2. What do you collect and how does it inspire you?
Lots of printed matter: pop-up books, zines, comics, old medical and scientific illustrations.

3. What do you like to listen to/watch while creating?
It depends. Sometimes I work well in silence, but usually music helps keep me focused and moving. Octopus Project, old Kitty Wells albums, Missy Elliott ... I have a pretty eclectic music library.

4. What are some of your favorite websites/blogs to visit?
I'm always checking out "We make money not art"... especially the activism section (http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/activism/) and "Guerrila Innovation" (http://www.guerrilla-innovation.com/). There's always something interesting going on there. Zinebook.com (www.zinebook.com) is one of my all-time favorite zine resources. Small Science Collective (http://smallsciencezines.blogspot.com) is always evolving with biology-themed science tracts... and I'll sheepishly admit that I'm on Facebook far too often, God help me.

5. What would you consider to be Chicago’s best kept secret?
Not such a "secret," but I love the Music Box Theatre for the twinkling stars, the velvet curtains, and the organist who glides out of view before the movie's about to start.

6. What is your favorite piece in the MCA collection?
I'm a big fan of the amazing perspectival Sarah Sze installation. It's so fantastic in terms of how it shifts your perception of scale - of the gallery in relation to the everyday objects that make up the piece, yourself in relation to the the city outside...

7. What do you do in your studio when you are procrastinating?
I have such an e-mail addiction that I don't allow myself to bring the laptop in there... so instead I read the magazines and books I use for image source material, or take a nap on the floor. It feels wasteful, but sometimes it can actually be a useful part of the process to take that time, to come across things I'm not looking for directly. But e-mail, man. It's deadly. Turn that shit off.

8. Who (living or dead) would you invite to a cocktail party?
I'd invite my friends Margaret and Michelle, because they'd help me turn it into a dance party.

9. Do you keep a sketchbook?
Oh yeah. It's so important! The sketchbook is my portable mini-studio: a place to process all the visual and auditory information I come across so I can refer back to it later.

10. What's the last great book you read?
Alison Bechdel's "Fun Home, " is pretty brilliant. Now I'm getting back into Octavia Butler.

11. What do you do when you hit a creative block?
I usually go back to a visual brainstorming process I learned as a college student: I sit down with a stack of paper and a timer and start making five-minute drawings. I'll do anywhere from ten to fifty of these, depending on how much studio time I have that day, setting variables of size, materials, or other constraints before I start. By the end of it I'll have a big pile of things, and most of them will be crap -- but there are always a couple that point to ideas or imagery worth exploring further.

12. If you weren’t an artist what would you be doing?
Something that involves listening to people's stories, maybe helping them reach some sort of goal. I'd be a good counselor or an oral historian. I use a lot of the same skills in teaching college students, which I like a lot.

Lilli Carré and Alexander Stewart: Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Lilli Carré and Alexander Stewart worked onsite at the MCA working on a collaborative project on Tuesday February 3, 2009 from 11am-7pm. It was great having them at the museum and having the opportunity to really watch their project come together.

To check out more of their work have a gander at their websites:
http://www.alexanderstewart.org/ and http://www.lillicarre.com/

Lilli Carré and Alexander Stewart

Lilli Carré and Alexander Stewart will be onsite at the MCA working on a collaborative project on Tuesday February 3, 2009 from 11am-7pm.

Lilli Carré currently lives and works in Chicago, making animations, illustrations, and comics. Her animated films have shown in various festivals in the US and abroad, including the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and her previous book of comics Tales of Woodsman Pete is a collection of her stories surrounding a hermit who's slowly losing his wits.

Alexander Stewart received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through the Art & Technology Studies department. His 2005 experimental film Errata was screened at film festivals and galleries in the US, Europe, and Japan, including the Tribeca Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Alexander currently teaches at DePaul University, and curates work at Deadtech and Roots & Culture galleries in Chicago.

1. Could you describe an average day in the studio? Do you have any routines?
L: On my workdays, I’ll wake up around 8 or 9, eat breakfast and drink coffee, and then start working on whatever project I have in the works at that time, be it comics, animation or illustration. Often I work at home, but occasionally I’ll hole up in a coffee shop for the day—sometimes with people buzzing around me it gets me to focus on what I’m doing better than if I’m alone at home with lots of my own distractions all around. I’ll work through the day until the late evening, taking lots of little breaks.

A: I usually only manage to squeeze in one or two studio sessions per week, often at odd hours, so I don’t have an “average” day. Mostly, it relaxes me. There are few things more pleasant than knowing you have an afternoon free, sitting down, and totally zoning out on a drawing project or animation.



Image of Alexander's Studio

2. What do you collect and how does it inspire you?
L: Comics and old children’s books. I get really excited and inspired by comics of course; I read them a lot and revisit the ones that I own frequently. And I’m really into the design of early to mid-1900’s children’s books. They are beautiful objects, and often really peculiar stories. I’m really into Wanda Gag’s books at the moment; they’re so richly patterned, both elegant and congested simultaneously!

A: My most time-consuming habit is collecting records; I mostly collect 60’s soul and psychedelic rock. I love the feeling of coming across a crate of grimy records and diving in. The fun of it for me is finally finding a record I have been looking for, and knowing that someone else used to own it, and maybe used to love it. I have a record wall up in my apartment for showing recent finds and interesting cover art. My favorite covers are the designs Ronald Clyne did for Folkways records in the 60’s and 70’s. Really beautiful compositions.

3. What do you like to listen to/watch while creating?
L: It depends on what part of the process I’m in: if I’m scripting something or structuring the story, I can’t listen to anything at all, but if I’m simply inking or coloring pages, I need to listen to something. It makes time feel like it’s moving forward, and I can get lost in what I’m listening to while I work, which is good. Lately I’ve been listening to books-on-tape, which has been great. I like to hear the readers do slightly different voices for different characters. I also often listen to NPR or programs like Radio Lab.

A: A couple of years ago, I read Richard Williams’s book The Animator's Survival Kit , which is really an unparalleled collection of knowledge on the subject. In it, Williams relates a story about legendary Disney animator Milt Kahl. When asked if he listens to music while he animates, he yells, “I’m not smart enough to think of more than one thing at a time!” I tried to take this to heart, and found that, in fact, listening to music while I worked was distracting me from thinking about my work. So now I rarely listen to music in the studio.


4. What would you consider to be Chicago’s best kept secret?
L: The Butterfly Room at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. There’s hundreds of butterflies flying free and landing on you and everywhere else; moths the size of your fist!

A: Not exactly a well-kept secret, but something I insist that all out-of-towners try is a good Italian beef. I like to go to Mr. Beef (666 N. Orleans St., just south of Chicago Ave. – near the MCA!) for an Italian beef and an RC. Really debilitating stuff. It will knock you out for a couple of hours if you aren’t ready for that much meat and grease in your system.

5. What is your favorite piece in the MCA collection?
L: Maybe the William Kentridge original drawings from his animations. They’re such beautiful artifacts of his films. I like being able to see the history of all his charcoal mark making from a scene, it’s like the passing of time is drawn into the paper. Plus, they’re huge! Or at least much larger than I imagined, I was really surprised when I first laid eyes on them.

A: I am a sucker for those elegant diagrams and proposals for 70’s conceptual installation work. I love when the Museum puts out any kind of Sol LeWitt drawings on paper.

6. What do you do in your studio when you are procrastinating?
L: Float around on the internet, eat cereal, go on walks.

A: I’m always procrastinating when I’m in my studio. I hope to one day catch myself not procrastinating so I can make a note of how it works.

7. Who (living or dead) would you invite to a cocktail party?
L: The Marx Brothers.

A: I imagine Harry Nilsson would be a really great party guest, especially if there was an upright piano in the apartment. Maybe Werner Herzog if I was feeling up to it. And of course David Lynch would be a real laugh riot.

8. Do you keep a sketchbook?
L: Yeah, I’ve carried a sketchbook around with me since middle school. I’d feel weird and naked walking around without one.

A: Yes, but it’s not something I am able to use very consistently. I use it less for sketching and more for planning out projects and mapping ideas. When I have some idea that I would like to sketch out or write down, I more often than not have left my sketchbook at home. So I scribble something on a scrap of paper, and then carefully put that scrap of paper where it will get lost as soon as possible.

9. What's the last great book you read?
L: White Noise by Don DeLillo. I’m in love with the character of Winnie Richards, the neurochemist who is always blushing hard and running to avoid being seen.

A: The last book that caused me to change something about my life was M.F.K. Fisher’s How to Cook A Wolf. I adjusted my whole thinking about food and eating, and I am probably the better for it. The author I have been most enjoying lately is John Cheever, I have found his work to be a great thing to read while traveling. I love how people in his stories seem to be always fixing drinks.

10. What do you do when you hit a creative block?
L: I’ll put away what I’m working on and not look at it for a while… maybe for a day, maybe a week or longer, so that it will feel fresh again when I pull it back out. It’s hard to get a good sense of something when you’ve been so close to it, so creating some space and cleaning the slate every now and then is what I have to do to even get a sense of what a project looks like—too much proximity can make it invisible.

A: When I am struggling with something, I have learned to put that project down for an indefinite period, until I understand it well enough to pick it up again. I think it’s important for me to know I can leave something alone if it’s frustrating me, without the expectation that I have to resume work on it, ever. Unfortunately, this has led to an accumulation of many half-finished pieces in piles in my studio and in my head.

11. If you weren’t an artist what would you be doing?
L: More adventuring and less sitting.

A: Something that involves honing a craft over the course of a lifetime. For a while I thought the way to go was to be a wooden-boat builder.

Sadie Harmon

Sadie Harmon was our Works In Progress artist on December 2, 2008.
Sadie Harmon creates multimedia installations from drawings, collages, and sculpture. Her work investigates the connections between the lexicon of cultural references such as Twin Peaks, sideshow performers, and 'the abyss.' Harmon's work illuminates obscure connections within her dynamic subjects and maps out their hidden associations through delicate yet powerful installations. Her work unfolds as a specific portrait of one's interior reasoning, laced with sufficient evidence to entangle the viewer. Sadie Harmon received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008.

1. Could you describe an average day in the studio? Do you have any routines?
I like to get all of my materials out, even if I only have one thing that I’m working on. Generally, I spread myself out and have lots of paper and paper scraps, glue, thread, etc. I tend to occupy my whole space when I work, so I’ll bring everything into the dining room and spread out on the floor and table and chairs. I have a small room that is supposed to be a studio, but it’s really full of stuff so it’s more like storage for all of the odds and ends that I keep. If I’m spending the whole day working on something, I’ll make a pot of tea in the morning and drink that all day, then break for lunch. It’s pretty boring actually – just like if you’d spend the day working on anything. The nice thing is that when I’m working in the dining room, I have a great view of the abandoned tracks outside my window, as well as the apartment building across the way. There’s a person whose window is opposite mine and they will spend hours rocking back and forth, so sometimes I’ll sit and watch that for a while. I tend to get into a zone where I lose track of time and just work, but I’m easily distracted, so if someone makes a noise, that’s it. Then I’ll watch my neighbor or drink my tea.

2. What do you collect and how does it inspire you?
I love collecting things, but I’d say that there are a few categories of things that I am most drawn to: images and natural material. I collect images from old books, the image files at the Harold Washington Library, cards for art shows, and old postcards or other ephemera from used bookstores, garage sales, etc. Whenever I travel anywhere I collect natural materials from my trip. When I went to New Orleans last summer, among other things I brought home a large beetle, some Spanish moss (still alive today!) and some Magnolia blossoms. I try to bring home a pine cone from everywhere I visit. This December I went on a trip to the west coast, and brought home some really nice rocks from Eastern Washington. Rocks, pine cones, and sticks are my favorite. Naturally occurring patterns and designs definitely influence my work, and a lot of what I do I think references nature in some way. I also really love getting bizarre images out of context. I’ve tried incorporating them into my work, but now I think it’s easier just to have them around. They’re like a little community for me.


3. What do you like to listen to/watch while creating?
I like to watch reruns of old TV shows on ME TV. My favorites are The Fugitive, The Twilight Zone, and Bewitched. It has to be something that can be on in the background and that doesn’t draw me in too much. I also like British mystery shows on PBS. If I’m not in a TV mood, I’ll listen to radio shows – RadioLab, This American Life, and Anything Ghost are my favorites. I like listening to stories, because the flow matches my work. I tried listening to lectures but it was too distracting. I don’t really ever listen to music anymore while I work. I used to when I was in college, but now I prefer to hear people talking at me.















4. What are some of your favorite websites/blogs to visit?
My all time favorite right now is bookforum.com. I really liked their magazine, but every day on their website they will provide about 25 links to different articles and news stories. They do a pretty good job of varying their content and providing a mix of topical news stories, personal narratives, and more obscure things. One of the best stories I’ve read has been about mushrooms surviving off the radiation at Chernobyl. I also like BibliOdyssey, because it’s like being able to spend hours looking through special collections at the library (of course, that takes some of the fun of discovery out of it, but I still think it’s a great resource). I guess I also have to say Wikipedia, because I find it immensely useful. I also like searching for different libraries’ digital collections. I stumbled upon the digital collection of the Alaska State Library and found some really incredible images from the turn of the century.

5. What is your favorite piece in the MCA collection?
I really liked the Drawing show a few years ago that had pieces from the collection. The Henry Darger drawings are obviously great, but there was a Deb Sokolow drawing up that I still remember as well. I also love the Sarah Sze piece that was up this summer. Seeing her stuff installed is always great.

6. What do you do in your studio when you are procrastinating?
Talk to anyone within earshot, read a book, make food, do the dishes, stare out the window, go for a walk. Mostly I don’t procrastinate, but when I do it’s because I’m having trouble solving a problem or because things aren’t turning out the way I thought they would. It’s a lot like trying to do a math assignment that you don’t totally get. When you hit a wall it can get totally frustrating and you have to take a break for a while.

7. Who (living or dead) would you invite to a cocktail party?
I think I’d invite everyone, and then let in the first 100 people. I like a good mix at my cocktail parties.

About Works In Progress

This blog has been created to be a companion to the Works In Progress program that happens the first Tuesday of every month at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Works in Progress started in October of 2007, as part of an effort to explore the creative process of contemporary artists, most of whom live and work here in Chicago. We invite artists to come work on site at the museum for a day in the Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Education Center lobby and encourage museum visitors to talk to the artists, ask questions, and be inspired. To allow people access to the thoughts, work and techniques that go into creating a finished work of art.

We have been incredibly fortunate to have partnered with a great group of artists thus far. This blog is meant to archive the program and also provide a platform to ask the participating artists questions that will hopefully further illuminate the great variety that exists in contemporary art practice. To answer questions about their process and inspiration.