Sixty Inches From Center: New Chicago Art Archive
rattles for the revolution: hand picked Nicaraguan seashells in glass jars, an example of a souvemento in Kristina Gosh's curiosity shoppe
As one of the top cities in the country for the arts, it is easy to get lost in it all. Chicago’s visual arts scene alone consists of hundreds of galleries and exhibition spaces, and tens of thousands of artists. While one may think it impossible to navigate it all outside of the blue chip galleries and iconic museums, or the Picassos, Calders and other public work that is scattered around the city–it’s not. Sixty Inches From Center is here to guide the curious art-lover with weekly articles to tell you the latest about Chicago’s art scenes, which is posted on the free website www.sixtyinchesfromcenter.org. All documentation collected is cataloged on the Sixty Inches From Center Archive and used as an educational and promotional support tool. The Sixty Inches From Center Collective Project focuses on creating new ways to engage the Chicago community with the vanguard visual arts. These efforts combined make Sixty Inches From Center an essential portal to the contemporary art periphery in Chicago and act as a testament to this work’s deserved place at the global art table.
Work by Tia Jones-Etu
Getting its name from a curatorial term as well as an exhibition highlighting some of the most innovative work in contemporary graffiti, Sixty Inches From Center: Chicago Arts Archive and Collective Project (SIFC Chicago) is a new non-profit organization that explores the corners of Chicago’s peripheral art scenes and compiles their findings on a user-friendly and technologically savvy online archive.
The organization is referred to as Sixty Inches From Center (SIFC Chicago) because it documents, archives and supports art that exists outside the central iconic art institutions in Chicago. With video, audio, photography, writing, projects, and community engagement, SIFC captures and contributes to the most innovative aspects of our city’s peripheral visual culture.
Caitlin Cherry, Breakfast Club, 2009, acrylic gouache on canvas, 48 x 60 inches
The brainchild of Columbia College Chicago alums and art historians Nicolette Michele Caldwell and Tempestt Hazel, SIFC Chicago has collaborated with and covered organizations such as Chicago Urban Arts Society, Johalla Projects, South Side Community Art Center, Hyde Park Art Center, Elastic Arts Foundation, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Zhou B Art Center, The Dorchester Project, Clarion New Media and were also the official documentation team for the 2010 Art On Track. This past fall, SIFC Chicago was featured alongside giants such as Bad At Sports and Chicago Artists Resource in the School of the Art Institute’s Fnewsmagazine. Furthermore, SIFC Chicago has placed the microphone in the hands of the creative community through interviews with some of the newest, up-and-coming visual artists in our city and a more intimate Chicago Artists At Large series that follows the work of Chicago artists as they travel outside the Windy City to do their art.
From audience-curated programming to micro funding and sponsorships, the look and success of SIFC and its endeavors depend on the support and engagement of the creative community in and around Chicago. In 2011 Sixty Inches From Center will continue to partner with artists and arts organizations in Chicago’s peripheral visual arts and find new ways to support and promote the amazing things happening under the radar.
Sixty Inches From Center is generously sponsored by Clarion New Media
