“Environmental Concerns”
September 26 - November 18, 2018
Opening Event: September 26, 5:00-8:00PM
The non-profit Experimental Station was built on a legacy of environmental and artistic activity. Its building was home to Chicago’s first recycling center, Kenn Dunn’s ReUse Center, and then became a hub of activity around the studio of artist Dan Peterman, whose work is centered around reuse. Today, Experimental Station fosters a dynamic ecology of cultural programs and initiatives to meet local needs. It does so through running a community bike shop as a youth program, a farmers market, a program doubling the value of food stamps at farmers markets, and arts and culture events, while also incubating businesses and hosting community journalism projects.
Located just a few blocks south of Experimental Station is the William Hill Gallery, an intimate space for contemporary art located in the backyard of the house that William Hill inherited from his grandfather. Hill, an artist, curator, and horticulturalists, has developed several outdoor sites: the William Hill Sculpture Garden, Dorchester Botanical Garden, and The Woodlawn Botanical Nature Center (at Hyde Park Academy High School). All within a few blocks of his home and gallery, they are filled with plants and objects.
This project highlights the existing artistic and horticultural efforts at these sites and further activates them through installations, exhibitions, and events by artists connected to Hill and Experimental Station. Included are:
a live-plant installation and “Plant Your Fears” project by Cream Co.
urban and natural landscape and still life paintings by Gerald Sanders and students outdoor bike-part sculptures by Alice Smith-Jones with youth from
Blackstone Bicycle Works sculptural light and sound installation by Alpha Bruton with William Hill, sculpture by Peter Gray an extinct animals zoo made by Rhonda Ghoulston and her students at Hyde Park Academy
A series of free, public events include:
a tour of the sites during the opening reception
a screening of WTTW’s “Earthkeeping” television program by South Side Projections a performance of “Chainsaw Lowering” by Erik Peterson
a “sound walk” of the immediate neighborhood by Norman Long
a public conversation with EPA veteran and art collector Patric McCoy
Organized by Alpha Bruton (Phantom Gallery Chicago), William Hill (William Hill Center for the Arts), and Matthew Searle (Experimental Station).
For more information, contact Matthew Searle, Assistant Director of
Experimental Station:
matthew@experimentalstation.org or 773.241.604
Participating Artists
William Hill
Alpha Bruton
Rhonda Ghoulsten and Hyde Park Academy students
Alice Smith-Jones with Blackstone Bicycle Works
Peter Gray
Gerald Sanders with students
Sasha Earle and Brett Sweeney of Cream Co.
Norman Long
South Side Projections
Patric McCoy
Erik Peterson
Project Sites
William Hill Gallery and Sculpture Garden - 6442 S Dorchester Ave. (indoor/outdoor)
Dorchester Botanical Garden - 64th and Dorchester (outdoor)
The Woodlawn Botanical Nature Center - 6300 Stony Island (outdoor)
Experimental Station - 6100 S. Blackstone (indoor)
Blackstone Bicycle Works - 6100 S. Blackstone (outdoor)
Project Events
Note: All are free and open to the public. They will take place Experimental Station (6100 S. Blackstone) unless otherwise noted.
Wednesday, 9/26, 5:00-8:00PM - Opening Event and Tour of Project Sites
Saturdays, 9/29 and 10/6, 12:30-1:30PM - Norman Long’s Three Block Sound
Walk (depart from 61st and Dorchester)
Wednesday, 10/3, 6:00-8:00PM - “Earthkeeping” Film Screening with South Side Projections
Saturday, 10/13, 10:00-1:00PM - Cream Co.’s “Plant Your Fears” at the 61st St.
Farmers Market
Thursday, 10/18 - 6:00-8:00PM “Environmentalism, Art, and the
Neighborhood”: A Conversation with Patric McCoy
Tuesday, 11/13, 6:00-7:30PM - Closing Event: “Chainsaw Lowering” Public
Performance and Tasting with Erik Peterson
