Hyde Park Art Center – Guida Family Creative Wing Schematic Detail
The new Guida Family Creative Wing at the Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) will open in fall 2015, thanks to a successful 75th Anniversary Campaign in 2014 and $750,000 gift from John, Julie and Angelina Guida. On Sunday, April 19, celebration of their groundbreaking will coincide with a reception with multiple exhibitions on view, including resident artist Susan Giles’ exhibition, “Scenic Overlook” and Nancy Lu Rosenheim’s “Swallow City.”
HPAC‘s variety of programs offered reveal the diverse audiences it reaches—from professional artistic development in The Center Program to arts training geared toward creative South Side teens. Its architecture and space help forge interactions, with its goals of engagement further supported by the new Creative Wing.
The Guida Family and Executive Director Kate Lorenz at Hyde Park Art Center. Photo: Joel Wintermantle.
The Creative Wing will offer a multifunctional space with ample resources for artists to work, meet and socialize. In addition to ten private and shared art studios, “[the Wing] will also create a ‘home base’ for our growing group of South Side high school students who are at the Art Center for programs up to four days per week,” Kate Lorenz, executive director of Hyde Park Art Center, explained to Newcity by email. By having the opportunity to interact with artists, visitors also benefit from this space. “These interactions help demystify the art-making process for visitors and give artists a platform for presenting and talking their work to a diverse public,” Lorenz adds.
The Art Center’s community theme is echoed in the wing’s design and architecture. Architect Grant Gibson will modify about 5,000 square feet to include a teen learning center, collaborative space, artist studios, a flexible learning environment and the Thurow Digital Lab. The Jackman Goldwasser Residency will also occupy this space. During the groundbreaking ceremony, Lorenz will formally announce Sabina Ott as the first Jackman Goldwasser Resident recipient to occupy the Creative Wing. To that end, Lorenz says, “The design will support our ability to offer formal programs that happen to connect diverse artists with each other and with our community, but also will encourage serendipitous encounters and relationships to form, which are often the most interesting.” (Amy Haddad)
Groundbreaking for the Guida Family Creative Wing at the Hyde Park Art Center will be celebrated during the exhibition receptions on Sunday, April 19, 2015 from 3–5pm, 5020 South Cornell.
The Whole Package: Looking at the Art Matchmaking of “Not Just Another Pretty Face” at the Hyde Park Art Center Expect an especially exciting moment when the bell rings on the evening of September 14. White cloth that covers up all the artworks shall be pulled from the gallery walls inside the Hyde Park Art Center, unveiling some eighty commissioned works culminating from the latest two iterations—2021 and 2023—of the famed Chicago art matchmaker program.
