City Wide Art Exhibition Showcases Student Work from
All 7 City Colleges of Chicago

Chicago, IL – City Colleges of Chicago [CCC] presents an exhibit of art work created by students from all seven City Colleges.  This is the first comprehensive student art show that CCC has presented to the public, and the exhibit will travel to each of the City Colleges now through May, 2007. 

The City Wide Art Exhibition, showcasing the talent of nearly 50 CCC students, displays art works ranging from drawings, paintings, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, sound, installations, video and photography.  The show opens at Harold Washington College, Washington Hall, 30 E. Lake Street, on November 13, with an opening reception that day from 4 to 7 pm.

The exhibit runs at Harold Washington until November 22, and then travels to the six other campuses of City Colleges of Chicago.  The exhibit at Harold Washington is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6:30 pm and Saturday, 10 am to 4:30 pm.

The entire City Wide Art Exhibition schedule is as follows:

• Harold Washington College: November 13 through 22, 2006
• Malcolm X College: January 15 through February 2, 2007
• Richard J. Daley College: February 5 through 23
• Kennedy-King College: February 26 through March 16
• Olive-Harvey College: March 19 through April 4
• Wilbur Wright College: April 9 through 20
• Harry S. Truman College: April 23 through May 4

Beginning January 15, Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren Street, will host the exhibit in its President’s Foyer, located on the first floor.  Exhibition hours at Malcolm X are 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday.

All exhibits are free and open to the public.  For more information about this event or any of its CCC locations, call (312) 553-5738.

The exhibition is the result of an art competition in which students currently enrolled in CCC arts classes submitted works before a jury of local artists.  Judges awarded one student a $1000 first-place prize, and three students $500 honorable mention prizes.  They are among 48 students chosen to be in the show.
 
“We want Chicago to see what talented artists are coming out of City Colleges of Chicago,” says exhibit curator Erica Erdmann.  “There is some extremely developed art work coming out of even the beginner classes.  People come to City Colleges from so many different backgrounds, and so many different levels of experience – the result is a very diverse exhibit collection.”

Erdmann adds that the exhibit reflects the growing interest in arts classes at CCC:  “All seven city colleges are expanding arts programming because we are seeing an increase in student demand.  Many of our students come from arts backgrounds; many leave CCC and go on to arts schools.”

First place recipient is Cirilo Esquivel, a 33-year-old drawing student at Harold Washington College.  His winning piece is a painting of his father, a retired butcher for the Chicago Stockyards.  The four-foot-high portrait depicts his father at work in the warehouse. “It’s a tribute to my father, who took tremendous pride his job,” says Esquivel.

Honorable mention recipients are:

• John Tuan Huynh, Let’s Play, 2006; screen print on t-shirt (student at Harold Washington College)
• Roberto B. Merwin, History, 2006; clay (student at Harold Washington College)
• Mary C. McCloskey, Marmo Lake I, 2006; C-print (student at Wilbur Wright College)