Beverly Art Walk Steps Off Saturday Featuring New Artists, More Studios, Family Fun Pack

CHICAGO—Artists, venues, performers and patrons are gearing up for the 13th annual Beverly Art Walk on Saturday, Sept. 26, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., one of Chicago’s biggest neighborhood art and music experiences.

Organized and hosted by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance, the much-anticipated, free, family-friendly event showcases works by 150+ artists, musical performances throughout the neighborhood, public art installations, and home studio visits in 43 businesses and venues across the Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood.

“People from all over Chicagoland experience the best of our community’s artistry, hospitality, and unique small businesses at the Beverly Art Walk,” art walk curator Sal Campbell said. “This year, we’re adding new artists, more studios, and unique mini galleries, and bringing back the popular Family Fun Park, Uprising Handmade Market and epic after-party.”

The Beverly Art Walk reaches throughout the historic neighborhood to showcase area visual artists not just in local venues and businesses but in the studios where they create their work. Artists opening their studios and homes on the walk for the first time are large-scale portrait artist John Bakker, ceramic sculptor and painter Francelia Herron Cotton, multimedia abstract artist Phil Cotton, and handmade organic apparel designer Indre Vepstas.

Many studio artists have invited other artists to join them for the event. Artist Ashley January’s “The Studio Space” will feature a live dance performance called “Healing Landscape” performed by Nia Towe and Brandon Avery, as well as new paintings in January’s series, “Environments of a Heavy Joy.”

New this year, Roots and Rays, a unique community arts and healing space, will present “A Soft Place to Land” featuring fiber and multimedia artists such as Kelly McKaig and Robin Power curated by artist and art therapist Annie Novotny.

Other artists whose studios and galleries will be open for the Beverly Art Walk include multidisciplinary artist Sandra Leonard, ceramic artist and educator Dan McCabe, boundary gallerist and painter Susannah Papish, and Clifton Henri, photographer, poet and gallerist of Flypaper Chicago

Shops and venues along Western Avenue and dotted throughout the community will be teeming with art, live music and unique creative experiences.

A trio of Chicago collage artists, Paloma Trecka, Nellie Seigel and Lisa Barcy explore themes of devotion, memory and humor in “Incantations” at the Vanderpoel Museum at Ridge Park Field House. On view in The Simmerling Gallery at the Beverly Arts Center, “Holding Space: Grounded,” is an exhibition featuring works by 24 artists that reflect on self care.

The Uprising Handmade Market will feature a wide variety of works by artists and artisans for show and sale. Artists and artisans will also take over “The Annex,” a historic garage converted into five light-filled studio spaces. The Family Fun Park at Sutherland School hosts the school’s annual I Madonnari street art festival as well as art activities using materials from the Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange, a DJ and line dancing. Running Excels running apparel store will host “Terrible Portraits,” a one-man art stand that delivers hilariously crude portraits of customers for $5 each.

The Garage Gallery behind Nicky’s of Beverly will continue its tradition of featuring enigmatic and idiosyncratic works in a range of mediums and styles. When the popular Beverly Art Walk ends at 5 p.m., the after party kicks off at Nicky’s (105th and Western), headlined by Mucca Pazza, an eccentric 30-member band combining marching band traditions with street theater spectacle and rock sensibilities. Also performing are The Juke Shakers and Reilly Downes & The Acid Cowboys.

For more information, visit Beverly Arts Alliance. A complete map of the Beverly Art Walk venues, studios and events will be available online closer to the event date.

Founded in 2014 by local artists and community activists, the Beverly Area Arts Alliance (The Alliance) collaborates with artists, community members and business and civic stakeholders to create art-focused and inclusive events and projects that foster creativity, community, and economic opportunity on Chicago’s far South Side. Operating primarily out of borrowed spaces and with volunteer labor, the alliance is a 501C3 non-profit organization.