is there an art gallery district there? (Chicago, Bridgeport: rentals, loft)

[serpent_of_old]

art installations, weekly/monthly shows, art collectives, indie art? anything of this nature?
if so, what ages of people do you tend to see people really taking part in the community as collectors/consumers? 40's-50's?

art communities are funny things in how they work. my girl killed it in the bronx and in bmore, but philly is too modern also too conservative with the art scene for anyone to realistically be successful in perpetuating their career as a full time artist. she woke bmore up and she's expecting to do something significant in chicago with adding to the art community

is there an art gallery row there? or indie art collectives utilizing old factories? which side of town would you recommend we begin with in terms of making contact with our initial networking? are any of you guys active artists in the community there?

[marothisu]

IN general, there are a number of galleries in River North "downtown," but they're usually more fine art in my experience. However, if you are looking for non fine art type of stuff, then you'd look in Pilsen. There's a number of art stuff there like Lacuna 2150 (Lacuna Artist Loft Studios), ARTrevolution (ARTrevolution), Arts District here (Chicago Art District).

Also might want to look at places like Bridgeport, Ukrainian Village, Wicker Park (Flat Iron --> Flat Iron Arts Building - Wicker Park - Chicago, IL), Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, and Avondale. The places west like mentioned above are usually the more artistic places

P.S. The Art Institute of Chicago is really good.

Wicker Park has places like Flat Iron (The Flatiron Project .com |)

[serpent_of_old]

yeah
when you said that flat iron has an arts building, that sounded like the token ticket...and their website mentions studios....dead on what i am looking for
this will be great
thanks!
and its funny b/c i have had the impression that logan square would be a good fit for us to live too...i mean just based upon things i have read in threads. the closest i have been is bucktown, which i have hardly seen on foot

[marothisu]

Logan Square is pretty cool. I think Pilsen though has more true artists in it than most parts of the city from what I know. The first link I sent you, Lacuna, is probably the biggest artist studios place in town. Flat Iron is very small compared to it.

Spacefinder | Chicago Artists Resource

They actually have a space finder on there for studios of many types.

[marothisu]

Also places like this in Bridgeport:
Studio Rentals I Event Venue I Arts i Fashion Design Center I Gallery

http://bridgeportart.com/artist-studios/

[Lookout Kid]

Galleries have sort of followed the Bohemian neighborhoods over the years. Old Town was big in the 1960s, so you still have the galleries of a few older artists there. River North has sort of held on to be the most established gallery district, but the prices are high. Wicker Park and Bucktown were big in the 80s and 90s, and still have some galleries. And now things have shifted to Pilsen. Heck, Pilsen may already be over.

[jwaiter]

West Loop and River North have small concentrated art gallery areas.

[serpent_of_old]

!!!