Dozens of venues around town (and just outside) feature art prominently displayed in storefront windows visible from the street, designed to be viewed in passing. There are plenty of traditional commercial galleries that save a painting or two to hang in the window, and others, like West Town’s Monique Meloche, that curate the windows in addition to the gallery space. But rare — and awesome — is the space that does nothing but.
Evanston’s Art Under Glass program, for example, is aptly named.
“(It’s) based on filling the windows,” says Jill Brazel, chair of the Evanston Arts Council, which produces Art Under Glass in conjunction with the city. Six Evanston-based artists have work showcased in windows on Davis Street; three others are featured side by side on Orrington Avenue.
Art Under Glass is a long-term pop-up program, similar to Pop-Up Art Loop and Pilsen’s showPODS, both of which have window installation spaces. But permanent window display spaces are scattered throughout the city, many attached to or hidden within unlikely venues. The Whistler, the Logan Square bar best-known for its craft cocktails and free live music, rotates a thoughtfully curated blend of artists in its storefront window space every other month. Bridgeport’s Co-Prosperity Sphere and its sister space, Eastern Expansion, showcase site-specific installations in their storefronts year-round; the latter doesn’t even possess proper walk-in gallery space. Minuscule SubCity Projects exists in a 6-by-5-by-8-foot glass encasing visible from a hallway on the 10th floor of the Fine Arts Building. The tiny Mosnart space is simply a front-door window to the hallway of a worker unit in historic Pullman, while the School of the Art Institute’s ground-level Boomerang Space is wedged into the heart of the Loop.
“It’s a fishbowl of sorts,” says Michael Ryan of SAIC’s Office of Exhibition Practices, which oversees the Boomerang Space. “In terms of the Loop, myself — and I’m sure other faculty — have always used department store windows as a teaching tool to discuss exhibition and design issues.”
Some window exhibition spaces were created in reaction to traditional white-wall spaces.
“I don’t like the exclusiveness of the commercial gallery system,” says Mary Ellen Croteau, who has showcased a different artist in her storefront Art on Armitage space every month since September 2003. “I want to make art accessible to the general public, and so I (started) the window space, which includes an artist’s statement so the art is understandable and presented in a way that is easily accessible to everyone.”
For artists such as Little Village-based Laura Davis, who has shown at Art on Armitage and whose work is on display at Mosnart, window installations are a welcome alternative to more traditional venues.
“I like that they’re in between the apartment gallery and the traditional gallery,” Davis says. “It’s the space in between: People can go at their leisure and take a look.”
LOGAN SQUARE
Art on Armitage 4125 W. Armitage Ave., 773-235-8583; artonarmitage.com Curator Mary Ellen Croteau’s basic criteria for monthly exhibits is work that is engaging both “intellectually and politically.” On view Alan Emerson Hicks, through Jan. 31
The Whistler 2421 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-227-3530; whistlerchicago.com/storefront-gallery Opened in 2008, this popular lounge showcases bimonthly exhibits of local artists in its window space. On view Willy Chyr, “Summer’s Fallacy,” through Tuesday
WICKER PARK
Monique Meloche 2154 W. Division St., 773-252-0299; moniquemeloche.com This commercial gallery is a walk-in, but its front window maintains programming of its own. On view Ebony G. Patterson, “Gully Godz in Conversation — Conversations Revised II,” through March 31
PILSEN
showPODS 1800 block of South Halsted Street, chicagoartsdistrict.org These seven “pods” along Halsted are meant “to be viewed as part of the pedestrian experience,” according to a Podmajersky Inc. representative. On view Department of Urban Speculation, “Another 6 Endlessly Open Cities,” through Feb. 2
BRIDGEPORT
Co-Prosperity Sphere 3219-21 S. Morgan St., 773-837-0145; coprosperity.org An independent cultural center founded in 2006, CPS rotates its window displays independent of exhibits. On view Lise Haller Baggesen, “Chronic Youth,” through Jan. 31
Eastern Expansion 244 W. 31st St., 773-837-0145; easternexpansion.blogspot.com Managed by Co-Prosperity Sphere, Eastern Expansion is strictly a walk-by/drive-by space. On view Emily Clayton, “Sad Cycle,” through Jan. 31
PULLMAN
Mosnart 11319 S. St. Lawrence Ave., tallskinny.com/mosnart Curator JB Daniel calls his vestibule “just a space for an artist to create and the public to see.” On view Laura Davis, “Combines for Girls,” through Feb. 12
EVANSTON
Art Under Glass 500 Davis St. and 1638-42 Orrington Ave., Evanston A pop-up program to fill vacant storefronts, Art Under Glass leases gratis space to local artists until paying renters step in. On view at 500 Davis St. Jyl Bonaguro, Marcy Brower, Janet Doroba, Michelle Korte Leccia, Gregory Page, Greg Slocum; all indefinitely On view at 1638-42 Orrington Ave. Laura & Leslie Hirshfield, Cornelia Spelman, Jack Weiss; all indefinitely
LOOP
Pop-Up Art Loop Various locations throughout the loop; popupartloop.com Initiated to fill vacant storefronts, this program includes multiple storefront spaces and a few walk-in galleries. On view Various artists at various locations; check site
Boomerang Space Sharp Building, 37 S. Wabash Ave.; saic.edu/exhibitions Launched last spring in the Sharp Building’s construction limbo, Boomerang will exist as a School of the Art Institute student-run gallery space tentatively through June 1. On view “Situations of Exchange,” through Jan. 28
MICHIGAN AVENUE
SubCity Projects Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Room 1036; subcityprojects.com A 240-square-foot box wedged into the corner of proprietor Candida Alvarez’s studio, SubCity’s original location was in one of the building’s nonworking elevators. On view Paintings by Candida Alvarez, through February
