An effort to turn the Eugene S. Pike House in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood into a community center will be incorporated into this year’s Beverly Art Walk.
This year’s event also will feature We The People – a community protest art project led by Elaine Miller and Dawn Liddicoatt, according to the Beverly Area Arts Alliance. The group’s website stated the project features repurposed yard signs painted with crowd scenes and self portraits, mixed with the words “We The People” and other slogans – using artistic expression to celebrate individuality, connection and community and fight fascism.
Now in its 12th year, the Beverly Art Walk, planned from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 27, will include art, music, vendors, food and family friendly fun, organizers said.
Efforts led by the Ridge Historical Society and the Beverly Area Planning Association Historic Buildings Committee resulted in the Tudor Revival Eugene S. Pike House being declared one of Illinois’ Most Endangered Historic Places by Landmarks Illinois in 2022.
The subsequent formation of the Eugene S. Pike House Foundation yielded a plan for rehabbing and turning the house over for use by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance as an arts and cultural center with artists-in-residence quarters.
A celebration of art, music, and creative culture, the Beverly Art Walk, the cornerstone event of the Beverly Area Arts Alliance features pop-up galleries hosting over 100 artists, musical performances, public art installations, demonstrations and home studio visits in 39 venues across the neighborhood, kicking off with a “rededication” at an art installation near the Pike House at 1826 W. 91st St.
The home’s original owner, Eugene S. Pike, was a prominent real estate developer and financier who helped rebuild the city after the Great Chicago Fire. The Pike family inhabited the home for two generations and eventually expanded it to 3,000 square feet. They also owned surrounding acreage. The Forest Preserves of Cook County purchased the property in 1921, and the house served as a watchman’s residence until 2015, then sat unused.
This year’s Beverly Art Walk will celebrate the coming of the future Pike House Community Cultural Center with a variety of programming in the area around the Pike House including live music, the Uprising Craft Market, a live painting collaboration by Won Kim and other Chicago street artists, as well as Sanctuary, a temporary art installation at a limestone monument situated near the 91st Street Metra station.
The monument marks the area where a bird sanctuary was located in the 1920s, and “Sanctuary” will feature unique bird houses and sculpture by local artists. The monument itself will be topped with a whimsical and eccentric sculpture by John Colson. A “rededication ritual” at the monument will kick off the Art Walk at 11 a.m. and sales of the bird houses will support the effort to save the Pike House. The theme continues with “Birds, Bees & Butterflies” — art and activations in nearby Cosme Park.
“Sanctuary is designed to bring joy, beauty and humor to passersby and celebrate a connection to history, nature, and a sense of place,” Beverly Art Walk Curator Sal Campbell said in a news release. “It’s a perfect way to kick off the best day of the year!”
The Beverly Art Walk will reach throughout the neighborhood to showcase area visual artists where they create their work with studio tours, including Ashley January’s new studio space at 103rd and Walden as well as those of professional illustrator and watercolor artist Judie Anderson, ceramic artist and educator Dan McCabe, Art from the Heart teaching artist Pat Egan, artist, educator and gallerist of boundary Susannah Papish, nationally-acclaimed photography artist Clifton Henri of Flypaper Studio, painter, sculptor and educator Brian Keane and artist/designer Tom Olson, nephew of renowned designer Jack Denst. Many of the studio artists have invited other local artists to join them for Art Walk.
Venues along Western Avenue and in clusters around 103rd and 99th streets will be teeming with art and music, organizers said.
Works by Jennifer Cronin, a Chicago artist known for her captivating realistic paintings that explore the complexity of everyday life, will be exhibited at the Vanderpoel Museum where visitors can view the museum’s renowned collection of turn-of-the-century art.
The Beverly Arts Center will feature “Making A Scene,” an imaginative world full of characters created by painter, multimedia and fiber artist Kathy Weaver to consider our humanity in an age of technology and warfare. Kids of all ages can make their own characters inspired by the exhibit.
Other activities and works include: spoken word performances led by Chicago’s Poet Laureate Avery R. Young in the courtyard, piano concerts as part of “Chicago Plays” piano crawl, Black American history quilts by Dorothy Straughter and vibrant artwork and music by SXU students and more.
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, and live music throughout the afternoon and evening.
Beverly Phono Mart on 103rd Street will feature works by artist and owner Chantala Kommanivanh and his brother Von, and Heritage Gallery will feature a wide range of works including paintings, jewelry, mosaics and more. Two Mile Coffee Bar, Afro Joe’s, Oleander & Artesian and other venues around 99th and Walden will feature arts experiences for all ages.
The Beverly Art Walk will be capped by an after party highlighted by world music performers Chicago Afrobeat Project at Nicky’s of Beverly, 105th Street and Western Avenue.
