New Exhibition for The 18th STREET PILSEN OPEN STUDIOS 2016
Two veteran community-engaged artists under one roof!
Jesús Macarena-Ávila and Julio Cesar Montaño Montenegro, two Chicagoland artists will present powerful works of art, music, and poetry celebrating social consciousness, cultural anthropology, myths and legends to inspire the human spirit in a new exciting exhibition at Pilsen's COLBY GALLERY! On display will be drawings, mixed-media works, photography and sculpture. Come join us for the kick off Opening Reception with delicious home made Mexican treats and refreshments during the annual 18th Street Pilsen Open Studios art walk!
OPENING RECEPTION : Saturday, October 22 & Sunday, October 23, 2016 - 12:00pm - 8:00pm both days!
EXHIBITION : October 22 – November 22, 2016. (after October 23, by appointment - 312-607-8353)
SPECIAL PERFORMANCES : Saturday 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Music: JESUS “CHUY” NEGRETE &
Poetry: JULIO CESAR MONTANO MONTENEGRO
COLBY GALLERY, owned and directed by Colby Luckenbill, has been promoting local, international and Latin@ artists in Pilsen since 2005. Works on display are available for purchase during the Opening Reception at special prices, and will be available thereafter at prices ranging from $200 to $2000.
The mission of COLBY GALLERY is to work with todays most passionate and inspirational contemporary artists and support them in creating new paradigms of the empowered human experience and potential. COLBY GALLERY offers a wide range of original artwork and prints for private collections and installation in select public spaces.
COLBY GALLERY, 1626 West 18th Street, Chicago, IL, 60608, USA
colbyluck@sbcglobal.net, 312-607-8353
Two veteran community-engaged artists under one roof!
Jesús Macarena-Ávila and Julio Cesar Montaño Montenegro, two Chicagoland artists will present powerful works of art, music, and poetry celebrating social consciousness, cultural anthropology, myths and legends to inspire the human spirit in a new exciting exhibition at Pilsen's COLBY GALLERY! On display will be drawings, mixed-media works, photography and sculpture. Come join us for the kick off Opening Reception with delicious home made Mexican treats and refreshments during the annual 18th Street Pilsen Open Studios art walk!
OPENING RECEPTION : Saturday, October 22 & Sunday, October 23, 2016 - 12:00pm - 8:00pm both days!
EXHIBITION : October 22 – November 22, 2016. (after October 23, by appointment - 312-607-8353)
SPECIAL PERFORMANCES : Saturday 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Music: JESUS “CHUY” NEGRETE &
Poetry: JULIO CESAR MONTANO MONTENEGRO
COLBY GALLERY, owned and directed by Colby Luckenbill, has been promoting local, international and Latin@ artists in Pilsen since 2005. Works on display are available for purchase during the Opening Reception at special prices, and will be available thereafter at prices ranging from $200 to $2000.
The mission of COLBY GALLERY is to work with todays most passionate and inspirational contemporary artists and support them in creating new paradigms of the empowered human experience and potential. COLBY GALLERY offers a wide range of original artwork and prints for private collections and installation in select public spaces.
COLBY GALLERY, 1626 West 18th Street, Chicago, IL, 60608, USA
colbyluck@sbcglobal.net, 312-607-8353
About the Artists/ Performers :
Jesús Macarena-Ávila’s artwork explores themes such as identity politics, multiculturalism, indigenous challenges, and re-addressing and documenting Chicago’s history under the idea of a digital divide. Macarena-Ávila has a B.F.A. degree from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and an M.F.A. degree from the Vermont College of Norwich University. An Artist, Curator, Writer and Professor, Macarena-Avila has lectured internationally at many educational and arts institutions such as Columbia College, Chicago; Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, Illinois), Wits University (Johannesburg, South Africa); The Henry Tayali Cultural Center (Lusaka, Zambia), and the Victorian College for the Arts (Melbourne, Australia).
Macarena-Avila is a founder of “Instituto de Nuestra Cultura” (INC.) and a co-founder of the esteemed, avant-guard, multi-media, art gallery and collective “Polvo,” with Miguel Cortez and Elvia Rodriguez Ochoa, which operated from 1996 to 2006 in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Currently he is a professor at Columbia Coledge, Chicago.
Julio Cesar Montaño Montenegro is an immensly creative spirit who lives life as an art. He is an extraordinary Visual Artist, Musician, Dancer and Choreographer, Writer, Anthropologist, and Educator, who has harmonized these talents into a profoundly impactful and joyful career. A native of Colombia, South America, Montaño grew up on Tumaco-Nariño, a small island off the coast in the South Pacific. Montaño has a B.A. degree from Pontificia Bolivariana University and studied cultural anthropology at the Missionary Institute of Anthropology in Medellin, Colombia. He immigrated to the United States of America in 2005.
Montaño signs his art work as "Negro" in order to rescue the positive cultural idenity of this word from the shaddows of history, and as a way to make his African ancestry visible. Montaño has created a large collection of graphic works he calls “Graphic Poems.” He says they “are like painted dreams that evoke our surrounding reality and aim to create questions to those with the sensitivity to penetrate boundaries and endorse the printed message ...” Montaño works with various materials and techniques, such as paper cutting, wood working, ink, screen printing, and fiberglass.
Montaño founded the “Echoes of the Pacific Afro-Colombia” (Ecos Del Pacifico Afrocolombia) or “EPA!” a non-profit in Chicago since 1996; and the Kurrulao Festival of Art and Afro Culture (1987). His mission with both organizations is to educate, inspire, and promote Afro-Colombian art and culture in Chicago through performances, presentations, and workshops so as to provide creative spaces for young people to make the free time for art so they will be protected from social problems such as violence, crime, drugs and gangs.
Jesus “Chuy” Negrete - Historian, Musician, Composer, Playwright
Jesus Chuy Negrete discusses his music, the Corrido, and the politics that inspire him. He will play several Corridos songs including original compositions. Negrete got his musical start in church as a young boy in Chicago and then explored musical genres such as rock and roll, blues and big band. Negrete has always had a strong compassion for is native Mexican people and was involved in Latino student groups and the farm workers movement. He has directed and provided music for socially conscious Chicano theater where he developed a theatrical musical style.
Negrete explains that folklore is often one of the most utilized elements of the culture of marginalized groups. He uses music as a way to raise people’s consciousness by simultaneously entertaining and informing his audience. Negrete’s music engaging people on an emotional level and opens the mind and heart of the listener.
Negrete analyzes the musical style of Corridos to uncover what it reveals about the Mexican American experience and how it is used to promote education and unity. Fregoso concludes that his music evokes the common experience of all Mexican Americans. Negrete’s songs explore themes of family, cultural identity, immigration, migrant life, and social justice.
Born in New York City, Colby Luckenbill grew up on the East side of Manhattan in a neighborhood of Diplomats next to the United Nations which strongly influenced her perspective that we are all one multifaceted human family of infinite potential. Her mother a painter, sculptor and humanitarian, her father a renown architect, and her grandfather a highly respected composer and musician, all taught her the language of art from a very young age.
Luckenbill attended a small private college preparatory school in Brooklyn Heights, The Packer Collegiate Institute. She completed her studies at the innovative Elizabeth Seeger School in SoHo. In addition she took classes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and was awarded entrance to college level summer art courses at SUNY Ferdonia and Chautauqua Institution. She was the recipient of numerous artistic awards, including the renown Scholastic Art Award for New York, which led to state and national recognition including publication in Whose Who and being honored personally by New York Mayor Edward Koch.
Choosing to explore light and color, Luckenbill moved to the South of France to study painting at The Leo Marchutz Atelier near Aix En Provence. Following a year in Europe she moved to Chicago, Illinois to attend The School of The Art Institute of Chicago to major in filmmaking and art history. While spending an exchange year in California at The San Francisco Art Institute she became interested in Latin American Art which led her to take intensive study trips through SAIC to Mexico and Central America where she also learned Spanish. She was especially moved by her visit to San Cristobal de las Casa in Chiapas, Mexico and the nearby Indigenous village of the Chamula people.
Luckenbill worked in numerous art galleries after graduation including the gallery of Latin American Art pioneer Aldo Castillo. In 2005 Luckenbill moved to the historic Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago and opened her own art gallery to be close to the vibrant Mexican and artistic communities. She quickly became integrated into the cultural landscape of the neighborhood. She has served as community representative at Cooper bilingual School, and has been active with many local cultural groups. Her gallery, COLBY GALLERY, represents local, national and international artists who “inspire the human spirit”. COLBY GALLERY has been a participant in the annual 18th Street Pilsen Open Studios art studio and gallery walk. She served as the Assistant Director for their 10th year anniversary in 2012 when she brought in more artists than ever before including past participants and new local talent.
ARTIST STATEMENT - COLBY LUCKENBILL
The archaic definition of Curate is “any ecclesiastic entrusted with the cure of souls.” It is derived from the root of Cure as in “curative: serving to cure or heal; a remedy.” A Curator seeks to do this not in a hospital, nor a church, but in the celebrated walls of a cultural center, a gallery or a museum. It is my deep and heart felt mission to connect individually with the souls and visions of todays most passionate and inspirational contemporary artists and unite them to form ever new paradigms of the empowered human experience and potential.
Jesús Macarena-Ávila’s artwork explores themes such as identity politics, multiculturalism, indigenous challenges, and re-addressing and documenting Chicago’s history under the idea of a digital divide. Macarena-Ávila has a B.F.A. degree from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and an M.F.A. degree from the Vermont College of Norwich University. An Artist, Curator, Writer and Professor, Macarena-Avila has lectured internationally at many educational and arts institutions such as Columbia College, Chicago; Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, Illinois), Wits University (Johannesburg, South Africa); The Henry Tayali Cultural Center (Lusaka, Zambia), and the Victorian College for the Arts (Melbourne, Australia).
Macarena-Avila is a founder of “Instituto de Nuestra Cultura” (INC.) and a co-founder of the esteemed, avant-guard, multi-media, art gallery and collective “Polvo,” with Miguel Cortez and Elvia Rodriguez Ochoa, which operated from 1996 to 2006 in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Currently he is a professor at Columbia Coledge, Chicago.
Julio Cesar Montaño Montenegro is an immensly creative spirit who lives life as an art. He is an extraordinary Visual Artist, Musician, Dancer and Choreographer, Writer, Anthropologist, and Educator, who has harmonized these talents into a profoundly impactful and joyful career. A native of Colombia, South America, Montaño grew up on Tumaco-Nariño, a small island off the coast in the South Pacific. Montaño has a B.A. degree from Pontificia Bolivariana University and studied cultural anthropology at the Missionary Institute of Anthropology in Medellin, Colombia. He immigrated to the United States of America in 2005.
Montaño signs his art work as "Negro" in order to rescue the positive cultural idenity of this word from the shaddows of history, and as a way to make his African ancestry visible. Montaño has created a large collection of graphic works he calls “Graphic Poems.” He says they “are like painted dreams that evoke our surrounding reality and aim to create questions to those with the sensitivity to penetrate boundaries and endorse the printed message ...” Montaño works with various materials and techniques, such as paper cutting, wood working, ink, screen printing, and fiberglass.
Montaño founded the “Echoes of the Pacific Afro-Colombia” (Ecos Del Pacifico Afrocolombia) or “EPA!” a non-profit in Chicago since 1996; and the Kurrulao Festival of Art and Afro Culture (1987). His mission with both organizations is to educate, inspire, and promote Afro-Colombian art and culture in Chicago through performances, presentations, and workshops so as to provide creative spaces for young people to make the free time for art so they will be protected from social problems such as violence, crime, drugs and gangs.
Jesus “Chuy” Negrete - Historian, Musician, Composer, Playwright
Jesus Chuy Negrete discusses his music, the Corrido, and the politics that inspire him. He will play several Corridos songs including original compositions. Negrete got his musical start in church as a young boy in Chicago and then explored musical genres such as rock and roll, blues and big band. Negrete has always had a strong compassion for is native Mexican people and was involved in Latino student groups and the farm workers movement. He has directed and provided music for socially conscious Chicano theater where he developed a theatrical musical style.
Negrete explains that folklore is often one of the most utilized elements of the culture of marginalized groups. He uses music as a way to raise people’s consciousness by simultaneously entertaining and informing his audience. Negrete’s music engaging people on an emotional level and opens the mind and heart of the listener.
Negrete analyzes the musical style of Corridos to uncover what it reveals about the Mexican American experience and how it is used to promote education and unity. Fregoso concludes that his music evokes the common experience of all Mexican Americans. Negrete’s songs explore themes of family, cultural identity, immigration, migrant life, and social justice.
Born in New York City, Colby Luckenbill grew up on the East side of Manhattan in a neighborhood of Diplomats next to the United Nations which strongly influenced her perspective that we are all one multifaceted human family of infinite potential. Her mother a painter, sculptor and humanitarian, her father a renown architect, and her grandfather a highly respected composer and musician, all taught her the language of art from a very young age.
Luckenbill attended a small private college preparatory school in Brooklyn Heights, The Packer Collegiate Institute. She completed her studies at the innovative Elizabeth Seeger School in SoHo. In addition she took classes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and was awarded entrance to college level summer art courses at SUNY Ferdonia and Chautauqua Institution. She was the recipient of numerous artistic awards, including the renown Scholastic Art Award for New York, which led to state and national recognition including publication in Whose Who and being honored personally by New York Mayor Edward Koch.
Choosing to explore light and color, Luckenbill moved to the South of France to study painting at The Leo Marchutz Atelier near Aix En Provence. Following a year in Europe she moved to Chicago, Illinois to attend The School of The Art Institute of Chicago to major in filmmaking and art history. While spending an exchange year in California at The San Francisco Art Institute she became interested in Latin American Art which led her to take intensive study trips through SAIC to Mexico and Central America where she also learned Spanish. She was especially moved by her visit to San Cristobal de las Casa in Chiapas, Mexico and the nearby Indigenous village of the Chamula people.
Luckenbill worked in numerous art galleries after graduation including the gallery of Latin American Art pioneer Aldo Castillo. In 2005 Luckenbill moved to the historic Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago and opened her own art gallery to be close to the vibrant Mexican and artistic communities. She quickly became integrated into the cultural landscape of the neighborhood. She has served as community representative at Cooper bilingual School, and has been active with many local cultural groups. Her gallery, COLBY GALLERY, represents local, national and international artists who “inspire the human spirit”. COLBY GALLERY has been a participant in the annual 18th Street Pilsen Open Studios art studio and gallery walk. She served as the Assistant Director for their 10th year anniversary in 2012 when she brought in more artists than ever before including past participants and new local talent.
ARTIST STATEMENT - COLBY LUCKENBILL
The archaic definition of Curate is “any ecclesiastic entrusted with the cure of souls.” It is derived from the root of Cure as in “curative: serving to cure or heal; a remedy.” A Curator seeks to do this not in a hospital, nor a church, but in the celebrated walls of a cultural center, a gallery or a museum. It is my deep and heart felt mission to connect individually with the souls and visions of todays most passionate and inspirational contemporary artists and unite them to form ever new paradigms of the empowered human experience and potential.