Side Street Studio Arts celebrates 4th anniversary with grand opening of two new spaces
Side Street Studio Arts, 15 Ziegler Court in downtown Elgin, is celebrating its fourth anniversary and the grand opening of its two new expansion spaces with a night of visual art, live music, performances, and more from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, March 3. The event is all ages and open to the public. There is a $5 suggested donation at the door.
Side Street Studio Arts opened March 1, 2013 and quickly become a home for both fringe and mainstream performing and visual artists. During 2016, Side Street Studio Arts and its theater hosted: 20 visual art exhibitions, 27 dance productions, 35 music performances, 180 art instruction events, 26 free arts events, four artist-internships, one artist-in-residence, two Judson Business School Service Learning Internships, weekly free gallery hours, almost 800 hours of discounted rental space for area artists, acted as Fringe Central and donated the Theater for the Elgin Fringe Festival, coproduced the Elgin Literary Festival with the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission, and featured a gallery and theater that were active 52 of 52 weeks during the year.
For 2017, Side Street Studio Arts is expanding to include their new Lab and Supply spaces located at 11 and 13 S. Spring St.
Supply intends to support the area's artistic community by fulfilling the specific needs of both organizations and individual artists, will feature an affordable and diverse stock of art materials, and will be a destination for mentorship and art education.
Lab is a shared artist space designed to support the artistic process through the housing of equipment, storage, and proximity to supply and exhibition resources. Lab will allow artists the space and time to create, and be available via membership and hourly rental, with access to dark room, pottery, screen-printing, and printmaking equipment, as well as a variety of mentorship and visual artist resources.
In celebration of the grand opening, Side Street Studio Arts is currently holding a Lab Membership Drive, which will provide five one-year memberships to the Lab space at a discounted rate.
"When the SSSA crew reached out to me about their idea for the Lab, I was thrilled," said Elgin-based artist and Supply and Lab volunteer manager Jane Erlandson. "So often the creative process happens in a vacuum, which can be a difficult place to find encouragement. Bringing the new equipment and supply resources to the energy of the Side Street community will bring artists of all calibers out of the woodwork and into the light and allow art-loving audiences more opportunity to enjoy work and interact with a vibrant artist community."
"We are proud that, as a nonprofit organization," continued Erlandson, "our sales from Supply will go right back into the support of the organization's programs, including our education and outreach arm Community Moves, Art Battle, Battle of the Bands, and more."
The grand opening festivities include a visual art exhibition entitled Four for Four, performances from area musicians The Jades and Lettering, roving magic from Kentucky-based Elgin Fringe Festival artist Cody Clark, belly dance from La Groove Fatale of Elgin's Eastern Groove Dance Studio, live painting, hands-on demonstrations on screen printing and printmaking with area artists Freddrick Wimms and Jim Lloyd, cake from Elgin's Herb's Bakery, and much more. All four Side Street Studio Arts spaces will be open to the public from 6 to 11 p.m.
"Jeff Kim, owner of the spaces on Spring Street, reached out to us when his storefronts became available," said founder/director Tanner Melvin. "As with our Ziegler Court spaces, we found a building owner who believes in our organization, downtown Elgin, and the economic impact the arts can have on a community. As we near our fourth anniversary, we have been host and witness to a variety of artistic breakthroughs thanks to these supportive individuals. We continue to be surprised and inspired by the depth of talent located in Elgin and the Fox Valley Area."
Side Street Studio Arts was founded by Elgin residents Melvin and Erin Rehberg in 2013, as an outlet for the Elgin arts scene. Currently under the direction of Amanda Harris, Roberto Martinez, Melvin, and Rehberg, Side Street provides education and creative resources and an accessible space, run by artists. Side Street's mission is to support the artist and artistic journey through collaboration. For more information, visit www.SideStreetStudioArts.org, call (847) 429-2276 or email SideStreetStudioArts@gmail.com.
Side Street Studio Arts anniversary schedule
<span class="fact box text bold">5 to 6 p.m.: </span>Printmaking hands-on demo with Jim Lloyd in the Lab
<span class="fact box text bold">6 p.m.:</span> Ribbon cutting and birthday cake from Herb's Bakery in the Lab & Supply
<span class="fact box text bold">6 to 6:30 p.m.:</span> Cody Clark roving magic in the Lab & Supply
<span class="fact box text bold">6:30 to 7:30 p.m.:</span> Live Painting Round 1 with John E. French and Karl Jahnke in the Lab
<span class="fact box text bold">7 to 7:30 p.m.:</span> Screen printing hands-on demo with Freddrick D. Wimms in the Lab
<span class="fact box text bold">7 to 7:30 p.m.:</span> Live music with Copper Harbor in the theater
<span class="fact box text bold">7:30 to 7:45 p.m.:</span> Cody Clark in the gallery
<span class="fact box text bold">7:30 to 8:30 p.m.:</span> Printmaking hands-on demo with Jim Lloyd in the Lab
<span class="fact box text bold">8 to 8:30 p.m.:</span> Live music with The Jades in the theater
<span class="fact box text bold">8 to 9 p.m.: </span>Live Painting Round 2 with John French and Karl Jahnke in the Lab
<span class="fact box text bold">8:45 to 9:05 p.m.:</span> La Groove Fatale from Eastern Groove Studio in the theater
<span class="fact box text bold">9 to 9:30 p.m.:</span> Screen printing hands-on demo with Freddrick D. Wimms
<span class="fact box text bold">9:15 to 9:30 p.m.:</span> Cody Clark in the gallery
<span class="fact box text bold">9:30 to 10:15 p.m.:</span> Live music with lettering in the theater