College of DuPage architecture students investigate design elements with Chicago artist Faheem Majeed

Second-year College of DuPage architecture students had the unique opportunity to have their designs critiqued by renowned local builder and artist Faheem Majeed.

Students from architecture professor Mark Pearson's design studio course created pieces based on or inspired by Majeed's work. The designs are on display in the college's new Techcetera gallery space through Feb. 22.

The unique space, conceived by College of DuPage President Dr. Ann Rondeau, celebrates the interdependence of technology, media and design, and features work by students in disciplines that fall outside the traditional art fields.

A resident of Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, Majeed's work transforms everyday materials such as particleboard, scrap metal and wood, and discarded signs and billboards into pieces that speak to larger issues of civic-mindedness, community activism and institutional racism. He was the inaugural artist-in-residence for University of Chicago's Arts in Public Life Initiative (2012) and has been an artist-in-residence at MANA Contemporary Chicago (2014) and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (2015).

Majeed's visit coincides with his solo show, "Unite," in the McAninch Arts Center's Cleve Carney Art Gallery located on the College's campus, which runs through April 7. Visit www.clevecarneygallery.org for more on the exhibit.

For information on the college's architecture program, visit www.cod.edu/programs/architecture/index.aspx.