Expanding Visions Fall 2024

When: Wednesdays, 11:30 am–1:00 pm and 1:30–3:00 pm, September 25–December 4, 2024
All registrants will be assigned a time slot to limit group sizes.
Where: Private collections, artist studios, and exhibition spaces throughout Chicago and the suburbs
Addresses will be provided prior to each session.
Price:$50 per session; $325 for full series of 8 sessions

You MUST be a current member of Art Encounter to register.

We are currently accepting full-series registrants only. Please contact Sarah Packer at sarah@artencounter.org to register.

To be added to the waitlist for individual sessions, please email sarah@artencounter.org.

Arnie & Carol Kanter, Collectors | September 25, 2024
Meet an extraordinary couple in their beautiful Gold Coast condominium filled with art. Creators and world travelers, psychotherapist and poet Carol and writer, photographer and former attorney and consultant Arnie have produced four stunning art and poetry books, but that’s not all. They also initiated Innovation 80, a charitable fund that supports small arts organizations working in underserved Chicago communities to connect youth and elderly as they create art together. Learn more about Innovation 80 and their approach to collecting as we dive into large-scale abstract work by David Hare; a landscape by Sally Michel Avery; unusual mixed media sculpture, colorful paintings, and prints by Rufino Tamayo and Eduardo Chillida; and photography.

Don Pollack, Artist | October 9, 2024
Find out how this representational artist develops projects that employ unusual means, including both academic and physical research, to understand his subjects. In his Evanston studio, we’ll discuss how his juicy paintings; masterful graphite drawings on maps, photographs, and documents; and installations combine to create narratives that talk about both personal and historic events. A craftsman as well as an artist with a precise eye for presentation, Pollack creates his own frames for his paintings.

Adam Siegel, Artist | October 23, 2024
Encounter a variety of painting processes in Siegel’s Wilmette studio. We’ll see expansive abstract pieces and mixed media works as well as combinations of Asian photographic images with brushy painting strokes, solid geometric shapes, peeling and dripping paint, and layered shapes with patterns and bright colors. We’ll talk to the artist about how his upbringing in the company of artists (his father was hired by the Institute of Design to begin a Bauhaus photography department) and his two years in Japan contributed to his artistic philosophy.

Meryl and Gary Levenstein, Collectors | October 30, 2024
You will not want to miss this opportunity to explore an exciting art collection juxtaposed with contemporary furnishings and traditional objects. Meryl, an artist herself creating mixed media objects, has transformed her North Shore home into a living installation, arranging art works, furniture, books, and objects in unconventional placements. We’ll see Nick Cave sound suit, paintings by Julian Opie and Roger Brown, and an outstanding collection of internationally renowned contemporary photography including work by Candida Höfer, Sophie Calle, Cindy Sherman, John Baldessari, Richard Mosse, and Michal Rovner.

Jyl Bonaguro, Zach Balousek, Artists | November 6, 2024
Discover sculpture in the making in two studios within the same Chicago building. Find out what inspires these artists to work with their chosen materials. Jyl, an artist and a playwright, works in the traditional medium of marble, carving out areas while leaving some sections untouched in select areas reminiscent of fragments excavated by archeologists. Zach, a sculptor and musician, works in several different materials including ceramics, wood, and metal. He has worked as a set designer and carpenter, currently focusing on unique interactive artworks that are also musical instruments.

Steve and Randi Wine, Collectors | November 13, 2024
Enjoy a charmingly-appointed Streeterville apartment in an elegant historic residential building. The home showcases eclectic artworks, furniture, and design, often with a playful bent. We’ll discuss sculptures, photography, prints, and an unusual art book. We’ll also see paintings by Chicago artist Chuck Walker, New York artist Marcus Jansen, and French artist Kristian Desailly, along with a large-scale work by Raul Ortiz Bonilla—whose studio we will visit next—a rug by Danish artist Asger Jorn, and a collection of antiques.

Raul Ortiz Bonilla, Artist | November 20, 2024
Last year we visited Bonilla’s beautiful exhibit Semillas at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. Now, we’ll visit his vast West Town studio to see his latest series of work, En La Diaspora, which combines different artistic techniques that continue speaking to his memories of growing up in Puerto Rico. In works that are sometimes abstract, sometimes surreal, Bonilla employs labor-intensive patterning techniques that often recall quilting. He will explain his processes and show us earlier work leading up to his current ideas.

David Terman, Marilyn Wittenberg, Collectors | December 4, 2024
Our program series concludes with a double header of two apartments with stunning views of Lake Michigan in an elegant Wilmette building. David has an eclectic collection of paintings, prints, photography, and objects as well as mid-century furniture. We’ll see paintings by George Bentley Nick and Dan Namingha, a variety of works by Shelly Terman Canton, photographs by Jack Jaffe, ceramics, a collection of Japanese prints, and a series of shaped paintings by Joanna Pinsky. We’ll then stop by Marilyn Wittenberg’s stunningly designed apartment, filled with a collection of large-scale international posters including Toulouse-Lautrec and Mucha.

MAKEUP SESSION: Scott Mossman and Raul Ortiz, Collectors | December 11, 2024
To make up for our cancelled first session, we will be visiting the Sheridan Park home of artist couple Scott Mossman and Raul Ortiz, who have an extensive art collection. Their building is one of the few German Secessionist buildings in Chicago and is on the National Register. The apartment is packed with paintings, prints, and sculptures, including pieces by Hollis Sigler, Gregory Amenoff, David Richards, Ken Warneke, Jim Lutes, Philip Pearlstein, and Nicholas Africano, as well as a collection of clocks and Art Nouveau ceramics. We’ll also look at a couple of artworks by our hosts. You won’t want to miss this special additional program.