The 70 Year Valentine

If you’ve been around the Library recently, you know that we’ve been making quite the fuss about Art Shay and My Florence, an exhibition of photographs Art lovingly compiled documenting 67 years of marriage to Florence. It is the ultimate valentine.

But Mr. Shay isn’t just a husband who was deeply in love with his wife, he is a world-renowned photographer (his photos have graced over 1,000 magazine covers). So this exhibition has received more attention than any other we’ve displayed at the Library. The whirlwinds of activity have included national media attention, local media attention, and an opening reception that brought throngs of people through our doors.

Here's a sampling of the great coverage My Florence has received: 

Photographs Tell Story of Decades Long Romance from the CBS Evening News [video]

My Florence: Photographs by Art Shay from Chicago Tonight [video]

Famed Photographer Art Shay's Show Captures His True Love by Mark Konkol

Arts Preview: 'My Florence: Photographs by Art Shay' by Thomas Connors

Bonus: From The Vault of Art Shay: Forever My Florence by Art Shay

So today, Valentine's Day, we strongly encourage you to grab your sweetheart and stop by the Library for an exhibit that is sure to make you smile.

My Florence: Photographs by Art Shay is on exhibit at 624 S. Michigan, 2nd Floor, until May 24, 2014.

Art in the Library Opening & Reception

Thursday, February 13, 2014, 5:30-8:30 pm
Columbia College Chicago Library
624 S. Michigan Ave.
3rd Floor North

 "?" ink sketch by Claire, student

As part of Columbia College’s CAA Evening, please join us for the Art in the Library Opening and Reception, Spring 2014 Exhibition - Thursday, February 13, 2014 from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m., 3rd Floor North. 

Presenting the work of Columbia College Chicago students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Art in the Library program exhibits works in all forms of visual arts, including sculpture, painting, drawings, and paper and book arts. Exhibitions by different artists are shown quarterly on a rotating basis.

"Joker" digital painting by Steven Smith, student

For a preview of the show visit the Art in the Library website and view work from some of the artists featured in the show.

The Art in the Library Committee welcomes all Columbia College Chicago artists to submit work for consideration.

Please visit the Art in the Library website for more information including submission guidelines, artwork forms, and examples of current and former exhibits.

Light refreshments will be served.

Project 2 Exhibition - 2nd Floor East

Columbia College Project 2: 1972

When Columbia was located at 540 North Lake Shore Drive, the Project series, a portfolio of photographs taken by college faculty and students had been compiled annually and made available for purchase. This exhibit represents the second collection of the series, reproduced for display.

The first compilation in the Columbia College Project series have been digitized and reproduced for display on the 2nd floor East. 

Art in the Library Opening Reception, Thurs 2/21 5-7pm

Image credit: Liz Shively 

 Join us - Thursday, February 21, 2013 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. for the Art in the Library Opening and Reception for the Spring 2013 Exhibition in 3rd floor north.

Presenting the work of Columbia College Chicago students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Art in the Library program exhibits works in all forms of visual arts, including sculpture, painting, drawings, and paper and book arts. Exhibitions by different artists are shown quarterly on a rotating basis.

Image credit: Maryam Fakouri

For a preview of the show visit the Art in the Library website and view work from all of the artists featured in the show.

Vision. Sound. Movement.

The Art in the Library program at Columbia College Chicago provides an open, supportive and inviting setting to showcase the talent and creativity of our own community of artists. Since its inception in 2002, Art in the Library has offered library visitors the opportunity to experience the rich cultural diversity and progressive attitudes which thrive in the Columbia environment.

Image credit: Linda Torres

The Art in the Library Committee welcomes all Columbia College Chicago artists to submit work for consideration.

Please visit the Art in the Library website for more information including submission guidelines, artwork forms, and examples of current and former exhibits.

Light refreshments will be served.

Jane Alexandroff: Celebrating Columbia's History - 2nd floor Exhibit

Jane Alexandroff was a vital part of the Columbia College community for nearly 40 years. She worked at the College, was the wife of president Mike Alexandroff, and founded Chicago Artists Abroad, a granting agency designed to support Chicago artists performing and exhibiting outside of the United States.

Exhibit runs through May 2013
Columbia College Chicago Library
624 S. Michigan Ave. 2nd Floor West

This exhibit is free and open to the public.

Jane Alexandroff (1928–1996) was the wife of Mirron “Mike” Alexandroff, who served as Columbia College’s president from 1961–1992. She was Columbia’s only other full-time employee from 1955–1962, serving in all administrative capacities. She was active in the civil rights, women’s rights, anti-war and counter culture movements, which coalesced at Columbia College during the period.

 

The Jane Ann Legnard Alexandroff Scholarship was established to help defray the cost of tuition for one full-time undergraduate senior who is socially involved in his/her community or a non-profit organization. For more information regarding this scholarship, visit the Jane Alexandroff Scholarship page on the Student Financial Services website.

Bill Russo Concert Posters - 1st Floor Exhibit

Bill Russo founded and directed Columbia College’s Center for New Music in 1965. Russo also formed the Russo Orchestra (later known as the London Jazz Orchestra), the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, the Chicago Free Theater, and composed operas for the BBC, among many other accomplishments.

Exhibit runs through May 2013
Columbia College Chicago Library
624 S. Michigan Ave. 
1st Floor

This exhibit is free and open to the public. 

More information available on the College Archives blog.

Alumni on 5 Exhibition, Opening Reception 4/20 5-7pm

Alumni on 5: Alumni in the Library Exhibitions

"Games, Wars + Summits"

The Spring exhibition looks at this year's Critical Encounters focus, 'Rights, Radicals + Revolution' and the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago in May 2012.

Are you radical? Do you play games?  Do you war?  What revolution have/would you join or lead?  Is your art a medium for discussing politics, fun, social issues and community engagement?

Opening Reception
Columbia College Chicago Library
624 S. Michigan Ave., 5th Floor
Friday, April 20, 2012
5pm-7pm

Exhibition Hours:
During Regular Library Hours
April 20, 2012-August 2012

Shows Organized and Curated by:
Jodi Adams (BA '08)
Stephen DeSantis (MFA '08)

Art in the Library Reception 4/12 5-7pm

Art in the Library Opening & Reception

Thursday, April 12, 2012, 5:00-7:00pm
Columbia College Chicago Library
624 S. Michigan Ave.
3rd Floor North

 Join us - Thursday, April 12, 2012 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. for the Art in the Library Opening and Reception for the Spring 2011 Exhibition in 3rd floor north.
Light refreshments will be served.

Vision. Sound. Movement.

The Art in the Library program at Columbia College Chicago provides an open, supportive and inviting setting to showcase the talent and creativity of our own community of artists. Since its inception in 2002, Art in the Library has offered library visitors the opportunity to experience the rich cultural diversity and progressive attitudes which thrive in the Columbia environment.

Presenting the work of Columbia College Chicago students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Art in the Library program exhibits works in all forms of visual arts, including sculpture, painting, drawings, and paper and book arts. Exhibitions by different artists are shown quarterly on a rotating basis.

The Art in the Library Committee welcomes all Columbia College Chicago artists to submit work for consideration.

Please visit the Art in the Library website for more information including submission guidelines, artwork forms, and examples of current and former exhibits.

Art in the Library Exhibit Opening and Reception

Emily Sperl, Photography

Please join us for our latest Art in the Library exhibition opening and reception on Thursday, February 16, 2012 from 5-7pm, Third Floor North. The Library is located at 624 S. Michigan Ave.

Art in the Library is an ongoing series (four times each academic year) of exhibitions featuring the art of Columbia College Chicago student, faculty, staff and alumni. 

Interested in showing your work in a future Art in the Library exhibition? Contact Larry Oberc at 312.369.7157 or loberc@colum.edu.

Chicago Journalists Association Illustrations

Title: Chicago Journalists Association: Early 20th Century Illustrations
Location: Library, 624 S. Michigan Ave., 2nd floor east
Contact: CADC (cadc@colum.edu )
Dates: Jan 23 through May 5, 2012

Come view selected political cartoons and illustrations from the Chicago Journalists Association collection, most on display for the first time in nearly thirty years.  Chicago Journalists Association is a non-profit organization of experienced print and electronic journalists in the Chicago area that was founded during the Chicago World’s Fair.

During the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, Chicago journalists met while covering the event.  Forty years later, on August 12, 1933, at the second Chicago World Fair, the Century of Progress, a reunion of the press veterans of 1893 was held, a board was formed, and the organization began to meet once a year.

In 1939, Joseph C. Davis, a sportswriter, led the promotion of the Chicago Press Veterans Association and widened its membership base. This organization of professional journalists held its first annual dinner in December 1939 and the association was incorporated in 1942. 
In 2011, the Chicago Journalists Association donated the collection to College Archives and Digital Collections at Columbia College Chicago for curricular support and research use.

Exhibit: Travelling with John Fischetti

Title: Travelling with John Fischetti
Location: Library, 624 S. Michigan Ave., 3rd floor east
Contact: CADC (cadc@colum.edu )
Dates: Jan 17 through May 5, 2012

John Fischetti, the Pulitzer-prize winning political cartoonist and syndicated cartoonist, is best known for his editorial cartoon work.

Come see a very different view of John Fischetti’s work: travel sketches from trips to France, Denmark, and New York City. 

More information can be found online: colum.edu/archives/collections/holdings/manuscripts/fischetti

The exhibit is curated by Thatiana Oliveira, a graduate student in Photography at Columbia College Chicago.

 

Phi Sigma: The Voice Exhibit

Title: Phi Sigma: The Voice

Location: Library, 624 S. Michigan Ave., 2nd floor west

Contact:CADC (cadc@colum.edu)

Dates: Jan 17 through May 5, 2012

Learn about Phi Sigma, a public-speaking group established in Chicago in 1878, the oldest, continuously running organization of its kind in Illinois.  View covers from its publication the “Voice” created and designed by its members, whose pages contain the text of talks presented on such diverse topics as art history, socialism, philosophy, journalism, idealism, and evolution.

This collection, housed in College Archives & Digital Collections at Columbia College Chicago, honors the College’s early curricula in oratory arts and speaks to Columbia’s mission and curricula today.

The exhibit is curated by Emily Sperl, an undergraduate student in Photography at Columbia College Chicago.

Alumni on 5 Exhibit: Revolution of Self

September 23, 2011 – March 9, 2012
Columbia College Chicago Library
624 S. Michigan Avenue, 5th Floor

The fall 2011 Alumni on 5 exhibition explores the rawness of self-portraiture and self-exploration when it is approached with honesty, both brutal and beautiful; our necessary non-fictions.


What is self-portrait and how can you use it to express revolution of self?
What happens when everything you thought you once knew has been altered; when the necessary fictions melt away? What does this change look like? How do you express this revolution/revelation, in your art?

Late Night Television, image by Larry Chiat ('02)

Shows organized and curated by:
Jodi Adams (BA ‘08)
* Stephen DeSantis (MFA ‘08)*

Featured alumni artists:
* Ali Beyer (MFA ’08)*
Evy Briggs (BFA ’08)
Valerie Burke (BA ’76)
Larry Chait (’02)
* Sandi Chaplin (MA ’98)*
Anni Holm (BFA ’04)
* Laurie LeBreton (MFA ’11)*
Shellie Lewis (BA ’10)
Dimitri Moore (BA ’11)
* Kelly Parsell (MFA ’10)*
Carolyn Otto Pavelkis (MFA ’01)
* Rose Camastro Pritchett (MFA ’03)*
*Jamie Rey (MFA ’07)*
Kevin Riordan (BA ’96)
* Karol Shewmaker (MFA ’09)*
Kayla Story (BFA ’11)

* Interdisciplinary Arts Department Alumni

Exhibition open during regular library hours

20th Century Cover Design Exhibit

Twentieth Century Cover Designs
September 19 – December 23

Stop by the Library’s 3rd floor to view plates from this book arranged & printed by Victor H. and Ernest L. Briggs and published in 1902. The book is held in Special Collections, a unit of the Library that collects, preserves, and provides access to unique, rare, and valuable items in support of the educational, research and cultural needs of the Columbia College Chicago community.

The exhibit was curated by Emily Sperl, an undergraduate student in the Photography Department.

Paper Clips & Paper Fasteners Exhibit

Keeping It Together: Paper Clips & Paper Fasteners
September 19 – December 23

Take a moment to honor the paper clip on the Library’s second floor. The exhibit includes images of distinctive fasteners from the 19th and 20th centuries, removed during the processing of archival collections. Acquaint yourself with each paper clip’s distinctive shape and discover a bit about the hardworking and largely unheralded fastener!

The exhibit was curated by Zach Michael, an undergraduate student in the Photography Department.

Asian Fashion and Cosplay Exhibit

In 2008, students participated in a summer study tour in Tokyo, Japan. The tour description read:

Love Harajuku street fashion? Big fan of manga, anime, and Japanese pop culture? Interested in Japanese art, design, new media and its history? Join us for a study tour to Tokyo, the cultural capital of Asia where refined traditions, Zen philosophy and tranquil aesthetic coexist with the exaggerated cuteness of animate subculture and imported global influences.


The street fashion images displayed in the Library, 3rd floor, east contain highlights from an exhibit co-created by the Center for Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago.
The exhibit runs through December 23, 2011.

Veterans Administration Exhibit

Veterans Administration Research and Guidance Center at Columbia College Exhibit
Library, 2nd Floor
August 10th - December 23, 2011


After World War II, Columbia College was an important education center for the Veteran Administration. The GI Bill had far reaching effects at the College that still resonate today. The display features material from the time period, 1945 to 1956, including information about students, disciplines introduced, and alumnae who attended Columbia on the GI Bill, including one of our current trustees. The exhibit is in the Library, 2nd floor west and runs from August 10 until December 23, 2011.

John Fischetti Exhibition - Library 1st Floor

View the display of works from Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist John Fischetti.

Located on the first floor of the Library, the exhibit showcases Fischetti’s political cartoons and sketches capturing his take on the Vietnam War. Held in conjunction with the Library’s Big Read programming for the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and the College’s annual John Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition, the exhibit focuses on the US involvement in Vietnam from 1960 to 1975 and the various reactions to it in American culture.

Curated by Dominican University Library Science student, Jerica Copeny, and College Archives & Digital Collections staff member, Kris Lipkowski, the exhibit runs from March 30 through May 16, 2011.

Art in the Library Opening - Thurs, 3/31

Art in the Library Opening & Reception

Thursday, March 31, 2011, 5:00-7:00pm
Columbia College Chicago Library
624 S. Michigan Ave.
3rd Floor North

Join us - Thursday, March 31st, 2011 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. for the Art in the Library Opening and Reception for the Spring 2011 Exhibition in 3rd floor north.
Light refreshments will be served.

Vision. Sound. Movement.

The Art in the Library program at Columbia College Chicago provides an open, supportive and inviting setting to showcase the talent and creativity of our own community of artists. Since its inception in 2002, Art in the Library has offered library visitors the opportunity to experience the rich cultural diversity and progressive attitudes which thrive in the Columbia environment.

Presenting the work of Columbia College Chicago students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Art in the Library program exhibits works in all forms of visual arts, including sculpture, painting, drawings, and paper and book arts. Exhibitions by different artists are shown quarterly on a rotating basis.

The Art in the Library Committee welcomes all Columbia College Chicago artists to submit work for consideration.

Please visit the Art in the Library website for more information including submission guidelines, artwork forms, and examples of current and former exhibits.

Alumni on 5 Exhibition - Oct. 11 - March 1

Alumni on 5
Physicality & Virtuality
October 11, 2010 - March 1, 2011


IMAGE NOTES:
"Suspended Freedom"
by Dalia Amara (BFA '09)

The fall 2010 Alumni exhibition, Physicality & Virtuality, takes a look at Columbia College Chicago alumni work exploring the differences and overlap between the physical and the virtual in their art practices.

Congratulations to the following Alumni artists who's work has been accepted into the fall Alumni on 5 exhibition!

Dalia Amara (BFA '09)
Evy Briggs (BFA '08)
Bob Blinn (BA '73)
Valerie Burke (BA '76)
Kevin Cassidy (BFA '02)
Erin Cramer (MFA '09)
Larry Chait (BFA '02)
Craig Jobson (MFA '01)
Keisha Jordan (BFA '04)
Shellie Lewis (BA '10)
Rachel Muich (BA '07)
Joseph Panizzo (BFA '07)
Carolyn Otto Pavelkis (MFA 01)
Rebecca Reuland (BFA '04)
Nino Rodriguez (BA '05)
Erick Rowe (MFA '05)
Karol Shewmaker (MFA '09)
Michael Smith (BFA '03)
Sharon Okeefe Starkman (MA '83)
Liz Wuerffel (MA '06)


Shows organized and curated by:
Jodi Adams (B.A. '08) and
Stephen DeSantis (M.F.A. '08)

Contact us at submitalumni@colum.edu