PERFORMANCES

4:15–4:45    
Chicago Sinfonietta Residents Orchestrate with Sadie Woods
Live performance by DJ and sound artist Sadie Woods and the Chicago Sinfonietta’s Residents Orchestrate, a project designed to bring the Sinfonietta experience to communities in the Chicagoland area.

5:15–5:20
Youth Poetry Reading
Spoken work performance by Chicago youth written in response to the Obama portraits.

5:20–6:00        
avery r. young & de deacon board
Headline performance by musician/artist avery r. young and his band, who merge blues, funk and soul for a unique performance responding to the Obama portraits.

INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES

4:00–6:00
Saleem Hue Penny, Looking Out=Looking In
Saleem Hue Penny (he/him/friend) is a Black creative and community builder with a vestibular disorder and single-sided deafness. He engages audiences through ‘rural hip-hop blues’ poetry, early childhood programming, and hospital magic. Penny is designing portraiture kits that will be distributed at Portraits in the Park.

4:00–6:00
Southside Blooms, Chrysanthemum City
Southside Blooms farm-to-vase on florist on the South Side of Chicago, providing unique and fashion-forward arrangements, while maintaining an uncompromising dedication to both the environment and our surrounding communities. Southside Blooms will be on site helping attendees plant their own take-home chrysanthemums, the Chicago flower featured in Barack Obama’s portrait.

4:00–6:00
Victoria Martinez, Re:Imagining Pattern
Victoria Martinez is a transdisciplinary artist and educator from Chicago who explores installation art, site-specific experiments, screen printing, and painting. Martinez will be leading a fabric drawing activity that draws inspiration from Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers to reimagine Michelle Obama’s dress from her portrait.

4:45–5:15
Julian Otis, Self-Care = Resistance
Artist and musician Julian Otis leads this interactive experience, a jam session that supports community health by providing a safe space for collective expression and fostering dialogue about what we need in our lives to thrive.

Experience a special evening celebrating Chicago neighborhoods and creative communities. Create your own portraits with local artists, be inspired by youth poetry readings, and enjoy the music of leading Chicago musicians.

Please bring your own chair and observe our current health and safety guidelines: Wear your mask. Stay 6 feet away from others. Wash your hands. Learn more.

See you in Douglass Park! Enter at W. Ogden Avenue and S. Sacramento Drive in Chicago

Official Website

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Tags: avery r. young, Chicago, Chicago Sinfonietta, De Deacon Board, Douglass Park, Illinois, Julian Otis, Portraits in the Park with avery r. young & de deacon board, Sadie Woods, Saleem Hue Penny, Southside Blooms, The Art Institute of Chicago, Victoria Martinez