LOGAN SQUARE ARTS FESTIVAL
LIVE MUSIC & ART AT THE MONUMENT ON LOGAN SQUARE
Featuring 30 bands over three days and the work of 70 local artists, makers, and artisanal vendors.

FREE with suggested donation that benefits local non-profits.

FRIDAY June 23 | 5 – 10pm
SATURDAY June 24 | 12 – 10pm
SUNDAY June 25 | 12 – 10pm
At the intersection of Logan Boulevard, Kedzie, and Milwaukee Avenue in beautiful Chicago, IL

The Logan Square Arts Festival is three-day celebration of the diversity and vitality of our neighborhood taking place on first official weekend of the Summer. Since 2009, over 300,000 guests have enjoyed the festival and we have raised tens of thousands of dollars for neighborhood non-profits.

Each year the LSAF features artists of varying disciplines, neighborhood restaurants, and locally produced beer and cocktails. The festival partners with neighborhood art organizations on the presentation of visual art across the festival grounds, and with local music venues to present a diverse array of music representative of our neighborhood.

FEATURED ARTISTS

GILLIAN BUTCHER

Gillian is a Chicago based, multi-disciplinary artist in the fields of experiential installations, immersive art & performance. Growing up in the PNW was hugely influential on her interest in sustainable artistic practices & captivation with beautiful environments. Trained in theater, Gillian’s visual art progressed naturally into imbuing life & character into spaces. Each project is a chance to play with new mediums & collaborate with talented artists. Gillian’s work often focuses on mental health & community building. As these subjects are of central importance to her own happiness & growth, it is her desire to devise work that supports the viewer to share in their exploration, too.

Her installation, We’ve always lived here, is a large-scale reimagining of five of Chicagoland’s most famous native plants. Made of conduit, rebar & acrylic, these flowers tower overhead, casting light through their colorful shapes onto the landscape at their roots. “Illinois’ native prairie plants are essential to the health of our local ecosystem’s biodiversity. Just planting a few of these in your own yard will provide much needed support for local bees, birds & butterflies. In making this installation, my hope is to remind Chicagoans of the natural beauty that native species provide to our urban landscape.”

ALEJANDRA RIVERO

Alejandra, a Chicago-based, Los Angeles native artist, pursued her passion in Chicago, earning a Bachelor’s in Graphic Design from the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. She is working towards a Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the same institution. Alejandra’s art spans mixed media paintings, installations, and murals, featuring abstract, surrealist, and figurative elements that inspire diverse interpretations. In the last several years, she began working with repurposed and organic materials, conversing with the natural resources and the unnecessary material we overproduce.

Her installation, The Shape of US: viewing repurpose methods in an art form, is a 15-ft long interactive portal of colors, shapes, and patterns made from re-purposed materials. “This interactive tunnel involves working with repurposed and organic materials, reflecting my deep awareness of our environment and desire to create sustainable art by sourcing discarded materials, giving new life to forgotten objects, and celebrating the beauty of their imperfection. Adding organic elements further connects my work to the natural world, fostering a sense of dialogue and balance. Through this process, I bring attention to and raise the question to promote eco-consciousness, encouraging viewers to reevaluate their relationship with nature and the discharged material. My art is a testament to the inherent creativity and resilience within the organic and repurposed materials surrounding us.”

ezra mercy

ezra mercy (they/she) is a new media performance artist born and based in Chicago. Their work focuses on physical and digital bodies, queerness, and imagining utopias through multidisciplinary performances. It has been exhibited in numerous art museums, performance venues, artist-led spaces, and is published online. They work as a director, creative producer, actor, screenwriter, independent venue manager, film editor, muralist, and multimedia performance artist for various private clients, events, and exhibitions. As an active member of Chicago’s art community, each performance stands upon the shoulders of their collaborators, teachers, and influences.

Their piece, Paper Angel, is a silent, living statue/interactive character that is in-costume, lavender body-painted, and folds origami/creates paper-based art. Paper Angel either gives their creations to festival attendees or to adorn their installation with. This iteration of Paper Angel was made in collaboration with Merrick Marwood, Elio Baseman, and Jess Nickelman.

Performing in the Interactive Arts Area | FRI + SAT + SUN

WONDER WAGON

The Wonder Wagon is an experiential puppetry collaborative bringing giant puppets to outdoor spaces in Chicago and connecting communities through collective imagination and wonder. The 2023 Wonder Wagon is created by Will Bishop, Grace Needlman, Sam Lewis, Time Brickey, August Boyne, and Hunter Diamond.

Keep an eye out on Sunday, when giant puppets from the Wonder Wagon will be roving throughout the festival – bringing surprise, joy and wonder!

”Roving” performance | SUN @ Noon-3pm

RIN PEISERT

Rin Peisert is an interdisciplinary artist who works with bodies, sounds, found objects, and actions to explore conditions for interdependence and sincerity. Her site-responsive actions use intervention as a tool to reorganize behavior and to exaggerate the quotidian. Peisert’s work has been seen at Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Power Station of Art Shanghai, The Momentary Museum, and Defibrillator as well as streets, rooftops, a bomb shelter, and a market for arranged marriage. Peisert has an MFA from School of Visual Arts NYC. She is the Performing Arts Curatorial Artist-in-Residence at Elastic Arts, organizing the series Relative Intensity Noise.

She will be on-site Saturday & Sunday presenting her interactive art piece, The Perfectibility of the Womb and Telephone From the Beyond. The public is invited to sit in a small chair and play telephone with a giantess by listening to or by telling a secret – in a space of shared intimacy amid the chaos.

Performing in front of the Monument | SAT + SUN

MADISON MANNING

Madison Manning (she/they) is an artist-scholar, educator and lesbian based in Chicago. Their research focuses on the intersection of lesbian + femme style practices as visual language, queer craft materiality and queer joy. In the studio, Manning creates large-scale pseudo-brooches to adorn both body and building, utilizing fibers, vintage textiles and rhinestoned witch fingers. Their work has been shown at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, CICA Musuem in Gimpo, South Korea and throughout the United States. Her work on camp as pedagogical practice have been published in Visual Arts Research and presented at College Art Assocation, Southeastern College Art Conference and Foundations in Art: Theory and Education conference. Madison lives with her service dog, Gigi, and her partner, Amelia.

For the month of June leading up to the Logan Square Arts Festival, Madison Manning will be creating a woven installation and hosting weekend weaving workshops on Comfort Station’s SCAFFOLD. Utilizing construction materials, yarn and donated materials, Madison will transform SCAFFOLD into an interactive space with soft, adorned walls and pseudo-awnings extending off the structure. Madison will lead a community weaving workshop in the Interactive Arts Area on Sunday 6/25 from Noon-4pm. All are welcome and those in attendance will weave with traditional and non-traditional materials directly on SCAFFOLD, culminating in two large community panels.

Community Weaving Workshop | SUN. 6/25 @ Noon-4pm

For a full list of art programing visit this link: https://www.logansquareartsfestival.com/art

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Tags: Alejandra Rivero, Chicago, Comfort Station Logan Square, Ezra Mercy, Gillian Butcher, Logan Square, Logan Squre Arts Festival, Madison Manning, Rin Peisert, Wonder Wagon