Arts + Public Life invites you to grab a seat at our virtual table for Chop It Up, a monthly dinner series where we sit down with two notable practitioners–artists, designers, and entrepreneurs–to host an hour-long conversation. Over home-cooked meals or dinner ordered in from local favorites, practitioners will serve up perspectives on their practice while exploring the intersections of their work.

Just as a conversation around the dinner table can take surprising turns, Chop It Up encourages featured guests to share the full range of their experiences–technical aspects of their profession, current preoccupations or trends in their industry, and personal anecdotes. Gather around our virtual table for 60 shared minutes of candid conversation with practitioners Peter Gaona, interdisciplinary artist and founder of fashion brand ReformedSchool, and Norman Teague, designer, educator and co-founder/partner of BlkHaUS studio, L3C.

Zoom link to participate:
https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/93026898127?pwd=RDI3K1JVN2Rnc0c2ZFk0MTJNbDQ3UT09

PW: 493217
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About the Practitioners

Peter Gaona
Peter Gaona is an interdisciplinary artist, native of Chicago’s South Side, and founder of Reformed School – a distinct Chicago independent clothing and accessory brand that repurposes recycled materials to create uniquely fashionable, socially conscious eco-wear. His products can be found at the Afropunk Festival in New York, the Essence Festival in New Orleans and the Schomburg Center in Harlem. As a performing artist he danced with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, The Joel Hall Dancers, Thodos Dance Chicago, Lyric Opera, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, and Dallas Black Dance Theater. He attended Chicago State University and received his degree in Arts Entertainment & Media Management from Columbia College Chicago.

Norman Teague
Norman Teague is a Chicago-based designer and educator who focuses on projects and pedagogy that address the complexity of urbanism and the culture of communities. He specializes in custom furniture design and designed objects that deliver a personal touch and/or function to a specific user and unique aesthetic detail. Teague’s past projects have included consumer products, public sculpture, performances and designed spaces. In 2016 he co-founded blkHaUS studios, a collaborative effort to promote greater inclusion of black and brown narratives in the history of design and promote design’s relevance to contemporary communities of color. He received a Bachelors of Arts at Columbia College Chicago and Masters of Fine Arts in Designed Objects from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Tags: Arts and Public Life, Chicago, Chop It Up: Dinner with Practitioners, Hyde Park, Norman Teague, Peter Gaona