Art Institute: Portraits in the Park with Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble

On the occasion of the Art Institute’s presentation of The Obama Portraits and presented in partnership with the Chicago Park District’s Night Out In the Parks summer series, we’d like to invite you to this free all-ages event that features live music performances, poetry readings, and art-making activities:

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
Damon Locks and Black Monument Ensemble
Headline performance by musician/artist Damon Locks and his multigenerational group, The Black Monument Ensemble, in a performance developed in response to the Obama portraits.

On the occasion of the Art Institute’s presentation of The Obama Portraits and presented in partnership with the Chicago Park District’s Night Out In the Parks summer series, we’d like to invite you to this free all-ages event that features live music performances, poetry readings, and art-making activities:

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.

4:00–6:00
Concerned Black Image Makers, Black Portraiture Polaroids
Founded in 2017, Concerned Black Image Makers is a collective of Black lens-based artists who wish to exchange ideas, photo methods, and concerns rooted in the Black diasporic experience. CBIM invites you to not only make your own polaroid portrait, but to reimagine it through mixed media and decorative materials.

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.