Pros Arts Studio

Bowl-making bonanza part deux

2010-03-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

The planning for our March 20th Pozolada is starting to pick up more speed. Pros Arts Studio friend and artists, Nicole Marroquin is leading this all clay jam session, get the details below:

Hi, Teaching Artists and Friends

This Friday the 5th of March, you should come to Pros Arts Studio for a clay super-mega-jam session. This clay marathon goes from 7pm Friday to 7am Saturday, and we will be making bowls ALL NIGHT LONG!

Friday night, we will be throwing on the wheel, slab and coil constructing, re-purposing thrift store bowls with decals!, doing 3D mold made collages, linocut prints and xerox transfers- all on bowls.

If you made a bowl already, come by and glaze it! If you want to make some more bowls, come make more!

Come hang out, conspire, build coalition and community, and make art to help out a great organization that offers free classes to neighborhood kids. Please RSVP to me and get more information, for example, your dj shift, what delicious snack you might bring, etc. ;)

This is in support of the Pros Arts Studio POZOLADA event taking place on March 20th!

Thank you all in advance-

Nicole,
nicole.marroquin@gmail.com

Hope you can join us. The fun will be our Ideas en Arcilla Community Clay Studio at Casa Aztlan, 1831 S. Racine.

Pros Arts Studio's artist invite you to our Pozolada. Dine with us, and support our free classes at Idea en Arcilla Community Clay Studio.

Tickets $25 in advance ($30 @ door) includes meal and a one-of-a-kind artis made ceramic bowl to keep.

info/rsvp: info@prosarts.org

Held @ Casa Juan Diego,

Pozolada 2010: bowl-making marathon

2010-03-01T14:03:00.001-08:00

Pozolada 2010, originally uploaded by pros arts studio.

This past weekend a crew of volunteers came together to help Pros Arts Studio prepare for the the Pozolada on March 20th. PAS teaching artist, Jaclin Paul got on the wheel in the clay studio to make bowls, and Pilsen based artist Nicole Marroquin, taught volunteers new to ceramics how to shape bowls with clay on slump molds.

You can check out more photos from that gathering on the PAS flickr page.

Also, make sure to join us on:
Saturday, March 20, 2010 @ 7-10 p.m.
Held @ Casa Juan Diego, 2020 S. Blue Island Ave., Chicago, Il
Pros Arts Studio's artists invite you to our Pozolada. Dine with us, and support our free classes at Ideas en Arcilla Community Clay Studio.
$25 in advance ($30 @ door)
includes meal and a one-of-a-kind artist-made ceramic bowl to keep.
buy tickets online: www.prosarts.org
rsvp/info: info@prosarts.org

PAS Senior Tech @ Dvorak Park

2010-02-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Pros Arts Studio is now offering an adult mobile lab that includes training to the senior group at Dvorak Park. Get the full details below.

Lab Monitor Stephanie Barragan assisting Pilsen resident Shirley Castanedo in Dvorak Park.

Barragan and her assistant David Rodriguez, a former former youth participant with Pros Arts Studio, help a group of seniors get online.

Pros Arts Studio Mobile Lab at Dvorak Park
by Elvia Rodriguez
Pros Arts Studio is pleased to announce a 'Mobile Lab' available at Dvorak Park Mondays and Wednesdays from 12 to 3 p.m. The free lab offers eight new Macbook Pro laptop computers for participants to research and apply for work, improve their job skills and become familiar with using the Internet.

Funded by a Digital Divide Grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (IDCEO), the Mobile Lab provides local residents 18 and over access to the Internet through June 2010.

A bilingual lab monitor and a volunteer assistant is available for assistance during operating hours to answer questions about using the computers and about the Illinois Work Net, a comprehensive website that gives assistance and information to jobseekers.

The Mobile Lab is housed in the Auditorium Room of the fieldhouse at the park—often referred to as the homework room—and is open on first-come first-serve basis. The room is located on the 1st floor of the park, and the lab is set up to be ADA accessible.

Free Wi-Fi and Senior Tech at Dvorak Park
As part of the IDCEO grant, the fieldhouse at Dvorak Park is also now a Wi-Fi hotspot. The building has Wi-Fi service on during open hours, available for free for anyone. Several groups that use rooms at the park for regular meetings have found the addition of Wi-Fi to be very useful.

The laptops for the Mobile Lab are also used in a special program for seniors at the park, which meets at 10 a.m. on Monday and Wednesday. Senior citizens in the program learn how to use the Internet, use email and connect with family and friends with the computers.

For more information about the Mobile Lab or the senior program, please call 312-226-7767 or email info@prosarts.org

This story originally appeared in Pilsen Portal.
Pros Arts Studio Mobile Lab at Dvorak Park — Pilsen Portal

Art of Change in Hoy News

2010-02-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

Pros Art Studio's, Art of Change Program is in place at five schools and piloting at our first high school. This program is supported by Polk Bros. Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, and JP Morgan Chase Corporation. Last month Hoy Newspaper profiled students from the Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy and PAS teaching artist, Douglas Grew.

Below is the English version of the article that reporter Jay Dunn shared with us. Read the Spanish version that appeared in Hoy here.

Rather than having to face the uncertainty of a cold winter’s afternoon, students like Karina Cordero at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy’s “At-Risk After-School Program” are laughing as they learn first-hand the basic principles of physics. In an innovative program that exemplifies the best of what can be done with creative partnerships, hundreds of children at five Little Village area schools are participating in “The Art of Change,” an ambitious residency by professional artists that directly integrates art and science into school curriculum.

Pros Arts Studio, as it is now known, began its long community involvement in 1978 with an Arts-in-Education Residency at St. Procopius, and has as its mission “to enrich individuals, communities and schools by providing lively multi-disciplinary arts programming, with a special focus on making a difference for youth in the Pilsen and Little Village communities.”

“Art of Change” residencies are now in place at Jungman, Finkl, Healy, Walsh and Saucedo Elementary Schools (also in a pilot program at Benito Juarez High School.) The curriculum serves eight classrooms, approximately 240 students, and this is Year 1 of a 5 year “21 Century” Program administrated by Northeastern University [at Saucedo].

Saucedo’s program for Grades 5-8, “Circus Galactica” has to be seen to be believed. After-school classes drily described on paper as “Drama and Circus Arts integration with Earth Science and Astronomy” might not necessarily be fun, but this one is, and the approach for children at-risk is clearly working.

Veteran circus performers Douglas Grew and Paul Lopez bring a trifecta to the table: three keywords to apply that happen to be life lessons as well: “Balance, Focus, Presentation.” Class begins with a teamwork circle, and some confidence building, like delivering “hellos” in a booming voice. Kids use their focus to balance objects, first feathers, then yardsticks, on fingertips, chins, noses. This is only the beginning, of course – at the end of the program, these students will perform what they have learned onstage.

There are balance boards, handkerchiefs to juggle, balls to try next. Everything is energetic, the teachers especially, and in less than an hour’s time, kids have incorporated important lessons about gravity, inertia, and motion dynamics without, perhaps, even realizing they have done so. There are smiles, and some tension that disappears each time a difficult corner is turned. These are formative years, after all, ones in which kids start to realize who they are, and what they are capable of doing. And in this Pros Arts classroom, only one thing is forbidden: saying “I can’t.

Pros Arts Studio: 2009 Year-in-review

2010-01-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

More art for the PAS benefit

2009-11-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

The Pros Arts Studio's Annual Benefit is tomorrow. Its been an exciting but exhausting week at our offices. Our director of community programs, Elvia Rodriguez,brought bags of chocolate candy for sustenance, as staff and board members finalize event details for tomorrow's benefit.

More art for the silent auction has been dropped off:

Ojo al mundo by Susana Aguilar

Manda del Corazón by Giselle Mercier

untitled by Akira Okada

Metro Astro Yods in Blue by Star Padilla

Only at the PAS benefit: La Morena Dolorosa

2009-11-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

The Pros Arts Studio's Annual Benefit is less than a week away. Our staff and board members are hustling to make sure that all the details are covered to create an exceptional experience for our guests and supporters. In addition to good food and wine and great music we are making sure the silent auction table features one-0f-a-kind items.

This morning we got a very special package in the mail that travelled to PAS all the way from Lexington, Kentucky. A wood art piece by Diane Kahlo, that is over a foot high and several inches deep titled La Morena Dolorosa.

The piece has really generated buzz at the PAS office. Who will be the lucky new owner of this piece after the ¡Abriendo Puertas! benefit? As of now, the only chance to own her is by attending the Pros Arts Benefit. ;)

So, get your ticket(s) now @ http://www.prosarts.org/.

30th Annual Day of the Dead celebration

2009-11-06T08:45:00.000-08:00

Pros Arts Studios celebrated its The 30th Annual Dia de los Muertos Celebration this past Monday, October 2nd 2009. We are grateful for the partner organizations that joined us: Casa Aztlan, Dvorak Park, Hogar del Niño, and Gads Hill. We had an amazing night that included face painting, a children's parade, and a show by the Kidz Circus. We also would like to thank Elizabeth and Jeff A. Maldonado for allowing us the opportunity honor Jeff Jr.

Elvia Rodriguez, our director of community programs, was the moving force behind making this event happen.

Our executive director Giselle Mercier, dressed up using La Catrina as her inspiration and helped with face painting.

We were thrilled to have Silvana Tabares from Extra Bilingual News cover our event. Pick up a copy of this week's issue to see the photos they've published...

...or check out the photo gallery they've posted on their website. Extra photo gallery

Open Doors with Pros Arts Studio

2009-11-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

You can purchase tickets now!

On Saturday, November 14th 2009 the Pros Arts Studio family will gather at the National Museum of Mexican Art for its Annual Benefit. This year's theme is ¡Abriendo Puertas! with Arts and Heritage, join us and become a part of the 30 year legacy that has paved the way for the artistic expression of youth in Pilsen and Little Village.

Visit our website to learn more about our different art programs. Your support helps us keep our programs FREE for our students. Every day children and teens drop in to work on a mural, edit a video, sculpt in clay, or clown around with the Kidz Circus.

Special performance by AfriCaribe, dedicated to the preservation, research, promotion and development of the Puerto Rican and Caribbean cultures through music, dance, theatre and other artistic mediums.

Check out the rest of the evening activities below:

Hello World!

2009-10-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

Yes it is finally happening! Pros Arts Studio is creating a blog. We plan to link it to all out lovely sites on the web including our website, our Facebook fan page and anything else we can think of!
Thank you for all the love over the 30 years of our existence and we hope to hear from you all as well soon!