As we enter this season of gratitude and giving, we want to thank you for being a part of our community, and for helping us bring art into so many people's lives this year. While you wind down this week before Thanksgiving, please enjoy this recap of everything we've been up to this fall across our Outreach Programs, Public and Member Programs, and Mural Program. We deeply appreciate all our partners' and patrons' collaboration, participation, and support of Art Encounter!
WHAT'S NEW: OUTREACH PROGRAMS
NEA GRANT BRINGS RETURN OF PAST SCHOOL PARTNERS
Our first-ever federal grant from the NEA has enabled us to expand the number of Chicago Public Schools we serve with our ARTiculations program this year. It has been a joy to return to a few former school partners, including the 3rd and 4th grade classrooms at DeWitt Clinton Elementary School in West Ridge. Lead teaching artist Alex Stevenson has seen powerful engagement from the students there. She recently told us, “My favorite moment each session is when we ‘unveil’ the artwork we’ve brought in. Each artwork is greeted with astonished gasps, audible exclamations, and eagerly raised hands. Students can't wait to talk about the work. Their world, like ours, is increasingly consumed by screens, and the chance to see real artwork up close is all the more important. The instant engagement triggered by the professional artwork continues all hour as they dive into their own creative process. It's been a blast and I leave feeling inspired by their endless creativity and energy every Wednesday.” Pictured: Teaching artist Alex Stevenson working with students at Clinton Elementary School
NEW CULTURAL DESTINATIONS FOR OUR CPS STUDENTS
One of the most exciting areas of growth in our school programs this year has been the exploration of new cultural destinations for our CPS students’ field trips at the end of each ARTiculations residency. We have become regular visitors to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago as well as the National Mexican Museum of Art in Pilsen, where we have added a fun walking tour of area murals to our outing. And most recently, we had our first-ever visit to the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Humboldt Park. This excursion was very special, as exhibiting artist Raul Ortiz Bonilla was present for a Q & A with students from Goethe Elementary School. He was like a rock star to our budding young artists! It has been very rewarding to see our students and their classroom teachers discover this important new cultural institution with us. Pictured: Students from Goethe Elementary School visiting the PRMAC in Humboldt Park
GROWING OUR TRAVELING ART COLLECTION 
As part of Art Encounter’s recently-completed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion assessment, we identified an important priority for our Outreach Programs: to diversify cultural representation in our traveling art collection by adding new artworks. Our first new acquisition took place in October. We had recently developed a lesson involving Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical or mythical creatures called alebrijes, but didn’t have the original artwork necessary for discussion. During a field trip to the National Museum of Mexican Art, we fortuitously met artist Jacobo Angeles, who was showing and selling his own alebrijes! We were so pleased to be able to purchase three beautiful sculptures that day directly from the artist. Our students have loved discussing the artworks, then making their own fantasy animal sculptures. This important project—which involves vital input from our classroom teacher partners, local BIPOC arts leaders, and our own teaching staff—is supported by a grant from the Arts Work Fund. More details to come! Pictured: Artist Jacobo Angeles with the alebrijes that are going home to Art Encounter's traveling collection
WELCOMING OUR FIRST-EVER CURRICULUM SPECIALIST
One of our senior teaching artists, Miriam Bahena-Cardona Bisby, has taken on a new position at Art Encounter this fall: our first-ever Curriculum Specialist. Working closely with our Community Outreach Programs Manager Leslie Luning, she will be supporting and building new curricular materials for all of our school programs in Chicago and beyond. Initial projects include updating and writing new lesson plans for ARTiculations, documenting and organizing our teaching artists’ shared resources, creating more accessible and bilingual materials for our classroom teachers, and participating in our traveling art acquisitions project. She will also continue to be a lead teaching artist in our school programs. Welcome, Miriam! Pictured: Teaching artist and Curriculum Specialist Miriam Bahena-Cardona Bisby teaching at Darwin School

LONG-LASTING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS CONTINUE
In Evanston, we have had a full calendar of hands-on programs with two of our steadfast community partners, Youth & Opportunity United and Center for Independent Futures. This fall marks our seventh year serving Y.O.U. youth in Title 1 Evanston Public Schools, and our fourth year serving CIF's community of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Building long-lasting relationships with these important social service agencies has been extremely rewarding for all involved, and we look forward to showcasing our artists' work in upcoming spring exhibitions, to be announced soon!
Pictured: Special guest artist Linda Boardman leads an oil pastel project with CIF adults (left), and Y.O.U. student works on a flower sculpture at Bessie Rhodes School (right)
WHAT'S NEW: PUBLIC & MEMBER PROGRAMS
NEW SEASON OF UP-CLOSE VISITS WITH ARTISTS AND MORE
The fall 2023 season of our Public and Member Programs has been filled with unique and illuminating art experiences. Highlights included a tour of art and interior design installations with sculptor Jill King at River North Design District’s annual gallery walk, as well as an exploration of murals in Downtown Evanston with our mural program’s co-founder, Lea Pinsky. We are also in the midst of another fabulous season of Expanding Visions, which has included a trip to the South Asia Institute; studio visits with artists Diane Simpson, Marcos Raya, Gordon Powell, and William Conger; an inside look at the private collections of Susan Lieberman and Madeleine Plonsker; and more. Last but not least, our Night Visions program has given participants behind-the-scenes access to Evanston artists in their studios. Our November host, artist Peter Mudd, had this to say about the experience: “I was very appreciative of how you led the group and made my part so easy and pleasant. I don't get the chance to talk about my work very often, and I found the folks who came to be receptive and responsive. I thought the conversation had depth and I found the group's comments very interesting and insightful.” Pictured: Artist William Conger in his studio with Joanna Pinsky to his right
INCOMPARABLE INTERNATIONAL ART TRAVEL
Our travel program has returned in full force! This fall, Art Encounter members joined Artistic Director Joanna Pinsky for an art-filled week in beautiful Paris, France. From guided explorations of museums large and small, to meetings with local artists in studios and galleries, to a private tour of the city’s murals with a local street artist, our travelers experienced every facet of Paris’s vibrant art scene. Highlights also included a day-trip to Claude Monet’s gorgeous home and garden in Giverny, a behind-the-scenes tour of Printemps luxury department store, and a river cruise on the Seine with nighttime views of the illuminated Eiffel Tower. And this March, we’re headed out for another adventure: for the 15th time, Art Encounter will be returning to Havana, Cuba to experience the city’s incredible music, dance, and contemporary art. Check out our website for more information, but don’t wait—spots are limited! Pictured: Art Encounter travelers in Paris viewing a painting at the Musée D'Orsay
WHAT'S NEW: MURAL PROGRAM
THREE DYNAMIC SCHOOL MURALS THIS SEASON
We extended the reach of our mural program outside of Evanston this season with a project at Alcott Elementary School in Chicago, where gifted artist and teacher Cheri Lee Charlton worked with 8th graders on their graduation gift to the school. The resulting floral piece centers around the school’s cultivation and care for their native garden. Back in Evanston, we led two unique projects for Dawes Elementary School. First, artist Jess Patterson created four eye-catching portrait panels celebrating influential American agriculturalists George Washington Carver, Cesar Chavez, Delores Huerta, and Waheenee to display on the fence outside of the school's garden. Meanwhile, Damon Lamar Reed worked with the school's 5th graders to create a colorful mural honoring Dawes's core values of RISE: Responsibility, Integrity, Self-Awareness, and Empathy. We are grateful to Foundation 65, the Dawes PTA, the Union Pacific Foundation, and individual donors for supporting these educational projects. Pictured: Muralist Cheri Lee Charlton painting with students at Alcott Elementary School
Pictured: Artist Damon Lamar Reed in front of his mural at Dawes Elementary School
IMPORTANT RESTORATION PROJECTS
This fall, we also provided necessary restoration to a few of our older murals that had aged due to natural and environmental elements. Our artists had an exciting opportunity not only to refresh their older pieces, but to propose enhancements should they choose. EMAP's co-founder Dustin Harris, who originally painted his mural titled Portal in south Evanston at the South Boulevard CTA station, refreshed the entire piece with new paint and added additional design elements to deepen the optical illusion of space. Meanwhile, in downtown Evanston, artist Jeff Zimmermann chose to create an entirely new piece to replace his former mural. The new design includes Jeff’s signature larger-than-life, photorealistic portraits of everyday neighborhood residents, combined with graphic and finely-rendered inanimate objects and other colorful design features. Read more in Evanston Now’s Downtown Mural Gets Updated. We have several new projects in the works for spring, so stay tuned for more details coming soon! Pictured: Jeff Zimmermann's updated mural in downtown Evanston
Pictured: Artist Dustin Harris in front of his restored mural on South Boulevard
Thank you again for being part of Art Encounter's community!

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A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS
We are grateful to the following foundations, corporations, and organizations for supporting our work across all of our program areas and helping us bring art to people of all ages and backgrounds.
L & L COPELAND FOUNDATION
WALTER & KARLA GOLDSCHMIDT FOUNDATION
MODESTUS BAUER FOUNDATION
ART ENCOUNTER BENEFACTORS

ALEXANDRA BELLOW
ANN & RICHARD CARR
NANCY GARFIEN
CYNTHIA & NORMAN GOLDRING
SUE GOLDSCHMIDT
JUDY HANLON
TRUDY KEHRET WARD
LINDA & ROBERT LAWRENCE
MARY ANN PATTERSON
M. CHRISTINE SCHWARTZ
JOANNE STARZEC
GERALDINE SZYMANSKI
PENNY WILKINSON & DICK BOEHNING

Benefactors represent the highest level of Art Encounter membership.
Special thanks to all of our members who help make our mission possible.
Art Encounter | artencounter.org
Art Encounter's mission is to educate, empower, and connect people of all ages and backgrounds through interactive encounters with art. We take members and the general public into artist studios and private collections, leading conversations that connect them with the art and with one another. Our outreach programs bring enriching art experiences to ten times as many, in public schools and in senior residences. And our murals transform the walls and lives of the whole community.