From local community projects to large international art fairs, Art Encounter programs are blooming this season with exciting new partnerships and possibilities. We are also holding strong to our roots through our many long-term programs for youth, our members, and everyone we serve. Read on to find out more about what's happening this spring in our Outreach Programs, Public & Member Programs, and our Evanston Mural Arts Program. May your creativity blossom this season!
WHAT'S NEW: OUTREACH PROGRAMS
NEW ARTWORKS FOR SCHOOL OUTREACH PROGRAMS
After completing an organization-wide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion audit and assessment last year, we are moving forward in several priority areas. One such area is our school outreach programs, where we have received a grant to expand and diversify cultural representation in the traveling art collection that we bring to schools. This past fall, we engaged our partner schools by collecting their input on what kinds of works would be beneficial to add to our collection. With that input, we are now working with local Chicago artists to purchase works that can be incorporated into our current curricula, as well as inspire new lessons. Artists include Rubén Aguirre, Jacobo Angeles, Sam Onche, Jay Allen Hyde, Azadeh Hussaini, Raul Ortiz Bonilla, René Hugo Arceo, and Indira Freitas Johnson. This project is supported by a grant from the Arts Work Fund. Pictured: Students in our Y.O.U. after-school program discuss a new piece from our traveling collection by Sam Onche

SPRING EXHIBITION FROM OUR ART FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS
Over the month of April, we held our 3rd annual art exhibition of work by participants from Art For All, a collaborative studio program with Evanston’s Center for Independent Futures (CIF), a non-profit organization serving independent adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We first began this partnership with CIF during the height of the pandemic in 2020, and together we have sustained and grown the program over the past four years. This year’s exhibition, titled This is Us, was at Coffee Lab café, across the street from Art Encounter’s headquarters at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center. Contributing CIF artists included Ross Bostick, Alan Cohen, Gabe Freeman, Ben Gershon, Josh Gray, Becca Kennedy, Pam Molitor, Laura Stein, Claire Toman, and Lindsay Tonyan. Our reception for family and friends of the artists was full of joy and connection, and we look forward to continuing this program next year! Art For All is supported in part by grants from ComEd Exelon; the Evanston Arts Council, a city agency supported by the City of Evanston; the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Pictured: Viewing This is Us at Coffee Lab
SPECIAL PARTNERSHIP: EPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF CHICAGO
We've taken on a new partnership this season with the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago, a not-for-profit offering education, advocacy, and case management to people living with epilepsy, their families, and their communities. Art Encounter teaching artist Val McCune has been leading monthly workshops for the organization's ongoing Creativity Hour, engaging participants in a variety of creative projects, including an exploration of the work of Henri Matisse, with painting and collage inspired by his aesthetic. The group is moving into more personal collages in their third month, creating "tribute" pieces to dear family, friends, pets, or other loved ones in their lives. This has been a lovely program, and we hope to continue this partnership! Pictured: A participant working on a Matisse-inspired painting during Creativity Hour with the Epilepsy Foundation
WHAT'S NEW: PUBLIC & MEMBER PROGRAMS
INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS TOURS AT EXPO CHICAGO
We were thrilled to deepen our partnership with EXPO Chicago this year by offering two International Highlights tours during their 11th annual fair at Navy Pier. Artistic Director Joanna Pinsky led in-depth, dynamic group conversations about the artists' diverse approaches to subject matter, materials, and technique as participants explored work by leading artists from around the world. They also discussed the increasing influence of international expositions on global art world trends. We were sold-out for both our Saturday and Sunday tours, and had a wonderful time meeting new art-lovers as well as reuniting with many familiar faces at the fair. Pictured: Joanna Pinsky leads Art Encounter's International Highlights tour at EXPO Chicago; photo by Todd Anderson
ANOTHER GREAT SEASON OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Art Encounter's spring 2024 season of public programming is under way! Our signature Expanding Visions program is in full swing, and thus far our participants have enjoyed visiting artists in their studios, seeing private collections in the city and the suburbs, and exploring the Center for Native Futures, an exhibition space showing work by contemporary Native artists and fostering Native artists of all backgrounds. Our Night Visions program has offered a mix of online and in-person sessions this season, giving participants a behind-the-scenes look at the work of local artists in Evanston and Skokie, including a visit to the Midwest Clay Guild, a communal studio space for ceramic artists. We will be wrapping up this season of public programming with a Weekend Art Walk in downtown Skokie this May and a celebration of our members at our annual Members Appreciation Party in June. Pictured: Expanding Visions participants at the Center for Native Futures
FROM CUBA TO MADRID: ART ENCOUNTER TRAVELS
In March, a group of Art Encounter members joined Joanna Pinsky and Sarah Packer in Havana for an unforgettable excursion. Led by local guides, our travelers experienced authentic Cuban culture and learned about the resilience of the Cuban people by visiting artist studios and museums, viewing private dance performances, hearing live music, and meeting locals in their homes. And this September, Art Encounter will hit the road once more with an exciting trip to Madrid, Spain! We're partnering with local restaurateurs Oscar Garcia and Annie Byer to bring our travelers the best in Spanish cuisine as we explore world-famous museums, visit historic sites in neighboring Toledo and Segovia, and delve into Madrid's flourishing contemporary art scene. Visit our website or email sarah@artencounter.org for information. Pictured: Guernica by Pablo Picasso at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid
WHAT'S NEW: MURAL PROGRAM
JORDAN NICKEL/POSE MURAL COMING TO NOYES STREET
Internationally acclaimed artist POSE (Jordan Nickel) will be bringing his talents to his hometown of Evanston this summer with a vibrant new mural on Noyes Street. Best known for his unique style blending pop art, illustration, text, graffiti, and comic book-inspired aesthetics, his compositions use multiple dimensions and layers that encourage the viewer to put together the puzzle and find their own meaning. For POSE, this particular piece will be a personal homage to his early years growing up in the Noyes Street community, which is home to a unique blend of businesses, residents, and university students. Installation will take place in June, so be on the lookout to see this mural come to life! This project is sponsored in part by a grant from the Union Pacific Community Ties Program. Pictured: Street artist POSE at work
DAMON LAMAR REED LEADS MEALS ON WHEELS PROJECT
With community partnerships at the core of our mural program, we are pleased to be working with Meals on Wheels of Northeastern Illinois this year, helping bring their creative visions to life at the orgnanization's central office and kitchen on Simpson Avenue in Evanston. Meals on Wheels–whose primary mission is to deliver nutritious meals and other supportive services to the home-bound, elderly, disabled, and other individuals in need–recently moved to their current 5th ward location and has wanted to create a mural honoring the community members and civic leaders who supported their growth and service. This spring, artist Damon Lamar Reed will return for his second mural with EMAP to paint a bright and beautiful mural paying tribute to these individuals, including Hecky Powell, Delores Holmes, Sister Mary Alfreda Bracht, and Lillian Fitzsimmons. Pictured: Artist Damon Lamar Reed in front of his 2023 EMAP mural at Dawes Elementary School in Evanston

MAX SANSING RETURNS TO DOWNTOWN AT CIVIC PLAZA
Art Encounter is delighted to bring Max Sansing back to the area of Downtown Evanston where he painted his first mural with EMAP back in 2022. Max will be painting the Union Pacific Metra ramp just north of his current piece, all the way to the 909 Davis building, where the new Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center will be moving this fall. There are many good things in store to reveal about this mural as we get closer to installation this summer, so be sure to follow the EMAP instagram page for more updates and announcements! Pictured: Muralist Max Sansing at the ribbon cutting ceremony for his EMAP mural in 2022
NEXT UP: SUMMER PROGRAMS! WATCH YOUR INBOX.
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS
We are grateful to the following foundations, corporations, and organizations for supporting our work across all areas of programming to help 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.
Thank you to all the 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.