Public Television station WTTW-11 in Chicago will be broadcasting a new four-part documentary series called Art and Design Chicago beginning on October 5 with an episode about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
“If You Build It….”, hosted by Museum of Contemporary Art curator Naomi Beck, will explore the 1893 World’s Fair and sculptor Lorado Taft through stories told by artist Dessa Kirk and Mark Pohlad, Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture at DePaul University. This first episode also highlights the School of the Art Institute (SAIC), the Institute of Design, the Southside Community Arts Center, and the Hyde Park Art Center. WTTW will also launch an Art and Design Chicago website.
The three other episodes will feature Chicago artists and designers, including: artist Faheem Majeed, painter Archibald Motley, Jr.,; sculptor Marion Perkins; the Organization of Black American Culture featuring Ernest Dawkins and his band; women in the Black Mural Movement; and ceramicist Marva Lee Pitchford-Jolly of the women’s artist collective Sapphire & Crystals; typeface designer Robert Hunter Middleton; artist and advertising designer Charles Clarence Dawson; Marshall Field’s department store; graphic designers Dorothy & Otis Shepard; Depression-era creator of high-end serving dishes Helen Hughes Dulany; potter and wood carver Jesus Torres; and television commercial director Joe Sedelmaier; muralist/educator Miguel Aguilar; painter Gertrude Abercrombie, author Thomas Dyja; writer/artist Audrey Niffenegger; naïve author/artist Henry Darger; the Hubbard Street Gallery Scene of the early 1970s; photographer Vivian Maier; and artist Joseph Yoakum.
The 30-minute episode “If You Build It….” airs on Friday, Oct. 5 at 8:30 pm, Sunday, Oct. 7 at 3:30 am, Sunday, Oct. 7 at 10:30 pm, and Friday, Oct. 12 at 4:00 am. A preview clip can be viewed here.
