Welcome to

International Art Adventures!

     As a diverse group of artists and dancers from different countries, we invite you to come and see our exhibitions, performances and special events.

   We invite you to participate in special tours in Chicago, accentuating art and culture, and also to join us to participate in journeys to the countries and neighborhoods we originated from.

International artists, please come and join us at our monthly art salons.

Travelers, tourists and tour operators, please join us to tour Chicago as a great city of art and culture.

Everyone, join us to personally meet great artists from around the world, learn more about languages,

customs and stories, as we express ourselves in an ever changing world.

 Elidet from Mexiko, performing as fan at :The Transformation Travelers, Hannover in Germany during our summer production 2011

 
Phantom Gallery, International Art Group and Elastic Gallery presented a final presentation and closing event Nov. 6.  for our project: Chicago - Berlin/Kaleidoscope, Cultures Connecting at Elastic Gallery, 2830 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago.

The artists were hosting this final event, creating an open dialog about our experiences in Germany this summer. We enjoyed meeting you and we present our art as symbols of our journeys and experiences in America and Germany.

For more info:call Marianna at 773 507 1300

www.internationalartadventures.com
www.phantomgallerychicago.net

International Art Group

IN ROGERS PARK, CHICAGO

1505 W.Morse at Insight Arts meets      every 2nd Monday,                                           6pm -9:30pm    

           Next meeting:Feb.13.2012 6pm 
     Our goal as an International Art Group in Rogers Park is to improve our art through lively and progressive dialog, critical feedback and through a firsthand chance to experience each other's language, culture and philosophy through art.                      

Please bring a piece of art, a photo CD of your work, a sequence of your music or performance or film for discussion.

           Artists, poets, dancers, musicians, film makers and performance artists are invited to attend our monthly meetings to become part of exhibitions and art events.

Jan 9. 2012

FREE Movement theater workshops with Marianna, an enjoyed opportunity by a small group of artists, exploring Imaginative objects, Body Language, Entcounters and Space Movement.

At the following  Meeting, we had the pleasure to see a presentation of Jim Mc Robers' work, installations and sculputers, intricately carved in variety of wood,and using 2 and 3 D Media, painting and wire.The content : Climbing figures, the juxtaposition of real space and illusionary spaces, the duality of figures and heads. We saw deeply saturated, textures landscape paintings by Lewis, I showed small imagist drawings, Piotr showed new works in progress, developing Portraits of Tree paintings, and works dealing with surreal figurers dressed in suits, using a minamilist color scale. Christine Perry, having returned from her Germany to Berlin, told us about her experience and excitment, visiting this amazing city Berlin, continguing our dialog with our friends Peter and Ina.

Dec.12.2011Thank's to the multi disciplinary and multi culti contributions, our event last Monday was a rich experience for all participants, the vibrant colored art works of Alpha and Debra and then the witty and thoughtful admissions by Tim 's cartoons, plus our experiment, dancing and creating sound scapes with Rebekkah Wolfram's expressive and dark drawings, opening up new aspects of performance and art The presentation of Piotr's new exhibition on the character of tree's embodying spirits and deities of nature.We are looking forward to alll new participants, dancers, musicians, artists and are going to create some interesting collaborative works, encouraging all to join us for the next year's projects. Please remember to join him for a reception this Sat. Dec.17. at the Atheneum Theater. MB

Oct.10.: review by Marianna:

This meeting was extraordinary, it brought in Christine Perry with her presentation about her work as sculptor working with wood, canvas and other materials. She had a huge installation at the Harold Washington Library, involving an evolution of book and figurative work and her wall sculptures, floor sculptures and many various materials as well.     Fotios work deals a lot with social issues and his expertise using a vide variety of media, wood carvings, prints, etchings, drawings, paintings.    Lewis showed a comissioned abstract painting. We also were able to continue the reflection on our Intersection experiences in Mauersegler Park in Berlin with stunning photographs, documenting the painting in action process with musicians from Berlin and Chicago and I presented the video involving Alan E HIcks performance of a temporary suclpture along with our host's Peter Vicente's music on e guitar, and paintings by Alpha and myself, while skyping parts of the  process  to our members in Chicago.Kathryn just returned from many of her openings for Oct. artist month and she  included her studies on Massage therapy.
We ended the evening with a communal music session with songs by Victor Cuellar and Tatiana.               

 

Aug.8.2011, review by Kathryn:The International Arts Group meeting Monday August 8. 2011 was well attended, (16),with new faces and tremendous talent.    Highlights of the evening include: a photo slide show and synopsis of the multidisciplinary event coordinated by Marianna Buchwald in Hanover, Germany.  It was an enormous undertaking of 6 weeks with intensive creative process involving, both professional and amateur dancers, actors and musicians coming together from varied cultural traditions to create a unified performance entitled the “Transformational Travelers” under the direction of Marianna Buchwald and choreographer Olumuyiwa OJo.Dan Casillas provided a lovely musical backdrop to Marianna’s slide show presentation.    A special treat was a musical performance by a progressive rock group calling themselves “MAHARA”.  These highly skilled musicians mesmerized us with their unique sound and innovative technical skill involving a duet on guitar between percussionist Sven Oscar Hansen and guitarist Bob Macko.  Also present was artist / vocalist / composer Linnaeus Bates who sometimes performs with the group.  Their next performance is at a Yoga Festival.  Guitar player and composer, Bob Macko wowed us with photos from his recent trip to Syria.  Check out his work on www.LUX-PRODUCTIONS.COM.  He  has work on National Geographic website.                                     We saw more photos and video of Alan Emerson Hicks Performance piece and sculpture creation from discarded plastics, snack bags and found objects, as part of the Kaleidoscope project between Chicago and Berlin, a commanding performance and undertaking containing elements of Alan’s marvelous irreverent humor.  He worked for an astounding10 hours straight to complete the sculpture.                                                  More news and discussion of the Chicago Berlin Kaleidoscope Project will be shared at a forum in October at the Mess Hall in Rogers Park and also at Elastic Arts Foundation in Logan Square involving an exhibition of works from the Berlin Show.  Multidisciplinary artist Josephine Lipuma introduced her video collage / sound and wordscape creations to the group.  She also talked about her process and shared her insights into the nature of the art business. She has work in art museums in Japan and Russia, among other countries.   She encourages all artists to get a page on Artslant.com, a site with international presence.  Her husband, (“the Pope”) Stuart Stevenson, DJ extraordinaire was also in attendance.  Amani Borah shared his latest creations, a festive display of decorated wooden purses. Javier Enriquez  shared his latest crop of fashion photography.  Kathryn Gauthier showed some mixed media pieces that were completed as part of the Kaleidoscope project.                    Kaphira presented art events about Insight Arts, which is the umbrella organization sponsoring IAG. The next fundraiser will be Sept.17.           Thanks to all for sharing their talent and ideas.       

Yelena  Fatkullina in front of her  paintings at the North Lakeside Cultural Cente, July 2010

    Victor Cuellar and Dan Casillas in front of NlCC summer 2010

    Shanti Kumari Johnson and Ching Yin as seahorses during a performance with the Chicago Mask Ensemble,directed by MB, 2008 at the Bucktown Theater Festival in Chicago

   September 13.2010

    "We had a great meeting, Claudia Finn presented small portraits, dimensional and of excellent quality, Deirdre Fox, inspired the group to experiment with her large ink drawings on mylar, including light experimentations, showing the possibilities for backlit art and presenting translucent images blurring abstract and figurative works. Javier Enriquez was excited to present his involvement in an exhibition with Inspired Art, where  poems of children inform works of visual artists and then become part of art auctions to raise money for children with autism. Piotr Wolokowidg, spoke about the possibilites for creating art shows in  large commercial areas, creating a network of businesses and artists. Alan Emerson Hicks was interested in working on a structure to pinpoint the types of projects and exhibitions, IAG will present over the next few years. Marianna Buchwald showed parts of a film by R.P.Post about her father's works, a mask maker and addressed possible  venues for presenting art in Germany and other countries. Hillary Jirka presented her mythological portrait of a woman for reflection and dialog. Victor Cuellar performed a beautiful Mexican song accompagnied with improvisational acoustics by Danel Casillas, who also presented a project about the toy making workshop in Wisconsin. Again, it was an exciting evening of art and discussion. MB

Nov.14.2009

"Thank's to the lovely home of Sandra Simonson,  music by Ted Ehnle, art by David Moscoso from Guatemala, Javier Enriquez from Mexico, weavings from Alex, political cartoons by Tim Jackson, science fiction cartoons by Pascal St.Clair, feed back by Claudia Finn, Sandra, Alan E. Hicks, Shirley Moore and Marianna B.'s review of art events and thank's to food contributed by the group, our  holiday event was wonderful and diverse!"

Oct.12.2009

"We were amazed by new artist's work Jessica Goldberg, had a challenging discussion about Lana's portrait from Russia, enjoyed an uplifting moment of laughter with Tim Jackson's critical cartoons, had an insightful demonstration about photoshop by Pascal St. Clair, and an inspiring presentation by Hillary about book making and her drawings. Sandra Simonson's blue painting of the profile of a man's face was truly exciting in its dimensional translucence of color and light. Melissa gave a nice presentation of her approach to painting and color,examining the relationship of series of smaller square paintings of abrstracted color and form pattern. We also talked about the opportunity to stage some events and exhibitions for December and next year in Edgewater and Rogers Park."

Aug. 11. "We discussed activities for the Glenwood Arts fair, and then had an exciting presentation of photographs, featuring details of plants by Steven Gilliam, many colorful and detailed drawings by Pascal, a critical discussion about the abstracted portraits of Carmen Sauciuc, an acrylic painting featuring Gary's passage through life, an intricate weaving by Barbara, who also talked about her life as a tarot reader, and the dvd of Tim's cable show, featuring our cable TV interview, where I am talking about  the Glenwood Arts Fair, my drawings and my father's work." 

June 8."This time, the variety of presentations , featuring delicate drawings by Rus, exciting sci fi drawings by Pascal, witty and critical cartoons by Tim Jackson, several short films by Brian Wyrick, who had lived in Berlin, and the creation of a carving of a watermelon by Rick from Cambodia. Gary worked through his diffcult life transitions with another giant canvas, which had other applications and collages featuring stages of his life journey. Claudia contributed with excellently executed dream catchers. The comments and dialog was also developed through the presence of artists Sandra,  Melissa and Nora. Again, the evening was an incredible event, giving us an opportunity to learn more about each other's cultural and life experiences."

May 11."A lively and diverse goup of professional and outsider artists gathered, and it was exciting to see this time water colors by Russ Mc Andrew and Hillary Jirka, a large canvas about horses and romance by Gary Price, several colorful flower paintings by Melissa Bradly, great cartoons with a punch line about current events by Tim Jackson, a great presentation about 8 large drawings for a new story with Pascal Saint Clair and also his exquisitly executed visuals of the detoriating Chrysler building as part of his work. It was also refreshing to have outsider artists pop in, who are daring and brave to come to any public group and include themselves into the dialog, and Tosha, with her small drawing of a blond girl gave a perspective on beauty as a personal experience for inspiration. Kathryn Gauthier's paintings, and Deirdre Fox's installation at Peter Jones, included classic and contemporary themes on art. Pjotr, Alan and Greg participated and invited to their upcoming events."

April 13."A small group of dedicated artists gathered with work and refreshments and with news about  upcoming shows. Alan brought in a large piece made out of colorful bottle caps, Tim Jackson shared a variety of humorous cartoons, and I bought one of his handsigned books OBAMORAMA. Colorful flower paintings by Melissa, and a portfolio with photographs by Chris Oberist of close ups of buildings, body parts and nature; Claudia, Piotr and Mark shared in the discussion and Stephen Biale shared a portfolio of his graphic work."

March 9." It was great to see Claudia donate one of her abstract water color paintings to Insight Arts. Alan Emerson Hicks, Melissa, Ruyell Ho, Sonhan, Sandra Simonson, Hillary Jirka, Tim Jackson, Pascal Saint Clair and two Pjotrs from Poland all came and shared art for discussion. I received so much sympathy and compassion on behalf of my father and had a chance to share an excerpt of a performance with the help of Claudia. It was an enchanting evening."

Jan.12. 2009 Our International Art Party was a celebration of art, video, music and food. Ted Ehnle played a dramatic Chopin concert on piano, followed by Eric Amadju's Beilafon  and drum talk from Benin. Tim Jackson presented insightful and humorous cartoons and Alan Emerson Hicks  shared a video with dance and creation of one of his recycable works: Test Piece. Peggy Lipschutz's retrospective, a presentation of her paintings to music, and Tom and several others shared their portfolios and sketch books. We also had an inspiring discussion about children behaviour in the class room, learning about art and music and also talked about the political climate of our time and how it effects our art world. "                       

"Dec.8.,2008, I was surprised to see so many friends and artists, I had invited over a long time and also artists come again, who had come in the past, Ken Kouba, Kathryn Gauthier's photograph's of her paintings, Greg Mejia, who presented an extraordinary collection of miniature landscape paintings of the Indiana State Dunes, a vibrant portrait by Sandra Simonson, several abstract and impressionist acrylic paintings by Melissa, a large portrait by Laura Cerf, Claudia Finn's portfolio of classical black and white figure drawings, Tim Jackson's critical and humorous cartoons, Chris Drew's silk screen T shirts, David Moscoso's acrylic painting of an abstracted male transforming from a rare orange flower from Guatemala, Marianna's lively color drawing "Celebration" celebrating dancers in masks, a theme of her performance work. Anette, Hillary and Michael Moore came also and Maritza and Celina from Insight Arts came, looking and learning more about our group.

"The Nov. 10. meeting brought together a diverse group of artists: Claudia Finn, Steven Gilliam, Hillary Jirka, Jeff Baumgartner, Michael Moore, Sandra Simonson, Marianna Buchwald and Anette Niebelsiki. Jeff, an  actor and painter at the flat Iron building had a dynamic and interesting style , presenting his figurative paintings in connection with his theater experience. Peter Piotr, a painter from Poland related his experience exhibiting and painting landscapes. Steven Gilliam  presented a power point presentation of his photography traveling  through the vast and montaneous landscape of Alaska, Sandra Simonson presented soft colored guache paintings of landscapes and people, Michael  presented a preliminary drawing and paintings in progress of politiical discussions. Claudia presented black and white caricatures and drawings. Feedback was generous and encouraging, and we truly enjoyed the art activity before the meeting."

Tali Farchi from Holland, Peter Vicente from Berlin,Alpha Bruton from Chicago, Alan Emerson Hicks, Chicago in Berlin.

 Berlin-Chicago Kaleidoscope “Cultures Connecting”

 October 1, 2011

 Elastic Arts Foundation & AMP- CHI “Intersections”

    4:00 PM  Artists Discussion “Cultures Connecting”

   6:30 PM  Reception and Opening Exhibit Elastic Sound and Vision Gallery  8:00 PM Concert –“Hanah Jon Taylor Artet and do Wop singers for the “L”. Cover for music: $7                      

         Sunday,October 2, 2011

 Chicago Calling Arts Festival

 Mess Hall

6932 North Glenwood Ave. Chicago, IL 60626

4:00-9:00 PM

Monday, October 10^th, 2011

Location Insight Arts, International Art Group

1505 W. Morse, Ave, Rogers Park

6-8pm, Presentation



Chicago Artists Month is a citywide, collaborative effort showcasing Chicago visual artists and their work throughout the month of October.  Coordinated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in partnership with the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture, Chicago Artists Month showcases over 200 events, ranging from exhibitions to open studio tours and neighborhood art walks presented by museums, galleries, cultural centers, artists collaborates, and other organizations throughout the city.  The primary goal of Chicago Artists Month is to raise awareness of the extraordinary quality and depth of our visual arts community.     

October 1. 2011, we will have panels, presentations, discussion groups and films , music and painting sessions at Elastic Gallery starting at 4:30pm, 2830 N.Milwaukee and Oct.2.6932 N. Glenwood at 4 pm at Mess Hall as part of our project with Phantom Gallery about the   Exhibition Oct.1 - Oct.30.2011              Chicago - Berlin/Kaleidoscope at Elastic Gallery, 2830 N.Milwaukee,Chicago



16.July,18 -21 hr, Intersections (Alpha Bruton ) Musikern und Kuenstlern aus Chicago und Berlin im Mauerseglercafe, Mauerpark, Berlin

8.August,18 Uhr, IAG Treffen in Rogers Park, Chicago,1505 W.Morse

12.Sept.6pm,  IAG Treffen in Rogers Park, Chicago,1505 W.Morse

October 2011: Filmpraesentation in Chicago ueber das Projekt:Chicago-Berlin/Kaleidoskop,Connecting Cultures.                                

 Alan Emerson Hicks , assembling "American Tower" made from plastic cast offs at Ina's Atelier , June 29.2011.

 Piotr Wolodkowicz, hanging American Landscapes, Alan E. Hicks, buidling American Tower at Ina's AtelierJune 29.201

Tali Farchi and Alpha Bruton aquiring props for the exhibition at a flea market in Pankow,East Berlin right before the opening July1.2011

Marianna Buchwald, founder of IAG and Ina Lunkenheimer from East Berlin, in front of Ina's photograph "Freedom"

Yoona Lim from Korea in front of Eve Brownstones's paintings and her own surrealistic collages, talking about her work with Andrew Hannigan (NLLC, summer 2010).

Review about the exhibition Cultures Connecting 2010 at the NLCC,6219 N. Sheridan, Chicago by Felissia Capeletti  July 21. 2010                      

"Fat dragonflies form a loose cloud maneuvering in slow, delicate chaos above the bouldered lakefront shore.  Shades of blue give way to one another, shifting the gridded waves.  A picture-esque sailboat slices through the milky skyline.  The captain and I breath Chicago’s summer up.  I’m in the backyard of the North Lakeside Cultural Center, waiting for tonight’s event to begin. I’m here to see International Art Group presents “Cultures Connecting” and  “Where Do I Belong?” a show curated by Marianna Buchwald, Mary Quian, and Dorty Nowak. The old building, in a classic Chicago design, has character built right in.  It’s stuffed with rooms in an eccentric array. The lower level front room is warm and flooded with light from the bay windows.  The hors d’oeuvres table announces itself in another room but the real party is upstairs. 

As I scale the steps, several portraits of glamorous women painted by David Moscoso onto rustic, woven mats gaze at me. The ultra-chic, fashion-ista images contrast harshly with the warmth of the ruddy mats.  This contrast is to be a broad reaching theme of the night.  Offsetting the painted mats is a large-scale abstract of parallels and perpendiculars.   It echos the glassy geometry of city tower windows, a cool, stoic piece. Over 35 artists are represented tonight.  The halls are amply lined with pictures from a clear variance of artists ranging from graphic-novel caliber post-apocalyptic ink scenes to quaint pencil sketches, to figures in chunky dabs of oil.  I’m taken by one piece in particular, the back of a nude female from artist Sandra Simonson.   Bold colors are mixed into the skin tone and the strokes are heavy, thick.  The image has weight, but the curve of the pose is sweeping and light.

Rooms are decked out in charcoal sketches in a style quite near German impressionism,  bizarre sculpture, and oils in the schools of realism, impressionism, abstraction, even art deco.  Carmen Sauciuc pulls her style straight from the ‘30’s.  The simple grace of the lines, chopped into blocks of thick color and the cool disconnectedness of the subject  give her piece, ‘Girl’, a mysterious “there - not there” presence.  It’s also hard not to notice Amani Borah’s work in the corner.  I love it right away.  Amani creates a fun-house visual for the imaginative viewer.  Repetition of shapes and patterned intricacy in stunning, abrasive color including bright neons, matched with a focus on abstracted organic forms make these nonsense drawings pop.  The line work, presumably ink, although medium is not specified, is so delicate and fine that the color gives motion to the design and manages to attain an unexpected hair-like quality. 

One of the rooms is designated to a sister show, sort of a gallery within a gallery.  There is a theme for this show, all the artists were prompted by the question “Where do I belong?” and were able to choose from about ten sub-themes, including religion, geography, and inner-self.  The prompt has worked well to inspire some very exciting pieces.  There are a few conceptual-realism pieces, a genre of which I am particularly fond.  Here is a canvas divided in half to juxtapose a stern-browed bust with a meek looking fellow in trousers.  It is bathed in sepia tones which loan a nostalgic contemplation.  Here is a strange mixed media sculptured hodge-podge babydoll perched on a suitcase,   odd and nice to look at.  Here is a piece by co-curater Mary Quian featuring  a self-portrait of the artist from behind, gazing into a gaping sea of faces and a mist of creative possibility. 

Besides the wild gambit of styles, this show is special in another way.  The creators of the show, Mary Qian and Dorty Nowak wanted to make it full-experiential.  Fine artists of many practices were invited, including singers, musicians and poets who were matched with painters in the hopes that collaboration between the artists might enrich both pieces.  In some cases, the partnership worked well, in others, not so well.  The poems were posted next to their respective paintings and a few were read out loud by the authors.  With the writers reciting next to the parallel image, I noticed that, for a few at least, the impression made by both pieces was taken to the next level when experienced together.  Especially exciting was Gerry Lucas’ recitation of her two pieces.  They trip, singingly along rhythmic emphasis.  Normally, a viewer has only the painter and him or herself to point him or her towards a conclusion while considering some work.  The third party involvement gives perspective on a stranger's interpretation of the same piece, while providing an extra medium for viewers to connect to. 

I hear some lilting, meandering music stylings from the next room and find my way to where acoustic guitarist Dan Casiallas is charming art goers adjacent a wall of panoramic photography.  I have to slip behind him in order to get a closer look at Yoona Lim’s collage art.  Yoona’s work is delicate, with funky patterned shapes and a nod towards surrealist imagery.  The attraction is definitely in the color and images used, however, the viewer is also nudged to appreciate the well-placed negative space around the images. 

Downstairs, an operatic soprano floats in the higher reaching registers of the front-room.  Live musicians have the floor for the rest of the night, continuing with Victor Cuellar’s acoustic guitar and spiced voice singing ‘40’s era tunes from Mexico, then some sweet, folky blues sung by Katherine Gauthier.  This, accompanied by a short,  fluid dance by masked and costumed co-curater Marianna Buchwald. Later on, enthusiastic pianist Ted Ehnle shows off his Chopin.  So much talent, beauty and art in one place seemed to please the laid-back crowd of casual patrons and turned out to be, in my book anyway, a fun and successful gathering of multi-layered creative forces.  You can visit the show Wednesdays from 5 to 8, Saturdays from 12 to 5 (except August 7th), and Sundays from 3 to 8 at 6219 N. Sheridan in Chicago.  If you want the holistic experience, you can attend the closing event on August 14th where live music and poetry will be performed.

Felissia Capeletti

"Our art discussion, Oct. 14.2008 was exciting and diverse. Contributions of a mythical painting and lithography techniques demonstrated by Ken Kouba, satirical and insightful political charged cartoons by Tim Jackson, guache and etchings by Sandra Simonson, landscape photography by Jeff, photos of paintings by Guatemalan painter David Moscoso, water colors by Hillary Jirca, African Rites and Traditional dance by Eric Ahmadji from Benin, an elaborate slide presentation on the retrospective of 45 years of work of paintings and sculpture by Chinese artist Ruyell Ho at the Asian Pacific Museum in California, and also a work in progress of my new performance piece: Journey 2008"inviting many great critical comments, made for an insightful and interesting evening and a great International Art Salon."

Marianna Buchwald