✨ Warm up your holiday season with treasures that celebrate artistry, love, and good vibes!
The L1 Retail Store is your destination for unique finds crafted by small businesses:
💛 Callie Decor brings uplifting energy with hand-painted wall tapestries inspired by hip-hop lyrics and soothing, custom-blended candles.
💎 Soma Gems offers stunning, one-of-a-kind jewelry made with ethically sourced gemstones—each ring, bracelet, and necklace lovingly handmade in small batches and wrapped in eco-friendly packaging.
📍 Visit us at 319 E. Garfield Blvd, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 AM–7 PM.
Shop small. Gift big. Let’s make the season shine brighter with thoughtful, handmade goods! 🎁✨
Creating a home that reflects your culture and spirit? That’s what Callie Decor is all about.
Founder Twjuana Simone saw a need for Hip Hop to take its rightful place in home decor, honoring the voices of poets like LiL Wayne and J. Cole—artists often overlooked in favor of the mainstream. With affirming lyrics hand-painted on wall tapestries and candles featuring custom scents and quotes from soul legends, every piece is infused with intention and love.
As Callie Decor continues to grow, Twjuana is setting her sights on expanding and building meaningful collaborations. She’s proving that home decor can be as vibrant, soulful, and unapologetically Black as we are.
Visit Callie Decor and our other L1 Fellows at the L1 Retail Store (319. E Garfield Blvd)
Shop handmade and shop South Side.
Ready to shop? Visit calliedecor.com or DM them to create your custom piece today!
#CallieDecor #BlackArtistry #SoulfulLiving #HipHopHome
Video shot and edited by Moll Nye
photos by Moll Nye + Jaclyn Rivas
HOMECOMING on the Arts Lawn was truly a community moment.
As part of Gertie’s Next Stop: Chicago, we invited Washington Park neighbors and passersby to unwind and reconnect. With Ben Lamar Gay's soundscape setting the vibe, Big Bros Ice Cream and Southern Grown Watermelons keeping us cool, and Call and Response Books gifting over 100 books, the day was full of love and care.
We also have to shout out the talented teens of APL’s Design Apprenticeship Program II, who designed and built three tables and six chairs featured at the event! These young artisans, ages 16-18, incorporated intricate weaving techniques and arches that connected to a sound sculpture “ode to rhumboogie” by Chicago artists Josué Esaú and ebere agwuncha.
Seeing everyone gather on the Arts Lawn felt like we were using the space exactly as it was meant to be—building community through connection
Video by On the Real Film
Homecoming was an incredible two-day activation on the Arts Lawn, filled with community, relaxation, and creativity. We’re beyond thankful to everyone who made this event so special!
Huge thanks to Call and Response Books, Carmenita Peoples, Southern Grown Watermelons, Ben Lamar Gay, Mecca Elevated, DAP II for their unique outdoor seating, and a special congrats to Ebere and Josué on their sound sculpture ode to rhumboogie.
APL is incredibly grateful for our major partner Gertie/Next Stop Chicago for including us in their amazing series of public art activations in Chicago.
Here’s to many more moments like these!
photos by Natasha Moustache | @iammoustache
Meet the talented teens of APL's Design Apprenticeship Program II. Over the past 1-3 years, these young artisans, ages 16-18, have honed their woodworking skills and took on a huge challenge this summer.
Our apprentices designed and built three tables and six chairs, all thoughtfully crafted to create a sense of leisure and invite users to rest and reset in a safe, welcoming environment. The furniture pieces feature intricate weaving techniques and arches that connect with a larger sound sculpture by Chicago artists Josué Esaú and ebere agwuncha. Through this project, the teens advanced their woodworking skills, mastering techniques like joinery, laminating boards, and weaving.
Join us at HOMECOMING on August 20th + 21st, 4-7pm, at the Arts Lawn (337 E. Garfield Blvd) to see their work and celebrate their impact!
Arts + Public Life is thrilled to partner with @gertie.chicago for the Next Stop: Chicago Campaign!
Washington Park residents and commuters, discover your new "third space" – the Arts Lawn at 337 E Garfield Blvd. Unwind between work and home with:
🎶 Unique soundscapes
🍹 Refreshments
🃏 Card and board games
Reclaim leisure on Chicago's South Side! Experiment with the sound sculpture by local artists Ebere Agwuncha and Josué Esaú, and relax on custom outdoor furniture crafted by APL's Design Apprenticeship Program II.
Join us on August 20 and 21 from 4 PM to 7 PM!
@mesofuturos + @ebere_iwantcha
Due to the extreme heatwave, we have to cancel Community Yoga on the Arts Lawn on June 21 and 22. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience it may cause. We prioritize your safety and well-being, and practicing yoga in excessive heat could compromise that. We'll actively explore alternative options for future sessions in case of extreme weather. In the meantime, stay cool and hydrated!
Odyssey: Film screening and conversation
Monday, May 20, 2024, 7-9pm
Green Line Performing Arts Center
329 E Garfield Boulevard
After the screening of Jess Atieno's film Odyssey, she will be in conversation with filmmaker Raja'Nee Redmond. Additionally, excerpts from Raja'Nee's film: A Long Way from Holmes will be shared. The two will explore intersecting themes of aesthetics, trauma, resilience, experiences of the African & Black Diaspora, and the ethics of storytelling and archives.
A Long Way from Holmes
Through a deep dive into her ancestry, a Black woman discovers the will of a slave owner awarding her fourth great grandmother over 200 acres of land in Lexington, Mississippi. During her visit, she grapples with the complex themes of reparations and systemic harm. She takes us on a journey of rediscovering, reassembling, and rememory, encouraging us all to go back and fetch what’s at risk of being lost.
Raja'Nee Redmond is a memory worker, oral historian, and artist who is dedicated to documenting and archiving Black stories.
Register through the link in our bio.
Odyssey: Film screening and conversation
Monday, May 20, 2024, 7-9pm
Green Line Performing Arts Center
329 E Garfield Boulevard
Odyssey, a 7 min short film by 2023 Artist in Residence Jess Atieno, narrates a brief self-portrait of a family awakening amidst tragedy and loss. The film shows glimpses of their lives and pockets of found joy as a family and women finding their voice in the face of life's uncertainty. Atieno weaves together her family's video archive with selected footage from the South Side Home Movie Project, to tell the story in a non-linear experimental fashion. Odyssey invites us into the intimate fabric of their story where resilience and vulnerability intertwine in the dance of life.
The screening will be followed by a conversation between @jess_atieno and filmmaker @saymyname. Excerpts from Raja'Nee's film: A Long Way from Holmes will be featured and the discussion will delve into various points of intersection between their two films including aesthetics, matriarchy, trauma,resilience and archival work within contemporary black life.
We've got something new for you – Arts + Public Life is now on PixieSet! Check out our bio for the link and take a stroll through our past programs and events captured in images.
Thanks to our incredible photographers for capturing these moments:
Anjali Pinto
Ji Yang
Joel Maisonet
Jovan Landry
Natasha Moustache
Seed Lynn
Steven Michael Adams
Visual Manifesto
NEXT WEEK!
World After This One: A Performance by Benji Hart
Thursday, March 14, 2024 | 7:00 PM 9:00 PM | Green Line Performing Arts Center
Looking through the lenses of three Black art forms—the queer street style of vogue, the Afro-Boricua dance and drumming tradition of bomba, and gospel music—World After This One is a 45-minute solo piece that uses movement and spoken word to examine how Black people have historically reclaimed the materials of empire to construct portals to impossible futures. Blurring the lines between the secular and the sacred, celebration and mourning, the past and the yet-to-pass, World After This One imagines Black liberation not as a metaphor but as a possibility.
A talkback with Kemi Alabi will follow this performance.
Online registration is currently closed, but all APL seating is first come first serve. Walk up before doors open and you may get in!
🎥: Jovan Landry Jovan Landry
Venue for filming: Poetry Foundation
Video originally by @chicagodancemakersforum
This Saturdays Community Yoga with Latipha Rivers is cancelled. Please join us on Friday for class! More information will be shared soon about our March classes.
