Cuentos Foundation invites you to attend a performance, panel discussion, and closing reception accompanying the exhibition  "inside, outside & across", selected works 1997-2008 by Michele Feder-Nadoff

SATURDAY MAY 17TH 6-10pm- PRESS RELEASE 
Exhibition Runs April 5- June 5 - Call 773 761-4165
or e-mail info@cuentosfoundation.org to visit!
Catalogue Available w/Essay by Lanny Silverman,
FULL CIRCLE: The Work of Michele Feder-Nadoff 
UN CÍRCULO COMPLETO: El Trabajo de Michele Feder-Nadoff
Curator Chicago Cultural Center

6PM SIDEWALK PERFORMANCE COLLABORATION -- by JayVe
Montgomery, Michele Feder-Nadoff, and Mariko Ventura.
During the performance community Cuentos/stories will be gathered, taped, and included into the street performance!
COME BRING YOUR CUENTOS/STORIES TO SHARE!

7PM PANEL DISCUSSION- ARTISTS WORKING (WITH) IN COMMUNITY
Moderator Gonzalo Escobar with artists/ panelists: JayVe Montgomery,  Chicago Park District's Inferno Mobile Recording Studio; Michele Feder-Nadoff, Cuentos; Giselle Mercier, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Laura Crotte, Molecula Artistica; Mariko Ventura, arts educator and performance artist.

8:30 - 9:30 ROCAMBU JAZZ

9:30 - DJ LEYVA spins Afro-Cuban Music

YVES FRONCOIS ET ROCAMBU JAZZ  was formed in 2001 by jazz trumpeter Yves Francois Smierciak and several other like minded musicians. The mission of Rocambu Jazz is to explore the rhythms of African and Afro Diaspora musics. We are finding the common bonds between music from West Africa (highlife and the Guinean and Malinky music of Senegal and Mali), Congo (old school rumba, soukous), Martinique (biguine), Haiti (compas), Cuba (son, conga ), Jamaica (ska), Trinidad (calypso), Brazil (choro, samba, bossa nova) and New Orleans (early jazz/dixie land). Rocambu Jazz exploits the common bonds of the musics in our unique interpretations of the various forms. Essentially we are speaking of the various creoles all these nations provided when the African rhythms and phraseology met the melodies of Europe (France and Spain). The African musicians reshaped the great popular music vocabulary of the 20th century musics. These musical forms have many names, but they are all a musical creole broadly known as jazz.

DJ LEYVA says that his goal is to play music that is the roots of Salsa music.  This is the Cuban music that no longer gets the recognition it deserves - from the sophisticated Danzon, to the horn driven Mambo, to the percussive Rumba, to the heart of Salsa, the Cuban Son, as well as classic 70's salsa and Latin Jazz.

LAURA CROTTE, actriz, vocalista, educadora y directora de escena mexicana, miembro de Teatrovista y fundadora de La Moleculartistica Nido de Mar,  ha actuado en numerosas producciones con Goodman, Steppenwolf, Teatrovista en diversas escenarios de Chicago como Hot House, Old Town, Mexican Fine Arts, e infinidad de escuelas, bibliotecas y centros comunitarios con sus personajes de mascara y mitologias. En Mexico fundo la compania Publik Teatrocontemporaneo con Boris Schoemann que giro nacional e internacionalmente. Ahora dirige AL SON QUE ME TOQUES, LORCA una alegoria veracruzana de las Bodas de Sangre con la MoleculARTistica a presentarse en el Goodman Latino Theatre Festival en Agosto 2008.

GONZALO ESCOBAR is an Extension Educator in prevention at the Countryside Extension Center. Escobar works with organizations and agencies to develop educational programs for youth, teachers, parents, youth service personnel, and other community members. In a joint effort between University of Illinois Extension and independent community radio station WLUW, Escobar produces and hosts a weekly Spanish language radio program, Si Se Puede (Yes, It Can Be Done). The program provides a forum for Extension Educators and others, including young people, to present topics pertinent to the needs and interests of the audience. Currently, he serves as co-chair of the Latino Coalition for Prevention. He is a community representative on the Local School Council of Philip Rogers School, and a board member of the Alliance of Latinos and Jews. He is a member of the National Association of Extension 4H Agents and the Illinois Extension Professionals for Youth Education. Gonzalo Escobar earned a Licenciado degree and a secondary school teaching certificate at the Department of Psychology, Universidad de San Carlos, Guatemala. He completed an MA degree in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

MICHELE FEDER-NADOFF's installation and time-based works incorporate an unrestricted range of simple to complex materials and processes, from embroidery to lost-wax casting, examining the raw and the cooked, the transforming of matter into meaning.  She has been creating sculptural installations in-doors and out, temporary and permanent, collaborative and solo, since the mid-eighties, often utilizing water as a tangible physical element and to produce sound. She is a member of Piece process, a national collective of Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, and Jewish artists, and has been collaborating with artist Kanaan Kanaan since 2001 on installation/performance works.  She has been deeply involved with the Santa Clara del Cobre community in Mexico since 1997— through her work at Cuentos where she is the Artistic Director and Creative Founder.

GISELLE MERCIER is an Instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received her degrees in Art Education (2002). BFA, 1986, and MFA, 1989, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Concurrent Position: Administrative Director, Departments of Arts Administration, Art Education and Art Therapy, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Exhibitions: The Art Center, Highland Park, Illinois, Huellas, Panama Rep. of Panama,  Polvo Art Studio, Chicago; C33 Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago; Humboldt Park Stables, Chicago; Collage de las Americas, Chicago; Prospectus Art Gallery, Chicago. Publications: Co-author, Metropolitan Universities Journal: Trust Building: The Secret to Highly Collaborative Partnerships; Author, New Art Examiner, Speak Easy: 'Reality' Beyond Labels: blind faith in the power of words. Bibliography: La Raza, El Panamá América, ¡Exito!, Chicago Journal. Awards: Governor's International Arts Exchange Program, Illinois Arts Council Grants; Department of Cultural Affairs Grants.

JAYVE MONTGOMERY is a sound artist.  Currently he is Program Facilitator for the Chicago Park District's Inferno Mobile Recording Studio.  He is also a member of the collective that runs Brown Rice, a performance space in Albany Park

MARIKO VENTURA: Mariko Ventura's work has been in ceramic sculpture as well as performance.  In the past her sculptural work was exhibited at Evanston Art Center and The Block Gallery, Northwestern University. Performance work has been shown in venues such as the Guild Complex and Chicago Cultural Center as well as internationally. Her work is featured in the book, PERFORMANCE ON THE EDGE, TRANSFORMATIONS OF CULTURE, by Johannes Birringer.
 

 

 

READ about some of our past events.

ALL GATHERING SEASONS EVENTS ARE COMMUNITY ORGANIZED AND ENVISIONED.

CONTACT US IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CREATE YOUR OWN ”HAPPENING” AT CUENTOS — FOR YOUR COMMUNITY — ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY!
SHARE YOUR STORY!

 

Support Cuentos with a tax deductable donation MAKE A DONATION of $150 or more and receive a miniature copper vase made by the Artisans of Santa Clara del Cobre as a premium CLICK HERE