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Does anyone know how to go about seeing and/or buying student art from Columbia College or the Art Institute of Chicago? Do they have regular shows?

I'm decorating a condo and would love to include some local art (preferably inexpensive).

Thanks!

I don't know about Columbia but The Art Institute does have graduate and student shows, they're usually listed in the Reader. You may also want to check out the 1st floor gallery on the northwest corner of the Cultural Center, just off the cafe, the exhibits change about once a month and usually the works are for sale.

Leah, I know they do a sale around the holidays where you can score student work. There might be a more regular way of buying it though - you should give them a call. I had questions about the holiday sale and they were really helpful.

You might also want to check out the 2006 Around the Coyote Fall Arts Festival which centers around exhibitions by lots of local artists. It will be held Sept 8-10 in and around Bucktown/Wicker Park. Click my name for more information

Around the Coyote is a great place to look for buying affordable art. There are all levels of price points there.

A really good time to look for art for sale by students is in the spring, when they have their final gallery shows of the school year. But since that has passed, do keep your eyes open for ads in the reader or other papers. Contacting the art institute is a good suggestion to find out how often those sales occur.

Or this weekend up in Rogers Park is the Glenwood Ave. Arts Festival. Take a look at the weekly events calendar post that heather just posted.

Leah -- I own a gallery in the west loop called rowlandcontemporary (www.rowlandcontemporary.com). We just finished our summer show of graduate students from the MFA program at Northwestern University. There was a terrific and diverse collection of work in the show and there is still some work available...photographs, painting and some sculptures as well. All priced reasonably. I'd be happy to show you some of the work with a private viewing -- send me an email if you're still interested.

Leah and others, if you're looking for photography for your place, please check out my site at neverdrownout.com. I generally don't advertise myself like this, but I think some readers here might be interested. I'm a photographer in Chicago trying to get it going as a career. I have a few hundred images in my site's archives and can also shoot something specific if you have a request. I get the images printed at a pro lab and frame + matte them myself at very reasonable prices. Please give my site a look if you're inclined.

Thanks
gavin

Foundation Gallery had some great works by some up-and-coming artists. It appears they've moved their space from Chicago to LA, but you can still buy their work online at:
http://www.foundation-gallery.org/store.html

I just ran across this daybed currently up for auction on eBay. Just thought I'd share it, as I thought the design was rather clever.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260024641977

Hi everyone:

I work for [C]Spaces, the student galleries at Columbia College. We actually have several galleries devoted to the showcase of student artwork on campus! Much of it is for sale, and the school takes no cut. Please join the [C]Spaces mailing list to receive invitations to about 30 shows annually: http://cspaces.colum.edu/mailing.php?
(You can choose to be notified via postcard or email.)

You can also join the mailing lists of other Columbia galleries, like Book & Paper, A&D, the Museum for Contemporary Photography, etc, by visiting the Columbia website at colum.edu

One of the best times to view and shop for student work at Columbia is at our end of the year art festival where every graduating senior exhibits work in a multitude of media. For more info on this event, visit: http://manifest.colum.edu/

Our first artwalk of the year, Columbia Collective: Art + Music, is Sept 7, 5-8pm. Hope to see you there!

-Neysa

I recently bought some tulip chairs from a flea market and they are old and banged up. It seems that the chairs are originally powder coated, but it's not within my budget to have that done to refurbish them. Is sanding them and painting them a reasonable alternative? What paint should I use?

I've visited the student sale of the school of the art institute (usually in november). Please note that "inexpensive" is a relative term -- I'm not sure what your price point is. True, you won't find paintings by students priced at $10,000 or more like established artists. But most of the paintings I saw were generally nearly $1,000 or more. Photography was in the low hundreds if framed.

Two other highly subjective points: Quality of work can be really uneven and there seems to be a trend toward vulgarity in subject matter.

The Chicago Artists Coalition (http://www.caconline.org/default.asp) is a good resource for those interested in purchasing art and artists themselves.

Finally, walking around outside of art fairs I've found artists who could not afford to showcase their work inside the art fair, but were very talented and often more affordable that what you'd find within art fairs.

I am moving into a new place which is much bigger than my old one, but big in the "long and skinny" sense. I am trying to avoid having everything against the wall (bowling alley) but the space is so narrow! And the doorway to the kitchen is smack in the middle, not off to the side. Any tips?

Another really good option is looking into 'edition' sales at galleries and Museums. Bucketrider Gallery offers really hip and lovely contemporary art at a lower price when purchased with a higher edition. Also, the Museum of Contemporary Photography has an amazing editions program where they offer gloriously famous and amazing artists prints at a low cost as they are sold in such high editions.