Sunday, February 28, 2010

FLASHPOINT ACADEMY WELCOMES NOTED ARCHITECT LARRY BOOTH FOR TOUR




Larry founded Booth Hansen in 1980 with the belief that spirited, meaningful, and useful buildings can be realized with an organized and open creative process. As Design Principal, he leads the conceptual development of every project at the firm, always beginning with the conviction that each client, landscape, and building program is unique and demands knowledge and creativity to achieve the best results. Larry rejects any stylistic dogma, believing that any preconceived approach to design will result in a superficial solution that does not best serve the client.

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Larry has been awarded numerous honors for his design work including a national Honor Award for the renovation of Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago, and over 30 regional Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects. He has also been awarded numerous professional honors and has participated in several professional activities including: National Academician Elect, National Academy; Reynolds Award Jury, American Academy in Rome; Chicago Historical Society, Paul M. Angle Lecture; various national and state AIA award juries; MIT visiting committee, Department of Architecture; and National Endowment for the Arts, panelist.

In 2008, Larry was appointed Clinical Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Richard C. Halpern/Rise International Distinguished Architect in Residence at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Illinois, and a lecturer at numerous prestigious colleges and universities. Larry received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, studied at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and received a Bachelor of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Larry is currently a member of the Board of Directors of: Chicago History Museum, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Auditorium Theatre Council, and the Metropolitan Planning Council. His past board activity includes: Goodman Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, American Institute of Architects Chicago Chapter, Chicago Architectural Club (where he served as President), Chicago Institute of Architecture, and Cliff Dwellers. Larry is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

FLASHPOINT ACADEMY WOMEN IN MEDIA WELCOME MARY KAY KLEIST FOR Q&A SESSION AND TOUR




AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR COVERS "WHO KILLED THE MUSIC" SHOW AT GRAMMY MUSEUM PRODUCED BY TULLMAN COLLECTION ARTIST KRIS LEWIS


TULLMAN COLLECTION ARTIST HILO CHEN IN NEW SHOW AT BERNARDUCCI MEISEL AND FEATURED IN AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR MAGAZINE




Hilo Chen
Figures on the Beach - New Paintings



4 - 27 March 2010


Frank Bernarducci and Louis K. Meisel are pleased to announce the solo exhibition of Photorealist painter, Hilo Chen. Chen continues to reference his earlier and most well known series of paintings, "The Beach Series," created after his first visit to an American resort after moving here from Taiwan in 1968. It was with this series that Chen began to focus on the female figure in his work. This exhibition features several new works continuing in the tradition of his beach paintings.

In addition to his early "Beach Series," Chen went on to create the "Bedroom Series," and in 1976, "The Bathroom Series," which established him as one of the world's most preeminent contemporary painters of the nude. During the 1980s and 90s, Chen continued to exhibit in the United States, Europe and Taiwan, however he did not produce any new figurative work. He chose instead to explore and experiment with new techniques such as a combination of both airbrush and brush. Chen reemerged in the new millennium with several new paintings, reminiscent of iconic Pop images and referencing his early “Beach Series.” He continues to work in this style today.

Chen’s paintings are best known for their bright, vivid colors, and Pop style patterns on swimsuits. In Beach 163, Chen portrays a woman lying on her side in a hot pink bikini. This is a classic example of Chen’s ability to magnify the dominant figure, whilst creating much more ‘soft-focus’ figures in the background as seen in many of his beach paintings. He often focuses on a fragment of the female form as seen in Beach 162 and Beach 161, confronting the viewer with an immediate focal point. The bronzed bodies of Chen’s figures on the beach are often nude, or in the case of Beach 162 and Beach 161, somewhat exposed from their swimsuits. Chen’s canvases seem to radiate with heat due to his uncanny ability to capture flesh tones as well as the single drops of water that rest across each tanned female figure. Suggestive, yet restrained, Chen’s canvases speak more to the sexual freedom and admiration of the female form as opposed to the exploitation. His paintings are reminiscent of the hot days of summer, yet veiled with nostalgia for the era of Pop imagery.

TULLMAN COLLECTION ARTIST NANCY LAWTON IN AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR

Thursday, February 25, 2010

FLASHPOINT ACADEMY DEPARTMENTAL PRESENTATIONS & FACULTY MEETINGS











EXCELERATE OPENING MENTOR RECEPTION KICKS OFF CHICAGO PROGRAM






Startup support on the rise?

Alex White tried to start his company in Chicago. Three years ago, he and a pair of Northwestern classmates scoured the city seeking seed funding for their online music analytics service, Next Big Sound. What they found is all too familiar.

EVERYONE WAS SUPER NICE BUT IN TERMS OF WRITING A CHECK IT JUST DIDN'T HAPPEN. AND WE NEEDED ANY KIND OF FUNDING AND IT NEVER CAME THROUGH AND WE WENT TO BOULDER THROUGH THE TECH STARS PROGRAM AND OUR LEAD INVESTOR IS FROM THERE SO WE ENDED UP HAVING TO LEAVE THE CITY.
[Alex Smith, Cofounder, Next Big Sound]

It's been a common story in Chicago for years. Entrepreneurs, especially in technology, say it's hard to raise money here. They bemoan the lack of Silicon Valley-type support and networking. They complain that entrepreneurship just doesn't run in the city's blood.

But here's the thing about entrepreneurs. When they see something they don't like, sooner or later they're gonna try to fix it. With a handful of Chicago's most prominent entrepreneurs doing just that, the city's startup support system seems to be on the upswing.

Among those leading the charge are some Chicago heavyweights. A new incubator-slash-boot-camp called Excelerate offers up to $20,000 in funding to startups chosen for an intensive 10-week program to start this summer. It also offers access to a group of mentors that includes entrepreneurial icons like Howard Tullman, Michael Ferro and Genevieve Thiers. Excelerate is taking applications through March 18.
Also throwing their weight behind startup support are two of the city's most prolific and proficient technology entrepreneurs. Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky emerged from the dot-com boom-and-bust to build InnerWorkings, Echo Global Logistics and now Groupon. Flush with those successes, the pair has ponied up 10 million dollars to launch Lightbank, an incubator that could invest in as many as 10 companies a year. Lefkofsky and Keywell have ponied up 10 million dollars for the first round of Lightbank investments. Just as importantly, the companies they fund will get access to Keywell and Lefkofsky themselves, who promise to personally get down in the day-to-day muck with the entrepreneurs they back.

THIS IS PREDOMINANTLY BUILT AROUND THE IDEA THAT COMPANIES IN CHICAGO AND THE MIDWEST NEED CAPITAL, BUT THEY NEED MORE THAN CAPITAL. THEY ACTUALLY NEED PEOPLE TO GET IN THERE, ROLL THEIR SLEEVES UP AND ACTUALLY HELP THEM ACTUALLY RUN THE BUSINESS.
[Eric Lefkofsky, Founder, Lightbank]

Lightbank and Excelerate should help compliment existing Chicago angel funds, nonprofits and incubators like the Illinois Technology Association. In its West Loop offices the ITA runs TechNexus, a collaborative meeting and office space that is currently home to 38 startups and 110 high-tech entrepeneurs and workers.

And at the very smallest level, there's a new venture called Scalewell. Founded by a trio of young Chicago entrepereneurs, it hopes to provide a tiny bit of funding and a wealth of support to businesses at the gleam-in-the-eye stage.

AND SO WE WANTED TO FILL THAT VOID IN CHICAGO OF NOT REALLY HAVING A PLACE TO GO WHERE IF YOU WANNA START SOMETHING IMMEDIATELY THAT DOESN'T REALLY HAVE A LOT OF REQUIREMENTS OR YOU HAVE A PASSION PROJECT YOU WANNA TURN INTO A BUSINESS YOU CAN TURN AND GET RESOURCES, SUPPORT AND A COMMUNITY AROUND YOU TO HELP YOU GROW THAT INTO SOMETHING THAT MAYBE IS FUNDABLE OR THAT YOU CAN QUIT YOUR DAY JOB ETC.
[Andy Angelos, Co-Founder, Scalewell]

Scalewell is the brainchild of Andy Angelos, Sean Corbett and Ziad Hussain. They've recruited 42 trustees--entrepreneurs and business people who pledge a hundred dollars apiece toward thousand-dollar grants that Scalewell will award to the winners of quarterly business-plan competitions. The winners also get free office space in the Loop. But again, the most valuable prize is access to the trustees--an instant network of experienced supporters.

Earlier this month the first Scalewell grant was awarded to Michael Una, who invents and builds quirky musical instruments in his Albany Park workshop and has the modest goal of turning that side business into a full-time gig. He'll use the thousand bucks to bring two new products to market. The money will probably be gone in a few months. But long after that, he hopes the Scalewell trustees will be helping him shape a business plan, set realistic goals and connect with people in their networks.

YOU KNOW I'VE BEEN TOILING AWAY BY MYSELF IN MY LABORATORY CREATING THESE THINGS GETTING OUT THERE SELLING THEM ON MY OWN HITTING THE STREET, BUT THESE PEOPLE HAVE SKILLS IN THOSE AREAS, AND ARE OFFERING THEMSELVES UP AS A RESOURCE TO DRAW UPON. SO I THINK THE SCALEWELL GROUP, WHILE THEY HAVE THESE GRANTS THEY GIVE AWAY TO SMALL BUSINESSES, I THINK THE REAL VALUE HERE IS IN THE COMMUNITY IT CREATES AND GETTING ALL THESE PEOPLE IN THE SAME ROOM, TALKING TO EACH OTHER.
[Michael Una, Founder, Una Electronics]

Getting them talking is just a first step. But for the city's would-be entrepreneurs, it's a step in the right direction.

FLASHPOINT ACADEMY HOSTS TRACKING SESSION AND FILM SHOOT FOR GRAMMY U WITH CAVASHAWN




















FLASHPOINT ACADEMY HOSTS "YOUNG ILLINOIS SAVES" ON MART STAGE AND WELCOMES CITY TREASURER STEPHANIE NEELY







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