MARWENNOW
28 studio programs were offered in 2015’s winter term
(13 for students in grades 6–8, 15 for students in grades 9–12)
337 unique students completed a Marwen course in the 2015 winter term For 88 of them, it was their first time completing a course at Marwen Marwen held its annual career day on Saturday, March 7 where more than
100 attendees got the learn from professionals creative fields
opportunity to meet, network, and in a variety of
MARWENNOW = THIS ISSUE’S STORIES
JANUARY 10
Winter term new student orientation JANUARY 20
Winter term classes began MARCH 9
Marwen’s administrative staff began work at the John Hancock Center (See “Moving Update” on page 4) MARCH 13
Marwen’s Lab program opened its exhibition at Chicago Art Department in Pilsen MARCH 14
Winter term classes ended, including 3D Printing, CGI Landscapes, and Animation Attack! (See “Donor Profile” on page 6) MARCH 16
Marwen’s Design to Print program, final presentations (See “Student Profile” on page 8) APRIL 6
CPS Spring Break began and many Marwen students embarked on college visits MAY 1
Marwen’s Paintbrush Ball at Morgan Manufacturing in the West Loop raised a record-breaking $800,000 JUNE 9
Marwen officially broke ground on its expanded arts campus with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and organizational leadership Left: A photo from a March 2015 collaborative workshop of student photo portraits led by Marwen teaching artist Marta Garcia, hosted by the Chicago Park District.
MOVING UPDATE 4
SINCE TAKING UP RESIDENCE at 833 North Orleans Street in January of 2000, Marwen has been firmly rooted in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Classes, workshops, and events have been offered within our walls, allowing students and staff to settle in and make Marwen their home. As Marwen transforms that home into a bigger and better art-making facility— the Marwen Arts Campus— we are adjusting to temporary housing at the John Hancock Center (for administrative offices) and at the University of Illinois at Chicago (for summer programming). This fall, the whole team will return home to a beautiful new Marwen, where more students will make more art than ever before.
Marwen will have an additional 7,000 square feet, including new studios and many building enhancements.
Throughout the summer, construction crews will work furiously to complete the renovation of existing spaces and the build-out of new ones on schedule and on budget. Once complete, Marwen will have an additional 7,000 square feet of operating space, including many building enhancements: 2 new studios (for a total of 8) A Technology Suite with three state-of-the-art studios, plus a lighting and special effects lab and a portfolio documentation center A dedicated fashion studio and an expanded ceramics studio A new student and family lounge, more welcoming entryway, and safer parking lot Increased exhibition and critique space Private offices for college and career counseling We look forward to welcoming you back to Marwen at our first exhibition opening in our expanded facility on Thursday, September 24 from 5–7 p.m. We’ll be exhibiting and celebrating students and their artwork from our summer term at UIC, and hope you’ll be able to join us. Cover: Gold shovels used in Marwen’s recent groundbreaking ceremony rest on a steel beam to be installed in the building’s new canopied entryway. Photo by Marwen alumna Maria Murczek. At left: Marwen’s Executive Director, Antonia Contro, and Assistant Director of Technology and Administration, John Lyons, at the Marwen construction site.
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DONOR PROFILE:
MOTOROLA FOR TEN YEARS Motorola and the Motorola Mobility Foundation have been highly valued partners in Marwen’s mission to inspire young people through the visual arts. Marwen trustee Jim Wicks, Senior Vice President of Consumer Experience and Design, has served on the organization’s board since 2007. In that time, Marwen has benefited from Motorola’s tremendous generosity in the form of program grants, gala sponsorships, and product design internships for high school students participating in Marwen’s Art@Work program. In recent years, “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) has been integrated into the vocabulary of educators, policymakers and tech-focused corporate foundations like the Motorola Mobility Foundation. The strength of STEM education in the United States has long-term implications for the global economy and workforce development. In the past few years, however, STEM is evolving into “STEAM”, with an additional focus on the arts. While technology is at the core of its business, Motorola Mobility is interested in ways that the arts can be integrated across all disciplines, sparking creativity and giving rise to new innovations. “Too often students are taught to think of themselves as having a propensity
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for either art or math,” said Motorola Mobility’s Foundation Manager, Monica Hauser. “Instead we want them to realize that an individual’s interests and abilities need not be so polarized. Art can inform technology and vice versa.” Motorola has been a champion of Marwen’s mission, creating opportunities for students to pursue interdisciplinary learning that combines technology with the visual arts. The company has supported many technology-infused art initiatives at Marwen, including classes in computer-generated imagery and 3D printing. In a short time on the Marwen schedule, these initiatives have quickly gained popularity. Motorola also hopes to close the gender gap in schools and in the workforce by helping young women identify opportunities in technology. As a company in an intensely competitive industry, Motorola chooses to innovate by focusing first on the user of their products, and the user’s experience with Motorola’s devices. By taking this approach, Motorola designs for consumers and seeks to give them more power to choose in their interactions with technology. This very human approach to integrating technology, design, and the arts is what has made Motorola a hugely important partner in preparing young artists for our very modern world—now and in the years to come.
Art can inform technology and vice versa.
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STUDENT PROFILE:
ZAC MASCAREN 8
IN SEPTEMBER 2008, Zac Mascarenas came to Marwen for the first time. Almost seven years, 35 studio art courses, four career programs, three college prep workshops, and two Marwen sleepovers later, Zac is now preparing for college. “I learned about Marwen from my brother,” Zac said, referring to his older sibling, DJ, who also attended Marwen throughout middle and high school. A recent graduate of Whitney Young High School, Zac is taking a moment to reflect on the impact Marwen has had on his growth and development — both as an artist and as an individual. “My brother was really into drawing and photography but when I first came to Marwen I went in the complete opposite direction.” As a sixth grader Zac leaned heavily toward 3D art. Claymation and ceramics were his preferred forms at the time. He now admits that he was mostly trying to defy his brother and forge his own path. Since then he’s dabbled in everything from digital photography to printmaking to sound art and more. Eventually, Zac developed a real passion for graffiti art as well as game design and digital animation. Zac easily recalls a moment in school where his teacher showed the movie “Exit Through the Gift Shop”— a documentary about the shadowy British graffiti artist, Banksy, who creates works that speak to current events and societal morale with a polarizing public response. Since seeing that film, Zac has been even more interested in street art and art activism. Most recently, Banksy’s influence manifested itself in Zac’s screenprint that he created in Marwen’s “Design to Print” program— an interdisciplinary course that has students use both graphic design tools and printmaking techniques to create images and screenprints. The final prints get turned into greeting cards that are sold around the holidays.
NAS
This fall, almost seven years after starting his first Marwen course, Zac will begin a new adventure as a video game design student at DePaul University Chicago. He credits his family and the Marwen community for helping him to achieve the confidence necessary for embarking on this new step in his artistic journey.
At left (clockwise from top): Zac Mascarenas presents one of his initial ‘Design to Print’ sketches; Zac’s final Banksy-inspired screenprint; a preliminary sketch
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UPCOMING AT MARWEN SUMMER TERM SESSION I BEGINS:
Monday, July 6 SUMMER TERM SESSION II BEGINS:
Monday, July 20 FALL TERM NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION AT MARWEN:
Saturday, September 19, 9 am–5 pm SUMMER TERM EXHIBITION OPENING AND NEW MARWEN ARTS CAMPUS OPEN HOUSE:
Thursday, September 24, 5–7 pm Artwork by Marwen student Anna Korol