{"id":16254,"date":"2025-01-01T05:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T05:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anysquared.org\/New\/?p=16254"},"modified":"2025-12-08T01:18:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T01:18:50","slug":"2024-ne2-wrapped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anysquared.org\/New\/2024-ne2-wrapped\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 NE^2 Wrapped"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are proud to support and serve artists and community<\/strong> through AnySquared with art projects + programs<\/a> and our weekly Studio Days<\/a> on Wednesdays. We have an amazing AnySquared Arts Community<\/a> that has a positive impact on the Chicago community. We are excited to begin 2025 and continue to provide artists with many opportunities and work with social justice organizations in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WEEKLY FREE STUDIO DAYS |<\/strong> As we gather each week at our studio day sessions, we stand united in the face of daily outrages. AnySquared is committed to creating art that serves the people while inspiring our members to engage in social justice campaigns and connect deeply with the community. We also provide a place of peace for our artists in the studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our free artmaking sessions<\/a> are the heart of our organization, serving as an incredible incubator for creativity. Many individual artists develop their projects at our studio for external events. Each week, we offer free supplies, provide technical support to artists, and plan events \u2014 all while collaborating on art together. Occasionally, artists experiment with music in our space too! We host 25\u201340 artists each week and have created space for an inclusive community. |  Studio Days<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Home Not Home Series<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Home Not Home Series!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home Not Home Series<\/strong><\/a> launched in 2023 and continued through 2024 | <\/strong>For our Series<\/a>, we collaborated with community and arts organizations through art activations, street art, and public events. The most impactful aspect of our work this year was occupying local spaces with art accessible to all, creating meaningful art, and asserting our presence in our neighborhood. We rallied our artists to create for social justice and developed a poster series for the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We partnered with Palenque LSNA<\/a>, Pilsen Art & Community House (PACH)<\/a>, Humboldt Park Solidarity Network (HPSN) \/Casa Hernandez Free Store<\/a>, Renegades of Funk (ROF)<\/a>, and other mutual aid and community groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We began the year by supporting Palenque LSNA\u2019s affordable housing campaign<\/a>. We are especially grateful to the AnySquared artists who designed the “Bring Chicago Home” posters and those who wheatpasted them throughout the area neighborhoods. We also thank those who created house-shaped<\/a> installations to distribute our Home Not Home zines<\/a>, buttons, and stickers. For the project, we projected a \u201cHousing is a Human Right” video<\/a> that our artists created on Milwaukee Avenue for several days. We also organized the Bring Chicago Home mural<\/a> in collaboration with Renegades of Funk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant achievement last spring was the successful curation and printing of a meaningful poster series. In partnership with Pilsen Arts & Community House, we developed our Home Not Home poster project series<\/a>. In February, we held a Writers\/Artists Meetup<\/a> at AnySquared to inspire artist-writer collaboration. This project culminated in printed posters<\/a> and the 1000 Words: Home Not Home exhibit<\/a> at PACH. We also curated programming that included an Author Night<\/a> and HNH Performances<\/a>. Throughout the spring, summer, and fall, our street art crews <\/a>installed these posters in our surrounding neighborhoods. The posters showcased selected artists\u2019 and writers’ work and connected viewers to the HNH virtual gallery<\/a> to read the full text, maximizing impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Summer, we re-occupied our Project Logan space with our sibling organization Renegades of Funk<\/a> as we highlighted our communities of artists on the mural walls<\/a> for the Against Da Fence Mini-Art Fest<\/a> on the theme of home. We teamed up with ROF in the fall for another mural production at Project Logan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We concluded the year\u2019s projects last fall by highlighting the Humboldt Park Solidarity Network\u2019s Casa Hernandez Free Store. We organized and painted the \u201cCasa No Casa\u201d mural<\/a> with the HPSN community and installed an exhibit for the patrons of the free store to enjoy that is still on display. The Home Not Home Poster Series<\/a> and beautiful documentary photos (by Insidious) from our larger project were featured at the Casa No Casa Exhibit Opening<\/a>. We began in 2023 with our first installment of the Home Not Home<\/a>: a premiere exhibition with performances, and workshops with Agitator Gallery. The inaugural exhibition included 60+ artists along with programming from the Exhibit Opening<\/a>, Spoken Word Night<\/a>, Music Night<\/a>, and workshops<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Free Workshop Series<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Workshops in 2024 | <\/strong>Our AnySquared Skillshare Series<\/a> continues to host workshops and stitching circles. Friends and members of AnySquared generously shared their skills and knowledge for free. Throughout the year, we filled our calendar with informative and engaging workshops from January to December, including: Ecstatic Dance<\/a> with Cara Mastaduno and Noah Alonzo, Street Photography<\/a> with Insidious Studios, Canvas Stretching<\/a> with Mateo Badilla and Tracy Kostenbader, Natural Dye<\/a> with Selinger Gonzo, Color Theory<\/a> by Marie Hernandez, Song Writing 1 &2<\/a> with Josh Lim, Stitching Circle: Crochet<\/a> with Mateo Badilla, and Kitchen Lithography<\/a> with Vahnaree Weis. We have plans to host open source technology, printmaking, and other useful workshops in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Highlighting Artists Through Exhibitions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our Featured AnySquared Exhibits<\/a> in 2024 included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n