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Intersect Chicago

November 6, 2020 - November 21, 2020

INTERSECT CHICAGO / SOFA ANNOUNCES PROGRAMMING FOR ITS VIRTUAL FAIR, LIVE ONLINE FROM NOVEMBER 6-12, 2020

From the exhibition The United at Pittsburgh Glass Center. May Maylisa Cat. The Three Stupas, 2019. Photo by Nathan J Shaulis / Porter Loves.

New York, NY, October 15, 2020—Intersect Art and Design announces its programming for the inaugural edition of Intersect Chicago, a virtual art fair replacing SOFA Chicago for the 2020 edition due to COVID-19. Intersect Chicago will be online from November 6-12, 2020 at IntersectChicago.com with a dedicated VIP Preview Day by invitation only on November 5. The

The fair is the evolution of SOFA – Sculpture Objects Functional Art. It is the intersection of art, design, and objects, including daily highlights on Glass, Contemporary Art, Design, Ceramic and Craft, Outsider Art, Fiber, and Public Art / Sculpture. Intersect Chicago will feature institutions from around the globe with dedicated programming and a selection of galleries showcasing work of these disciplines.

Intersect Chicago will present SOFA Salons, a series of themed conversations pertaining to art and design, presented online and free to the public.

To learn about upcoming programs and register, visit https://www.sofaexpo.com/salons.

Cultural Partners of Intersect Chicago will be featured on different days of the fair with special programming, talks, virtual tours, and more.

fair features 102 exhibitors, from 24 different countries. See the full list online at

Cultural Partners include:
CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art; Corning Museum of Glass;

; Chicago Public Art Group; Design Museum of

Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG)

Intersect Art and Design Owned and Managed by vGMgt LLC

Crafting the Future;

Chicago; The Elmhurst Art Museum; The Fabric Workshop and Museum;
; GlassRoots, GnarWare Workshop; The International Sculpture Center (ISC); Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art; John Michael Kohler Arts

Center; The Mint Museum; Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY;
National Museum of Women in the Arts; rt

and Artists’ Residency; Pilchuck Glass School; Pittsburgh Glass Center; The River North Design District; Roger Brown Study Collection; SAQA: Studio Art Quilt Associates; TextielMuseum; UrbanGlass; and Chicago Public Schools.

Programming: Daily Calendar of Events

Intersect Chicago will feature special programming on each day of the fair. In addition to the schedule listed here, special exhibitions, video tours, and other content will be available on the website.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6: GLASS ARTS

11:30am ET (10:30am CT / 8:30am PT) Pilchuck Glass School

On the eve of Pilchuck Glass School’s 50th anniversary in 2021, Ben Wright, current Pilchuck Artistic Director, will lead an engaging conversation with three artists: Benjamin Moore, Tina Aufiero, and Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda, exploring the school’s enduring and symbiotic relationship with the glass community of Murano, Italy.

2pm ET (1pm CT / 11am PT) r (PGC)

Design Core Detroit;

Selections from the Women of Gee’s Bend

The National Council on

Education for the Ceramic Arts;

Ox-Bow School of A

The Ed Paschke Art Center;

1pm ET (12pm CT / 10am PT) The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG)

The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass will present a panel discussion, “The Merging of

Contemporary Glass With Contemporary Art.” moderated by Larry Sibrack, AACG; with Koen

Vanmechelen representing Glasstress and Fondazione Berengo of Venice, Italy; Kristin Qualls,

Museum of American Glass, representing the Emanation Program; and Tim Tate representing 21st

Century Contemporary Glass.

The Pittsburgh Glass Cente

PGC will present a panel

discussion titled, “Hanging on Every Word: Listening and Learning on Immigration Art” with

several of the artists in the current exhibition The United, in conversation with Curator Johanna

Lasner and Program Director Valerie Bundy. They will also share images and video content from

the exhibition on Intersect Chicago’s website.

3:30pm (2:30pm CT / 12:30pm PT) The Corning Museum of Glass

Director of The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass, Amy Schwartz, will host a panel discussion about the Museum’s Expanding Horizons program and related programming for underserved communities.

5pm ET (4pm CT / 2pm PT) The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)

MAD will present a recorded virtual tour led by Curator of Collections Samantha De Tillio of the

exhibition Beth Lipman: Collective Elegy, followed by a live question and answer session with

Samantha and Beth. For more than twenty years, Lipman has transformed glass, metal, clay,

video, and photographs into powerful statements addressing mortality, temporality, identity, and

excess.

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6pm ET (5pm CT / 3pm PT) The Corning Museum of Glass

Curator of Post-War and Contemporary Glass, Susie Silbert, will lead a live tour of the recently reinstalled Contemporary Art + Design Galleries of The Corning Museum of Glass.

7pm ET (5pm CT / 3pm PT) UrbanGlass

Craft, Cocktails & Conversation will be an evening of dialogue that joins art, design, and craftsmanship across practices with a well-known mixologist, an artist from the UrbanGlass community, and Devin Mathis, Executive Director of UrbanGlass. Our mixologist will be creating a custom cocktail for a drinking vessel designed by our studio artist. While drinks are being prepared, the artist will demonstrate the making of this particular vessel from the UrbanGlass studio. In the midst of this, the three of us will discuss the interdisciplinary nature of making in all forms.

Special programming will include the exhibition The Desire for Transparency: Contemporary

Artists Working with Glass, organized by critic and curator Paul Laster (Time Out New York,

Galerie, Art & Object, Sculpture, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Cultured, and ArtAsiaPacific) and

independent curator and art advisor Renée Riccardo (ARENA), presenting an innovative group of

artists—

Ai Weiwei, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Monica Bonvicini, Amber Cowan, Tony Cragg, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Shahla Friberg, Michael Joo, Misha Kahn, Jim Lambie, Vik Muniz, Kohei Nawa, Hans Op de Beeck, Sung-Won Park, Jaume Plensa, Tristano di Robilant, Laura de Santillana, Judith Schaechter, Thaddeus Wolfe, and Dustin Yellin—who are using glass to address formal and aesthetic concerns that transcend the traditional uses of the medium.

GlassRoots

GlassRoots ignites and builds the creative and economic vitality of greater Newark, New Jersey,

with a focus on underserved youth and young adults, through the transformative power of the

glass art experience. Explore the possibilities offered within GlassRoots through their selection of

videos.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7: CONTEMPORARY ART

11:30am ET (10:30am CT / 8:30am PT) The Mint Museum

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of Project Ten Ten Ten, The Mint Museum is presenting

studio visits with three featured artists over the next two days: Tom Joyce, Danny Lane, and Kate

n conversation with Annie

Carlano, Senior Curator of Craft, Design & Fashion at The Mint Museum, the artists will discuss

the impact of The Mint Museum commissions on their work, as well current and future projects.

Malone (Kate is featured on Sunday, November 8th at noon ET). I

The Mint Museum will present virtual studio visits with artists Danny Lane 11:30-12:00 pm ET and Tom Joyce 12-12:30pm ET.

1pm ET (12pm CT / 10am PT) National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA)

NMWA will present “The Power of Paper,” a discussion with the curators, and six of the 22 artists featured in the new exhibition Paper Routes—Women to Watch 2020. The talk will feature NMWA’s Associate Curator Virginia Treanor and Assistant Curator Orin Zahra in conversation with artists Mira Burack, Rachel Farbiarz, Dolores Furtado, Julia Goodman, Annie Lopez and Sa’dia Rehman.

3:30pm ET (2:30pm CT / 12:30pm PT) Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency

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Join Ox-Bow School of Art’s Executive Director, Shannon Stratton for a round-table conversation

with artists who have experienced and participated in Ox-Bow as faculty, fellows, staff and

residents. Hear about how this interdisciplinary and intergenerational community has impacted

artists at all stages of their career and life. Ox-Bow is a 110-year summer art school and residency

program located along an interdunal wetland in Saugatuck, Michigan.

5pm ET (4pm CT / 2pm PT) John Michael Kohler Arts Center

Artist in Residence – Milwaukee-based artist Kate Klingbeil joins Faythe Levine, director of the

Arts/Industry program at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, to discuss her

foundry residency and the role of the celebrated program. Hundreds of artists have benefited from

the Arts/Industry residency program since its beginning in 1974. The program, undoubtedly one of

the most unusual ongoing collaborations between art and industry in the United States, was

conceived and is administered by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and hosted by Kohler Co.

The Ed Paschke Art Center (EPAC)

The Ed Paschke Art Center’s permanent collection space features the paintings, works on paper

and sculpture of legendary Chicago artist Ed Paschke. Highlights include a fascinating peek

inside Ed Paschke’s Howard Street studio, featuring all original items, unfinished art works, and

includes an audio clip of the studio sounds and the nearby Chicago L.

The Chicago Public Schools

The Chicago Public Schools Advanced Arts Program is pleased to showcase original works from

students in different classes. Students from our Drawing and Painting course will be displaying

original works that reflect their sustained inquiries into thematic or process-based questions.

Students from Creative Arts and Ceramics will create a mobile based upon the work of Alexander

Calder and Sarah Sze.

Crafting the Future

Crafting the Future works to diversify the fields of art, craft and design by connecting BIPOC

artists with opportunities that will help them thrive. Crafting the Future is presenting work from a

special selection of CTF affiliated artists.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8: CERAMIC ARTS AND CRAFT 12pm ET (11am CT / 9am PT) The Mint Museum

The Mint Museum will present a virtual studio visit with artist Kate Malone.

4pm ET (3pm CT / 1pm PT)

CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art

Join curator, art historian Christina Rauh Oxbøll for a video presentation of the current exhibitions: Carl-Henning Pedersen – Images in Clay, the Treasury with the Royal Copenhagen Collection and

GnarWare Workshop

Learn more about ecology artists working at GnarWare Workshop as owner Liz McCarthy guides

you through this community ceramics studio.

6pm ET (5pm CT / 3pm PT) The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts

(NCECA)

NCECA will highlight its 2020 Emerging Artist Cohort, with interviews hosted by artist Ling Chun,

featuring Ruth Easterbrook, Nurielle Stern, Yeonsoo Kim, Cathy Lee and Stephanie Hanes.

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the sculpture park, surrounding the museum.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9: DESIGN
1pm ET (12pm CT / 11am PT) The River North Design District

The River North Design District will present a panel discussion titled, “Designer Insights: Buying Art in Changing Times.” Led by Chicago Gallery News’ Ginny Van Alyea, the panel will include four esteemed Chicago designers who will share how their art-selecting has changed due to the current climate. Panelists are Steve Kadlec, Kadlec Architecture + Design; Bruce Fox, Bruce Fox Design; Gil Melott, Studio 6F; and Trina Sandschafer, Kahler Slater. There will also be a prerecorded Workshop Tour with Lucy Slivinski and Studio Tour with Linc Thelen (Michele Mariaud Gallery). A selection of River North Design District Designers highlight their top pick from Intersect Chicago.

5pm ET (4pm CT / 2pm PT) John Michael Kohler Arts Center

7pm ET (6pm CT / 4pm PT) The Elmhurst Art Museum

The Museum will present Wright vs. Mies on November 9th, 2020, including a

The Design Museum of Chicago

The Design Museum of Chicago

Designing and Building a New Museum: The Art Preserve – A new museum devoted to artist-built environments from the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) in Sheboygan, WI, is slated to open in June 2021. Director Sam Gappmayer and associate curator Laura Bickford discuss the project with the Denver-based architect Michael M. Moore of Tres Birds, moderated by journalist and critic Mary Louise Schumacher. The building was designed as a response to the needs of JMKAC’s world renowned collection resulting in a unique collaborative process.

‘Wright Before the “Lloyd’ and the Museum’s historic McCormick House, to reveal how famed

virtual tour through

architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe butted heads over design and aesthetics.

Postcards to Chicago presented by

ongoing public art program for Navy Pier and acts as a visual way to welcome Chicagoans the

is the first installation in an

iconic cultural destination. It is a celebration of the Pier, Chicago, public design, and the

communities that converge at this long-time cultural anchor of the city.

Design Core Detroit

Design Core Detroit’s mission is to establish the city as a recognized and valued world-class

resource for creative talent by strengthening design-driven businesses. In addition to providing

traditional business support services to design businesses, Design Core works to grow the

market for Detroit design and position it as having unique value.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10: OUTSIDER ART
11am ET (10am CT / 8am PT) Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

3pm ET (2pm CT / 12pm PT) The Roger Brown Study Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art will present an interview between Deb Kerr,

Museum President and CEO and Leisa Rundquist, art historian, professor and curator, followed

by a virtual tour of Intuit, with Kerr and Intuit chief curator Alison Amick.

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The Roger Brown Study Collection will present a guided tour of the institution, exploring

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11: FIBER ARTS

digital collections and providing a virtual tour with a focus on objects by self-taught artists and

10am ET (9am CT / 7am PT) TextielMuseum

RBSC’s

how they impacted Roger’s creative practice.

Curator Adelheid Smit will give a tour of the TextielMuseum and its TextielLab, highlighting two

current exhibitions at the Museum and showing the many techniques that the TextielLab offers to

artists and designers.

1pm ET (12pm CT / 10am PT) The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM)

FWM will host a conversation to highlight the re-launching of FWM’s screenprinting program,

illustrated by 2020 exhibitions with Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Elisabeth Kley, and Hardcover, a

group exhibition. Providing a look back at past printing projects, the program will also reveal hints

of what’s to come.

3pm ET (2pm CT / 12pm PT) Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA)

Executive Director of Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA), Martha Sielman, brings quilts to the

forefront of the contemporary art world and interviews Marie Bergstedt, Linda Colsh, and Mita

Giacomini to showcase the diversity of work being made in this medium today. SAQA will feature

a selection of artwork for sale shown on the Intersect Chicago website.

5pm ET (4pm CT / 2pm PT) Selections from the Women of Gee’s Bend

Join us for a panel discussion with several quilters from Gee’s Bend who will talk about the work they do, new initiatives in the community to support and advance quilters and their legacies, and anecdotes about life and growing up in Gee’s Bend. Gee’s Bend will feature a selection of artwork for sale shown on the Intersect Chicago website.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12: PUBLIC ART / SCULPTURE

12pm ET (11am CT / 9am PT) Public Art at the University of Chicago
Laura Steward, Curator of Public Art at the University of Chicago, will present a series of conversations between Chicago-based artists and curators who support them, including Michael Rakowitz in conversation with Dr. Jean Evans, Chief Curator and Deputy Director, Oriental Institute Museum; Mel Chin in conversation with Dr. Abigail Winogrand, MacArthur Fellows Program Fortieth Anniversary Exhibition Curator, Smart Museum of Art; and Jessica Stockholder in conversation with Steward.

International Sculpture Center

5pm ET (4pm CT / 2pm PT) Brett Littman, Director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum
Brett Littman, director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum and curator of Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center (2019 and 2020), will discuss how Noguchi’s radical ideas

2pm ET (1pm CT / 11am PT)

International Sculpture Center will present a panel discussion with curators/art professionals in

conversation with 3 artists in the field of public art and art initiatives. International Sculpture

Center will feature a selection of artwork for sale shown on the Intersect Chicago website.

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about public sculpture, gardens, and playgrounds influenced his own curation of the two outdoor sculpture parks he organized for Frieze.

Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG)

The Virtual Bronzeville Mural Tour presented by The Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG) is a guided tour of historic Southside Black Arts Movement murals, featuring interviews, archival photos and video, and shots of the murals. Interviewees will include Jeff Huebner, who has written extensively on Chicago’s murals and Bernard Williams, a CPAG core artist.

NOVEMBER 16-21, 2020

The Art Alliance of Contemporary Glass (AACG) Daily Presentations

Regional and International presentations can be accessed from the AACG Cultural Partner page

of Intersect Chicago/SOFA: New Mexico – California Bay Area, Venice-Murano –

, New York City – Treasures from SOFAs Past, Budapest – and Asheville –

Visit the Fair on Artsy

, Northern

Where There is Sand, There is Glass Art

Destination

A Personal Look InsideEveryone’s Favorite Glass

Sculpture Abounds

A Gathering of Glass in the Mountains.

Intersect Chicago has partnered with Artsy, the global marketplace for discovering and collecting art. https://www.sofaexpo.com/, visitors may also visit

As Intersect Chicago’s Main Marketplace Partner, Artsy will provide a unique opportunity for exhibiting galleries to promote their virtual booths to Artsy’s global audience. Collectors can experience Intersect Chicago on Artsy to discover artists, save favorite works, view works on their home walls through Artsy’s AR mobile tool and directly purchase work from galleries.

Doyle is honored to be an auction house partner of Intersect Chicago. Founded in 1962, Doyle is one of the world’s foremost auctioneers and appraisers of fine art, jewelry, furniture, decorations, Asian works of art, coins, stamps, rare books, and a variety of specialty categories.

Rizzoli Bookstore and Schiffer Publishing

Rizzoli is the Official Bookstore Partner of Intersect Chicago and will host a store on the Intersect Chicago website as well as on its website. Rizzoli is one of the foremost independent booksellers in America specializing in illustrated books on architecture, interior design, fashion, photography, cookery, and the fine and applied arts, as well as literature, and foreign language books. Schiffer Publishing—an independent publisher with over 7,000 titles in print in the areas of Decorative Arts, Design, and illustrated books—is proud to partner with Rizzoli to showcase a curated selection of titles specifically chosen to align with the SOFA community.

Intersect Art and Design’s Portfolio

Intersect Aspen (formerly Art Aspen), July 22-26, 2020, which is an annual art and cultural event in the heart of one of the nation’s most prestigious collector communities. In 2020 it was an online- only event, replacing Art Aspen, which has been running since 2010.

Contemporary Glass

In addition to accessing the fair through

the fair through Artsy.

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Intersect Chicago (formerly SOFA, Sculpture Objects Functional Art), November 6-12, 2020 online-only, the largest and oldest of the three fairs, takes place annually at Chicago’s Navy Pier, and focuses on three-dimensional artworks that cross the boundaries of fine art, decorative art, fiber arts, and design. It has been running since 1993.

Intersect Palm Springs (formerly Art Palm Springs), May 13 – 16, 2021, which traditionally has occurred in conjunction with Modernism Week at the Palm Springs Convention Center, presents post-war and contemporary art and has been running since 2012.

For more information, visit Intersectfairs.com.

About Intersect Art and Design

Intersect Art and Design comprises three art fairs: Intersect Aspen (formerly Art Aspen), Intersect Chicago (formerly SOFA Chicago), and Intersect Palm Springs (formerly Art Palm Springs). Intersect Art and Design’s core values include working with integrity, decency, credibility, and transparency. Through art, and the diverse voices of our exhibitors and their artists, we encourage discussions that promote social awareness and foster positive change.

Intersect is a partnership of brothers Tim and Dirk von Gal, who are event industry veterans with more than 50 years of combined experience creating successful trade shows and conferences for business, consumer, and art industry sectors. The three fairs had been under the umbrella of Tim von Gal’s former company Urban Expositions (founded in 1995), which was acquired by Clarion in 2015. The von Gal brothers’ launch of Intersect in April 2020 brings the fairs back under their management once again. Intersect is part of vGMgt LLC, which is a team of dedicated professionals focused on customer service, integrity, and the experiential value of Intersect Art and Design.

Managing Director Becca Hoffman, who joined Intersect Art and Design in April 2020, was the Director of the Outsider Art Fair from 2013 – 2020, and was formerly the director of Peter Findlay Gallery, and Andrew Edlin Gallery. Hoffman received her B.A. in Fine Art Photography from Dartmouth where she helped start the first student art gallery and worked at the Hood Museum of Art. From there, Hoffman achieved her M.A. in Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s in London.

Join the Conversation

Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @sofaexpo and hashtags #IntersectChicago and #IntersectFairs.

Intersect Chicago Media Partners

Media Partners of the fair include Artnet as Official Media Partner, Modern Luxury Interiors Chicago, and Artprice.com.

Media Contact:

Meg Blackburn, meg@blackburncreative.com

Details

Start:
November 6, 2020
End:
November 21, 2020
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Event Tags:

Venue

Virtual – SOFA
United States
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