Teen Lab at the Art Institute of Chicago
SOUTH SIDE COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER
Later in November, we took our second field trip to the South Side Community Arts Center (SSCA), located in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The SSCAC was founded in 1941 as a space for Black artists and residents of the area to meet, develop their art practices, share resources, teach, and take classes.
We took a tour of the Center, which is located in a former family home, and learned about the presence and contributions to the Center of pivotal figures in the history of Chicago and the arts, such as Dr. Margaret Burroughs, Nat King Cole, Charles White, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Kerry James Marshall. After the tour, the teen apprentices had time to reflect by drawing or writing about a part of the home or an artwork featured in one of the exhibitions that moved them. We finished the visit with a circle of gratitude with the staff at SSAC, and the apprentices shared how they had been moved by the visit.
A recurring theme was the calm and peace many felt sitting and walking through the center, and the freedom to relax. Some articulated the power of being in a space with so much historical weight—a space that has an almost palpable presence of those who have walked and created in it before us. Some apprentices also said it was good to see artists who looked like them, and to be surrounded by art that connected to their culture and people.