By Judy Carmack Bross
Artist Jessica Jackson Hutchins, a member of the bowling committee, before toppling ten pins.
There were strikes to spare recently at Hyde Park’s Seven Ten Social when bowlers raised over $30,000 for the Renaissance Society’s programs which are always free and open to the public at the contemporary art museum on the campus of the University of Chicago where they are an independent affiliate and non-profit which began in 1915.
Now in its second year of surely the most fun benefit in town, planners are glad they chose bowling over karaoke–another idea that was thrown out by artists and board members–as a way to raise funds in convivial way. They turned to its artists to create them signature bowling shirt last year and a pink or black baseball cap
was the Ren item for 2024.
Returning bowlers wore the 2023 signature shirt.
People particularly enjoyed the opportunity to come together for a lighthearted competition to support a beloved institution,” the Ren’s Manager of Development Joshi Radin Flores told us. ”There were eight lanes of teams composed of lane sponsors: Laura and Marshall Front, Richard Wright and Valerie Carberry, Lauren and
Chris Peterson, Abby Pucker, and Mirja Spooner Haffner, plus lanes for ticket buyers and artists. There was a practice round, a round of play, and a final round for each lane’s highest scorers.
“We had two, sort of three, winners at this year’s bowling fundraiser: Dieter Roelstraete from Neubauer Collegium; the artist John Henderson, and Anna Cerniglia of Johalla Projects.”
Members of the party planning committee showed that artists can also be great bowlers: MCA Curator Jadine Collingwood; writer and curator Stephanie Cristello; artist and SAIC Professor Jessica Jackson Hutchins; EXPO CHICAGO’s Tony Karman; Board member Lauren Peterson; GERTIE’s Abby Pucker and Hunter Riley from Schlep.
Myriam Ben Salah, Executive Director and Chief Curator told us last year as they launched the first bowling benefit:
“We have been trying to tweak the format of fundraising events for the past few years. The formality of conventional black-tie events simply doesn’t match the ethos of the Ren which is artist-driven, experimental and unceremonious. The bowling tournament is a way to gather our community around something fun while raising critical funds for our program and the artists that make it up.”
The Renaissance Society was founded in 1915 by a group of University of Chicago faculty, and our name refers to their intention to create a space in which to foster engagement with new ideas in arts and culture.
In the early 20th century the Renaissance Society played a key role in bringing European and other avant-garde practices to Chicago through presentations of Henri
Matisse, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Mies Van Der Rohe, Käthe Kollwitz, and Joseph Cornell, among other.
Radin Flores has described the museum for us:
“Located at the end of the hall on the forth floor of an academic building, Cobb Hall, it’s not at all obvious there is a storied and influential museum here. Over many years, the Ren has built up a dedicated public, but it is effectively tucked away such that it would be difficult to stumble upon.
“The physical space itself is a small revelation, since you walk through a standard set of doors into a cavernous room with vaulted ceilings and angular nooks unlike any typical gallery. The height, angles, light, and versatility of the space lends itself to creative interpretation and has spurred artists to make highly innovative, site-specific works.”
Currently on view is a solo exhibition by Chicago-based artist Isabelle Frances McGuire, Year Zero. Upcoming events include a gallery walkthrough with curator Karsten Lund on Thursday, January 9 at 6 PM, and a performance by Suicide Moi, with band members: Isabelle Frances McGuire, Liz Vitlin, and Julian Flavin, on Saturday, January 18 at 7 PM.
More details are available at renaissancesociety.org
Photo credit: Sandra Oviedo/ColectivoMultipolar.
