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FRIDAY, SEPT. 26, 2008: Opening Reception 6-10 p.m. 'Change Today. Change Tomorrow.' a special 3-day show benefiting the arts in Pilsen schools View photos of the show's installation and opening night! [Chicago] Firebelly Design, the socially responsible design studio based in Humboldt Park, will open “Change Today. Change Tomorrow.” – its first group show – on Friday, Sept. 26, 2008 at within(Reason), a contemporary art and photo space, 1932 S. Halsted St., #408 in Pilsen. Proceeds will benefit arts programs in Pilsen area schools. [Click for map.] Centered on a theme of change – personal, social and global – the exhibit is the brainchild of Firebelly’s creative director, Dawn Hancock, and photographer/designer/gallery owner Ron Reason. Hancock explains the show’s inception: “Most of our commercial work as a design studio deals with communicating complex issues of sustainability and social justice – when Ron offered us an opportunity to showcase art about change in a looser, more intimate context we jumped on it because we want to demonstrate change can also be small and personal and still have a huge effect.” Known for their award-winning web design and print work, the tight-knit collective of Firebelly’s artists, writers, designers and filmmakers have created work the gallery as way to promote change as participatory action. “We all want change because it helps us develop as people,” says Firebelly’s James Matthews. “It’s the everyday things – small changes for ourselves – that create positive change in the world around us.” Ranging from collage and graffiti to digital video and fabric arts, the show’s work will be sold to raise money for school arts programming in Pilsen, where the gallery and the burgeoning Chicago Arts District are located. Reason, whose June 2008 show benefited artists and children in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, and launched an initiative to create a church library there, said: "I'm excited for this first partnership with Dawn and her crew that we hope might create even a little change outside our doors in Pilsen." The opening night reception for "Change Today. Change Tomorrow" is Friday, Sept. 26, from 6-9 p.m., as part of the 37th Annual Pilsen East Artist's Open House. The gallery will also be open on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 27 and 28, along with more than 30 other neighborhood arts showplaces. The Open House weekend is a popular annual event featuring artist talks, live performance, garden walks and more. Read more about the weekend here. To arrange a viewing by appointment outside those hours, email ron@artwithinreason.com. For more on Firebelly, visit their new website: FirebellyDesign.com To view photo work by Ron Reason, visit here.		PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS: JUNE 2008: "Hope in a Hard Place: Beauty and Inspiration from Nairobi's Kibera Slum." An outsider art and photography show that has raised funds to start a kids club, arts programs, church library, and more in Kenya's Kibera slum. Click here to enter. Read an interview by Chicagoist.com about the Kenya show. JULY 2008: "10 Years of Magical Thinking: Art, Echoes, and a Few Things You Left Behind." A personal memoir. Click here to enter. AUGUST 2008: "ASk/wish." The art of Andrew Skwish and Arturo Bandini. Click here for portfolio. Read an interview with Ron Reason and Andrew Skwish.
1932 S. Halsted, #408, Chicago, IL 60608 To confirm hours for viewing, to discuss possible exhibition or representation either in the gallery or online, to inquire about rental of the gallery space (click here for views), or for more information, phone (773) 562-7464 or email: ron@ArtWithinReason.com