View Cart
Sub-Total: $0.00
Meet Our Artists
We were founded with the idea that the studio belongs to its artists. The guiding principle behind our studio is to give people an opportunity to shape and be a member of an artistic community; a community that changes with the growing needs of the artists and one that is a contributing member of the larger society.
Join Our Studio
Arts of Life offers artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities an alternative career path designed to help enrich their lives as working artists.
Never miss an event!
Connect with Arts of Life
News and Announcements
What's Happening on Instagram
The forecast for this weekend? Abundant Sunshine! Looking back on more outdoor hangs and ready to soak in some sun!
#flashbackfriday #fbf #artsoflife #spring #getoutside #sunshine
We’re grateful for Karim Shuquem’s consistent and generous creative presence in our community, and honored he contributed to our book!
Karim was our Artistic Director from 2006-2012 and has been running our weekly online Comic Art group since 2021!
He wrote about the Arts of Life’s bands as well as artist Kelly Stone. Here’s a sneak peek. Get your copy today for more! (link in bio)
“The mixed-ability band has always included members with and without disabilities, and even blurs the line between “ability” and “disability.” In some ways, these labels become irrelevant in a rock band where, over time, members naturally find themselves filling in gaps with their individual skill sets. For example, I always had to drive the van, but I could count on Dave Krueger to charm the audience and get them involved in the action, like with the call-and-response, dub-inspired hit “Around The World.”
Karim Shuquem (formerly Ryan Karim Shuquem) earned degrees in Studio Art and Graphic Design at California State University-East Bay. While in Chicago, he co-founded Reversible Eye Gallery in Chicago with his partner, performing artist Elena Brocade in 2006. He also played with the marching band Mucca Pazza and continued his performances of the persona Loto Ball. Karim has been based in Los Angeles since 2013 and teaches art at a local college and works with several private students.
.
.
.
.
.
#KarimShuquem #ArtsofLife25 #artsoflife #ComicsArtGroup #ArtistMusician #BookContributer
Join us in two weeks! Our next exhibition, sounds better with you, curated by Iris Colburn and Gabriel Garza, opens on Friday, May 23rd at Circle Contemporary Chicago, from 5-8pm.
Featured Artists: Chris Austin – Joey Center – Raven Chacon – Marcus Imani Kennedy – Bill Lilly – Isabelle Frances McGuire – Dave Muller –Micah Schippa-Wildfong – Lucy Walsh
About the curators:
Iris Colburn is a curator and writer based in Chicago. She is currently curatorial associate at the MCA Chicago, where she recently curated Chicago Works | Andrea Carlson: Shimmer on Horizons as well as the MCA’s presentation of Virginia Jaramillo: Principle of Equivalence. She has also organized performances with Joelle Mercedes, Katinka Kleijn, and Micah Schippa and contributed writing to several publications including Virginia Jaramillo: Principle of Equivalence, Pope. L: Campaign, and Visualizing Genocide: Indigenous Interventions in Art, Archives, and Museums. She holds a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was awarded the Eugene Wurzel Memorial Art Scholarship.
Gabriel Garza is an artist from Los Angeles, currently pursuing his MFA in Art from University of Southern California. He holds a B.A. in Art and minor in Music History from UCLA. His solo shows include Malaprop Pablum at /(Slash) (San Francisco), and Escolar (Santa Rosa, CA). Recent group shows include Words That Start (Beauty Gallery @ Studio Route 29, Frenchtown NJ), and New Moon Figure Eight (120710, Berkeley CA). His curatorial projects include In Concert (San Francisco CA, 2023), Thats A More (Oakland CA, 2022), both of which were co-ran with Theadora Walsh, and from July 2020 to July 2021, he ran Punto Lairs inc, a gallery in his parents backyard (Los Angeles CA). He has organized exhibitions at Nationale (Portland OR), Personal Space (Vallejo CA), Staircase Gallery (San Francisco CA), and Bass & Reiner (SF).
Opening reception:
May 23rd, 2025
5:00 – 8:00
Guest curator hours with a special performance by Dorothy Carlos:
July 11th, 2025
Where:
Circle Contemporary Chicago
2010 W Carroll Ave
Chicago, IL 60612
“We take care of to help others and be kind to one another, and things that we do here at the studio if someone needs help or something happened.” - Alex Scott
We often turn to the wisdom and support Alex Scott provides our community. He deeply understands our mission and core values. If Alex hears a peer is upset, he will pause his work, remove his headphones, and walk over to offer comfort. A volunteer shared they didn’t know how to draw; Alex offered to teach them. While Alex prefers smaller group settings, he always participates in full studio orientations, giving new artists and staff feedback, making everyone feel included.
As we face our most dire funding challenges to date, these relational moments remind us why Arts of Life is important. Over the past year alone, we lost more than 40% of our traditional grant funding.
At the same time, Medicaid, Arts of Life’s largest earned revenue source, is being threatened like never before. We don’t know the full details yet, but the ramifications will be devastating to our artists.
The reality is that we don’t have the resources to sustain our work.
Our artists know we are stronger together. They uplift and care for each other, and time and again, our donors do the same. Thank you for bringing us this far. Our Spring Appeal must raise at least $60,000 to continue operations through this fiscal quarter.
Your gift can be doubled! Thanks to an anonymous foundation, all new and increased gifts are matched dollar for dollar up to $15,000! Please give today to unlock this critical match. And consider the many other ways you can support our community in this campaign.
.
.
.
#AlexScott #ChicagoArtist #DoubleYourImpact #ArtsOfLife
