Goodbyes, and Hellos: New Staff at the Chicago Studio

If you’ve stopped by the Chicago Studio lately, you’ve probably noticed a lot of new faces.  During the Spring, a few long term friends left for new adventures, and several new folks joined our collective as staff. Lauren Sparrow, our former Studio Coordinator, had been a volunteer and intern long before she started at the studio.  She had strong bonds with many of the artists and enjoyed drawing animals and plants alongside them in the studio.  We wish her lots of luck in her new job in California!  Courtney Mackedanz served in several roles in the community as well, first as Studio Coordinator at the North Shore studio, and then as Volunteer Coordinator here in Chicago.  She plans to stay close to our collective, while she grows her performative arts practice and tends her green thumb, working at Sprout Home and Hatch.   The changes in staff support opened up new possibilities for the studio structure, and led us to reach out to a broader variety of artists and creators for our new positions.  Taking over volunteer support and schedule coordination is Kennedy Healy.  She is coming back to the studio after some time interning at Access Living and working on our associate board.   And for creative practice supports, we developed three new roles focusing on the different genres represented within our community: Abstract Specialist, Realist Specialist and Mixed Media Specialist.  With five new staff to fill these roles, we are excited to increase the quality of supports offered to each of our artists to develop their practices. Virginia Aberle and Sean Hogan have joined the team as Abstract Specialists.  Former Collaborator, Ben Marcus, and former volunteer, Corrie Thompson are serving as Realist Specialists.  And last, but not least, Julia Klein has joined the team as our Mixed Media Specialist.   We are so happy to have Kennedy and the Genre Specialists at the Chicago Studio!  And excited for all the new possibilities they bring with them!