St. Martin’s to Hosting Embrace the Space: Body Magic

Body Magic, a printmaking workshop for children and adults of all ages, will be held Sunday, April 15, 1:30pm at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 5700 West Midway Park in Austin. The second in a series of art-based programs offered at St. Martin’s, the event features Chun-Shan (Sandie) Yi, an artist from Taiwan who enjoys making body adornments for disabled people using metals, fabrics and found objects.
    Yi’s work examines the way art can be used to address the relationship between the body and society’s standards of beauty and disability. She has a BFA and MA in art therapy from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, a MFA from UC Berkeley, and is currently a PhD student in Disability Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago. She has exhibited her work in the U.S., Prague, and Hong Kong, was featured in PISTIL magazine, Fall of 2005, and recently published an article in an edited book on art therapy.
    The Body Magic workshop begins with a short talk by the artist about her art, and a demonstration of how to make a print. Participants will have a chance to make prints on a t-shirt, bandana, or tote bag, share their creations with the others in the group, and then get to take their artwork home!  As an added attraction three local poets, Lily Diego, Pennie Holmes-Brinson, and St. Martin’s own, David D. Jones, will read their original works.
     Bodies of Work, a program of the University of Illinois at Chicago, is partnering with St. Martins to share this unique form of artistic expression for the enjoyment and awareness of its parishioners and neighbors. Disability art refers to the creative work by people with disabilities that reflects a disability experience. It can be found in every artistic medium from the performing arts, literature, and visual arts to comic books, film, and design. Disability art plays a key role in articulating what disability means politically and personally, and that meaning translates into what many in the disability community consider its “culture.”  
    Funded by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust events in the EMBRACE THE SPACE series at St. Martin’s are wheelchair accessible, sign language interpreted and audio described. And, in keeping with St. Martin’s flexible worship space and welcoming attitude toward multiple types of families and households, all are welcomed and all events are FREE. Reservations are recommended, and refreshments will be served.
    Other events in the series at St. Martins include “So You Think You Can’t Dance, a movement workshop on Sunday April 20 with Alana Hodges Wallace, founder and artistic director of Dance>Detour, Chicago’s first physically integrated dance company. The series closes on Sunday, May 20 as Carrie Sandahl presents “Images of Disability in Films for Kids,” a screening of film clips and a discussion with the audience of how Hollywood portrays people with disability in children’s films.  
    For EMBRACE THE SPACE program information, disability accommodations, or to RSVP please phone 312 996-1967, or email tpacio1@uic.edu. For Information about St. Martin’s Episcopal Church contact Rev. Christopher E. Griffin, Vicar at 773 378-8111 or www.stmartinschicago.org.
    For 96 years, The Chicago Community Trust, our region’s community foundation, has connected the generosity of donors with the needs of the community by making grants to organizations working to improve metropolitan Chicago. In 2010 the Trust made over $100 million in grants. From strengthening community schools to assisting local art programs, from building health centers to helping lives affected by violence, the Trust works to enhance our region.

Learn more at www.cct.org.