"THE SHAG SHOW" features carpets and other products from the artists of Envision Unlimited, which for the past 70 years has served individuals with disabilities across all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. More information about how ENVISION serves Illinois residents below.
CHICAGO, IL … Buddy* is proud to present its next installment of Art 4 Sale: The Shag Show, featuring shag carpets and other products from the artists of Envision Unlimited. This collection of hand-knotted shag carpets and pillows made of repurposed materials is the result of a twenty-year collaboration between a community of artists who have perceived disabilities, and the social practice and studio artist, Monika Neuland Thomas. Their works were created within studios created at Envision Unlimited, a social service agency in Chicago that has served people with disabilities across all ages, abilities, and backgrounds for over 70 years.
As Neuland Thomas writes, “the work of this exhibition renders the creative process an eloquent and contemplative one. It illuminates disability as a universal human experience, and as a needed and respected diversity. These fiberworks and their creators attend to the process of inclusive and equitable making, considering how each human gesture and each scrap of repurposed material can most honestly and effortlessly belong to a larger texture of capacity.”
Monika Neuland Thomas, the force behind this amazing program, as well as this exhibition, will release a text on the practice and artists of this shag carpet making, as well as meditations on disability, and her own work. The publication, A Paradise of YES, Landscapes of Absolute Inclusivity: Shag Rugs from the Artists of Envision Unlimited, will be available at the Buddy shop.
This exhibition is on display at Buddy, Chicago Cultural Center, 1st Fl. Garland Gallery, 78 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL.
September 30 - November 5, 2022.
Public opening reception and publication release October 14, 5 - 8:30 PM.
About Art 4 Sale
Art 4 Sale is Buddy’s series of curated exhibitions dedicated to specific themes, artists, products, and organizations that rotate periodically throughout the year.
*About Buddy
Committed to giving artists and small manufacturers in Chicago a place to showcase and sell their goods and artworks to a vast audience of Chicagoans and visitors at the Chicago Cultural Center.
About Envision Unlimited
For over 70 years, Envision Unlimited has served people with disabilities across all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. Today, their wide array of home and community-based programs benefit over 2,000 individuals across the state of Illinois. Envision provides day programs, community living services, employment services, a foster care program, and mental health services.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Learn more
Learn more
Fine Line Creative Arts Center | www.fineline.org