Persephone: A Muse in Chicago
When the Chinese artist and designer Jiang Jun first visited curator Trica Van Eck’s Edgewater studio and looked at its street numbers 6018, he said: 6 is for “lucky and fortunate”, 0 is “you”, 1 is “are going to be” and 8 is “prosperous”. His numerology has proven true for the artists, neighbors and friends who are currently experiencing Jun’s prediction at Van Eck’s amazing non-profit art center, 6018North which offers space for groups of artists to work together.
Recently guests arrived at 6018 North Kenmore, a 1910 home with open walls and spaces perfect for emerging artists to display their works, intrigued by the promise of an amazing evening filled with culinary and artistic surprises while benefitting residencies for emerging artists. Created by Arthur Woltersdorf of the architectural firm of Hill and Woltersdorf who designed the annexes to the Tree Studios, the home is a blend of Teutonic and prairie style, high ceilings yet rooted in Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture. In short, a perfect place for your not-so-typical benefit.
“It had been re-configured as a three flat and I thought at first we might live on the top floor and have experiential art downstairs,” Van Eck, a former Museum of Contemporary Art curator, said. “A flood in winter created areas filled with frozen water which knocked out the dry wall. Previous owners had been hoarders so the basement was filled with all sorts of carpentry tools. We spent over a year cleaning everything up. Now it seems just the place for revolving residences for artists.
“I have always been interested in the idea of community, a collective of people. Granted, no one wants to go to a condo board meeting and often the community choir sings off key, but in this I-phone driven time, there is a particular need for the collective you.”
Van Eck’s fairytale of a place became for two evenings a Greek myth to be acted out by guests, thanks to artist Tria Smith who was a principal collaborator with Redmoon Theater. Tria has collaborated previously with Van Eck at 6018North. Imagine the intrigue of a first course in a basement lit by candelabra to symbolize the Underworld, then a glorious dinner together with new friends at a long table with flower petal tossing as a tribute to the Greek goddess of Springtime and grains and a nod to Creative Chef founder and Artist Jasper Udink ten Cate and Producer Jeroen Prins, specializing in designing custom food experiences. creativechef.co Using the freshest ingredients, this remarkable duo from the Netherlands served four thematic courses moving guests from the Underworld upstairs to Spring, mingled with edible blossoms.
According to the myth which explains the change of seasons, Persephone, daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter, is abducted by Hades, Ruler of the Dead. Demeter’s grief as searches the earth for Persephone and her refusal to make things grow until her daughter is returned, causes famine. Zeus, who let his brother Hades carry Persephone away, intervenes and negotiates Persephone’s return. However, before leaving the Underworld Persephone eats six pomegranate seeds in the Garden of the Dead. Because of this Persephone is fated to spend half the year with Demeter and the other half with Hades.
“Persephone is the start of Spring; she represents blooming and rebirth. A female is the engine of this story,” Smith said. “I am half Greek. I wanted to tell her story through music, food, costume, story and art.”
Smith, who grew up in Wilmette, studied with director Joyce Piven from the time she was 13, performing and teaching at the Workshop until she had her first child. In 1991, Tria, Blair Thomas, and her now husband, Jim Lasko, began work on “Moby Dick” leading to a 25-year artistic journey.
“I think my true purpose is to build people. Guided by intuition and a belief in what is possible, I ask young people, ‘why don’t you go ahead and try something you’ve never done before?’”
Throughout her career Tria has always returned to working with girls. At Redmoon, she built a long-term creative mentorship with middle school girls. At the Laboratory Schools, a group of 4th grade girls wanted to bring back the lost tradition of the May Pole to the Rites of May. My sustained work related to Persephone is also about a girl moving between two worlds, integrating dark and light, and learning to thrive.
An amuse bouche of beautiful tomatoes began in the garden with Persephone’s journey related by Smith who then led guests down to the darkened basement. Dinners in the dark are not new to Van Eck. She has held blackout dinners using blind servers where everyone experiences darkness using Chicago Lighthouse blind servers.
Van Eck said that the story of Persephone relates to Chicago whose Greek motto “Urbs in Horto” translates to “City in a Garden” which was adopted in the 1830s when our city was first incorporated. The Persephone events were part of an almost two-year exploration of “The Myth of the Organic City”.
“We want to trace Chicago’s history in terms of its sustainability. We are a prairie state where Native Americans lived. Our rivers ran all the way to Canada and down to New Orleans, we were the global head of commodities. The industrial revolution came in and people began to suffer from steel mill pollution. Now data centers are on our doorstep. There is just so much concrete instead of garden space and effects of climate change are enormous,” Van Eck said.
In the basement Smith displayed a dress made entirely of foraged plastic trash, paired with couture embellishments calling attention to how significantly plastic pollutes water supplies.
It was no myth that when an artist, curator, and a magical space come together those lucky enough to be there experienced a Springtime re-birth.
New groups of artists arrive every three weeks and 6018North is open to the public to view their work when the collaborative work is presented June 27–28th and July 25–26th. For more information visit: 6018north.org
Photo credit: Ji Yang