Indivisible: Stories of Chicago Communities, 5/25- 6/6/2001, installation view.

Founded in 1993 by a consortium of corporations and foundations, the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) serves K-12 students by advancing the role of the arts education and creating partnerships which connecting teachers and schools with artists and artistic resources. These partnerships develop sustainable, coherent, challenging curricula through collaborative planning and teaching of arts integrated instruction.

In this exhibit, the CAPE network considered how the documentary process could become a potent force in the life of their classrooms. Sixteen schools participated in this project, ten exhibiting at Gallery 400 and six at Beacon Street Gallery. Encouraging art-making as a process of investigation, teachers asked their students to notice and comment on the world around them; providing them with cameras, video equipment, tape recorders, pencils and brushes.

Some classrooms chose to focus on neighborhood issues, some explored the idea of community as part of their social studies curriculum; and others focused on themselves, their families, and the community of their classroom. In one project, students took photographs of their West Town neighborhood, documenting the effects of gentrification. They collaged photos onto a model house, and hung larger photos on the walls, framing them with commentary from neighborhood residents. Other works included a series of self-portraits painted by the students, and embroidered tapestries exploring subjects of African American history.

Indivisible: Stories of Chicago Communities, 5/25- 6/6/2001, installation view.