In Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, Working Image Arts is an experimental art workshop school in the making. It is located at 3036 W. Chicago Ave. and the hope is to open in Summer 2027.
For being just under 1000 square feet, there are multiple hearts of the space:
A 16mm and still photography darkroom, An editing and scanning suite, a kitchen, and most importantly an open flex space for workshops, art shows, drawing nights, artist talks, screenings, dance, music performance and more! For those familiar with my music curation over the years, WIA is not a music venue, it is a teaching space that will have art performances from time to time. The main room can also be used as a small sound stage.
Working Image Arts isn’t a commercial film lab either. This is a good place to say that while we are not, we do support the many local commercial labs and hope to fit in the film community in our own way. This space is dedicated to learning how to work with your materials yourself, WIA’s will offer access to the space through scheduled lab hours, as well as offering month long courses that will transform your art practice and help you sustain it.
Even thought the 16mm facilities are exciting, they by no means are meant to overshadow the various mediums that can be taught in the space. Working Image Arts is dedicated to experimental art because there are lot of different ways to approach medium, sometimes workshops can become limited to beginner and advanced, but not offer the potential for divergences. The teaching artists at WIA will be come from many different approaches and backgrounds. It is not necessary for a teaching artist to be a degree holder, and it is not limited to non-degree holding teachers either. there is no institutional hierarchy at WIA as baseline. The institutional art space is just one way to become a teaching artist, and it is not a credential that will be considered when teaching at WIA. The flex space will not only offer workshops and events, but also critique groups, lecture, drawing nights, music, gatherings to workout complex art practice questions, screenings, and more!
The workshops are 1 session at a time so there can be many varied artists workshops offered by many teaching artists. There will also be tuition based courses that run approximately a month at a time. These courses may be beginner or more advanced and there are also 1:1 teaching possibilities as well.
As a facility there is a darkroom, utility sink, a kitchen, opportunities to buy art materials that have been rescued and resold at affordable prices. The kitchen can also be used for cooking workshops related to experimenting or art, as well as short shift catering rentals. WIA also has two small portable PA systems. Each powered speaker is 1600 Watts so it can be paired with a mixing board or it can be combined into one larger or stereo set up.
WIA needs donations to help build out the space. There will be fundraiser events multiple times before opening, please follow @photogruitar on instagram for more info.
Next Steps?
A lot of the initial planning has been accomplished. We have worked with an architect to keep an open space feel and allow for the wonderful sunsets from the south and west facing windows. Once the drawings and plans are complete we will need a licensed general contractor to work with. We are hoping for artist friendly contractors that are familiar with installing lab plumbing. There will be a darkroom sink with two faucets, as well as print washing station. If you are that contractor or you know that contractor that would be excited to work on this project please reach out through the contact form on this site.
Not only are we asking for monetary donations, there are some supplies we’ll need to run at the kind of capacity we are hoping for. We are looking for the following, either donation or affordable options:
100 foot Metal Daylight Spools and plastic 16mm film boxes (many are needed!)
Bolex Rex 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 donations or affordable options if you are selling one (we need 4 more)
Bolex Rex lenses, the RX specific lenses - Som Berthiot, Angenieux, and Kern Paillard
Bolex accessories like Matte Boxes, filter holders, eye cups, etc.
Canon AE-1 35mm SLR’s and Lenses. We have 3 currently and need 3 more.
Photography and Cinema light meters. 5 photo light meters, and 5 cinema light meters
Soft boxes
Rolls of backdrop paper
Film rewinds (Hollywood or Moviola) Looking for 3 more sets.
16mm and 35mm film donations, black and white is what we need the most.
Please reach out through the contact form if you have any questions.
Best,
Billy