“Against All Odds “ 8: x 22” Etching with Chine Colle
Our friend Deborah Lader, the Owner of the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative is the most talented, prolific artist that I know. Making her even more remarkable is that she is also an extremely talent musician and songwriter in the folk trio along with bandmates Bruce Roper and Sue Demel, The Sons of the Never Wrong, who have been playing around the Chicagoland area and beyond for the past 35 years.
She started CPC back in 1989 in Wicker Park, then relocated to Lincoln Square next to the CTA elevated train just south of the Elevated Tracks on Western Ave. in 2000. In 2015 CPC bought a property with an existing building at 4912 N. Western Ave in 2000. The lot extends through to Lincoln Ave with some vacant land fronting Lincoln. We worked with Deborah and her husband, fellow architect and my grad school friend Michael Silver on the design and repurposing of the existing building in 2015. The zoning of the property was complicated and it took a year to get the building permitted after many go arounds with the zoning department. We eventually made a phone call to the Alderman, Andre Vasquez and immediately we were able to talk the Zoning Commissioner and resolve the issues that no one else could resolve.
The Lincoln Ave. portion of the property was undeveloped at that time and was used as parking for the print studio. Having run the print studio for 36 years, Deb was ready to shift gears and step back from running the business, but still keep creating her amazing art. With this in mind we Designed a small (less than 1,000 sq ft), simple but distinctive “Wing” off the back of the original space. Coincidentally, several of Deb’s art pieces revolve around the subject of birds and flight. The new structure was quickly nicknamed “Wing” by Deb and her cohort.
The building itself is wrapped in corrugated, galvanized aluminum and with a black-framed storefront to display her art and to welcome visitors on Lincoln Ave. The space itself is a simple open space with white walls, a polished concrete floor and a strip wood ceiling. It is built for working and displaying art with a single pitched roof sloping up to the north to clerestory windows that bring light in and views to the sky while the wall below is good for art display while blocking views of the neighboring liquor store and parking lot.
Congratulations to Deb on the next phase and thanks to the design and construction team including my old buddies Mike Silver of In/site Architecture and Neil Corcoran of C & S General Contractors Inc.
Peter Nicholas
WING
Lincoln Ave. Elevation
Interior looking Southwest
Interior looking North East