Creating Community Through Art at Homan Square

The program’s purpose—to identify issues, promote public discourse, and catalyze social change—originated years before the program’s founding. The School’s work in North Lawndale began in 2014 when then President Walter Massey, along with other members of SAIC’s leadership, wanted to solidify community work as one of the School’s ties to Chicago.

“They asked, what if all of the work we're doing in the city could be concentrated in a community? Could the School be a resource to support a neighborhood with arts programming and funding?” said SAIC at Homan Square Director Jaclyn Jacunksi. “Could artists have a seat at the table and help build ideas and communities?” 

While Jacunski, who was working at the School as a research associate, was recruited to look for a community that wanted to connect with SAIC, the Foundation for Homan Square invited the School to focus its community engagement efforts within one neighborhood: North Lawndale, and specifically the original Sears Tower in Homan Square. Built in 1906, the tower was home to Sears’ catalog facility before the company moved out in 1988. In February 2016, SAIC at Homan Square was established at the tower. Eventually, it was renamed the Nichols Tower after John Nichols, who funded the first six years of the program.

It has been 10 years since the School’s work began in North Lawndale, and since then, SAIC at Homan Square has grown, offering classes, workshops, and programming that lie at the intersection of art and civic engagement. The Nichols Tower is a place for SAIC students to take classes like Socially Engaged Studio, where they research, prototype, and resolve design challenges based on community input. In a close collaboration with North Lawndale residents, students designed and installed an LED mural depicting a CTA map to help residents feel safer walking at night. 

The tower also hosts workshops like Denim Lab, which delves into the history of denim dyeing originating in West Africa. Led by fashion designer Amanda Harth, participants planted a garden of natural dyes at the Garfield Park Conservatory and received grants to fund their continued practice. Plus, the tower supports resources for North Lawndale residents like Mothers Healing Circle, a weekly gathering led by alum Sonja Henderson (BFA 1992). Originally started to support Lawndale mothers who have lost children, the weekly gathering provides a space for understanding, sisterhood, and healing through art and storytelling.

The power of community is what drew current resident artist Shonna Pryor (MFA 2012) to Homan Square. Originally from Michigan, Pryor is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice includes painting, installation, and public programming. Much of her work takes on an Afro-futuristic aesthetic, which ties together her exploration of identity and memory through subjects like food and genealogy. 

Every year, three artists are selected for a six-month-long residency at Homan. Each artist receives a studio space inside the tower and a $6,000 grant. During their residency, the artist-in-residence provides arts programming based on the community’s ideas and feedback. The goal for the residency is to help local artists advance their careers and to build connections between themselves, their neighbors, and the neighborhood they live in.

Before becoming one of the program’s three artists-in-residence, Pryor taught classes at Homan Square and led a recipe storytelling workshop at Lawndale Christian Community Center. The workshop was created for Black and Brown seniors in North Lawndale so they could share recipes and the memories that came with them with each other. Now that she’s back in North Lawndale, Pryor is excited to deepen her relationship with the community. 

“The first thing you want to do is ask people what they want and what they would like to see,” she said. “It’s all about communication and introducing yourself to the people who live here and who have stakes in this space.”

When Jacunski looks to the future of SAIC Homan Square, she sees evolution, hoping that one day the program can resemble a full-blown art center. She envisions deepening what the program already does—like supporting more artists with a larger cohort of artists-in-residence and providing even more arts programming with and for Lawndale residents. As the program continues to thrive, Jacunksi feels especially excited about the connection between the program's community of artists and residents, and she looks forward to seeing how the program can support collaborations that spark innovation.

“People in the neighborhood are experts in their own community,” Jacunksi says. “What I think art can do is breathe new life into an idea or build creative solutions that weren’t present or available. It is a partnership, and I feel like I just want to see it grow.” ■

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