Josh Dihle’s Chicago

by Mello Ige

Nestled in the heart of Irving Park, Color Club is more than just a space for stand-up, ballroom shows, and exhibitions—it’s a vibrant living canvas shaped by co-founder and School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) alum Josh Dihle (MFA 2012).

Dihle, a painter and sculptor, co-founded the space with his wife Abby, and this past summer, they became local legends after opening an ice cream shop staffed by puppets in the space.

Originally from Maryland, Dihle finds balance essential, blending his love for the outdoors with the vibrant pace of life in Chicago. Between co-founding the miniature art fair BARELY FAIR and indulging his passion for fossil hunting, Dihle has learned the art of carving out personal time amidst a busy schedule. He thrives off of his many pursuits, finding all of his ventures fuel a creative fire. Here, he opens up about his favorite places in Chicago to find inspiration and unwind.

Field Museum

Specifically, the galleries in the Field Museum that are dedicated to the cultural objects and artworks and ritual artifacts of the Pacific Northwest Native Peoples, like the Tlingit. It’s the kind of place where you are just absorbing; a special energy is coming from a lot of these really interesting masks and carvings that show a deep, deep connection to the natural world and to animals and storytelling. All those things are important in my own practice.

North Park Village Nature Center

It is just this little half-mile loop in the woods in the middle of Chicago not far from where I live, where you can just stroll around, and every time you’re there, there’s deer and great blue herons and turtles and frogs. My day-to-day life is very urban, just downtown or elsewhere in the city. But this is a place where you can go and take on a different wavelength of energy, and not be so up in your own head.

Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop

They sell rocks. It’s what it sounds like. But they have all kinds of crazy stuff. Literally, you could buy a dinosaur skull there, but it will cost you tens of thousands of dollars. They have weird little pieces of quartz and different kinds of things in these bins, and you can just rifle through them. I like hunting and gathering because in my work I do a lot of embedding of objects into wood. And so, to me, that’s a more interesting place than an art supply store because you’re actually seeing a piece of the world rather than just a pigment that’s been ground up and put in a tube.

La Chaparrita

This tiny taqueria and market is a low-key treasure in Little Village. I lived a couple of blocks from there for years and was in love with everything about it. The tepache drinks and lengua tacos are delicious and all of the meat is cooked in a big cauldron that looks like something from Macbeth. The folks there are patient and generous and it’s just generally a lovefest between the patrons and staff. It’s a great place to pop in for lunch; you leave feeling recharged on every level. ■