Sponsored by The Great Frame Up, The LISA Show provides an opportunity for local high school art students to showcase their work in the light of a professional gallery setting. The LISA Show runs March 17 through April 5, with the Student Award Presentation on Wednesday, March 24 (Welcome Reception at 6 p.m., Award Presentation at 7 p.m.).
The public is welcome to view the artwork and/ or attend the award presentation; the show takes place at The Great Frame Up, 2905 N. Broadway.
Five winners from this show will be invited to take their artwork to the "Best-of-the-Best" exhibition at the Chicago Botanic Garden May 12 - 27, where they will compete for higher-learning scholarships along with winners from other local high schools.
The show was introduced to high school art classrooms in 1995 when The Great Frame Up founders, David and Marlowe Klitzky, realized that funds for local art programs were diminishing. Their solution was to create a program where their seven Chicago-area Great Frame Up stores would "adopt" community high school art departments and provide the students with a variety of art supplies including artist portfolios, mat-boards, and custom framing. The Klitzky's "adoption" also included the sponsoring of over 28 juried art exhibitions, with selected work being showcased at student art gallery exhibitions, called The LISA Show, at their seven area locations.
The LISA Show is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. This year alone, the stores will be donating over $100,000 in art supplies, custom framing and award money to local high school students, including more than $15,000 for higher learning scholarships.
Up until 2002, The Great Frame Up student gallery exhibitions were called the Creative Self-Expression Shows. In 2003, the name was changed to The LISA Show in memory of David and Marlowe's 25-year-old daughter Lisa Klitzky, who lost her battle with a very rare form of cancer the year before. Among a great many things, Lisa was an artist who loved to express herself in her work as a graphic designer and in her paintings and drawings. In memory of Lisa and her love of all things art, the show was renamed The LISA Show. Further, David and Marlowe have given a definition to Lisa's initials that they believe captures the essence of their philosophy: LISA = Life Is Simply Art.
For more information, log on to lifeissimplyart.com. |
