Mr. Wilcox creates his own publication for inner-city commuters

It’s called the LDOC (el-doc). It is a small, four-page art newsprint created with the purpose of engaging the Chicago community, specifically the 9am-5pm CTA commuter, in an artistic manner by showcasing the works of local, upcoming photographers and writers.

The L of LDOC derives from where it’s distributed: the Belmont, Lake, 69th, and 95th CTA Red Line “L” Stations. The DOC of LDOC is short for document. Each month, the newsprint features one photographer and one writer. Their works are broken up into two installments, which are distributed every first and third Monday of the month. The contents of each issue consist of the works of the photographer and short stories of the writer, who are paired together due to similar themes of work.

The first issue was released this past October. The issue’s photography was by Nathan Pearce, a young man from southern Illinois. His images were from his project called Midwestern Dirt, and consisted of many rural roads and scenes of daily life in an effort to depict his experiences in midwestern life and culture; for example, being a reckless and irresponsible teenager, and his struggles on the road to adulthood. In an attempt to match the theme of Pearce, the short story chosen was “Bury Your Head” by Eric Hazen. It’s a story about how one day, a group of friends from a tiny, rural town, took a pair of bolt cutters, broke into a zoo, and stole an ostrich.

The publication couldn’t have been made possible without support from the 2015 Crusade Engagement Grant, which is funded by Crusade for Art, a non-for-profit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Every year, Crusade for Art awards the grant, which is worth $10,000, to the best project idea with the mission to engage new audiences into fine art photography. Hundreds of prospective candidates submitted their ideas through the Crusade for Art website in 2015, including Mr. Wilcox, and out of the 10 finalists, LDOC became the winner of the grant. Due to the funding from Crusade for Art, LDOC is a free publication accessible by anyone in Chicago.

Wilcox, who teaches photography at Lane, talked about the origin of the idea, “It was co-developed with my wife, who holds a Masters in Creative Writing from Columbia College. We first had the idea of doing a newsprint publication just for writing, such as short stories and installments that you could read on the train.”

When Mr. Wilcox and his wife came across the Engagement Grant, they made the decision to alter their newsprint idea. They decided to incorporate photography to make it eligible for the grant, while still maintaining the initial idea of short stories and written works of that sort.

The works are selected based on entry and personal connections. For the first four issues, Mr. Wilcox and his wife have been reaching out to artists and writers of their personal network in Chicago; however, submissions are also welcomed on the LDOC website.

“These are people doing photographic works or writings in the community, some of them I know from grad school, and others I just know through the photography community in Chicago. I reached out to the ones who I thought would work well for this project.”, said Wilcox.

Wilcox hopes to sustain his project for years to come, allowing it to grow while hopefully keeping it as a free, easily accessible publication, in an effort to inspire and engage thousands around Chicago, especially those from areas without a strong art community. He also hopes to possibly implement news racks, for commuters who missed an opportunity to grab an installment on the day it was being handed out.

The freelance work of Ms. Wain

Ms. Wain teaches AP Art History and H Painting at Lane, but also has an extensive involvement in art outside of school. She focuses primarily on hyperrealistic food paintings.

Although Ms. Wain always had an interest in drawing and painting, she primarily focused on music in high school, and played the oboe. However, her interests took a turn and eventually led her to pursuing art. “I didn’t like my band instructor so I quit and took an art class,” she said. “I liked it because I knew I had potential, and that was exciting.”

While attending William Jewell College as an Art Major, one of her professors introduced her to Wayne Tebow, a food painter. “I really liked the subject and repetition of his work,” she said. “This led me to pursue my own style of food artwork, which is now the subject that I mainly focus on.”

Ms. Wain started her freelance business right after she graduated college, about 5 or 6 years ago. She described it as, “‘the icing on the cake’, financially speaking, and artistically speaking; it feels good to see your artwork sold”.

She tries to display her artwork in relative settings, mainly restaurants and cafes. Recently, she had a showcase at Uncommon Ground, a restaurant on Clark and Grace. After the showcase, her artwork hung for three months at the restaurant, and made a few sales during that time. She has had other artwork displayed at a cafe in Lincoln square, and even the Treasurer’s office for three months. Prior to these showcases, she has had other shows in Kansas and Indiana while she lived there, but, she states, “it’s usually very small-scale; however, in Chicago, I can get much more attention for my work.”

“I’ve developed a style that I have become known for in my food paintings, and that’s what people are most interested in seeing. Realism is the style that comes fairly natural to me, rather than an abstract style.”, said Ms. Wain.

She usually only works on her artwork during the summer, when she’s not working and has a lot of time to dedicate to it.

Ms. Wain decided to become a teacher after realizing an interest in teaching art to kids while she was working as an arts and craft coordinator at a summer camp in Dallas, Texas. This persuaded her to change her major from Art to Art Education.

Prior to teaching at Lane, she taught at schools in Missouri and Indiana. “I’ve been [at Lane] for 4 years. I especially enjoy Lane’s students, they are the best students I’ve ever taught,” said Ms. Wain. “I love to see the ‘a-ha!’ moments in students. I get a real kick out seeing students see their artwork in the hallways. For AP Art History, I enjoy taking my students to the museum and seeing the artwork that we have been studying. It’s also challenging to teach the AP Art History curriculum, so that always keeps me on my toes.”

Ms. Faletto’s background in art

Ms. Faletto attributes her artistic success to her childhood upbringing. She always had an interest in creating new things, and was surrounded by creative, positive influences in her family. She recalls enjoying activities such as making miniature crafts out of oven-baked clay and cross-stitching during her youth.

“I was maybe 10 when I started painting and drawing more,” said Ms. Faletto. “I took cheap art classes from one of my neighbors who was a college student at SAIC at the time, and I think that is when I started really getting into it.”

When she got to high school, she took all the art classes that her school offered. She even home schooled herself senior year in English and History so that she had more electives for art classes.

“That is probably why I am so bad at spelling,” Ms. Faletto humorously remarked.

Ms. Faletto started off as a painter, but in the past seven years, she has been much more involved in printmaking. “When I tried [printmaking] for the first time, I was obsessed,” she recalls. “It was so different than anything else I had ever done and I loved using tools and materials like metal and wood to work.”

Outside of school, Ms. Faletto likes to have a few different projects going on at once. She likes the ability to be able to bounce between projects if she gets frustrated with one of them, which happens quite often.

“For me it’s important that I am able to step away from a project every once in awhile and work on something else so I don’t get tired of looking at them.”, she said. “Even if I am at home watching a movie, I am usually cutting and collecting pictures and papers that i can use for a collage later. I also carry a sketchbook around most of the time that i doodle in–you never know when you’ll get a good idea.”

As a working artist, Ms. Faletto likes to do a lot of commissioned paintings and jobs printing posters and t-shirts for events and musicians. She often participates in different events and markets around the city selling work as well. She also had a studio in Wicker Park where she made artwork and held shows, before she started teaching.

“I loved [working in my studio], so recently, my sister and I found a studio that we share and work from in the summer. I am also a member of the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, where I can go to use their equipment and meet and work with other Chicago artists.”

When asked why she choose to teach, she answered, “Because I love school! I love taking classes, I love learning how to do stuff, and I love trying new things. I think I like teaching because I want to get other people excited about the same things that I loved learning about, and it’s fun when I get to help my students make work that they are really proud of.”