LINCOLN SQUARE — The new home of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative is just a few blocks north from its old address on Western Avenue, but the short move represents a major leap forward for the 25-year-old arts organization.
After 15 years at 4642 N. Western Ave., the collaborative — one part studio, one part gallery, one part classroom — decamped to 4912 N. Western Ave., where it celebrated its grand reopening last week.
Getting from Point A to Point B was no small feat.
The collaborative took over a building previously occupied for 40 years by Penn Dutchman antiques. The building "needed everything," from new wiring to heating and air conditioning, according to collaborative founder Deborah Maris Lader.
Watch the transformation as the building is emptied of Penn Dutchman's bits and bobs and undergoes a major rehab — inside and out.
[Photos DNAinfo/Patty Wetli; Chicago Printmakers Collaborative]
DNAinfo checked in with Lader at several points during the renovation.
"Did I ever think I'd be looking through lighting catalogs?" she asked rhetorically as she researched alternatives to the studio's humming fluorescents.
"I've had to jump through pretty much every hurdle, including ones that didn't make sense," she said back in July. "Every day is a new surprise."
The building's lack of a basement meant Lader's construction team had to rip up the concrete on the first floor, which needed to be leveled anyway, to install plumbing underneath for the studio's sinks, a process that cost $20,000.
"Ka-ching, ka-ching," Lader said.
She also added a skylight and squared off the storefront's terra cotta facade in order to give the collaborative a stronger presence from the sidewalk, something organization had sorely lacked at its previous location, where it had been hidden for years by a web of scaffolding.
At every turn, Lader was assisted by her husband, Michael Silver, an architect.
"He brought in his crew and they show up and they work really hard," she said.
Since the collaborative is an artists' habitat, Lader incorporated a few whimsical touches including prints and drawings hidden behind layers of insulation and drywall, "kind of like a time capsule," she said.
Creating her dream printmaking studio from scratch was overwhelming but ultimately rewarding, Lader said.
"The really exciting thing is that we're more efficiently laid out. My paper soak area won't be shared with my litho draining ... all these stupid things only printmakers would care about," she said. "The key thing for me is it's a better screenprinting facility."
Perhaps most importantly, Lader owns the new building, securing the collaborative's future for decades to come.
When her previous landlord put the collaborative on a month-to-month lease, Lader said, "The red flag went up."
She now has peace of mind that the studio has a permanent home.
"We're never going to have to move again," she said.
The collaborative was hidden for years behind scaffolding at its old location. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
Before and after. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
Official grand opening. Instead of a ribbon cutting, Ald. Pat O'Connor (40th) cranks out a ceremonial first print.
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