About the Class

Welcome to “The Art of Crossing the Street”

This is the blog for the class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. We are wondering about a few things. Why do art? Who does art? Where is art done? Who pays what for what art? Click here to download the syllabus.

Tom Tresser is a co-instructor for this class. He is a consultant, producer, educator and trainer who can help individuals, companies and communities expand and amplify their creative assets in order to make
meaning, solve problems, create economic value and trigger civic engagement. He also teaches “The Politics of Creativity,” “Creative Tools for Social Change” and “Building an Online Catalog of Civic Activism in Chicago” for DePaul University and “The Artist as Activist” for Loyola University. He is also working with Collaboraction Theatre on audience development and strategic planning. B.S. in Sociology from Antioch College; Master’s in Urban Development from Spertus College; Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Roosevelt University; Certificate of Business Management from the University of Chicago. Instructor in creativity and civic engagement for DePaul University and Loyola University.
Read my “Creativity and Civics Manifesto.”

Lora Lode is a co-instructor for the class. Lora currently works with PeoplePowered (www.peoplepowered.org). She is an instructor at the School of the Art Institute, Columbia College and Chicago City Colleges. BFA 1990, University of Illinois, Chicago; MFA 1998, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL. Exhibitions: The Art Gallery of Knoxville, TN; Northern Illinois University Gallery, Chicago; I Space Gallery, Chicago; 3Arts Club, Chicago; California College of Arts, San Francisco, CA; Parentesis en la Ciudad, Puerto Rico. Publications: BAT Magazine; Bibliography: Time Out; New City; Chicago Tribune; Metropulse.

Marisa Plumb is the teaching assistant for this class. Marisa studies writing and new media art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received her undergraduate degree in Literature and writing at Brown University. Marisa has written numerous short stories, chapbooks, and essays, but has more recently developed a conceptual basis for merging her work with new medias, cognitive science, and computer science. Research in artificial intelligence influences her current projects, which involve interactive applications that walk a line between creative expression and scientific theory.