Tune in to Lumpen Radio 105.5 FM for a live radio broadcast presented by Silvia Inés Gonzalez, the administrator of POCAS (People of Color Artist Space). This episode features Chicago artists Elsa Muñoz and Rhonda Wheatley in discussion about healing modalities, including the concept of eco-somatics, the metaphysical realm, and controlled burns. What transformations are possible when we are attuned to the guidance of our spirit, body, mind, and connection to our larger environment? What can energetic work teach us as we transform into a more liberated frequency?
Elsa Muñoz is a Mexican-American artist born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She credits her interest in both nature and healing to her experiences growing up in an underserved and often unsafe community with little access to green spaces. Having to spend most of her childhood indoors led to the cultivation of a rich inner world in which she was able to find beauty and sanctuary. Her work explores the threads connecting ecology, personal health and spirituality.
Rhonda Wheatley is a multidisciplinary artist, intuitive energy worker, and educator whose installations and interactive projects are grounded in the speculative and metaphysical. As part of her practice, Wheatley has also facilitated workshops centered in healing and personal transformation with organizations and academic institutions including Creative Capital, Ox-Bow School of Art, The University of Chicago, Threewalls, 3Arts, DePaul University, Indiana University, Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC), 6018North, and more. Additionally, she teaches at Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) and has taught contemporary art at Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis. Wheatley currently serves as Resident Healer with the Art Design Chicago “Healing Centered Practices” pilot event series. She was a 2023 Jackman Goldwasser Radicle Resident at HPAC and a Loghaven Fellow and received CAC’s inaugural Coney Family Award and a 3Arts ‘Make a Wave’ Grant. She received her MA from DePaul University and BA from Loyola University.
Sala is an ongoing talk series anchoring the stories of artists in Chicago through topics such as grief, labor, immigration, and movement building. The multimedia project, now in its second season includes radio interviews, public programming, and an archival self-published zine is supported by Hyde Park Art Center’s Artists Run Chicago Fund as part of Art Design Chicago.
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An initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art in partnership with artists and organizations across the city, Art Design Chicago is a series of events and exhibitions that highlight the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.
