Daniel “Sandman” Polk, Untitled (Crown), 1960s. Found costume jewelry, faux and semi-precious stones, mixed metals, newspaper clipping, cardboard, wire, and adhesives, 8" (W) x 14" (H) x 8" (D). Robert Abbott Sengstacke Art Collection. Courtesy of Myiti Rice-Sengstacke.
Since the time of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s Black culture has been defined by its creative ethos of resourcefulness. Thinking ecologically before there was an environmental movement, generations of Black artists have worked their alchemy to transform simple materials and castoff objects into beautiful art, breathe life into the city’s forgotten corners, and reinvent and reclaim ancestral traditions. The South Side Community Art Center’s ReSOURCE exhibition brings together 40 artists and 70 artworks (including 4 projects commissioned for the exhibition) in partnership with local community gardens and urban farms to tell this story.