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  • The Digs Chicago: A Community Studio Story | Fawn Penn

    The Digs Chicago: A Community Studio Story | Fawn Penn


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    Fawn Penn | Episode 1132

    Fawn Penn is a ceramic artist working in Chicago. In 2020, Fawn co-founded The Digs Chicago, a non-profit community ceramics studio home to 100 artists. In 2024, Fawn founded Old Friends, a contemporary art gallery. Fawn graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA (2020).

     

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    If you were to do it all over again, you said you started completely not knowing what you were doing. If you were to start all over again today what would be the first thing you would do?

    I don’t think I would change anything. I think that it got us here. I think I learned as much as I could before jumping into it. I don’t think anyone teaches you how to be an entrepreneur. I think you have to build the ship as it goes.

    How about a business plan? Was that a big part of how you did things? Did you start off with a business plan?

    Yeah, we absolutely had a business plan. The business plan did not account for Covid however. (laughter)

    You had funding from a grant. How did you fund the next phase of building out the two thousand square feet?

    We built our classes and our membership. We have been fully independent financially since then. We did not receive grants for probably two years after we opened. We forgot that we could do that as a non-profit and we just ran it as a product service business.

    Is having a lease intimidating  knowing your future is held by someone else?

    Absolutely. It stresses me out all of the time. If I had the means to buy a building, Oh my God, I would do it yesterday. Maybe far into the future.

    Have you ever had a month where you fell behind, when you didn’t have enough to cover all the costs?

    No, actually. We definitely were scraping by pretty brutally for the first  year but we have never not covered the cost.

    How much time do you have for making your own work?

    I mean, I could talk for hours about that. (laughter) I don’t have much time. I don’t have much time at all. I treasure the time that I do have. I try to make it very intentional. Right now I am working towards my first solo show in July of 2025. It is always a struggle. Anyone in a studio management position is going to have a hard time doing their own practice. I have to really fight for the time that I have in the studio and make connection with clay that caused me to do this to begin with. I got to do clay.

    Book

    Centering by MC Richards 

    Plants Have so Much to Give Us All We Have to do is Ask by Mary Siisip Geniusz 

    Contact

    fawnpenn.com

    Instagram: @fawn.penn





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  • Here’s What We’re Excited to See at EXPO CHICAGO 2025 — Colossal

    Here’s What We’re Excited to See at EXPO CHICAGO 2025 — Colossal


    This week marks the beginning of Chicago’s art world Olympics as the largest fair returns to Navy Pier. From April 24 to 27, EXPO CHICAGO will host hundreds of galleries, site-specific projects, talks, and multi-disciplinary programming both downtown and across the city.

    To help you navigate, we’re sharing the artworks we’re most looking forward to seeing. And, if you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, use the code COLOSSAL25 for $5 off.

    1. Wangari Mathenge with Pippy Houldsworth Gallery (London)

    The Chicago-based, Kenyan artist will present a collection of vivid new paintings that speak to the immense amount of information generated through her intensive research process. Surrounded by books, plants, and brightly patterned East African Kanga fabrics, Mathenge’s figures lounge among objects that transcend colonial narratives.

    an abstract work of tiny rolled paper seeds with a blue and green section in the center surrounded by white
    Ilhwa Kim, “Calculative Flight” (2024), hand-dyed hanji paper, 132 x 164 x 13 centimeters

    2. Ilhwa Kim, Gordon Cheung, and Zheng Lu with HOFA (London)

    We’ve long been enamored by Kim’s roving, rolled-paper compositions that delineate dense pathways through broader expanses. Her dynamic works will be on view alongside Cheung’s decadent paintings and Lu’s stainless steel splashes.

    a portrait in purple of a woman with hair that wraps around her whole body
    Florence Solis, “Makahiya VI” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

    3. Florence Solis with The Mission Projects (Chicago)

    Beginning with digital collage before moving to acrylic and canvas, Solis renders ethereal portraits of women infused with Filipino folklore. Delicate leaves and flowers entwine with coiled hair, while veils shroud the figures in luminous coverings, binding each with a protective, yet restrictive layer.

    a surreal landscape with blocky distortions and various levels
    Suntai Yoo, “The Words” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 91 x 117 centimeters

    4. Suntai Yoo with Galerie Gaia (Seoul)

    Fragmented, surrealist landscapes figure prominently in Yoo’s paintings, which frequently pair common objects like books, bicycles, and apples with Korean letters. The artist is particularly interested in metaphor and how distinct items interact to create meaning.

    a portrait of a young girl with a helmet on in front of a vibrant patchwork style quilt
    Desmond Beach, “The Guardian of the Small & Sacred” (2025), digital painting, woven Jacquard loom, hand and machine sewn pieceworked fabric, 47″x 47 inches

    5. Desmond Beach with Richard Beavers Gallery (Brooklyn)

    Mixing digital painting with patchwork quilts, Beach creates bold, forward-looking portraits. The Baltimore-born artist invokes the ways that trauma can be harnessed for resistance and collective solidarity.

    the torso of a knight with drippy fingers rendered in pink, blue, and gray
    Jimmy Beauquesne, “Phase 3. Knight of infinite resignation” (2023-2024), colored pencils on paper, hand-cut metallic frame, 62 x 41 x 2 centimeters

    6. Jimmy Beauquesne with Fragment (New York)

    Nested inside hand-cut metallic frames, Beauquesne’s colored-pencil works imagine a dreamy, apocalyptic world that drips with fantastic details. The nine pieces form a narrative of humanity’s transformation sparked by phantasmagorical change.



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