Jim Iska
Jim Iska has been photographing the urban scene for over thirty years. After graduating from the Institute of Design in Chicago in 1980, Iska’s work has revolved around on architecture from the classic to the vernacular, and its integral role in defining the city. He collaborated with author and historian Francis Morrone on a series of architectural guidebooks of New York City, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn in the 1990s. Iska also produced contemporary photography for the first and second editions ofThe City in a Garden: A History of Chicago’s Parks by Julia S. Bachrach. He is currently the author of the blog “In and About the City.”
Stories from Jim Iska
Jim Iska & Stone Scholastic Academy
Project Overview
Stone Scholastic Academy is a K-through 8 magnet elementary school in the Edgewater neighborhood on the far north side of Chicago. It was our children’s school. While I’ve been around the people in these photographs for years, beyond faces on the playground, I came to know the members of the Stone Graduating Class of 2019 for real when I volunteered to document the production of the school play.
To their credit, once the curtain rose, the teachers in charge of that project sat back and watched as the students managed every aspect of the production. What struck me was the way this group bonded together as a team to make the production a success.
That probably shouldn’t come as a surprise as many of these kids had known each other for nine years or more. That’s a good chunk of one’s life when you’re only fourteen years old.
To help celebrate the milestone of leaving the only school some of them have ever known, I chose to make portraits of graduates on their last full week at Stone. The setting and the choice of the people to be photographed with them, if any, was theirs.
The 2019 class of Stone has dispersed, most of them going on to CPS high schools like North Side Academy, Lane Tech, Jones, Walter Payton, Von Steuben and Senn, while others have moved to the suburbs.
But my guess is the connections they made at Stone will be lifelong.
Jeff Phillips & Dorian Sylvain: The BMO Harris x CPS Lives Mural, Summer 2020
Project Overview
“Art can tell stories and change narratives,” says Suzette Bross, Executive Director of CPS Lives. “This mural is an expression of giving back to the community and showing the good in humanity.”
In June 2020, a group of Chicago students transformed the temporary plywood used to cover BMO Harris Bank’s main branch during protests into a work of art that expresses messages of hope and unity, representing the opportunity we all have to create a more inclusive community together.
As protests erupted across Chicago – and the country – and thousands of Chicagoans demonstrated peacefully, CPS Lives and BMO Harris Bank were eager to find ways to support our communities and stand against racial inequality and injustice. BMO – a longstanding supporter of both Chicago’s public schools and the city’s arts community – reached out to CPS Lives and asked if they wanted to create artwork on the plywood around the branch.
“BMO’s values of fairness, equality and inclusion perfectly align with ours,” says Suzette, who founded CPS Lives, a non-profit organization that creates artist residencies in Chicago Public Schools to share honest and positive stories about public schools. Local artists partner with a Chicago Public School during the academic year to collaborate on a project. The art they create gives young people in Chicago a platform to speak about their hopes, dreams, and ideas.
“There are 400,000 students in the CPS system, and many people in the city don’t know anything about them,” says Jeff Phillips, a local artist who works with CPS Lives. “This was an opportunity to give the students their own voice – in a really public way.”
Amplifying voices
Like protest, art can give a louder voice to people who aren’t being heard. The recent protests have given voice to people from all walks of life, joining together to demand change to make society more just and inclusive. Similarly, this group of Chicago Public School students and artists created a powerful public art project to send a message of their own.
“Protest and public art are similar expressions. They’re both a personal statement of values,” says Dorian Sylvain, a Chicago artist and CPS Lives collaborator. “Displaying art in the public spaces goes beyond aesthetics. It creates dialogue – and it’s human nature to want to be heard.”
Suzette reached out to Jeff and Dorian to collaborate, and they quickly got to work on a proposal and a design. Together, they came up with the idea of a mural made up of images and photos from CPS Lives artists and CPS schools, highlighting the proud academic achievements of graduating students – and surrounded by images of life at public schools across the city.
“Highlighting all these beautiful young faces that are usually somewhat anonymous – it not only empowers the kids who see themselves on that mural, but also other people who are like them. That can be very validating,” says Dorian.
Jeff agrees. “We wanted to evoke something positive and emotional, and to do what art is supposed to do – reflect the everyday in a new light.”
A creative collective
Titled “If I Could Show the World,” the mural was named and assembled by students from more than 20 Chicago public schools participating in the CPS Lives program. Hyde Park Art Center donated its space, and more than 75 people came together to create the murals, including students who chose to spend their first day of summer vacation there.
“The experience was festive. We had music playing, it was a beautiful day, the students came in and they brought their friends. We just had a good time,” says Dorian. “The spirit of collective work, and the gratification of producing something together that one person couldn’t have done on their own – it’s so empowering. Sharing, listening, learning from each other – all those principles come out when we work together.”
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” says Jeff. “To see these kids creating together, and hearing them say things like ‘I feel like an artist’ – it was incredible.”
Inclusion and equality
CPS Lives is the first of several non-profits that will create art for BMO’s main branch windows over the coming months, serving as a visual reminder to continue our progress toward a more inclusive society. The art will be displayed in neighborhoods across Chicago as it rotates out of the bank’s windows.
BMO believes this is not a time to be silent. We will always stand up for a more just society where all people are valued equally. These murals are part of our pledge to speak up for what’s right, and to create space for other voices to be heard.
“Art is such a powerful and direct way to express hope and optimism,” says Jeff. “Public art speaks to the community. The message spreads. If you create something interesting and beautiful, you invite people in to learn more about your world – and that can make all the difference.”
BMO is committed to zero barriers to inclusion, and we strive for that vision by supporting real financial progress for our customers and communities.
Read about BMO’s recent $10 million donation through the United Way of Metro Chicago as part of Chicago’s Invest South/West initiative, our recent donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Equal Justice Initiative, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and Greater Twin Cities United Way, to support social and racial justice, and inclusion.
Learn more about community giving at BMO.
And please, consider donating to CPS Lives as we take on our next endeavors.
Jim Iska & Nicholas Senn High School
“…the Senn experience provides students a unique foundation for living, working, thriving, and leading,” Jim Iska, Photographer
Project Overview
The tremendous diversity of Senn is what many students cited to me as one of their proudest features of their school. Forming personal bonds and friendships with people coming from vastly different cultures and interests, (thanks to the addition of the IB program and Senn Arts), the Senn experience provides students a unique foundation for living, working, thriving, and leading in an ever diverse and changing world.
Looking back on my involvement at Senn over the past year, I can’t help being struck by the notion that these students are our future, and that our future is in good hands.
As it has for over a century, Senn stands at the forefront of progressive education. Ella Flagg Young would be proud.
