Susan Giles: Words to Grasp
Exhibition Dates: April 7 – May 11, 2024, Gallery Hours: Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 1 – 5 p.m., Riverside Arts Center
Susan Giles uses motion-capture technology to record the moving hands of speakers as they express emotion. She then gives sculptural form to these emphatic gestures. The result is monumental ephemerality — fluid stillness suspended in space and time. Built with honeycombed layers of cardboard (the most ordinary stuff), Giles’s recent site-specific sculptures swirl through large institutional spaces, unfurling and floating. They are weightless and uncanny, like ballet or baroque sculpture. The flying robes of Bernini’s twisting David come to mind. The organic drama of this experience is at odds with its technologically sophisticated, analytical beginnings. In the end, we’re suspended between sensations: the magical marvel of tour-de-force construction, and the quiet poetry of dispassionate observation — that emotion can be recorded, measured, and translated into data, like any other natural phenomenon. 32 East Quincy St.
Opening Day Celebration
Thursday, May 9, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., Kiwanis Park
Come out to Overholt Field at Kiwanis Park for the 2024 Little League Opening Day Celebration this Thursday. Don’t miss an afternoon of fun to kick off the baseball and softball season. There will be music and mingling, free hot dogs for the little leaguers, a great food race and Split the Pot! Don’t miss this opportunity to cheer for the littlest members of the Brookfield community. 8820 Brookfield Ave.
A History of Chicagoland in Maps
Tuesday, May 14, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Riverside Public Library
Join Donald and Tanya Smith, owners of land surveying and map-making company Greeley-Howard-Norlin & Smith, for a trip through Chicagoland history as told by survey maps. Hear stories from the earliest development of the land, the Chicago Fire, Abe Lincoln, run-ins with the FBI and more. The Smiths will present many historical maps, including an 1891 real estate map of Riverside, along with antique surveying instruments. This event is presented by the Riverside Public Library and the Frederick Law Olmsted Society – Riverside. Registration is required via the library website or by calling 708-442-6366. 2400 S. Desplaines Ave.
Cicada Party
Monday, May 13, 4 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Linda Sokol Francis Brookfield Library
The cicadas are coming. The cicadas are coming! Fly on over to the library for a cicada party, full of cicada-themed snacks while making art and talking about cicadas in anticipation of the record-breaking cicada year. And don’t you worry: The snacks will not include actual cicadas and, no, I don’t believe they taste like chicken… This party is for children grades 1-5. 3541 Park Ave.
Evening Pajama Storytime
Thursday, May 9, 6 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., Riverside Public Library
It’s time for a pj party! I mean, who wouldn’t want to find an excuse to wear their pajamas outside of the house? Wear your favorite pj’s and bring your listening ears and dancing feet to the Riverside Public Library to enjoy stories, songs and rhymes together. This event is best for children 3-6 years old. Parents: You’re welcome to come in your pajamas too. 2400 S. Desplaines Ave.