Visiting Chicago? Stop by Lillstreet…

Emily Murphy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:00:00 +0000

I thought I’d tell you a little bit about where I spend my days making pots and teaching classes. My studio is on the north side of the city at Lillstreet Studios. Stop by if you’re in the neighborhood sometime and say ‘hello.’ It’s a great place to explore if you’re visiting Chicago. Or if you happen to live in the windy city, take an afternoon excursion to see what’s happening inside the walls of this old factory building.
Click here to get more information on Lillstreet’s location.

Getting there: You can drive (ample parking). You can ride a bike (lots of bike racks). You can take the Brown Line to the Montrose Stop. You can take the Montrose bus to Ravenswood. You can take the Metra to Lawrence. Etc…

There is a lot to see, so I thought I would give you just a brief “virtual tour” to entice you to stop by on your next trip to the windy city.

This is the directory that you’re greeted by when you walk inside the front door:

On the first floor:

Lillstreet Gallery (ceramics and jewelry)
First Slice Cafe (lunch or coffee)
metals department (2 classrooms)
kids department (2 classrooms)
ceramics department (6 classrooms, 44 wheels, 2 gas kilns, 1 soda kiln, 1 spray booth, 5 electric kilns, 2 slab rollers, 2 extruders, etc…

One of the wheel classrooms (this one has 18 wheels):

On the second floor:

Studio artists (29 clay artists, including my studio in 205 west and 8 metalsmiths)
First Slice kitchen
Lowitz and Company
studio gas kiln
studio electric kiln room
ArtReach office

Outside my studio, 205 west, there are bios of each artist:

On the third floor:

more studio artists (clay, jewelry, printmaking and photography)
glass department
printmaking department
textiles department
painting and drawing department (2 classrooms)

Jewelry and metals:

The building is open for visitors to wander around. Explore the classrooms, visit the studios, shop in the gallery. The studios don’t have regular hours, but if you stop by, there is probably something open! There is no way I could actually show you everything, so you’ll just have to come see for yourself.

Interested in making a day of it? Other things to see and eat within 2 blocks:

And some things that are pretty darn close, but you’d probably want to hop in a car, on a bike, on a train:
Haus
Old Town School of Folk Music

If you’re making a special trip to Lillstreet, send me an email to let me know you’re coming so I can make sure that I’m there to meet you! I live quite close, so if I’m in town, it’s pretty easy for me to meet up with you.

pottery blog: emily murphy » ArtReach

Visiting Chicago? Stop by Lillstreet…