Column: Beverly Art Walk this year becomes the do-it-yourself Alt Walk, and in some ways is better than ever

There is no Beverly Art Walk this year, at least not of the conventional sort that has brightened and united the South Side neighborhoods of Beverly and Morgan Park for the past six years and people are just fine with that.

“This year has been wonderful, actually,” says Sal Campbell, a visual artist who, along with neighbor and arts administrator Monica Wilczak, is co-chair of the Beverly Area Arts Alliance (The Alliance), which they co-founded in 2014 and which has since staged the Beverly Art Walk.

This year’s “walk” exists under the banner of “Alt Walk.”

“I think that in this time, with so many things shut down, people are able to seeing art more intensely," says Campbell. "There’s less noise, less distraction.”

Many art and entertainment organizations have come up with ways both clever and desperate to reach audiences in this shuttered era. There are live-streamed plays and backyard concerts, internet excursions and other events that allow people to watch and listen in person (socially distanced of course) or, most often, from the comfort or, what is for many, the captivity of their own homes.

Few have adapted as well and compellingly as have the folks of The Alliance, which has been doing a creative job of adjusting to our trying times, hosting a few outdoor backyard concerts and reformatting its popular Frunchroom reading series for those who enjoy availing themselves of Facebook and Zoom.

The Alt Walk is there for the taking, pared back from years past but still a visual feast.

Look, there on a tree in front of Bookie’s, the bookstore at 10324 S. Western Ave., is the elaborate yarn-based work (known in art circles as a “yarn bomb”), the work of Linda Bullen honoring Native American women who’ve gone missing.

Look, there on the walls of Two Mile Coffee Bar, 9907 S. Walden Pkwy., are the stunning portraits of Tim Anderson; the other Two Mile Coffee Bar, in the old train station at 1766 W. 95t St., features the work of Ann Blaas.

Look, there at City Grange, 1818 W. 99th St., are the creatures made of raw materials and found objects by Mathias “Spider” Schergen, a retired Golden Apple award-winning public-school teacher.

Look at the large collaboration among five women artists at the Root Consignment shop at 1913 W. 103rd St.

There is a story, and human beings, behind each of the 20-some installations that dot the lively South Side neighborhoods. Surely the most touching is that of Kurt Mitchell, whose haunting drawings can be found at Horse Thief Hollow, a very pleasant brewery/restaurant 10426 S. Western Ave., where also on display on the walls are fine and colorful works of other artists.

“Kurt could usually be found at the end of the bar, always drawing in his ever-present sketchbook,” said Campbell. “He had done some of the illustrations for Horse Thief’s beer labels and was planning to have his work as part of this year’s walk.”

But he got sick and died of COVID on July 1. “That was heartbreaking,” said Campbell. “But we tracked down some of his work. We wanted it to be part of this year’s event. He deserved that.”

From its inception, the idea behind the art walks was to link creative artists with the area’s businesses, a canny collaboration that benefited both the artists (most of their work is for sale) and the businesses, which have enjoyed opening their spaces to larger-than-usual crowds.

Pieces started being installed a few weeks ago and there have so far been two relatively organized evening walks, during which the art is illuminated and most of the businesses remain open. Another takes place 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday. You can get all sorts of information — about the art and artists, and links to the business in which they are being shown — at The Alliance website and on Instagram.

This will enable you, if you can’t join the wandering crowds on Thursday night, to create your own do-it-yourself walk (or bike ride or car ride).

“We want this to keep going until the weather gets nasty,” says Campbell.

Until then, you will have your own outdoor art gallery of paintings, drawings, hand-woven baskets, ceramics and mixed media. And there has been some talk, spurred by this year’s success, of creating a dedicated space curated by The Alliance that might serve as a permanent showcase for local artists.

In addition to the art installations on view, there is an intriguing new element called Pandemogram postcards. “We asked people to send these to us,” says Campbell. “They could be addressed to anyone, everyone, expressing hopes, dreams, worries and expressions of love during this painful, tumultuous and, I hope, transformative time.”

This idea and, indeed, the coining of the term “Pandemograms” — a combination of “pandemic” and “telegrams” — was that of artist Carla Winterbottom, who started designing and sending postcards at the outset of the pandemic. The Alliance put out a call for others, anyone, to contribute, and some of those efforts are on exhibit at Heritage Gallery, 1907 W. 103rd St.

This is the cozy business started decades ago by the late Jack Simmerling and his daughter Vicki, who runs it still. Before his death in 2013, I visited often with Simmerling and found him to be an artist of great talent.

Born and raised in suburban Blue Island, he earned a degree in fine arts from the University of Notre Dame. He wanted to work in a museum but there were no jobs available. So, with a new wife and baby, he went to work for a framing company and began selling his paintings for 25 cents. He was successful, his work got more expensive and as he proudly told me long ago, “I have had a very loyal clientele. I do believe that my work might be hanging in every other house in Beverly.”

And on the walls of the gallery are many of his paintings. Each one, in its way, is a timeless love letter to Beverly and the city.

rkogan@chicagotribune.com

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