CBS 2's Ryan Baker recently met a young gallery director who is using art to help build community in Chicago Heights.
"It's interesting to see how things have changed in the neighborhood," said Julian Graham."But also it's a source of pride to be in Chicago Heights."
Union Street Gallery is a source of pride and surprise. Graham, the gallery director, says"he get's it.":"When I think of art, I don't think of Chicago Heights. Is this a surprise to a lot of folks that a space like this exists here?":"All the time. We get a lot of new visitors who walk in and they're just like, 'Wow I live around the corner. I live up the street and I didn't even know this was here.
"The creative juices are flowing no matter where you go in this building, and up here especially," Lewis said."There's a variety of creatives, jewelry, and if you've been down the hall, people working in textiles. Everybody is focused on their craft. It's just a good group of people.""Sometimes, I might have a direction that I want to go in, but I kind of never know where I'm gonna go, so I just lean in to the not knowing," Graham said.
Baker is actually a part of that Chicago Heights history. He was born right across the way at the now torn down St. James Hospital and went to church up the street at Saint Bethel. His grandparents lived around the block from the gallery.:"So to see this space was here, this is incredible. Like, wow, it's my old stomping ground. Hopefully your art will imitate life in 'the Heights,' as we called it.
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