Laura Schaffer is an incredible woman, whose extrovert joys of the arts in Chicago probably would remind you of someone from the Beat Generation.
When I first went into what was formerly called the
Southside Hub of Production space in Hyde Park—also known as SHoP (somewhere in
the early 2010s decade), I got my first joys of enjoying live DIY events in
that Chicago neighborhood, which included experimental and free jazz.
Then, as SHoP folded around the mid-2010s, Laura decided on
a new endeavor—a new experimental DIY space out in the suburbs of Chicago with
almost the same vibe, atmosphere, and excitement like what she did in the
former SHoP—but with focuses on yellow paint and a mixed space of outdoor and
indoor features. With all that thinking, a new DIY space in Oak Park, IL—called
Compound Yellow—was born.
Laura said on a CBS2 Chicago news interview about her space
is that Compound Yelllow “is an independent, multi-functional, artist-run space
and artists’ residency.” From going to about 30 to 40 events there, I can see
the big effect; Compound housed and accommodated numerous artists of a wide
range of gifts---ranging from the urban permaculture activist, Nance Klehm, all
the way to the multidisciplinary artist, Madeleine Aguilar, and nearly
everything in between.
From 2016 to the present, Compound Yellow curated over 100
exhibitions, events, and happenings—ranging from art workshops, to performance
art, to visual exhibitions, to music shows, including open mics.
The new Compound Yellow avoids the, as I quote, “putting in
all of the eggs in one basket type of DIY venue mentality: The place has
several areas that are spread out within something like a 5,000 to 6,000 square foot area of property.
All of the buildings have yellow paint on them. And along the east end hugging
the sidewalk and Lake Street is called the Prairie Restoration Learning Garden.
On the east side is a house space, which is generally not
open to the public, which houses a kitchen where chefs prepare food to give to
guests and patrons in their outdoor events. (I assume that this house space is
used for artists who have temporary residences in the space, but not only that,
it is where Laura also lives too!) Just
in front of the house space is a sort of a small chicken farm, facing the edge
of Lake Street. Three chickens, named Huevos (which means “eggs”), Peeps, and
Spike, live in that coop. Sadly, I found out that Huevos is the “baddest” of
this chicken bunch—it did too many attempted escapes from the coop and Laura
and her team had to intervene and bring it back to the gated coop.
To the east of the house space is a small space for doing
storage, and just behind that is a public bathroom. To the east of that small
storage space are the main attraction to the Compound….another bigger building
which is used for art/visual displays on the 1st floor, and finally,
within the same building--the 2nd floor, which is technically used
as a multipurpose space. It was used for not just additional art exhibitions,
but also flea markets, presentations, lectures, and above all, a wide variety
of music events. I like it even more
than the other parts of the Compound Yellow.
A few of the featured series at Compound include “Sideyard
Sounds”, which features music outdoors of nearly every genre during the warmer
months in the yard space, and “Winter Sounds”, which has additional music
events, usually taking place in the
colder months in the Studio. However, during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020,
Laura had to suspend all indoor activities and tell patrons to mask up even on
outside events, and when the pandemic peaked around 2021-2022, Laura did allow
indoor events but required people to wear masks. The pandemic emergency now is
over, so all indoor events inside the Compound are mask-optional now.
Furthermore, the multipurpose space on the 2nd
floor is called the “studio”, and the 1st-floor space under it is
called the “Y-Gallery”. The building in front of the public washroom was called
the “X-Gallery.”
One of my recent
outings to Compound Yellow was an electronic music show that focused on spontaneity
and creative improvisation, called “Winter Sounds.” It happened on Saturday,
February 24, 2024, and it was nearly evening-length as it started around 7pm. It
was a big bill, which included one of my fan favorites, Carol Genetti, an
experimental vocal sound artist who plays around with gadgets. She teamed up
with Peter Maunu, on guitar and effects. But the good news is that I was
well-loved by the audience because several of my important supporter-friends of
my creations were there---Kristin Abhalter Smith (who co-runs the art space in
Rogers Park, Roman Susan), along with her new friend, Eliza Fernand (to whom
Kristin curated in Eliza’s art project at Roman), in her blue skull cap and
blue sweater, and Sara Zalek wearing
roughly a white toga outfit. Sara and I were performance art dancers who
clicked a lot so much with our own shamanic energies and the audience
appreciated our dancing as some of the electronic music performers played.
Along with help from Kristin who also liked my dancing
(since she also loves disco music so much), this was almost like a euphoria
that I really liked.
But near the end of the show, I did get a chance to dance
with not only Laura but also Carol Genetti, for a short while. When it
was all over---I felt so euphoric all the way to the CTA train station as I got
home on a pretty blustery night. But it was a good experience. And Laura wants
me to do my own show later on at Compound in the future---now that is quite
happy for me!
And whenever I want to go back to Compound Yellow to see
another event, Laura will welcome me again with big open arms! And some of a
few regulars who also love Compound and me will likely be there, even if it is
not all the time.
REFERENCES
“Chicago’s Hidden Gems: Compound Yellow Provide Space for
Artists, Chickens”. CBS Chicago (Chicago).
News video short-documentary, Youtube.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIHUfQQk77Y> November 2023.
“Compound Yellow”. Official Website. <https://www.compoundyellow.com/past-events.>
Accessed March 6, 2024.
