Luminarts Spotlights Jeffrey Michael Austin & Other Buzzy Artists at Next Begins Now

Luminarts shines a spotlight on the arresting work of rising star artist Jeffrey Michael Austin.

Detail of Jeffrey Michael Austin’s “In Search of an Authentic Gesture” (2016, map pins on paper)

Since 1949, Luminarts Cultural Foundation has been dedicated to supporting emerging young Chicago-area artists and performers with its annual fellowship program. The elite group counts some prominent names among its alumni—violinist Rachel Barton Pine, writer Julia Fine and opera singer J’Nai Bridges—and primed to join them is multidisciplinary artist Jeffrey Michael Austin. With works like “In Search of an Authentic Gesture,” Austin makes stunning use of pattern and repetition to comment on the human experience. Explains Austin of these pieces, “They take simple human associations like colorful pins or the experience of condensation on a mirror and arrange them with an order that charges them up and evokes a kind of mystical energy.” On Oct. 10, Luminarts celebrates the work of Austin and other promising area artists at Next Begins Now, the organization’s annual fall presentation and gathering, where you can expect cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, a live performance and dinner with a who’s who of civic leaders and arts patrons, all raising a glass to the next generation of creatives in the city. Tickets $175, Oct. 10, The Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St.