Last summer, a duck made a nest on the tiny Juliet balcony at the Harley Clarke House. She laid a egg, but abandoned it, perhaps deciding that the location wasn’t suitable for a duckling. The egg remains in the nest, unrealized potential.
A few weeks ago, on a chilly but sunny March day, I walked through the Harley Clarke House for the last time, and then handed over the keys to Sean Ciolek, the City of Evanston’s Manager of Facilities, who has always been extremely kind to us. He and his staff came when we needed them, answered questions, dealt with vandalism, and were always encouraging and patient. Sean told us they had enjoyed working with us, and I thanked him for his help. We got in our cars, drove away, and that was that.
We are sorry to leave the Harley Clarke House, but it became obvious that Artists Book House wouldn’t be able to raise the money to renovate the house on the timetable we’d agreed to in our lease. The Evanston City Council declined to adjust the fundraising benchmarks in our lease without exacting other concessions, and we realized that it was time to let someone else try to save the Harley Clarke House. Robert Seidenberg wrote a detailed piece for the Evanston RoundTable on the events that led us to withdraw from the Clarke House project, if you’d like to know more: https://evanstonroundtable.com/2023/01/23/artists-book-house-harley-clarke-mansion-lease/
We plan to buy a building to transform into our permanent home, and we’re searching for 8000 to 10,000 SF, probably on the North Side of Chicago. Because we are a non-profit, educational organization, it is important that the building be ADA accessible (or capable of becoming so), and near public transportation. We are happy to consider warehouses, factories, churches, and other large spaces that can become our art studio classrooms, galleries, bookshop, and library. We’re excited to see what’s out there, and to get cracking with our book arts and literary endeavors.
I hope that duck found a safe place to raise her ducklings.
In the Meanwhile, You Can Find ABH at Colvin House
Now that Deborah Siegel-Acevado is our Executive Director, and the Clarke House is no longer our headquarters, we have temporarily located ourselves at another mansion, Colvin House, 5940 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60660 (by appointment only).
https://colvinhouseevents.com/history-of-colvin-house/
We are getting ready to resume some programming, and will be letting you know as soon as we have organized our next doings.
Some Artists Book House Board News
The ABH Board has new officers! Eileen Madden and Ken Gerleve are now co-Presidents. Hannah Batsel is our Secretery, and Eileen Pollard is our Treasurer.