Ian Weaver

Ian Weaver’s work utilizes print media, drawing, collage, assemblage, sculpture, installation, and film as metaphors for “fracture”. His current work centers on the "Black Bottom" section of the Near West Side of Chicago that has been destroyed by urban renewal programs and has lost much of its history. Weaver has constructed an active history of this former black residential community utilizing faux objects: handmade museum vitrines, community maps and documents, sculptures and textiles, films, and a fictional group, the Black Knights–part medieval knight, part Black Nationalist–who lived in the “Bottom” and used political, social, and guerrilla tactics to fight for the community. During his residency at Bemis, he will be furthering this project, working on still, motion, and collaged film and experimenting with projecting large-scale drawings, relief prints, and collages.