This publication, written by Monika Neuland Thomas, accompanies the work of Envision Unlimited artists in the Buddy Art 4 Sale exhibition, The Shag Show, on display in the fall of 2022. This collection of hand-knotted shag carpets and pillows made of repurposed materials is the result of a twenty-year collaboration between a community of artists who have perceived disabilities, and the social practice and studio artist, Monika Neuland Thomas. Their works were created within studios created at Envision Unlimited, a social service agency in Chicago that has served people with disabilities across all ages, abilities, and backgrounds for over 70 years.
As the exhibition organizer Monika Neuland Thomas writes, “the work of this exhibition renders the creative process an eloquent and contemplative one. It illuminates disability as a universal human experience, and as a needed and respected diversity. These fiberworks and their creators attend to the process of inclusive and equitable making, considering how each human gesture and each scrap of repurposed material can most honestly and effortlessly belong to a larger texture of capacity.”
Original risograph publication produced by Buddy MFG
Designed by Ashley King
Dimensions: 5 x 7," 23 pages
Materials: Risograph on paper
Envision Unlimited
(City of Chicago)
For over 70 years, Envision Unlimited has served people with disabilities across all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. Today, their wide array of home and community-based programs benefit over 2,000 individuals across the state of Illinois. Envision provides day programs, community living services, employment services, a foster care program, and mental health services.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Buddy MFG
(Chicago Cultural Center)
Buddy MFG is a seasonal limited edition product launch pairing a Chicago artist with a local manufacturer or fabricator to create a series of works for sale exclusively at Buddy.
Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange (CCRx)
(Auburn Gresham)
The Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange (CCRx) is a 501c3 nonprofit that solicits donations of surplus materials, equipment and supplies for teachers and non-profit organizations. They promote creativity and environmental stewardship with a goal to educate and empower the public to reduce waste, rethink surplus, and share through creative reuse programming, events and workshops. They believe "trash is just a failure of imagination."