URI-EICHEN GALLERY

Opening: The World at Work

Images of workers from around the world from Michael Bracey, Claudette Richards-Morris, and Jim Morris.
Photo by Michael Bracey

URI-EICHEN Gallery 2101 S Halsted Chicago IL 60608


Opening July 11th, 2025 from 6pm to 9pm

7pm Discussion with Artists

Exhibit on display until August 22nd by appointment outside of openings.

To make an appointment, please email gabbyfish@hotmail.com or call (312) 852-7717


This exhibition was inspired by the photographers' observations of working people around the world. A significant portion of the global working class exists outside the formal economy, working in the informal sector, often in precarious conditions. This is particularly so in developing countries. It's characterized by unregulated employment, low wages, and lack of social protection, impacting working class livelihoods and economic well-being.

The images seen in this exhibition represent manual laborers, agricultural workers, domestic workers, auto workers, service industry workers, street vendors and various other categories. The main objective was to put a global focus on the exhibition. The exhibit presents photos of people working from four continents: Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America.

Photographers

Michael Bracey: Professional Photographer and Chief Photographer of this exhibition Michael has been a photographer since 1976. His focus has been on documenting people of the African Diaspora around the world. He has published his work extensively through books and given presentations and exhibitions in the United States and around the world. Michael is member of the Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers from 1999 to present and is also published in "The Journey: The Next 100 Years" by The Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers, 2006.

Jim Morris: Professional Photographer since 1990 and he has been a member of the Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers from 1999 to present. Jim has always had a strong interest in Cause Centered Photography and has photographed different social causes to bring awareness to social issues. He is published in "The Journey: The Next 100 Years" by The Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers, 2006.

Claudette Richards-Morris: Became interested in Photography as a hobby in 1990. Claudette has been a member of the Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers from 2004 to present. Her photographic interest has been in documentary photography. She is published in "The Journey: The Next 100 Years" by The Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers, 2006.




Nadiah Alyafai from the U. S. Palestinian Community Network and the Arab American Action Network and Kobi Guillory from the 
Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and CTU. 
Exhibit on display until April 25th by appointment outside of openings. To make an appointment, please email gabbyfish@hotmail.com or call (312) 852-7717

Run Against the Wind: The Solidarity Movement for Black and Palestinian Liberation

Photos, Posters, and Protest Banners from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and other community supporters. Photos by Laila Zayed and Alexander Ozawa.
Nadiah Alyafai from the U. S. Palestinian Community Network and the Arab American Action Network and Kobi Guillory from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and CTU. 
Exhibit on display until April 25th by appointment outside of openings. To make an appointment, please email gabbyfish@hotmail.com or call (312) 852-7717

URI-EICHEN Gallery 2101 S Halsted Chicago IL 60608


Opening: The Solidarity Movement for Black and Palestinian Liberation

March 14th, 6-9pm: 7pm Discussion

Artists and Kobi Guillory from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and CTU.

Exhibit on display until April 25th by appointment outside of openings. To make an appointment, please email gabbyfish@hotmail.com or call (312) 852-7717.




Resist Deportations
Resist the Trump Agenda
Uri-Eichen Gallery Reopening!

January 10, 2025, reception from 6-9pm John Pitman Weber: large format woodcut prints and drawings from his Immigrant series. John will speak to attendees about the work at 6:15pm

7pm Program - panel discussion - Trump's Deportation Plan: How to fight back

Donald Trump has campaigned on the promise of mass deportation of millions of immigrants. He has made it clear that these workers and their families will be his first target. His border czar has also said that Chicago will be their first targeted location to begin the deportations. We need to be prepared to fight back. This will need to take the form of legal battles as well as a powerful mass movement. The panel will speak about these upcoming fights.


URI-EICHEN Gallery 2101 S Halsted Chicago IL 60608


Angel Naranjos, UIC New Students for a Democratic Society, Louise Carhart, United Autoworkers Local 2320, Legal Aid Workers, and Madeline Brashear, National Immigrant Justice Center. Other panel members TBA.

Naranjos, is a student organizer for SDS at UIC studies Latin American Studies and fights back against Trump's racist and reactionary agenda.

Carhart is the chief steward for UAW 2320 Legal Aid Workers and practices labor and immigration law on behalf of farmworkers in Illinois.

Brashear is an attorney, and she participated with the Immigration Detention Project and interned with the Los Angeles LGBT Center Immigrant Rights Project.

John Pitman Weber

The woodcut prints in this exhibit are from 2013 and 2014, and were hand rubbed. The images address some of the problems that cause immigration and some that immigrants face when entering a new country. A smaller version of Migrant #6 appeared in the Venice Biennial .

John Pitman Weber is a painter, printmaker and muralist, still best known as a public artist. He co-founded the Chicago Public Art Group (formerly Chicago Mural Group). For more than 40 years, he created public works in the Chicago area, several cities in the United States, and in England, France, Spain and Nicaragua. His last major public work was the Marquette Park Memorial for Martin Luther King Jr.d 1966 march for Housing with Sonja Henderson. He continues to consult and assist on works with Henderson. For 42 years, John was professor of art at Elmhurst University, teaching printmaking and creating murals with students. Since his retirement from Elmhurst in 2012, John has focused on print making and painting in his home studio. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Stanley Hayter's Atelier 17 in Paris, and Harvard University.

Uri-Eichen Gallery is a 501c3- an all-volunteer run social justice dedicated donated space to gather in community. For over 13 years, Uri-Eichen has hosted hundreds of events and discussions - all about human rights and social justice issues. In 2025, as we relaunch after a break, we plan a robust calendar to continue that work.

Please consider a donation to Uri-Eichen before the New Year.

Open by appointment outside of receptions. For an appointment, please call 312-852-7717 or email at gabbyfish@hotmail.com.


Resist Deportations
Resist the Trump Agenda
Uri-Eichen Gallery Reopening!

January 10, 2025, reception from 6-9pm John Pitman Weber large format woodcut prints from his Immigrant series.

7pm Program - panel discussion - Trump's Deportation Plan: How to fight back

URI-EICHEN Gallery 2101 S Halsted Chicago IL 60608


Angel Naranjos, UIC New Students for a Democratic Society, Louise Carhart, United Autoworkers Local 2320, Legal Aid Workers, and Madeline Brashear, National Immigrant Justice Center. Other panel members TBA.

Naranjos, is a student organizer for SDS at UIC studies Latin American Studies and fights back against Trump's racist and reactionary agenda.

Carhart is the chief steward for UAW 2320 Legal Aid Workers and practices labor and immigration law on behalf of farmworkers in Illinois.

Brashear is an attorney, and she participated with the Immigration Detention Project and interned with the Los Angeles LGBT Center Immigrant Rights Project.

John Pitman Weber

The woodcut prints in this exhibit are from 2013 and 2014, and were hand rubbed. The images address some of the problems that cause immigration and some that immigrants face when entering a new country. A smaller version of Migrant #6 appeared in the Venice Biennial .

John Pitman Weber is a painter, printmaker and muralist, still best known as a public artist. He co-founded the Chicago Public Art Group (formerly Chicago Mural Group). For more than 40 years, he created public works in the Chicago area, several cities in the United States, and in England, France, Spain and Nicaragua. His last major public work was the Marquette Park Memorial for Martin Luther King Jr.d 1966 march for Housing with Sonja Henderson. He continues to consult and assist on works with Henderson. For 42 years, John was professor of art at Elmhurst University, teaching printmaking and creating murals with students. Since his retirement from Elmhurst in 2012, John has focused on print making and painting in his home studio. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Stanley Hayter's Atelier 17 in Paris, and Harvard University.

Uri-Eichen Gallery is a 501c3- an all-volunteer run social justice dedicated donated space to gather in community. For over 13 years, Uri-Eichen has hosted hundreds of events and discussions - all about human rights and social justice issues. In 2025, as we relaunch after a break, we plan a robust calendar to continue that work.

Please consider a donation to Uri-Eichen before the New Year.

Open by appointment outside of receptions. For an appointment, please call 312-852-7717 or email at gabbyfish@hotmail.com.


CELEBRATION!

Caras lindas de Colombia /
Beautiful Faces of Colombia
wins
North Street Book Prize 2023
FIRST PLACE, ART BOOK CATEGORY


Friday March 1, 2024, 6:00-8:00pm
(presentation begins at 7:00pm)

URI-EICHEN Gallery
2101 S Halsted
Chicago IL 60608


Authors Michael Bracey and Ruth Goring are thrilled to be awarded Winning Writers' first prize for an art book published independently or in a hybrid arrangement.


Contest judge Jendi Reiter says Caras Lindas de Colombia / Beautiful Faces of Colombia is "a significant book of photojournalism celebrating Colombia's African-descendant communities, with bilingual text by Ruth Goring and black-and-white photos by Michael Bracey." Co-judge Ellen LaFleche adds, "I deeply appreciate how the narrative is written in both Spanish and English, expanding its accessibility." You can read their full comments here.

The North Street Book Prize sets no limit on the publication dates of books submitted. Bracey and Goring's book was released in 2018.

Press inquiries: contact Michael Bracey (773-771-0719, braceyphoto@aol.com) or Ruth Goring (630-247-7752 or ruthgoring@gmail.com).

You are invited to celebrate the prize, hear the authors reflect on their process, and learn about Afro-Colombians' ongoing struggle.
Refreshments will be provided.

Uri-Eichen Gallery
2101 S Halsted Street
Chicago IL 60608




Greetings Uri-Eichen Gallery Supporters!


After more than 12 years of monthly shows, discussions, and other events we are reaching out to tell you that the gallery will be taking a programming pause for the remainder of 2023 and most of 2024.

We will still continue to take suggestions for shows and programs we should host upon our reopening (so please reach out).

We hope you were able to join us for one or more of the events in 2023 dedicated to the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile, or in 2022 our long-delayed show honoring Mark Rogovin, or earlier shows or series about racism, income inequality, drone warfare, reparations, vitally important SCOTUS cases undermining human rights, LGBTQ+ rights, police abuses, Joe Hill, labor rights, and so much more. Donate here As a reminder, Uri-Eichen is all volunteer run, in a donated space, is a 501c3 (yes, there are still expenses for the space during the pause-you can still donate!), and is entirely dedicated to social justice themed events. Please donate this Giving Tuesday or before the end of the year!
 


URI-EICHEN Gallery Board

Richard Berg is the Past President of Teamsters Local 743 where he was an activist in the Teamster reform movement for more than 20 years before being elected president. He was a member and union steward for the Teamsters while working in the Department of Environmental Services at the University of Chicago Medical Center. He has also worked as an Organizer for AFSCME, as a Business Agent for the Teamsters, as a Union Representative for SEIU Local 73 and a Staff Representative for AFSCME Council 31. He was also previously the Treasurer of the Chicago Area Labor Support Committee, Executive Board Member of the Chicago Chapter of the Labor Committee for Latin American Advancement, International Steering Committee Member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, 30th Ward Coordinator for Harold Washington for Mayor in 1987, Staff for James Exum for 48th Ward Democratic Committeeman, Steering Committee Member of the Illinois Chapter of the Labor Party, Wisconsin Chair of the Midwest Coalition Against Registration and the Draft, Co-Chair of the Marquette University Coalition for Divestiture and President of the Marquette University Progressive Student Organization . Richard is currently working for the Chicago Teachers Union and serves on the Steering Committee for the Chicago Labor Speakers Club. He also enjoys fine art whenever possible.
 

Paul Durica is a teacher, writer, and public historian. Since 2008 he has been producing a series of free and interactive public history programs under the name Pocket Guide to Hell. These talks, walks, and reenactments use costumes, props, music, and audience participation to make the past feel present.Paul’s writing on Chicago history and culture has appeared in Poetry, The Chicagoan, Mash Tun, Lumpen, and elsewhere and, with Bill Savage, he is the editor of Chicago By Day and Night: The Pleasure Seeker’s Guide to the Paris of America (Northwestern UP, 2013). He is currently the Director of Programs for Illinois Humanities.
 

Ruth Needleman, professor emerita in Labor Studies at Indiana University, has taught labor and Latin American studies since the late sixties. After 4 years in Latin American Literature & Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz, she worked for the United Farm Workers under Cesar Chavez.

Ruth has been awarded honors for excellence in teaching, research and service, for her work, including a book, Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: the struggle for union democracy, and many articles on black history, race, class and gender, leadership development and on movements in Latin America. She contributed to a book on the right-wing in Chile, published by Quimantu, Allende’s publishing house, prior to the fascist coup. She has traveled extensively, presented in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Nigeria, Yugoslavia, Japan, Colombia and more.

She pioneered courses in Labor & the Arts at IU, and established a 15-year college-degree program called Swingshift College, enabling steelworkers to complete college degrees in a customized worker program based on transformational pedagogy. Currently she is writing about this program and the role and character of “pedagogy for liberation” for the 21st century. She is also teaching a course on global social movements at the School of the Arts Institute.
 

Michael Bracey is and award-winning Chicago-based photographer that has received rave recognition for his lectures and exhibitions in the United States and abroad. His accomplishments include the CAAAP (Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers) Portfolio of the Year award (2001), a Chicago Arts Assistant Council grant (2004), a Hutchinson Arts Association Council grant (2004), and the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship (2003) for Africans Within the Americas, a ten-year project of travel to twelve different countries documenting commonalities among people of African descent. The project resulted in a traveling exhibition and a book. Bracey’s contributions to The Journey: The Next 100 Years, an exhibition and book, catapulted him into the book publishing world. Along with Shirley Bradley-LeFlore (St. Louis poet laureate ), he co-authored the book, Rivers of Women. His latest book, Caras lindas de Colombia (Beautiful faces of Colombia), co-authored with Chicago poet, activist, editor and artist Ruth Goring, is a 2024 award winner with Winning Writers. Bracey holds a BA in communications from Webster (College) University, St. Louis, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College Chicago.
 

Peter Kuttner, has worked in mainstream and alternative media in Chicago for over 50 years.

Since leaving a staff job in public television in 1967, he has worked on documentary films about social justice to complement his political activism and community organizing.

As a Chicago member of the radical national film collective Newsreel in the late 60s, then as a founding member of Rising Up Angry, the Chicago Rainbow Coalition newspaper and organization. then with Kartemquin Films since 1972, and now at the Community TV Network since 2014, he has continued to work on projects addressing possible solutions to the complex issues facing America’s poor and working people.

A labor union member since 1975, Kuttner worked as a camera technician in the motion pictures and TV industry. Having served many terms as an elected representative on IATSE Local 600’s governing board, he now moderates an online rank-and-file forum dealing with union issues. He is a member of the Workers Rights Board of Jobs with Justice Chicago, a coalition of labor, faith, and community organizations. He curates public programs of documentary and fiction films dealing with social justice issues, with the [In]Justice for All Film Festival, Black Cinema House at the Stony Island Arts Bank, HotHouse and South Side Projections among others.
 

John Pitman Weber is active in community based public art, having co-founded the Chicago Public Art Group almost 45 years ago. His public works in mosaic, paint, cement, and brick are currently found in Chicago, New York City, Minneapolis, Vitoria-Gasteiz, (Spain), Spencer, IA and libraries of Broward Cty, FL. He is also active in the studio with painting and woodcuts. One of his large woodcuts is currently included in the Gulf Labor Coalition’s presence at the Venice Biennale. He is emeritus, retired from Elmhurst College. His home-studio is in Pilsen.
 

Larry Redmond: I've always had an interest in art. As a child, I used to draw comic book characters. When I entered college, I had hoped to major in art. However, at the time UIC didn't have an art department.

Now, I express myself visually through photography. I love photographing life in the street, especially marches and demonstrations. But my interest is expanding to fine art photography. I hope to do portraits and still lifes within the next year or so.

I graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I majored in Philosophy and minored in English. I later attended the John Marshall Law School, earning a Juris Doctor degree. I studied art and photography at Chicago State University where I developed my passion for Documentary Photography and Photojournalism.

I have recently become a member of the Chicago Alliance of African-American Photographers because I appreciated the organization's dedication of professionalism and excellence in the practice of the art of photography. I am also a member of the Washington Park Camera Club. I currently live in Chicago with my wife and family.
 

Kathy Steichen co-founded Uri-Eichen Gallery with her husband, Christopher Urias, in 2011. She has led the programming development and coordination of hundreds of visual art and community events at the gallery in the last 11 years. She built an organization that brings thousands of people into the space to enjoy art, music and participate in discussions on social justice themes. She founded Amnesty International chapters in three colleges, worked for Amnesty International in the Mid-west Region and for Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky’s first primary run. She is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and UMASS Amherst. She has worked in the labor movement for more than twenty four years. She has been a practicing print-maker for 30 years

Christopher Urias co-founded Uri-Eichen Gallery. He is a Pilsen, Chicago native who graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

URI-EICHEN Gallery 2101 South Halsted CHICAGO Illinois 60608