"I am a little institution on wheels," said artist Dorian Sylvain. "I include young artists so they have opportunities for them to make money, opportunities to increase their skillset, opportunities to be totally expressive."
SOUTH SHORE — A South Shore artist is getting a $25,000 award from local nonprofit 3Arts for the second year in a row, and she’ll use it to continue supporting and collaborating with South Side creatives.
Dorian Sylvain, who for the past 40 years has created public art while mentoring local artists, will receive the award at the 3Arts Awards Oct. 19. Registration for the virtual event is free and open to the public.
Sylvain is one of 10 winners of this year’s award, which prioritizes women, artists of color and artists with disabilities. She won the 3Arts/Southwest Airlines Community Award, a partially crowdfunded award given to the artist “who most embodies that idea of community,” said 3Arts Executive Director Esther Grisham Grimm.
South Shore designer Norman Teague was among last year’s award winners.
“Like Dorian, there’s no shortage of awesomeness in Chicago in terms of the practitioners that live here,” Grimm said. “We want them to stay here, so we give them a reason to stay.”
In addition to funding, budding artists in the city need accessible institutions to network and continue learning their craft, Sylvain said.