February 24 @ 7:00 pm - March 3 @ 6:00 pm
Overview
In Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, a house has been transformed into a work of art. First glimpsed using dental floss to suspend a toy midair in her kitchen, Jackie Seiden has turned each room into an ever-changing art installation, while life-size animal sculptures by her husband Don roam the backyard. The house is central to their identity and a testament to their unconventional 50-year relationship, but like anything else, it won’t last forever. Leaks and pests start to chip away at Jackie’s good humor, along with the realization that her and Don’s own bodies are giving out along with the house.
Documentarian Daniel Hymanson met Jackie as a toddler enrolled in one of her preschool art classes, and the decades of trust built up between them has resulted in a knowing, frequently funny look at life’s inevitabilities. A pioneer in the field of art therapy, Don founded that program at the School of the Art Institute, where he taught for many decades. Their brightly-colored, cluttered house may be the most memorable documentary dwelling since Grey Gardens.
Watch a short introduction to the film by Spotlight Cinema curator Mike King: