Dip and Draw at the AIDS Garden Chicago

Join us for some outdoor drawing on the lakefront by the new AIDS Garden Chicago.

As with all our events, no experience necessary, and everyone is welcome!

We can draw each other, ourselves, the lake waterscape, the skyline, the sea gulls, the Keith Haring sculpture, still lives of towels and water bottles, whatever you want! Dip into the refreshing lake water in between.

Just bring supplies to draw with, some water to keep hydrated, and a towel to sit on if you like. This event is totally FREE.

About the location:
AIDS Garden Chicago is the city’s first public monument to memorialize the early days of Chicago’s HIV epidemic, and to honor those who continue to fight against the disease today. AIDS Garden Chicago is now open and welcome for all to visit. This 2.5 acre “park with purpose” is built along Lake Michigan just south of Belmont Harbor at the original location of the historic Belmont Rocks gathering spot.

"Since the early days of the gay movement, the Belmont Rocks were a place to call our own. The lakefront stretch of stone and grass from Belmont to Diversey harbors was a public space Chicago’s LGBTQ community claimed from the 1960s through the 1990s. This was more than a frequented area. The Rocks were a political statement tied to our liberation, a symbol of our right to be here, our right to exist, and our right to gather outside and in the sunlight at a time when our bars still had blackened windows.

Community happened along this undesirable strip of uneven limestone blocks. Relationships and friendships happened there, hook-ups, unions, memorials, picnics, cookouts, dance parties, and rallies. Artwork covered many of these stones. At the Rocks, people lay in the sun, watched the sunset before going out, and sat to watch the sunrise after the bars closed.

In 2003, the Belmont Rocks were bulldozed and removed as part of a revetment project to safeguard against shoreline erosion. The Rocks themselves may be gone, but this portion of the Chicago shoreline will forever remain a place of celebration, joy, and remembrance in the pre-AIDS era and throughout the darkest days of the epidemic."

— Owen Keehnen, Chicago Author & Historian

More information here: https://www.aidsgardenchicago.org/