CHICAGO – The 20th annual SOFA CHICAGO, the world’s foremost fair devoted to Sculpture Objects Functional Art + Design, will be on view at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall from November 1 – Sunday, November 3, 2013. The three-day event kicks off with an Opening Night Preview on Thursday, October 31 from 5 to 9 p.m., celebrating SOFA CHICAGO’s landmark 20 years with a first look at cutting-edge art and design presented by galleries from across the U.S. and around the world.

SOFA CHICAGO is one of the longest-running art fairs in the U.S. and the oldest in Chicago. When it opened at Chicago’s Sheraton Hotel and Towers in 1994, the fair drew 58 exhibitors and 14,000 visitors. Located at Navy Pier since 1995, today SOFA CHICAGO attracts almost 100 exhibitors each year and its average attendance is close to 34,000—an increase of more than 100%.

“There really wasn’t an established, strong market in the decorative and applied arts” at the time, recalls cofounder Mark Lyman, president of The Art Fair Company, which produces SOFA CHICAGO. During the 1980s, as a professor of ceramics, sculpture and design at Washington University in St. Louis, Lyman saw “fantastic work being made in a whole range of media” by artists whose interests in historic objects inspired their experiments with materials and form. SOFA CHICAGO was one of the few initiatives that brought these artists together “in a national and international venue,” he says.

	Jun Kaneko, Dango Duane Reed Gallery

SOFA CHICAGO’s distinguished dealers exhibit glass, ceramics, textiles, wood and metalwork by artists at every stage of their careers, including late masters like Sam Maloof and Ruth Duckworth, noteworthy luminaries such as Dutch ceramicist Henk Wolvers and Australia-based glass artist Klaus Moje and established artists such as Wendell Castle and Jun Kaneko, whose large-scale sculptures are now on view in his Chicago solo exhibition Legends, Myths and Truths in Millennium Park through November 3, 2013.

More than 40 exhibitors have already signed on for 2013, and the international list is still growing. Eight galleries have come to SOFA CHICAGO every year since 1994: Aaron Faber Gallery (New York), Ann Nathan Gallery (Chicago), Habatat Galleries (Royal Oak MI), Jean Albano Gallery (Chicago), Maurine Littleton Gallery (Washington, DC), Scott Jacobson Gallery (New York), Thomas R. Riley Galleries (Columbus OH), and William Zimmer Gallery (Mendocino CA).

“Dealers are really honing in on how to make the 20th year of the fair very special,” according to SOFA CHICAGO Fair Director Donna Davies. Some are curating solo exhibitions of prominent artists, such as Barry Friedman Ltd.’s presentation of glass and metalwork artist Michael Glancy. Others, like Bullseye Gallery, will highlight exciting young artists who are emerging talents. Wexler Gallery, who has participated in SOFA CHICAGO since 2005, will bring new work from William Morris and his original team to this year’s fair.

For 2013, SOFA CHICAGO will debut CONNECT, a special student design competition featuring up to six prestigious art and design schools including Pratt Institute (New York) and Edinburgh College of Art (Scotland), as well as several others to be announced later this summer. Each institution will create a lounge environment showcasing students’ seating elements, lighting and art. In addition, students from three participating schools will be chosen to work with The Corning Museum of Glass on glass design prototypes as part of CONNECT. The chosen designs will be created in glass by Corning Museum artists and one school’s design will be created at The Corning Museum of Glass Hot Glass Roadshow during SOFA CHICAGO.

Albert Paley, Passage maquette Ruth Lawrence Fine Art
Michael Glancy, Sasanian Star X Barry Friedman Ltd.
Hot Glass Roadshow at SOFA CHICAGO

While SOFA CHICAGO has longstanding relationships with museums, top collectors, and professional associations such as the Society of North American Goldsmiths and the American Craft Council, the fair welcomes newcomers. “It’s a great place to start your collection,” says cofounder Anne Meszko. Visitors can buy works from emerging artists, meet hundreds of artists in person, and learn about their work at SOFA’s signature lectures and special exhibits—included with admission—which approximately 3,000 people attended in 2012.

Some of the highlights of SOFA CHICAGO’s 20th annual educational programming will be the Lecture Series featuring noted artists, curators, and critics, including Laura de Santillana, Michael Glancy (both represented by Barry Friedman Ltd.), Dan Dailey (Hawk Gallery), and Albert Paley (Ruth Lawrence Fine Art). Special exhibits contribute to the educational outreach of the fair and this year includes exhibits by the American Association of Woodturners and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts. Live demonstrations like the Corning Museum of Glass’s Hot Glass Roadshow—a perennial hit with fairgoers of all ages—will contribute to the fair’s uniquely exciting atmosphere.

For the ninth straight year, SOFA CHICAGO will be sponsored in part by Chubb Personal Insurance, one of the world’s preeminent insurers of fine homes, art, antiques, jewelry, automobiles, yachts and other prized possessions.

“SOFA CHICAGO is an important event for Chubb Personal Insurance. Many of the collectors at SOFA collect a wide range of valuables—jewelry, fine and decorative art and antiques. Chubb understands the importance of these investments and has the products and services to help protect them and their owners anywhere in the world,” says Joanna McNamara, Strategic Development Manager for Chubb Personal Insurance.

Chubb Personal Insurance is also sponsoring CONNECT. “Chubb wholeheartedly supports SOFA and the work of aspiring artists,” said Kathleen Tierney, Chief Operating Officer of Chubb Personal Insurance. “We are delighted to be a part of the 20th annual celebration and this exciting new university design competition this year. The young artists of today are the giants of art and design tomorrow. Chubb and SOFA can help these artists create masterpieces that will be enjoyed for generations.” CONNECT’s participating schools will be included in this year’s exciting Lecture Series.

Additional support is provided by CS, the Exclusive Luxury Media Partner of SOFA CHICAGO. CS magazine is the premier luxury lifestyle magazine in Chicago, acting as the local authority on topics like high-end retail, dining hot spots, design trends, and Chicago’s top tastemakers and personalities. As part of the award-winning Modern Luxury network of regional publications, CS is able to deliver cutting-edge fashion spreads, international travel features and revealing celebrity profiles, ensuring its content consistently engages the cultured reader.

	Dan Dailey, Afternoon Hawk Galleries

CS Marketing Director Allison Cooke added that “As the Exclusive Media Partner of SOFA CHICAGO, CS is proud to support the 20th annual international art and design fair, as it celebrates the masterworks of contemporary and modern arts and design, sculpture and visionary art and as it continues to excel in being the largest and longest continually running art fair in Chicago. CS and SOFA CHICAGO will work together in capturing Chicago’s attention and will attract Chicago’s most influential and affluent for the 20th anniversary of the fair.”

When he’s asked what enabled SOFA CHICAGO to survive for a remarkable 20 years, Lyman credits the fair’s distinctive focus, unique educational programs and convivial spirit: “I have had people say, ‘I have finished collecting. My house is full. I have been telling myself all year that I need to not buy anything. But I come to SOFA because it’s a great place to get together with artists, with dealers, with friends. I also want to learn, and there are such extraordinary educational opportunities, I just can’t miss the show.’ And, lo and behold—sometimes they end up buying something.”