Friday | November 18
When it comes to empty white walls, there’s no need to draw a blank. At the School of the Art Institute’s Holiday Art Sale, sponsored by the Campus Life and Student Association, SAIC students will sell their paintings, photography, prints, and sculptures. Go because you want to support young, struggling and talented artists; go because no amount of tape can hold up your Dalí and Escher posters any longer. (112 South Michigan Avenue, 11 a.m.–7 p.m., free)
Catch Off-Off Campus’s “Slaughter House 5.0: The Epic Conclusion” before the comedy troupe goes off-off the map until the new year and laughter generally ceases as finals week sets in. Enjoy sketch, improv, and jokes about all that has happened, more or less. (5655 South University Avenue, 8:30 p.m.–11 p.m., $4)
Saturday | November 19
It’s almost 9th week—time for some hard-core curriculum. Dust off your handcuffs and head over to the CineKink Film Festival at the Leather Archives and Museum. Expect lots of quick yet pleasurable flicks like Hooka Face and the Virgin Boy, Wiggle Room, and Ms. Thing, building up to a couple of climactic feature films. (6418 North Greenview Avenue, begins at 2 p.m. $7 in advance, $10 at the door)
Don’t wait for the mainstream mall mayhem of Black Friday to do your holiday shopping. Be a responsible consumer and stop by the DIY Trunk Show, presented by the Chicago Craft Mafia, where 129 artists will showcase and sell a variety of handmade items including lamps, ceramics, wallets, body care products, and pet toys. (5917 North Broadway Avenue, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., free)
Student composer Philip McGrath sets a classic American (not to mention, midwestern) writer to music. The Singing Fire Project, performed at Rockefeller Chapel, will draw upon the poetry of Carl Sandberg through a melding of reading, singing, and, of course, chamber music, complemented by works from Philip Glass, Alan Ginsberg, John Cage and others. (5850 South Woodlawn Avenue, 7 p.m.–8:30 p.m., free)
Sunday | November 20
The death of Borders makes way for new literary life at the Chicago Book Expo. More than 40 participating Chicago fiction and poetry presses—Knee-Jerk Magazine, Chicago Sketches, and Wicker Park Press among them—will vend their merchandise at a pop-up bookstore in what was once the Uptown Borders. (4720 North Broadway Avenue, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., free)
Do you hunger for quality cinema, or are you just plain hungry? Satisfy both cravings at the 2011 Chicago Food Fest Awards Ceremony, where you’ll see select clips of winning films as well as Jason Lam’s How to Make a Turtle Burger. Then you get to try for yourself a genuine turtle burger (turger?) along with lemon tarts, buttermilk ice cream, ham mousse, and more. (900 North North Branch Street, noon, $20 in advance)
