Mission
Comfort Station activates a historic building with public, community-driven programs that foster vibrant connections at the intersection of art and life.
Since 2011, we have operated out of a 1920s city-owned building that was once intended to be a space for travelers to stay warm while waiting for public transportation. That legacy fuels our mission to act as a porous and public gathering space for a variety of creative communities.
Staff
Jordan Martins, Executive Director
Kitty Rauth, Artistic Director
Raul Benitez, Comfort Film Programmer
Riley Leitch, Comfort Music Program Manager
Caitlin Wagner, Exhibition Manager
Jonathan Krohn, Graphic Designer
Kate Paris Tsan, Building Manager
Marielle Mervau, Grants Manager
Lauren Grudzien, Social Engagement Programmer
Lauren Viera, Marketing Director
Programmers and Volunteers
Emily Perez
Mathew Tapey
Timothy Doan
Erica Zhan
Patricia Doyle
Pamela Grande
Alexandria Knapik
Nadia John
Grace DeVies
Gordon Fung
Madelynn Austin
Luna Luxe
Sam Leapley
Ian Mahanpour
Mersadi McClure
Fran Grinnan
Bethany Larranaga
Adam Shead
History
The Logan Square Comfort Station was one of nine identical Tudor-style West Parks Public Comfort Stations constructed in 1926 and 1927. Only two are still standing, the second located along Austin Avenue in Columbus Park.
In 2005, Logan Square Preservation began an active campaign to restore the Comfort Station. Through a partnership with the City of Chicago and 35th Ward Alderman Rey Colon, TIF funds were used to clean and restore the building to its original 1926 appearance including complete cleaning and tuckpointing of brick, a new clay tile roof, stucco, tudoring, copper gutters, and restored windows.
When renovations were completed in 2010, informal visual arts programming inside the building began through efforts by volunteers associated with Logan Square Preservation. By 2011 these efforts had grown and brought in a wider circle of programmers and curators, expanding the programming into concerts, film screenings, workshops and more. In 2016, Comfort Station NFP was formed as a distinct 501c3 non profit, which now officially partners with Logan Square Preservation to run the programming in and around the building.
Board of Directors
Mariela Acuña
Alden Burke
Christina Cosío
Eliseo Fernandez
John Guevara
Manya Gupta
Willie Jackson
Jackie Kazarian
Sara Slawnik
Laura Vichick
Adrian Wong
Jason Hammel, emeritus member
Mariela Acuña is an art administrator and curator from San José, Costa Rica currently based in Chicago. She is Director of Exhibitions and Residency at Hyde Park Art Center where she oversees the Art Center's exhibitions and residency programs as well as the micro-publishing platform Green Lantern Press, and the innovative regranting initiative Artists Run Chicago Fund. She holds a BA in Art History and a BFA in Sculpture from Florida Atlantic University and a dual MA in Art Administration and Public Policy and Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, Mariela held positions at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, FL; Girls' Club Collection in Ft. Lauderdale; and the University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL.
Alden Burke (she/they) is a Chicago-based educator, facilitator, artist, and designer. Currently, she is thinking about modes of introduction, making clouds out of metal, radicalizing HR practices, and free-writing in five-minute paragraphs. Generally, her work centers around supporting collaborative making, process-based work, care in administrative practices, creative sustainability, and the question “What are we going to learn from one another?” Alden is the Director of People & Culture at Design for America, a Lead Organizer for the Chicago Arts Census, Co-Founder of Annas, and does Service Design for arts organizations in Chicago.
Christina Cosio is a visual artist and social impact administrator living and working in Chicago. Presently, she is the Director of Operations at Greater Good Studio, a design consulting agency focused on the social sector. She also serves on the Associate Board of Latino Union, a non-profit organization that collaborates with low-income immigrant/U.S.-born workers to address labor issues such as wage theft and workplace safety. She holds a BFA in Sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis, an MA in History and Museum Studies from University of Missouri-St. Louis, and an MBA from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining Greater Good Studio, Christina worked for more than a decade supporting arts exhibitions opportunities for students and their communities, most recently at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Christina lives in Avondale with her husband, two children, and their ramshackle (but cherished) garden.
John H. Guevara (they/them) is a curator, writer, and art worker. They were recognized in “Chicago’s Art Top 50 Visual Vanguard” 2022 list by Newcity Magazine. They have participated in residencies like the Independent Curators International, Chicago Artists Coalition, and No Lugar Arte Contemporaneo (Quito, Ecuador). They have published with New York University’s The Latinx Project Intervenxions. As the founder and director of the art library project called Chuquimarca, they have been invited to program with art organizations such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, DePaul Art Museum, Hyde Park Art Center, Mana Contemporary, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They have a Bachelor’s of Arts in Visual Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago and are enrolled in the Editing Certificate program at the University of Chicago.
Manya Gupta (Secretary) MD is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Attending Physician at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago (a not-for-profit academic hospital). She is also an Associate Program Director for the Rush Internal Medicine Residency Program and serves as the Director of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Education. Through these roles she has been the recipient of multiple teaching awards and has presented her research projects at many national forums. Dr. Gupta received her MD from the University of Cincinnati after graduating Phi Beta Kappa with honors, with dual undergraduate degrees (BS in Molecular Genetics and BA in Spanish) from The Ohio State University. She moved to Chicago in 2008 and has considered this city home ever since. Manya has always had a love for community, travel, history, music, and the performing and visual arts, and she takes great pride in supporting these works locally. Manya and her family recently relocated to Oak Park after having lived in Logan Square since 2015.
Willie Jackson heads the Solutions Architect practice for Starcom US, where he consults clients on data and technology solutions to enhance the customer experience. He holds BAs in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Chicago and has been highlighted as an AdWeek Media All Star (2020) and Innovation Honoree (2019). Over the course of his career, Willie has cultivated experience across a diverse set of verticals, including telecom, CPG, transportation, retail, and financial services. He brings a powerful combination of quantitative rigor and behavioral insights to help craft relevant human experiences. Willie and his wife currently reside in Humboldt Park, and are avid explorers of the city (especially Logan Square). In his spare time, he can be found cooking, cycling, running, playing (5!) instruments, and traveling (post-COVID).
Jackie Kazarian makes works on paper, paintings, and installations that exist at the intersection of landscape, abstraction, and perception. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally and internationally. She has worked collaboratively with dance companies to create stage designs for dance performances. She served on the board of Links Hall for five years and on the exhibition committee for Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Kazarian has organized many community-based projects over the years, including those for Refugee One, EarthHeart Foundation, and Art In My Backyard. As an art envoy for the U.S. State Department, she has exhibited and led painting workshops in Syria and Kuwait. Kazarian taught painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She received an MFA from SAIC and BS from Duke University.
Sara Slawnik (President) is the Director of Programs at 3Arts, a nonprofit that supports artists working in the performing, teaching, and visual arts in the Chicago metropolitan area. In her role she oversees all 3Arts programs, including awards, project support, residency fellowships, professional development, and promotional initiatives. Prior to 3Arts, Sara was Deputy Director of the Chicago Artists Coalition, Program Director at the Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago, and held positions in development at The Renaissance Society, The Drawing Center in New York City, and The Archives of American Art. She earned a BA in the History of Art from the University of Michigan and lives in Logan Square with her husband.
Laura Vichick (Treasurer) is a digital marketer at William Blair where she is responsible for developing, managing, and analyzing firm-wide digital marketing initiatives. Prior to living and working in her hometown, Chicago, Laura ventured east. She earned her B.A. in History & Communications from Boston College before moving to New York to join the New Business Marketing Acquisition team at Smithsonian magazine. She has a M.A. in Visual Culture from the University of Westminster in London where she developed her deep respect and appreciation for the visual arts. Laura lives in Logan Square and has found ways to stay connected to the arts through local organizations. She previously served on the board of The Space Movement Project and has been volunteering with Comfort Station since 2013. Laura can often be found walking her dog, Marilla, around Palmer Square Park and eating baked feta at Lula Café.
Adrian Wong was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois in 1980. Originally trained in research psychology (receiving a Master’s degree from Stanford University in 2003), he began making and exhibiting work in San Francisco while concurrently conducting experiments on young children. He continued his post-graduate studies at Yale University, where he received an MFA in 2005. Relying heavily on a research based method, his installations, videos, and sculptures draw from varied subjects and explore the intricacies of his relationship to his environment (experientially, historically, culturally, and through the filter of fantastical or fictionalized narratives). These organic and open-ended artifacts of his process often involve a collaborative engagement with subjects. Wong has been based in Hong Kong since 2005, where he is the co-founder and director of Embassy Projects, an arts consultancy and independent production studio. His recent exhibitions include the traveling exhibition “Troglodyte See the Light,” “A Passion for Creation” for the Louis Vuitton Fondation pour la Création, and “Hong Kong Eye” at the Saatchi Gallery. His videos have been screened at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Bangkok Experimental Film Festival, and Kunsthalle Wien. He is the winner of the 2013-2014 Sovereign Asian Art Prize. And his work is included in the Uli Sigg Collection (Lucerne), the Dominique and Sylvain Levy Collection (Paris), the Kadist Foundation Collection (San Francisco), Hong Kong Museum of Art (Hong Kong), M+ Museum Collection (Hong Kong), and the private collections of William Lim (Hong Kong), Honus Tandijono (Hong Kong), and Hallam Chow (Hong Kong) among others.