Work In Context

Homeroom Chicago

Work in Context: The Cliff Dwellers Sessions is an interview podcast series celebrating Chicago creatives — their histories, work, methodologies, principles, ambitions, and more. Hosted by Chicago author Richard Reeder, conversations take place in a casual setting in front of the fireplace at The Cliff Dwellers, a private club for members engaged in or supportive of the arts, located in downtown Chicago. 

Episodes

  1. Oct 22 ·  Video

    The Art of Community with Selina Trepp

    In this episode, Richard sits down with Selina to discuss her interdisciplinary art practice.  Selina Trepp is a Swiss/American artist researching economy and improvisation. For Trepp, finding a balance between the intuitive and the conceptual is a goal. She works across media and space combining performance, installation, painting, and sculpture to create intricate setups that result in photos, drawings and animations. In addition to her studio-based work, Trepp is active in the experimental music scene. In this context she sings and plays the videolah, creating projected animations in real-time as visual music. She performs with a varying cast of collaborators and as one half of Spectralina. Richard Reeder was born and raised in Chicago and continues to live in the Chicago area with his wife Anne. Educated in the Chicago public schools, he has two degrees from Roosevelt University. His multifaceted career included working as a caseworker, elementary school teacher, employment counselor, research assistant, and as an executive in both government and social service and educational organizations. Richard remains active as a consultant, writer, and adult education facilitator and instructor.

  2. Oct 22 ·  Video

    The Craft of Critique with Lee Bey

    In this episode, Richard sits down with Lee to discuss his journey as a photographer and architecture critic. Lee Bey is architecture critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. He is also author of the much-praised book Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side (Northwestern University Press, 2019), which showcases his architectural photography and social commentary. Bey's photography is also featured in the book, Who is the City For? Architecture, Equity, and the Public Realm in Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2022) by former Chicago Tribune Architecture Critic Blair Kamin. Bey was also the host of the public television special, Building Blocks: The Architecture of Chicago’s South Side, which aired on WTTW in 2023, earning him a 2023  Midwest Emmy nomination. He is the 2021 recipient of Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award. Bey is currently working on a book that documents the architecture of Chicago’s West Side. Richard Reeder was born and raised in Chicago and continues to live in the Chicago area with his wife Anne. Educated in the Chicago public schools, he has two degrees from Roosevelt University. His multifaceted career included working as a caseworker, elementary school teacher, employment counselor, research assistant, and as an executive in both government and social service and educational organizations. Richard remains active as a consultant, writer, and adult education facilitator and instructor.

  3. Oct 5 ·  Video

    The Grit of Brick with Will Quam

    In this episode, Richard sits down with Will to explore how brick informs the landscape of Chicago and discuss Will's architectural photography practice.  Will Quam is an architecture photographer and historian. He has been described as “Chicago’s premiere brick expert” by Geoffrey Baer of PBS Chicago and through his project Brick of Chicago he has led more than 10,000 Chicagoans and tourists on brick walking tours of the city. His tours have been voted the second best tour in Chicago by the Chicago Reader, and his work has been featured in such outlets as the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg CityLab, NPR’s Marketplace, Block Club Chicago, Preservation Magazine, and more. His book Fire and Clay: How Brick Reveals the Hidden History of Chicago was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2026.  Richard Reeder was born and raised in Chicago and continues to live in the Chicago area with his wife Anne. Educated in the Chicago public schools, he has two degrees from Roosevelt University. His multifaceted career included working as a caseworker, elementary school teacher, employment counselor, research assistant, and as an executive in both government and social service and educational organizations. Richard remains active as a consultant, writer, and adult education facilitator and instructor.

  4. Sep 28 ·  Video

    The Art of Play with Cristal Sabbagh

    In this episode, Richard talks with Cristal about the role improvisation plays in her creative process, from movement and fine art to teaching. Cristal Sabbagh’s interdisciplinary practice includes traditional portraiture, ceramics, and performance. While movement is the spine of her practice and the core that all her other work emanates from, intentional spontaneity, reverence, and bliss are threads woven throughout.  Sabbagh’s performance practice, rooted in improvisation and Butoh, walks a line between the everyday, the divine, the personal, and the political. In embodying in her art transformational memories while simultaneously celebrating pop culture and the experimental, she challenges power structures and awakens viewers’ senses. Working both in a solo capacity and with collaborators, Sabbagh is equally attuned to individual perspectives and collective structures.  In various configurations, these collaborators have regularly engaged in improvised performances, opening up new avenues for Sabbagh’s material and conceptual exploration. Cristal has found that working with live improvised music has inspired her best work, which has become vital to her practice.  She is currently curating and performing in Freedom From and Freedom To as an opportunity to combine most of her creative interests in a risk-taking and vulnerable way. It uses an ensemble of dancers and improvising musicians that are remarkably diverse in their approaches to dance, instrumentation, and backgrounds.  In 2021 Cristal was awarded a 3Arts / Make a Wave Artist grant, and in 2023 she was awarded an Individual Artists Program grant from DCASE. In January of 2025 Cristal was included in New City’s Top 50 Players issue: People Who Really Perform in Chicago, in their Dance category. Richard Reeder was born and raised in Chicago and continues to live in the Chicago area with his wife Anne. Educated in the Chicago public schools, he has two degrees from Roosevelt University. His multifaceted career included working as a caseworker, elementary school teacher, employment counselor, research assistant, and as an executive in both government and social service and educational organizations. Richard remains active as a consultant, writer, and adult education facilitator and instructor.

    The Art of Play with Cristal Sabbagh
  • 4 Episodes

About

Work in Context: The Cliff Dwellers Sessions is an interview podcast series celebrating Chicago creatives — their histories, work, methodologies, principles, ambitions, and more. Hosted by Chicago author Richard Reeder, conversations take place in a casual setting in front of the fireplace at The Cliff Dwellers, a private club for members engaged in or supportive of the arts, located in downtown Chicago. 

Information

  • Creator
    Homeroom Chicago
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Work In Context
  • Show Website
    Work In Context