Work In Context

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.

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.

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.