Join us for a challenging new opening
Friday, July 24 from 6-9 pm   

Is what-you-see always what-you-get? In these three exhibits, artists Granite Palombo-Amit, Laura Blaker and Inbal Palombo-Amit present us with visuals that may make us question whether things are really as they first seem. And that perhaps we will want to give our environment a second look.

Exhibition dates: July 22 through August 15, 2015  Gallery hours: Wed to Sat 12-6 pm, and Sun. 12-4 pm

AS+IF+ISM is a fable of human struggle to awaken from a constant state of dreaming, whether it is a night dream or a day dream. When one starts to awaken, one understands that every encounter, whether pleasant or not, whether in a night dream or day dream, is an appointed meeting that aims at transformation and growth. Challenges and conflicts, revealed as people or events, are considered messengers and deliverers (in Hebrew, both are alternative names for angels). Though these appointed encounters might evoke pain, they are released and forgiven eventually, and considered with a newly acquired sense of humbleness- “Lessons with wings”.

As it was said – “This world, juxtaposed  to the world to come, is likened  to the sleeping one encountering the awakened.”  

Granite  Palombo-Amit is a  member at ARC gallery, she is an interdisciplinary artist and a therapist who initiates  outreach projects concerning social and political issues, which she connects to broader more general questions of humanity and the human condition. Granite Palombo-Amit  integrates her training as a therapist and exhibits and performs with her clients. Currently she is a Rabbinical student at Hebrew Seminary for the Deaf and Hearing.

This exhibition is the artistic component of her Thesis, which focuses on Jewish mystical perception of “awakening”.

Join us for a challenging new opening
Friday, July 24 from 6-9 pm   

Is what-you-see always what-you-get? In these three exhibits, artists Granite Palombo-Amit, Laura Blaker and Inbal Palombo-Amit present us with visuals that may make us question whether things are really as they first seem. And that perhaps we will want to give our environment a second look.

Exhibition dates: July 22 through August 15, 2015  Gallery hours: Wed to Sat 12-6 pm, and Sun. 12-4 pm

explores themes of self-representation and memory as a fluid, constantly-evolving and constantly-relevant experience. The two artists of this show, Mike and Dave, represent their lives through drawings and paintings, choosing vignettes from their lives that helped form who they are today–two individuals who are constantly pushing back against the stereotypes of disability by independently representing their own narrative. In Art of Our Life, Mike and Dave represent themselves through a subjective, creative, memory-excavating process. The emphasis of the show is not based on an autobiographical true/false binary but is giving space for self-expression, self-healing, subjectivity and self-representation to two artists who are constantly working to defined themselves beyond the parameters that an ableist society has set.

Inbal Palombo-Amit is a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her practice is inherently interdisciplinary and centered around questioning the status quo. She has been volunteering and interning at The Arts of Life since 2012 and has since then formed a strong bond with Mike and Dave and all the artists in the studio.

Join us for a challenging new opening
Friday, July 24 from 6-9 pm   

Is what-you-see always what-you-get? In these three exhibits, artists Granite Palombo-Amit, Laura Blaker and Inbal Palombo-Amit present us with visuals that may make us question whether things are really as they first seem. And that perhaps we will want to give our environment a second look.

Exhibition dates: July 22 through August 15, 2015  Gallery hours: Wed to Sat 12-6 pm, and Sun. 12-4 pm

Between the Shadows explores the play of light and color in nature and architecture. Blaker uses an exaggerated color pallet contrasted against darkness to reveal the beauty around and through objects. This strangely creates a feeling of calm amongst the chaos of color and texture.

Blaker’s impasto technique using bold strokes of the pallet knife creates a painting style that is impressionistic almost on the verge of abstract. She works up from black, starting with a red under painting, building texture, which balances the light and expressive color with the healthy weight and depth of the shadows.

Juried by Aron Packer of the Packer Shopf Gallery

OPENING: Friday, June 27 from 6-9pm
EXHIBITION DATES: June 24 – July 18, 2015

Drawing

The first and most basic skill an artist learns. A medium steeped in tradition and transcendent of that tradition. A skill that has moved certainly beyond pencil and paper, yet no matter what, still the first and most central element of all two dimensional art works. This exhibition is an exploration and celebration of Drawing.

Juried by Aron Packer, work has been selected showing a range of works utilizing this most essential of an artist’s skills. All traditional drawing mediums were considered, including oil and canvas, in addition to all subject matters. Forty-one national and international artists, with work ranging from landscape to abstraction, will be on display through the month of July 2015. Two honorable mentions and one Best in Show have been selected for awards.

About the Juror

Aron Packer started collecting folk art by osmosis. His parents owned the antique quilt gallery The Wild Goose Chase. He was always more interested in the odder material — hand carved canes, original tattoo drawings, sideshow banners, African American quilts, and more. That in turn led to being a dealer in American folk art. After years of selling folk art at antique shows, Packer decided he would curate shows in his own apartment. Through his travels he has sought out unknown folk and/or outsider artists that have more interesting talent than many of the typical names. After creating a small network of collectors interested in his vision, he began to include contemporary artists. He has owned and operated a permanent gallery spaces in Chicago since 1999. Currently, in his largest space to date, he continues with Packer Schopf Gallery at 942 West Lake Street on Chicago.

Exhibiting artists

Gerry Bannan, Mariel Bayona, Victoria Bein, Oliver Benson, Lucas Bianchi, Kaye Buchman, Deborah Bryan, Laura Cerf-Dahl, Jennifer Cronin, Rebecca Ebben, Jessica May Escorcia, Haley Farthing, Ghislaine Fermaux, Samantha Haring, Kimberly Heacock, Heidi Jensen, Millicent Kennedy, Homa Hosseinian Amir Khiz , Michael Koerner, Rene Leighty, Miles Lewis, Anne Lindberg, Peggy Macnamara, Michael Mahoney, Gwen Manfrin, John Metido, Ray Michalski, Zach Mory, Jack Nixon, Marianic Parra Ra, Nathan Pietrykowski, Courtney Porto, Darcy Rosenberger, Thom Sawyer, Irena Siwek, Masha Batool Sorooshnia, Keith Taylor, Jac Tilton, Katarzyna Tomaszewska, Mary Wagner, and Jere Williams