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

A.I.R. Gallery, NY presents “The Body in Revue” at ARC Gallery through June 20, 2015. Following is an essay by Lynne Warren, curator of the exhibition:

There has long been a bond between the women artists of New York and Chicago. In the 1960s as the feminist movement began to influence thought and politics and in the early 1970s as inroads were being made into the arts, women artists in both cities shared a common cause—a critical lack of opportunities to get their ideas out into the world through exhibiting their artworks. Out of networking (especially through the activities of the West-East Bag, or WEB), information exchange, and a desire for change, in September 1972 A.I.R. Gallery (Artists in Residence, Inc.) opened as the first artist-run cooperative to exhibit women artists in America. And in part as a result of the exchanges between New York and Chicago, ARC (Artists, Residents of Chicago) opened exactly one year later. Although accused by traditionalists defending the male-dominated bastion of the fine arts of offering “dabblers” undeserved opportunities, in Chicago ARC allowed a generation of women artists finally to have a voice. A.I.R., founded by a number of pioneering and now nationally and internationally significant female artists, had less overt skepticism to face, perhaps, but it was not easy to be a woman artist in the 1970s in either city. Both galleries have persevered now for over forty years, providing supportive resources for literally hundreds of women in the difficult enterprise that is a career in the arts. And while times have changed, sadly the underrepresentation of women artists is still endemic in many artworld venues. As an expression of this reality, and the strong bond that exists between the two galleries, A.I.R. arranged for an exhibition at their sister institution ARC and asked me to curate a show of the current members. Of the over one hundred works submitted by the twenty-three artists, I have chosen twenty-five pieces, including sculpture, painting, drawings, photography, and various printmaking media. It became immediately apparent that the body was a major motif in many of the submissions; I thus chose the body as the organizing concept. There are works that clearly present the body: the doll-like imagery of Liz Biddle; the darkly reworked comic strips of Francie Shaw; the compelling cast-paper sculpture of Louise McCagg. A rather malevolent figure peeks out of Daria Dorosh’s corner piece; a nude woman drawn in dramatic perspective from above reaches her imploring hand toward the viewer in Cynthia Karasek’s drawing. There are negative and positive profiles presented against geometric shapes in Catherine Mosley’s work; legs and a face surface in richly layered montage of imagery by Joan Snitzer. Barbara Siegel’s mixed media collage combines the human visage with natural forms.

And then there are the works that insinuate the body: a face emerges from Jayanthi Moothy’s abstract, linear forms. The garlands of forms in Sylvia Netzer’s whimsical India ink drawing form a delightfully silly face. The blurred, richly colored forms in Maxine Henryson’s photograph can be seen as side-by-side robed figures. Similarly, Luisa Sartori’s frieze of old-fashioned streetlamps have some of the anthropomorphic feeling of the bewitched brooms in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice section of Disney’s Fantasia. Other works refer more obliquely to the body: Ann Pachner’s print featuring hypnotic, radiating color patterns is titled Abundant Heart and calls to mind both the physical beating and emotional emanations of that vital organ. Elisabeth Munro Smith’s abstract painting, All gone, with its cuplike shape and title evokes a baby (although it also calls to mind more adult concerns given the trickle of black that falls out of the shape). Even those works that do not depict or insinuate the body allude to it. The bow-like shapes of Erica Stoller’s scrap-plastic tubing sculptures are human scale and therefore evoke tools or instruments of some sort. Nancy Storrow’s hypnotic rendering of whirled lines and forms seems a metaphor for the tornado of emotions that can beset us. Jane Swavely’s poetic painting Hudson River June trip #1 reveals the viewpoint of an individual standing, observing a particular, and seemingly much-loved, landscape. Several works allude to the body by presenting images of houses and domestic items. Ann Schaumburger uses the most basic form of the house in diminutive but insistent geometric abstractions. Julia Westerbeke presents a viscous substance oozing out of an electrical socket in a disturbing vignette of small, everyday things gone wrong. Laura Petrovich-Cheney’s Block by Block assembles bits of recycled wood into a colorful, abstracted map of a neighborhood, the title a delightful double entendre. Kathleen Schneider’s Rosette III, a colorful mandala of flower-like forms, evokes a charming formal garden. Bodies other than human are also present: Yvette Drury Dubinsky fashions a lovely flow of forms that features fish and frogs ‘swimming’ in the blue offered by the technique of cyanotype. And finally, Mary Sweeney’s poignant White Bees, a resin rendering of dead bees, reminds us of our own mortality in evoking bleached bones, and in the consequences we human can rain down on the other creatures of the earth. It is not surprising a group of women might focus on the body and various implications of the body. “The Body in Revue” with this particular spelling is meant to evoke a showing, a parade of artworks, but it also should call to mind a review, a re-seeing. The works of the artist-members of A.I.R. have a collective weight as certainly as each artist has a unique and expertly expressed vision.

5/27/2015 to 6/20/2015

Join us for our Opening

Friday, May 29  from 6-9 pm

The Body in Revue is reflected by works that clearly present the body: doll-like imagery, darkly reworked comic strips, compelling sculptures of cast-paper. Sometimes a rather malevolent figure peeks out of a corner piece; a nude woman drawn in dramatic perspective from above reaches her imploring hand toward the viewer. There are negative and positive profiles presented against geometric shapes, as well as legs and a face surface in richly layered montage of imagery. A mixed media collage combines the human visage with natural forms.

And then there are the works that insinuate the body: a face emerges from ab- stract, linear forms, garlands of forms in a whimsical India ink drawing form a de- lightfully silly face and blurred, richly colored forms in a photograph can be seen as side-by-side robed figures. Similarly, a frieze of old-fashioned streetlamps have some of the anthropomorphic feeling of the bewitched brooms in the Sor- cerer’s Apprentice section of Disney’s Fantasia while other works refer more obliquely to the body: a print featuring hypnotic, radiating color patterns which calls to mind both the physical beating and emotional emanations of that vital organ.

Curated by Lynne Warren, Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago

Participating A.I.R. artists:

Liz Biddle, Daria Dorosh, Yvette Drury Dubinsky, Cynthia Karasek, Maxine Henryson, Louise McCagg, Jayanthi Moorthy, Catherine Mosley, Sylvia Netzer, Ann Pachner, Laura Petrovich-Cheney, Luisa Sartori, Ann Schaumburger, Kathleen Schneider, Francie Shaw, Barbara Siegel, Elisabeth Munro Smith, Joan Snitzer, Erica Stoller, Nancy Storrow, Jane Swavely, Mary Sweeney and Julia Westerbeke

5/27/2015 to 6/20/2015

Join us for our Opening

Friday, May 29  from 6-9 pm

The fiber installation, pensee, investigates the physical manifestations of thought; the process, the dynamics, and an inquiry into how those various manifestations appear in a dimensional visual form. Demonstrating a longtime interest in what’s behind our eyes, Reif Naselli plays with various materials in an attempt to illicit the viewers’ visceral response to the imagery and materials.

4/29/2015 to 5/23/2015

Join us for our Opening

Friday, May 1  from 6-9 pm

Film photographer, Kenneth Don, has spent most of his life living the visual and emotional impact of agriculture and dust storms of West Texas along with a deep family connection. Always camera-in-hand, Don shoots film with a passion and desire for the art of photography and the beauty of life. Acutely aware of his surroundings, he conveys, through this photographic expression, his world and his emotions during this journey.

In his exhibit, Transcending the Realm of One-Dimensional Thinking, his images depict the state of mind and the language of his emotions. Every image is a self portrait. The composition of his artwork comes from psychological and physical extremes and conditions that play on every human sense and evoke a visual and cerebral language.These images are captured in a straightforward manner, there’s no contrived theme, there’s no documentary and there’s no planning– they are not about conveying the literal truth of the subject, but more the personal interpretation of the subject.

4/29/2015 to 5/23/2015

Join us for our Opening

Friday, May 1 from 6-9 pm

George Tantchev

Performance at 7:30 on Friday
He will play: IMPROVISATIONS ON AUTENTHIC PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS

Born in a family of professional musicians George first began studying piano at the age of 6 and percussion at 8 with Dobri Paliev and graduated from the State Music Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1995. In 1998 he earned his Masters of Music at Ithaca College, NY, with Gordon Stout and was awarded Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Oklahoma in 2004 where he studied with Richard Gipson.

Since 2010 he has been performing and conducting various orchestras in Chicago and the North Shore. Most currently George performs and conducts his Chicago Soloist Orchestra, featuring soloists and singers in one of a kind entertaining show program of pop, ragtime, world, and classical standards in the style of Andre Rieu with percussion in the forefront.

Since 2005 George serves as Director of the Northfield School of Music serving Chicago and the North Shore offering quality music instruction:Drum lessons, Guitar lessons, Piano lessons, Violin lessons, and all band and orchestra instruments. Those looking at picking up a new string instrument may want to check out beginner cellos to get started with.

As an artist in residence a year ago, Kina Bagvoska accidentally found ancient stones in the medieval city of Auzits, France. It led her to paint forty ritual figures on stones completely in contrast to the figures she painted on raw silk. Silk or stone, paper or canvas, these media for expression are like platforms of discussion, which ask the questions and search for responses to imbue the matter with insight and spiritual substance. In this exhibit, Lost and Found: as a metaphor of life, she often combines elements of ancient historical layers and turns them into ritual with a new meaning.

4/29/2015 to 5/23/2015

Join us for our Opening

Friday, May 1  from 6-9 pm

Artist’s talk starts at 7 pm

Hollow Lands and Hilly Lands is an exhibit of artwork merging the experience of creating and perceiving patterns of music with other significant life experiences, and in that way, perhaps, providing a testament to the source of music. – W. B. Yeats