COMING INTO VIEW: NIU MFA Exhibition

COMING INTO VIEW: NIU MFA Exhibition  Opening Reception Fri.  Mar 31, 5-8pm

Coming into View showcases the thesis work of three MFA graduate students who are currently finishing up their final semester at Northern Illinois University. The artists—Rachel Beer, Alex Bridges, and E.A. Stuart— are thrilled to present this exhibition that represents three years of research, exploration, and discovery.

Rachel’s practice combines the lively qualities of monotype and woodblock printing with the delicate mark-making of graphite and lithography. Through her research she navigates a world of concrete while searching for the ruptures where softer ways of living can emerge. In her work she examines how the rigid structures that surround her have become internalized within while also considering how to nurture the cracks that are beginning to form.

Alex’s work investigates the relationship of our accessible conscious mind in conjunction with our unconscious beneath the surface. Combining lithography and collagraph printmaking techniques is her avenue for visualizing a distorted reality. An invitation is made for the viewer to experience the work from a distance, then finding new details once stepping closer. By working intuitively and keeping a balance between conscious decision-making and natural response, there is a collaboration which happens between the work and the artist.

E.A. Stuart’s practice examines how spaces, real or virtual affect how the individual perceives themselves and present that image to the world about them. Furthermore, as time passes and spaces transform, how that public persona is altered to adapt to these changes. Through the construction of brutalist objects, and then using these forms as models for multiple “portrait” paintings, she creates opportunities to examine the relationship between the objects and individuals from different viewpoints.

In each of their practices, these artists are exploring what’s been hidden and bringing these perspectives into view.

 

Opening Reception, Friday, March 31, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: March 30 – April 22, 2023
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

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David Bechtol

David Bechtol: THROUGH THE EYES OF A TRAVELER  Opening Reception Fri.  Mar 3, 5-8pm

This expansive imagery was selected over the last several decades from travels to Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, Paris, and several majestic locations in Canada. Included are Inkjet wall print panorama installations, running 4 feet by 12 feet, custom printed by the artist.  These are taken hand-held and are stitched involving up to 30 images in a single photo. David remarks: “Each image captured attempts to take the viewer on a journey, to transport them to that place of wonder and grandeur as I experienced it.”

Photography has been a dedication and integral part of his life for over 50 years.  He is a self-taught photographer. David has an Engineering Degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

His work history includes 31 years with the Hyatt Corporation as a Senior Computer Scientist/IT.  He is a member and Treasurer of the Chicago Society of Artists (CSA), his fine art photographs are included in “The Legacy Continues: The Chicago Society of Artists.”  His photo silk screens are in the major portfolios, “Illinois” and “Route 66”.  A member of the PSA, Photographic Society of America; Co-producer/Photographer with Shadow Bechtol Studio’s  indie films, listed in IMDb, and most notably, “This is Indian Land~Okee-Chee’s Vision”, which premiered at the American Indian Center of Chicago, and is in the collection of the Newberry Library. David’s exhibition record includes shows at August House Studio, ARC Gallery, Lost Artist Colony, and Trickster Gallery.  His photography received the Editor’s Choice Award from Art & Beyond Magazine.

 

Opening Reception, Friday, March 3, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: March 2 – 24, 2023
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

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Nancy Bechtol

Nancy Bechtol: no RAIN no RAINBOWS    Opening Reception Fri.  Mar 3, 5-8pm

no RAIN no RAINBOWS is a Hawaiian saying, and indeed has deep meaning universally. Art has Social Impact and saves lives. Welcome to my self -curated show.

Ideally, the pain, the rain, the difficult times yield to the earned results, visionary colorful, kaleidoscopic lights of personal achievements. Past. Present. Future collides.

If done right, we get there standing on the shoulders of giants that came before us and show gratitude. Tribute to Don Baum,  Painting Class with Imagists in 2 years at Roosevelt University; and Mentored by Phil Morton, Time Arts/Video Founder, MFA 84, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

If done right, we get to hold hands with others to help them to their goals and achieve too.

To speak of the highlights of this show, creating a multitude of art images, over 50 years, in multiple formats — Surprises me.  The Pandemic gave me time to pause and reconsider my art history. The volumes of work I created, no matter what my “real job” was, daily life influenced me.  The indie/art films, fine art media from an array of materials (everything is a crayon) acting and interacting in social-political arenas for 12 years as a Photojournalist.  Here are a few of my favorite things over the years. Believe me, the Studio carries enough to fill a museum. Sending this out to the universe…

 

Opening Reception, Friday, March 3, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: March 2 – 24, 2023
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

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COLOR

COLOR   Opening Reception Fri.  Feb 3, 5-8pm

JUROR: Ann Rintz – Art Gallery and Permanent Collection Curator of the Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art at the College of Lake County, Grayslake. IL.

COLOR 

Color is one of the most exciting elements of art. It personifies beauty, expresses emotion, and creates a mood. The power of color has a profound effect on the viewer. It’s one of the first ways we learn to decipher the world around us. Color can sway thinking, and cause reactions both joyful and extreme. Color can seem absolute, but it shifts and changes.

Artists manipulate color to turn our perceptions on their heads; to challenge our understanding of reality. Color is magical. Color is cultural. Color is symbolic. Color signifies. How do our interpretations of color affect our perceptions? Our prejudices? Our stereotypes? Does color reflect the racial, social, and political forces shaping our communities? The LGBTQ community, for example, has taken the rainbow of all colors for their symbol of strength and unity.

This exhibition considers artists’ relationship to color, and shares the ways in which they experience and celebrate it. It honors color and its vibrant expressions. Join us in the gallery for an exploration and celebration of color!

Exhibiting Artists: James Ackerman, Angelus, Andrew Arkell, Leslie Bellavance, Louise Boruque, James Bowden, Annelise Bronsveld, Owen Brown, Thomas Celewicz, Laura Cerf-Dahl, Cristina Chopalli, Leisa Corbett, Chantal Danyluk, Debra Davis-Crabbe, Erica Dincalci, Amel Dockery, Emily Dormier, Tom Duffy, David Feingold, Mary Fosrer, Iris Goldstein, Michael Goss, Cait Hardie, Freddy Hovey, Jeannine Hunter Lazzaro, Laurel Izard, Katsy Johnson, Claire B. Jones, Donna June Katz, Chanhee Kim, Jamie Kost, Ginny Krueger, Ashe Laughlin, Laurie LeBreton, Michael Litewski, David Lozano, Justice Macklin, Monika Malewska, Susan Marx, Doug McAbee, Amanda Mulcahy, Mesoma Onyeagba, Denise Presnell, Letitia Quesenberry, David Reninger, Amy Renzulli, Patrick Schmidt, Simone Scigousky, Edwin Shelton, Judith Shepelak, Matthew Shirrell, Gaby Silva Bavio, Katherine Skwira-Brown, Constance Volk, Connor Young, John Zilewicz

About the Curator:
Ann Rintz is the Art Gallery and Permanent Collection Curator of the Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. Ann attended Northern Illinois University and earned both a Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing and installation art in which the curriculum included foreign study of contemporary art and design in England and France. She is a fine artist and college art professor. Her fine art exhibition history encompasses galleries in Chicago including one-person shows at ARC Gallery, Gallery 1633 and the Pilsen Arts Invitational. On a personal level, Ann celebrates visual grace and is dedicated to the propagation of all beautiful things.

Opening Reception, Friday, February 3, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: Feb 2 – 25, 2022
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

RESOLUTE

RESOLUTE:  Opening Reception Fri. January 6, 5-8pm

Opposition only strengthens the resolute.
Time makes the resolute more persistent.

To be resolute is to feel the force of an idea and to remain dedicated despite what crumbles and grows around it. Dedication is measured by painstaking increments of effort over sustained periods. The resolute take every chance to memorialize and preserve each small gain, to perpetuate their own survival.

In this first month of 2023, ARC kicks off its 50th year with a celebration of the spirit of determination that got us here. We are, and have been for 50 years, a women’s cooperative not-for-profit art gallery run by artists themselves. Our time, money, sweat, organization and talents have kept the doors open for 5 decades. Through sustained work and dedication, ARC will continue to be a community anchor for artists sidelined by the traditional art world system.

Resolute features artwork by the current members of ARC who work daily together to run the gallery. Each piece interprets what it means to be resolute in the here and now, with the deepest respect for all of the brilliant women artists who came before us.

Participating Members: Sessah DelaRue –  Nancy Fritz – Stacy Lee Gee – Iris Goldstein – Diane Jurado – Beth LeFauve – Elyse Martin – Ruti Modlin – Cheri Reif Naselli – Randi Shepard – Lee Stanton – Michele Stutts – Michelle Williams

 

Opening Reception, Friday, January 6, 5:00 – 8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: Jan 5 – 28, 2023
  • Gallery hours: Thurs & Fri 2-6 pm,  Sat & Sun 12-4 pm  

Cait Hardie

STILLSCAPES  Opening Reception Fri.  Jan 6, 5-8pm

There is something about travel that leads to a particular way of seeing. In a new place, the mind is fresh and open; our senses are heightened. We notice things that we might have overlooked in our everyday life. Certain things stand out – color, structure, direction, patterns – as the mind seeks to make sense of the unfamiliar.

Travel involves an act of imagination, when our curiosity of another place gives us a window into a life that isn’t our own. The making of art can take us further along that path, as lived experience is transformed into the imaginary.

Inspired by travels in Japan and Hong Kong, these pieces embrace the speed, the noisy and chaotic in the urban landscape, while finding the order, quiet and stillness within them.

Cait Hardie was born in Australia, and educated in Australia and the United States. She lives in Chicago.

 

Opening Reception, Friday, January 6, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: Jan 5 – 28, 2023
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

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Charlie Goss

FACES OF 2022  Opening Reception Fri.  Dec 2, 5-8pm

Faces of 2022 is a collection of modern portraits representing Charlie Goss’ take on tonalism and impressionism.

 

 

Opening Reception, Friday, December 2, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: Nov 26 –  Dec 17, 2022
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

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Pamela Sloan

BATS TO BUTTERFLIES: ART OF THE CHICAGO WILDERNESS  Opening Reception Fri.  Dec 2, 5-8pm

It’s odd to think “Chicago” and “Wilderness” in the same breath. The concept of a Chicago Wilderness seems contrary to the concrete and steel grid that defines our dazzling magnificent city.  And yet a wilderness persists, albeit vastly fragmented and depleted from its earlier form. More complex than most of us realize, we depend on it to maintain fresh water, flood control, agriculture, and breathable air. Migrating animals depend on it for their yearly journeys across the planet. Many of us retreat to it, as we must.

A native Chicagoan, my art focuses on animals and plants of the Chicago Wilderness with intention to educate via the artists’ process.  The more we know, the more responsibility we have to maintain, restore, and resolve the complexities of coexisting within a necessarily biodiverse environment.

All original art is for sale. For those who prefer to spend less, fine art signed-edition prints are available for each image.  50% of all sales go towards conservation organizations.

 

 

Opening Reception, Friday, December 2, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: Nov 26 –  Dec 17, 2022
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

Randi Shepard

WEATHERING  Opening Reception Fri.  Dec 2, 5-8pm

Ten years ago a tragedy occurred which changed the course of my sister’s life. So many of us whose lives she touched with her love and generosity are still scrambling to fill the voids created by this loss.

Plans were hijacked, dreams shattered, and futures altered. She can no longer comfort us with her words, offer advice or encouragement, be our advocate, give us self-confidence or validation, accompany us around the world, or cuddle our babies in her arms.

This work is intended to celebrate my sister, who always brought happiness to others, even if only as a brief distraction from their own tragedies. It is an attempt to call out what we take for granted, and acknowledge that which requires appreciation, while there is still time.

 

Opening Reception, Friday, December 2, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: Nov 26 –  Dec 17, 2022
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

Adriana Miranda

DOMESHTICK  Opening Reception Fri.  Oct 28, 5-8pm

Adriana Miranda was born in Phoenix, AZ and moved to Oak Park, IL with her family at age five.

Adriana expressed her creative prowess early in life through music and art. Adriana’s coming-of-age involved Basquiat, her father’s house music expertise, her love for learning, and lots of video games. Her adulthood has been shaped by the chance to reclaim her childhood through parenting. Today, Adriana is working to make a statement in the fine art industry about the power of memory and letting go.

Opening Reception, Friday, October 28, 5:00-8:00pm

  • Exhibition dates: Oct 27 –  Nov 19, 2022
  • Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

 

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.