Although I was born in Chicago, from a young age I was always hiking through prairies, sandy beaches and forests with my amateur botanist, photographer father looking for rare native plants to identify and photograph. Nature has always been one of my greatest inspirations, but I am deeply worried about it. This collection of paintings and drawings of wild native Midwest flora and fauna appear to be fading away because too many species are threatened and endangered. So, get outside and enjoy nature and her varied habitats before it all gets destroyed and disappears.
Watch “Blue Broad: The Feminist Reframing of Monica Lewinsky in the #metoo Era” by Heather Saunders and Erin Finley:
In January 1973, Roe v Wade dramatically extended women’s options for bodily autonomy. Notwithstanding, women’s bodies remain a battleground – not just around reproductive health, but in myriad other areas, including (but not limited to) decisions around consent, safety, employment and beauty. Roe v Wade faces new threats to its existence – leaving reproductive rights in ever greater peril. Beginning with the policing of women’s bodies, and expanding to examine all forms of body policing and discrimination, ARC will host a juried exhibition in January 2022 to address these themes. Body politics shape the socio-political climate and affect basic human rights, from the #metoo movement and rape culture, to domestic violence, to gender politics, and right down to the politics of hair in the classroom and workplace.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS:
Nelson Armour, Elizabeth Ashe, Jenny Balisle, Bea, K. Johnson Bowles, Danqi Cai, Jeanne Ciravolo, Lauren DeRosa, Abigail Engstrand, Erin Finley, Sarah Fitzgerald, Kate Forer, Ghislaine Fremaux, Elizabeth Hall, Sharon Harper, Lydia Kegler, Delphin Keim, Gina Lee-Robbins, Beth LeFauve, Theresa Lucey, Sally Machlis, Bette McAvoy, Fiona McCargo, Socorro Mucino, Heather Saunders, Suzanna Scott, Randi Shepard, Dafna Steinberg, Li Turner, Darlene Tyree, Kathy Weaver, Gary L. Wolfe, Christine Wuenschel, Tina Ybarra, Alex Younger
ABOUT THE JUROR:
Ginny Sykes is an interdisciplinary artist utilizing performance, video, sculpture, painting, installation, ceramics and more. Her personal and political approach to art incorporates a Jungian and feminist perspective, working with symbol and myth to critique patriarchal codes that have occupied and over-determined artistic content through much of history. Resisting prescriptive and institutional classifications of a universalized female experience, Sykes instead asserts and affirms the complexity of identities women negotiate. She employs a poetic, layered, and visceral aesthetic across the genres of her practice to suggest the transforming and healing potential of art, and to invite new cultural, emotional, and psychological understandings. An example of this is Sykes’s recent project 100 Women: Collaborations Beyond the Veil, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote. Through a photographic and performative lens, 100 diverse women posed for Sykes to create a contemporary visual archive of women on the subject of liberty.
Recent selected exhibitions include Art Performing Festival, Naples, Italy and Forte Marghera, Venice, Italy; Dryphoto Arte Contemporanea, Prato, Italy; Water Tower Art Festival, Soifa, Bulgaria; LACE, Los Angeles, CA; Legler and Woodson Regional Libraries, Chicago; Loyola University Art Museum, Chicago, IL; top Schillerpalais, Berlin, Germany; Saltillo Contemporary, Saltillo, Mexico; Pinacoteca Communale de Arte Contemporanea, Gaeta, Italy; and Can Gelabert Casal de Cultura, Mallorca, Spain.
Sykes has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lill Street Art Center and the Evanston Art Center, and was a teaching artist for twenty five years, including After School Matters and the Illinois Arts Council. She has presented her work at the Jungian Institute International Conference and at the College Art Association Conference. She is a former board and advisory board member with Woman Made Gallery, has been a board member and core artist with the Chicago Public Art Group, and currently serves on the advisory council for the Sam Fox School of Art at Washington University. Sykes has co-created over 40 public artworks, including On the Wings of Water at O’Hare International Airport, and Rora at Erie Terrace on the Chicago River, which received an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. She is recipient of several DCASE grants, a Chicago Percent for Art commission, Ragdale residencies, and Artegiro residency in Conzano, Italy.
Sykes holds an MA in Women Studies and Gender Studies from Loyola University, Chicago, IL, where she received a Community and Global Stewards Fellowship, and has a BFA from Washington University, St Louis, Missouri. She studied painting and art history for three years at Studio Cecil Graves in Florence, Italy. She divides her working life between Chicago, Illinois and Naples, Italy.
Virtual Opening, Saturday, Jan 8, 4:00-6:00pm
Exhibition dates: JAN 6 – 29, 2022
Gallery hours: Thurs & Fri – 2-6 pm, Sat & Sun – 12-4 pm
Laminated Heart: Opening Reception Fri. Dec 3, 5-8pm
my heart broke in silent sound
my tears did not touch the ground
“Laminated Heart” is an internal landscape, directed at no particular audience. A powerful drive to reproduce oneself. A journey that takes you into replications of self that kept me alive. A glance into a biding time revealing memories stolen by the time. A quest for a golden note. A dare to dissect the inner of the unknown without fear.
Opening Reception, Friday, Dec 3, 5:00-8:00pm
Exhibition dates: Nov 27 – Dec 18, 2021
Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm
McHenry County College: Explorations in Photography: Opening Reception Fri. October 1, 5-8pm
This exhibit represents a small sample of the photographic work being produced by first- and second-year students at McHenry County College.
This work was made by students staring to explore the possibilities of the photographic medium. Students employ various strategies to make the work from: exploring the places they live, turning the camera on their friends or themselves, constructing complex tableaux, or using the camera to distort the everyday. The use of photography allows for an unlimited interpretation of subject and form, these are the first attempts by young photographers trying to make their mark.
Exhibiting Artists: Jenna Ahrens, Katy Beam, Matthew Bork, Haley Cleghorn, Janet Devereux, Megan Gurba, Therese Kolodzik, John Rudzena
Instructor: Justin Schmitz
Opening Reception, Friday, Oct 1, 5:00 – 8:00pm
Exhibition dates: Sept 30 – Oct 23, 2021
Gallery hours: Thurs & Fri 2-6 pm, Sat & Sun 12-4 pm
GO MAKE A THING! Opening Reception Fri. Oct 29, 5-8pm
JUROR: Jessica Gondek
Click on the slide show below to see the exhibition.
Free exploration often opens doors to imagination. With tongue in cheek, GO MAKE A THING is interested in play to overcome stress and frustration! This show includes ‘things’ in many different media.
The exhibition will run from October 29 – December 18, 2021.
Gallery hours are: Thursdays & Fridays, 2-6pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12-4pm. Masks for all visitors are required. (Hours subject to change.)
Juror Statement: It was my pleasure to serve as the juror for “Go Make a Thing” which celebrates the nature of artists as makers of objects and things. I thank everyone who entered their work in the exhibition and gave me the privilege to consider it. In jurying the exhibition, I began to see relationships emerge, and in the end, I selected 28 pieces from 15 artists. Below I touch on some relationships particularly enjoyed.
Michelle Stutts’ creative work embodies the essence of “Go Make a Thing” in that she continually transforms and transports objects to recreate them as in her work, Sinner Saint. She turns an animal’s vertebrae into an active figure ready to embrace the world. The Green and Orange Baccarat Bunnies by Liz Callahan sparkle, reflecting the color of their surroundings, elevating this common crystal figurine into a vivid object of wonder. Anarchy in the Garden by Judith Shepelak presents a luminous color pencil drawing where an abstract botanic scene comes to life. Shown in proximity to this drawing are Eia Radosavljevic’s sculptures Corner Hive and Copia that seem to have been extracted from the neighboring garden and taking root in our gallery. Ester and Josephine by Doug McAbee are a playful pair of opposites that complement each other not only in color but also in their physical attributes. Ester is lanky and tall while Josephine is short and grounded. Hop Scotch and Daydreamer by Jill Kolker are luminous works transporting the viewer to distant yet fleeting childhood memories.
I hope you appreciate the exhibition and explore the dialogue that is created between these artists and their works.
About the Juror:
Jessica Gondek is an artist/teacher living in the Chicago area. She received her M.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, and her B.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Loyola University Chicago and teaches drawing and painting in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts.
Ms. Gondek has received a number of prestigious awards recognizing her creative work over the years. Notable are the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Artist Grant, a Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts Grant, and a Mid-America Arts Alliance National Endowment for the Arts Grant.
Ms. Gondek has been recognized with a number of international artist residency awards. She has been an artist in residence at the Can Serrat International Art Center in Spain, and at the Frans Masereel Center in Belgium.
Jessica Gondek has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and is represented in many public collections. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Northern Illinois University Art Museum, the Loyola University Museum of Art, the Butler Institute of American Art Beecher Center.
Ms. Gondek is a member of ARC Gallery and Educational Foundation and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago.
Opening Reception, Friday, Oct 29, 5:00-8:00pm
Exhibition dates: OCT 29 – DEC 18, 2021
Gallery hours: Thurs & Fri – 2-6 pm, Sat & Sun – 12-4 pm
My work endeavors to blur the distinction between hand and machine. The title of the exhibition, Ironmades, is a nod to the early 20th Century Dada movement engaged with machinery and readymades. As an artist, I continue building on this tradition to bring it into the digital era of the 21st Century as our relationship with technology continues.
The forms I explore are inspired by vintage domestic utilitarian machines and gadgets I have collected as well as related trade catalogues, advertisements, blueprints, and patent drawings. Digital manipulations derived from these source materials lay a foundation that launches their evolution. The drawing medium allows for both transparency and mutability between layers of information. The mechanical forms within these compositions are simultaneously transformed casting off their intended function and asserting an animated physical presence and internal narrative that allows me to explore a multitude of dualities: male vs female, hand vs machine, organic vs mechanical, playful vs menacing, analog vs digital, and functional vs dysfunctional.
Opening Reception, Friday, Oct 29, 5:00-8:00pm
Exhibition dates: Oct 28 – Nov 20, 2021
Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm
ARC Members’ Silent Auction: thru Saturday, September 25 ,7pm
Work donated by gallery members is included in a Silent Auction that ends on September 25, 7pm, during the West Town Art Walk. Visit the gallery and place your bid for an opportunity to collect artwork from its talented and diverse membership!
Participating Members: Laura Cloud – Abigail Engstrand – Nancy Fritz – Iris Goldstein – Cait Hardie – Beth LeFauve – Elyse Martin – Ruti Modlin – Randi Shepard – Lee Stanton – Michele Stutts – Michelle Williams
Affiliate Members: Kina Bagovska – Nancy Bechtol – Monica J. Brown – Esther Charbit – Kristina Gosh – Pauline Kochanski – Cynthia Vaicunas
Trees reach, extending upward, branches forking. Lines wandering with purpose. Reaching and growing. Similarly, their roots weave themselves as they descend into the earth below. Shadows in between, patterns, lines, and shapes crisscross the path.
The sun casts shadows that change dramatically through the day. Shadows cast, long and short. They vary based on time and season, but also because the sun is not a single point source of light. Light generated by the sun emanates from different points in space along the sun’s surface creating sharp and soft edges, lines, and shapes.
Shadow Walks explores these patterns, and the way trees, shadows, and reaching and forking branches become metaphors.
Lee Stanton is an artist and art history instructor currently living in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Song After Song: Opening Reception Fri. October 1, 5-8pm
Kina Bagovska follows her path of existence as an immigrant in a multicultural society. As an artist living between different cultures, she believes keeping the tradition alive is key to preserving ones unique identity.
Kina studies and explores the symbols of handmade embroidery from Bulgaria and how they are transmitted across generations. In her most current series of paintings, she attempts to reevaluate the aesthetics of the traditional craft and how its assigned value changes nowadays. To emphasize the semantics she combines symbols from Bulgarian embroidery and texts from modern poetry.
One of the most ancient symbols – the Octagonal Star (an eight-pointed star) associated with the circle of life has been a reoccurring motif used not only in Bulgaria, but also in Central, Northern and Southeastern Europe. This alludes to a possible unified creative spirit of the prototype of the world and explains the symbolic similarities between geographically distant and unrelated cultures. A range of similar geometric and floral motifs are used in the embroidery of traditional clothing symbolizing fertility and the tree of life.
The sentences in the paintings are from the contemporary poem “Thracian Sun” by Zdravka Vladova-Momcheva. The poem is part of the poetry collection “Thracian Treasure”, Palabrass Press Publishing House, Canada, 2012. The words in Zdravka’s unique poetry are subordinated to uneven rhythm which is innate to Bulgarian traditional music. Thus the text reverberates the encoded language of the embroidery.
Transparent silk is used as a collage and together with the hand stitching reflect the cultural layers passing through the memory of the artist and her main idea of keeping the spirituality of the generations alive.
Kina Bagovska was born in Bulgaria and graduated from the Academy of Arts in Poland with a Master of Fine Arts degree. Throughout the years Kina had many solo and group exhibitions, and won numerous awards in Europe and United States. In 2007 her painting was a part of Mark di Suvero’s Piece Tower at the Chicago Culture Center. In 2003 and 2008 the artist was awarded with grants by the Illinois Arts Council for her collaborative arts. In 2003 she became a member of ARC Gallery. Since 2000, she has been living in Chicago, teaching art at Triton College, and her Private Art Studio.
Opening Reception, Friday, Oct 1, 5:00 – 8:00pm
Exhibition dates: Sept 30 – Oct 23, 2021
Gallery hours: Thurs & Fri 2-6 pm, Sat & Sun 12-4 pm
