M. Michelle Meyer-Shipka: LAYERS OF LIFE  Opening Reception Fri.  June 23, 5-8pm

As an artist, I find joy in representing ordinary, everyday objects in a new, playful, and imaginative way. I depict objects in my paintings in a way that makes them seem to come alive. Through my artwork, I aim to bring a fresh perspective to the things we often take for granted. My layering technique I use in most of my paintings allows me to experiment with different colors, textures, and shapes, allowing new ideas to flow and change direction. Layering also allows for a sense of depth and enables me to transform a painting into something entirely different from where it began. The old layers show through just enough to create interest and a richness. In addition to objects we can see, symbols, numbers, and letters appear to float suggesting an unseen world of information all around us. Just like in life, pieces of old experiences remain and peek through just enough to create a full and meaningful existence. It’s like going on a creative journey, where I never know exactly where I’ll end up, but I’m always excited to see what I discover along the way.

My great-grandparents owned a restaurant so preparing and sharing good food in a warm and comforting environment was part of growing up. Many of my paintings reflect this wonderful memory honoring my family’s hard work and creativity.

Painting is an outlet for me, a break from the stresses and challenges of everyday life. Through my art, I can process my emotions, find healing, and express myself in ways that words alone cannot. It’s a way for me to tap into my innermost thoughts and feelings and communicate them visually to the world. I also enjoy unusual color combinations to keep the viewer on their toes and inspired.

Overall, my goal as an artist is to create artwork that is both visually striking and emotionally meaningful. By representing everyday objects in a new and whimsical way, I hope to spark joy, inspire creativity, and encourage viewers to look at the world around them with fresh eyes.”

Opening Reception, Friday, June 23, 5:00-8:00pm

• Exhibition dates: June 22 – July 14, 2023
• Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

Amanda Mulcahy: EMERGENT  Opening Reception Fri.  June 23, 5-8pm

Drawing inspiration from natural processes, I create soft, vibrant, abstract pieces inspired by the ways the earth continuously churns inert materials into complex forms. In the Emergent series, I translate images through multiple iterations of building up surfaces and breaking down material. I begin by deconstructing abstract paintings and rearranging them into brightly colored collages. These collages are printed onto fabric. The fabric is cut and stuffed to emphasize undulating forms. Each step of the process leaves a lasting imprint, resonating through a series of permutations. The image goes from flat to full; from inanimate to active and swirling. The resulting soft paintings unearth ways elemental marks and materials can, through dynamic changes, grow in complexity.

Opening Reception, Friday, June 23, 5:00-8:00pm

• Exhibition dates: June 22 – July 14, 2023
• Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

Christine Schroder: THE ORIGINALISTS:  Symbols of Wealth Creation and Wealth Exclusion; The Cotton Empire Era (2020-2021) Opening Reception Fri.  June 23, 5-8pm

The comprehensive idea behind this series is a visualization of the economic truth surrounding both the creation and exclusion of wealth in the USA.  I created 267 bags:  89 for each era of wealth-creation / exclusion during the years of slavery / black codes:  The Cotton Empire Era, The Tobacco Era, and The James Crow Era.  The bags symbolically represent wealth.

My concept is based on the idea of “The Originalists” who are now known to be the original signers of the US Constitution.  This term has become part of our vocabulary now because of the recent Senate hearings when Amy Coney Barrett was being vetted for her position as Associate Supreme Court Justice in 2020.  She said she considered herself a defender of the Originalists (even though the original document is discriminatory against anyone other than white, male landowners).

The 56 Originalists who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the 39 Originalists who signed the Constitution in 1789 were all complicit in the original design to rein-in democracy and, control and capitalize on wealth creation.  In my concept, I include all signers of these two documents together.  6 men signed both documents; hence 95-6= 89.

These symbols of wealth have been created with my deconstructed and repurposed (original) yarn from my previous outdoor installations, which have been seen in the Santurce art district since I began in 2016.  The definition of the word yarn has several meanings, one of which is a colloquial expression for a good story which may or may not be true.  The hanging scraps of yarn from each piece represent the lies these people believed (a good yarn), and reinforced every day.  Each era is created within the color scheme of a grotesque rainbow, because that is what these controls of wealth creation were; a rainbow or a prism-like concept of agreed upon lies to create wealth… which was dependent on everyone agreeing to this structure, much like a prism is dependent on very specific nuances in order to exist.

Slavery was an accepted, egregious anomaly; a concept based on grotesque arrogance.  In my visualizations of these bags, it is my intention to have them look both grotesque and arrogant.

The Cotton Empire era was THE most profitable time for wealth creation in the United States.  According to Professor of History Edward Batiste at Cornell University, author of “The Half Has Never Been Told,” he states that the 8 cotton states of GA, MS, SC, LA, TN, TX, AL and FL were producing 88-95% (depending on the year) of the entire world’s cotton commodity; which was the most traded commodity in Liverpool, England.  To compare that to the oil industry of today, it was as if those 8 states produced all of the oil of Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kuwait, Venezuela, Iraq, Iran, UAE, and Russia for DECADES.

Opening Reception, Friday, June 23, 5:00-8:00pm

• Exhibition dates: June 22 – July 14, 2023
• Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

Bryn Gleason: PASSING  Opening Reception Fri.  Apr 28, 5-8pm

I submerge my body in cool water, inviting the silence to wrap its cold talons around my bones. The weightlessness of my liquid cocoon pulls the tension from my muscles like six million needles passing though my flesh. It’s dark and eerie under the water, but it is also calm.

Sleep paralysis, induced by post traumatic stress disorder, will infect you with a craving for calmness. It instills a longing to wake without exhaustion. A desperation to sleep without fear.

The shadows that haunted my childhood bedside faded with time and practice. And these new demons, waking me from a deep sleep with the barrel of a gun pressed against my forehead, they too shall pass. Though haunting, their recurring presence offers a sign of progress. Each time they stalk my exhausted body they appear slightly fainter than the night before.

This exhibition, much like the spit bite intaglio I practiced as a teen, is a ritual. The ferric chloride that dribbled across my copper plates etched impressions of the freshwater lake that brought me comfort as a child. Like a suture to an open wound, each etching closed a chapter.

And with this new sacrament, I forbid my demons. With every misty drip, each slow intentional breath, I resurrect the stillness I worshiped as a child floating naked in a moonlit lake. I’ve blended their haunting silhouettes into panels of birch, not unlike the dock I stained with water bleeding off my body after leaving demons at the bottom of that lake. With this water and wood, I forced them out of their sleepless terrors. Through this ritual, I reclaimed a space. I now rest calmly on my mattress, and within my mind, where shadows once lurked. And the terror that birthed these shadow demons continues to drift away, leaving me to revel in my undisturbed darkness, finally able to sleep.

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

• Exhibition dates: April 27 – May 20, 2023
• Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

Amanda Nadig: PROCLAIM YOUR JOY  Opening Reception Fri.  Apr 28, 5-8pm

“It is important throughout your life to proclaim your joy”   -Mark Eitzel

Artmaking is joy, sharing is joyous. Amanda’s quilted works are a celebration of unconventional fabric combinations and an abundance of hand stitching. She finds that sharing her process and her unique approach to making quilts brings her as much joy as she finds in making her work. Quilting has become an act of self care; working in the medium of textiles enables her to fit stitching into free moments throughout her day.

Amanda Nadig is a textile artist who finds inspiration in keeping with and breaking away from traditions in quilting. Her hand quilted compositions explore colors and shapes sourced from secondhand garments and home textiles discovered near her home studio in Chicago, IL. Her two young children and her high school art students have a great influence on her work; she explores balance, embraces chance, and experiments endlessly in her artistic practice.

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

• Exhibition dates: April 27 – May 20, 2023
• Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

OUR CHOICE  Opening Reception Fri.  Apr 28, 5-8pm

Living as the female of the human species has many challenges, from birth onward. There is childhood conditioning which pushes girls to adhere to societal norms. They are encouraged to wear pink and play with dolls. Girls help Mommy with cooking and housework, and sit quietly in the classroom while Frank and Johnny answer the questions asked by the teacher.

These ideas get stronger as girls mature into teenagers. They are taught to defer to men in power situations, dress in a certain way so as not to sexually stimulate men. At the same time young women must adhere as closely as possible to the body shape most desired by men, or risk bullying and ridicule. In short, women are taught that their worth comes from men, how men perceive and value them is what matters most.

Once puberty hits, there is the constant fear of pregnancy by rape or accident or thoughtlessness. The burden is on women to handle birth control and pregnancy, because they bear the children.  All of these pressures are compounded for those in our transgender and nonbinary community.

Access to abortion is necessary because women need the freedom to decide whether or not to carry a child. Men cannot be relied on, and women can’t do it alone. They need the federal government to protect their right to choose what to do if they get pregnant. And the government is not able to secure those rights at this time. This group of artists feels compelled to act now by making artwork that states their feelings on this dangerous assault on women. What we do with our bodies is OUR CHOICE.

Featuring the work of: Rachel Ahava Rosenfeld, Donna Bassin, Marissa Bridge, Noelle Iovino, Dee Mallon, Virginia Mallon, Maggie Rose, Mary Cathryn Roth, Yvonne Shortt, Jonathan Talbot

More than just an art exhibit, OUR CHOICE is a protest against the attack on women’s reproductive rights in the United States of America.

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

• Exhibition dates: April 27 – May 20, 2023
• Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm

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

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

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

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