Muse at Salina Art Center

Muse will be on exhibit at the Salina Art Center in Salina, KS from September 25 - December 29, 2024. All 15 large-scale photographs along with 5 costumes from the series will be on exhibit.

Join us for an artist reception on November 8th, 2024 from 5-7PM.

Muse at Dittmar Gallery (Northwestern University)

Our Muse series, in it’s entirety, will be shown at Dittmar Memorial Gallery at Northwestern University. The show will be up from October 20th-December 3rd, 2023 with an opening on Friday, October 20th from 6-8PM.

Dittmar Memorial Gallery at Northwestern University
Norris University Center, Ground Floor
1999 Campus Dr
Evanston, IL 50208

MUSE at the Riverside Art Center - Opening Sunday, January 16th

I, along with my long-time collaborator James Kinser, am so excited to announce the opening of our exhibition, Muse, at the FreeArk Gallery within the Riverside Art Center in Riverside, IL.

This exhibition will include our entire series, spanning our work together from 2009-present. It will include 15 large scale photographs alongside costumes and accessories created for the project.

Opening Reception: Sunday, January 16, 2022 from 3-6PM
Exhibition Dates: January 16 - February 19, 2022
Artist Talk: Saturday, January 29. 2:00PM (in person and on Zoom)


Find more information about the Riverside Art Center and our exhibition here.

A Bar at the Folies--Bergère (after Manet), 2015

ArtsNorth 27 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts

I’m thrilled to be part of the ArtsNorth 27 juried exhibition at the Hopkins Center for the Arts in Hopkins, MN. The show runs January 8 - February 12, 2022 with a reception on Saturday, January 29th from 6-8PM.

I have one work from my newest series, The Longest Day, in the exhibition. I’m very excited to be sharing this new work with a public audience.

A virtual tour of the exhibition will be available on the website at a later date.

“Keeping the Candles Lit” (2020)
archival inkjet print

LENS 2021 at Perspective Gallery

A piece from my new project, The Longest Day, is included in Lens 2021 at Perspective Gallery in Evanston, IL. The show was juried by J. Gibran Villalobos is Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

LENS 2021
March 5 - 28, 2021

Hours
Fridays & Saturdays: 12:00-6:00 pm, Sundays 12:00-5:00 pm

Read more about the show here.

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MUSE at the University of Saint Francis Art Gallery

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We are excited to announce that Muse will be shown in its entirety at the USF Art Gallery. 14 large scale photographs are shown alongside 3 of the costume pieces. While COVID is preventing a public opening, there will be small scale educational components to accompany the show. The show is open to the public during gallery hours Tuesday - Thursday.

DCASE Individual Artist Program Grant Recipients

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We are absolutely thrilled to be recipients of the 2020 DCASE (Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events) Individual Artist Program Grant through the City of Chicago.

Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 Individual Artists Program grants. Each year, the Individual Artists Program supports Chicago's practicing artists in creating work that develops their craft and elevates their careers while adding to the cultural vitality of the city of Chicago. This year, 158 project-based grants between $850 to $5,000 will be awarded to resident Chicago artists over the age of 18 across all artistic disciplines including film & media arts, literary arts, performing arts (theatre/dance), music and visual arts/design.

“These grants celebrate our vibrant cultural community and continue our work to further improve access to the arts in every neighborhood throughout Chicago,” said DCASE Commissioner Mark Kelly. “Mayor Lightfoot’s increased cultural grants funding will ensure that more local arts and community organizations have an opportunity to advance their missions, engaging residents and visitors alike.”  - Mayor Lightfoot

More information, as well as a full list of the 2020 recipients, can be found HERE.

Art Now: Photography at Ann Arbor Art Center

APRIL 3 – MAY 2, 2020

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Whistler’s Mother (after Whistler) is now on view in the exhibition Art Now: Photography at Ann Arbor Art Center, juried by Eleanor Oakes.

While COVID-19 has caused the actual gallery to be closed, the center has put together a great virtual exhibition that can be seen HERE.

ART NOW: PHOTOGRAPHY is the sixth annual exhibition in the Ann Arbor Art Center’s Art Now series, which presents a media-focused exhibition on a rotating basis.

For this year’s exhibition juror, Eleanor Oakes identified a theme (nothing is clear, nothing is certain) while reviewing work which led to the resulting curatorial end in the virtual galleries.

ARTISTS

Riley Arthur • Elizabeth Barick Fall • Christopher Bennett • Sarah C. Blanchette • Alicia Chiaravalli  • Ben Cricchi • Jessica DeMuro • Dakota Evans • Olivia Ezinga • Dan Farnum • Guanru Feng • Livia Ferguson • Lars Gesing • Linda Gillespie • Niki Grangruth & James Kinser • Lawrence Hamilton • Izabella Herrera • Karen Hockley • Kassie Hyde • Dean Kessmann • Patricia Littlefield • Jill Nicole Luton • Patricia McCleery • Carley Milberg • Ashley Miller • Stephanie Paine • Gregory Piazza • Melinda Pope Lance Pressl • James Reeder • Ackeem Salmon • Mark Sawrie • Dana Smessaert • Kathy Taylor Brown • Nancy Unger • Kirsti Wall • Rebecca Zeiss

Whistler’s Mother (after Whistler), 2015

Whistler’s Mother (after Whistler), 2015

ENGENDERING CHANGE AT CLOYDE SNOOK GALLERY - BEST IN SHOW

Two works from the Muse series, “Whistler’s Mother (after Whistler)” and “Birth of Venus (after Botticelli)” are on view in the EnGENDERing Change exhibition at Cloyde Snook Gallery (Adams State University). The show is on view through Nov. 7, 2019.

We are thrilled that “Whistler’s Mother (after Whistler)” was chosen for Best in Show by the jurors. As a result, we look forward to working with Cloyde Snook Gallery on a solo exhibition of the Muse series tentatively scheduled for Spring 2021.

Jurors’ Statement:
When contacted to serve as jurors, we were deeply impressed by the range and thoughtfulness behind connecting the production of A Doll’s House, Part 2 directed by Dr. John Taylor, with mounting such an ambitious exhibit as joint ways of expanding the impact of issues raised by both on the community. The entries themselves were enormously impressive in the wide range of approach and, in many cases, the courage to explore this sensitive topic in so many creative ways. Well done!
We are the losers in not being able to be there to see the play, but have been so honored to have been asked to evaluate the visual art, and want to thank each of the artists who submitted their work for this effort. What a mind-bending idea it is to actually engender change about gender through visual art or, put another way, to create images that, in the few seconds an artist has our attention, help us confront the deep-seated, enGRAINED, prejudices and stereotypes about gender (and a lot else) we all carry, no matter how “liberated” we may think ourselves. The very atmosphere we breathe from inception on has been so manipulated by memes, marketing, entertainment, and societal “norms” about gender roles that we often don’t realize how deeply they shape our being even when we don’t want them to. We don’t think this exhibit will be sought out by the many who still don’t see the “problem,” but for the rest, the best pieces in this exhibit showed courage and inventiveness in finding ways of exposing those role stereotypes with the honesty, grace, cleverness, and even humor, that can help us face our prejudicial assumptions more objectively, without becoming defensive, and in that way, perhaps outsmart them.
- Alan L. Woods and Ann Alaia Woods, Columbus, OH

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FULFILLED FANTASIES AT HOKIN GALLERY

We are excited to have 5 works along with select costumes included in the Fulfilled Fantasies: Contemporary Chicago Dragworks exhibition at Hokin Gallery at Columbia College Chicago.

The exhibition opens Thursday, February 28 with a reception from 5-7PM. The exhibition will run through April 1.

To practice drag well is to be a master (or mistress) of the reference. The shape of a nail. The color of an eyelid. The crackle of wit on the mic. Every element is a layered conception of gender and appearance - from eyelashes to eyeshadow, lip shape to lip sync, and wig sculpting to body shaping. Fulfilled Fantasies surveys collaborative works surrounding drag and gender in 2018 Chicago, from documenting nascent drag queens to Rupaul’s Drag Race alumni. Fulfilled Fantasies features over 30 works with by over a dozen Chicago artists for whom drag and gender illusion is their subject matter.

Featured artists include: Maurene Cooper, Todd Diederich, Dorian Electra, Natalie Escobedo, Chamilla Fox, Niki Grangruth/James Kinzer, Andie Mackenzie Meadows, Yolo Ono, Adam Ouahmane, Phazma Plazma, Authentic Skidmark, Gidget Von Addams, Alex Wallbaum

Details: Hokin Gallery, Columbia College Chicago. 623 S. Wabash Ave.

Photo by Adam Ouahmane featuring Valentine Adams

Photo by Adam Ouahmane featuring Valentine Adams