Explore “Flash Point || Liminal Lost,” an art exhibition featuring works by UIS Visual Arts Program seniors

The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is pleased to present “Flash Point || Liminal Lost,” two exhibitions showcasing works of art created by graduating seniors in the UIS Visual Arts Program. The exhibitions will open on April 26 and run through May 12, 2021. A closing remote exhibition reception will be held via Zoom from 6-7 p.m. May 13. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Face masks are required on campus. 

“Flash Point || Liminal Lost” will be hosted in two locations:

• In the Access Gallery, located within the Visual and Performing Arts Gallery Building (VPA), from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday 
• In the Visuals Arts Gallery, Room 201 in the Health and Science Building (HSB), from 12-5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday 

The exhibits explore the boundaries of realism that are blurred as artists evoke emotions and memories that transcend the real and virtual world. “Flash Point || Liminal Lost” features a diversity of media including digital media, installation, mixed media and photography. Works by seniors Kortney Correa, Aaron Elmore, Claude Henry, Zoey Pritchett, Megan Roberts and Elizabeth Shumake will be featured. 

The artists have prepared works that expand the emotional impact the world has on us – both physically and digitally – encouraging the viewers to ponder their own liminal experiences as they explore the exhibition.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach3@uis.edu. 

UIS Visual Arts Gallery to present group exhibition featuring faculty works of art

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present a “Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition” in conjunction with programs that celebrate UIS’ 50th anniversary. The exhibition will open on Monday, March 8, and will run through Thursday, April 15. There will be no public reception for this exhibition.

The exhibition of works by distinguished UIS Visual Arts faculty will feature Brytton Bjorngaard, associate professor of digital media; Shane Harris, associate professor of ceramics and sculpture; Mike Miller, associate professor of painting and drawing and his collaborator, Brian Gillis; and Jeff Robinson, instructor and gallery director.

The Visual Arts Gallery will host a series of remote events that feature each faculty member as programming for this exhibition. These remote events will take at 6 p.m. on the following dates via Zoom at https://uis.zoom.us/j/88232930952. 

March 11: Brytton Bjorngaard will present an overview her sabbatical research which includes the restoration of a letterpress, the development of a new body of work and future plans for Prairie Star Press at UIS.

March 18: Mike Miller and his collaborator, Brian Gillis, will discuss “Limen: A Border Project,” a recent collaboration spanning print media and public art that explores the perception of personal, societal and community boundaries already present in a given site.

April 1: Jeff Robinson will be in conversation with Larry Shiner, associate professor emeritus of visual art, to discuss Robinson’s work in the exhibition as well as what it means to be an artist-curator.

April 8: Shane Harris will present an overview of his sabbatical research which includes an artist residency at the renowned Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, the development of a new body of work and solo exhibition at UIS.  

Brytton Bjorngaard is an associate professor of digital media at the University of Illinois Springfield and has previously held positions at Whitworth University and Iowa State University. She received her master’s degree in fine art in graphic design from Iowa State University and her bachelor’s degree in graphic design from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. In addition to teaching, she is a freelance graphic designer and photographer. Her work explores the ways in which we communicate in our increasingly digital age. Her exhibition practice is centered on the intersection of commercial and fine art practices, as well as the contrast of traditional historical production and current digital trends.

Shane Harris was born in DeKalb, Illinois. He received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in ceramics in 2003 and sculpture in 2004. He earned his master’s degree in fine arts from Indiana University in 2007. His work has been displayed in national exhibitions that include the Tampa Contemporary Museum of Art, Manifest Gallery, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery and the Archie Bray Gallery. He has work in private collections, such as the Kinsey Institute. His work has been published in “The Best of 500 Ceramics: Celebrating a Decade in Clay” and “500 Sculptures.” Harris is the recipient of the Windgate Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana and the University of Illinois Springfield College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Scholarly Enhancement Grant. At UIS, he teaches courses in ceramics, sculpture, 3-D design and professional skills.

Mike Miller and Brian Gillis have worked together as an artistic team since 2006, creating projects ranging from editioned multiples to site-specific installations and actions. Notable joint exhibitions include “Across the Divide: Reconsidering the Other” at the Illinois State Museum, “Free Radio” at the Cue Foundation for the Arts in New York and “Mapping Harbin” at the Academy of Art and Design, Heilongjiang University, China. They met as colleagues in the Visual Arts Program at the University of Illinois Springfield in 2005. Gillis is currently a professor of art and director of the Center for Art Research at the University of Oregon. Miller is an associate professor of art at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Jeff Robinson is an artist and curator based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois. He earned a master’s degree in fine art from Illinois State University. Robinson has exhibited independently and collaboratively at numerous venues including Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago), RomanSusan (Chicago), Ski Club (Milwaukee), University Galleries of Illinois State University (Normal), Des Lee Gallery (St. Louis) and E. Tay (New York). His work has been published in New American Paintings, and his practices have been featured on Daily Serving in Newcity Magazine (Chicago), Sixty Inches from Center (Chicago), FLOORR Magazine (London) and in the Riverfront Times (St. Louis), among others. Robinson is a recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award in Visual-Based Arts alongside his collaborator, Allison Lacher (2020). He was a curatorial resident for HATCH Projects at Chicago Artists Coalition (2018-2019) and has worked as artist-in-residence at Ragdale (2017) and ACRE (2017). Robinson is a member of Monaco, an artist-owned cooperative based in St. Louis. He also serves on the board of directors for Terrain Exhibitions in Oak Park. He also served as co-director (and co-founder) of DEMO Project until its demolition in early 2018. He currently teaches as an instructor of art at the University of Illinois Springfield and serves as director of the UIS Visual Arts Gallery.

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

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201. Spring 2021 gallery hours are 12-5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday. Appointments to see the exhibition are recommended.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.   

UIS Visual Arts Gallery to hold its online Silent Auction and Benefit starting Monday, Nov. 16

TheUniversity of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery Silent Auction and Benefit is moving online for 2020. The Silent Auction and Benefit, featuring original works of art donated by local and regional artists, will launch on Monday, Nov. 16 and will remain active until final bidding at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3.

Artwork up for auction can be viewed and bids can be placed online at 32auctions.com/uisvisualartsgallery.

Proceeds from the annual auction provides for gallery programming throughout the year and allows the UIS Visual Arts Gallery to bring the Springfield-area ambitious exhibitions by emerging and established artists. The auction will feature a variety of media: painting, collage, ceramics, sculpture, prints, glass and more, donated by artists and donors in Springfield, central Illinois, St. Louis and Chicago.  

Springfield artist Corrin Smithson McWhirter is one of many local artists that supports the UIS Visual Arts Gallery auction every year. 

“As an artist, I donate artwork to support contemporary art access for young collectors,” McWhirter said. “As a bidder I love getting artist's work into the community and supporting a local gallery sharing contemporary work.”

Jeff Williams, another prominent local artist, shares his enthusiasm for this annual fundraising event.

“I love supporting the UIS Visual Arts Gallery,” Williams said. “It's one of the mainstays and flavors of the area's visual and conceptual arts community. The energy of bidding on different pieces is always something I like… even when someone sneaks a bid in on a piece you want at the last minute!”

As always, the UIS Visual Arts Gallery looks to the loyal community to champion their work. Community members are encouraged to visit the online auction and bid – or donate directly to the gallery as a show of their support. NPR Illinois is the media sponsor for the 2020 UIS Visual Arts Gallery Silent Auction.

For more information, visit uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach@uis.edu. 

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “Hindsight 20/20” virtual exhibition showcasing senior artwork

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is proud to present “Hindsight 20/20,” a virtual exhibition showcasing the creativity and skill sets of senior visual arts majors at UIS.

As a result of the public health concerns regarding COVID-19, and in keeping with UIS policies in place to protect our students, faculty, staff and patrons, this special exhibition will take place online. The virtual exhibition will launch on April 30. An exhibition catalog will complement the exhibition and will be available as a free, downloadable PDF.

Once launched, the exhibition can be viewed at hindsight-2020.weebly.com.

"Hindsight 20/20” features works by UIS Visual Arts graduating seniors that, together, explore how visual language can more clearly express those experiences that are difficult to communicate through words alone. Exhibiting artists include Logan Baskett, Kelsey Cleary, Kailee Harris, Rachel Lewis, Dominic Miraldi and Merrick Wilderman. This exhibition will feature animation, digital media, painting, screen printing and sculpture.

Each of the student artists have created works that collectively strive to transport the viewer, inviting individuals to immerse themselves and recognize not only how our surroundings affect our emotions, but also how individuals impact the environment and the world around them. These works are especially poignant in light of recent develops and the hardships many now face as a result of the global pandemic. “Hindsight 20/20” serves as a reflection and testament to the hard work of these students in the midst of these challenging times.

For more information and future exhibitions, please visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “Convergence,” a solo exhibition by Associate Professor Shane Harris

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery presents “Convergence,” an exhibition of recent works by UIS Associate Professor of Visual Arts Shane Harris. The exhibit will open on Thursday, Feb. 27, and run through Thursday, April 9 and is free and open to the public. An opening reception will be held from 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27 in the Visual Arts Gallery.

“Convergence” presents new sculptural works that combine various technologies, such as 3D printing, vacuum forming, laser cutting and mold making -- along with additional various mixed media. Through the use of technology and combining it with mixed media, Harris further explores the background and the base on which a couplings of objects exist. The repetition of colors, textures, materials, and shapes that occur in both the background and couplings illustrate the concept that who we are and how we relate to our environment are connected. These objects, similar to people, have different personas depending on where they are and who they are with. In experimenting with the pieces and with the environments he placed them in, Harris discovered the personality of the objects changed depending on its context.

Harris will present an artist lecture from 12-1 p.m. Tuesday, March 17 in the Visual Arts Gallery. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Harris was born in DeKalb, Illinois. He received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in ceramics in 2003 and sculpture in 2004. He earned his master’s degree in fine arts from Indiana University in 2007.

His work has been displayed in national exhibitions including the Tampa Contemporary Museum of Art, Manifest Gallery, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery and the Archie Bray Gallery. He has work in private collections, such as the Kinsey Institute. His work has been published in “The Best of 500 Ceramics: Celebrating a Decade in Clay” and “500 Sculptures.”

Harris is the recipient of the Windgate Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana and the University of Illinois Springfield College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Scholarly Enhancement Grant. At UIS, he teaches courses in ceramics, sculpture, 3-D design and professional skills.

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

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “To Unmake a Fold,” a group exhibition curated by director Jeff Robinson

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “To Unmake a Fold,” a group exhibition that features Chicago-based artists Mark Blanchard, Cass Davis, bena foli and Kelly Kristin Jones. The exhibition will open on Monday, Jan. 13 and run through Thursday, Feb. 20. A reception for the exhibit will take place from 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23 in the Visual Arts Gallery.

“To Unmake a Fold” is one of two synchronous exhibitions. The companion exhibition, “Tracing Faults,” is on view at Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC) in Chicago, Illinois. Both exhibitions are curated by Jeff Robinson who works as HATCH curatorial resident at CAC and as director of the UIS Visual Arts Gallery.

In geology, faults and folds refer to tectonic activities that result from immense stress and pressure below the Earth’s surface. These environmental tensions trigger groundbreaking events that reshape the visible landscape. As joint exhibitions, “Tracing Faults” and “To Unmake a Fold” use these seismic actions as an analogy for the social, cultural, and political rifts that permeate our present human condition, and consider how these quandaries prompt opportunities for collective renewal and redemption.

An Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series lecture that explores the structure of and themes within the exhibitions will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10 in Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of UIS Brookens Library. Artists Mark Blanchard, Cass Davis, bena foli and Kelly Kristin Jones will take part in a panel discussion moderated by Jeff Robinson. A closing reception and catalog release will follow from 7-8 p.m. in the UIS Visual Arts Gallery.

Individuals with disabilities attending the ECCE Speaker Series event who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217-206-6245 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery announces the 2019 silent auction and benefit fundraising exhibition

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery will hold its annual silent auction and benefit fundraising exhibition starting on Monday, Dec. 2. The auction is open to the public.

The auction will feature original works of art donated by local and regional artists. Ceramics, photography, glass, painting and drawing, crafts and more will be part of the auction. Many works will be auctioned off at steeply discounted prices.

Bidding begins on Monday, Dec. 2 and a closing event, along with final bidding, will take place from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5 in the Visual Arts Gallery, Room 201 in the Health and Science Building on campus. The event will include food, drinks and fun in support of the UIS Visual Arts Gallery’s mission.

All proceeds from the silent auction will benefit UIS Visual Arts Gallery programming throughout the year.

The Visual Arts Gallery is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents an exhibition and discussion by Chicago artist Hương Ngô

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery presents “Her Name Escapes Me,” an exhibition of recent works by Chicago artist Hương Ngô opening with a reception from 6:30-8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24. The free exhibit will remain open to the public through Thursday, Nov. 21. Ngô’s work connects language and power in the understanding of how colonial ideology is enacted on bodies of women.

In conjunction with this exhibit, Ngô will present an ECCE Speaker Series visual lecture from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24 in Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library. As part of her ECCE Speaker Series presentation, Ngô will deliver a visual lecture entitled “To Name It is to See it: Identity and Misrecognition” that articulates her use of visual art and performance to examine issues of colonialism, immigration, citizenship, intersectionality, marginalization and resistance.

Ngô was born in Hong Kong, often works in France and Vietnam and is currently based in Chicago where she is an Assistant Professor in Contemporary Practices at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Through her artwork, she engages histories of colonialism and migration, particularly in relationship to language, structures of power, and ideologies. The body and, alternately, its absence and its traces are strongly present in her work, which often asks how we might make visible the process of our own subject formation.

This exhibition incorporates Ngô’s experimentation with materials that sit on the edge of visibility, including serigraph prints of figures from colonial postcards that emerge from darkness to haunt the space and books overprinted with thermochromic ink, revealed only when touched. Sharing the same title as the exhibition is a work that was prompted by her research in the National Archives of Overseas Territories, where she learned about the activities of women involved in the anti-colonial movement and the violence from both the state and their fellow comrades that they often had to endure, only to be forgotten by history.

Ngô’s research and archive-based practice began while she was a studio fellow at the Whitney Independent Study Program in 2012. She was recently awarded the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant in Vietnam (2016) to realize a project, begun at the National Archives of Overseas Territories in France, recently exhibited at DePaul Art Museum (2017) and continued through the Camargo Core Program (2018). The project examines the colonial history of surveillance in Vietnam and the anti-colonial strategies of resistance vis-à-vis the activities of female organizers and liaisons. Her work has been described as “deftly and defiantly decolonial” by New City and “what intersectional feminist art looks like” by the Chicago Tribune. Ngô has exhibited at the MoMA, MCA Chicago, Nhà Sàn Collective, and Para Site and is supported by 3Arts, Chicago Artists Coalition, DCASE and Sàn Art, among others.

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

Individuals with disabilities attending the ECCE Speaker Series event who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217-206-6245 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “Value Added” by Springfield native Patrick Collier

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “Value Added,” an exhibition of mixed media sculptures by Springfield native and Oregon-based artist Patrick Collier. The exhibition will open on Thursday, Sept. 26, and run through Thursday, Oct. 17. A reception for the exhibit will take place from 5:30-8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.

Collier is a visual artist and arts writer residing in Corvallis, Oregon. His approach to art-making is multidisciplinary, including sculpture, drawing, photography, video and poetry, periodically utilizing all of the above disciplines in the same artwork or installation.

“Value Added” is a term used in agriculture (among other types of industry) that describes a marketing and production strategy. A farmer may grow and harvest one type of product, and while there may be a set and steady market for that product, as a grower, the farmer only sees income from that raw material. In an attempt to expand the revenue stream for the farm, a farmer will develop other products from what they grow and sell those as well. A good example would be a lavender farm that makes its own scented soaps, candles, essential oils, etc., all under the farm’s name.

“While I first encountered the term in a former life as a farmer, ‘Value Added’ takes on a slightly more indirect meaning in my art,” said Collier. “Products I have purchased to meet my day-to-day consumer needs have been culled, and sometimes saved from the landfill to be incorporated into my sculpture. I do not pretend to think there is much of an actual commercial market for these things I make, yet I would like to think they do have some value, if only cultural.”

Collier’s artwork has been exhibited widely in Oregon, including Portland State University’s Broadway Gallery and Nine Gallery in Portland, Oregon State University’s Concourse Gallery, CEI Artworks in Corvallis and the Schneider Museum of Art at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Another exhibition of note was at The Suburban in Oak Park, Illinois. Collier writes art criticism for the cultural website Oregon ArtsWatch and is the author of numerous artist catalogue essays. Born in Springfield, Illinois, Collier has a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a master’s degree in English literature and bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “Tectonic Soliloquy” by Minnesota-based artist Liz Miller

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “Tectonic Soliloquy,” an immersive mixed-media installation by Minnesota-based artist Liz Miller. The exhibition will open on Monday, August 26, and run through Thursday, September 19. A reception for the exhibit will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, September 5 in the Visual Arts Gallery.

Miller’s exhibit explores the fallibility of infrastructure and the precariousness of perception, as seen through a materially-intensive, process-based lens. She utilizes undulating planar forms in conjunction with fabric and rope as a metaphor for shifting landscapes, altered topographies, and imagined realities. References to the natural world and the built environment collide in interludes that are alternately beautiful, absurd, menacing, and poetic, alluding to the complexity of our world. Tensions between fact/fiction and dimensionality/flatness are endlessly intriguing to her, playing out in her work as a dialogue between reality and illusion.

Miller received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and her master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Minnesota. Her installations and works on paper have been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. Her awards include a McKnight Professional Development Grant from Forecast Public Art, a McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant, a Jerome Foundation Fellowship and five Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Miller recently completed residencies at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans and the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte. She lives and works in Good Thunder, Minnesota and is a professor of installation and drawing at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or by email at alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Program to present multiple exhibits featuring alumni and students’ work

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Program will present multiple exhibits featuring the work of its alumni and current students. All exhibits will open on Thursday, April 18, and run through Thursday, May 9, 2019. A reception for the alumni and student exhibits will take place simultaneously from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, 2019 in the UIS Visual Arts Gallery and the Access Gallery. A shuttle will provide transportation between the two locations. Both exhibits are free and open to the public.

Alumni exhibit “Perfect Tens” 

“Perfect Tens” features the work of ten UIS Visual Arts Program alumni, selected from the past ten years of graduates. The artwork will be displayed in the UIS Visual Arts Gallery, located in the Health and Science Building, Room 201. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

A perfect ten indicates a high score, or perfected condition. Visual Arts Program exhibiting alumni in “Perfect Tens” are artists that have continued their trajectory in visual arts and demonstrate notable skill, growth and sophistication in their work. The UIS Visual Arts Program faculty have selected and invited these ten exhibiting artists, as a reflection of the Visual Arts Program and to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates.

“Perfect Tens” will feature a range of media that will include painting, video, sculpture and ceramics, among others. Exhibiting artists include Brad Balster (2012), Christina Hanula (2017), Judah Johnson (2011), Skan Jolly (2012), Grace Katalinich (2017), Allan J. Masterson (2013), Abigail McKinnie (2018), Tyler Phibbs (2016), Almendra Rodriguez (2017) and Darrin Simmons (2016).

Student exhibits “(un)noticeable” and “Forthcoming” 

Two student exhibits “(un)noticeable” and “Forthcoming” will be presented in the UIS Access Gallery, located in the Visual and Performing Arts Building (VPA). Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“(un)noticeable” features work by UIS Visual Arts graduating senior Tyrone Burnett. The exhibit explores the idea of a man who notices the things that are not seen. The exhibit will feature ceramic sculptures that give form to humans as emotions, stereotypes and experiences. Burnett uses symbols to represent both good and bad emotions that humans cannot see or understand, dealing with the idea of fearing what you can become.

Held in conjunction, “Forthcoming”, curated by Tyrone Burnett, will feature work by UIS students Cameron Seibert, Zoey Pritchett, Cheyenne Drink and Hasani Cannon. This exhibit will feature ceramics, painting, drawing and mixed media.

For more information on the multiple exhibits, contact the UIS Visual Arts Program at 217/206-6240 or art@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery announces a curatorial walkthrough for “The Magnificently Mundane”

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to announce a curatorial walkthrough for its current exhibition, “The Magnificently Mundane,” a group exhibition that presents works selected from the field of graphic design. Brytton Bjorngaard, UIS assistant professor of digital media and curator of this exhibit, will lead a walkthrough of the exhibition where she will guide the audience through the works on display and share contextual information about both the works and field of graphic design.

The exhibition walkthrough for “The Magnificently Mundane” will take place on Wednesday, March 27, 2019, from 2 to 3 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

“The Magnificently Mundane” features works from designers throughout the country, among them Thom Caraway (Spokane, Washington), James Ewald (Edmond, Oklahoma), Lisa Hammershaimb (Chicago, Illinois), Jessica Hawkins (Shreveport, Louisiana), Alma Hoffmann (Mobile, Alabama), Laura Huisinga (Fresno, California), Taekyeom Lee (Boone, North Carolina), Jeanne Komp (Royersford, Pennsylvania), Renee Meyer Ernst (Davenport, Iowa), Shannon McCarthy (Richmond, Kentucky), Ed Outhouse (Joplin, Missouri), Chris Sickels (Greenfield, Indiana), Becky Simpson (Nashville, Tennessee), RJ Thompson (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Teruko Tsubaki (Omaha, Nebraska), Natalie Tyree (Bowling Green, Kentucky) and Neil Ward (Des Moines, Iowa).

At UIS, Bjorngaard teaches courses in graphic design and digital media, including technology, print, typography, web, animation, digital and film photography and professional skills. In addition to teaching, she is a freelance graphic designer, exhibiting artist, a Springfield Art Association board member and was a member of DEMO Project (a former artist-run contemporary and alternative project gallery space in Springfield).

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or by email at alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents "The Magnificently Mundane" curated by Professor Brytton Bjorngaard

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “The Magnificently Mundane,” a group exhibition that presents works selected from the field of graphic design. The exhibit is curated by Brytton Bjorngaard, UIS assistant professor of digital media, and features designers from around the country.

The exhibition will open on Thursday, February 28, and run through Thursday, April 11. An opening reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, February 28, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in the Visual Arts Gallery.

According to Bjorngaard, “Design is part of our everyday. It’s the cereal box opened at breakfast to the junk mail when home from work. It’s the mundane. It’s also the invite for a friend’s wedding -- to the art adorning the living room wall. It’s the magnificent. Whether created for a client, part of a research project, or created for pleasure, ‘The Magnificently Mundane’ showcases what it means to be graphic design.”

“The Magnificently Mundane” features works from Thom Caraway (Spokane, Washington), James Ewald (Edmond, Oklahoma), Lisa Hammershaimb (Chicago, Illinois), Jessica Hawkins (Shreveport, Louisiana), Alma Hoffman (Mobile, Alabama), Laura Huisinga (Fresno, California), Taekyeom Kim (Boone, North Carolina), Jeanne Komp (Royersford, Pennsylvania), Renee Meyer Ernst (Davenport, Iowa), Shannon McCarthy (Richmond, Kentucky), Ed Outhouse (Joplin, Missouri), Chris Sickels (Greenfield, Indiana), Becky Simpson (Nashville, Tennessee), RJ Thompson (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Kim Topp (College Station, Texas), Teruko Tsubaki (Omaha, Nebraska), Natalie Tyree (Bowling Green, Kentucky) and Neil Ward (Des Moines, Iowa).

At UIS, Bjorngaard teaches courses in graphic design and digital media, including technology, print, typography, web, animation, digital and film photography and professional skills. In addition to teaching, she is a freelance graphic designer, exhibiting artist, a Springfield Art Association board member and was a member of DEMO Project (a former artist-run contemporary and alternative project gallery space in Springfield).

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or by email at alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “Pleasure Comes in Halves” by Milwaukee artist Thaddeus Kellstadt

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “Pleasure Comes in Halves,” a mixed-media installation by Milwaukee-based artist Thaddeus Kellstadt. The exhibition, featuring paintings, sculptures and videos, will open on Monday, January 14, and run through Thursday, February 14. A reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, January 24, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in the Visual Arts Gallery.

Kellstadt arrived in Springfield at the start of the new year for a two-week stay that will allow him to develop new work on-site for this exhibit. He has been using the UIS Visual Arts Gallery as a studio while gathering materials for his work from various sources throughout the Springfield community. He has been staying at the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists.

Of his work, Kellstadt says, “The structures I paint on are made primarily out of discarded wood. I pick through this discarded wood, to pull out the interesting shapes and forms. There is a lot of collecting in my process. I visit thrift stores looking for wooden animals, bowls and bric-a-brac to cut and fit into my structures. Collecting and reformation are vital parts of my work, and allow me create wonderful problems for myself with what I find. Constructing the forms is a cross between playing with building blocks and fitting together a puzzle. The process is a negotiation between my aspirations and the stubborn nature of the forms. Each step of the construction informs the next, with color being my ultimate instrument and negotiator.”

Kellstadt has shown his work nationally and internationally at a variety of venues including Space 1026, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Secret Project Robot, New York, New York; Heaven Gallery, Chicago, Illinois; High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, California; DEMO Project, Springfield, Illinois; Alice Gallery, Brussels, Belgium; Cell Project Space, London, United Kingdom; SPACE, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Contemporary Art Museum & Lump Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina; The Ski Club, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and screened work at The MCA, Chicago, Illinois; PDX Film Festival, Portland, Oregon; CPHDOX, Copenhagen, Denmark and The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or by email at alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery announces the 2018 silent auction and benefit fundraising exhibition

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery will hold its annual silent auction and benefit fundraising exhibition starting on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. All events are open to the public.

The auction will offer more than 100 items donated by local and regional artists. Ceramics, photography, glass, painting and drawing, crafts and more will be available at the auction. This event guarantees something for everyone, plus great food, drinks and fun all in support of the UIS Visual Arts Gallery mission.

Bidding begins on Monday, Dec. 3 and a closing event, along with final bidding, will take place on Thursday, Dec. 6 from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Visual Arts Gallery, room 201 in the Health and Science Building on campus.

This year, the event will also feature a performance by UIS Music Camerata scholarship students from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Abigail Walsh, director of the program, will lead performances by a string quartet, soloists, and a voice, violin and piano trio.

All proceeds from the silent auction will benefit UIS Visual Arts Gallery programming throughout the year.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217/206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery to host a new exhibit and ECCE Speaker Series discussion exploring race

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery will unveil a new art exhibit entitled “Love You Bro” by Chicago-based artist Stephanie Graham and host a Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series discussion called “Spielberg, Diddy, Oprah and Me” on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, as part of an exploration of race in art.

The art exhibit, “Love You Bro,” will open on Thursday, Oct. 25 and run through Thursday, Nov. 15.

On Thursday, Nov. 1, “Spielberg, Diddy, Oprah and Me,” an ECCE Speaker Series lecture, discussion and visual presentation by curator, writer, and artist advocate Tempestt Hazel will serve as the opening event from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium. The ECCE presentation will immediately be followed by a reception for “Love You Bro” in the UIS Visual Arts Gallery from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

As part of this special collaboration, Hazel will lead a discussion and Q&A session featuring Graham during the ECCE event. Hazel will also discuss the work she has done to promote art and artists who work along the margins outside of mainstream historical narratives across the spectrum of gender, race, ability and being. Hazel is the founding editor of Sixty Inches from Center, and the art program officer for the Field Foundation of Illinois.

Artist Stephanie Graham’s exhibit “Love You Bro” will explore relationships and how affection is expressed between black men. As an African-American artist, Graham’s photographs, videos, and installations are armed with humor, satire, and soul in an effort to make otherwise difficult conversations on race and gender easier and more comfortable in this increasingly divisive political and cultural climate.

Graham’s artwork highlights subcultures, social class, relationships and Black America. Her projects have been presented at the Hyde Park Art Center, Mana Contemporary (Chicago), Chicago Artists Coalition, Terrain Exhibitions and the Gene Siskel Film Center. She has been featured in Studio Photography Magazine and the Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers and her work is held in the public collection of the Chicago Historical Society. Graham studied film and photography at Columbia College Chicago and currently works on the crew of NBC's "Chicago PD.”

Hazel has worked in arts administration, curating and multidisciplinary programming at Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago Park District and Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago. Her exhibitions and research have been displayed in the Chicago-area and nationwide and her writing has been featured in several prominent publications.

Individuals with disabilities who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217/206-8507 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or by email at alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “Let the fancy,” a group exhibit curated by Jeff Robinson and Allison Lacher

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “Let the fancy,” a group exhibition co-curated by Jeff Robinson, gallery director, and Allison Lacher, exhibitions manager. The exhibition will open on Thursday, September 27, and will run through Thursday, October 18. A reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, September 27, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The exhibition is based on John Keats’ poem “Let the fancy” that praises the mind and its ability to conjure scenes of pleasure and abundance.

“It’s urgent, the poet tells us, that we make use of this ability since we are actually subject to terrible loss,” said Robinson. “Does this imaginative power have anything to do with that other kind of fancy—fancy clothes, fancy jewelry, fancy style? Is our urge to decorate and show off another way of resisting natural decay?”

The works in “Let the fancy” play upon both meanings, taking Keats’ imaginary splendor into unlikely places. Faced with the banality, disorder, and absurdity of ordinary life, the artists in this exhibition assert the richness of fancy materials and designs: whether on a band-aid, a veil, or gnawed velvet, fanciness exists here in a testy and comical relationship with the everyday.

“Let the fancy” features a variety of mixed-media works, among them bejeweled Budweiser cans, a custom fragrance to be worn by gallery staff, fabric formalwear abstractions, fragmented crystals and a silky pink sari embellished with silky hair, among others.

Exhibiting artists whose work will be part of “Let the fancy” include Matt Morris (Chicago, Illinois), Rose Nestler (Brooklyn, New York), Sherwin Ovid (Chicago, Illinois), Preetika Rajgahiah (Houston, Texas) and Elise Warfield (State College, Pennsylvania).

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or by email at alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “digital dusk shadow storage” by St. Louis artist Amanda Bowles

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “digital dusk shadow storage,” an installation by St. Louis-based artist Amanda Bowles. The exhibition will open on Monday, August 27, and run through Thursday, September 20. A reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, September 6, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The immersive installation will feature crystalized tube towers, ghost images, sky blocks, and a large painting of fingers.

The artist describes the exhibit as “pink air, light refracting, iClouds float in a Midwestern sky. Civil twilight culminates in civil dusk; nautical twilight begins. A backdrop for an imperfect cinema, where horizons float on the surface of infinite data pools and time collects like condensation on cave walls.”

Bowles is an interdisciplinary artist whose work experiments with temporalities, utilizing material-specific processes to express a yearning for deep-time in the age of no-time. Employing mundane rituals, she constructs artifacts that visualize duration - loosely coalescent aggregates in video, installation, performance and text.

Interested in the ways relationships between self and others are evolving, as temporal experience is reframed by digital technologies and publics are rearranged into networks – Bowles works between the on and offline. Her practice demarcates the studio as a site for transformation and transmission, production and performance.

Bowles received her bachelors of fine arts from the Kansas City Art Institute and her masters of fine arts in art theory and practice from Northwestern University. She was born in Alexandria, Virginia.

She has exhibited nationally at spaces including, Averill and Bernard Leviton A+D Gallery, Chicago; Mary & Leigh Block Museum, Evanston, Illinois; The Luminary, St. Louis; H&R Blockspace, Kansas City; Artist Coalition Gallery, Kansas City; Concrete Utopia, Brooklyn, New York; Public Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky. She has screened work on AcreTV and at P3+, Hammond, Louisiana; The St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis; The Karras Performance Festival, Chicago, Illinois. Bowles is a founding member of Monaco, an artist-owned gallery in St. Louis.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or by email at alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery opens with a dual exhibit from Enos Park Artists-in-Residence

The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) Visual Arts Gallery is proud to present “Interior Space,” an installation developed by artist Allyson Packer, and in cooperation with Springfield residents.

“Interior Space” will open Thursday, July 26, with a reception from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

That same night, the gallery will also feature a one-night-only multi-channel audio installation by ZW Buckley, “faith comes by hearing.”

Both artists are currently in residence at the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists and were brought to Springfield through a partnership with the UIS Visual Arts Gallery.

To create “Interior Space,” Packer asked Springfield residents to loan out objects that they “choose to hold on to, but do not keep on public display.” These items, culled from the attics, basements, and closets of Springfield, are the basis for this installation.

“Interior Space” does not present objects immediately, but rather engages viewers to find the work.

Assemblages incorporating the gallery’s architectural elements form a larger installation that employs hiding, revealing, and discovering as aesthetic strategies. As viewers explore the work, they encounter spaces where the sentimental becomes strange and the overlooked becomes manifest.

This experience stems from the artist’s curiosity about the intersection of the familiar and the unseen.

“Each night I sleep with my head six inches away from a room I’ve never seen,” Packer said. “It is my neighbor’s apartment, and I find this fact to be both perfectly normal and also very strange. It’s like the first time I had an X-ray and the shock I felt to see the space inside myself. My body, something nearly indistinguishable from my own personhood, was unfamiliar, and contained things that I had never seen. This project explores these emotional and physical spaces.”

“Interior Space” runs through August 11. The exhibit can be seen each Saturday from noon – 4 p.m. or by appointment.

Packer engages viewers to re-envision the boundaries of their shared spaces. She earned her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Packer has recently shown work at Nahmad Projects in London and the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she is preparing for upcoming solo exhibitions at Vitrine in Albuquerque and Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.

Buckley’s, “faith comes by hearing” exhibit is a multi-channel audio installation exploring the themes of transience and permanence within Springfield’s Enos Park neighborhood.

Recorded through the structures that make up the community, this work translates the sounds of a lively neighborhood as heard by the buildings and objects that so often define it. Symbols of growth and transition abound as the sounds of rain storms, revivals, trains and music are filtered through lamp posts, sculptures and buildings.

The resulting impression is at once both familiar and strange as the ephemeral and enduring intermingle in this unfamiliar fashion. Buckley is an artist and composer from Normal. His work focuses on the intersection between sound, power and visibility as it relates to individuals and communities.

He is an MS candidate at Illinois State University in the Program in Arts Technology.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Sciences Building, Room 201, and is open from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery, call 217/206-6506 or email alach@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery exhibit “Essence” to feature the work of graduating students

The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) Visual Arts Gallery is proud to present “Essence”, an exhibition showcasing the creativity and skill sets of the senior Visual Arts majors at UIS. The exhibit will open on Monday, April 23, 2018 and run through Thursday, May 10, 2018. The reception will be held on Thursday, May 3, 2018, from 6 to 8 p.m. All gallery events are free and open to the public.

“Essence” spans two campus locations: the UIS Visual Arts Gallery, located in the Health & Sciences Building, room 201, and the Access Gallery, located in the Visual & Performing Arts Building central lobby. A shuttle will be available to transport attendees between the two locations during the reception.

Featuring multi-media works produced by the UIS Visual Arts graduating seniors, “Essence” explores the personal awareness of relationships — with nature, individual experience, historical context, or atmosphere. Exhibiting artists include Amber Buscher, Amanda Helm, Sam Helm, Abbi McKinnie, Tristen Sitko, Madison Tucker and Amanda Zoschke. This exhibition will feature ceramics, painting, digital media, photography, animation, installation and mixed media.

Each of the student artists have created works that collectively strive to transport the viewer, inviting individuals to immerse themselves and recognize not only how our surroundings affect our emotions, but also how individuals affect the environment.

The Visual Arts Gallery is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Access Gallery is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217/206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.