UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents "Awkward & Urgent Objects" by Chicago artist Kelly Kaczynski

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present Awkward & Urgent Objects, a series of "twinned" works by Chicago-based sculptor and installation artist Kelly Kaczynski.

The exhibition brings together works from the last three years, including objects, photographs, video, and textiles. These works enlist material and form to spark urgent—and awkward—conversations between each other about the language and condition of sculpture today.

Awkward &Urgent Objects will open on Tuesday, January 20 and run through Thursday, February 19. An opening reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, January 29 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

In conjunction with her exhibit, Kaczynski will present a UIS Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) lecture. The lecture, titled “Place, Labor, and Relations in a Society of Dispersal: Urgent and Awkward Objects”, will address issues of place, labor, and relations in a society of dispersal as it relates to her art practice. The lecture will take place in Brookens Auditorium on Monday, February 2 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The UIS Visual Arts Gallery will be open after the lecture, and offer light refreshments.

Kelly Kaczynski has exhibited with venues such as Soap Factory, MN; Comfort Station, IL; Eastern Washington University and Spokane Community College, WA; Gahlberg Gallery, College of DuPage, IL; Threewalls Gallery, IL; Hyde Park Art Center, IL; Rowland Contemporary, IL; University at Buffalo Art Gallery, NY; Triple Candie, NY; Islip Art Museum, NY; Josee Bienvenu Gallery, NY; DeCordova Museum, MA; Boston Center for the Arts, MA. Public installations include projects with the Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA; the Interfaith Center, NY; Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston and the Boston National Historic Parks, MA; and Boston Public Library, MA.

She received an MFA from Bard College, NY and BA from The Evergreen State College, WA. She currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, room 201 (HSB 201). Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information exhibition programming, please visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery/, or contact the gallery at 217/ 206-6506 or alach3@uis.edu.