UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents “Leaving Loves Company” by renowned artist Angela Ellsworth

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “Leaving Loves Company” from renowned Arizona-based artist Angela Ellsworth. “Leaving Loves Company” will open on Thursday, March 1, and run through Thursday, April 12, 2018. A reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, March 1, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Visual Arts Gallery.

Angela Ellsworth is a multidisciplinary artist. A direct descendant of Lorenzo Snow, the fifth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she looks to her former Mormon heritage in re-creating histories, both personal and cultural. She is a self-identified queer artist and feminist that lends a strong female perspective, and frequently employs traditional craft practices in the fabrication of her object-based works.

“Leaving Loves Company” will feature several works by the artist, among them the exhibition namesake, Leaving Loves Company: a stunning hand cart replica, modeled on the hand-drawn carts used during the Mormon western migration. Appearing completely immaculate and potentially otherworldly, this object defies function. The interior is carefully lined with white leather with rabbit fur details. Close inspection reveals that the woodgrain texture that covers the massive cart has been meticulously hand drawn in graphite -- by the artist.

Angela Ellsworth is an associate professor in the School of Art at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. Her work has been reviewed in Art News, Fiber Arts, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Canadian Art, Frieze Art, Artforum and Performance Research. She has presented work nationally and internationally including the Getty Center (Los Angeles), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, Australia), Zacheta National Gallery of Art (Warsaw, Poland), National Review of Live Art (Glasgow, Scotland), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (Los Angeles), Crystal Bridges (Bentonville, Arkansas), Museum of Contemporary Art (Denver, Colorado), Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (Scottsdale, Arizona), and Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, Arizona).

Ellsworth has received awards and grants from several organizations including: Art Matters, Franklin Furnace, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Inter-Arts Program of the NEA, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, New Forms Regional Initiative Grant, Mexic-Arte Museum and Diverse Works, funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation. She is represented by the Lisa Sette Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona.

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.