photographs & Sculpture
and happenings
The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago requested images from my Family Home project for their Midwest Photographers Collection online. Here are a few of the 12 they’ll have on view.
Anna’s Tree Spine, Marathon Wisconsin
My Alley, Forest Park Illinois
Icicle at Mom and Dad’s, Wausau Wisconsin
The barn out Kris’ window, Evansville Wisconsin
Patti’s Manhattan Kitchen, New York City
RAC Spoltight: Tandem Solo Exhibitions
The Riverside Arts Center is pleased to present tandem solo exhibitions by Stephanie Brooks and Liz Chilsen in the Freeark Gallery and Sculpture Garden. This exhibition is part of the Riverside Arts Center’s “RAC Spotlight” Exhibition Series which highlights artists who are a part of the RAC community.
Messengers (2021)
24 Stoneware and Porcelain Canaries
Terra Sigilata, canary infusion stain, glazes, colored pencil, stain, skyblue wall paint.
Artist Statement
These works are part of my ongoing exploration of place, and connection to ancestral time, love and loss. Each piece is a container of mystery and promise. For the smoke-fired pieces, I hold firings at ancestral and family homes, I use fire and light transforming mud into glass. These fires are fueled with things from my collections and surroundings, such as leaves and seeds from my daily walks, lists and notes from my parents and loved ones, newspapers containing family obituaries and biographies, and other precious ephemera. Burning releases life to feed life.
Had the best time collaborating on this collective piece for the 2021 Terrain Biennial with my friends from the Artist Group Snacktime. Installed in Oak Park.
“We are a group of artists who came together during the initial lock-down period of the pandemic through an on-line class entitled “Sustaining Your Art Practice'' taught by Lynn Basa and offered at The Hyde Park Art Center. We have continued meeting through Zoom long past the 6-week time period of our class. Keeping in touch has been the paramount reason for our connection, meeting monthly and even giving our group a name, “Snacktime” emphasizing our unity. Keeping in touch with our need to make art, to support one another through uncertain times and ultimately to become a cohesive group of professionals that help one another as we move forward into the post-pandemic world.
Thank you to our amazing designer & fabricator, Steve Meier and his Assistant, Nic Meier”
Terrain Exhibitions re-purposes private spaces such as front yards, porches, or windows and turns them into public spaces to foster dialogue between neighbors and provide opportunities for artists and viewers alike to experience new perspectives. Terrain Exhibitions is a 501c3 Not for Profit organization established in the State of Illinois. Founded in Oak Park Illinois by artist Sabina Ott, the "Terrain Biennial" has produced editions in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021.
The full piece in the front yard of our host Gretchen.
Top Row: Vida Sacic, Deirdre Colgan Jones, Moi
Middle Row: Beth Adler, Bobbi Meier, Stephanie Graham,
Bottom Row: Chana Zelig, Erika Arett, Christine Forni
with Alberto Aguilar
“Summer Prompt” is a result of an exchange between Alberto Aguilar and Liz Chilsen, both artists and neighbors who share a backyard fence as well as an interest in happenstance, curiosity, process, and collaborative art making. “Summer Prompt” is a result of this collaboration. During the summer the artists devised a conveyor over their fence which they used to pass along a series of responsive prompts or art lessons. After going on a walk together as a prompt put forth by Alberto they encountered a Ginkgo tree (Ginkgo Biloba) and had a small discussion about it. On another day Liz prompted Alberto, through the back yard conveyor, to create a banner which Honors the marvelous Ginkgo. This is Alberto's response to that prompt which plays on the idea of advertisement urging the viewer to search out the Ginkgo before its leaves turn gold and quickly fall off the tree, marking the end of the summer.
Bio
Alberto Aguilar’s work is dialogic and responsive and results of the idiosyncrasies of daily life. His artist statement at albertoaguilar.org is in the form of a letter, a moment recorded and transcribed.
There’s still time to see my work in “UNMUTED” at the Hyde Park Art Center, together with the amazing huge exhibit “Artists Run Chicago 2.0”
Reserve your free ticket. Click here to to be taken to the HPAC Eventbrite page
About Unmuted:
Unmuted showcases work by artists from the Spring 2020 Bridge Program. The Bridge Program at Hyde Park Art Center fosters generative dialogue among a select group of artists in a seminar-style course designed to push one's art practice to the next level. Artists refine project ideas, articulate the central concerns of their practice, deepen the conceptual grounding of their work, and situate their practice within a wider contemporary art context.
Exhibition Dates: September 21, 2020 - November 2, 2020
Participating artists:
Anne Hayden Stevens, Cindy Lys, Jenny Halpern, Judith Mayer, Kristin Anahit Cass, Liz Chilsen, Rashelle Roos, Sara Emilia Palomo, and William Watson.
The exhibition is on view in the D'Angelo Library and Mueller Meeting Room.
Below: Installation views
Thank you to Michelle Dybal and RB Landmark for this lovely coverage
“This was the topic of a One State Arts Conference panel held Sept. 29 called “Support and Amplify – the Role of Community-based Arts Centers in the Age of Pandemic and Social Change,” conceived and moderated by Liz Chilsen, FlexSpace Gallery director at the Riverside Arts Center.
The annual conference was free this year, held via Zoom and attracted 960 attendees, more than past in-person conferences.
”I wanted to have a conversation with leaders from community arts centers about what we’re all doing to keep serving our communities during this very challenging time,” Chilsen said. “The arts center is the creative hub of the community, and local arts centers are increasingly important. We are part of the local fabric and civic life.”
The panel included Betsy Dollar from the Springfield Art Association; Doug Johnson of the McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington; Ciera McKissick of AMFM and the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; and Jon Veal of Alt_, Chicago.
Members of the panel discussed how they are currently serving their communities and the opportunities and challenges their organizations are facing during these times.
”The confluence of challenges we are facing right now is difficult, but times like these also are an opportunity to think in new ways and create new solutions,” Chilsen said.”
Had a great time last week hosting my panel “Support and Amplify: The role of community arts organizations in an age of pandemic and social change” at the Arts Alliance Illinois statewide conference. “One State Together in The Arts” was held online this year and I enjoyed all the sessions I was able to attend, and conversations with Arts Leaders all across the state.
Thanks to all my panelists - it was a lively conversation with over 300 people registered. We generated so much interest they scheduled an overflow conversation on Friday.
@betsydollar
@cieraMcKissick
@dougjohnson
@jonveal
Watch the conversation on YouTube
Chicago artist Andrei Rabodzeenko brought an exhibition of drawings to the FlexSpace at Riverside Arts Center this January past. A marvelous show of works made using a technique he calls "life-trembling line"; allowing the unconscious to guide the hand as the drawing is being made, limiting input from the conscious - while still creating a work that makes sense to a conscious eye. The drawings were exquisite; delicate renderings of dreamscapes - vistas outside of time. From these, beings emerge, seeming to be born as physical energy out of a complex world. A balance between being and environment.
Andrei's show, "Energy, Frequency, and Vibration", curated by Dr. Lise McKean was the first show I helped guide from opening to closing as the brand-new gallery director of FlexSpace.
Just a few brief months after we closed that show, the world is so much changed. Challenging, upended, uncertain. Looking to the future yields a palpable, at times almost unbearable unknown.
As director of the FlexSpace I've been thinking about how to support our creative community during this time of vast uncertainty. Sharing inspiration with artists seemed a good way to go, and I started this series "Checking-in" with artists. Andrei agreed to be our inaugural artist and graciously invited us in to his studio via zoom. He shared work he's making now, and we talked about how the solitude of the artist's studio is connected in the larger society, the inspiration in sidewalk chalk drawings, and the value to keep on going during a pandemic.
Artists are community-builders and connectors. We are problem-solvers. We keep going despite tough times all around. We devise ways to pursue ideas, make work, and share it - whatever the context. I hope you enjoy this reflective conversation with Andrei.
For other inspiring online art conversations, check out:
"Photos at Zoom": A new lunchtime lecture series from the Museum of Contemporary Photography with a vibrant roster of artists and topics. Recordings are available on the Museum site.
The Commons Online at the Museum of Contemporary Art is a 'digital extension' of their second floor commons space and updates regularly with projects, events, and discussions.
Hyde Park Art Center has moved a big selection of their programs online. Registration is underway for classes that begin soon. And classes are 'contribute what you can' to ewncourage people to be involved.
Riverside Arts Center, home to the FlexSpace is also offering "Boredom Buster Boxes" delivering projects to your door. Order online with 'no-contact' deliveries.
For a publication gathering info about the ample creativity in Chicago's art community, check out "The Quarantine Times" by Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Quarantine Quilt organized by Riverside Arts Center volunteers during lockdown. Materials were dropped off at people’s doors and each created a square about their experience. I arranged for the quilt to become part of the permanent collections and Chicago’s Field Museum Pandemic Collections in 2022.
Riverside Arts Center
Though closed, the Riverside Arts Center remains dedicated to serving as a pillar for creative expression — and hope — in the community.
"We are focused on offering support to this community which has supported us so much for 27 years," says Liz Chilsen, director of the center's FlexSpace Gallery. "It's a time of challenge and also intensive, creative problem solving -- something artists are particularly good at."
The center is offering two virtual gallery talks featuring artists with work currently on display. Artist Deirdre Fox's installation, using recycled materials and inventive lighting, will be featured in a conversation with her curator, Yoonshin Park, and exhibit curator and Gallery Director Stephanie Brooks will join sculptor and printmaker Oli Watt for a showcase of humorous pieces that create awareness of and interrupt our assumptions.
The center is also working on a virtual exhibit of work from Riverside-Brookfield High School's Advanced Placement Art students. Students will be submitting images of their work to their teacher, who will then work with the center to create a slideshow to project on the gallery's window. The slideshow will also be shared on the center's website.
Finally, the center is working to set up interactions with artists on their social media channels, inviting people to share the work they are making and tag the center with the hashtag #artduringcorona.
"The arts are an important way that people navigate the unknown," Chilsen said. "Right now, many of us are anxious and afraid. Art can offer ways to deal with the stresses we are facing in this climate and an uncertain future."
