Studio Arts

Students in the Arts 321 Sustainable Fashion class, led by Clinical Assistant Professor Chiara Vincenzi, took on the Nextile: Soy in Textile Design Challenge this semester 🌱, designing eco-friendly textiles using soybean-based materials like yarn and bio-leather made from production waste. We’re excited to share that two groups were awarded winner and runner-up in the Nextile School Level Challenge! They’ll receive scholarships and advance to the National Competition! Here’s a sneak peek at their inspiring work and textile samples! Winning Team Names: Jadie Geleerd, Priscilla Gonzalez, Chloe Wendel, Isabella Fisher, Ava Heinz and Bio-vera™ leather textile with Soy Cashmere appliqué Runner-Up Team Names: Lindsay Marion, Sophie Ducette, Jessica He, Viana Nguyen and Batik dyed green dress with global motif Congratulation and good luck for the National Competition!

An exhibition of alumna Betsy Packard's (BFA 1976 Painting) work will be on view at Tephra ICA @ Signature Gallery, 11850 Freedom Drive, Reston, Virginia. Curated by Hannah Barco, "Ways of Thinking About Your Life" begins November 1st, 2024 thru February 9, 2025. More information here.

Breaking the Code, the recent award-winning documentary film on artist Vernon Fisher, will be published online by Glasstire on Wednesday, September 18th. To celebrate the film's release, Brooklyn's Franklin Furnace is hosting a special virtual event featuring a screening of the film followed by a virtual post-screening discussion. The discussion will feature former Under Secretary for Art at the Smithsonian Institution Ned Rifkin, Glasstire Publisher Brandon Zech, filmmaker Michael Flanagan and Franklin Furnace Director Harley Spiller. The event will take place via Zoom from 6:00-7:30 pm ET on Wednesday, September 18th. Breaking the Code will be available to stream online via Glasstire TV following the Franklin Furnace screening. More information can be found at this link.  

Art & Design, Studio Art Professor Ben Grosser was recently highlighted as Illinois Artist Spotlight from the Illinois Arts Council. Ben Grosser creates interactive experiences, machines, and systems that examine the cultural, social, and political effects of software. Recent exhibitions include Centre Pompidou in Paris, The Barbican Centre and Somerset House in London, Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin, SXSW in Austin, and the Japan Media Arts Festival in Tokyo. His projects have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Wired, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, El País, and Folha. The Guardian (UK) proclaimed Grosser’s film ORDER OF MAGNITUDE to be a definitive artwork of the 21st century, “a mesmerising monologue, the story of our times.” RTÉ (Ireland) dubbed him an “antipreneur,” and Slate commended his work as “creative civil disobedience in the digital age.” His artworks are regularly cited in books investigating the cultural effects of technology, including The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, The Metainterface, and Investigative Aesthetics, as well as volumes centered on computational art practices such as Electronic Literature, The New Aesthetic and Art, and Digital Art. Grosser is Professor of New Media at the University of Illinois (USA), and a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Realist Artist Jennifer Cronin’s Upcoming Solo Exhibition Takes Us on a Cosmic Journey Chicago: Elephant Room Gallery is thrilled to present artist Jennifer Cronin’s 5th solo exhibition at the gallery entitled “Star Stuff”, opening on Friday, September 20th from 6 to 9pm. The exhibition will be on view through October 26th. The gallery is located at 704 S Wabash Avenue in Chicago’s South Loop Neighborhood. More information can be found on the gallery’s website: www.elephantroomgallery.com Jennifer Cronin is known for her uncanny realism from her large scale figurative oil paintings to her meticulous pencil drawings. Over the past few years, her work has moved into a magical realm of neon colors, mysterious shapes and luminism. Her latest body of work in “Star Stuff” takes inspiration from the night sky, finding pieces of cosmic mystery in our everyday landscapes. Even though the work is dark, it is not sad or complacent. It invokes a connection to something outside of ourselves: distant galaxies, the passage of time, and the mystery of our existence. “Star Stuff” is about all of us: where we are from, where we are and where we are going. For Cronin, this work is a reflection of her growth as an artist and as a human being. Cronin pulls inspiration for her subject matter from her own surroundings on frequent walks in her neighborhood in Chicago. “…I can still find pieces of it everywhere. The dotting of artificial lights across a landscape, or the mysterious je ne sais quoi of a liminal space in the alleyway. Stories of this urban landscape are not that different from the stories of an endless night sky. I can find it right here–reasons to be, moments of cosmic mystery, connection to something outside of myself, the thrill of being alive in this very time and space.” - Cronin   Jennifer Cronin is a Chicago-based visual artist known for her realistic paintings that explore the mystery and complexity of everyday life. Cronin’s work has evolved many times over, delving into psychology, income inequality, and climate change. Her most recent work celebrates the mundane, infusing quotidian scenes with a sense of magic and mystery. In support of her forthcoming body of work, Jennifer was awarded grants by the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation and Chicago DCASE. Jennifer’s work has been featured on NPR, Newcity, and Sixty Inches from Center and included in exhibitions at the Elmhurst Art Museum, Museo Internazionale Italia Arte, and the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Jennifer received her BFA in painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is represented by Elephant Room Gallery in Chicago. The artwork in this series was funded by a grant from The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, and partially supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Art & Design Studio Art Faculty Kira Dominguez Hultgren (Crafts), Ben Grosser (Digital Arts), Patrick Hammie (Visual Arts), and Laurie Hogin (Visual Arts) recently received an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award. BFA 2016 in Studio Art: Sculpture Alumna Jade Williams (New Art Forms) is also a recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship. Congratulations to all!

Senior studio art major, Emma Haugh-Ewald, won the UIUC Image of Research – Undergraduate Research Edition competition. She won first place for her image and accompanying research statement, “Don’t Hit Your Head on the Ceiling Fan, 2024.” Emma will be honored at the  Undergraduate Research Symposium on Thursday, 4/25 from 9am-4:30pm in the Illini Ballroom.

Preetika Rajgariah (MFA 2018) was featured this April in Expo Chicago's 'Exposure' section, with a solo show at Bill Arning Exhibitions, Houston.

Alumnus, Nick Hand was recently cited in Forbes Magazine, "The Bicycle Day Dream Bike: A Carbon Fiber Hommage to Albert Hofmann" by Rob Reed. This bike was an homage to the discovery of LSD and Bicycle Day (April 19th 1943). Nick Hand, who received his BFA in Painting in 2005, owns TW Carbon in Kirkwood, MO. TW Carbon repairs damaged carbon fiber bicycles and custom paint on high end bicycles of all kinds. His shop works with non art based endeavors and all of his employees are classically trained artists with degrees from four years universities.  There is a metals and jewelry maker, a lithograph artist, a photographer, and Hand, an oil painter. IG: www.instagram.com/twcarbon FB: www.facebook.com/twcarbon

Gerry Hayes, MFA 1966 Painting will have an exhibition, "Art Reclaimed" at Curry College on January 22-February 26, 2024 Reception: Tuesday, February 6, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. Curry College, Shelley Hoon Keith Gallery, Curry College, Student Center, 1071 Blue Hill Avenue, Milton, MA 02186   Hayes' painting medium currently, and for the past several years has been in the area of 'painted reliefs'. He comments: "In recent artwork, I have added molded fiber relief forms - that are found in packaging, - to the surface of my paintings. 'Molded fiber', one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable packaging forms that is made from recycled paper and water. The pressed paper forms are most often thrown away or recycled with the boxes that they came in. By adding them to my art works, I take them from disposable to desirable. Found objects, yes, but I don't use them as they come. I cut, glue, combine and transform elements that fit the ideas for each painting. The painting of shapes with colors, completes the completed look of each work.  In addition, relief paintings are unique and set themselves apart from traditional, flat 2-dimensional painting. This hybrid of painting can be viewed as extending the tradition of Marcel Duchamp's ready-mades in Dada, to the ‘combines’ of American Pop artists of Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and others." Gerry Hayes' career as been as an educator and a painter, installation sculptor and conceptual artist. Hayes' academic career has been at Pratt Institute where he served as graduate faculty, teaching seminars in painting, drawing, and printmaking. In addition, Gerry served as an administrator in the Undergraduate Painting and Drawing Department and later as Assistant Chair of the Fine Arts Department. In 2006, Professor Hayes resigned from Pratt and moved with his family, from New York City to Marblehead, Massachusetts where he currently lives and maintains a studio. Gerry’s work has been the subject of numerous group and one-person exhibitions at several national galleries and museums including the Denise Bibro's Platform Gallery, the Mitchell Algus Gallery, the Reese Palley Gallery, David Hall Fine Arts in Wellesley, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Krannert Art Museum. Hayes' work is also included in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Hayes has been working with packaging materials in his paintings since 2017, and recently, REPURPOSED, a series of paintings presented on packaging materials was the subject of a one-person exhibition at the John Molloy Gallery in New York City. Art Reclaimed is Co-Curated by: Alison Poor-Donahue, MFA Professor and Chair, Visual and Performing Arts Department Jim Fitts, Professor, Graphic Design

Alumna Tammie Rubin (BFA 1999 History of Art and Crafts) received a Berresford Prize from United States Artists. Please visit here. The Berresford Prize is an unrestricted $50,000 award given annually to a cultural practitioner who has contributed significantly to the advancement, well-being, and care of artists in society. Introduced in 2019, the award was conceived of by several USA Fellows in response to the lack of acknowledgment for those who have dedicated their careers to the betterment of artists. Named for our co-founder Susan V. Berresford, this prize reinforces our commitment to artists by acknowledging the remarkable administrators, curators, scholars, and producers who are building platforms and creating conditions for artists to thrive. Each year’s recipient is selected by an internal nomination and review process.

Assistant Professor, Kira Dominguez Hultgren received a Berresford Prize from United States Artists. Please visit here. The Berresford Prize is an unrestricted $50,000 award given annually to a cultural practitioner who has contributed significantly to the advancement, well-being, and care of artists in society. Introduced in 2019, the award was conceived of by several USA Fellows in response to the lack of acknowledgment for those who have dedicated their careers to the betterment of artists. Named for our co-founder Susan V. Berresford, this prize reinforces our commitment to artists by acknowledging the remarkable administrators, curators, scholars, and producers who are building platforms and creating conditions for artists to thrive. Each year’s recipient is selected by an internal nomination and review process. Chicago Sun Times article here.

Skeena Reece is a Tsimshian/Gitksan and Cree artist based on the West Coast of British Columbia.  She has garnered national and international attention, most notably for Raven: On the Colonial Fleet (2010), a bold installation and performance that was presented as part of the celebrated group exhibition Beat Nation and debuted at the Sydney Biennale.  Her multidisciplinary practice includes performance art, spoken word, humor, “sacred clowning,” writing, music, video/film, photography, and visual art.  She studied Media Art at Emily Carr University.  She was the recipient of the Reveal - Hnatyshyn Award (2017), British Columbia Award for Excellence in the Arts (2012) and The VIVA Award (2014). For Savage (2010), Reece won a Leo Award for Best Performance in a Short Film.  She performed at the 17th Sydney Biennale, Australia. Recent exhibitions include Interior Infinite at the Polygon Gallery (2021) and the Women and Masks Research Conference for Boston University, Massachusetts.  Currently, she is working on a pottery collection for York University. EVENTS (all open to the public) Art & Design Visitors Series talk Reece will share a curated review of her favorite works.  A reception will follow. Room 210 Levis Faculty Center, 919 W Illinois St, Urbana, IL Thursday, February 1 | 7:00-9:00 p.m. THESE ARE ALL MINE! Anticolonial sticker-making workshop in collaboration with the Native American House. Art and Design, Room 9 Monday, February 5 | 5:30-7:30 p.m. "Access Granted" Is it a performance?  An installation?  A presentation?  Come find out…  A reception will follow. Spurlock Museum, 600 S Gregory St, Urbana, IL Thursday, February 8 | 5:30-8:00

BFA 2012 alumna, Leah Guadagnoli, was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal, with Mollie Katzen, author of the “Moosewood Cookbook.” Read article here.

Studio Art Program Chair, Patrick Hammie, and ART 499/PHYS 495 class were recently featured in The Daily Illini for their exhibition, CANVASSING THE UNIVERSE.

WBTV, Charlotte, NC recently featured the Men of Change exhibition currently in town. Please visit here for the video. The Men of Change Exhibition website is here.

Victor Font, lecturer of media and cinema studies, and Cristobal Bianchi, assistant professor of studio art, created the three-minute film-poem Factories at Sea. The Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies screened the film followed by a Q&A during a welcome event. Read the full story below or view the original College of Media article by Kelly Youngblood.

Second year Studio Art undergraduate, Ellie Rebellón, was recently in Smile Politely discussing the Kingfisher. Please read the article here.

Bea Nettles will be inducted at the 2023 Hall of Fame Induction & Awards ceremony on November 3, 2023. The IPHF annually awards and inducts notable photographers or photography industry visionaries for their artistry, innovation, and significant contributions to the art and science of photography. Visit the site here.

Kamila Glowacki (BFA 2013 Art Education & Painting / MA 2018 Art Education) is the 2023 IAEA Art Education Museum Educator of the Year. Kamila Glowacki is employed at Krannert Art Museum. Annually, the IAEA recognizes the top art, design, and media educators for their excellence and service to the field. The IAEA awards and scholarship committee found Kamila Glowacki’s professional performance, service, and leadership to be exemplary in every regard and selected her for this recognition. The Illinois Art Education Association (IAEA) is the premier professional development provider for art, design, and media educators in Illinois. The organization serves thousands of teachers statewide through a wide range of programs and services. Learn more at ilaea.org.