Flashes of Brilliance: Illinois High School Art Exhibition at the Zhou B Art Center in Bridgeport

Hazel Mcclinton, Rockford Jefferson High School

Life seemed relatively easy when I was seventeen. It was a time before cellphones, social media and the 24/7 news cycle. People interacted differently. Relationships were built on gradual discovery and respect was learned through an attempt at understanding differences through experience… There was no hiding behind a text or a tweet.

Well, last Friday I found myself exploring what it’s like to be seventeen in 2019. I spent much of the afternoon previewing the Illinois High School Art Exhibition currently on display in the second-floor gallery of the Zhou B Art Center in Bridgeport [Chicago]. The exhibition includes more than 600 works of art created by high school artists from around the state. The collection offers a snapshot of the seventeen-year-old’s reality. The associated angst is apparent in many of the works, but the show presents a new perspective from the next generation’s worldview.

I found myself wondering slowly through the show. The work—hung salon style—is a curatorial choice that offers something new to explore with a slight turn of the head. 

Natalie Wess, Adlai E. Stevenson High School

The show includes imagery that is “safe” and typical of the age—showing the skills of a future illustrator or designer—but there are also new and unexpected expressions. I found pieces which seemed to be created specifically for shock value. But then I questioned… Was the image solely meant to be shocking or was the content the new normal in our quickly changing society?

Throughout the show, there are special flashes of unique beauty and thoughtful brilliance. The exhibition includes a number of courageous young artists who are not afraid to speak their truth—sometimes with startling effect and sometimes through skillful symbolism. The visual vocabulary found throughout the gallery even offers a learning opportunity for those of us who have been around for a while longer.

Brianna Bischoff, St. Charles North High School

At the conclusion of several walks through the exhibition, I began assessing the mission for which I was attending. I reconvened with Cheryl Jefferson and Richard Laurent, colleagues of the Breaking Criminal Traditions initiative who were also exploring the show. We were looking for artwork that spoke to various human rights issues. You see, the BCT initiative will be presenting an award for relevant work [intentional or not] at a ceremony this Sunday afternoon [2:30pm] at the Bridgeport Art Center—a couple of blocks west of the Zhou B Art Center IHSAE exhibition.

Jennifer Branch, Downers Grove South High School

Please join us this Sunday for the IHSAE at the Zhou B Art Center , Sunday, February 24th from 10-4pm. The event will also include a College Recruitment Fair from 10-2 [BAC], Vendor & Career Expo 10-4 [ZBAC] and an opportunity to visit artist studios at both locations. This is a free event and open to the public. Please remember to come by the IHSAE awards ceremony which will be held at the Bridgeport Art Center from 2:30-3:30pm. The Illinois High School Art Exhibition runs through March 9th. 

Special thanks to Assistant Director, Chris Sykora [Deerfield High School] and Executive Director, John Zilewicz [Niles West High School], for producing this enriching event!

Download the schedule of events


ABOUT: The Illinois High School Art Exhibition:

The General Exhibition is one of Illinois’ premier high school art exhibitions featuring student visual artworks from some of the top city, suburban, public and private high schools. The General Exhibition is a “Best of the Best” competition, developed by teachers, to recognize high school students’ artistic excellence.

Each year, over 100 high schools register to participate in the General Exhibition in Chicago. High schools digitally submit up to 25 artworks into 8 categories: Drawing, Painting, Mixed Media, Design, Photography, Pottery, Sculpture, and Time Arts. 

The IHSAE receives well over 2500 submissions for consideration for the General Exhibition. All entries are curated by the IHSAE Board of Directors and guest jurors, who select works by over 500 student artists for exhibition. Students have an opportunity to compete against their peers for over $15,000 in IHSAE awards and scholarships, including the IHSAE Visionary Award. Students also have an opportunity to receive Early College/Summer Intensive scholarships offered by representatives from select art schools, colleges and universities across the country.

Learn more about The Illinois High School Art Exhibition at ihsae.org

Fluidity: The 4th Annual Bridgeport Art Center Competition

The 4th Annual Bridgeport Art Center Competition opened last Friday night with an energetic, well-attended reception. The Exhibition—Juried by Mary Ellen Croteau and William Lieberman [Zolla/Lieberman Gallery]—is one of the best group exhibitions that I’ve seen in awhile. With a balanced array or imagery from abstraction to realism—including both two and three-dimensional work—the show presents a visual consistency with fluid transition from one end of the gallery to the other. The audience is engaged with each work-of-art offering a new adventure… yet—visually—connected to the pieces prior and post. Due credit should be given to Curator, Lelde Kalmite.

I was taken with the show from the moment I entered the forth-floor gallery. I did a quick scan of the room… said hello to some colleagues and then went off to explore. I circled the room once—to get an overview—then again, more slowly, to intently examine each piece.

Included in the exhibition is a wonderfully ornate canvas by Zachary Williams, titled “The Ocean’s Wide”. Combining the ideas of the horror vacui—reminiscent of Dubuffet—with the surrealistic melting clocks of Dali, Zachary Williams creates an elaborate composition of unrecognizable objects that make the unreal, real. An unusual seascape, Williams presents a tightly knit wall of mesmerizing elements that encourage the continued exploration of his unconventional world.

Zachary Williams, The Ocean's Wide-Detail, 2015, oil on canvas, 24" x 78"

Also included in the exhibition is a 40-inch square photograph [on canvas], titled “Adieu! [Greta Rupeika]” by Carol Estes. The image is startling, yet oddly beautiful. It presents a woman hovering in a shallow pool of water… her seemingly lifeless hand visible just below the surface. She wears elegant horns and dried foliage in her braided blond hair. The beautifully haunting image is reminiscent of a still from a Julie Taymore film.

Carol Estes, Adieu! [Greta Rupeika], 2015, framed photo on canvas, 40" x 40"

One of the more poetic works in the show is an untitled handmade paper, ink, thread, and fabric piece by Yoonshin Park. With a history of book art and creating works-of-art with paper, Yoonshin Park offers a series of conceptual pieces as metaphor for the chapters in a life… the ebb and flow of memories like waves in the ocean. From a recent artist statement, Park explains…

“…As the water rises and falls, pages of our daily experience add and subtract to and from our memory. Our daily life permeates our memory just as the ink is absorbed into each page and creates new shapes and patterns onto what once was a clean slate of a blank page.”

Yoonshin Park, Untitled 2, 2015, handmade paper, ink, threads, fabric, 16" x 10" x .5" [set of three]

The show includes some beautifully fluid sculptural works as well: A floating steel and chain piece by Michael Grucza, titled “Ball and Chain”, A burlap, wood and wire, wall piece, titled “Arpillers” by Marcus Alonso, and an intestine-like fiber piece titled “Polyps” made of steel, organza and plastic, by Molly Ann Wood. There are also two intimate hand carved limestone pieces by June C. Flnnegan that are exceptional. Both sculptures embrace the stone material of their creation and evoke a soothing visual sensitivity. “Grounded in the Garden” is the flatter of the two and “The Butterfly’s Garden” the more dimensional. These forms present the organic characteristics that are found in nature and tempt the caress of the onlooker.

The artists included in the 4th Annual Bridgeport Art Center Competition are: Anthony Abboreno, Macus Alonso, Iman Alsaden, Aviva Alter, Kristin August, Mike Bale, Pedro Basantes, Carol Block, Rose Blouin, Fred Camper, Javier Chavira, Rick Cortez, Jennifer Cronin, Eoin Cullen, Andrew Ek, Carol Estes, Arielle Estrella, June C. Finnegan, Alicia Forestall-Boehm, Tracy Frein, David Anthony Geary, Charles Gniech [myself… full disclosure], Michael Goro, Peter N. Gray, Michael Grucza, Daniel Guidara, Andrew Hall, Russell Harris, Clifton Henri, Marilyn Hollander, Jon Hook, Jesse L. Howard, Carolyn Cronin Hughes, Andrew Kim, Beth LeFauve, Judy, Lipman Shechter, Renee McGinnis, Jane Michalski, Shirley Nannini & Candace Wark, (collaborative), Jack Nixon, Yoonshin Park, Gerry Santora, Steven Schwab, J. Michael Taylor, Nancy VanKanegan, Noah Vaughn, Derek Walter, Rebecca Wolfram, Molly, Ann Wood, Reisha Williams, and Zachary J. Williams.

Charles Gniech, Symbiotic, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 40" x 40"

The 4th Annual Bridgeport Art Center Competition continues through April 1 and is located in the forth floor gallery at 1200 W. 35th Street, Chicago, IL 60609. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday from 8am – 6pm and Sunday, 8am – 12noon.

About the Jurors:

Mary Ellen Croteau received a BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1990 and a MFA from Rutgers University in 1998. She has lectured and exhibited internationally. Croteau has won numerous awards and has been reviewed and reproduced worldwide in books, magazines and on television.

William Lieberman maintains the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in the River North Gallery District of Chicago. Since the 1970’s, the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery has been a top venue for contemporary art in the Chicago and Worldwide. Zolla/Lieberman Gallery is located at 325 W. Huron Street in Chicago. 
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Breaking Criminal Traditions at the Bridgeport Art Center - The Opening Reception and Upcoming Related Events

The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions opened last night at the Bridgeport Art Center. The exhibition—along with the open studios event—generated a great number of visitors.

Breaking Criminal Traditions is a fine art exhibition featuring the work of twenty artists from around the country. The exhibition calls attention to Domestic Violence Awareness Month as well as the ongoing ancient rituals that kill or maim millions each year—yet are not considered crimes. The exhibition utilizes the beauty of high-quality fine art to raise awareness of human rights issues and—in doing so—begins a dialogue that may encourage change. If you missed the reception, [it was a very busy ART night in Chicago] the show continues through Friday, November 13th. Also, there are a couple of other events occurring in conjunction with the exhibition: 

Wednesday, October 21, 6:30–9pm
Film Screening of “Honor Diaries” This documentary profiles activists working for women’s rights in honor cultures and their efforts to create positive change. Cheryl Jefferson will begin a dialogue with domestic violence experts after the screening.

Saturday, October 24, 11-2pm
An Artists Workshop: Creating Art Around Social Issues. This discussion and workshop will highlight how the creation of Art can instill social change.

The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions will be on display through November 13. The Bridgeport Art Center is located at 1200 W. 35th Street, Chicago, IL 60609. The gallery is open Monday–Saturday 8am-6pm and Sunday 8am-12pm. Most of the pieces included in the exhibition are available for purchase. Additional information can be found at BreakingCriminalTraditions.com.

The exhibition includes works of art by: Corinna Button (Chicago, IL), James Deeb (Evanston, IL), Sheila Ganch (Chicago, IL), Claire Girodie (Baltimore, MD), Charles Gniech (Chicago, IL), Sergio Gomez (Chicago, IL), Andrea Harris (Chicago, IL), Teresa Hofheimer [Chicago IL], Lelde Kalmite, [Chicago, IL], Paula Kloczkowski Luberda (Naperville, IL), Richard Laurent (Chicago, IL), Kathy Liao (Seattle, WA), Chandrika Marla (Highland Park, IL), Nancy Rosen (Chicago, IL), Lorraine Sack (Indianapolis, IN), Dominic Sansone (Chicago, IL), Valerie Schiff (Chicago, IL), Barbara Simcoe (Omaha, NE), and Anne Smith Stephan (Wilmette, IL)   
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Breaking Criminal Traditions at the Bridgeport Art Center

Richard Laurent, “Arcadia”, oil on canvas, 36 x 36” 2015

Save the Date: October 16th, 7-10pm
From our Press Release for the upcoming exhibition...

The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions
An exhibition utilizing the beauty of high-quality fine art to raise awareness of human rights issues

October 16 – November 13, 2015
Reception: Friday, October 16, 7-10pm

Opening October 16th at the Bridgeport Art Center is, The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions. This fine art exhibition, features the work of twenty artists from around the country, calling attention to the ongoing ancient rituals that kill or maim millions each year—yet are not considered crimes. The exhibition utilizes the beauty of high-quality fine art to raise awareness of human rights issues and—in doing so—begins a dialogue that may encourage change. It’s no mistake that this unique rendition of the Breaking Criminal Traditions exhibition is presented during October—Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

This provocative yet engaging exhibition debuted in 2013 at the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, putting the shadowy topics of honor killing, child marriage, acid violence—among others—directly in front of current and future law makers. Since the show debuted, new art pieces have been added. The show has evolved into the unique presentation designed specifically for the Bridgeport Art Center.

Chuck Gniech is the curator of the always-changing Breaking Criminal Traditions exhibition. With various human rights issues outlined by Executive Producer, Cheryl Jefferson, Gniech began researching and selected pieces that could be interpreted to define the issues at hand. Gniech points out that “Many of the exhibiting artists never intended that their work define human rights issues. I simply select beautifully intriguing works-of-art that contain multiple levels of meaning. Each was chosen to allude to the issues—the meaning ultimately decided by the interpretation of the viewer.”

Gniech continues… “Although most of the work in this exhibition is taken out of context, from the artist’s original intention, there are pieces that have been created to address specific criminal traditions.”

“Richard Laurent’s Arcadia, is a surreal composition of a faceless female figure amongst a strangely beautiful landscape. The painting—filled with subtle surprises—highlights a monumental mask as the point of focus. The mask rests gently against a patterned mountain range—that upon closer inspection—appears to be the haunches of an animal. The eyes of the mask, stare blankly off into space… providing an expression of loss or disillusion.”

Artist, Richard Laurent explains that “The image references an ancient social idea—an idea where women are considered feral and by ancient logic... dangerous. She exists only as a mask. Her dream is to be transformed from an empty vessel, into a moral—if not empowered—human being. The title points to a personal outcome without limits.”

Chuck Gniech has curated numerous fine art exhibitions with an emphasis on social justice. The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions continues the string of shows that offer a visual exploration of human rights issues. This show is designed to begin a dialogue and raise consciousness, which is the first step toward preventing the continuation of these horrifying acts.

“The global reach of these complex behaviors extends to the United States,” points out executive producer, Cheryl Jefferson, a participant in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. “The exhibit allows us to take the first step toward change and to support the legal evolution that can only come from within other cultures and our own.”

The exhibition includes works of art by: Corinna Button (Chicago, IL), James Deeb (Evanston, IL), Sheila Ganch (Chicago, IL), Claire Girodie (Baltimore, MD), Charles Gniech (Chicago, IL), Sergio Gomez (Chicago, IL), Andrea Harris (Chicago, IL), Teresa Hofheimer [Chicago IL], Lelde Kalmite, [Chicago, IL], Paula Kloczkowski Luberda (Naperville, IL), Richard Laurent (Chicago, IL), Kathy Liao (Seattle, WA), Chandrika Marla (Highland Park, IL), Zoriah Miller (New York, NY, Paris, France), Nancy Rosen (Chicago, IL), Lorraine Sack (Indianapolis, IN), Dominic Sansone (Chicago, IL), Valerie Schiff (Chicago, IL), Barbara Simcoe (Omaha, NE), and Anne Smith Stephan (Wilmette, IL)

The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions will be on display through November 13. A public Opening Reception will take place on Friday, October 16 from 7-10pm. The Bridgeport Art Center is located at 1200 W. 35th Street, Chicago, IL 60609. The gallery is open Monday–Saturday 8am-6pm and Sunday 8am-12pm. Most of the pieces included in the exhibition are available for purchase. Additional information can be found at BreakingCriminalTraditions.com.

2nd Annual Bridgeport Art Competition

Charles Gniech, "Grounded" 2012, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 40"

Save the Date: Saturday, March 8th 7-10pm

Please join me on the evening of March 8th for the opening reception and award ceremony of the 2nd Annual Bridgeport Art Competition. My painting, "Grounded" 2012, was selected for inclusion. The exhibition—housed in the forth floor gallery—will present the works of seventy-four area artists.

“This large exhibit presents a diverse and fascinating overview of contemporary art in Chicago.” said Lelde Kalmite, Curator at the Bridgeport Art Center.

The Bridgeport Art Center is located at 1200 West 35th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60609. The exhibition continues through April 18, 2014. Additional information can be found at: bridgeportart.com
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