RITA GRENDZE - HELIOTROPES AND SKEPTICS - The Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College

Rita Grendze, installation view of Heliotropes and Skeptics at the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College

There is only one week left to experience the Rita Grendze exhibition at the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College. The exhibition is titled Heliotropes and Skeptics and includes a series of beautiful watercolor and mixed media works, which flank a fiber-based sculptural installation. Together, the works offer a unique “feel-good” experience—perfect for Chicago’s gray winter days.

Grendze uses the heliotrope/skeptic metaphor as a way to reflect on human nature. The word heliotrope comes from the combination of the Greek words for “sun” and “direction.” It is commonly understood to symbolize admiration and love. The term brings to mind the way in which a plant’s leaves follow the sun as it moves across the sky—instinctively reaching toward light.

Within this context, Grendze explains that the skeptic should not be thought of as a negative influence, but as a necessary one. Without the skeptic questioning, the heliotrope would not be challenged to explore a stronger argument or deepen their convictions.

The installation of the exhibition visually reinforces the idea of “following the sun.” As you enter the main space of the gallery, you are immediately met by a series of colorful and friendly worm-like forms that seem to guide you into the space, subconsciously directing you toward an ominous black piece hung on the rear wall. These plush fiber-based creatures seem to wander throughout the space, creating a playful yet mysterious presence.

Rita Grendze, Uneclipsed, yarn, cord, metal hoop, 2024

The soft textures and vibrant colors invite a tactile response, tempting viewers to engage with the work. While the instinct may be to touch, the forms function as visual guides leading the viewer through the installation—much like heliotropic plants turning toward the light.

Make an effort to see this exhibition. It is well worth the time. Heliotropes and Skeptics continues through March 13 at the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College. The gallery is on the main campus, located at 1215 Houbolt Road in Joliet, Illinois 60431. Exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Rita Grendze, Stitches and Symbols, watercolor, graphite, yarn on paper, 2022

Rita Grendze is a sculptor making art from ordinary objects. Both her undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as her year of study on a Fulbright Grant, focused on fiber art. For Grendze this has translated into a lifelong love of process and abundant, accumulative materials.

Grendze has taught at Maryland Institute, College of Art in the Fiber and Foundations departments, as well as at Jersey City University. Since moving to the Chicago area in 2001, she has worked in theater, created props for outdoor spectacles, has taught community workshops in Chicago and the suburbs, has completed commissions, and costumed plays, created large-scale installations and managed a gallery.

Grendze currently teaches in an arts integration program on the elementary and middle school levels. She is committed to introducing new ways of problem solving to a generation that is still reeling from the effects of the pandemic lock down. The bulk of her time, however, has been dedicated to her studio practice and to her family. Her recent residency at Millay Arts infused new energy into her home studio. Grendze shows regularly, including a recently completed two-person show at the Schingoethe Museum and a solo show at Waubonsee Community College.

Rita Grendze, Stitches and Symbols (detail), watercolor, graphite, yarn on paper, 2022

The Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery is a 2,055 square foot state-of-the-art exhibition space in the J-Building on the Main Campus of Joliet Junior College. The main campus is located at 1215 Houbolt Road in Joliet, Illinois 60431. Curated by Director Suzanne Gorgas, the gallery hosts several shows and receptions each year which feature the work of contemporary visiting artists and are accompanied by artist lectures. Gallery hours are Monday–Friday, 8am–8pm. Learn more at: https://jjc.edu/about-jjc/places-interest/laura-sprague-art-gallery

Joyce Polance - Landscapes

Joyce Polance, Uprising, 2021, 30x36"

I’ve been curating fine art exhibitions for roughly twenty-five years. During that period, I’ve worked with literally hundreds of artists. One of the most prolific and inspiring has been painter, Joyce Polance. I was thrilled to see that Polance's work was selected for exhibition by curator, Suzanne Gorgas of the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery.

Currently on (virtual) exhibition at the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College, is "Landscapes," a vehemently powerful exhibition of paintings by fine artist, Joyce Polance. The exhibition features twenty-one bending, twisting, and flowing compositions that blur the definition of landscape. Each canvas forces the viewer into a chaotic yet texturally-beautiful reality, weaving a visual story of emotional turbulence.

Joyce Polance, Tumbles, 2020, 36x36"

Polance’s abstractions begin with a specific reference. She explains, “once the image is initially laid in, I cease looking at it. Instead, I engage in dialogue with the painting, letting it lead me to unknown places. Objects begin to change shape; planes become distorted, crashing into one another, melting. I often paint upside down in order to view the subject as an abstract composition, enabling me to focus on color and movement rather than on representation."

And Polance isn’t afraid to destroy imagery that she has created. She explains, “In becoming willing to destroy my work, I allow for something entirely new to emerge. These processes occur multiple times during the creation of a piece, removing the image even further from reality.”

Joyce Polance “Landscapes” continues through February 25—with a virtual artist talk scheduled for Wednesday, February 16th at 1pm via Zoom Media. Additional information may be found on the home page of the Joliet Junior College Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery

Joyce Polance, Ticket, 2019, 20x28"

About Joyce Polance: 
Joyce Polance is a New York-based painter working in oils. Her work consists of expressionist portraits and landscapes which explore the chaotic inner worlds of their subjects—both as depiction of the subjects' own vulnerabilities and of their connections to the tumultuous political atmosphere we are currently living in.

Polance has exhibited internationally and is the recipient of multiple grants and awards including six Chicago CAAP grants, a George Sugarman Foundation grant, two Judith Dawn Memorial grants, and a fellowship at Spertus Institute in Chicago. Her paintings are held internationally in private and corporate collections.

Polance was born in New York City in 1965. She attended Wesleyan University and received a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is represented by Judy Ferrara Gallery in Three Oaks, MI, Elephant Room in Chicago, IL, Gallery 13 in Minneapolis, MN, and Hemley Gallery online. Her paintings may be viewed on her website, www.joycepolance.com. Follow her on Instagram: @JoycePolance.

 

Yasemin Kackar-Demirel - A Virtual Artist Talk - 09.15.21 @12 noon

Yasemin Kackar-Demirel, Windmills yin your mind, 2020, 19.25 x 19.25

Please join Suzanne Gorgas, Gallery Director of the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College, on Wednesday, September 15, at 12pm (CST) for an Artist Talk with Yasemin Kackar-Demirel. Kackar-Demirel will be speaking about her Virtual Exhibition, titled Windmills of Your Mind, currently presented, virtually, at Joliet Junior College. The discussion will be presented via Zoom (Meeting ID 884 9298 6505  Passcode 476729). This is a free event sponsored by the Fine Arts Department of Joliet Junior College. 

A multi-talented artist, this exhibition focuses on the Kackar-Demirel's ongoing series of thread paintings.  In describing this mixed-media, textile work, artist Yasemin Kackar-Demirel's explains that this show includes a selection of thread paintings composed on upcycle fabrics. The embroidery is overlaid with image tracings, chosen from personal architectural photographs. With an obvious interest in abstraction, the artist seems drawn to unique and shifting perspectives. The imagery incorporates seemingly random stains of paint to reinforce architectural structure and guide new patterns and forms. 

 

Yasemin Kackar-Demirel's exhibition, “Windmills of Your Mind,” will continue through September 17 at the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College. You can also view additional imagery—in various media—on Kackar-Demirel's website... yaseminkackar.com

Yasemin Kackar-Demirel, You will find your way, 2018, 16.5 x 18.5

Yasemin Kackar-Demirel was born in 1978, in Istanbul, Turkey. She works in a range of mediums from paintings to mixed media drawings and works on textiles. Her work is a manifestation of her lived experiences in urban and natural environments; remnants of her mental and physical presence in the various places she visits. Through abstraction, she explores an array of concepts including freedom, boundaries, belonging, adaptability, residuals, and memory. Kackar-Demirel has received her MFA and a Museum Studies Certificate from Northern Illinois University (2004), and her BFA from Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, Turkey (2001). She has had solo exhibitions at The Yard: City Hall Park, New York, Mooney Center Gallery, The College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY, C.A.M. Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey, Courthouse Gallery, Lake George Arts Project, Lake George, NY, and McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington, IL, among other venues. Her works have been exhibited in group shows across the United States as well as internationally in Israel, Italy, and Turkey. She has attended the residency programs at the SVA in New York and AreaOdeon in Monza, Italy. In 2006, she was the recipient of Moon and Stars Project’s exhibition award. Her works have been featured in various catalogs and periodicals including Dovetail, Pikchur, New American Paintings, The Woven Tale Press (Digital), Fresh Paint, INPA 2 by Manifest Gallery. She lives with her son and husband and works in Cortlandt Manor, New York.

ART vs. FASCISM

Paula Kloczkowski Luberda "Anticipation" 

Art vs. Fascism

Fascism: A political philosophy, movement, or regime that praises nation and often race above the individual… that stands for an autocratic government headed by a dictator, with severe economic and social restrictions, and forcible suppression on all the oppose.

Please join the Honors Program and the Fine Arts Department of Joliet Junior College for a panel discussion featuring an prestigious group of speakers on the topic Art vs. Fascism. Our panel is comprised of:

PETE OLSON, Assistant Director of the Northern Illinois University Art Museum
PAULA KLOCZKOWSKI LUBERDA, Visual Artist
KIMBERLY LUTHEN, Art Historian
CHERYL JEFFERSON, Executive Producer of Breaking Criminal Traditions and Author of “Death of a Raks Star”

Thursday, February 8, 2018 from 4-6pm
Joliet Junior College
U Building Auditorium U-1024
1215 Houbolt Road, Joliet, IL 60431

Pete Olson: will be delving into the historical context to the phenomenon of Art Against Fascism by discussing the work of Honore Daumier, whose lithographs appeared in Parisian newspapers in the 19th century. He was particularly critical of two rulers with fascistic tendencies, first King Louis-Philippe (who had him jailed) and later Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew, Napoleon III. The audience will likely find a lot of resonance with contemporary dissent even though the particulars of 19th century French culture may be unfamiliar to them.

Fine Artist, Paula Kloczkowski Luberda will discuss corporate fascism as seen through the arts. Luberda will present a visual journey that includes some contemporary references as well as her own personal creations.

Kimberly Luthen will talk about the artistic response to modern Fascism—listing the behaviors that hallmark Fascist behavior while taking a look at Degenerate art juxtaposed against artistic satire.

Cheryl Jefferson, Writer and Executive Producer of “The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions” will present on the related topic "From Creation to Impact." Jefferson will define how the arts are key in the fight against fascism. She will discuss what to do once you’ve completed that brilliant painting, sculpture, novel, script, composition or choreography—to assist your work in achieving the goal of reaching the ideal audience for political impact.

Admission is Free

"From Here – Desde Aqui" work by Pedro Javier Palacios and Rodrigo Montoya Ortiz at the Laura A Sprague Gallery of Joliet Junior College

Rodrigo Montoya Ortiz "Huitzil" Mixed Media

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 21st, 6:30-8pm

After I finished Grad school in the late 80’s—earning a terminal degree in Painting—I moved to Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. It was actually Buena Park but Uptown was just across the street to the north. I lived in a secure high-rise building with a twenty-four hour doorman. It was a “changing” area. On most weekend nights, the sounds of gunshots were a substitute for the crickets of my suburban upbringing. As I explored my new surroundings, I was intrigued with the graffiti-filled walls of the neighborhood. The paintings I had been making were nothing remotely related to Graffiti, but I was fascinated with the style, or maybe just the fluid shapes, use of color and dripping paint. And then there was the rush from the implied danger. 

Living blocks from the lakefront, I had this fantasy of publishing a “call for graffiti writers”—having them meet at Montrose beach park. I would supply them with all the required materials including stretched and primed wall-sized canvases to paint as they wished. When completed I would arrange for the canvases to be exhibited in one of the high-end Chicago Galleries—elevating the perception of graffiti from vandalism to intellectual social commentary. Well, I never brought that idea to fruition but someone did. Unknown to me at the time, graffiti-inspired work had begun showing up in New York galleries—beginning in the 1980s.

As I entered the Laura A Sprague Gallery of Joliet Junior College, memories of my past were triggered. The current exhibition presents mixed media works created by Pedro Javier Palacios and Rodrigo Montoya Ortiz under the title “From Here – Desde Aqui”. The pieces range from relatively large graffiti-covered canvases to smaller digital graphic explorations that seem to reference the timely subject of immigration reform. The objects within the exhibition include ornately decorated spray-paint cans and numerous wooden found objects laced with digitally reproduced drawings of religious iconography. This sort of found and re-purposed imagery is incorporated into most of the work on display. 

Rodrigo Montoya Ortiz "Emojis" Image Cut Out, spray Paint on Spray Can

A quick read of the artist statements highlights the influences of graffiti, faith, nature and cultural heritage. The unique combination of these elements—within a single show—offer the audience an unusual challenge… attempting to decipher disjointed and fragile through-lines. The exhibition is an interesting collaboration with some beautiful—and unique—pieces. It should be explored unhurriedly.

The opening reception of “From Here – Desde Aqui” will be held on Thursday, September 21st from 6:30-8pm at the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College. The Gallery is located at 1215 Houbolt Road, Joliet, Illinois 60431. The exhibition will continue through October 16th. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 8am to 8pm.
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Joliet Junior College: Studio Art Faculty Exhibition

Foreground: Charles Gniech, "Breath" acrylic on canvas 60" x 72"

The JJC Studio Art Faculty Exhibition opened this week in the Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery of Joliet Junior College, located at 1215 Houbolt Road in Joliet, Illinois. The exhibition includes a wide variety of media by thirteen of the fine art professionals, currently teaching at the college.

Exhibition director, Joe Milosevich, organized the compilation of diverse content expressed through assemblage, sculpture, painting and digital media. The exhibition includes work by Terry Adams, Susan Franker, Elise Kendrot, Todd Reed, Steve Sherrell, Lloyd Wassenaar, Ann Blaas, Margie Glass-Sula, Eric Gorder, Joe Milosevich, Gary Schirmer, Garry Vettori, as well as myself.

I am please to be included in the exhibition with two recent works… “Breath” a 60 x 72 inch, 2-panel acrylic painting on canvas [shown above] and an “Untitled” acrylic on canvas painting, measuring 60 x 40 inches, from 2016.

My work continues the exploration of meditative surfaces—inspired by the sacred and mystical stone circles found throughout Great Britain. With nature-inspired color harmonies, the once-fluid media weaves an ornate surface producing a mesh of complex tone and texture. The work has evolved into imagery of trickling formations that encourage contemplative introspection.

As I roamed the exhibition, I found myself drawn to the work of two specific artists… These are colleagues with whom I have yet to encounter. 

Margie Glass-Sula, The Pulpit, Oil on Canvas, 24 x 24

Exhibiting a number of intimate canvases—as well as a floor-standing wooden sculpture—is artist, Margie Glass-Sula. With beautiful forms inspired by nature, her work exudes a sense of peaceful harmony. Presented in quiet tints of color, the abstracted forms seem to be inspired by protective barriers found in nature. The work conveys the essence of seedpods, seashells, hives and nests but not with literal interpretation. The work takes us to another world… a world not commonly seen in our busy urban lives.

Researching the work further, I found Glass-Sula’s artist statement. It reads—in part, “My work explores the quiet simplicity of things….”.

Steve Sherrell, String Theory, Acrylic on panel, 36 x 24

Another standout in the show is a painting by Steve Sherrell titled “String Theory”. Drawn into the beauty of the interconnected organic cellular forms—created with both transparent and opaquely layered wet media—I was reminded of the sculptures of Jean Dubuffet. But Sherrell’s 2-dementional painting has greater depth then the 3-dementional work created by Dubuffet …clearly two artists with dissimilar intent. Sherrell presents a complex collaboration of flat shapes with loosely outlined quivering edges. Neutral tones with quiet hints of color, present a unique organic structure that seems to float—yet connects to distant forms of similar structure.

I looked down at the identifying label to find the title “String Theory”. Now, the study of physics is not my strong point but I have a recollection that string theory defines minute particles—not as we think they are but as vibrational energy. It’s the scientific version of new age thinking of the 1990’s. Steve Sherrell’s “String Theory” is a beautiful though-provoking piece.

The JJC Studio Art Faculty Exhibition is well worth the trip out to Joliet. The Laura A. Sprague Art Gallery is located at 1215 Houbolt Road, Joliet, IL 60431. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 8am to 8pm. The exhibition continues through March 31^st.
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