Visiting Artist Program
The next Visiting Artist is to be announced.
Artist Talk Archives
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Ari Norris, Artist – March 5, 2025
Originally from West Michigan, Ari Norris is an artist primarily working in sculpture, utilizing a variety of processes and materials in what generally result in the duplication of real-world objects, aimed at exploring the boundaries between the ordinary and the phenomenal. Norris received an MA from Northern Illinois University in 2021, and has exhibited solo shows in Chicago at David Salkin Creative, and the Plan. Norris has been included in the 100th Show and West, Wester, Westest 4 at Left Field Gallery, Los Osos, CA, Purpose of a System is What it Does, at Sawhorse, Chicago, IL, Introspective Dream Assembly, at Riverside Arts Center, Riverside, IL, Shooting Pool with a Rope, at Baby Blue Gallery, Chicago, IL, the Midwest Sculpture Exhibition in Kokomo, IN, among other locations including Michigan, Missouri, New York, Florida, Texas, and Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Norris’ work has been reviewed by Chicago Spleen and included in publications such as Chicago Gallery News.
Watch Ari's Visiting Artist Talk
See more information about Ari Norris online or on Instagram @arinorris.us.
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Matt Irie, Artist – November 20, 2024
Keiler Roberts, “matt”, Ink on paperMatt Irie received his MFA from Northwestern University, Evanston (2002). Irie completed a permanent commission for the Chicago Public Libraries in 2005. He participated in the Luleá Art Biennial, Luleá, Sweden (2009), and was included in Double Take, a public exhibition of site-specific sculptural works funded by The Public Art Fund at MetroTech, Brooklyn, NY (2010). In 2011, he had solo exhibitions at The Wright Museum of Art, Beloit, WI, and Ebersmoore Gallery, Chicago, IL. In 2012 and 2013, Irie was included in two-person exhibitions at Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, San Antonio, TX, and Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL. Most recently, Irie’s work was included in a two-person exhibition at Left Field Gallery, Los Osos, CA (2020), Arresting Gestures, a solo exhibition at the Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL (2021), and Some of All, a solo exhibition at Cleaner Gallery & Projects, Chicago, IL (2023).
Watch Matt's Visiting Artist Talk
See more information about Irie online or on Instagram @stiffwinds.
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Cole Pierce, Artist – October 16, 2024
Cole Pierce, 287 (Traction), 2024, Acrylic on canvasChicago-based painter Cole Pierce received his MFA from Northwestern University and a BSS in Art and Sociology from Cornell College. He has recently exhibited at THE MISSION, the Evanston Art Center, Heaven Gallery, Peter Paul Luce Gallery, PArC Lima, and Roman Susan. He received DCASE (Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events) grants in 2016, 2017 and 2019, and was a SÍM (Association of Icelandic Visual Artists) resident in Reykjavík, Iceland. In 2016, he completed his first major public work, a 60’x11’ mural in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Watch Cole's Visiting Artist Talk
See more information about Cole Pierce online or on Instagram.
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Christine Forni, Artist – September 11, 2024
Studio portrait photographed by Farah SalemCurrently based in Chicago, Christine Forni is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting and sculpture, alternative photography, drawing, and installation. Her work has been exhibited at venues such as Ueno Royal Japanese Art Museum and Awagami Paper Museum, Japan; Museo Internazionale Italia Arte and Museo di Scienze Naturali, Italy; Busan Federation of Art & Culture, South Korea; Centro de Artesanía Catalunya, Spain; Academia Romana, Romania; Museo Franz Mayer and Centro Cultural de Baja California, Mexico; Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Rockford Art Museum and Hyde Park Art Center, Illinois; Houston Museum of Contemporary Craft, Texas; and DeCordova Sculpture Museum, Massachusetts.
Watch Christine's Visiting Artist Talk
See more information about Christine Forni online or on Instagram.
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Lawrence Agyei, Artist – March 13, 2024
Currently based in Chicago, Lawrence Agyei (b. 1990) is a visual storyteller who draws inspiration from his cross-continental upbringing. His work is influenced by his multifaceted identity as a third-culture child, and it touches upon notions of multiculturalism as a way to celebrate the juxtaposition between his Ghanaian heritage, Italian background, and life in the American Midwest. Focusing on enhancing Black culture and the beauty of its people as a whole, he blends the lexicon of documentary photography with portraiture while taking cues from fashion. Through his visual essays, he offers a genuine reading of cultural identity while capturing the beauty of the human spirit. He’s had the pleasure of working with companies and publications such as Apple, Nordstrom, Teen Vogue, Adobe, Vanity Fair, Studio Magazine, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Google, and many other publications and brands. His work has toured internationally in the exhibition The New Black Vanguard, curated by Antwaun Sargent.
Watch Lawrence's Visiting Artist Talk
See more information about the Agyei online or on Instagram.
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Jeffly Gabriela Molina, Artist - September 13, 2023
Jeffly Gabriela Molina is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist from Táchira, Venezuela. She moved to the US in 2007 and lived in Miami for four years, where she attended the New World School of the Arts. In 2011, Molina transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she graduated with a BFA in 2013 and an MFA in 2016. In addition to participating in multiple group and solo exhibitions, she has undertaken two permanent public sculpture commissions in Miami. Recent solo exhibitions include “Fragments of an Imaginary Home” at The Weather Station in Lafayette, Indiana, and “De Madeira y Aire” at Galeria Enrique Guerrero in Mexico City. She has been awarded an Emerging Artist Fellowship from the Driehaus Museum, the AAF/Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts, a Carol Becker’s Dean Grant, and a John W. Kurtich scholarship.
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Trina May Smith, Artist - March 15, 2023
Trina May Smith grew up in Missoula Montana, where the landscape imprinted a lasting impression that repeatedly finds its way into her paintings. She received her BFA in Painting from the University of Washington in Seattle and her MFA in 2D Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Reflections on navigating the literal and conceptual complexities of the social landscape are at the heart of Trina’s work. The warped and altered reality of the current times shapes the decisions in her paintings with an ever-evolving response.
Trina has been in many group and solo shows across the United States including exhibitions in Brooklyn NY, Chicago, Washington DC, and Seattle. She has shown at Tory Folliard and Abel Contemporary galleries as well as being invited to show at institutions such as the Wright Museum in Wisconsin, Maine College of the Arts in Maine, Mount Mary University in Wisconsin, and Monmouth College in Illinois. Trina is an Assistant Professor in Painting at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
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Violet Luczak, Artist - November 30, 2022
Based in Chicago, Violet Luczak holds her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and her BA from Elmhurst University. Luczak is a current Chicago Art Department Resident and was previously a 2020 Talking Dolls Resident in Detroit, Michigan.
Luczak has shown at various spaces, including, but not limited to, Jackson Junge Gallery, Cleve Carney Museum of Art, St. Louis Artist Guild, WomanMade Gallery, Hyde Park Art Center, Wasserman Projects, DragonFLY Gallery, Mercedes-Benz, Ann Arbor Art Center, Marriott W Hotel, and the Fulton Street Collective. Luczak recently debuted her first solo show, An Udder Disaster, at Talking Dolls in Detroit, MI, in 2020. She has been published in New American Paintings, No. 147 MFA Annual Issue, Young Space, and It’s Nice That.
Luczak currently serves as a faculty member at McHenry County College.
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Daniel Ramos, Artist - October 19, 2022
Daniel Ramos is a current NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow for Photography and was awarded the 2022 Sprouting Spaces residency by Clementina Arts Foundation in Connecticut. He was the 2021-2022 fellow at NXTHVN in New Haven, Connecticut; Artist-In-Residence at Light Work, Syracuse, NY, in June 2021; and held the 2020-2021 Pollock-Krasner Residency at ISCP in Brooklyn, NY. In March 2020, Daniel completed the Spring International Artist-In-Residence program at Artpace in San Antonio, Texas. He taught photography at Texas State University during the fall 2020 semester and was awarded the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize in 2018. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Photography from Columbia College Chicago. Daniel and his wife, Kristina, and their son, Max, live in New York City.
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Kent Henderson, Graphic Designer - April 27, 2022
Graphic designer Kent Henderson will present his design work as he walks us through his entire design process from start to finish! Kent is a printmaker, designer, and photographer. He currently operates Depression Press, a letterpress studio. Kent’s favorite color is Goldenrod and his preferred typeface is Futura.
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Hope Wang, Artist - February 16, 2022
Hope Wang is a Chicago-based artist, arts facilitator, and poet. She hosts and operates LMRM, a floor loom rental studio for Chicago fiber artists. Wang is also a co-organizer of Chicago Textile Week 2019 and 2021, Chicago's first textile exposition featuring a week-long program of events highlighting work spanning interiors, architecture, fine arts, and fashion. She received her BFA (2018) from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a 2021 recipient of the gener8tor Art Accelerator Program Grant. She has attended the Digital Weaving Lab Residency at Praxis Fiber Workshop; The Weaving Mill WARP Residency; and Spudnik Press Cooperative Fellowship. Her work has been exhibited at MU Gallery (Chicago, IL); Savannah Center Gallery for Contemporary Arts (Gary, IN); Friend of a Friend Gallery (Denver, CO); Chicago Art Department (Chicago, IL); Sullivan Galleries (Chicago, IL); and Zhou B Art Center (Chicago, IL), amongst others. -
Graphics Arts Panel - November 8, 2021
Originally hailing from Nashville, TN, Andy, and Alexis graduated from Watkins College of Art in 2010. Andy spent two years at Anderson Design Group before moving to Chicago and becoming the first hire for a specialized design and illustration team at the ad agency Digitas.
The pair founded Studio Super in 2015, with Andy serving as principle creative and Alexis providing concepting, project management, and content creation. Studio Super produces beautiful, unique client work with a strong emphasis on baroque illustration and playful design to tell their clients’ stories as meaningfully as possible. When needed, they also leverage a broad network of creatives in Chicago and beyond to dynamically tailor their talents to the needs of each client.
Studio Super clients: Grubhub, PlayStation, Pepsi, Microsoft, Beck, Cards Against Humanity, Taco Bell, and many more.
Learn more about Andy Gregg | Studio Super
Nick Adam is design principal at Span. Nick has over 18 years of experience in directing and designing across all mediums, industries, and organization sizes. From civic leaders to visionary startups and cultural communities Nick’s design background spans the arts and culture, civic and public, entertainment, financial and investment, food and drink, and non-profit sectors. Beyond design making, Nick has led identity, print, digital, environmental, experiential projects, teams, presentations, work sessions, and public town halls that involve governments, multi-community groups, Fortune 500’s, and businesses small and large.
Span clients: Ross Barney Architects, Railyrd, Manual Cinema, Taste of Chicago, Hot Chi, the School of the Art Institute, AIA Chicago, and many more.
Wes Larsen is a faculty of Design and Visual Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts, as well as a designer and artist. Projects include identities, websites, posters, prints, publications, and installation.
Lindsey Larsen is an artist, curator, and self-conscious self-publisher. Her work appropriates tools and methodologies from both art and design to explore the world, our social interactions, and the systems that we create and participate in.
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Chris Bradley, Artist - April 14, 2021
Chris Bradley, born in 1982, is an artist based in Chicago. He has recently presented his work in solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Shane Campbell Gallery, Roberto Paradise, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Raleigh, and has been included in group shows at The Renaissance Society, Atlanta Contemporary, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the NRW-Forum, and the Elmhurst Art Museum. He received his MFA degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2010. In 2014, he was included in the Modern Painters magazine feature “25 Artists to Watch.”
In 2017, he was the recipient of the Meier Achievement Award. In addition to his studio practice, he is an instructor of sculpture at both SAIC and the University of Chicago. Over the past two decades, Bradley has developed a sculptural language around representation, poetics of ordinary subjects, trompe l’oeil techniques, and exhibition as a site for the imagination. He aims to use this creative language to encourage his audience to practice the suspension of disbelief as a method for reconsidering and understanding this shared common world.
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Jenny Drumgoole, Artist - October 21, 2020
Jenny Drumgoole is a Philadelphia artist who inserts herself into marginal spaces for pseudo-celebrity within popular culture. Her most recent video-based performance work involves the artist physically and virtually infiltrating competitive events with subversive art actions that question our obsessions with celebrity, desire, and the limits and illusions of individuality in popular culture. A discussion of her work appears in the Companion to Public Art, Wiley-Blackwell Press (2016). Drumgoole received her MFA in photography from the Yale School of Art in 2006 and currently lives in Philadelphia. -
Ryan Duggan, Artist - April 29, 2020
Ryan Duggan is an illustrator and printmaker working in Chicago, Illinois. He started making concert posters and art prints in 2006, first under the name Drug Factory Press. Duggan’s work is characterized by a palette of muted primary colors and hand-drawn imagery and typography reminiscent of midcentury America. His list of music and design clients includes Childish Gambino, The 1975, Leon Bridges, John Prine, Courtney Barnett, Bulleit Bourbon, Virtue Cider, The Chicago Bears, The Chicago Fire, Vans Footwear, and more.
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Brad VandenBerg, Graphic Designer - November 20, 2019
Have you ever wondered what it takes to pursue a career in visual arts? Join us as Chicago-based graphic designer Brad VandenBerg explains his origins as a professional designer and showcases his process for creating meaningful, authentic artwork for brands across the nation.
With 15 years of experience in logo design, graphic creation, illustration, and art direction, Brad will answer your questions about what it's like to be a graphic designer and discuss his journey in this exciting career path. Brad's clients include Miller Lite, AB InBev, HP, Billabong, and Audiotree, as well as several brand activation campaigns in the world of gaming.