McHenry County College (MCC) will be displaying two new art exhibits in artspace144 and the Epping Gallery respectively.
On display now through September 12 in artspace144, located outside the MCC Gym, is Sanctum by artist Olivia Zubko. This body of work, thematically centered around the bathroom and other private or domestic environments, employs cast replicas of fixtures and found materials to create sculptures that evoke the viewer's personal memories and associations with these intimate spaces. The objects being reproduced and manipulated in the work are significant in their role in daily ritual.
Zubko is a Chicago-based artist who works primarily in sculpture, utilizing ceramic, fibers, and found materials. She received her BFA in sculpture in 2020 from Northern Illinois University. Her work has recently been exhibited at DeGroot Fine Art (Chicago, IL), LEFT FIELD (Los Osos, CA), The Bridgeport Art Center (Chicago, IL), NADA House 2023 (New York, NY), Rockford University (Rockford, IL), and more. Her work has also been featured in Create! Magazine and Red Skate Mag. She is a current fellow at The Arts Club of Chicago. For more information about Zubko, visit www.oliviazubko.com and her Instagram page @oliviazubko.
There will be an artist talk with Zubko on Wednesday, September 10 from 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. in the MCC Conference Center (Room A213). A reception with the artist will follow the talk in artspace144 (A144e). Both events are free and open to the public.
On display in the Epping Gallery now through September 12 will be ¿Quieres Salvar Al Mundo? Empieza por tu Familia / Do You Want To Save The World? Start with your Family by Jennifer Teresa Villanueva. The Epping Gallery is located on the lower level of Building B, across from the MCC Store.
The exhibit is an intimate portrait of the resilience of the artist’s Mexican-American family. Born to factory-working parents in Chicago, Villanueva grew up surrounded by quiet routines, emotional labor, and sacrifices that defined their shared domestic life—from her father’s long shifts at the factory, to her mother’s tireless work week, to her grandmother’s care for the family while navigating chronic illness, to her brother balancing childhood and study sessions, and to the family’s act of voting to uplift silenced voices. These images reflect how migration, labor, and caregiving shape the family’s pursuit of the American Dream and belonging in the U.S.
Villanueva is a first-generation Mexican-American artist born and raised in a working-class immigrant family in Chicago, IL, and currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a BFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2020) and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin (2023). She is a 2025 AIM Fellow at The Bronx Museum of the Arts and has participated in SOMA Summer (Mexico City) and the Whitney Museum of American Art's Independent Study Program. She is a recipient of the En Foco Photography Fellowship (2024), Aperture Creator Labs Photo Fund (2023), Elaine G. Weitzen ISP Fellowship (2023), among others. For more information about Villanueva, sit www.jennifertvillanueva.com and her Instagram page @jennifer__teresa.
For more information about the art galleries at MCC, to request pricing, or to be added to the mailing list for upcoming exhibitions, please contact Trevor Power, Art Gallery Curator, at tpower@mchenry.edu.