Group of 4 @ 20 x 20 Show

On November 7 & 8, Baltazar Castillo's Studio #220 is showing a collection of four international painters, called "Group of 4 @ 20 x 20". It is a show worth seeing. Ewa Bloch, Baltazar Castillo, Eulalio Fabie de Silva and Hiromi Tanaka will display recent paintings and lecture on their work.

Ewa Bloch has been a recognized figure in the Polish community, and is fast gaining artistic recognition with her lyric abstractions. Hiromi Tanaka exhibits paintings that speak about stumbled upon relationships based upon nature. Her compostitions are subtle and the colors nuanced. These two painters are evenly matched in their paint applications and color sensitivity.

Baltazar Castillo, a longtime resident of the Flat Iron Building's Wicker Park scene, is a multimedia artist whose images derive pleasure from their tactile sources. His paintings pay homage to Tamayo the field painters and assemblage works from the 60s.

Eulalio Fabie de Silva is a young painter whose sensual use of color and luscious application is simply great painting. He prefers to render the figure in an environment that is reminiscent of David Parks and early Diebenkorn, but goes beyond it to include plein aire landscapes. His career is worth watching.

The exhibition will take place at the Flat Iron Building, in Wicker Park (1579 N. Milwaukee Ave., Studio #220). Open house hours are Friday November 7, 6-10p, and Saturday November 8, 7-10:30p. The artists will be present to conduct informal lecture, readings from their journals and Tai Chi demonstrations. For more information about this exhibition contact 773-354-5868.

Scott Ziegler ceramics featured at Loyola University Art Faculty Biennale

Scott Ziegler's recent work is among those featured in the Art Faculty Biennale exhibition [Secret Lives Revealed] at the Crown Center Gallery at Loyola University Chicago. Ziegler, a former undergraduate of Loyola's Bachelor of Arts program, is showing two works in this year's exhibition. Notable is his piece, entitled 'Innocence', a porcelain work of unusual quality and substance.

Innocence is a functional teapot, but the title belies itself as anything but innocent. Ziegler has created a piece that initially strikes the viewer as both playful and creepy. This piece fits within the ceramic categories of functional/sculptural work. Ziegler has chosen to create 'Innocence' using a skeletal hand as his source of inspiration. The bones of the hand comprise the body of the pot. He extends the thumb outward as a spout, and the forefinger points up. The top two digits of the forefinger can be lifted so fluid can be poured into the vessel. The remaining fingers curl over the palm to create a handle. The surface of the porcelain bones are completely covered with tiny spikes, which feels like grabbing onto a stone crab. Colorful nerve or vein-like extensions crawl around the bones, giving the sensation of pulsating pain. What is truly creepy is a single, blue eyeball bewteen the bones of the hand that sneaks a peek at the viewer. What could inspire Ziegler to make such a unique work?

Ziegler admits in his artist statement that his work is a reflection of his feelings, having grown up within a dysfunctional family. Subjected to abuse in an alcoholic home, he felt his childhood was stinted. Ziegler hopes his work will help him deal with his past, and he hopes the work will resonate with the audience on those darker truths most everyone experiences in their own past.
Yes, it is fair to say one can 'get' Ziegler's darker side of life, but he disguises or plays down that dark side through the use of colorful glazes that initially suggests something amusing. All in all, Ziegler's work is incredible - both from a technical and substantive standpoint.

Ziegler has received a fair amount of attention recently, both in national competitions, and as an Upcoming Artist in Ceramics Monthly. He has studied ceramics at the penland School for the Arts and received his Master of Fine Arts degreee from Northern Illinois University. Currently, Ziegler teaches ceramics at Rockford College and is the ceramic lab technician at Loyola University Chicago. His work can be found in the Chicago Arts District at 1915 S. Halsted in Chicago.

Crown Center Gallery's exhibition also features the work of twenty-two Fine Arts faculty and staff from the Fine and Performing Arts division. "Secret Lives Revealed" opens to the public on Friday, October 10 from 5:30-7:30 p.m., and runs through November 7. Regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday 3 - 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 12 noon to 4 p.m. For more information about Scott Ziegler and this exhibition, please call 773-508-3811 or email tparke1@luc.edu.

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. at Loyola University Chicago

Amos Paul Kenedy Jr., an artist/printer from Alabama, is showing his recent body of graphic prints at the Crown Center Gallery at Loyola University Chicago, (September 5 - 28). Kennedy's work is an exuberant and lively grouping of hand-printed graphic posters, filled with phrases and slogans from pop culture, the Bible, African-American culture and the upcoming US presidential election. Kennedy incorporates bold, direct and 'in-your-face' phrases which are meant to challenge the audience and engage conversation. He does not describe himself as an 'artist', but a printer - trying to get across his message as quickly as he can. Like his work, Kennedy strikes one upon meeting him as a man with a mission, and he doesn't have time to waste.

To that end, the exhibition at Crown Center Gallery is a maze of colorful images, phrases, posters and printed road maps. Kennedy prefers to install his own shows, tacking or stapling his unmatted and unframed posters directly onto the walls. His method is spontaneous and the phrases blend into one another in a stream of multi-leveled thoughts and feelings. Kennedy has also hung posters and printed travel road maps along a clothesline which is zig-zagged throughout the gallery. People have to wander in between the posters as one would travel through a maze. Part of the journey are the discoveries one encounters along the way. In this case, the phrases one sees throughout the space give insight to his feelings and passions about life and the US political arena.

At the end of the gallery, Kennedy has isolated two printed pieces. The first is a series of four Alabama travel road maps which are printed with the names of four people slain in the Civil Rights march at Selma, Alabama. In addition, he has printed 'Your Right to VOTE has been paid in Full'. It is a moving testament to the evolution of African-Americans' struggle for the right to vote, and the progress of Martin Luther King's message which has culminated in Illinois Senator Barak Obama's achievement as a US presidential candidate in 2008.

The second piece is a series of fourteen quotations by Civil Rights pioneer Rosa Parks. The phrases are candid expressions that Ms. Parks is known for saying about her struggle for equality. The images are nuanced by densely-layered color, which sometimes masks the phrases so the viewer needs to come up close to read and decifer them.

Prefering to make his posters accessible to the public, Kennedy openly encourages people to take the pieces off the wall and take them home immediately. His prices are modest and extremely affordable, which also appeals to his patrons. In fact, Kennedy is quite pleased if there is nothing left on the gallery walls by the end of the exhibition because more of his message is 'out there'.

Kennedy came to be a printer after working many years in corporate America. He left security behind to pursue his work, and has become one of the pre-eminent printers in the US. He currently maintains his printshop in Gordo, Alabama, and teaches Graphic Design at Longwood University in Virginia. Kennedy makes hand-bound books as well and shows his work throughout the US.

Filmmaker Laura Zinger has recently completed a yearlong documentary about Kennedy and his work called " Proceed and Be Bold". It provides an entertaining and humorous insight into Amos' interests and influences. It will premiere at the Naperville Film Festival in late September.

For more informaiton about this exhibition, please contact Teresa Parker at tparke1@luc.edu