2008-2009 Season

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June Spiezer: Whatever I'm Looking At — A Post-1960s Collection of Chicago Art

September 9-October 18, 2008

The Spiezer Art Collection is considered the largest, finest, and widest ranging collection of post-1960s Chicago art. Featured will be works that are considered the "jewels" of the collection, many seen only at short-term loans to several prestigious art venues, including The Pompidou Art Center of Paris, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, and The Pennsylvania Academy of Art. Held in conjunction with the Rockford Art Museum, which houses two thirds of the collection at present, this will be the first Wisconsin showing of this exciting collection. See exhibition catalog.

The Crowded Space Below the Giant: Jeff Carl, Taylor Granrath, Rachel Herman, Maria Perkovic, Mark Rospenda, Grant Schexnider, and Faith Veenstra

October 23-November 22, 2008

The Crowded Space Below the Giant is an exhibition bringing together seven emerging artists from the Chicago area whose work utilizes a diverse range of medium and themes. By engaging with the work, the audience is invited to be transformed into both the miniature and the gigantic and to contemplate the issues and narratives that surround these positions with the possibility of seeing their world in a new way.

A Dr. Seuss Christmas

December 1-13, 2008

This special, short-run exhibition, on loan from the Dr. Seuss Foundation, is part of a nationwide tour of more than 40 pieces of Dr. Seuss' original art, including some never seen sculptural pieces. Planned to coincide with the annual Christmas Festival Weekend at Carthage, there will be a lovely Grinch theme Christmas tree greeting all visitors.

Double Vision: Avalee Gramse and Nathan Gramse

January 6-February 7, 2009

Many artists have emerged from a generational pool of creative individuals, each learning, absorbing and evolving their unique style of work. Nathan Gramse, a senior at Carthage majoring in art studio and art history, has grown up surrounded by many family members including his greatest mentor, Aunt Avalee. Not having shown her work in over 20 years, Avalee will be displaying her paintings for the first time at H.F. Johnson Gallery of Art. Alongside Avalee, Nathan will display a number of his paintings making this exhibition a valuable testimony to the strength of both family ties and the continuum of the artistic drive to create.

Traversing Abstraction: Mary Jane Duffy, Andrew Lloyd Goodman, Chris Jordan, and Steve Sherrell

February 12-April 4, 2009

Abstract art works in various media; painting, mixed media, digital print, and video present a surprising array of approaches to create non-objective imagery. Featuring Mary Jane Duffy and Steve Sherrell from Chicago, Andrew Lloyd Goodman from Baltimore/Vermont and Chris Jordan from Seattle, WA.  Each artist begins from a general source such as "Google Earth," satellite images, garbage, statistical information about material consumerism and, video of buildings being demolished by a wrecking ball and constructs a seductive, opulent and mysterious image.  

Atmosphere

April 14-May 16, 2009

Atmosphere is an exhibition bringing together contemporary ceramic artists inspired by their natural and artificial environments. These artists investigate and manufacture austere and intimate surroundings drawing on landscape, memory and fantasy. Atmosphere, typically light and ephemeral in nature, is explored using clay, traditionally solid and permanent in nature. Drawing on a variety of ceramic forms, sculptural, decorative arts and functional works are all included in the show.

2007-2008 Season

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Perfectly Natural: Charles Munch, Randall Berndt, Carol Pylant, Ann Worthing and Matthew Hagemann

September 12-October 13, 2007

The five artists in this show, consciously or not, each follow Ralph Waldo Emerson's suggestion, defining their relationship in nature in unique way. Three fit in to the Romantic outlook of Emerson that also informed the Hudson River School landscapes that began appearing in his own time, in which human consciousness and nature were seen as interpenetrating, as evocations of each other, while the other two rather pointedly stake out different terrain. See exhibition catalog.

Beyond Boundaries: The Chicago Printmakers Collaborative

October 19-November 17, 2007

Featuring the original prints by the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, this exhibition offered a variety of images from the realistic to the abstract that incorporate many printmaking techniques. Also on display was a one-of-a-kind collaborative piece titled, "Beyond Boundaries" in which each artist created a drawing, painting, collage or print linked to another piece in the set. Viewed as a whole, it demonstrated how art can bring diverse individuals together.

Featured artists: Carrie Iverson, Deborah Maris Lader, Michael Goro, Steve Mueller

Sweet Joy: International Nativity Creches from the Marggraf, Potente and Unglaube Collections

November 27-December 8, 2007; January 10-26, 2008

This unique exhibition will highlight more than 40 nativity creches from the collections of Betty and Bruce Marggraf,  Gene and Joan Potente, and James and LaRue Unglaube. Crafted by many world renowned artists in wood, plaster, clay, metal, hand-blown glass and other media, these nativity creches represent many ethnic traditions depicting the Holy Family. From an elaborate and realistic creche from Germany to a Mayan Indian Nacimiento from Guatemala City, the universal theme of this much adored Christmas tableau will enchant all who visit this exhibit.

Three Contemporary Polish-American Artists: Robert Kameczura, Jadwiga Jarosiewicz, and Adam Rupniewski

February 12-March 15, 2008

Robert Kameczura is a Chicago-based artist of Polish descent. His paintings and drawings are colorful and theatrical images that narrate Shakespearian and other literary scenes. His love of music has a large influence on his highly romantic visions. Jadwiga Jarosiewicz is a Toronto-based artist, originally from Poland. Her paintings are elegant, painterly abstractions that include a poetic interweaving of words and text. Adam Rupniewski is a painter and installation artist based in Portland, Oregon, and originally from Poland. His paintings are passionate, semi-abstract, semi-figurative images that are highly evocative of musical and dance-like rhythms. This exhibition promises to be a very unique glimpse into the international art world.

Connections: Paintings by Joyce Owens

April 1-May 10, 2008

Joyce Owens, a professor of art at Chicago State University, has exhibited her work at Yale University, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Martin Luther King Complex in Columbus, Ohio, The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and The Chicago Cultural Center. Owens' work was included in the book "African Art: The Diaspora and Beyond." She is a figurative artist "who wants people to look beyond the outer layers of skin, and search the many levels of humanity and personality within. To look beyond masks — the many faces we all wear." She creates images "that will inspire the viewer to re-evaluate limited perceptions of African Americans ... to expand our senses, aesthetics and perspectives so that we might see how beautiful African Americans are; that we might understand and appreciate their everyday heroic acts; and we will come to see that they have been the pillars of our nation, our history, our culture."

2006-2007 Season

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Circus Acts: Suspending Disbelief

April 14-May 19, 2007

The allure of the circus extends beyond the dazzling costumes, death-defying trapeze performances, and dancing animals. Underneath the excitement of the spectacle are fleeting glimpses of who, or what, hides behind the masks; of the worn-out, frayed tents, displays and props. If you forget to suspect your disbelief, you may catch a glimpse of the human despair, frailty and even tragedy that can turn that which glitters into a nightmarish vision. The artists in this exhibition express many of these qualities in their works, literally or figuratively.

Featured artists: Glen C. Davies, Elizabeth Ernst, Jean Roberts Guequierre, Michael Noland and Fred Stonehouse.

The Mechanical Muse

January 9-February 17, 2007

Inspired by everyday encounters with machines and our increasingly automated environment, Jim Jenkins and John Stanicek fabricate and distill an unusual repertoire of sculptures, drawings and paintings that search for beauty in form, intelligence and spirit. Wood melds with mechanical metal parts. Clock-like mechanisms drawn with precision and energy suggest moving landscapes traveling with a will of their own. 

Poetic Dialog Project: Poetry — Art — Women

February 22-April 7, 2007

Featured artists: Granite Amit, Kina Bagovska, Nancy Charak, Laura Ann Cloud, Brooke Demos, Kathleen Dugan, Iris Goldstein, Kris Gosh, Carolyne King, Keli LeMoi, Lynette Mohill, Cheri Reif Naselli, Judith Roth, Charlotte Segal, Beth Shadur, Michele Stutts, Mirjana Ugrinov, Kelly Weime, and Amy Zucker.

Through the Lens: Fifty Notable Photographs from the Kenosha News

October 17-December 9, 2006

A photo stops time. By viewing the Kenosha News photo exhibit at Carthage College, you can observe life in our community as it stands still for an instant. The Kenosha News' four award-winning photographers selected pictures that capture the aura of our area, the personalities of our people.

Thinking Through the Body

September 7-October 7, 2006
Featured artists: Lorraine Peltz, Molly Carter and Lindsay Obermayer.

2005-2006 Season

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Michiko Itatani: Virtual Signs / Witness

September 6-October 22, 2005

"My basic concerns are always personal and humanistic. Using a fictional and symbolic space, in which I condense experienced and imagined multi-layered events, I am examining the issues of territory: the human body and the cosmos, flesh and technology, the individual and the State, desire and choice, taboo and obsession." — Michiko Itatani
See exhibition catalog.

One Author, Many Artists: A Tribute to Florence Parry Heide

October 25-December 10, 2005

This exhibit will feature original artwork for Mrs. Heide's books by Victoria Chess, Cathryn Falwell, Jules Feiffer, Judy Glasser, Edward Gorey, Marilyn Hafner, Barbara Lehman, Ted Lewin, Kenneth Longtemps, Wendell Minor, Nadine Westcott, among others.

When Opposites Attract

January 3-February 18, 2006

Painter Marilyn Propp and photographer/printmaker David Jones have been married for 25 years, but their works remain strangely uninfluenced by each other. The couple, who share a studio in Chicago, communicate their shared vision and operate as a team but also present two distinctly different visions in both medium and imagery.

Time Past Time Future: Senior Thesis Exhibition

February 28-April 1, 2006

For the first time in several years, the annual senior thesis exhibition by graduating seniors and graduate students majoring in studio art and graphic design will be held in the H.F. Johnson Gallery of Art. The works on display serve as the final project before graduation for these 11 exceptional students. The senior thesis exhibition demonstrates the growth of each student during their past study at Carthage, foreshadowing future success. Featured Christopher Byrnes, Gregory Combs, Elizabeth Gattolin, Mark Goldstein, Joseph Hall, Christopher Illing, Mark Nelson, Tina Niemi, Brandon Seward, Sue Wente, and Stacy Zwintscher.

Flashes of Existence: Paintings by Paul Sierra

April 6-May 21, 2006

Dreamlike landscapes, eternally flaming houses, lusciously painted mythological scenes and mangled car wrecks are just a sample of some of the subjects that obsess the creative mind of the Cuban-born artist Paul Sierra. Born in Havana and emigrated to the United States in 1961, Mr. Sierra's paintings are in prestigious collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian, and the Harold Washington Public Library in Chicago.

2004-2005 Season

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Michael Newhall: Heads

November 2-December 18, 2004

This exhibit featured paintings, drawings and sculpture from Michael Newhall's Hydrahead and Monk series.

Virginia Meredith: Self Portrait Series

January 4-February 19, 2005

"I always liked the idea of performing, but without having to do it live. The exhilarating feeling of being someone else for a while. ... I get the same thrill from this series of paintings, without the anxiety and all the paraphernalia of a live performance."

Those are the artist's own words to describe, or at least cast a particular light upon, Virginia Meredith's latest succession of paintings that she calls, simply, "The Self Portraits Series." In viewing them, one immediately understands her comparisons to performance and to role-playing. In these often whimsical, consistently well-wrought pieces, the artist actually insinuates her own face upon whatever previously rendered subject of portraiture she has chosen to transfigure.

Chopmark II

February 24-April 2, 2005

Presswork/Prints from: Anchor Graphics, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, Coffee Can Press, Cream City Editions, Evil Prints, Hall & Moline, Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Littleton Studios, Normal Editions Workshop, Jenny Shmid, Stewart & Stewart, Tandem Press, White Wings Press.

Didier Nolet: Memory and the Poetics of Language

April 14-May 22, 2005

Chicago artist Didier Nolet will exhibit his landscape paintings depicting both the seasons of the year and the quickening of emotions. As with the works of Marcel Proust, Nolet's paintings are based on  the fleeting memories of his childhood in Paris and Provence, and how those memories can resurface in present experience to create a new poetics of landscape. Unlike many landscape painters, Nolet does not work from photographs or sketches, preferring instead to work directly on the canvas. As Nolet states, "They are images whose edges are softened by the layering of time ... The space depicted in the painting stays enclosed and private while swept away by a strange, unifying light."

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