Publications

Exhibition Catalogs

A Circulating Library: John Himmelfarb, Selected Recent Works
Sept 15-Oct. 17, 2009 — Featuring work by Chicago painter, sculptor and printmaker John Himmelfarb.

Whatever I Was Looking At: A Post 1960s Collection of Chicago Art
Sept. 9-Oct. 18, 2008 — Featuring work from the June and Francis Spiezer Collection of Chicago Art, the largest existing collection of Chicago Art from the period of around 1960 to the present.

Perfectly Natural
Sept. 1-Oct. 13, 2007 — Featuring work by Charles Munch, Randall Berndt, Carol Pylant, Ann Worthing and Matthew Hagemann.

Michiko Itatani: Virtual Signs/Witness
Sept. 6-Oct. 22, 2005 — Featuring work by Michiko Itatani.

Six Ways of Worldmaking
Sept. 8-Oct. 23, 2004 — Featuring work by the Mythopian Artist Group.

Essays

A Circulating Library: John Himmelfarb, Selected Recent Works
Sept 15-Oct. 17, 2009 — Featuring work by Chicago painter, sculptor and printmaker John Himmelfarb; essay by Geoffrey Bates.

Whatever I Was Looking At: A Post 1960s Collection of Chicago Art
Sept. 9-Oct. 18, 2008 — Featuring work from the June and Francis Spiezer Collection of Chicago Art, the largest existing collection of Chicago Art from the period of around 1960 to the present; essay by Robert Kameczura.

Perfectly Natural
Sept. 1-Oct. 13, 2007 — Featuring work by Charles Munch, Randall Berndt, Carol Pylant, Ann Worthing and Matthew Hagemann; essay by Fred Camper.

Michiko Itatani: Virtual Signs/Witness
Sept. 6-Oct. 22, 2005 — Featuring work by Michiko Itatani; essay by James Yood.

Six Ways of World-Making
Sept. 8-Oct. 23, 2004 — Featuring work by the Mythopians Artist Group, essay by Garrett Holg.

In the Press — Gallery Reviews

"There's an unusual condition the Spiezers placed on their collection when they gave it to the Rockford Art Museum. They mandated that the collection be shown publicly every 10 years. It can't lay in hiding like most donations. And it's beautiful to see a fabulous selection of the highlights at Carthage College. ... The works on exhibit at Carthage are often seminal works by significant Chicago artists. And a lot of the reason they're seminal is that the Spiezers couldn't afford, or wouldn't pay exorbitant prices to acquire art with bloated prices. They'd acquire art that excited them by artists on the way up — not necessarily young, new, in, or de rigueur, just affordable. The Spiezers' collection is about love and the passion, power and joy of art. This is a wonderful exhibit to see, to share and appreciate."

— Paul Klein, Artletter

"Without a doubt the new exhibition at Carthage College, Circus Acts: Suspending Disbelief, lives up to the uncanny associations the word 'circus' conjures. In fact it rather exceeds them. The world of bearded ladies and lion tamers, danger and docility, becomes an unlikely locus amoenus where excess is permissible and good and evil flip sides of the same coin."

— Aisha Motlani, Shepherd Express News

"It's appropriate to use 'spectacular' when describing a magnificent circus. It's equally appropriate to use it when describing this exhibit [Circus Acts: Suspending Disbelief]. All the artists tout heavy credentials, and curator Levesque has orchestrated a stellar event, well worth the travel."

— Judith Ann Moriarty, "Susceptible to Images: a Milwaukee Art Review"