Preparing for Winter: “Will there still be sugar after the rebellion?” is a 36 inch by 48 inch diptych of mixed media, acrylic, graphite and collage on wood panels by Mary Ann Papanek-Miller. (Image courtesy of Mary Ann Papanek-Miller)Two solo/featured art exhibitions by DePaul professors — the highest level of fine arts scholarship — are on display in Chicago venues this month.
“Preparing for Winter” by professor Mary Ann Papanek-Miller, chair of DePaul’s Department of Art, Media, and Design, is a solo exhibition of primarily new works in the acclaimed Jean Albano Gallery through Oct. 6.
“The idea for the ‘Preparing for Winter’ series was initiated in 2013-14 after I learned of the building collapse and apparent escape of a monkey from a private zoo in Ohio, which led to revisiting Orwell’s book ‘Animal Farm’ and the perspective of preparing for winter, a repeated task at hand in ‘Animal Farm’ and for most of us annually,” Papanek-Miller says.
“My artwork continues to address environmental concerns regarding water and water access, which are layered with the monkey’s travels, winter, Orwell’s animals, and within the context of Orwell’s story cautionary warning of the dangers of political innocence, with an unexpected new type of relevancy today,” she notes.
“My works explore quiet color, mixed media drawing applications, and they are on a variety of different drawing surfaces, intimate in scale to encourage visual reading,” she says.
Papanek-Miller utilizes image layering in her work as a visual translation of a conversation, in which she invites the viewer to participate through various image pathways. She discusses her works in a podcast with DePaul’s Brother Mark Elder, a faculty member in Art, Media, and Design, online at http://bit.ly/BuffaloBroPodcast.
The Jean Albano Gallery, 215 W. Superior St., is open Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and by appointment. Papanek-Miller will be at the gallery Sept. 27 from 3-5 p.m. and Sept. 29 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. More at http://jeanalbanogallery.com.
“Occupier_1” is a sculpture by Jeff Carter of modified IKEA products — wood, umbrellas, LEDs, glassware, electric drill — that measures 60- by 96- by 48-inches, which is on display at the Chicago Cultural Center. (Image courtesy of Jeff Carter)“Occupier” by professor Jeff Carter, is a solo/featured exhibition of five pieces at the Chicago Cultural Center, through Jan. 6, 2019.
“Street protest around the world, such as the 2014 pro-democracy ‘Umbrella Movement’ in Hong Kong, have resulted in the construction of temporary makeshift barricades. These structures vary widely in material and structure, but are all meant to visibly occupy public space, to inhibit the movement of authorities, and to protect protestors,” says Carter.
Working from online images from conflict zones, Carter developed a series of interconnected sculptures that explore the “architecture of dissent.” In the exhibition space, he created a dense layer of barricade-like sculptures that allow viewers to move around and through them.
The structures are constructed from hacked IKEA products — shelving units, bookcases, tables, textiles and lamps. Carter’s work also is on exhibit at the Ikea Museum in Älmhult, Sweden. He is one of 30 contributors from around the world displaying work in the “IKEA Hacked” exhibition.
In Chicago, Carter’s works are at the Chicago Cultural Center, in the Chicago Rooms, Second Floor North, 78 E. Washington St. The center is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m. -5 p.m. More at http://bit.ly/JeffCarter_Occupier.
Both projects are supported in part by DePaul’s URC paid leave program through the University Research Council. The URC paid leave program supports research projects that would be difficult or impossible to undertake without suspension of other contractual responsibilities. The University Research Council supports faculty research, scholarship and creative activities through competitive grants and leaves. In addition to helping faculty maintain their intellectual vitality, the grants and leaves are intended as a stepping stone for securing external funding. More at http://bit.ly/URC_paidleave.