Opening Reception: September 1, 2006 from 6-9pm Woman Made Gallery is pleased to announce group and solo exhibitions, opening with an artist reception on September 1, 2006, 6-9pm, at 685 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. The Gallery is open and free to the public on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 12 to 7pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 4pm.

Woman Made Gallery is hosting “Anthropomorphism,” a juried group show with art by women and men from across the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Simultaneously on exhibit are paintings by Pamela Callahan in her solo show "The Unseeable Animal," and mixed media sculptures by Rhonda Gushee in her solo show, “Role Model.” The Artisan Gallery is showing functional fine craft in its "By Invitation Only” exhibition.

In her juror's statement Ms. Hogin elaborates on the theme: "Anthropomorphism, literally the attribution of human shape or other human characteristics to non- human things, is a tendency probably born of anthropocentrism. Its various permutations, from the emotionality and magical thinking of the talking animals, plants and furniture of fairy tales, through the surrealist activity of allowing the unconscious to find meaning in happenstance, human shapes in clouds, rock faces, trees, tools, cars, and other inanimate things, to the attribution of human feeling to the non-human, anthropomorphism has been criticized as a failure of objectivity, of intellect. But to resist it is to separate our selves from the non- human world, to abandon our surest route to empathy and connection with it."

Exhibiting artists include Jane Fulton Alt, Laurie J. Blakeslee, Moira Carlson, Criss Chaney, John Cichon, Jan Deswik, Frances Ferdinands, Emile Ferris, Rosalynn Gingerich, Rebecca Hamlin, Laura C. Hewitt, Nancy Hild, Nancy Huggins, Heidi Jensen, Katherine Kaminski, Sharon Micheal, Kendall Mingey, Jessie Mott, John Murdoch, Laura Olear, Ellen Rosenberg, Sura Ruth, Jaye Schlesinger, Mardy Sears, Jere Van Syoc, Jennifer Weigel and Scott Ziegler.

The exhibition opens on September 1st with an artist reception from 6 to 9 pm at Woman Made Gallery, 685 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago's River West neighborhood

Image: Love Is...
Heidi Jensen
graphite and acrylic on paper - 10 x 14"

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Mainly, I attempted to give the unseeable animal---call it intuition, imagination, subconscious, maybe even soul- --center stage. For it's what pulls us, weights us, propels us and guides us---if we let it.”

Pamela Callahan was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and received a B.A. in Studio Art from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. For fourteen years, Pamela lived and worked in the Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago and opened her studio for the annual Around the Coyote Arts Festival held there each fall. In fall of 2004, Pamela moved back to Wisconsin, where along the banks of Otter Creek amidst animals of all kinds, she is creating art full-time.

Pamela Callahan's exhibition: "The Unseeable Animal" will be on display from September 1 to 28, 2006.

Image: 'Joe as the Bee Boy'
Pamela Callahan
oil on wood - 10 x 9"

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Myths and fairy tales, family and friends inspire my characters. The work involves taking apart found objects, and combining human and animal forms. Tactile materials such as Raku clay and stitched fibers come together and become a hybrid of the old and new. I find that these elements highlight contradictions such as humor and fear, beauty and decay, the antique and contemporary." – Rhonda Gushee.

Rhonda Gushee received both her BFA in mixed media and her MFA in printmaking and sculpture from the University of Cincinnati. She has exhibited in numerous group and solo shows and has her work in public and private collections. Rhonda Gushee is Adjunct Professor at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

Rhonda Gushee's exhibition: “Role Model” will be on display from September 1 to 28, 2006.

Image: 'Mixed Family Portrait'
Rhonda Gushee
Raku - 22" H

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Artists: Angela Askin, Beth Bartley, Sarah Chapman, Lori C.Coan, Devon Driscoll, Teresa Faris, Judy B. Freeman, Karen Gubitz, Julie Burkhart Haid, Caroline Haurie, Laura C. Hewitt, Dorothy Hughes, Ala Jaron, Tammy Marinuzzi, Dorothy McGuinness, Kimberly Nikolaev, Carmen M. Perez, Julie Pitzen, Elizabeth Rhoads Read, Carol Ross, Liz Vercruysee, Emily Watson, Lisa Williams.

The Artisan Gallery exhibition dates are Sept. 1 - Nov. 9, 2006.

Image: ‘Pierced Bone Bracelet' by Devon Driscoll
Sterling silver w/18 kt gold accents
2.5 x 2.75 x 1.5"

Artisan Gallery

Nina Corwin invited Kurt Heinz, Simone Muench, Kristy Odelius and Allison Joseph to read from their works. Nina Corwin, author of Conversations with Friendly Demons and Tainted Saints, will also be the featured reader.

For more information, contact:
Lauren Levato at womanmadepoetry@hotmail.com
Gallery: 312.738.0400 or gallery@womanmade.org

About Woman Made Gallery

Woman Made Gallery is a tax-exempt, not for profit organization founded in 1992. Its goal is to support women in the arts by providing opportunities, awareness, and advocacy. It specifically accomplishes this through monthly thematic exhibitions which raise public awareness and recognition of women's cultural contributions.

Woman Made Gallery is supported in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; a CityArts Program II grant from the City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs; the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; the Polk Bros. Foundation; the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation; the Efroymson Fund, a CICF Fund; and the generosity of its members and contributors.