Chicago, Illinois- Woman Made Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of two new group exhibitions, the "Annual Members' Show" and "Her Mark 2009." The Artisan Gallery is continuing its group show, "The Secret," curated by Mary Stoppert and Carmen M. Perez.

In conjunction with the group and solo exhibitions, Woman Made Gallery is hosting the Release Party of Her Mark 2009, a journal of art and poetry by 44 women. Led by Her Mark 2009 poetry jurors Kathleen Kirk and Orick Peterson, select poets will read from their work on August 3 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Please join us at the artist reception on Friday, August 1, from 6 to 9 p.m., at 685 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. Works will be on display until August 28, 2008

Regular Gallery hours are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 12 to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m.

Juror Corinne D. Peterson is a Chicago artist who divides her time between studio work, teaching, commissions and community public art. Local and national exhibitions of her work include solo shows in Northwestern's Dittmar Gallery and Notre Dame's Isis Gallery, and group shows at Perimeter and Flatfile in Chicago.

Artists whose work was selected for this exhibition are Grazyna Adamska-Jarecka, Clare Murray Adams, Valerie Alduen, Marcia Adler and Nancy Pirri, Joanne Tomi Aono, ATYL, Anoush Bargamian, Gaby Silva Bavio, Ilse Bolle, Heather Brammeier, Cat Del Buono, Wanrudee Buranakorn, Mary Button, Mo Cahill, Rachel Citrino, Susanne Clark, Sally Duback, Ruth Eckstein, Clairan Ferrono, Kathryn Gauthier, Renee Haddad, Hayley Hara, Nancy Hlavacek, EunKyung Jeong, Kim Edwards Keast, Karen Klein, Eileen Kroll, Mara Krumins, Haeley Kyong, Deborah South McEvoy, Bert Menco, Ruth Aizuss Migdal, Margaret Dubay Mikus, Margaret Newman, Andreea OHara, Pamela Olin, Uli Ostermann, Joyce Owens, Louise Pappageorge, Michelle-Renee Perkins, Gosia Podosek, Judith Pollock, Cherry Rahn, Sarah Rehmer, Jacquelyn Rixon, Karen St. John-Vincent, Susan Schraft, Catherine Schwalbe-Bouzide, Melanie Scott- Dockery, Sandy Sheagren, Lee Stanton, Pamela R. Tarbell, Pearlie Taylor, Michele Thrane, Christine Towner, Barbara Vogel, Jennifer Weigel, Katherine Weston and Rena Zaid.

Opening reception: Friday, August 1, from 6 until 9 p.m. Works are up through August 28, 2008.

Images: (top) "Independent Study" - acrylic paint on transparent film, 21 x 20 inches, by Grazyna Adamska- Jarecka

Read More Here

Her Mark 2009 art selections were made by Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Associate Curator, MCA, and the poetry was chosen by Kathleen Kirk and Orick Peterson.

The Artist Reception is on August 1 from 6 to 9 p.m. The Release Party with readings by select poets is scheduled for Sunday, August 3, from 2 to 4 p.m. Her Mark 2009 copies are available at the Artist Reception and Release Party or may be ordered for $15 per copy plus shipping. Please contact WMG by phone, 312-738-0400, or by email, gallery@womanmade.org.

Image: "The Illusion of Control" - oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches, by Elizabeth Bruno

Read More Here

"There is nothing as titillating as a secret, because by its very nature a secret should not be revealed, which makes us want to know it even more. Artists were asked to submit works that somehow, someway embody or incorporate a secret. This secret should be able to be accessed or discovered by viewer interaction or exploration. It can take form in a physical or conceptual manner."

Participating artists are Sue Canizares, Toni Bennett Easterson, Janet Felton, Bonnie Keats, Jeanine van der Loo, Sherry Mattern, Maria Navarra- Pino, Julie Rozman, Sunny Shultz, and Janet L. Whitehead.

The exhibition is on display through August 28, 2008.

Image: "Hidden Chapel" - white stoneware, thrown and altered, 5 x 4 x 3.25 inches, by Janet Felton

Read More Here

Her Mark 2009 poets are Sandra L. Beck, Virginia Bell, Lorian Brown, Lynne Burgess, Emari DiGiorgio, Lucia Galloway, Jane Ellen Glasser, Luisa A. Igloria, Laura LeHew, Joyce Lombard, Caridad McCormick, Arlyn Miller, Liz Robbins, Lori Romero, Mary Kolada Scott, Marian Kaplun Shapiro, Diane Stone, CC Thomas, Angela Narciso Torres, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Claudia Van Gerven and Sarah Zale.

For more information about this and other poetry readings, the art exhibits, and the gallery itself, call 312-738-0400, visit the gallery's website at www.womanmade.org, and/or email the gallery at gallery@womanmade.org.

Read More Here

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 Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development, a donor-advised fund of the Chicago Community Foundation; the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation; the Efroymson Fund, a CICF Fund; a major anonymous donor; and the generosity of its members and contributors.