News from Woman Made Gallery

Press Release

WOMAN MADE GALLERY PRESENTS

Group and Solo Exhibitions

Nov. 4 - Dec. 22, 2011

Artwork by Pauline Kochanski

Chicago, IL - October 26, 2011 Woman Made Gallery is proud to present the group exhibition "Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century" and solo shows by Ulli Rooney and Kathleen Waterloo. The opening reception is on November 4 from 6 to 9 p.m.

Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century
Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 4, 6-9 p.m.

Artwork by by Patricia Schnall Gutierrez

Minimalism is a specific movement identified with the evolution of post-World War II art. The movement pioneers - among them Frank Stella and Carl Andre - felt that "art excludes the unnecessary". Their artwork - including that of others such as Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, and Agnes Martin, was rooted in the reductive aesthetic aspects of modernism. It was this reductive element which these artists pursued in their movement away from the prevalence of Abstract Expressionism. "Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century" will explore how women artists are influenced by these earlier ideologies, and how they attempt to make them their own.

Artists represented in "Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century" are Alexandra Lee (ATYL), Grazyna Adamska-Jarecka, Salwa Aleryani, Carrie M. Becker, Jan Blythe, Marian Carow, Nancy Charak, Patricia Schnall Gutierrez, Jeanne Heifetz, Martha Hopkins, Carrie Johnson, Katie Kehoe, Pauline Kochanski, Lindsey Landfried, Diane McGregor, Elizabeth Mead, Anna E. Mikolay, Amanda DAmico and Phuong Pham, Phong Pham, Ulli Rooney, Mary Rork-Watson, Lisa Flowers Ross, Yvette Kaiser Smith, Sharon Swidler, Asha Tamirisa, and Erwina Ziomkowska.

Exhibition Curator: Ingrid Fassbender

Ingrid Fassbender of Fassbender Fine Art is an independent curator for various museums and art centers - in addition to acting as a consultant to numerous artists and institutions. For more information, visit www.fassbendergallery.com.

Click here for Press Release / Click here to view the exhibition online.

Nov. 4 - Dec. 22, 2011 - Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 4, 6-9 p.m.

Solo Show by Ulli Rooney

Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 4, 6-9 p.m

Artwork by Ulli Rooney

Originally from Riga, Latvia, Ulli Rooney currently lives and works in the Chicago area. She earned her art degree in 1961 in Munich, Germany. Rooney has exhibited her work in numerous group and solo shows throughout the United States and overseas. She was awarded two Illinois Arts Council Artists Fellowships, a Studio Residency in Stuttgart, Germany, and an Academic Exchange Service Fellowship to Paris, France.

Rooney's layered glossy paintings are about color, color pairing and the interaction between calligraphy and color field. Using a square format she employs oil enamels and works up the surface over the course of several painting sessions. Rooney comments: "What changes and what stays the same from one session to the next is always an impulse or concept that stays with a painting and drives it, from its very beginnings until the very end."

Click here for Press Release / Click here to view the exhibition online.

Nov. 4 - Dec. 22, 2011 - Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 4, 6-9 p.m.

Solo Show by Kathleen Waterloo

Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 4, 6-9 p.m

Artwork by Kathleen Waterloo

Kathleen Waterloo is a Chicago based artist working in both encaustic and egg tempera. Architectural elements serve as the impetus for her pieces which she has exhibited throughout the United States and overseas, in England, Italy, Singapore and Spain. Waterloo received her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL in 1996, and has studied at the Harrington Institute of Interior Design, Chicago, and at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

Inspired by 'mapquest' routes, other artists whose work is architectural and architects whose work is art, Chicago urban landscapes, and international airport floor plans, Waterloo's works are architectural fantasies which attempt to record the urban/urbane/mundane observances she sees on a daily basis. With an approach towards monumental simplicity - given any scale - an elevation, floor plan, or structure becomes a vision construed in space.

Click here for Press Release / Click here to view the exhibition online.

Nov. 4 - Dec. 22, 2011 - Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 4, 6-9 p.m.

Lecture: Minimalism in the 21st Century

Panelists: Ingrid Fassbender and Paul Krainak

Saturday, November 12, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m / Free

Artwork by Agnes Martin

In conjunction with the current group and solo exhibitions, WMG is hosting a gallery talk about Minimalism in the 21st Century with Ingrid Fassbender and Paul Krainak.

Ingrid Fassbender is the juror and curator of "Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century" group exhibition and solo show by Ulli Rooney at Woman Made Gallery. She is an independent curator and art consultant at Fassbender Fine Art.

Paul Krainak is the Chairman of the Department of Art at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. Paul is an artist, writer and critic and has done articles for Sculpture Magazine, Art Papers and various catalogues.

Please join us to learn about Minimalism on Saturday, November 12 at 2pm. This event is open and free to the public. As always, light refreshments will be served.

Reading: Egg Money Poets

Sunday, November 13, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m / Free

Egg Money Poets is a collective of Chicago writers, begun 20 years ago, with members joining as recently as this fall. Egg money is extra money, what a woman earned on her own, what allowed her a little luxury. Poetry enriches us in the same way. During our monthly meetings, we help each other explore our voices and make our poems more of what they want to be. We also look for opportunities to hear from others and to share our work with audiences. The Sow's Ear Poetry Review features our writing as a community in the Fall 2011 issue.

Please join us on Sunday, November 13 at 2pm to hear poets Kristin Collier, Sharon Dornberg-Lee, Suzanne Frank, Carol Gloor, Angela Just, Susanna Lang and Holly Wehmeyer read from their works.

The event is free and open to the public; light refreshments will be served.

WMG Members and Volunteers Brunch

Saturday, December 3, 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m

Please join us for WMG's annual Member/Volunteer Brunch on Saturday, December 3rd from 11am to 2pm. Meet other supporters of WMG, and do some networking while enjoying hot cider or mulled wine along with delicious food and sweets.

View the current group and solo exhibitions exploring Minimalism in the 21st Century and do some holiday shopping at our Artisan Gallery. All craft items are for sale at 15% off.

We'll also have a raffle, and auction off gift certificates to restaurants and services. Please RSVP that you will join us!

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 thematic exhibitions that help 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 Trust; the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; The Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF Fund; a major anonymous donor; and the generosity of its members and contributors.

Please support our work to exhibit art by women and to educate

the public about women's artistic contributions.

Click here to make a gift to Woman Made Gallery.