Fall Gallery Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Address:
25 E. Van Buren St.
Joliet, IL 60432
These exhibits are some of many ongoing programs hosted at University of St. Francis to enrich and broaden the academic and cultural outlook for the university and community.
Please email gallery director, Jennifer Moore, at jmoore@stfrancis.edu for more information.
The exhibition is on display August 23 – October 5, 2021 at the University of St. Francis Art Gallery located at 25 E. Van Buren St., Joliet.
The Chicago Portrait Project is a collection of artist, Chester Alamo-Costello’s work. The exhibition stems from Alamo-Costello’s 2018 book, “Somewhere In-Between Chicago”. The exhibition is a collection of portraits of artists, musicians, and casual passerby contrasted with imagery made in city streets and fringe environments since the mid-1990s. These works offer insight into the city as a creative environment and the various of socio-political issues encountered over the past 30+ years.
There will be over 200+ artworks: photography, paintings, 3-dimensional works, journals, literature, and videos, in a range of media, documentary to experimental.
The Chicago Portrait Project is supported by an Illinois Arts Council grant. These funds were used to produce the exhibition and employ USF students, Austin Hines and Odessa Villarreal.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Chester Alamo-Costello is an American artist, educator, publisher and writer based in Chicago, Illinois. He is most known for his long-running, international “Art Drop” series (1998–), which place art into non-traditional settings, such as public parks, and for his photographic books, whose work has been noted for its rawness and everyday immediacy. He has primarily shown his work in the public domain in countries throughout Europe, the United States and Canada; he has also had exhibits at the Museum of Contemporary Photography and the Hyde Park Art Center. His photography and projects have been reviewed or published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune Magazine, De Telegraaf (Amsterdam),The Globe and Mail (Canada), New Art Examiner, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Magazine, Nerve, and on Chicago Public Radio. Alamo-Costello’s books of photography, art and writing include: Somewhere In-Between Chicago (2018), The Globe (2010), and Grandpa Danny (2008). Alamo-Costello is also the publisher of, and a contributor to, The COMP Magazine, a digital art and design journal. He is a professor and former chair of the Department of Art and Design at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois.
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2021
2021 Senior Thesis Exhibition features the work of 6 graduating seniors from the Department of Fine Arts at the University of St. Francis. Working across a variety of media, these artists explore themes unique to each of them. As the culmination of their journey at the University of St. Francis, this exhibit not only reflects the skills gained from their time as a student but also their personal growth as artists.
The exhibition is on display April 30 – July 30, 2021 at the University of St. Francis Art Gallery located at 25 E. Van Buren St., Joliet. Public reception is on Friday, April 30, 2021, 6-8pm.
Exhibiting students: Amber Daraska, Austin Hines, Jamie Stolfo, Lauren Tuider, Maria Cruz Uceda, Odessa Villarreal
KINDRED SPIRITS: Kathie Shaw & Corey Postiglione
October 8-November 30, 2020
USF Art Gallery welcomes KINDRED SPIRITS, work by artists, Kathie Shaw and Corey Postiglione. Shaw and Postiglione, a husband and wife team who share a studio space, closely collaborate on art-making processes as well as philosophical meaning, visual exploration and messaging.
KINDRED SPIRITS explores painting as a tool of expression and how the process of painting can clarify meaning and satisfy the needs of the artist. In a period of intense commercialism and sign value, Shaw and Postiglione’s work challenges the viewer to experience the joy and passion painting enables. KINDRED SPIRITS investigates the pure satisfaction of creating tangible works of art that reflects the individuals’ thought process.
Join us for an artist talk on Wednesday, October 14, 1:15pm. Space is limited, registration required. To register, email your request to jmoore@stfrancis.edu.
Exhibition: MUSE – Niki Grangruth & James Kinser
August 25 – September 25, 2020
Muse, a collaborative body of work by artists Niki Grangruth and James Kinser, explores issues of non-conforming gender identity by reimagining and reinterpreting well-known paintings from art history. The photographs, sets, and costumes are all carefully constructed to reflect a painterly aesthetic. With art history as a foundation that grounds the work in the familiar and comfortable, each piece nods to the notion that history tends to be repeated in an organic and cyclical manner.
The use of a male subject, gaze, and costumes questions common gender-specific beauty ideals, disrupts the social construct of binary gender identity, and explores gender as a non-linear and ever-changing construct. The photographs also document a process of gender play – a conscious hybridization of hyper-feminine and masculine as a way of exploring the fluid, performative, and sometimes dichotomous, elements of identity.
NIKI GRANGRUTH | Bio
Niki Grangruth (b. St. Paul, MN) is a photo-based artist working in Chicago, IL. Her imagery explores issues of performative gender identity, beauty ideals and the reinterpretation of art history. Her work is influenced by pervasive archetypes found in cultural texts, art history, mythologies and folklore.
Her work has been exhibited nationally at museums and galleries such as the Center for Fine Art Photography, the Indianapolis Art Center, the Kinsey Institute Gallery and the Zhou B. Art Center. Grangruth received her B.A. in Studio Art and English from Saint Olaf College in Northfield, MN and her M.F.A. in Photography from Columbia College Chicago.
JAMES KINSER | Bio
James Kinser is a Chicago-based multimedia artist. Combining performance and costume design, his work currently explores idiosyncratic expressions of identity that challenge the traditional male/female construct of gender. Previously, his work has addressed the relationship between the body, spirituality, and sexuality–all topics which continue to be incorporated into his work.
James earned an MA (2005) in Interdisciplinary Art at Columbia College Chicago and a BA (1997) in Art Education and Fine Art from Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS.
Images:
Girl with a Pearl Earring (after Vermeer) 2009, laminated inkjet print
Ophelia (after Millais) 2013, laminated inkjet print
Odalisque (after Ingres) 2009, laminated inkjet print
2020 USF Art & Design Senior Thesis
May 1–August 20, 2020
Reception: Friday, May 1, 2019 from 6-8 p.m.
2020 USF Student Art Exhibition
April 1–April 13, 2020
Reception & Breakfast with the USF President and Dean: Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 10:30 a.m.
USF Gallery is proud to host the annual St. Francis Student Artist Exhibition. The exhibition is open to all USF students, any major. All are welcome to join us for a light breakfast with USF President Arvid Johnson and College of Arts & Sciences Dean Elizabeth Davies on Thursday, April 2, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. Winners and scholarship awards will be announced at the breakfast
Guest Curator: Professor Paul Erschen
February 3–March 20, 2020
USF Art & Design Department’s 2019-2020
Illinois High School Art Competition & Exhibition
October 1 – November 20, 2019
Reception: Saturday, October 5, 2019, noon-2pm
Exhibiting Artists: Celine Alonzo, Ashley August, Priscilla Candelas, Simon Cantor, Alondra Cruz, Alyssa Devine, Nathan Estrada, Torie Knibbs, Megan Kolcz, Stacy Lord, Joseph Lord, Vilma Maciulyte, Katie Maloney, Mely Meraz, Delaney O’Rourke, Kallyn Perich, Sydney Rastrullo, Angelina Tomeczko, and Daniella Vinchery
USF Art Gallery welcomes community college students from across the nation in this juried exhibition. Scholarship and cash prizes will be awarded.
2019 Senior Thesis Exhibition
April 26–August 12, 2019
Reception: Friday, April 26, 2019 from 6-8 p.m.
Exhibiting Seniors: Katia Hunt, Sydney Jarrard, Autumn Lee, Elias Martinez, Kelly McElroy, Leah Morrow, Nick Phillish, Rachel Rivette, Jordan Tiritilli
