The Blurry Line Between Fact and Fiction with Deb Sokolow
Sunday, September 22, 3 - 4:30 pm RSVP
freedoms and problems, in making art that blurs the line between fact and fiction. Topics to be discussed,
among others, include McDonald’s, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jim Jones, master illusionist David Copperfield, a
former mayor of Chicago, the Chicago Tribune, and an unnamed starchitect.
a number of subjects including architecture, politics, shadowy organizations, and the human psyche. Her
work has been included in the 4th Athens Biennale (Athens, Greece), the 5th Chicago Architecture Biennial,
and in exhibitions at Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Siegen, Germany), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven,
Netherlands), Drawing Center (New York), and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (Hartford). Drawings
have appeared in BOMB Magazine, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Best American Comics and
Phaidon’s Vitamin D2. Collections include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and
Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and Museum of
Contemporary Art in Chicago. She received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, and a BFA
from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Sokolow, whose studio is based in Chicago, is a recipient of an
Artadia award, two Illinois Arts Council visual arts fellowships, and is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the
Department of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University.
Duality Is Inherent within a Unified Whole with Julie Rotblatt Amrany
Sunday, October 20, 3 - 4:30 pm RSVP
For the ongoing EAC series, "In Focus," Rotblatt Amrany will present her talk, "Duality Is Inherent within a Unified Whole," discussing the scope of both her commercial and fine art practices.
In her artistic career of 35 years, Rotblatt Amrany is known for sculpting sports icons such as Kobe Bryant, A’ja Wilson and Michael Jordan, famous astronaut Jim Lovell, scientist Rosalind Franklin, actor Jackie Chan and veteran memorials located in Highland Park and Munster Indiana. Her husband Omri, son Itamar, and Rotblatt Amrany run a Fine Art Studio in Fort Sheridan, Highwood, IL and have been located there since 2005, employing several artists who do their own work as well as work on Rotblatt Amrany's commissioned projects as well. Their studio has completed over 250 monuments globally.
The majority of commissioned projects fall under the category of mimetic style, whereas Rotblatt Amrany describes the works in her fine art practice as more intuitive: "I find that a natural polarity occurs here, and sometimes a conflict of interest erupts. My personal art, which is exhibited in galleries and museums, is based on inspiration from theories of multi-dimensional space and process-orientated intuitive expressions. The Eastern religions profess Unity in opposition; it can be a rich subject matter to explore and discuss."
Born in Chicago in 1958, Julie Rotblatt Amrany is an acclaimed, internationally-exhibited painter and sculptor whose work explores the resurgence of the figure in modern art. She has art degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Colorado, and she also studied at University of California at Davis, and in Bordeaux, France. Rotblatt Amrany has taught figure sculpture through the continuing education program at the Art Institute of Chicago. Some of her notable works include The Spirit: Michael Jordan, sculpture; Veterans Memorial Park in Munster, Indiana; Chicago White Sox 2005 World Champions, epic bas-relief; and Statue of Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles, California, sculpture.
Making a Movie that was seen in outer space with Filmmaker and Evanston native Sarah Moshman
Sunday, November 10, 3 - 4:30 pm RSVP
Join Evanston native and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Sarah Moshman as she takes us through the entire process of directing and producing her award-winning short film UNBOUND, which is based on a true story about the 1st mother in space starring Evanston native and Actress Lauren Lapkus! Sarah will share the film as well as describe her process of story development, fundraising, storyboarding, production, editing and distribution of the film all the way to the International Space Station! Sarah firmly believes in the power of film to change the world.
Sarah Moshman is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and TEDx speaker whose work has been featured on Netflix, PBS, Upworthy, Marie Claire, CNN, and Good Morning America. Sarah has directed and produced 3 feature-length documentaries: The Empowerment Project: Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things (2014), Losing Sight of Shore (2017) and NEVERTHELESS (2020). Sarah has ventured into the narrative world with a short about the 1st mother in space entitled UNBOUND starring Lauren Lapkus that was awarded First Place at NASA's Cinespace Competition and is on the festival circuit with a new short she wrote and directed entitled A Mother is Born. Sarah is dedicated to telling stories that uplift, inform and inspire as well as showcase strong and complex female role models on screen.
Prior to focusing on documentaries Sarah worked as a field producer on the hit ABC show Dancing with the Stars for 10 seasons as well as shows on NBC, MTV, Lifetime, Bravo and the Food Network. She also directs branded content for EllenTube, Tastemade, Mattel, AT&T and more. Sarah is an inspiring public speaker, author, and an adjunct professor in documentary film, passionate about empowering the next generation of storytellers.
UNBOUND (10 min)
Weeks before giving birth to her first child, Dr. Anna Fisher is chosen for a mission to space. Although the decision to go is easy, Anna is faced with the difficult intersection of motherhood and ambition on the way to her dream.
Inspired by a true story, this short film is set in the 1980's and follows the NASA Mission Specialist who paved the way as the first mother in space.
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