FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EVENT: EAC Artists Exhibit at ArtPrize 2011
DATES: September 21 – October 9, 2011
OPENING: September 21, 2011, 6 PM-10 PM
LOCATION: Venues throughout Grand Rapids, MI
HOURS: Monday-Thursday 5 PM-8 PM, Friday & Saturday 12-10 PM, Sunday 12-6 PM
The Evanston Art Center is proud to announce the five EAC members who have been juried into the third annual ArtPrize competition, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan: Jill King, Lindsay Obermeyer, Matthew Runfola, Dominic Sansone, and Victor Nelson.
ArtPrize is a unique event that combines art, social experiment, and civic projects. Venues throughout the city of Grand Rapids select artists applicants from all over the world to have their work featured and judged by the public for awards totaling nearly $450,000. Over 5% of all entrants were from the State of Illinois. The variety of disciplines represented by the EAC selectees speaks to the diversity of artistic talent found at the Art Center. A non-profit organization, the Evanston Art Center is one of the largest community art centers in Illinois. For the past 80 years, the EAC has been dedicated to fostering the appreciation and expression of the visual arts among the diverse audience of the Greater Chicago/North Shore region, striving to make the art of our time an accessible and integral part of the life of the community.
Jill King, EAC Painting and Sculpture Instructor, has a Masters of Art in painting and a Bachelors of Fine Arts in sculpture. King’s works have appeared in several galleries and exhibits across the country as well as multiple publications throughout Chicago. King’s featured work “Whirled” is a 3-D suspended piece above the viewers’ heads. The work focuses on Hurricane Katrina which she describes, “captures my hopes, fears and fascination with these intense forces of nature.” “Whirled” will be on display at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
Lindsay Obermeyer, EAC Fiber and Textiles Instructor, employs the history and metaphors surrounding textile practices to study issues as diverse as environmentalism, medical ethics, nanotechnology and gender. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally at well-noted venues. She has earned a BFA and MFA in fiber art. “Glass Prairie” is an ever-growing installation filled with flowers made up of beads and wire that are placed in a glass beaker, representing our fragile ecosystem and man’s intervention on it. “Glass Prairie” will be on display at the Fifth Third Bank/Warner Norcross & Judd LLP.
Matthew Runfola, EAC Metal Sculpture Instructor and Department Coordinator, graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a Mechanical Engineering degree, minoring in Environmental Studies. Matthew established Runfola Studios in 2003 with the intent of designing and developing functional and sculptural art that explores the relationship between natural and human-made elements. Runfola states “My work directly or indirectly hints at the symbiotic relationship we as humans have with our world – in the physical, social, and the cultural sense. “Citius, Altius, Fortius” symbolically represents the over-importance we place on sport, both as fragile individual egos and as big business.” “Citius, Altius, Fortius” will be on display at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.
Dominic Sansone, EAC Metal Sculpture Instructor, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in sculpture and a Master of Fine Arts degree. Dominic worked in the aerospace industry producing fabrication and assembly drawings. Over the last decade he has worked in tradeshow exhibitry and has been responsible for worldwide exhibition programs. “Brand New God” attempts to explore the violence of humankind and the role each of us play in this endless cycle of barbarity. Sansone states that “repetition and casting combine to create an industrial mass-produced sensibility to my artwork.” These works hopefully cause the viewer to consider, the visual culture of our cities, our entertainment, our public art, and our media. “Brand New God” will be on display at the Fountain Street Church.
Victor Nelson, EAC Metal Studio Monitor, graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Drake University. His interest in three-dimensional art, which was developed at Drake, was strengthened by his architectural career. The geometric shapes found in the architectural world have been an influence on his sculptures, as seen in his work “Red Flags”. “Red Flags” will be on display at the Cathedral Square.
The Evanston Art Center is located at 2603 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL. For more information please visit us online at www.evanstonartcenter.org or contact Paula Danoff, Director of Communications, at (847) 475-5300 ext. 206. Visit the Evanston Art Center on Facebook: www.facebook.com/evanston.art or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/evartcenter.
For more information about ArtPrize 2011, please visit http://www.artprize.org/
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