January 24 - March 18 Elmhurst Historical Museum
February 23 - February 26
February 23 Elmhurst Historical Museum
March 10
January 6 - March 24 @ 150 S Cottage Hill Ave
Mr. Wild’s Garden is photographer David Weinberg’s provocative re-envisioning of his mysterious childhood neighbor, Mr. Wild. Weinberg’s narrative body of photographs tells a story about a dilapidated greenhouse, a yard of towering weeds and a solitary, enigmatic man who inspired a range of emotionally charged images. Weinberg’s exhibition acts as a meditation on the natural process of growth, overgrowth and decay. The series explores the passage of time through a sequence of photographs shot from different perspectives—the frightened and cautiously curious child, the old neighbor and the weeds themselves. The veil of fogged glass and strewn plastic camouflage a remembered reality, mimicking the murky atmosphere of early recollections. Mr. Wild’s Garden evolved from the series Deconstruction, an exploration of greenhouse architecture in winter. The unchecked growth of a greenhouse in off-season sparked the enduring memory of Weinberg’s strange neighbor.
January 13 - March 10 @ 150 S Cottage Hill Ave
Splice, Carolyn Ottmer’s installation of hanging vines and branches cast in stainless steel create a canopy of silver growth in EAM’s Hostetler Gallery. A hybrid of organic form, technical process and the use of specialized material, plant life that thrives in urban environments inspires the sculptures—like veins breaking through cracks in a sidewalk to clamber up inhospitable concrete walls. Through a mastery of metal casting, Ottmers uses multiples to reflect her interest in the diversity of nature and the industrial production of objects. The construction of Ottmers’ sculpture becomes the intervention of seasonal change by disrupting and freezing organic subjects into immutable objects. Please join us for the opening reception on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 6:30 pm. Please join us for an artist led talk with Carolyn Ottmers and curator Aaron Ott on Friday, January 20, 2012 at 6:30 pm. This program is free and open to the public.
January 13 - March 13 @ 150 S Cottage Hill Ave
Meghan Q. McCook’s Terra Hive series of blown glass terrariums seamlessly blend artistic exploration with functional craft. McCook creates flowing organic environments by blowing hot glass into a copper-wire structures. With the higher melting temperature of wire, the frame stays intact as the molten glass billows around the structure. McCook relies on the natural fluidity of hot glass to reveal her process, and infuses the work with personal history or memory. The inclusion of epiphytes, or air plants, adds layers of physicality to the work. The seductive, brightly colored flowering plants and their intricate leaving and rooting formations intuitively match the sensual and natural forms created by the glass. Please join us for the opening reception on January 13, 2012 at 6:30 pm.
Molly McCracken Kumar contemplates the birth, death and regeneration of the natural world in her exuberant paintings. McCracken Kumar’s paintings embody themes from Hindu philosophy and spirituality. Her whimsical compositions represent Shiva’s cosmic dance of the dynamic tension and change of the universe. McCracken Kumar says she “experiences this dynamic tension most keenly while gardening and observing plants.” Her garden becomes a visual reference that gives form to her spirituality. McCracken Kumar translates delicately painted flowers, vines and plants into celestial transcendence. Through her paintings, McCracken Kumar searches for tranquility as a way to find balance and rest within the constant movement of her everyday life. McCracken Kumar’s final images are kinetic yet calm embodiments of her painting process. Please join us for the opening reception on January 13, 2012 at 6:30 pm. Please join us for a lecture by Dan Addington about the artwork of Molly McCracken K
January 13 - March 31 @ 150 S Cottage Hill Ave
Chicago artist Stephen Eichhorn creates delicate hand-cut paper collages from photos of foliage—palm fronds, grasses, leaves and flowers. Quiet and poetic, Eichhorn’s work radiates a complex harmony between the natural and handmade world. Eichhorn’s new work has on black backgrounds creates a floating image in cosmic space. Though complexly layered and intuitively organized, the work exudes a simple elegance. Eichhorn’s floral arrangements suggest an underlying structural rhythm to growth, adaptation and accumulation. The painstaking and delicate method Eichhorn uses to make his pieces mirrors the natural process of fertilization, evolution and exuberant proliferation. Eichhorn’s new work begins to loosen his collage style, reducing or abandoning framework and creating draping compositions. The work embodies the delicate architecture of orchid petals and his larger free-form installations take on the appearance of blankets quilted from Japanese maple leaves.
February 14, 12:00 PM - March 15, 4:00 PM @ Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace
Joan Truckenbrod Joan Truckenbrod probes indigenous rituals and ceremonies embedded in the digital realm. Her video sculptures transform spaces with a provocative juxtaposition of video narrative and sculptural objects. Released in these installations are traces of invisible ritual behaviors, as video imagery is projected into hand-made objects, activating their unique stories. These installations engage invisible and visible phenomena from the natural world with contemporary social patterns. Public Reception: Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace, Tuesday, February 14, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Artist talk at 5:00 p.m.
February 21, 8:00 AM - March 24, 12:00 AM @ Frick Center, Founders Lounge
Mary Lou Stewart Artist and Chairperson of the Elmhurst College Department of Art, Mary Lou Stewart shows work from her 2011 sabbatical in this exhibition. These large scale pieces are made of multiple hand-painted and stamped panels, each with a distinct rhythmic pattern. Strongly musical and highly improvisational, the shifting paces of these panels resemble a form of visual jazz. Trained as a sculptor, Stewart approaches these works with a primary interest in her materials and process. Working on six pieces at a time, she rotates the individual panels among the pieces and within the pieces until she arrives at her final resolution. Public Reception: Founders Lounge, Frick Center, Wednesday, March 7, 4:30 p.m–6:30 p.m. Artist talk at 5:00 p.m.
February 21, 10:00 AM - March 28, 5:00 PM @ Elmhurst Artists' Guild Gallery
The sixth annual National Art Premiere, exhibiting 43 artists from across the U.S., opens February 21 in the Elmhurst Artists’ Guild Gallery at the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst, Illinois. Juried and judged by Deborah Lovely, National Art Premiere 2012 encompasses a broad variety of media besides paintings, including photography, sculpture, hand-pulled prints and fiber pieces. An artists’ reception and awards ceremony on March 2 from 7 to 9 p.m. is open to the public. The show can be viewed until March 28 during regular Elmhurst Art Museum hours, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Friday. Admission is free all day Friday and to Museum members and children at all times.
February 23 - February 26 @ Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel
Jeff Hamilton Trio, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the North Texas One O'clock Lab Band, Wayne Bergeron, Mark Colby and Denis DiBlasio Don't miss this year's Jazz Festival, which showcases some of the leading names in jazz today, along with the nation's top college jazz bands. Highlights include: February 24 at 7:30 PM: Feature performance by the Jeff Hamilton Trio (Jeff Hamilton, Tamir Hendelman, and Christoph Luty) with the Elmhurst College Jazz Band February 25 at 7:30 PM: Hear the North Texas One O'clock Lab Band perform with jazz greats Wayne Bergeron, Mark Colby and Denis DiBlasio in a tribute to Maynard Ferguson. February 26 at 4:30 PM: The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra performs in the Sunday performance of the festival
February 29, 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM @ Frick Center, Founders Lounge
Dr. Amy-Jill Levine A self-described “Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches in the buckle of the Bible belt,” Amy-Jill Levine teaches Jewish studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. She will address “how Jews and Christians bear false witness against each other.” Dr. Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies and professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Levine brings together the faith traditions of Judaism and Christianity, creating a conversation for people of widely different backgrounds to explore the controversial issues of religion.
January 24, 1:00 PM - March 18, 5:00 PM @ Museum 1st and second floor galleries
The dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945 marked the end of World War II but resulted in a new threat: the uncertainty of the Atomic Age. This traveling exhibition from ExhibitsUSA explores the ways in which Americans lived with the daily fear of atomic war, and how government responded to the growth of atomic powers and the onset of the Cold War. Through interesting period artifacts and displays, “Alert Today” shows how Americans were inundated with multi-media propaganda that warned of the dangers of atomic energy and reflected a nervous public and shifting global politics.
February 23, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM @ Elmhurst Historical Museum Education Center
Michael Scheibach, Ph.D., is an author, editor and college professor specializing in the history of the Atomic Age from the 1940s to the ‘60s. He shares his expertise and fascinating collection of Cold War memorabilia as co-curator of the new exhibit, “Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow”. Scheibach will discuss the impact of the atomic bomb on the psyche of American children and adults, and the ways media, educators, and government responded amidst the social and political climate of the Cold War era. Part of the ongoing "It's History" series of history-related lectures and programs.
February 23, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM @ Exhibit tours in the galleries Refreshments served in the Education Center, just south of the Glos Mansion
Member/Donor Reception Thursday, February 23, 5-7 p.m. The Elmhurst Heritage Foundation invites members, donors and guests to a special reception welcoming Michael Scheibach, co-curator of the "Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow" exhibit. Join us in the Elmhurst Historical Museum gallery for an exhibit tour with EHM curator of exhibits, Lance Tawzer, and meet Mr. Scheibach. Brief comments at 5:30 p.m. and complimentary refreshments served in the Education Center. To make a reservation, call the museum at 630-833-1457. To become a member of the Elmhurst Heritage Foundation, go to www.elmhurstheritagefoundation.org or call 630-833-1457.
February 27, 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM @ 209 N York St