Exhibition: December 1st to January 5th, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, December 6th, 7-9 pm   

Featured Artist: Jennifer Starchvill

Jennifer Starchvill is a former graphic designer, admirer of typography & crisp, clean lines, deeply inspired by our ancestral creators of petroglyphs found globally on cave walls and canyon floors. A child of the 70’s she is also quite drawn to the hip, cool, modern aesthetics of the mid 20th century & has been deeply influenced by her childhood television favorites: The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Sesame Street & The Electric Company. 

Her work is being highlighted under the banner of EVERCONNECTED this December at the Elmhurst Artists' Guild's feature wall during this year's Winter Members' Show. This show within a show celebrates how a simple act of connecting one shape to another forms unique icons (glyphs) that tell brief, fun stories or invite insightful commentary on modern ideas with themes from nature and family to technology and maybe even politics. 

Image:  Jennifer Starchvill, *Mandala on Purple*, 24"x 24", acrylic painting on canvas, 2024.

Elmhurst Artists' Guild Winter Members' Show

The Elmhurst Artists' Guild celebrates their Fall Members' Show with a theme of Day of the Dead.   

Forty-eight Guild members are participating in the show.  Several of the exhibition artists received awards:

Best of Theme: Ted Strahdt, *Sleep*

Awards of Excellence:    
Ken Reif, *Perpetually Surprised Barn*   
Donna Castellanos, *Give a Dog a Bone*   
John Duffy, *The Good, The Bad, &amp; The Dead*

Honorable Mention:   
Fletcher Hayes, *Hopefully I’m Evolving*   
Deb Vaccaro, *Queen Catrina*   
Diana Gondek, *Maria*__

Artwork this page: Deb Vaccaro, *Queen Catrina*


Elmhurst Artists' Guild Fall Members Show


__*Magic & Imaginary Realms*__ presents selections from the Elmhurst Art Museum’s Collection with works by artists who share uniquely inventive perceptions of the world around us - or who invent worlds we are invited to inhabit.   

This peek into the collection draws inspiration from the whimsical worlds of __*The Neighborhood of Make-Believe*__ and __*Someplace Else*__, created by Fred Rogers and continued into today's PBS KIDS show __*Donkey Hodie*__, which were showcased in the Museum's galleries this past summer.

Here, we present visions of the strange and magical by artists working in a variety of media and representing a broad range of dates and approaches. Included are the completely made-up beings in works by __Peter Max__ and __Sonia Delaunay__, strange and mystical interior spaces created by __Nicholas Sistler__ and __Phillip Hansen__, oddly revealing juxtapositions framed by photographer __Caroline Allison__, or the bizarre collision of worlds experienced by __Rebecca Keller__ whilst standing at a photocopy machine, presented to us on a shoe.

The selection of artworks presented here is indicative of the range and depth of the EAM Collection which includes works by local and regional artists together with those of international acclaim.

Artists:

Caroline Allison, Tarrant Clements, Sonia Delaunay, Philip Hansen, Sophia Harmon, Nancy Josephson, Rebecca Keller, Richard Koppe, Aleš Lamr, Miles Lowry, Peter Max, Hollis Sigler, Nicholas Sistler, Buzz Spector, Junsuke Watarai 

Curated by Liz Chilsen

__Artwork Image Above:__

Peter Max   
American, b. 1937   
__Universal Runner__, 1970   
Color Serigraph   
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Ronald H. Stefani, Jr.   
2010.02

Magic & Imaginary Realms:  Selections From the Elmhurst Art Museum Collection

Magic & Imaginary Realms: Selections From the Elmhurst Art Museum Collection

In the parent’s wing of the McCormick House we present a portraits from the collection inspired by __Rafael Blanco‘s__ work. 

Three classical portraits painted in oil on canvas - a call back to Rafael‘s skill as a classically trained studio painter - are on the west wall. These are among the oldest works in the Museum’s collection and are attributed to important early American artists. “Housekeeper” attributed to artist and photographer __Thomas Eakins__ is accompanied by a pair of paintings attributed to American Folk artist, social activist, and conductor on the underground railroad __Samuel Peck__.

Across from these, on the wing’s east wall are contemporary portraits, including an energetic sketch of __Mies van der Rohe__ architect of the house, by __Hugo Weber__.

__Patty Carroll’s__ portrait of Don Baum exemplifies her vibrant textured style. Baum was exhibitions director at Hyde Park Art Center for over 15 years providing instrumental support for Chicago artists, especially the Chicago Imagists. His grandson Cain Baum exhibited a sculpture in Love Supreme: the McCormick House Reimagined here in the house last year.

The stone sculpture “Head” is by __Abbott Pattison__ whose large “Woman in the Garden” is in the Moy pavilion on the Museum’s east side. And Rafael’s collaboration with __Matthew Hoffman’s “You Are Beautiful”__ is on the Museum’s Southeast corner. 

The selection of artworks presented here is indicative of the range and depth of the EAM Collection which includes works by local and regional artists together with those of international acclaim.

__Artists:__

Donald Baecher, Patty Carroll, Deena Des Rioux, Thomas Eakins (attributed), Sheldon Peck (attributed), Hugo Scheiber, Hugo Weber 

__Curated by Liz Chilsen__

__Artwork Image Above:__    

Patty Carrol   
American, b. 1946   
__Portrait of Don Baum (from “Spirited Visions”)__, 1991    
Cibachrome print   
Cleve Carney Bequest C2014.022

painting don baum portraits portraiture thomas eakins Samuel Peck Patty Carroll Abbott Pattison Donald Baecher Deena Des Rioux Hugo Scheiber Hugo Weber

Portraits from the Museum Collection

__Sustenance & Land: Five Artists Consider Our Relationship with the Earth__ is a group exhibition exploring human connection to the land and the many ways the earth sustains us. Participating artists Barbara Ciurej + Lindsay Lochman, Chunbo Zhang, Lydia Cheshewalla, Claire Pentecost, and Tomiko Jones work in a variety of methodologies addressing human relationships to the land, exploring a broad spectrum of themes including nutrition, cultural relationship to food, scientific investigation, spirit, history, and the future. Humor and creativity are woven throughout, guiding viewers through a rich tapestry of ideas about how we interact with the earth.

Curated by Liz Chilsen.

Image: Tomiko Jones, *These Grand Places*. Digital Image collage: BW photograph with cyanotype overlay. 2020. Dimensions variable

Sustenance & Land: Five Artists Consider Our Relationship with the Earth

__*Landscape Photographs by Joe Jachna and Michael Tropea*__, a two-person exhibition in Mies van der Rohe’s McCormick House, presents remarkable black and white photographs by the Chicago photographers. Images by Joe Jachna (b,1935) redefine the landscape in abstract compositions often incorporating light and reflection, which impart a mysterious otherworldly sense. Michael Tropea (b. 1950) focuses on industrial and pastoral views and transforms everyday settings into intricate visual narratives using a Kodak Panorama #1 camera manufactured at the turn of the 20th Century. The twenty-three photographs featured in the exhibition are selected from a gift to the Museum’s permanent collection by the David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation.

Curated by Liz Chilsen.

Image credit:  Michael Tropea, *Railroad Yard, Chicago*. From Landscape Portfolio, 1979-1981. 

Exhibitions

No Current Exhibitions

Upcoming Exhibitions

Sustenance & Land: Five Artists Consider Our Relationship with the Earth

Landscape Photographs by Joe Jachna and Michael Tropea

Past Exhibitions

Elmhurst Artists' Guild Winter Members' Show

Elmhurst Artists' Guild Fall Members Show

Magic & Imaginary Realms: Selections From the Elmhurst Art Museum Collection

Portraits from the Museum Collection

Mon - Tues	closed
Wed - Thurs	12 – 5
Fri - Sun	11 – 5