Lillstreet Artists-in-Residence 2013-14

Artists-in-Residence 2013-2014

Artists-in-Residence 2013-2014

Sean Clute

Joe Kraft

Meghann Sottile

Keeley Marie Stitt

Ceramics

Metalsmithing

Ceramics

Textiles

Š 2014 Lillstreet Art Center

Bruce Robbins Founder & Chief Executive Officer Eric Tschetter Executive Director Pam Robinson Education Director Metalsmithing & Jewelry Department Head Karen Avery Ceramics Department Head Camille Canales Textiles Department Head

The current group of artists-in-residence will bring their year of exploration and investigation to an end in August 2014. Over the past ten years, we have had the pleasure of hosting many artists working in divergent media. Both individually and as a group, our residents bring new perspectives on the art making process and challenge us to reconsider how we understand the world around us. We are asked to look again at things we think we understand and to accept, even embrace, materials and ideas that we may previously have ignored. The work created by the 2013-14 resident artists will be displayed in their closing exhibition, FIND | MAKE | SOLVE. We are very grateful for each artist and the dynamic energy they have brought to their department, the means in which they have shared their personal wealth of knowledge, skill, and craft in their medium, and the many ways they have contributed to the larger community at Lillstreet Art Center.

Sean Clute Bio:

Artist Statement:

I grew up in Western Springs, a suburb of Chicago, and studied at the University of Montana.

UM challenged me to understand what I am interested in making and what I am not. This school developed me into the artist I want to be. After school, I was fortunate to be able to be a part of The Clay Studio of Missoula’s summer residency and St. Pete Clay Co.’s yearlong residency. There I continued working with the figure and developing unique personas. Since returning to Chicago, I have been able to submerge myself once again in the atmosphere that fostered my original creative influences.

As we engage the world around us, there are moments that will test our character. I look to capture that honest response where our true personality comes to surface. When developing a character, I look to reveal what is at the core of that person. As an actor would dissolve a character, I break down their psychology to project an honest response to the scene. To be able to get that specific character to emerge, I study the human figure to understand where I can push the human condition. With that comprehension, I am able to project the layers of their innermost self.

As you strip away the guard of the everyday person, you can bring out this complex individual.

As I build these figures, I use subtle differences to the pose, the face, and the clothes to reinforce an expression or to push the demeanor in a unique direction.

By breaking down the reaction of an expression, I can pinpoint a glimpse into that behavior. By understanding the character’s position, physically and mentally, the pose can drape a mood onto the piece and provokes a conversation with the figure within it. As a character is developing, I implement different components to accentuate different qualities. These features can enhance a demeanor or can give reason to the action. I am then able to develop a situation with these tensions and give more weight to the behavior.

LEFT: Never Give In Stoneware, acrylic paint 19”h, 7”w, 9”d 2012

Window Shopper Stoneware, Bondo, acrylic paint 23”h, 13”w, 8”d 2012

Joe Kraft Bio:

Artist Statement:

Joe Kraft is an artist whose primary medium has been clay, though he can be easily strayed to investigate other materials. Through education and experience Joe has explored a wide spectrum within the material by creating objects of utility and/ or non-function and sculptural installations.

After finishing his BFA from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Joe traveled the Southwest, visiting major Earthworks to find inspiration and experience the land. As a resident artist at Lillstreet Art Center Joe continued his focus on object making as well as creating wall drawings through the use of other materials.

I am interested in the ways that material and line converge through the systematic placement of parts.

Whether it’s the interior or exterior of space or the threshold between, a composition can be derived from the excess of material or lack thereof.

Physical experiences and relationships to the architectural infrastructures that surround us are of major importance to the visual layout and compositions of my current work. I continue to consider my work as evolving from a non-hierarchical interest in objects of utility and/ or non-function and sculpture.

I think of my current pieces as if I were drawing with material, placing and rearranging, adjusting the lights to reveal a shift in shadow and reflection.

The title that comes to mind is wall sculptures.

What is painting? What is sculpture? There lies an interest in pushing the idea of both. I feel as though these inquisitive insights to space and architecture drive me to establish a composition on a 2-dimentional level as well as create an existence for material on a sculptural level. How does the subtlety of one thing amplify another?

The shifting occurrence of light allows for the reflective and translucent qualities of the material to take on multiple iterations of a particular mark. Does the material consume light or reflect it back?

Does a thread line bare more weight than that of a paint line?

LEFT: Detail of Untitled glass, paint, string, metal 24”x30”x10” 2014

Untitled glass, paint, string, metal 24”x30”x10” 2014

Untitled 2 glass, cut plexiglas, string, metal 24”x30”x10” 2014

Meghann Sottile Bio:

Artist Statement:

Meghann Sottile earned both a BFA in Metalworking and Art Education from Arizona State University. Sottile taught workshops on the Navajo Nations at Many Farms’ Annual Arts Festival. She also instructed workshops for the Eleanor A. Robb Children’s Art Workshop at ASU. The artist enthusiastically attends conferences, exhibits locally and nationally and has won numerous awards. Sottile is a member of and has been a featured artist by both the Society of North American Goldsmiths and Crafthaus.

She continues to develop her craft and teaches classes as the Metals Artist-in-Residence at Lillstreet Art Center.

Captivated by religious reliquaries, I’m fascinated with creating artwork that houses found objects.

Historically, a reliquary is a shrine that contains relics, which are remains of holy saints. I remember attending Catholic Mass while growing up. I recall two shrines that were on display: one containing a chunk of wood from Jesus’ manger and the other having a small portion of Mary’s cloak. These items were housed in beautiful, elaborately decorated vessels. These reliquaries from my childhood have become inspiration as I craft my own hallowed place for treasures that have been left behind for me to discover and cherish. In my work, I create narratives using

Photo Credit Guy Nicol

family heirlooms and prized found objects with imaginative and thoughtful attention to detail. With each piece that is created, I deliberately choose shapes, textures and colors that strengthen the storyline and history of the piece. By utilizing both traditional and contemporary metalsmithing techniques, I am able to craft ornately decorated work that gives each nostalgic item a permanent place to elevate their significance.

BOTTOM: Papa Joe’s Razor Copper, Brass, Fine Silver, Flocking, Resin, Found Objects (Grandpa’s Straight Razor and Razor Box) 13” (open) 7.5”(closed) L x 2”W x 2.25”H 2014

A Reliquary for St. Dominic Copper, Nickel, Brass, Fine Silver, CZs, Flocking, Resin, Found Objects (Saint Medals and Constellation Map) 4”L x 5.25”W x 4.75”H 2013

Photo Credit: Guy Nicol

Keeley Marie Stitt Bio:

Artist Statement:

b. 1983, Atlanta, GA

Object Logic, a participatory workshop developed during my residency at Lillstreet, explores the ways we value everyday objects in relation to their use, exchange, and sign values: the way we use them, what we can exchange them for and their associated symbolic values. Participants in the Object Logic workshop collectively investigate cultural and personal constructions of value in relation to objects, both personal and provided.

The workshop concludes with a discussion drawing equivalence between the ways we value everyday objects and the ways we value objects of Art and Craft.

Keeley Marie Stitt earned a BFA with an emphasis in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2006, going on to work in Chicago Public Schools as an art educator for the five years to follow. In 2013, she earned a MFA with Merit from the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, UK. Keeley has developed an extra-disciplinary practice that includes participatory installations, relational objects, curatorial practices, and social projects. She has exhibited her work and curated exhibitions both locally and internationally.

”Pay Attention” is an expression I heard myself using as an elementary art educator. Sometimes in earnest, other times in exasperation. I began to realize that it was not enough to ask for the payment of my students’ attention, I needed to invest in the system of social exchange that I was indicating through the words I used. I had to earn the respect of my students before I could gain the payment of their full attention.

Currency of Communication challenges gallery viewers to “pay attention” to the value embedded in everyday expressions. The banners critique the signsystems of capital, using the vernacular of media culture and advertising.

Layered and turned from conventional use, the words break apart into letters, shapes and patterns, becoming purely pictorial, losing their intended meanings while still sending a deliberate message.

LEFT: Currency of Communication Screen Print, Dye, Cotton, Thread, Grommets, X banner stand 38.5”W x 84.5”H x 32”D 2014

Detail of Object Logic Participatory Workshop 1 hour duration 2014

Mission of the Artists-in-residence program: Lillstreet’s Artists-in-Residence program provides a unique opportunity for artists to work in a collaborative, community-based arts center offering resources and instruction in a variety of media. Resident artists are encouraged to develop their existing bodies of work, explore new processes and concepts, and seek instruction in entirely new media and techniques. The residency operates with minimal structure, allowing artists to shape their time at Lillstreet to their own goals.

Residents dedicate some of their time to working with students in order to enrich our educational programs, offering students the opportunity to see and learn from working artists.

We hope that all residents will actively participate in our community, sharing knowledge, prompting new ideas, and building on our enthusiasm for creative expression.

4401 NORTH R AV E N S WO OD AV E CHICAGO, IL 6 06 4 0 | 7 7 3.769.4226 | L I L L STRE E T.COM