Emerging Illinois Artists 2007
May 18 - July 21 2007
Brandt Gallery
Sponsored by Billy Stroud & Tony Ragus, Dr. Richard & Nancy Trefager, Law Office of Allison & Mosby-Scott, Zimmerman & Armstrong Investment Advisors, Inc., Jobie & Irving Tick, Harold & Marlene Gregor and ISU School of Art
Opening Reception: Friday, May 18, 5:00-7:00pm
Emerging Illinois Artists '07 is a juried exhibition featuring works of art by MFA students currently enrolled in Illinois universities.
Initiated in 2004, this year's competition resulted again in a challenging contemporary art exhibition with lively juxtapositions and provocative thematic threads.
Exhibition sponsored by Billy Stroud & Tony Ragusa, Dr. Richard & Nancy Trefzger, Law Office of Allison & Mosby-Scott
Awards sponsored by Zimmerman & Armstrong Investment Advisors, Inc., Jobie & Irving Tick, Harold & Marlene Gregor, I.S.U. School of Art
Emerging Illinois Artists is a juried exhibition featuring works of art by MFA students currently enrolled in Illinois universities. Initiated in 2004, this year's competition resulted again in a challenging contemporary art exhibition with a competitive and celebratory nature
The MCAC received entries from 121 MFA students from all over Illinois. By entering, each student added to the excellent quality of the field enabling juror Robert Sill (Curator and Assistant Director of Art, Illinois State Museum) to choose not only single works by individual artists but a group of artworks that make a dynamic exhibition with lively juxtapositions and provocative thematic threads. Mr. Sill's selection - 50 works by 42 artists - for Emerging Illinois Artists reflects the strength of MFA students in Illinois as well as his clear vision of what contemporary art can and must communicate.
The McLean County Arts Center offers, with its central location, accessibility to those all over the state to visit the exhibition and see the work of the fine artists being educated at Illinois universities. As ultimate peers, these MFA students steer through the rite of passage that is graduate school. Using the wide range of media offered to them,
experimenting with scale and presentation, and probing the intellectual and emotional fabric of their lives, their journey is evidenced and celebrated in this exhibition. The 42 artists whose works are included in the exhibition are producing works that engage the viewer in fresh, creative, and compelling ways.
| Featured Artists | |
Christian Arrecis, Northern Illinois University |
Katherine Kaminski, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Juror's Choice Award |
| Sarah Baranski, Columbia College Chicago | Sun Kyoung Kim, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign |
| Danielle Barton, Northern Illinois University | Divid Linneweh, Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Margarita Benitez, School of the Art Insittute of Chicago | Lauren Macko, Bradley University |
| Brooke Berger, Columbia College | Regina Mamou, School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| Nisa Blackmon, University of Illinois Urbana/Champagin | Mitchel Martin, Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Cortney Boyd, Southern Illinois University Carbondale | Jun Il Min, School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| Mathew Crowther, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign | Adam Mysock, Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Holly DeGrote, Illinois State University | Stephen Nyktas, Northwestern University, Merit Award |
| Aaron Dugger, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign | Kyoung Hwa Oh, Souther Illinois University Carbondale |
| Ulrich Eigner, Illinois State University | Kimberly Purkiss, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign |
| Adam Fotos, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign | Mark Salsbury, Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Diana Gabriel, Illinois State University | Gary Schott, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign |
| Abby Gitlitz, Southern Illinois University Carbondale | Dane Sorenson, Illinois State University |
| Allison Grant, Columbia College Chicago | Sarah Stonefoot, Illinois State University |
| Bill Guy, Columbia College Chicago | Wee Lit Tan, School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| Matt Haugh, Southern Illinois University Carbondale | Katherine Webb, Northern Illinois University |
| Kim Jackson, School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Jennifer Whalen-Shaw, Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Matthew Paul Jinks, University of Illinois Chicago | Christopher Wille, Illinois State University, Merit Award |
| Jeffrey Jones, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign | Jennifer Wilson, School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| Krista Wortendkye, Columbia College Chicago | |
| Luke Young, Northern Illinois University, Merit Award | |