Exhibitions 2023-2024
Michael K. Paxton - Interpolated
September 12 – October 19, 2023
Reception: Tuesday, September 12, 4:30-6:00
Michael K. Paxton a well-established Chicago fine artist who is also a sixth generation West
Virginian with a career that now spans fifty years. His awards include a grant from the Adolph &
Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc., New York; Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Visual Art Award
and two Professional Development Grants; Fellowships with both Air le Parc, Project and
Research Center, Pampelonne, France and Jentel Artist Residency Program, Banner, Wyoming;
a Marshall University Alumni Award of Distinction; Individual Artist Program Grant, DCASE,
Chicago; six Professional Development Grants from Columbia College, Chicago; two CAAP
Grants, Chicago, IL; Open Studio Residency, Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago, IL and a
Purchase Prize, fom the Chicago Federation of Labor, Chicago, IL.
Andréa Connell - Hold On
August 22 – September 20, 2023
Reception: Wednesday, September 20, 4:30-6:00
Andréa Keys Connell is an Associate Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Art at
Appalachian State University. She is a former Fountainhead Fellow and served as the Head of
the Clay Area in the Department of Craft/Material Studies at VCU from 2010-17.
Andréa’s work has been featured in a number of national and international publications and
she has widely exhibited her work. She has had 19 solo exhibitions in various galleries and
museums since 2009, including The Florida Holocaust Museum and The Kentucky Museum of
Art and Craft. Andréa also works on large-scale public art commissions such as the See Also
endowment commission with the Cleveland Public Library.
Along with exhibiting her work and teaching at App State, Andréa has taught workshops on
figure sculpting at various craft schools across the country including Penland, Haystack,
Arrowmont, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
Kait Steward - Here Nor There
ANNEX GALLERY
September 5 - September 28 (instead of 29)
Reception: Thursday, September 28, 4:30-6:00
Kait Steward is an emerging artist located in Carbondale, Illinois. She recently completed her
Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Illinois University (2023) after completing her Bachelors of Fine
Arts at Murray State University (2019). Her work has been exhibited both regionally and
nationally. She often instructs introductory art courses with the Commonwealth Honors
Academy at Murray State University, and currently works as a Program Assistant for
Artspace304, a local arts non-profit in southern Illinois.
Biennial Faculty Exhibition
October 3 – October 27, 2023
Reception: Tuesday, October 10, 4:30-6:00
Marc Nelson - The Caesar Files: War Crimes in the Digital Age
ANNEX GALLERY
October 24 – November 17, 2023
Reception: Tuesday, October 24, 4:30-6:00
Marc Nelson was born and raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Marc earned his Bachelor of Arts degree
from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, an Art Education teaching certificate from
Western Illinois University, and a Masters in Art degree from Eastern Illinois University. Marc’s
paintings and drawings have been featured on CNN, BBC, DW, AJ+, NPR, CBC, The New York
Times, Amnesty International, award winning documentaries, and other news and human rights
agencies and publications. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and
appears in public and private collections around the world.. Marc and his wife, writer and
educator Jill Bartelt, live and work in Kewanee, Illinois.
Sara Dismukes - mishearing Mnemosyne
November 6 – December 15, 2023
Reception: Monday, November 6, 4:30-6:00
Sara Dismukes is a multidisciplinary artist and educator currently living in Montgomery, Alabama. She is a member of the art and design faculty at Troy University. Her studio practice includes drawing, painting and graphic design, as well as traditional bookbinding.
Talent Grant & Tuition Waiver
November 6 – November 28, 2023
Reception: Monday, November 6, 4:30-6:00
Mackenzie White – BFA Exhibition
December 5 – December 15, 2023
Reception: Tuesday, December 5, 4:30-6:00
"Much of my work focuses on personal attachment to self-perception. I have always been drawn to depicting people, and in my most recent works, I have focused on the depiction of myself in various methods of discernible expression. This exploration of self comes out visually in the form of written text, rendered oil portraits, line drawing, and collages of other works. Exploring the idea of the self in 2-D media helps me to map out perception of experiences while trying to understand the space that I take up. It helps me ask why my mind focuses on certain thoughts and not others within my artistic practice. Environments are not always tangible in what I am depicting, but the figure is usually taking up some form of space. Movement is the most important factor in my practice as well as documentation of past experiences. I can not only move forward with a different perspective and mindset, but I can also look back on my past thoughts and technical artistic process. That is why creating is pivotal for helping me understand my place and purpose during a specific moment in time. There will always be something new to explore, regardless of my focus or interest at that given moment."
Shelby Shadwell – EMERGENCY BLANKETS
January 18 – February 16, 2024
Reception: Thursday, January 18, 4:30-6:00
Shelby is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at the
University of Wyoming. Born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, Shelby received his BFA in 2003
from Washington University in St. Louis and his MFA in 2006 from Southern Illinois University
Carbondale.
A two-time recipient of the Visual Arts Fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council, Shelby
actively exhibits across the nation. His more recent exhibitions include LIKE AND SHARE IF YOU
AGREE!!!, a solo show at the South Bend Museum of Art, DRAWN at Manifest Creative
Research Gallery in Cincinnati, OH, and Drawing Discourse at the University of North Carolina
Asheville. Shelby was awarded a solo exhibition at the APEX Space at the Portland Art Museum
in OR in 2016, and his work is included in their permanent collection. For his research sabbatical
from 2021 – 2022, Shelby accepted the Manifest Artist Residency Award, and he spent the year
making new work at their Gallery and collaborating on educational opportunities at their
Drawing Center in Cincinnati, OH.
Shelby was recently honored with the Stone & Deguire Contemporary Art Award in the amount
of $25,000 from his alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. Current and upcoming 2023
solo exhibition venues include Artworks Contemporary Art Center in Loveland, CO, STRATA
Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, the Firehouse Art Center in Longmont, CO, and the Kentler
International Drawing Space in Brooklyn, NY.
Liz Ensz - Unorganized Territory: Mutable Landscapes
January 16 – February 8, 2024
Reception: Thursday, February 8, 4:30-6:00
LIZ ENSZ was born in Minnesota (unceded Dakota, Chippewa, Ojibwe land) to a resourceful
family of penny-savers, metal scrappers, and curators of cast-offs. Liz received a BFA in Fiber
from the Maryland Institute College of Art (2005), and an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies
from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2013). Ensz has exhibited their textiles,
installation and sculptural work internationally, including The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK;
Frontviews Gallery, Berlin, Germany; HTW University of Applied Sciences School of Art and
Culture, Berlin, Germany; Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN; Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY;
Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY; and Roots and Culture Contemporary Art Center,
Chicago, IL. Their work has been supported by The John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry
Program, Franconia Sculpture Park, City of Chicago DCASE Individual Artist Grant, The Creative
Baltimore Fund, and The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Travel Fellowship, among others. They
currently live and work in Baltimore, Maryland (unceded Piscataway Conoy and Susquahannock
land).
Fred Jones - Saving the Planet
February 27 - March 29, 2024
Reception: Saturday, March 2, 4:30-6:00
This exhibition is a presentation of "A Journal of The Spiritual and the Sublime in Nature", a collection of art reproductions, essays, quotations, and statements.
Jones earned a National Diploma in design in 1961 from Cardiff College of Art in Wales, U.K. plus an Art Teachers Diploma from the University of Wales in 1962. In 1965 he earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1970-71, Jones attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, completing a Master of Fine Art in printmaking. In 1979, he attended Atelier 17 Paris. In 1987, he returned to the University of Wisconsin as an Honorary Fellow to study Computer Mediated Art.
Jones joined the Western Illinois University art faculty in 1968 as an instructor in Art Education, Design, and Drawing after teaching for two years at Chester College of Art in England. Jones developed the Silkscreen and Computer Mediated Art programs. Jones is the recipient of five Faculty Excellence Awards, four Summer Stipend Research Awards and the Distinguished Faculty Lecture award.
Perry Pollock & Jason Peot - Considerations
February 20 – March 21, 2024
Reception: Thursday, March 21, 4:30-6:00
Jason Peot and Perry Pollock have been faculty colleagues for over twenty years in the Art and
Design Department at Harper College in Palatine, IL—one of the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Peot oversees the design and sculpture curriculum and Pollock, the drawing and painting
curriculum. Both artists work in a non-representational mode and emphasize meticulous
attention to design and craft. There is an austerity and geometry that binds their work, but
their conceptual intentions offer very different considerations.
The works in this exhibition are juxtaposed to highlight both artists' shared and contrasting
approaches to art making. Pollock's minimalist objects are designed independent of their
surroundings. In contrast, Peot's work directly references it's environment or location. The work
in this two-person exhibition focuses on these similarities and differences to offer viewers a
unique experience.
Kyla Culberson - Suspended Moments
ANNEX GALLERY
March 19 - April 11, 2024
Reception: Thursday, April 11, 4:30-6:00
Kyla Culbertson is a ceramic artist from Canton, Illinois who is currently residing in Tempe, Arizona. In 2017, she graduated with a BFA in Ceramics from Western Illinois University. In 2019, she was a post-baccalaureate student at the University of Iowa and was awarded Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist. She attended a residency at James May Gallery in Wisconsin. She has exhibited her work regionally and nationally in exhibitions such as Art of Clay National Juried Exhibition in North Carolina, Conroe Art League 4th National International Exhibition in Texas, The Akar Yunomi Invitational in Iowa City, and The Almighty Cup Exhibition in New York City. Culberston completed an MFA in ceramics at Arizona State University in the Fall of 2023.
Juried Student Exhibition
Juror: Samantha Haring
April 9 – May 3, 2024
Reception: Tuesday, April 9, 4:30-6:00
Mavigliano/Brabec Senior Art Prize and BFA Exhibitions
April 8 – May 10, 2024