NEWS INDEX Archives 2007 July

Work by art and design graduate students featured in I space exhibition

Melissa Mitchell, News Editor
217-333-5491; melissa@uiuc.edu

Mary Antonakos, I space coordinator 312-587-9976

Released 7/11/07

Click photo to enlarge "News Hour," by Rick Valentin.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Work by University of Illinois art and design graduate students is on view July 13 through Aug. 11 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The exhibition titled “Dookie” features work by Master of Fine Arts degree candidates Jennifer Astwood, Nisa Blackmon, Brian Collier, Aaron Dugger, Rashelle Roos, Gary Schott, Rick Valentin and Angela Waarala.

Organized by U. of I. art and design professor Deke Weaver, the show and its title refer to excess of all kinds present in our culture.

Click photo to enlarge Detail of "Thought Stimulators," by Gary Schott.

According to Weaver, the student art assembled ranges from Roos’ “golden monstrosities” and Astwood’s “holy molten kitsch(y)” plates (in both cases, sculpture) to Waarala’s “spelunking expedition through the bowels of the human psyche” (video).

An opening reception is planned in conjunction with the exhibition, from 5-7 p.m. on July 13 at the gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Chicago. The opening coincides with Vision Chicago, a citywide celebration of the arts organized by the Chicago Art Dealers Association.

I space gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.