Artists in residence
The Kimball Arts Center AIR program is a platform for both emerging and established Chicago artists to exhibit their work within our multidisciplinary building, serving as an artistic focal point for the surrounding neighborhoods of Humboldt Park and Logan Square. See program details here.
fall AIR 2024: BRIAN HERRERA & NEON MIKE
public exhibition September through November 2024
The KAC Artist in Residence program is thrilled to have Chicago artists, Brian Herrera and Neon Mike as our Artists in Residence this August, exhibiting original paintings, prints and neon signage from September through November 2024.
Mesofuturismo is an ongoing exploratory series combining traditional motifs and speculative artistry, with contemporary abstract expression. Herrera’s new series reimagines the intersection of past and future. In this specific exhibition, we feature the premier neon works of Mike Aguilar, a visionary artist known for his innovative use of light and color to create immersive experiences. Aguilar’s neon artworks complement Herrera’s themes, adding a vibrant and modern dimension to the exploration of Mesoamerican legacies. This series is an exploratory journey of how the legacy of Mesoamerica’s intricate patterns, sacred symbols, and profound philosophies is expressed through abstract representations, which can subconsciously guide us towards a deeper esoteric connection to our ancestors.
Artist Bio:
Born in Veracruz, Mexico and raised in the vibrant cultural landscape of Chicago, Brian Herrera emerged as a multifaceted artist blending illustration, design, and storytelling. His work delves into the complexities of immigrant identity, infusing his work with a passion for music and street art. The visual narratives experiment with a deep connection to his roots and a profound exploration of cultural themes.
Neon Mike will exhibit a body of original neon pieces throughout the Kimball Arts Center as well as collaborative works in conversation with co-artist in residence, Brian Herrera’s, MESOFUTURISMO: “Between Ancient and Future Realities”.
Artist Bio:
Neon Mike is Chicago’s premier neon artist, designer & fabricator. Each piece is custom-designed, handmade, and uses high quality materials. Mike Aguilar has been in the neon sign business for the past 30 years, taught by his uncle, an old-school tube bender from the ‘40s and ‘50s golden era of neon signage. Neon Mike has worked at Federal Signs, Art Signs, and other sign businesses throughout Chicago. Through 30 years of experience with neon-bending and customer service, Neon Mike has perfected the art of creating a custom neon sign for businesses, big and small.
PAST ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE:
BLACC FIGURES: ASHLEY MIA & MAALY WILLIAMS WITH ILA CREATIVE STUDIO
ILA Creative Studio is an organization with a clear mission of connecting Black artists to resources that help elevate their individual purpose. We know that barriers to access, and limited visibility can become frustrating for artists of color, and we exist to serve as both a resource and restoration for artists who find themselves in need. We're excited to partner with Kimball Arts Center to shine a light on artists in our community who've been consistent in their practice and who've embodied the spirit of "create anyway". It's not always easy to create from a place of limits, but these artists show us that their imaginative creative spirit is limitless, and for that, we want to shine a light on them. To remind them of their power, their influence, and their gifts, so that they may feel empowered to keep sharing what was so purposefully planted inside of them. Big thanks to KAC for helping us shine a spotlight on our community members. We're grateful that like us, you're making space for more Black artists to shine.
@ilacreativestudio I ilacreativestudio.com
MAALY WILLIAMS: @mlywllms I @evlvecreative
ASHLEY MIA: @byashleymia I Website
lania sproles: fall air 2023
American, b. 1995 — LaNia Sproles lives and works in Chicago, IL. They graduated with a BFA from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2017. Their body of work spans several disciplines including: printmaking, drawing and collage. The philosophies of self-perception, queer and feminist theories, and inherent racial dogmas are essential to Sproles’s work. They examine the works’ of feminist artists and writers such as Octavia Butler, Kara Walker and Rebecca Morgan. In 2020, They completed their year as a 2019 Mary L. Nohl fellow, continued as a teaching artist-in-residence at the Lynden Sculpture Garden and guest curated an exhibition hosted by NADA art fair with Green Gallery. Most recently Sproles has exhibited several artworks with Elijah Wheat Showroom hosted by David Zwirner’s online exhibition space, Platform and with Chicago based galleries, Goldfinch Gallery & FLXST Contemporary.
mariana rockwell: fall air 2023
Mariana Rockwell (b. 1993) is a visual artist from Chicago, IL. She received her BFA in 2015 from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has been producing primarily works on paper and oil paintings with occasional experimentation in sound work and installation.
beetlebob: summer 2023 air
Debbie Wong, aka beetlebob, is a self-taught street artist and illustrator currently based in Chicago. She works across a variety of mediums, including illustration, painting, wheat pastes, and murals. Her art is character-based and combines aesthetics inspired by her bilingual, immigrant background, having grown up in Taiwan. She creates warm and uplifting art that brings positivity to and interacts with the community that surrounds it.
She has completed four murals in New York and painted a mural in Chicago in 2022 for The Alleyway Project, an alley beautification community project in Pilsen. She participated in her first international art exhibition and painted a mural in Medellin, Colombia, at Casa 3b in 2023.
She is a main member and frequent collaborator of Femarchy, a New York-based collective of female street artists. Their aim is to bring representation and create space for more female artists in the street art scene. The members often share knowledge and teach each other new techniques to inspire further collaborations.
gingergold: summer 2023 air
Gingergold is the creative shop + studio practice of sisters Cheryl and Sarah Hinman. Originally from Kansas City (on the Kansas side) both pursued degrees in Design; Cheryl graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2013 and Sarah at the University of Kansas in 2017. After Sarah made the move to Chicago, the Hinman sisters began exploring ways to collaborate. They had a list of dream products they wanted to create and in 2020 they launched their small shop Gingergold. With their midwestern, can-do attitude the duo finds thrill in taking on any challenge and actively problem solves how to hand make their goods in small batches. Their work is made under a design lens and infused with thoughtfulness that takes everything beyond the ordinary.
jenal dolson: spring 2023 air
Jenal Dolson (Canadian, b. 1983) lives and works in Chicago, Illinois as an artist and arts professional. She received her MFA in 2020, from the University of South Florida, and her B.A., in 2007, from the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). She has participated in residencies at Tempus Projects (Tampa, FL), Artscape Gibraltar Point (Toronto, ON), and the Vermont Studio Centre (Johnson, VT). She recently exhibited a solo exhibition at the Roper Gallery, Frostburg State University (Frostburg, MA), participated in Home Comforts>Deep Cuts with Comfort Station (Chicago, IL), and donated work to the SCA Collectors Sale (Chicago, IL). She is available for commissions through the 2023 NJAPF program with the Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL). She has been the recipient of the Exhibition Assistance Grant through the Ontario Arts Council (Canada), received the Artist Relief Fund from the Hamilton Arts Council (Canada), was awarded the Visual Artist Project Grant from the Toronto Arts Council, and the Emerging Artist Award from the Ontario Arts Council (Canada). She currently holds the position of gallery director at ANDREW RAFACZ Gallery (Chicago, IL).
sarah leuchtner: Spring 2022 air
Sarah Leuchtner is a Chicago-based contemporary artist working in painting, drawing and sculpture. Born and raised in Chicago, she draws inspiration from city life and her surroundings, as well as iconography, contemporary culture, vintage signage, guilty pleasure media and television. Leuchtner’s imagery includes an alphabet of imagined or found shapes, varying interpretations of the grid, and a combination of what has been and what is to come. Leuchtner works out of her studio in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Leuchtner received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016. A selection of her recent exhibitions in Chicago include; Lawrence and Clark Gallery, Hans Gallery, and Bianca Bova Gallery, as well as Northeastern Illinois University. She showed at NADA Chicago in 2020 and EXPO Chicago in 2022. Leuchtner was included in a museum show at The CICA Museum of Contemporary Art in South Korea in 2020. She has also exhibited in New York at Below Grand Gallery (formerly Superdutchess Gallery) and at the International Centre for the Arts in Monte Castello, Italy. Leuchtner has an upcoming solo exhibition at Cleaner Gallery (Chicago) in 2023.
Alex fuller: fall 2021 air
Chicago-based artist and designer Alex Fuller embraces creative openings and peculiar spaces with a curious eye for innovative imaginings. Blending typography and language with space and light, his works ask the viewer to reach past the initial read and see through, within, around, and outside his compositional frame. Fuller is the SVP Design Director at the Leo Burnett Dept. of Design in Chicago. His background as a designer and industry leader spans a vast array of clients and his work has been featured in Wired, Good How, Communication Arts, and It’s Nice That. In 2007 he co-founded The Post Family, a Chicago-based artist collective, and in 2009 he founded 5x7, a limited-edition publishing company for artists’ books.
Alex Fuller’s takeover of the Kimball Arts Center begins, or ends, on the roof with High Hopes towering over the building like a beacon of embedded optimism. Moving through the building’s interior, Fuller’s installation A Star-ish Asterisk, stands visible as a surrogate, stepping in place of nature’s star filled night sky that is obstructed by the city’s air and light pollution. Navigating further, Fuller inlays two pieces that play with the spatial boundaries and guidelines of the building, how people move through the space, and the formal expansion of typography and composition.
@fullfullerfullest | alexfuller.com
Claire Ashley: Summer 2021 air
Scottish-born, Chicago-based artist Claire Ashley mines the language of painterly abstraction, monumental sculpture, slapstick humor, and Pop Art to transform ordinary materials into inflatable painted sculptures. Ashley received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL), and her BFA from Gray’s School of Art (Aberdeen, Scotland). Currently, she teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Department of Contemporary Practices, and the Department of Painting and Drawing. She has an old husband, three fabulous young adults, two dogs and two cats.Ashley’s work investigates inflatables as painting, sculpture, installation and performance costume. These works have been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries, museums, and site-specific installations, performances and collaborations.Ashley’s Adam’s Madam: V2 will be on the Kimball Arts Center roof periodically through the summer, weather permitting. Other inflatable sculptures will be on display throughout the Kimball Arts Center building during her residency.@clairehelenashley | clairehelenashley.comPAST COLLABORATIONS
Before the Spring of 2023, the Kimball Arts Center Artist in Residence Program was curated by Johalla Projects. Founded by Anna Cerniglia, Johalla Projects offers art advising, curation, creative design collaboration, and the execution of large-scale visual art installations, with a focus on emerging and mid-career artists, contemporary design, and a nod to distinct bespoke objects.At both a local and national level, Johalla Projects works collaboratively to build and strengthen diverse and innovative visual arts representation in public and private art collections. Oftentimes introducing art into unconventional venues for the first time, Johalla is committed to broadening arts accessibility and incorporating it into everyday life.@Johallaprojects | Johallaprojects.com 
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