Oakton Visiting Artist Series to feature Oakton alumnus April 3

Oakton Community College alumnus Vijay Paniker will discuss his ceramic photo realism 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, at Oakton’s Des Plaines campus, 1600 E. Golf Road, in Room 1100. The Visiting Artist Series event is free and open to the public.

“Vijay is noted for sculpting ordinary objects out of clay to create pieces of ceramics that provide an optical illusion imagery that the objects exist in three dimensions,” Oakton Chair of Art and Design Lou Pierozzi says. “People who attend will be amazed by his fascinating creations and learn a lot about his fascinating technique.”

Paniker is a practicing artist who works for Shimpo Ceramics in Itasca and teaches ceramics for Oakton’s continuing education program and the Brickton Art Center in Park Ridge. He exhibits his work across the U.S. and has received numerous awards, including Best in Show at both the Northern Illinois University’s 2018 Community College Art Show and the 2016 Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference Juried Art Competition.

Paniker received a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University, where he double majored in art and anthropology.

The Visiting Artist Series is hosted by Oakton’s art department and made possible by a generous grant from the Oakton Educational Foundation.

The next Visiting Artist Series event will feature I Gusti Ngurah Kertayuda, one of Bali’s most respected masters dancers and director of Indonesian Dance of Illinois, 9:30 a.m. Thursday, April 25, at Oakton’s Skokie campus, 7701 N. Lincoln Ave.

For more information, call 847-376-7106.