Evanston Art Center hosts the Evanston & Vicinity Solo Show

EXHIBITION: Evanston + Vicinity Biennial Solo Show Selects

DATES: March 15 – April 26, 2015

OPENING RECEPTION: Sunday March 15, 1-4 pm (artists will be present)

ADDRESS: 2603 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201

Over its 45-year residence in the former Harley Clarke mansion on the shore of Lake Michigan, the art center has featured nationally and internationally recognized artists such as Gordon Matta-Clark, Paul Wieghardt, Martin Puryear, Roger Brown, Nick Cave, and Audrey Niffenegger, to mention only a few.

The Evanston Art Center will continue its longstanding tradition of featuring exceptional emerging and established artists working in multiple disciplines in its new facility, which will be located at 1717 Central Street in Evanston. The Art Center will relocate in May 2015 and open its first exhibition in its new spacious galleries in June.

“It is a great honor to feature the works of Noelle Allen, Robert Porazinski and Jennifer Yorke as the final exhibition in these beautiful gallery spaces that have showcased the artworks of so many outstanding artists,” said Norah Diedrich, Executive Director of the Evanston Art Center.

Allen’s immersive and site-specific installation in the Foyer will be “Henry’s Rainbow,” resin and “Bent Day,” resin and earthenware. Her Octagon Gallery installation will be “Bent Night,” resin and earthenware and “Bent Dusk,” resin and earthenware, which will be placed on the gallery floor. Her work has recently been influenced by nature and the abundance of natural fauna and organic materials found in her own garden.

Porazinski’s visually complex paintings hung in the Wieghardt Gallery also reference nature and our relationship with natural surroundings. He continues his interest in transformation and mutability by interjecting the element of technology into the mix. His most recent paintings are on birch wood panels, which he paints on directly so the pigment is absorbed and integrated with the surface. Found objects, digitally manipulated photos and laser prints are elegantly incorporated creating a kind of technological adaptation. Our previously held connections to nature are thrown into question.

Yorke’s artworks, which are on view in the Knauer and Studio Galleries, as well as along the staircase, celebrate the rich history of famous landscape designer Jens Jensen’s original 1929 plans for the Harley Clarke grounds, which are echoed throughout the home’s exterior and interior copper and woodworking motifs. Her installation on the staircase titled Persephone/Prosperina, 2015, is made of graphite & watercolor on polypropylene with artificial flowers sewn onto tulle, mimicking the gestural intent of Jensen and the home’s architect to bring nature from the outside in. Yorke’s collages represent the failures and flaws of the body as they assert themselves over the seductive veneer of beauty and propriety created by both costume and custom.

“Call it luck, or destiny, but I can’t imagine a more powerful and meaningful exhibition, with all of its references to the natural world and organic design inherent to our current home, to have as the final show to grace these stately galleries,” remarked Diedrich.

This exhibition’s funding was generously provided by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the EAC’s general membership. This project is partially funded by the Evanston Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Evanston and Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Gallery Hours: Mon. – Thurs. 10 am – 9 pm; Fri. – Sat. 10 am – 4 pm; Sun. 1 – 4 pm
First floor galleries are handicapped accessible. Limited free parking is available

The Evanston Art Center is located at 2603 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL. For more information please visit us online at www.evanstonartcenter.org or contact Paula Danoff, Director of Communications, at (847) 475-5300 ext. 206. Visit the Evanston Art Center on Facebook: www.facebook.com/evanston.art or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/#!/evartcenter.