Preparing Portraits for Shipment

Last week I was busy apply the final varnish on the 16 of the 21 oil paintings from
"Portraits of American Veterans Project".  I will deliver them to the National Veterans Art Museum where they will be packed, crated and shipped to Fairfield, Connecticut for a three month long solo show at the GE Cultural Fine Art Gallery.   The GE exhibit is the first time for the paintings to travel outside the Chicago area.  I am so excited that my work will reach a new audience and the wonderful stories of the veterans who are part of the Project will reach across the country.  These veterans represent the best of what American can be and I'm honored to represent them through my art.

I've been working with Valerie Cooper  of Picture That L.L.C.  whose professionalism and patience  have helped me to pull all of the complex elements of this ground breaking exhibit together.  Take a look at the GE Cultural Fine Art Gallery to learn more about Picture That, L.L.C.: Promoting Cultural Awareness.

On Tuesday November 13 I will board a flight from O'Hare International Airport and fly to Laguardia Airport in N.Y. en route to the GE Corporate offices for a personal tour of the facility followed by an artist reception, veterans roundtable discussion and I will present a power point presentation and discussion about my work and Portraits of American Veterans Project.  To say I am excited would be and understatement.   I will then fly back to Chicago on Wednesday November 14 after and night stay in a Marriot Hotel.,,,,,All I can say is THANK YOU to GE and everyone who has taken part in the Portrait Project over the past three and half years. 

My Work Incuded in Chicago Artists Month

"Water Reflection II"  oil on canvas  24"X 18" is my interpretation of the fountain and figures as they twist and move in the sparkling reflective water's surface.   This painting is part of my new body of work that reveals my love for the beautiful qualities of the fluid surfaces.  I will exhibit for the month of October with a group of fellow artists and friends in a lovely gallery on Chicago's west side.  Details are below: 

 Small Works Exhibition

 Opening Reception: Saturday, October 6, 2012

 4-8 PM

 Gallery 1837 

 1837 W. Grand Avenue, 2nd floor, Chicago

 Great artwork. Refreshments. Live Music.

 A Chicago Women's Caucus for Art Member's Exhibition 

 http://www.chicagoartistsmonth.org/small-works

New Exhibit "Parallel Reflections"

La Citadelle is a new gallery for me, and I am so excited to be a part of the Fall show season.  I will exhibit a collection of new oil paintings rich with color and featuring the human form fluidly reflected in water.  The paintings and photographs are based on sunny summer days I enjoyed at Chicago’s Crown Fountain. I will show my work with stellar international artist Fillip Satirovic.

"Art of Being Seen: Veterans Visions of Peace" in Chicago

I am always working, creating and exploring new expressive possibilities in my art practice.  I am thrilled that my project "Portraits of American Veterans Project" is taking a new and exciting form in "The Art of Being Seen: Veterans Visions of Peace".  This collaborative project   incorporates the "PAVP" portraits with a multi-media live program.   "Art of Being Seen" made it's debut at DePaul University, Chicago in May and will be presented again in Chicago at the Chicago Cultural Center on Tuesday July 25 at 7:00 p. m.  in the Garland Room during the Vet Art Project Showcase.  We plan to create a video from the presentation/performance that I will post and share.  I have been working with some wonderful people from Chicago whose vision and artistic knowledge are helping me take the PAVP to the next level of community engaged art. Many thanks to Suellen Semekoski from SAIC, Jessa Carlstrom from Warrior Arts Studio, and Edgar Gonzales Baeza from the Vet Art Project and  all my friends from the Portraits of American Veterans Project. 
Peace Through Art...

Virgil Mathis, Adan Navarro Lowery, Tim Brien and Lillia Hodges in Suellen Semekoski's studio in Chicago working on Speakpeace community collage art piece to exhibit in Milwaukee.

Jeanine Hill-Soldner

Suellen Semekoski, Edgar Gonzales Baeza and Virgil Mathis working on presentation for Art of Being Seen: Veterans Visions of Peace to be presented at DePaul University and Milwaukee.

Virgil Mathis, Adan Navarro Lowery, Tim Brien and Lillia Hodges in Suellen Semekoski's studio in Chicago working on Speakpeace art piece to exhibit in Milwaukee.

Bronagh Lawson from Belfast, Northern Ireland  and founder of CreativeChangeNI  and Suellen Semekoski form School of the Art Institute of Chicago working on Veterans Visions of Peace program.

Art of Being Seen: Veterans Visions of Peace

 

Join Speakpeace Chicago for a performance of Veterans' Stories of Peace at DePaul University, Richardson Library, on Saturday, May 26th at 7:30 p.m. 

Following opening remarks by Dave Rogers of Vet Net Chicago, veterans, Lilia Hodges, Virgil Mathis, Tim Brien, and painter Jeanine Hill-Soldner will use Jeanine's Portraits of American Veterans Project as the digital backdrop to this multi-media performance by veterans. If a portrait could talk what stories would it tell? What can veterans tell us about peace? For more information, visit Speak Peace Chicago.

Veterans' Stories of Peace is held in conjunction with the Speakpeace exhibit "Speakpeace: American Voices Respond to Vietnamese Children's Paintings," which features original poems written by American children, veterans, and established poets in response to Vietnamese children's paintings on peace and war collected over the last 10 years by the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. "Speakpeace: American Voices" is a collaborative, international project between Kent State University's Wick Poetry Center and School of Art Galleries, and Soldiers' Heart, an organization that supports veterans.

"Speakpeace" will be on display at the Richardson Library  2350 N. Kenmore at the Lincoln Park campus on display through June 3rd. The exhibit is co-sponsored by the De Paul University's Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies, Center for Intercultural Studies and the department of the Office of Veteran's Affairs. The exhibit will be shown at the Milwaukee County War Memorial in June.

So Many Exhibits and So Little Time

I've been exhibiting my work at some diverse and interesting alternative venues.  Previous posts featured the poster for the "Portraits of American Veterans Project" now on exhibit until late June at the
 Lake - McHenry Veterans and Family Services Center in McHenry, IL.  My work and the art by several other artists, who are veterans marks the first art exhibit in the newly re-painted space.  The reception was held on May 11 and it was well attended.  I was very busy with guests and talked all night sharing stories and experiences we had in common, being a part of the military community.  I am honored that I can be a part of this ground breaking event and hope there will be ongoing rotating exhibits of art by veterans for many years to come.

I have a new oil painting, "Splash and Dance: Summer in Chicago" it's part of a new body of work that's in the process of development in my studio.  This 48"x 60" painting is on exhibit at the Rockford Art Museum for the 72nd Biennial Regional. Tonight is the opening reception and I'm looking forward to attending a show where I don't have to hang the show or be concerned with the details of an opening reception.  I look forward to visiting with the other artists and viewing the art.  I'll post pictures soon.

This spring has been a good season for "50 Stars Buy 2 Get 1 Free".  The piece is mixed media composed of 50 CD cases containing acrylic on canvas painted stars mounted on board.  This is one heavy art work.  First it was on exhibit at the Jackson Junge Gallery for the "Revolution 2012" show during the winter.  The opening reception was on the day of the worst snow storm of the year for Chicago.  I missed the reception, but was delighted to received and invitation from Tiffany Gohlar to show "50 Stars" at the Fine Arts Building Gallery on Michigan Ave. in the show "Chicago Spring".   This was good opportunity to show the work with some new artists and introduce my work to a new audience.  I attended the reception and it was a lot of fun, the conversations amongst the artists and guests where focused on the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago.  Interesting to say the least.  Before the "Chicago Spring" show ended I was invited to show the same work at the People's Summit, part of the Occupy Chicago Movement.  The energetic and thoughtful artist of the Occupy Chicago Rebel Artists Collective is working hard to create new art about war and corporate greed and protest bringing the artist's voice to the dialogue.  Exciting and engaging to say the least.  I wasn't able to attend the People's Summit to see the show, but I have heard it was a very powerful exhibit.

Between dropping off art to picking-up art to attending meetings in Andersonville at Suellen Sumekoski's studio I hung an exhibit of smaller works including some photographs.  These will be on exhibit through the end of July at the Cafe Society Restaurant located at 1601 South Indiana Avenue.  While you're there take a ride up the elevator and visit the National Veterans Art Museum located on the third floor.  

Tomorrow I will go to Florida for a brief vacation and then come back to Chicago to present a new collaborative project "Art of Being Seen"  with the Portraits of American Veterans Project and the
Speak Peace project.  So much to do, and so little time but somehow I do get it all done.  I just can't wait to get back to my studio for some long hard days in front of the easel, paint brush in hand. 

PAVP Exhibiting at Lake-McHenry Veterans and Families Drop in Center