Praeterita

'Fauna No. 4', ink on rice paper collage, 40" x 30" Following on from the interview yesterday with Diane Huff, here is an interview with the other artist in the current two-person show at the  Chicago Artists' Coalition gallery . Allison Svoboda is exhibiting stunning black-and-white collaged ink drawings, that look part Chinese ink-brush painting and part science-fiction alien being. Philip : How did you arrive at Sumi ink and Japanese paper as your current materials of choice? Allison : My previous series of work was 'Carbon', consisting of charcoal drawings on paper. It's a wonderful medium where you can make mark upon mark and continuously layer and remove the charcoal.    I then started working with ink, which is really made out of the same material—charcoal compressed into a block, which I grind down using a grinding stone, and then I mix it into ink. I enjoy the meditative process of grinding the ink and the immediacy of the ink flowing onto...

Hammered jewelry made by a student in Judy's class In part 1 of this interview with Judith Sutcliffe , we talked about how she got involved with Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The interview continues below with a discussion of Judith's own artistic biography. Philip: We’ve spoken a lot about Mineral Point. Now I’d like to find out about your own artistic history. Judith: Before I absconded to Santa Barbara in 1978, I had a pottery in my small Iowa home town, Audubon, and I experimented with a lot of things. I'm kinda entrepreneurial. Someone gave me a necklace made of beads and hammered copper wire, and I just started doing wire jewelry on the side. I also sculpted dolls, culminating in doing all the Iowa First Lady Dolls still in their big glass case in the Des Moines capitol building. But once I was in California , I concentrated on tile murals for homes, business, and signage. It was a full time business for 17 years. On the side I designed computer f...

Entrance to Shake Rag Alley Judith Sutcliffe is an artist and writer, and a co-founder of the Shake Rag Alley Center for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. I recently had the opportunity to visit Shake Rag Alley, and see how Judith and her partner Sandra  have transformed it into a thriving arts center. The interview is divided into two parts. In part 1, below, we discuss the history of Shake Rag Alley and the artistic community in Mineral Point. In part 2, published tomorrow, we will talk about Judith's own art, past and present. Philip: Could you tell us a little about the history of Shake Rag Alley? Judith: It's in Mineral Point , an artists’ community in southwest Wisconsin known for its 1840s limestone buildings made by Cornish lead miners. Early miners clustered their cabins around Federal Spring in a small valley known as Shake Rag Under the Hill or Shake Rag Alley. Some of the cabins are still there, and the spring is still flowing, winter and summer. ...

from Carrie Ohm's work at the President's Gallery, Chicago Carrie Ohm is an artist who combines ceramics with performance, an unusual combination that produces striking results. Since graduating with an MFA in Ceramics from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000, Carrie has taken part in numerous group shows, solo shows, and artist’s residencies—most recently at Harold Washington College in Chicago. She is a University Lecturer at Governor’s State University, IL.   Q: Can you describe your current work, and how it came about? A: During the spring of 2009 I was a visiting artist at Harold Washington College. During that time I threw several non-traditional forms as demonstrations for students. I also discussed with the students possibilities for clay work beyond functional pieces and pedestal display. For the pieces I made at that time I was thinking of shapes as containers and pieces that fit together. They reminded me of buoys and ideas about grand presentation...

Deborah Doering talking about a show of her own work at Finestra Art Space What's it like to be a working artist, and also to run your own gallery? I posed this and other questions to Chicago artist Deborah Adams Doering. In addition to having an impressive exhibition record, Deborah has run a highly-regarded gallery out of the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue, Chicago, for a few years. This is the first in a series of interviews with artists and gallery owners who reflect on what makes them tick. Philip : Tell us a little about yourself. You're an artist who runs a gallery, yes? Deborah : Yes, first and foremost I consider myself a visual artist. I create three-dimensional installations, based on my two-dimensional drawings, paintings and prints. In the past few years, I have used a "core language of form," which I also call "Code" as a point of departure for both 2D works and the installations. My installations evolved from having rente...