Evanston Art Center Oct 6 - Nov 5, 2023
Horizons, a 5 person exhibition with artists:
Annie Briard, Mary Farmilant, Kellie Klein, Renee Robbins, & Nina Weiss.
Renee Robbins
Renee Robbins
Renee Robbins
Renee Robbins
Horizons at Evanston Art Center
Nina Weiss (L) & Mary Farmilant (R)
Renee Robbins
Recurring Motif - Blue Buttons
This is one of my most beloved inspirational creatures called Blue-Buttons. I wanted to share this painting and etching collection. It shows how I have painted the same creature in several different pieces in different ways. These jellyfish-like creatures are colonies of individual polyps that function as one organism. They are very tiny in scale, hence the name Blue-Buttons. They are very tiny in scale and float across the surface of the ocean.
On the Surface, 12” x12”, acrylic on panel.
Trail of Fireflies: At the Drive-In, 12” x 16”, acrylic on panel,
Blue Buttons, 5” x 7”, etching.
Hydrozoa: Blue-Buttons, 14” x 16”, acrylic on canvas.
Brushwood Center's Connecting to Our Common Ground Art Exhibition was part of the 40th Annual Smith Nature Symposium Event Series. The 2023 Smith Nature Symposium theme, Connecting To Our Common Ground, was inspired by this year's Smith honoree Baratunde Thurston. In his PBS show, America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston, Thurston travels the country to uncover our complex relationship with the outdoors. In this exhibition, we explored the ways that artists from different communities experience the natural world.
On September 10th the artists of this joint exhibition with Hyde Park Art Center gathered to discuss their work at Brushwood Center. Watch the full panel below to hear from the artists about their relationships to nature and the natural world, and this special exhibition!
2023 Unveiling at the Hyde Park Art Center.
Hyde Park Art Center
Not Just Another Pretty Face
A group exhibit with 70 commissions by Chicago artists.
5020 S. Cornell Avenue // Chicago, IL 60615
September 14 - November 5, 2023
Gallery Hours:
M: TR: 10am – 7pm
F: 10am – 4:30pm
SA: 10am – 4pm
SU: 11am – 4pm
This exhibition is the culmination of the 2020 and 2023 iterations of Not Just Another Pretty Face. The triennial program, created by Hyde Park Art Center in the mid-1990s, allows the Art Center to play matchmaker for artists and potential art buyers. This dynamic project facilitates a fun and accessible commissioning process that builds lasting relationships between artists and patrons, creates a new base of support for artists, and invests in the vitality of Chicago’s cultural community. The completion of each iteration is celebrated by an exhibition, a catalog documenting the process, and a lively event to unveil the finished pieces, which will make their way to the patrons’ homes following the exhibition.
“Waiting for the Sun”, 22, x 22”, acrylic on canvas, 2023.
I was so excited about the possibilities in creating this painting for the Not Just Another Pretty Face commission project. We gathered at my studio and had a wonderful time discussing works in my portfolio. We talked about a source of inspiration that I've made a couple of paintings of and viewed source images of sand particles. There is this amazing creature that lives in Hoshizuna-no-Hama or Star Sand Beach in Japan. This beach has star-shaped sand and it's the only place in the world that where they exist. An Okinawa folktale describes possible origins of these special creatures and layers additional interpretations and metaphor to the painting. If you are on the beach, you can pick up the grains of sand and actually see the star-shaped sand with your naked eye! The star-sand is made up of single celled exoskeletons of the Foraminifera organisms, which like amoebas, are in the Protozoa Kingdom. My imagination goes wild thinking about the beauty of this rare and special sand as a source material.
I had the opportunity to play with scale by enlarging the grains of sand and composing them into a circular dance that rises from the sandy beach. I was super excited to develop a new work with this inspiration. The patrons sent me beach images from Union Pier, Michigan, and photographs of different sunsets from their lives. We discussed color palette possibilities with saturated oranges, reds, and neutral steel blues for this custom piece for their home. It was so fun to collaborate with them because they knew exactly what resonated with them for a special unique artwork. I was so thrilled for this amazing opportunity to create a piece of art. I hope this brings a sense of wonder and joy for a lifetime. Imagining the tide bringing these tiny treasures to shore is such a delight. Considering the different ways we can experience the beach here in Illinois, Michigan, or Japan can deepen our appreciation and awareness of everyday magic and otherworldly adventures all around us.
Installation view at the Hyde Park Art Center.
It’s really special to be able to make a custom painting for someone to live with and to have them trust deeply in your artistic vision. This project is so wonderful and fantastic. It’s difficult to express and put into words the emotions that I am currently feeling with all that went into this project just as Co-Executive Director Aaron Rodgers shared before the official unveiling. Thank you to the all patrons and the generous team at Hyde Park Art Center who made this possible. We are so lucky to have you. There is so much good work in the show. I can’t wait to get back and experience all the artworks again for a closer look.
View more artworks with the star-shaped sand recurring motif
Seeing Stars process
Brushwood Center
Connecting to Our Common Ground
about the group exhibit
21850 N. Riverwoods Rd. // Riverwoods, IL 60015
September 10 - October 29, 2023
Featured Artists: Paul Branton, Peter Gray, Ken Hester, Renee Robbins, Sheri Rush, Preston Lewis Thomas, Julian E. Williams, Jr.
Brushwood Center, in partnership with Hyde Park Art Center and collector, artist, and environmental scientist Patric McCoy, presents an exhibition of artwork celebrating the different ways in which we connect with and are shaped by nature.
Gallery Hours:
M, TU, W, TR, Sa: 10am - 3pm
Su: 1pm - 3pm and by appointment
About my two artworks in the exhibit:
“One Step Beyond”, part of the “Galactic Lagoons” series, shows a variety of flora and fauna performing a dance while landing on the moon. This otherworldly environment, while rooted in patterns and shapes from the natural world is fantastical and imagined.
Paintings in the “Galactic Lagoons” series bring together celestial and aquatic spaces in order to explore natural wonder, both real and imagined. Planets are layered with microscopic forms to highlight seemingly disparate details in one composition. Bright botanical colors merge with shapes and patterns derived from biological specimens and coral reefs to amplify our curiosity.
“Anchor” is part of a narrative series called “Biota” which illustrates the beginning and end of an invented biome using a palette composed of transparent rainbow glazes, a light blue background, and shapes of burnt sienna. The artworks title “Anchor” reflects the main form holding on to something fixed, so it doesn’t get swept away by the elements. The series features invented flora and fauna and explores how they exist and evolve over time.
Paintings in the “Biota” series investigate the flora and fauna of a distinct region in order to imagine multiple views of one habitat—diving into its mysteries, exploring every corner, and considering how a place changes over time. While the work references many actual things on a human scale, these paintings also incorporate invisible elements from the molecular and cosmic levels.
