2011 Artists (F-J)

I am a fiber/textile artist. I work with wool, silk and other fibers. I make wearable art as well as wall hangings. My wall hangings celebrate the marriage of wool, other fibers, and embroidery. For me, my art is about relationships. It’s about the relationship between shape, color, texture, and the fiber I am working with. It’s about the relationship between the visual and the tactile. Finally, it’s about the relationship between my creation and the person who either wears or views that creation (what is perceived not just physically but emotionally). Wool is warm and soft, it is frequently perceived to be cozy and comforting. Silk is cool and sheer, it is often thought to be sensual and seductive. Embroidery adds texture, depth and complexity. Combined they are a pleasure for the senses.

RAW Location: 1802 Berteau 2nd Floor

http://WWW.franniesfeltsandfancies.blogspot.com

My most recent work is about how incongruous conditions come to coexist. It reflects aspects of built and natural environments and how we humans struggle to bridge the gaps in our lives. What recurs, for me, are images of cracks in the pavement of old city streets, how bridges separate the sky from what’s below, how found objects become part of a painted surface, the way winding roads create lines in farmlands, what it’s like to live in a large city.

RAW Location: 4043 N. Ravenswood

http://www.francestemchin.com

I like to show all that inspires me in my art, things that range from everyday experiences, simple observations, to deeper feelings. I think that in my paintings you can see emotions such as love and anger, captured in different shapes, strong colors, and vibrant movements and textures. I obtained different textures using a variety of materials, some organic such as sand and soil, others like newspaper in collage and mixed media in general. I enjoy playing with lights, shapes and colors, both in my figurative paintings as well as in the non-figurative ones. I have lot of fun painting, but at the same time I really want to express my feelings; I believe you can see my inner thoughts in them.

RAW Location: 3701 N. Ravenswood 2nd Floor

http://www.gabysilvabavio.com

A former fabric artist, after several years at Lill Street, Gail has now turned to metals and stones. The juxtaposition of the colors of natural stones with silver and copper makes pieces individual and unique.

RAW Location: 4043 N. Ravenswood

Hand crafted one-of-a-kind jewelry, incorporating sterling silver, vermeil, leather, precious and semi-precious stones and glass.

RAW Location: 3711 N. Ravenswood 1st Floor

http://www.zhibit.org/geebeads

Glass Art Designs provides a unique method for utilizing glass art to enhance your home, office or business. It can add privacy without compromising light. It can be permanent or mobile. It can be functional and visual art simultaneously. The design possibilities are limited only by our imaginations. Commissioned glass art design pieces can have as much or as little involvement by the customer as desired.

Explore the possibilities of Glass in the following pages and feel free to e-mail or call so we can start the process of beautifying your personal or professional space.

RAW Location: 1807 Sunnyside Ground Floor

http://www.glassartdesigner.com

Photographing and creating sculptures with found objects has always been a fascination of mine. Primarily, I am interested in the physical qualities of an object. The photographic process transfigures the original object, producing a graphic replica. I also find objects depicting the human form very appealing. The portrayal of the human form in objects such as masks, figurines and statuary tend to simplify and idealize human characteristics. By photographing these “human surrogates” I am able to focus attention on how an object reflects a society’s values and ideals of self-image, and thereby redefine the original objects’ intended purpose.

RAW Location: 4717 N. Winchester Ave.

http://www.grantboyle.com

Greg has been drawing and painting since childhood. His love of line, color and form led him to study painting. He later went on to study architecture where the beauty of architectural form and it’s two dimensional representation in drawings further informed his paintings. His work is strongly influenced by his love for early folk art paintings and wood carvings. He prefers the freedom of approaching his paintings with no preconceived ideas letting the moment determine how a painting begins and evolves. This approach might explain why each one of his paintings is often stylistically different. Greg currently lives and works in Chicago.

RAW Location: 4712 N. Ravenswood (Waechter Architects)

http://www.paintingpainterpainter.blogspot.com/

Clay is the medium that we work in to create home accessories that are used in dining, lighting and other beautiful, useful objects.

RAW Location: 3759 N. Ravenswood 2nd Floor

I paint to describe my travels and memories.

RAW Location: 1802 Berteau 2nd Floor

http://www.gwyndolynsiebert.com

I create unusual, individual and distinct jewelry through the fusion of copper, sterling silver and brass.

RAW Location: 4043 N. Ravenswood

http://www.HeddaLubin.com

Revealed in rich and fluid brush strokes, Paintings by Harmony are expressions of the artist’s creative energy. The vibrant palette and energetic style exhibit a lively artistic exploration and growth. I enjoy sharing my paintings with others and am continually inspired by creating custom and original work for each client. Commissioned art available. Media is arcylic and canvas.

RAW Location: 4611 N. Ravenswood 1st Floor

http://www.facebook.com/PaintingsbyHarmony07

I cut 3 pieces of glass. The bottom is a base color. The middle is where I design my artwork with glass. The top layer is clear. I fire up my glass in my kiln up to to 1500o for full fuse. After it is fired and cooled down, I cut my pieces into shapes by cutitng them w/ a ring saw. Then I grind them for a smooth even edge. Finally, I fire them up again in my kiln to fire polish the pieces. After they are cooled down, I glue the bails on them. I also make ribbon jewelry, earrings, bracelets and toe rings.

RAW Location: 3717 N. Ravenswood 1st Floor

My current series of work is called “OUR CITY, OUR NEIGHBORHOOD”. This series is comprised of simple urban scenes that enhance some aspect of reality through a very graphic manipulation of light, color and texture.

My intent is to capture an emotional point in time within each scene whether it be nostalgic reflection, simple observation, or a happy glance into a moment’s fleeting possibilities.

RAW Location: RAW Street Fair Tent

http://www.ariyamastudio.com/

My constructions are created as story boxes, a window looking in on a stage set in miniature. I work with found objects, discarded treasures, chess pieces, tarot cards, maps and coins, and, of course, appropriated images which I can collage and juxtapose to imbue meaning or significance. It is often during the construction of a piece that the story or meaning begins to unfold; the objects and images carry their own weight of meaning, their relationship and position within the framework of the box suggests it’s import.

RAW Location: 4865 N. Ravenswood

http://www.spectorstorybox.com

The members of IMAGES GALLERY Cooperative meet regularly to discuss and share ideas and to support each other’s individual artistic pursuits. We host an annual juried show for Ravenswood area artists and participate in community and city wide art events such as Chicago Artists Month and the Ravenswood Art Walk. We are now designing a group show reflecting the Chicago Artists Month October, 2011 theme, “Artful Connections.” Our show is based on our recent collaborative piece, “Excavations,” a comment on the detritus from our lives. “Excavations,” along with other related paintings, photographs and sculptures, will provide the content for our upcoming show “Mining Connections,” which opens Saturday October 1.

RAW Location: 1823 W. Wilson Ave.

http://www.images8.com

Researching the ancient global rock writings known as petroglyphs and pictographs, and then incorporating them into her paintings has been Ingrid’s passion since the mid 80′s. In search of these endangered images, her travels have taken her to Australia, Africa, China, Europe, and many areas of the U.S.A. She uses her hand made paper and textural surfaces to recreate the excitement and emotional response that is felt when one discovers these illusive ancient images in the field. Ingrid also enjoys painting loose expressive paintings in watercolors and mixed media. She teaches painting classes and workshops in collage, monotype, and Creating ON Water out of her atelier.

RAW Location: 3729 N. Ravenswood, Suite # 138

http://www.ingridsartoriginals.com

Oil paintings, mixed media and encaustic

RAW Location: 3759 N. Ravenswood 2nd Floor

James Parenti is a Chicago-based oil painter. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and has been working and exhibiting professionally since 1999.

RAW Location: 1800 W. Cornelia #106A

http://www.jamesparenti.com

Original ceramic art, including jewelry and sculptural functional work (bowls, vases, platters, etc). We use a mix of porcelain and stoneware clay bodies. All of our designs are unique and “out of the box”.

RAW Location: 4043 N. Ravenswood

The art of JASON MESSINGER explores the boundary between identity and abstraction. His artwork is certain in its aesthetic quality, yet open in its intrinsic meaning. His artwork is seen in private, public, and corporate art collections throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Signature TILE MURALS allow multiple arrangements, resetting the narrative for the viewer, who provide their own interpretations of the images. SCULPTURES have a strong figurative identity, while remaining abstract in inspiration, moving through forms as one walks around them, creating a visual dance of mass and shape. PAINTINGS and DRAWINGS re-imagine the world into patterns and diagrams of movement and color, light and gesture.

RAW Location: 1800 W. Cornelia #204

http://www.JasonMessingerART.com

Inspired by Japanese Ikebana Basketry and Bamboo Art, Jennifer FitzGerald developed her signature technique for “weaving” ceramics. Most pieces are wheel thrown and use extruded coils to complete the effect. Even in other applications, trompe l’oeil (an effort to “fool the eye’) is an ever present inspiration. Such examples exist in Ms. FitzGerald’s realistic looking Oil Can series and also in her large scale Nature Sculptures.

RAW Location: 4401 N. Ravenswood (Lillstreet)

http://www.mudweaverceramics.com

Retail Kills My Soul 16×20 Acrylic and mixed media On the morning of my 30th Birthday I was awoken with the question of ” How do you feel?”. I laid for about 48 seconds in silence before tears began to roll down my face then replied with ” Well, At 30 I have been homeless, lost, found, divorced, broke, the best, the worst, alive, and dead inside. I can only imagine what the next 30 years will bring because so far all I’ve done is survive.”

RAW Location: 1802 Berteau 2nd Floor

I create Oil Pastel paintings from studio setups and plein air gardenscapes and landscapes. I recently have begun painting from photographs as well. My focus is on texture, color and form rather than content although my emotional reactions to the subject often inform my esthetics.

RAW Location: 1800 W. Cornelia #116

I am an artist working with beads, semi precious stones and metals to create unique one of a kind pieces of wearable art. I am a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I began my art career as a painter moving into creating wonderful rugs and wall hangings which for a while were exhibited throughout the US. My art is now focused exclusively on making jewelry.

RAW Location: 4043 N. Ravenswood

“All concord’s born of contraries.” -Ben Johnson My work is ugly, pretty…or is it…? I don’t have time to do anything other than paint, which leaves me little time for introspection because I also have a full time job. And I don’t know what I’m doing anyway; I never preconceive a notion. All I do is create and hope for the best…or worst. If there is any common thread to my work it would be a significant collision of two contrasts; large and small, sad and happy…pretty and ugly. This is the world we live in…isn’t it? That’s the way we are…arent we? I know I am. Or not.

RAW Location: 3701 N. Ravenswood 2nd Floor

http://www.joshuadanielmcgrane.com

JR GEMMAE is the creative realization of myself, Joseph Rice. The influences in creating my line of costume jewelry include everything from ancient times, through Victorian, into the modern age and even Auntie Mame! I carefully hand assemble each piece using quality materials. These include beads that are vintage, cut crystal, antique, Czech glass, lampwork, semi precious stone, and freshwater pearls. In addition, I use unique and antique founds objects and repurposed items. This makes almost every piece a “one of a kind”. My goal is to provide well made and classic, yet unique jewelry for people who enjoy something special and very individual in each peice of jewelry they own!

RAW Location: 3711 N. Ravenswood 1st Floor

http://www.jrgemmae.etsy.com

Fine art printmaking including intaglio, relief and collagraph. All works are printed by the artist. Many works are one-of-a-kind monoprints. I will also be showing jewelry and fused glass.

RAW Location: 1800 W. Cornelia #105A

http://www.judyzeddies.com

I studied art therapy and have always been fascinated with the human mind. I like to think that my work has a psychological quality that reflects the world around me.

RAW Location: 1800 W. Cornelia #212

As an artist and survivor of ovarian cancer, a paint brush, water, lots of paint, and a fresh sheet of paper are a tremendous blessing and a gift - an escape from the challenges of life into the freedom of creating art. When I paint the joy of being a child of God, and my deep appreciation of life is expressed through wonderful bursts of color, dynamic movement and free flowing, vibrant organic forms. My love of nature features prominently in my work; whether it’s the beauty, brilliance, and delicacy of a daffodil or the play of light through the trees, changing the mood and adding mystery to a forest scene. My art is all about interpreting our beautiful world and communicating it’s very essence to the depths of my viewer’s hearts and souls.

RAW Location: RAW Street Fair Tent

I am currently painting with oil and mixed media such as hair, dried leaves and flower petals, and textured paper. In recent years, I have created quiet compositions on 6- and 12-square-inch surfaces, evoking landscapes and landscape-like images in different seasons and times of day. My work often represents feelings, such as happiness and unfulfilled desire, that I experience while painting or encounter during dreams and daydreams. At this year’s Ravenswood ArtWalk, I am also showing my photography, which has been a passion of mine since I was an undergraduate. While painting expresses my feelings and thoughts in abstract style, photography expresses those feelings and thoughts in a more representative way.

RAW Location: 1802 Berteau 2nd Floor

http://www.jungyulyu.com