CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Work by recent art-school graduates will be featured in an exhibition on view July 15 through Aug. 6 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"Wet But Not Shrinking" highlights selected works from the 2005 MFA exhibition held last spring at the university's Krannert Art Museum. The annual show features work by students completing requirements for the School of Art and Design's master of fine arts degree.
"This is a strong group of artists engaged in a practice that doesn't turn away from the challenge of making art that matters," said Joel Ross, a professor of art and design who curated the I space exhibition. "They face it, perhaps with some reservation, but they do not shrink. With both feet, they have already jumped into the world that awaits them after art school - murky waters even on good days."
Those selected to test the waters of Chicago's River North gallery district are Jonas Downey, Katerie Gladdys, Summer Hill, Natalya Pinchuk, Charles Roderick and Meredith Warner. Featured works range from Downey's "Terror Alert Clock," a computer-generated investigation in which a computer program counts the frequency of the word "terror" and its variants from a live feed on usatoday.com to Hill's "Channeler," a poster for a product designed for women with urinary incontinence.
Other works on view include Roderick's "Platform Series," slide projections that function as exercises in observation, investigation and analysis for both artist and viewer, and Gladdys' "Commute-ditch," an audio-video that charts the artist's path in a canoe - from her home in Springfield to the Urbana campus - in an attempt to examine how people experience and leave a mark on the landscape.
An opening reception is scheduled to take place from 5-7 p.m. July 15 at the gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Chicago.
I space gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.