Just in time for International Women’s Day on March 8th, we had our opening at Sidetracked Studios in Evanston, IL. Curated by collector Michele Mahon Jahelka, the show is titled “What Did She Say?” and runs until May 10th.

L to R: Raeleen Kao, Amy Ventura, Michele Mahon Jahelka, Mary Lou Novak, Lauren Levato Coyne (photo courtesy of Maike van Wijk at maikesmarvels.com)

I’m honored to have my work hanging alongside the art of these very cool women and thrilled with how amazingly cool Lauren, Rory and Michele of Sidetracked have been. They hung my work beautifully and put on a great evening for the opening reception!

(photo courtesy of Maike van Wijk at maikesmarvels.com)

Check out some of the work below and click here for more info on each piece.

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I’m so excited to be part of this show, which features eclectic work from six women artists at the very cool Evanston gallery, Sidetracked Studio. Please join us for the opening reception this Saturday, March 7th from 6-9pm for some good art, lively conversation and a little beer from New Holland Brewing Co.

Sidetracked Studio
707 Chicago Ave
Evanston IL 60202

The show runs until May 10. Want more info? Check out Sidetracked Studio’s Facebook page.

The post What Did She Say?!? appeared first on Amy Ventura.

All things must pass.

My show at Firecat is over, the artwork is packaged up on its way to new homes or other art exhibitions, and I’m moving on to my next series. Here’s the collection, for posterity.

They Came Between Dreams
exhibited at Firecat Projects
Chicago, IL
Dec 26 2014 – Jan 24 2015

Burned wood engravings chronicling the state of hypnagogia: that mysterious period of semi-consciousness between wakefulness and sleep when the mind’s eye conjures strange images, textures and hallucinations….

Want some more info about a piece? Please contact me or visit my shop.

The post “They Came Between Dreams” Gallery of Images appeared first on Amy Ventura.

Tonight’s the night — join me at Firecat Projects tonight from 7-10pm for the opening reception of my show, They Came Between Dreams. Here’s a sneak preview! Hope to see you there.

“They Came Between Dreams”
December 26, 2014
7-10pm
Firecat Projects
2124 N Damen Ave
Chicago IL 60647

The post Tonight! Firecat Projects Show Preview appeared first on Amy Ventura.

Finally! My show at Firecat Projects is just around the corner and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Friends, please join me for the opening of my solo show, “They Came Between Dreams” at Firecat Projects. I’m excited to share the artwork I’ve been creating over the past year with you!

“They Came Between Dreams” is a collection of burned wood engravings that chronicles the state of hypnagogia: that mysterious period of semi-consciousness between wakefulness and sleep when the mind’s eye conjures strange images, textures and hallucinations.

Stop by for a glass of wine or Three Floyds beer and I’ll chat with you about the process behind the work: the 1,000 degrees of heat I used to burn the images, the milk-paint pigments that color the work, and the power tool scroll saw I wielded to cut intricate patterns and designs.

“They Came Between Dreams”
December 26, 2014
7-10pm
Firecat Projects
2124 N Damen Ave
Chicago IL 60647

Would you like one of my show postcards (shown below) for your fridge? Send me your mailing address through my contact page and I’ll get one out to you via snail mail.

The post Here It Is…Firecat Projects On Dec 26th Is The Place To Be! appeared first on Amy Ventura.

I’ve always loved tableaus, scenes that represent a moment in time. I loved making dioramas for school as a kid, and I still love looking at prehistoric dioramas in natural history museums. (Questions of historical accuracy aside, of course!)

One of those grade school dioramas — and I SO wish I had a photo of this to share — was a “solar house” that I made for the “ecology” unit in social studies. I painted a little cardboard box yellow, taped plastic wrap solar panels on top of its roof (so severely un-environmental!), and cut out tiny little people forever preserved in the act of recycling trash and reusing water.

There is an inherent sense of enigma to these still moments. We get to peek into a sliver of time paused in action. What came before? What happens next? We’ll never know, and I love wondering.

“The Maneless Male Lions of Tsavo” by Jeffrey Jung is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0/cropped from original/source: http://bit.ly/1jZXMch)

There are a lot of these tableaus, these moments of frozen mystery, in my work. In a piece I created in 2013, I Am Beating All My Wings, I myself wondered what was happening. The hummingbird, furiously beating its wings seems surrounded by an impenetrable earthen wall of immovable cells. Is the bird trapped? Will it push through? The answer to that question fluctuated as I worked on the piece and a year later, I still do not know. I think that’s what I love about it, though, the mystery of what happens next and whether it is a dark piece about being trapped or a more hopeful piece about pushing through. To me, it is both.

I Am Beating All My Wings, Amy Ventura ©2013

I Am Beating All My Wings, 2013 (burned wood engraving finished with milk paint, 10″x10″, $425.) This work is currently showing at the Southern Illinois Artisans Center. Please call the shop at (618) 629-2220 to purchase the piece and have it shipped. Or, shoot me an email at admin [at] amyventura [dot] com and I’ll talk to the museum directly to act as a go-between.

Featured image at top of this post: “A Model Showing Ancient Cavemen Stands Inside the National Museum of Mongoalian Histroy” by Lance Cpl. Nathan McCord / source

Tsavo lion image: source

The post How A Grade School Diorama Influenced My Artwork appeared first on Amy Ventura.