The Feminine in Focus: Photographic works by Bunny Yeager from the M.S. Collection

 

Bunny Yeager / Bettie Page

Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't want our gallery to be limited to the work of members.

But this wasn't really what I had in mind.

"M.S." is Michelle Strassburger - an interior designer who collects art 

- including plein air paintings by some of our members.

I would love to see that part of her collection on the walls of our gallery 

- whether the artists are PNC or not.

I'm less interested in her collection of photography - but OK 

- that might be interesting as well.

This is a show, however, of what she is trying to sell - not what she likes to own.  

She bought a large collection of pinup girl photos - these are the ones she does not want.

Maybe the alternative to her show would have been an empty gallery,

Maybe somebody here really likes this kind of stuff.

Maybe somebody here knows Michelle and wants to help her out.

Perhaps the PNC will make several thousand dollars in commission.

 These are  all good reasons,

But if we are serious about the public  mission of our gallery

this is the kind of issue that should go before an exhibition committee - 

if we ever get around to having one.

Scholarship Winners - 2025

 

Bailey Katz

Hard to  believe I’ve never seen her sculptures before - Bailey was in Audrey’s class way back when. It  certainly is a delight to discover her now.  Our aesthetics are pretty much on the same page:  power, elegance, sweetness, freshness.

This figure feels familiar. 

Was it derived from Eve on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel  ???

This piece feels even more familiar.  

Gallery signage does not identify it as such - but I was told that Bailey said it was taken from Camille Claudel.

Camille Claudel

This piece was in the special Claudel exhibit at the Art Institute early last year.

(Gallery signage asserted it was more of a woman’s POV than the crouching Rodin figure shown nearby)

And I prefer Bailey’s rendition !

Less about anatomy - more about expressive form.

Bailey should quit her day job!

Lucy Ellen Smith

Lucy Ellen Smith

Someday I hope we get an exhibit that only shows coffee cups,

Arturo Aldama

He getting awfully close to crossing over from cartoon to classical.

Emilie Varlet

Matthew Braun, "Augury"

Makes no sense to me -

but then he does call himself a "maker of weird nattative"

Veronica Severini

Adam Holzrichter

Saw the above wrap-around mural a few years ago in a Chicago gallery.

Wonderful!

You enter a land of enchantment every time nature calls.

He has a few drawings in this show, but could not photograph them through the reflections on the glass.

Possibly our only member to have studied with Odd Nerdrum in Norway.

Portraits of the Palette

 

Tom Zavala. "Honey, I broke the Mirror"

A wonderfully assertive portrait of a manly man 

owning up to the damage he’s done.

Chris Heron

A fine, noble piece that makes me think of Paris, 1860

Tor Muehl, Pascale

Our mansion’s beloved French governess brought to life.

What a smile!

Clayton Beck III

Could be a study for Joseph in a Nativity scene.

Sondra Pfeffer

I don’t really see Mark here -

but it’s a strong head.

Possibly made millennia ago and recently unearthed.

Helen Oh

Infringing on the territory of Watteau.

Helen Oh

Such a noble visage  - straight from the 18th Century

Andy Conklin, self portrait

Some anxiety here - he’s feeling cornered and boxed in.

Val Yachik, Last Day of Princess Cat

Our resident master of the macabre.

Poor little Princess.

Chicago Plein Air Painters

Yelena Patskevich

camping by a river and waking up with a hangover?

Is it just wishful thinking 

or are the PAPC shows really getting better?

Arun Dabholkar

Hugh Nicholson

Hugh Nicholson

Mark Cleveland

Elizabeth Buckley-Geer

Barbara Herring

Not just any city - it’s "my city"

Safe, cozy, beloved.

Anna Cherkashina

Anna Cherkashina

Richard Laurent

Richard Laurent

Laura Camunas

 

$400 Show - November 2024

 

Barbara K. Herring

Always the painter of solitary female figures in the urban jungle,

this one is more animated - and strange - than most.

I love her work

Herring appears to be painting a kind of dream world

for no one but herself

yet it fits right into Chicago imagism.

Yalena Potskevich

A transcendent painting of a wonderful view..

I’ve walked across that bridge many times.

Anna Cherkashina

What an ecstatic, celebratory piece.

Both Anna and Yelena were born in Moscow.

Hurray for our Russians!

Stephanie Weidner

Usually a painter of doors, Ms. Weidner has now revealed a magnificent space behind them.

Can’t recall ever seeing a painting of just a big, empty, glowing space.

Errol Jacobson

That fellow seems frozen in time.

An intriguing American Regionalist painting 

done 70 years after that genre was marginalized.

And it includes an existentialist moment as well.

That poor fellow in the yellow shirt is frozen to the pavement 

as he obeys the STOP sign that faces him.

Errol Jacobson

Something ominous here.

The flag is in distress.

How appropriate for last week’s election.

Mark Cleveland

A nicely composed little corner 

Phyllis Brodny

The Palette’s only gourdographer

recording the mysterious private lives of our vegetable friends.

*****

Note: only got to see the large gallery today,

the smaller one was locked.

Muriel Christensen, Priscilla Huang and Jean Yang

 

Art for the sake of social justice ?

No

Art for the sake of  personal angst?

No

Art for the sake of spiritual growth ?

No

Art for the sake of art ?

No

-but-

Art for the sake of an orderly and positive personal and social life ?

For better or worse,

that’s what I think it is.

Kinda reminds me of the old Sears catalogs.

More evidence that Cass Waters once passed through.

This intrepid girl really has her work cut out for her.

Muriel Christensen,

Reminds of the patterns in the Rebecca Morris show that recently closed at the MCA.

Priscilla Huang 

This one’s my favorite in the show.

Jean Yang