Cathy Schmidt created a guitar strap from Asian carp skin for a cigar box guitar made by Alan Dillard.  The guitar and strap will be featured in an exhibit "Strings and Things: A Handcrafted Experience" at the Elkhorn Valley Museum, Norfolk, Nebraska beginning June 5, 2021.  Congratulations Cathy on this unique work of art!

Luca’s collagraph titled “Dead End” and Sue’s breastplate/necklace titled “Don’t invade my garden, don’t steal my soul” have been chosen from over 140 works of art to participate in an exhibition at the Shrode Art Center, Regenhardt Gallery, at the Cedarhurst Museum, Mt. Vernon, Illinois. The exhibit runs from February 28th through May 2nd. Go check out their wonderful work. Congratulations Sue and Luca!

The Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong, is presenting a virtual art show that will showcase Luca Cruzat.  The exhibit "From Plates to Prints--Solo Exhibition by Luca Cruzat" will be on display from January 15 through 31, 2021.  
Take a moment to explore her beautiful work at https//www.arts.net/show/karin-weber-gallery-from-plates-to-prints-solo-exhibition-by-luca-cruzat?sort=partner_show_position

Work by Oak Street Art printmaker Luca Cruzat is featured in two new exhibits beginning in August 2020.

First is a group show at the Sager Braudis Gallery, 1025 E. Walnut St. in Columbia , MO. Cruzat is joined by Erica Iman, Casey Klein, Benjamin Parks, and Joel Sager for this exhibit sponsored by an anonymous donor. Artist statements and images are available at https://sagerbraudisgallery.com/2020-august-exhibit. The online reception is August 7, and the gallery is open by appointment (email info@sagerbraudisgallery.com or phone 573.442.4831). See the exhibit through August 29. See below for a few of the pieces Cruzat has on display.

Second, Luca is part of the Fiber Arts Exhibit at the Ella Elizabeth Hise Museum of Regional Art at Southeastern Illinois College, running from August 18 through November 21, 2020. As noted in this Harrisburg Daily Register story, "Artists from across the region brought in quilts, vessels, tapestries and other fine art created with natural or synthetic fibers and other components to be put on display in the museum." Museum hours are Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the first Sunday of the month from 1 to 4 p.m., or by appointment. For more information contact 618-252-5400 ext. 2599, email hisemuseum@sic.edu or visit www.sic.edu/hisemuseum. Masks are required in the museum.

Congratulations, Luca! For more about Cruzat and her work, see her Oak Street Art page here or her website here.

Beginning March 7, Oak Street Art printmaker Luca Cruzat has all-new work on display at the General John A. Logan Museum at 1613 Edith Street in Murphysboro, Illinois.

Cruzat's site-specific Birthplace installation will run through April 30, 2020. A number of visitors joined Cruzat for the reception at the museum on Saturday, March 14, from 3 to 6 p.m. See photos below, courtesy of George Mendez.

Cruzat offered the following statement about this unique exhibit: "The environment shapes my artistic practice. Since 2017, my current studio is located in the land of John A. Logan’s birthplace. The museum and the archaeological site are dedicated to research and to preserving the history of the Logan family, owners of the land. John A. Logan made history at a national level by his involvement in the civil war and politics. At this moment, efforts are being made by the museum to excavate the foundation of his home. All of this motivated me to work on the Birthplace installation at the General John A. Logan Museum."

For more about Cruzat and her work, see her Oak Street Art page here or her website here.

Work by Oak Street Art printmaker Luca Cruzat has been selected for inclusion in the Four Rivers Print Biennial exhibition, running February 5 through March 27, 2020. Luca's piece Antipodal: I Am South and North (pictured below) was selected by juror Mark Pascale from among 229 pieces submitted by 87 artists. This was truly a national competition with entries coming from across the United States.

All are welcome at the First Friday reception for the exhibit on Friday, February 7, 2020, at 5 p.m. at Carbondale Community Arts' Artspace 304  at 304 W. Walnut St. in Carbondale, Illinois. A closing reception will be held Saturday, March 21, 2020, from 3 to 6 p.m. From 3:30 to 4:30, Pascale will give a lecture, with juror awards announced afterward. RSVP for the closing reception here.  The gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday from 12 to 5 p.m.

From the opening reception invitation: "The juror for the 2020 Four Rivers Print Biennial is Mark Pascale. Pascale is a lithographer who has been active in the Chicago art world for nearly forty years, as a curator, researcher, and professor. Pascale is the Janet and Craig Duchossois Curator of Prints and Drawings at The Art Institute of Chicago, and concurrently Senior Lecturer in Printmaking, at School of the Art Institute."

For more about Cruzat and her work, see her Oak Street Art profile and lucacruzat.com.

​Oak Street Art members brightened up a winter day with second-graders at the General John A. Logan Attendance Center in Murphysboro on January 22. Led by Oak Street Art stained glass artist Stephanie Dillard, students in six different classrooms learned about stained glass and used colorful tissue paper to make their own colorful window images.

Along with lesson assistant, Oak Street Art metalsmith Sue Gindlesparger, Dillard showed the children illustrations in the book Draw Me a Star by famed paper artist Eric Carle (author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar). Based on the story in the book, the artists asked the children, "Where does art come from? Where does it begin?". Students enthusiastically shared their thoughts about how making art begins with their own ideas and feelings.

Beginning with cardboard-framed waxed paper "windows," students used bits of torn tissue paper to create their own paper collages by using glue-water to attach the paper and also to glaze over the top of the paper bits. Using this technique, the collages, when held up to the light, look like stained glass. Some children chose to make representations of animals, landscapes, planets, people, and other objects, while others created abstract designs.

Dillard and Gindlesparger were also assisted in the classrooms by Oak Street Art members Cathy Schmidt (leather) and Ann Fischer (photography).

Please see photos of creative students below.

Oak Street Art metalsmith Sue Gindlesparger will exhibit her piece, Don't Invade My Garden, Don't Steal My Soul, as part of the Women's Voices: The Need to Create exhibit at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale University Museum.

Below, see an image of Sue's work, along with her statement about the piece in the show, which highlights the work of 23 women artists working in a variety of mediums. Sue made the new piece specifically for this exhibit.

Running from February 3 through March 21, 2020, the exhibit is open to the public during regular museum hours (see poster below). Everyone is welcome for an opening reception on Friday, February 7, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. 

Statement from artist:

​“Don’t invade my garden, don’t steal my soul” evokes the feeling of vulnerability and strength. A woman looks out from the window of her soul, and raises a fist in her garden. This breastplate/necklace is a protection piece fashioned in a quilt pattern.

This artwork is about rape and abuse, pain and self-healing. Abuse is a cancer in our
society. The pain that occurs because of it, traps a person’s soul. The breastplate is a
personal defense and a cry for decency. No one has the right to assault another
person’s body or mind.

I created this piece out of brass to simulate gold. Gold is a precious material, just like your soul. I cut the design in each piece, and joined the pieces together with jump rings to resemble chainmail, which is a type of armour.