Kortman Gallery

Current Show
 

Images of Kristy Luck's "Intimation(s)" @ Kortman Gallery

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                                       Kristy Luck:  Artist’s Statement

                             “People did change, and a change could be a bloom
                                     as well as a withering…” –Richard Yates

My current body of work explores an inner dialogue resultant from personal relationships. I am particularly interested in the underbelly of such affairs: the calm before the storm and the subtle ways domestic and individual instability reveals itself. While the work has an autobiographical core,
the images represented are as much fiction as autobiography.

Experimentation with surface and material structure has been a main focus of my work in the past year. The image is made through both extended improvisation, layering and reworking as well as direct transposition onto the canvas. Collage, wearing down of areas, and use of stains and washes of pigment is an attempt to echo the push-pull between memory and the here and now. Through a combination of semi-controlled blotches of color and the rubbing away of information, figures and forms begin to take shape.

I construct my narrative pieces from both personal and found photos to reference a nostalgic façade of happiness. While the less representational images take meaning not from the concrete visual content but from the matter that constitutes it – mystery made evident by means of material process.  Both subverting and accentuating the original emotional intent or focus of the photographic references is an attempt to further emphasize this. My goal is to create a mood that hints at thoughts unspoken just below the surface.

Release:
Kristy Luck exhibits introspective
 multi-media works at Kortman Gallery
   
     Kristy Luck uses multi-media techniques in her art to explore her inner feelings toward personal relationships in an exhibition titled, “Intimation(s)” opening Friday, April 13th in the Kortman Gallery.
    Her images are created using several techniques from collage to layering pigment on canvas to painted photographic images. There is more to her soft, sometimes highly impressionistic works than meets the eye.
    “My goal is to create a mood that hints at thoughts unspoken just below the surface, “ writes Luck in her artist’s statement. “My work is highly personal, but the feelings conveyed by my images are universal.”
    According to Doc Slafkosky, gallery director, even though Luck’s work is emotionally charged it still has a mellow, relaxing quality. “Her art does speak to you emotionally with colorful, subdued imagery that is quite refreshing. You could say they are impressionistic abstracts,” said Slafkosky.
    Kristy Luck is a Rockford native presently living and working in Chicago. She received her BFA at Rockford College and is currently pursuing her MFA in painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
    The opening reception for “Intimation(s)” exhibition by Kristy Luck will be Friday, April 13th from 5:00 to 9pm and Saturday, April 14th 3:00 to 9pm. The Luck exhibition is part of the 2012 Spring Rockford  ArtScene and will be on display through May 31, 2012.  The gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street. For further information call 815/968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com.

What: “Intimation(s)” an exhibition of new works by Rockford artist Kristy Luck.
When: Opening reception: Friday, April 13th, 5:00 to 9pm. and Saturday, April 14th, 3:00 to 9pm.The exhibition runs through May 31st. Gallery & Store open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 6pm.
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design,
             107 North Main St.
Admission: Free

Posted May 18, 2012
 

Images of "The Polyanna Society"...new works by Shannon Blosser-Salisbury @ Kortman Gallery

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If you would like more information on Shannon Blosser-Salisbery's exhibiton and/or would like to purchase one of her pieces contact us here at the Kortman Gallery at 815-968-0123 or email us: info@jrkportman.com.

Posted February 7, 2012
 

Images of "The Wright Inspiration: Art, Design, and the Laurent House" @ Kortman Gallery

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Gallery Statement

In 1948, intrigued after reading an article about Frank Lloyd Wright in House Beautiful, Kenneth Laurent wrote a letter to Mr. Wright to see if he would be interested in designing a home for him and his wife Phyllis.
  “To give you an idea of my situation I must first tell you that I am a paraplegic,” Mr. Laurent wrote. “In other words, due to a spinal cord injury I am paralyzed from the waste down and by virtue of my condition I am confined to a wheelchair. This explains my need for a home as practical and sensible as your style of architecture denotes.”
Frank Lloyd Wright accepted the challenge and what resulted is The Laurent House, one of Wright’s Usonian masterpieces which embraces the landscape along Spring Brook Road right here in Rockford. It is the only building that Wright designed to be totally handicapped accessible and the only Wright house where the original owners still live in the home designed specifically for them.
  The house was completed in 1952, and the Laurent’s have had a love affair with their home ever since. Now in his 90’s, Mr. Laurent says, “I don’t know if I live for this house, or if this house lives for me.” What an extraordinary tribute to great architecture!
Wright is probably the most influential figure in architecture in modern times. He is recognized around the world for his innovative and challenging designs...and to have one of his beautiful works here in Rockford is worth celebrating...which we are doing in this exhibition. Not only are we featuring photos and images of the Laurent House, but 16 Rockford artists were asked to create works that are inspired by the architecture and design influence of Frank Lloyd Wright.
For further reference, this exhibition also features a paper by Valerie Olafson on Usonian architecture. The captivating and sometimes touching correspondences between Mr. Laurent and Mr. Wright are here in the gallery and available for you to read.

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Posted December 13, 2011
 

Images of "25: Rittenhouse @ Kortman" exhibiton...Paintings by Cherri Rittenhouse

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Cherri Rittenhouse Unveils New                   
          Painting at Kortman Gallery

Cherri Rittenhouse, one of Rockford’s most accomplished artists, unveiled a new painting during the opening of her exhibition at the Kortman Gallery on Friday, October 14th. The exhibition titled “25: Rittenhouse @ Kortman” features selected works by Rittenhouse, first artist and curator of the Kortman Gallery, marking the 25th anniversary of the Gallery. Paintings in the exhibit represent works created by Rittenhouse over the past 25 years through the present.
“We’re so excited to have Cherri showing again in the gallery after 25 years,” said Doc Slafkosky, gallery director. “We thought it would be fun to have an actual unveiling of a new piece to add to the excitement.”
Rittenhouse whose works can best be described as Expressionistic Abstraction with subject matter comprised of inner visions and personal narratives that are derived from subconscious sources. 
“I never know what I’m going to do,” Rittenhouse says, “I just make an image and then respond to it and see where it takes me. It’s very freeing to work this way – it’s like uncovering a part of myself that I didn’t know existed.”
Highlights of her career as a painter include a Best of Show award at the New Horizons in Art at The Chicago Cultural Center, her time as a gallery artist with the Phyllis Kind Gallery in Chicago in the 1990’s, shows in Mexico where she now has a home and studio as well as a show at the prestigious Vida Museum in Borgholm, Sweden in 2009.
In addition to being Professor of Art at Rock Valley College, Rittenhouse owns and operates two restaurants, Josef of Barbados and Pearl, with her chef husband, Josef Schwaiger. They live in Rockford with their daughter, Sofia.
The opening receptions for “25: Rittenhouse @ Kortman” exhibition will be Friday, October 14th and Saturday, October 15th from 5 to 9pm in conjunction with Fall ArtScene.  The gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street. If you would like to purchase Cherri Rittenhouse's art or would like further information call 815/968-0123 or email Doc Slafkosky, galley director: doc@jrkortman.com.

Posted October 28, 2011
 

Images of Sarah Danielle Stewart's Kortman Gallery Exhibiton

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Sarah Danielle Stewart exhibits 
vibrant, colorful work at Kortman Gallery

Seeing the works of Rockford artist Sarah Danielle Stewart is like getting a flash vision into the workings of her imagination. Her complex, colorful works will be on exhibit in the Kortman Gallery opening on Friday, August 26th. The exhibition titled “Flesh in Rainbows” presents mixed-media, dynamic works that are influenced by the Stewart’s boundless imaginative view of nostalgia, kitsch, cartoons, pulp illustration, plus pattern, fabric, and vibrant colors.
“The show title ‘Flesh in Rainbows’ speaks directly to the way I see and think about everything,” says Stewart. “ Memories spur to me in hues, the reflection of light translates color and vibration, and color not only represents, but emanates emotion. Colors can be comforting, but also jarring. They can be offensive and ridiculous, yet they can be beautiful and strong. With this body of work, I strive to achieve all of the above.”
  Kortman Gallery director, Doc Slafkosky says Stewarts work is “amazingly intricate and beautifully executed, but at the same time a little whacky. You really have to spend some time looking at her pieces to see everything that’s going on in her vibrant paintings. These works are eye-catching entertainment.”

If you would like to purchase Sarah Danielle Stewart’s art contact the Kortman Gallery directly by phone, 815.968.0123 or email, doc@jrkortman.com. Works range from $140.– $850.

What: “Flesh in Rainbows” art exhibit
            featuring new mixed-media works by Sarah Dnielle Stewart
When: August 26th thru October 1st. Gallery & Store open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 6pm
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 
             107 North Main St.
Admission: Free 

 

Posted August 27, 2011
 

Images of Leslie Arbetman's Kortman Gallery Exhibiton

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 Rockford artist, teacher, and mother of twins Leslie Arbetman shows her spirited paintings at the Kortman Gallery starting June 3rd in an exhibition titled “My Between Spaces: Raising Babies & Wrangling Adolescents.” Arbetman, who holds two Masters’ Degrees, is an art educator at Roosevelt High School in Rockford.

Arbetman’s autobiographic exhibit title says a lot about her hectic lifestyle as a teacher and mother, but she considers her artwork “an introspective endeavor.”  She loves to paint with wax/oil and encaustic because of its versatility. ”I try to push the bounds of what wax is capable of achieving without burning my whole house down,” says Arbetman. 
“I have a love of aged and ephemeral materials, decay, and a deep-seated respect for history, which all stems from my formative years digging in my grandmother’s basement of junky wonders off Jerome Street in Chicago,” said Arbetman.
Kortman Gallery director Doc Slafkosky says Arbetman’s work is visually engaging, contemporary, and edgy. “Her work is serious, but you can tell that Leslie doesn’t take herself too seriously...this makes her art also very entertaining,” Slafkosky said.
The last line in Arbetman’s artist’s statement reads, “Causality and collateral damage are ideas fundamental to my work; however, art doesn’t have to be so damn serious to be enjoyed by the casual viewer. It’s just art.”
The opening reception for Arbetmen’s Kortman exhibition will be Friday, June 3rd from 5:30 to 9pm which is also “First Friday” in Downtown Rockford. The gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street. For further information call 815/968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com.

What: “My Between Spaces: Raising Babies & Wrangling Adolescents” art exhibit
            featuring new works by Leslie Arbetman
When: Friday, June 3rd, 5:30 to 9:00pm (First Friday Downtown). Exhibits runs thru July     
            30th. Gallery & Store open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 6pm
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 
             107 North Main St.
Admission: Free and open to the public

To purchase any of Ms. Arbetman's art, contact the Kortman Gallery @ 815.968.0123 or email gallerist Doc Slafkosky, doc@jrkortman.com.

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Posted June 4, 2011
 

Images of "In My Place," an exhibition of small-scale works by Jennifer Mullin @ Kortman Gallery

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Jennifer Mullin Creates Comfortable Places with Collage for Kortman Gallery

Rockford artist Jennifer Mullin looks through magazines and is inspired by the home furnishings she sees. The found images become elements in her delicate and comfortable interiors she creates in her small-scale works opening Friday, February 4th in the Kortman Gallery.
The exhibition titled “In My Place” features mixed-media new works by Mullin created with collage and pencil drawings resulting in colorful and seductive images of interior spaces.
“I love flipping through those glossy magazine pages in search of eye-catching colors and patterns,” says Mullin. “The creation of comfortable space has developed as an underlying thread in all of my work.  Within the confines of each piece, I aim to create a beautiful place that I would enjoy spending time in.”
Kortman Gallery director Doc Slafkosky says the small pieces are perfect for this time of the year. “Her charming and warm images are a cozy contrast to the cold, harsh winter weather,” said Slafkosky. “And these sweet and endearing art works are available just in time for Valentine’s Day.”
Mullin is a 1998 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison and currently teaches art at Boylan High School.
For imformation about purchasing art by Jennifer Mullin contact the Kortman Gallery @ 815.968.0123 or email gallery director Doc Slafkosky: doc@jrkortman.com
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Posted February 5, 2011
 

Images of "MainfraiM...Habitat for Art," an exhibition of works by Pam Kehoe-Peterson & Jeremy Klonicki @ Kortman Gallery

 
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Artists Transform Industrial Relics into Magical Art at Kortman Gallery

Jeremy Klonicki is a sculptural display artist with a simple strategy: deconstruct and rebuild. Pam Kehoe-Peterson is an artist who creates distinctive “industrial poetic” jewelry. Both use reclaimed industrial relics to produce stunningly energetic art. The two Rockford artists collaborate and converge their talent in a Kortman Gallery holiday exhibition entitled “MainfraiM...Habitat for Art” opening Friday, November  26th .
Kehoe-Peterson who has been making her wearable art jewelry for more than a decade, has joined creative forces with Klonicki to bring a new visual quality to her work. Klonicki’s sculptural display pieces evolve from the same sensibilty...reclaiming, deconstructing, and rebuilding industrial objects into fine art display environments.
“Together, the two artists bring a refreshingly imaginative visual experience to these found objects,” says Kortman Gallery director Doc Salfkosky. ”The result is elegant, exquisite and almost magical sculptural pieces that the artists’ refer to as Archaic 
Industrial Art.”
“When a piece of jewelry isolates an ordinary object, such as an old level, a compass, a tool part, or an unusual key, its inherent symbolism, mystery and beauty can evoke an emotion, a thought, a memory or an idea for the wearer,” says Kehoe-Peterson in her artist’s statement.
Referring to his work in his artist’s statement, Klonicki says, “When one deconstructs they salvage the knowledge to build it again, be it for its intended purpose, or for a new purpose.” 
  “The conceptual content and industrial style of both Pam’s and Jeremy’s work appeals to male and female collectors alike and will be a visual holiday treat for the entire family.” said Slafkosky.
The opening reception for “MainfraiM...Habitat for Art” will be from 5:30 to 9:00pm on Friday, November 26th in the Kortman Gallery, located upstairs at J.R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford. For more information call 815/968-0123 or visit www. jrkortman.com. 
What: “MainfraiM...Habitat for Art” an exhibition of works by Pam Kehoe-Peterson and Jeremy Klonicki
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J.R.Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main,  Downtown Rockford
When: Opening reception, Friday, November  26th, 5:30pm-9:00pm. Gallery open Monday–Saturday, 10 to 6pm and Sundays (in December) 1-5pm . Exhibition runs through January 8, 2011. Free admission. 
Information about purchasing art: 815-968-0123 or doc@jrkortman.com

Artistsʼ Statements:
I enjoy and find it therapeutic to disassemble and recreate. I join pieces unintended to be together and combine unlike parts and textures into seamless transitions. Itʼs relative to the fabric of life: interwoven, complex, and so coincidental itʼs often unbelievable. Built on the perpetuation of our ancestors work, I stay compelled to create with unique items that have stood the test of time. I hope you find these pieces to be an enchanting looking glass into the past as well as a practical staple for you in the unique fabric of your life.

                                                                                                                                                                                        Jeremy Klonicki

When a piece of jewelry isolates an ordinary object, such as an old level, a compass, a tool part, or an unusual key, its inherent symbolism, mystery and beauty can evoke an emotion, a thought, a memory or an idea for the wearer. The conceptual content and industrial style of Pamʼs work appeals to male and female collectors alike.
Metalsmith techniques include stone setting, soldering, cutting, forming, fitting, copper etching, hinge making, forming, finishing and cold-connections. Precious and non-precious materials include sterling silver, 14K, semi-precious stones, glass, steel, brass, copper and ordinary objects. Custom chains are created from hammered jump rings of silver, copper, brass and steel with custom closures. Hand-stamped text may be poetic, humorous, ironic or philosophical, depending on the juxtaposition with disparate or symbolic objects incorporated in the fabricated structure or vessel.
                                                                             Pam Kehoe-Peterson

Posted November 27, 2010
 

Photos of the Pam Kehoe-Peterson & Jeremy Klonicki opening night at the Kortman Gallery

Here some photos captured with our iPhones at the opening night for "MainfraiM...Habitat for Art", and exhibition of works by Jeremy Klonicki and Pam Kehoe-Peterson.

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Posted November 27, 2010