The Evanston Art Center is proud to present the 23rd Evanston + Vicinity Biennial, one of the Midwest’s largest and most prestigious juried exhibitions. From a talented pool of Illinois artists, Biennial jurors, Lela Hersh, President of the Museum and Fine Arts Consulting and Lecturer in the Graduate Department of Arts Administration and Policy at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Monique Meloche, Owner of Monique Meloche Gallery, and Lorelei Stewart, Director of Gallery 400 at University of Illinois at Chicago, have selected a talented group of thirty-nine artists. On Friday, July 15th from 6:00- 8:00 pm there will be a reception at the EAC, which is free and open to the public.

Juror Lela Hersh is the president of Museum and Fine Arts Consulting and lecturer in the Graduate Department of Arts Administration and Policy at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Previously, she served as the Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and has worked on many curatorial projects, including the Chicago Sculptural International at the Koehnline Museum of Art and Bright at I space, Chicago. She has been published in MCA Chicago; Museum News for Life, Death Love Hate Pleasure Pain and Art in Chicago. She also formerly served on the American Association of Museums Board of Directors. She received her BA from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, her MFA from the University of Illinois, her Graduate from Museum Management Institute, Berkeley, and her Certificate of Appraisal Studies from Northwestern University.

Juror Monique Meloche is the owner of Monique Meloche Gallery, where she shows an international mix of cutting-edge work in all media at the gallery location on Fulton Market Street in the West Loop. With international reviews of almost every show since opening and a host of national and international art fairs on the schedule, Meloche is dedicated to showing some of the most intriguing and often tough work both in and out of Chicago. Formerly director of both Vedanta and Rhona Hoffman galleries, Meloche also has a long curatorial background working at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago for 6 years. Meloche is a graduate of SAIC and will co-teach a graduate seminar on the History of 20th Century Art and Fashion at SAIC this fall. She is actively involved with the MCA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago and serves on the multi-disciplinary board of CollaborAction Theater Group.
Juror Lorelei Stewart is the director of Gallery 400 at University of Illinois at Chicago. She has organized more than 40 exhibitions, including the Joyce Award-winning “Edgar Arceneaux’s Alchemy of Comedy…Stupid.” In 2002 she initiated “At the Edge: Innovative Art in Chicago,” a commissioning program that encouraged experimental practices by Chicago-area artists. She served as interim director of UIC’s master’s degree program in museum and exhibition studies. Stewart holds a Master’s degree in curatorial studies from Bard College, a Bachelor’s degree from Smith College, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Corcoran College of Art and Design.
The following Illinois-based artists were selected by the jurors to exhibit their work in EAC’s Biennial: Joanne Aono, Rocio Azarloza, Joshua Backus, Simon Belleau, Daniel Bruttig, Tom Burtonwood, Ian Carey, Patty Carroll, Robin Dluzen, Charlotte Fox, Deirdre Fox, Tamara Fraser, Rosalynn Gingerich, Heather Green, Matt Irie, Alejandro Jimenez, Gary Justis, Joshua Kent, Sasha de Koninck, Riva Lehrer, Mary Livoni, David Lozano, Jordan Martins, Timothy McMullen, Andie Meadows, Jaclyn Mednicov, Bobbi Meier, Gulsah Mursaloglu, Grant Newman, Josue Pellot, Lorraine Peltz, Rachel Sanfilippo, Matthew Schlagbaum, Jeff Stevenson, Ryan Thompson, Rafael Vera, Everett Williams, Jade Williams, Jennifer Yorke.
Evanston Art Center, a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization, is dedicated to fostering the appreciation and expression of the arts among diverse audiences. The Art Center offers extensive and innovative instruction in broad areas of artistic endeavor through classes, exhibitions, interactive arts activities, and community outreach initiatives.

Evanston Art Center is located at 1717 Central Street, Evanston, IL. Evanston Art Center Gallery Hours: 9am – 9pm, Monday – Thursday; 9am – 5pm, Friday; 9am – 4pm, Saturday & Sunday. First and second floor gallery spaces are handicapped accessible. Limited free parking is available.

For more information, please visit us online at www.evanstonartcenter.org or contact Gabrielle Burrage, Manager of External Affairs, at (847) 475-5300. Visit the Evanston Art Center on Facebook: www.facebook.com/evanston.art, follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/#!/evartcenter, or on Instagram: @EvanstonArtCenter.