Organizations

Leaders of Social Change is a six-week social justice leadership institute designed to give Illinois State students an opportunity to examine the concept of leadership at the intersection of power, oppression, justice, and social change.      Link to Register: https://forms.illinoisstate.edu/forms/loscinstitute  Hosted by: Dean of Students Office, Leadership Education and DevelopmentAdditional Information can be found at: https://redbirdlife.illinoisstate.edu/event/11955123

  University Galleries of Illinois State University is pleased to present Collaboration in Progress: Normal Editions Workshop at 50 from January 12 through March 25, 2026.    Collaboration in Progress: Normal Editions Workshop at 50 is an exhibition that celebrates the 50th anniversary of Normal Editions Workshop, a non-profit, professional, collaborative print research and publishing workshop within Illinois State University’s Wonsook Kim School of Art. The exhibition features 50 prints created at Normal Editions by visiting artists, emeritus faculty, current faculty, and alumni.   Artists in the exhibition: Avantika Bawa, Harold Boyd, James D. Butler, Rodney Carswell, Carmon Colangelo, Bethany Collins, Amy Cousins, Brittany Denham Whisonant, Jane Dickson, Hector Duarte, Michael Dubina (B.F.A. 1986), Rhea Edge (B.S. 1976, M.S. 1978, M.F.A. 1982), Richard Finch, Julia Fish, Mark Forth (B.S. 1987), Brian Franklin, Raymond E. George, Judy Glantzman, Denise Green, Harold Gregor, Alex Grey, Arturo Herrera, John Himmelfarb, Ken Holder, Mark Innerst, Wonsook Kim (B.S. 1975, M.A. 1976, M.F.A. 1978, Honorary Doctor of Arts 2019), Wayne Kimball, Haerim Lee, Nazafarin Lotfi, Tyler Lotz, Jaime Molina, Dennis Oppenheim, Melissa Oresky, Matthew Day Perez (B.F.A. 2007), Rudy Pozzatti, Richard Rezac, Kenny Scharf, Archana Shekara, Kiki Smith, Laura Splan, Stacey Steers, C. Louis Steinburg, Jaimie Warren, Michael Wille, and David Wojnarowicz.   Normal Editions Workshop was founded in 1976 through James D. Butler’s vision for a contract print research facility that emphasized an educational mission for the students. The Workshop was established by Butler and printmaking faculty members Harold Boyd and Raymond E. George. (A complete history of Normal Editions is available on its website.) Richard D. Finch served as the director for 37 years, and Veda Rives Aukerman served as both the interim director and the director for 11 years. Normal Editions has completed: 163 artist collaborations; 313 editions/projects; three books; 57 traveling exhibitions; and 20 exhibitions sponsored by Normal Editions. Importantly, through their experiences at Normal Editions, students have collaborated directly with artists and master printers, created new works of art, and learned how a professional print facility functions. Many of Normal Editions’ projects with artists were supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, Alice and Fannie Fell Trust, Harold K. Sage Foundation, Illinois State University Foundation Fund, Wonsook Kim School of Art Visiting Artists Program, and/or University Galleries.   The primary public event for Collaboration in Progress: Normal Editions Workshop at 50 is a panel discussion with key figures from Normal Editions’ history. James D. Butler (founder), Richard D. Finch (former director and master printer), and Veda Rives Aukerman (former director and master printer) will participate in a conversation moderated by Morgan Price (associate professor and acting director & master printer). The panel will take place on Friday, February 13 at 4:00 p.m. and will be followed by a reception.   Another key event is the public creation of a progressive print. During this all-ages workshop, participants will explore the collaborative process of printmaking. Guided by printmaker (and University Galleries’ registrar) Lisa Lofgren, participants will each add a mark to a copper printing plate that will keep changing, mark by mark. Between each addition, the plate will be inked and pressed to create two prints: one for the participant to take and one for temporary display. Stop by on Friday, February 20 anytime between noon to 7:00 p.m. to make a mark. No registration is required. A reception will take place on February 20 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. A pop-up exhibition of the progression of prints will be on view on Saturday, February 21 and Sunday, February 22 from noon to 4:00 p.m.   Additionally, University Galleries’ staff is leading art-making workshops for ISU students, K-12 students, and community members. Sensory-friendly times, independent drawing hours, poetry writing prompts, and scavenger hunts are available. Curator-led tours are available by appointment. Field trip reimbursements for tours and workshops are available for K-12 schools and community organizations.    Collaboration in Progress: Normal Editions at 50 is co-organized by Morgan Price (associate professor in the Wonsook Kim School of Art and Normal Editions’ acting director & master printer) and multiple members of the University Galleries’ team: Kendra Paitz (director and chief curator), Lisa Lofgren (registrar), Holly Filsinger (gallery assistant), and Kaili Stanford (student gallery assistant). This exhibition and programming are supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council and the Lori Baum and Aaron Henkelman University Galleries Community Fund. Hosted by: University GalleriesAdditional Information can be found at: https://redbirdlife.illinoisstate.edu/event/11915410

University Galleries of Illinois State University is pleased to present Dianna Frid: Matter Is the Nectar of Writing / La materia es el néctar de la escritura from January 12 through March 1, 2026.   Featuring new and recent tapestries, artist’s books, embroideries, photographs, mixed-media works, and sculpture, this exhibition is the U.S. premiere of a group of works that Frid created in Mexico and Chicago from 2023 to 2025. In 2025, most of these artworks were exhibited in concurrent exhibitions at two libraries in Oaxaca, Mexico: the Biblioteca Andrés Henestrosa and the Biblioteca Fray Francisco de Burgoa (Burgoa Library). Related works from 2015 through 2025 are also included in the exhibition at University Galleries.   Frid was born in Mexico City and immigrated to Vancouver with her family as a teenager. She has lived in Chicago since 2001. Being from three countries and speaking two languages influences her work in multiple ways. In her words, her work “makes visible the tactile manifestations of language … exploring the relationships between writing and drawing, and the overlaps of transcription, translation, and legibility.” The exhibition title addresses Frid’s ongoing interest in untranslatability between languages and between the linguistic and the non-verbal. In Spanish, materia has two meanings: both subject and matter. And while nectar is a sugary fluid produced by plants to attract pollinators, in Greek mythology, it is the drink of the gods linked to immortality. Throughout her explorations of texts and textiles, Frid combines and re-combines materials—including mica, iron oxide, gold leaf, obsidian, pochote, and cochineal—to address time, transformation, process, pleasure, and geological forces.   The works in this exhibition are inspired by Frid’s longstanding encounter with “worm-holed” premodern and early modern books at the Burgoa Library. Many may see destruction in larvae consuming the matter of pages, chewing on them while living an entire life cycle within a book. Frid instead recognizes—in the transformation of matter—the life force of insects that turns books into dwellings. She also points to the idea of a cosmic wormhole as a hypothesized means of traveling through time and space.   Esta Mina (2015), an artist’s book among the more than 20 artworks in the exhibition, is a piece that Frid created following one of her early visits to the Burgoa Library—a library to which she has often returned since 2014. As a reader turns the canvas-and-foil pages of Esta Mina (which means this mine in Spanish), they unearth nine holes and slowly discover colorful rocks and minerals collected by the artist. These geological objects were formed over long spans of time that surpass the human life cycle. The cavities in the book are cradles for these rocks and refer to the insect-carved tunnels in many of the books in the Burgoa Library’s collection.   Since 2024, Frid has made five weavings in collaboration with the Toño and Lili workshop in Teotitlán del Valle. For the dyeing process, they mainly used the dye extracted from the cochineal bug—a small insect that produces pH-reactive carminic acid. Cochineal can achieve a vast range of red and purple dyes depending on what substances are added to the dyeing mix. Working with cochineal takes time—from the cultivation and harvesting of the insect to the layers and variables that allow for an array of colors to emerge. Dyeing with cochineal is a testament to the devotion of the weavers to maintain and promote this practice. In this group of tapestries, Frid interweaves transcriptions of texts by the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and the artist Anni Albers that have been translated to Spanish. In new mixed-media works, Frid focuses on paper made with the cotton of the pochote tree, prevalent in the tropics of Mexico. Flakes of mica—a shiny silicate mineral—are mixed with the pochote pulp as the paper is made. To reveal the buried mica shards, Frid carefully excavates them and surrounds them with applied layers of graphite, copper, silver, or gold. This alludes to these elements’ initial formation in volcanic vents or exploding stars. Together, the exhibited works address the transformation of all substances, explore human and cosmic timespans, and emphasize the interconnectedness of all things.   This exhibition is the center point of multiple programs and engagements. Dianna Frid is delivering a public lecture, leading an exhibition tour, and meeting with students, faculty, and staff while on campus. Frid’s talk will be on January 29 at 4:00 p.m. with a reception immediately following. Her artist-led exhibition tour will be on Saturday, February 7 at 1:00 p.m. with a reception immediately following.   Dianna Frid: Matter Is the Nectar of Writing / La materia es el néctar de la escritura is curated by Kendra Paitz, University Galleries’ director and chief curator. This exhibition and programming are supported by University Galleries’ grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Illinois Arts Council, and Alice and Fannie Fell Trust. Workshops and field trip reimbursements are supported by the Lori Baum and Aaron Henkelman University Galleries Community Fund. Dianna Frid gratefully acknowledges the Canada Council for the Arts for their invaluable support. She also thanks the Illinois Arts Council and the many contributors to her 3Arts Projects campaign.Hosted by: University GalleriesAdditional Information can be found at: https://redbirdlife.illinoisstate.edu/event/12014461

Please join us for prayer and fellowship this Monday at 7pm in Schroeder 103! We will kick off the semester by reading the life of St. Basil together and enjoying vasilopita (Greek New Year's cake)! All are welcome!   Hosted by: Orthodox Christian Fellowship at Illinois State UniversityAdditional Information can be found at: https://redbirdlife.illinoisstate.edu/event/11965290

Practice 01/12 Please confirm your attendance. Hosted by: Women's Lacrosse at Illinois State UniversityAdditional Information can be found at: https://redbirdlife.illinoisstate.edu/event/12006416