UIS Visual Arts Gallery announces Allyson Packer as its summer Enos Park artist-in-residence

Allyson Packer (Photo: Lincoln Draper)

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery has once again partnered with the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists to award a funded summer residency and solo exhibition. After a successful inaugural partnership last summer, which yielded active community engagement through contemporary art, the organizations are working together again to offer this opportunity. After the review of a competitive applicant pool that represented national and international applicants, Albuquerque-based artist Allyson Packer has been awarded the opportunity.

Allyson Packer, who has recently shown work at Nahmad Projects in London and the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, will be in residence at the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists from July 1 through July 28. Her exhibit at the UIS Visual Arts Gallery, “Interior Space,” will open with a reception on Thursday, July 26, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will run from Thursday, July 26 through Saturday, August 11. The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is open for the duration of the exhibit on Saturday afternoons from 12 to 4 p.m. or throughout the week by appointment.

Community engagement is a core consideration for the summer resident. Allyson, who holds a master of fine arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a bachelor of fine arts from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, will work with Springfield residents directly to realize her project.

In her proposal, Packer wrote, “My exhibition, called ‘Interior Space,’ will draw on my interest in brining visibility to the unseen. I will ask people in Springfield to participate in the exhibition by loaning me one item from their attic (or garage or closet)—something that they find valuable enough to hold on to, but also do not keep on public display. These objects will then form the basis for a gallery installation.”

In addition to welcoming Allyson Packer, the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists will welcome two additional summer residents. Artist Nick Wylie will use his time in Springfield to research Elmer Ellsworth, a close and personal friend of Abraham Lincoln who was the first Union officer killed in the Civil War while he was removing a Confederate flag. Wylie is an accomplished artist who holds a master of fine arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a founder of the ACRE (Artist Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions). Enos Park will also welcome Zack Buckley, an artist, composer and student at Illinois State University. While in residence, he plans to record various types of audio from Enos Park to create a multi-channel installation. The UIS Visual Arts Gallery plans to support these projects and look for ways to present this work to the public.

For more information on becoming involved with these summer projects, or to learn about exhibition programming at UIS, please visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery, or email alach3@uis.edu.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery announces its summer Enos Park artist-in-residence

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery has partnered with the new Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists to award a funded summer residency and solo exhibition. After a review of a competitive applicant pool that represented national and international applicants, German-born and San Francisco-based artist Astrid Kaemmerling has been awarded the opportunity.

Kaemmerling will be in residence at the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists from June 9 through July 28. Her exhibit at the UIS Visual Arts Gallery, “Walking Enos Park: Who is your neighborhood?” will open with a reception on Wednesday, June 28 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will run from Wednesday, June 28 through Friday, July 28. The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is open for the duration of the exhibit on Saturday afternoons from 12 to 4 p.m. or throughout the week by appointment.

While in residence, Kaemmerling will develop a new project to support her exhibit: the “Enos Park Community Walking Laboratory”. She is seeking participants -- local artists, Enos Park residents and residents of Springfield -- to walk with her in Enos Park from June 11 through July 28. The “Enos Park Community Walking Laboratory” sets out to provide artist and local residents opportunities to exchange information about the neighborhood. While meandering the streets of Enos Park, artist and community members will engage in conversations about the past, present and future of the district with a specific focus on arts & culture. Meet Kaemmerling for a 1 hour walk through your neighborhood, show her around and tell her who your Enos Park is and moreover what resources you think artists may need in this district. Reach her via email at EnosParkCommunityLaboratory@gmail.com to set up a walking appointment.

Kaemmerling is a German-born artist, scholar and educator based in San Francisco, California. Her work as an interdisciplinary artist spans the genres of visual, performance and media art and strives to connect place memories of the past, such as collected travel experiences, with a critical exploration of specific neighborhoods and selected urban places.

Kaemmerling has been exhibited internationally in Germany, Italy, Korea and the United States. Her work has won several awards and fellowships, such as at the Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto (Italy) and the Vermont Studio Center (Vermont). She is the founder of The International Community of Artist-Scholars, a community of artists who work at the intersection of art & research, as well as founder of The Walk Discourse, a Bay Area based laboratory for walking artists and walking enthusiasts to share walking art methodologies, practices and tools. The interest in interdisciplinary collaboration has led her to the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University where she received her Ph.D. and completed a dissertation on walking art. Her writing has been published in peer-reviewed journals and publications.

The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, room 201 (HSB 201). For more information on exhibition programming, please visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery, or email Amanda Lazzara at alazz2@uis.edu.