Being an artist is sometimes a lonely profession, but at Sunday afternoon’s opening of “Above the Noyes,” the atmosphere was all about friendship and teamwork.
The exhibit, on display until Jan. 11, features the work of 25 artists who meet once each month to critique and discuss one another’s projects. Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., kept its second-floor gallery packed with at least 60 guests for the entire reception.
When Chicago artist Sarah Krepp retired to Evanston after a long career teaching art at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she wanted to stay close to the art world. The artists she knew, Krepp said, were also looking for peer support.
“I missed the connection with artists,” Krepp said. “It started when I had a few artists in the neighborhood call me up and say, ‘Can you come over for five minutes?’ and I’d stay for an hour talking with them about their work.”
In 2002, Krepp formed a discussion group by passing out flyers and contacting friends, and then met with them in her studio. “Above the Noyes” is not only a show of many different styles and mediums, but it is also a clear indication of how much the individual artists have improved from meeting with the group, Krepp said.
“It came out of a need for artists to talk beyond art school,” Krepp said. “I said, ‘There’s such talent here. Hey guys, it’s showtime.'”
For Laura Reischel, the group was exactly that: a way to be an artist outside of the classroom.
“I was taking courses at the Art Institute of Chicago, and a teacher recommended that I join this group,” Reischel said. “Getting feedback is really invaluable, because the profession can be kind of isolating.”
Reischel joined in 2002 as part of the original group. Her pieces in the show are a series of charcoal-on-paper drawings, characterized by sweeping lines.
“They’re depictions of energies,” Reischel said. “The large format allows me to physically move across the paper.”
Over food and wine, artist Michelle Stone complimented a colleague on her work. Stone said the most important thing about the group is the collective ability and passion of the artists.
“It’s the greatest feeling to discuss really good art with really good artists,” Stone said.
Stone’s work is a row of credit card-sized blocks, heavily layered with abstract painted patterns. It is her way of interpreting the human condition.
“People are layered with stuff, so the pieces are layered with stuff,” Stone said. “If our insides came out, that’s what we might look like.”
Artist Kate Friedman’s pieces experiment with darkness and “elemental ideas,” like representations of water and earth.
Friedman said the exhibit will be a great breakthrough for the Evanston art world.
“I would love to see more of this kind of work hanging in Evanston, because it’s such a sophisticated community,” Friedman said.
Many of the visitors at the reception had come to support friends and said they enjoyed the whole show. Tony Lytel, a 28-year-old writer and producer from Chicago, said he learned much about a variety of art.
“It’s a great exhibit,” Lytel said. “There are a lot of good, different styles represented. It’s very educational.”
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