The University of St. Francis Art Gallery presents:
OF & ON PAPER: Erin Elizabeth + Carrie Ann Schumacher
On exhibit: Nov 2 – Dec 10, 2015
Public reception: Thursday, Nov 12, 6-8pm
Address: 25 East Van Buren, Joliet, IL 60432
Carrie Ann Schumacher, Alice and the Dreams of Big Fish, romance novels, 2015
Of & On Paper is a 2-person exhibition featuring the work of artists Erin Elizabeth and Carrie Ann Schumacher. Of and On Paper explores the use of paper-based materials to create works that question invisibility and the mundane. The use of the materials in each of the artist’s work: candy, frosting and baby food labels and the pages of romance novels transformed on female mannequins, are materials that are often specific to women. The exhibition investigates the use of these materials as they relate to femininity while questioning roles of women.
Erin Elizabeth, Taste the Rainbow #7, skittles, nerds & sour warheads, 2015
Erin’s body of work focuses on the nature of paradox with specific regard for carriers of celebration and function. She seeks to monumentalize the banal and subvert functionality, attempting to freeze the fleeting and paradoxical shift from anticipation to experience. She believes that the anticipation of an experience can often be more exciting than the experience itself. Erin questions the banal and routine experiences in life less important or memory-worthy.
Erin Elizabeth, Let the Eat Cake, #3, cupcake mono-print and graphite on paper, 2014
“It can be difficult to pinpoint the transition from anticipation to lived reality. There is always something to anticipate, whether celebratory or sad,” said Elizabeth. Commonplace items are often signifiers of function and the same reverence set aside for celebration and mourning is not reserved for cooking dinner or paying bills. Erin Elizabeth attempts to answer questions such as, are banal and routine experiences in life less important or memory-worthy than celebratory moments that require preparation and planning? And what is the purpose of celebration?
Erin Elizabeth, Embracing the Chaos, frosting, food coloring, sprinkles, skittles
and nerds on paper, 2015
Erin Elizabeth is a conceptual artist based in Chicago, Illinois. She received her B.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 and her M.F.A. from Illinois State University in the spring of 2014.
Carrie Ann Schumacher, Saying Goodbye in the Autumn of my 25th Year, romance novels, 2015
Schumacher’s work – dresses created from the pages of romance novels – examine the demands that feminine culture places upon women by utilizing the garment as a social signifier. Schumacher believes romance novels represent an impossible alternated reality. She believes that sentiment is echoed in the fact that women often define themselves through clothing, taking Fashion magazines as their Bibles. Schumacher said, “I considered the roles that romance novels, the beauty industry and the fashion world play within our culture; the three share definite commonalities, as they all thrive on fantasy and define femininity for many. I combined these worlds into one unwearable and fragile garment as a way to speak to the visibility and invisibility of different aspects of womanhood.”
Carrie Ann Schumacher, Genevieve and the Impossibly Beautiful Day, romance novels, 2015
“I cannot recall exactly when or how it occurred to me to make dresses out of the books, but the idea didn’t arrive in that brilliant and life-changing flash I expected. Rather, it was a slow piecing together of several ideas” said Schumacher. Inspiration may sometimes come from a color, a cut of paper, or an image in a magazine, but when Scumacher decides on her next dress, she reacts intuitively to what she begins with, and then decides the meaning behind it, or whom it is for. “The dresses reveal their personalities to me, and I work off of that,” said Schumacher.
Carrie Ann Schumacher, Get Ready, You Sweetheart, romance novels, 2015
Carrie Ann Schumacher is a multi-media artist living and working out of the Chicagoland area. Her B.F.A. in Digital Media was received from Elmhurst College in 2008. Subsequent to that she attended Northern Illinois University, where she received her M.F.A. in Painting in 2012. She is currently on the faculty at College of DuPage, where she teaches Computer Art.
Erin Elizabeth, They Grow Up So Fast, sprinkles on paper, 2015
Carrie Ann Schumacher, Harlequin, romance novels, 2015
Erin Elizabeth, #notarainbow, sprinkles on paper, 2015
