Press Room --

ISM Lockport Gallery Hosts Curator's Tour of Contemporary Art Exhibition

LOCKPORT—The Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery’s Sunday series of free public programs continues during the current exhibition Luminous Ground: Artists with Histories.  The first event offers an opportunity to meet one of the curators, Judith Lloyd Klauba, to participate in a guided tour of the exhibition, and to hear her strategy for selecting the artists and objects for this exhibition.  “Meet the Curator: Judith Lloyd Klauba” is on Sunday, December 4, from 2:00 – 3:00 PM.  This event is free and open to the public.  Reservations are not required. 

Luminous Ground: Artists with Histories was co-curated by Judith Lloyd Klauba, Associate Curator of Fine Art, and Doug Stapleton, Assistant Curator of Fine Art, both of whom are based at the Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery.  Lloyd Klauba has been a curator with the Illinois State Museum since 1989 and has curated several important exhibitions. She is a former teacher and writes novels in her spare time.  Lloyd Klauba’s belief in the importance of a good education aligns well with one of the strategies of this exhibition in that all of the selected artists were highly influential teachers of generations of artists.

The artists of Luminous Ground: Artists with Histories share three important similarities:  1) the creation of life-long bodies of work of the highest caliber; 2) the influencing of multiple artists across generations, not only by their art but through teaching and community involvement; 3) commitments of fifty to sixty years or more to the exploration of personal creativity.  Their art arises from luminous ground, a reservoir of creativity that has sustained and nurtured their art through the decades. All remain, or remained, vital, working artists throughout their lives and have now earned the freedom to do as they please—as their art dictates—without undue concern for critics.

The artists include Ralph Arnold (1924-2006), constructions; Morris Barazani (1924), abstract paintings; Gerda Meyer Bernstien (1931), socially relevant installations; Fred Berger (1923-2006), figurative painting and sculpture; William Frederick (1922), silversmith; Theodore Halkin (1924), painting and sculpture; Thomas Kapsalis (1925), abstract painting and sculpture; Vera Klement (1929), painting; Ellen Lanyon (1926), printmaking and painting; Elizabeth Rupprecht (1932), painting; Leopold Segedin (1927), figurative painting.

Additional programs and events are planned to accompany the exhibition including an opportunity to hear about other artists with significant histories who are “Of a Certain Age” (Sunday, February 5, 2:00 PM) and to participate in a community collage and “Make Our Garden Grow” (Tuesday, March 20, 1:30-3:00 PM).  All programs are free and open to the public.  Additional information is available by calling the ISM Lockport Gallery at 815.838.7400 or by visiting our website (www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/lockport)