"Creches III: The Nativity" Comes to Komechak Art Gallery

The Komechak Art Gallery is featuring its third annual holiday exhibition of "Creches III: The Nativity",from November 21 through December 23rd. The public is invited to celebrate the opening reception of the exhibition on Sunday, December 4th, from 2-4:00 p.m.

As in past years, the holiday exhibition features a private collection of creches(nativity scenes). This year's collection comes from the Michael Whalen family, of Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Whalen is the past president of the national organization, Friends of the Creche Society. For more information on the group see www.friendsofthecreche.org

The Whalens have been collecting creches for 60 years, and their collection spans the globe. Komechak Art Gallery is displaying 150 sets of creches from Mr. Whalen's impressive collection.

To give a brief history about the history of the creche see below.... A nativity scene or crèche; also known as a manger scene, or crib, is the special exhibition, particularly during the Christmas season, of art objects representing the scene of the birth of Jesus. While the term "nativity scene" may be used of any representation, it has a more specialized sense referring to seasonal displays, either using model figures in a setting or enactments called "living nativity scenes" in which real humans and animals participate.

A nativity scene takes its inspiration from the accounts of the birth of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Luke's narrative describes an angel announcing the birth of Jesus to shepherds who then visit the humble site where Jesus is found lying in a manger, a trough for cattle feed.(Luke 2:8-20) Matthew's narrative tells of "wise men" who follow a star to the house where Jesus dwelt, and indicates that the Magi found Jesus some time later, less than two years after his birth, rather than on the exact day.(Mat.2:1-23) Matthew's account does not mention the angels and shepherds, while Luke's narrative is silent on the Magi and the star. The Magi and the angels are often displayed in a nativity scene with the Holy Family and the shepherds although there is no scriptural basis for their presence.(Luke 2:7;2:12;2:17)

St. Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene in 1223 at Greccio, central Italy, in an attempt to place the emphasis of Christmas upon the worship of Christ rather than upon gift giving. The nativity scene created by St. Francis is described by St Bonaventure in his Life of Saint Francis of Assisi written around 1260. Staged in a cave near Greccio, St. Francis' nativity scene was a living one with humans and animals cast in the Biblical roles. Pope Honorius III gave his blessing to the exhibit. Such pantomimes became hugely popular and spread throughout Christendom. Within a hundred years every church in Italy was expected to have a nativity scene at Christmastime. Eventually, statues replaced human and animal participants, and static scenes grew to elaborate affairs with richly robed figurines placed in intricate landscape settings. Charles III, King of the Two Sicilies, collected such elaborate scenes, and his enthusiasm encouraged others to do the same.

The scene's popularity inspired much imitation in Catholic countries, and in the Early modern period sculpted cribs were set up in Catholic churches and homes, often exported from Italy. These elaborate scenes reached their artistic apogee in Papal state, Emilia, Kingdom of Naples, Genoa that had an important tradition, notably those of Anton Maria Maragliano. By the end of the 19th century nativity scenes became popular beyond Catholic settings, and many versions of various sizes and in various materials such as terracotta, paper, wood, wax and ivory were marketed, often with a backdrop setting in the stable.

Different traditions of nativity scenes emerged in different countries. Hand-painted santons are popular in Provence. In southern Germany, Austria and Trentino-Alto Adige the figurines are handcut in wood. Colorful szopka are typical in Poland. A tradition in England, involved baking a mince pie in the shape of a manger to hold the Christ child until dinnertime when the pie was eaten. When the Puritans banned Christmas celebrations in the 17th century, they also passed specific legislation to outlaw such pies, calling them "Idolaterie in crust".

Distinctive nativity scenes and traditions have been created around the world and are displayed during the Christmas season in churches, homes, shopping malls, and other venues, and occasionally on public lands and in public buildings. The Vatican has displayed a scene in St. Peter's Square near its Christmas tree since 1982 and the Pope has for many years blessed the mangers of children assembled in St. Peter's Square for a special ceremony. In the United States, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City annually displays a Neapolitan Baroque nativity scene before a 20 ft. blue spruce.

A static nativity scene may be erected indoors or outdoors during the Christmas season, and is composed of figurines depicting the infant Jesus resting in a manger, Mary, and Joseph. Other figures in the scene may include angels, shepherds, and various animals. The figures may be made of any material, and arranged in a stable or grotto. The Magi may also appear, and are sometimes not placed in the scene until the week following Christmas to account for their travel time to Bethlehem. While most home nativity scenes are packed away at Christmas or shortly thereafter, nativity scenes in churches usually remain on display until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

The nativity scene may not accurately reflect gospel events. With no basis in the gospels, for example, the shepherds, the Magi, and the ox and ass may be displayed together at the manger. Some traditions bring other scriptural characters to the nativity scene such as Adam and Eve and the serpent, Noah and his animals, the twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve prophets and the twelve apostles. Mundane activities such as Mary washing diapers in the River Jordan, or a dove descending on the newborn infant may be depicted. The art form can be traced back to eighteenth-century Naples, Italy. Neapolitan nativity scenes do not represent Palestine at the time of Jesus but the life of the Naples of 1700, during the Bourbon period. Families competed with each other to produce the most elegant and elaborate scenes and so, next to the Child Jesus, to the Holy Family and the shepherds, were placed ladies and gentlemen of the nobility, representatives of the bourgeoisie of the time, vendors with their banks and miniatures of cheese, bread, sheep, pigs, ducks or grape, and typical figures of the time like gypsy predicting the future, people playing cards, housewives doing shopping, dogs, cats and chickens.

A donkey and an ox typically appear in nativity scenes. Besides the necessity of animals for a manger, this is an allusion to Isaiah: "the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider "Isaiah 1:3. The Gospels do not mention an ox and donkey. Another source for the tradition may be the extracanonical text, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew of the 7th century. (The translation in this text of Habakkuk 3:2 is not taken from the Septuagint.) Therefore, the animals, the ox and the ass, with him in their midst incessantly adored him. Then was fulfilled that which was said by Habakkuk the prophet, saying, "Between two animals you are made manifest." The ox traditionally represents patience, the nation of Israel, and Old Testament sacrificial worship while the ass represents humility, readiness to serve, and the Gentiles.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Student Political Art Display At Ben U

Art students in Benedictine University's 2D Design, Calligraphy and Graphic Design courses were invited by the Political Science department to produce work based upon the theme of the 2016 presidential election. The response was terrific. Please see below some examples of the work that is currently on display in Goodwin Hall, 1st floor, now through November 12. many thanks to the student who participated, Professor Phil Hardy for the opportunity to bring this idea together, plus thanks to Jennifer Zingg, Teresa Parker, HaiRiHan, Karen Brooks.

Art Faculty Biennale Exhibit at Komechak Art Gallery

Once every other year, the Art faculty at benedictine University get an opportunity to exhibit the artwork they do outside of the classroom. It is an opportunity for the students, faculty and staff at the university to see what their colleagues do, and an opportunity for the community to see the quality work that comes from the Fine and Graphic Arts Department at Benedictine University.

First up is the work of painter David Marcet. Pictured here is his "Darwin's Eden", a superb work involving beauty, Nature and the ever-tempting apple Adam ate in the Garden of Eden. Marcet has three paintings in the exhibit, which stand out for their scale, and their mastery of media. He includes a self-portrait in "Two faces" and a life-sized portrait of his father, Thomas, which is an engaging portrait for the realistic image of his father mixed with an abstracted backdrop. Next up is an installation piece by Teresa J. Parker, called "Reveal/Conceal". Her old-fashioned vanity table and chair sit quietly in the front of the gallery. On the table are a set of ten mirrors, which when the viewer picks up, one can see images painted on the mirror surface. The images are portions of collaged images of battered women. her point is to bring the viewer into the piece and make them confront the subject face to face. It is a difficult subject in today's society, and Parker handles it with aplomb. Parker also has a progressive drawing mixed media piece in the gallery, where she is working on the piece during the length of the exhibit, working on it a little each day. The purpose there is to show the creative process.

Jennifer Scavone brings a painting and two photographs to the exhibition this year. The image pictured here is of "Autumn Fog" which is an excellent view of an early morning walk in the woods. Scavone's delicately handled composition harkens to the pictorial era of Stieglitz and Steichen. One longs to see more from this series.

William Scarlato, chair of the Fine Arts department at Benedictine University, has chosen to exhibit a still life and a series of five landscape paintings. Scarlato has worked with the still life format for some years, and his "Reverence for Life" composition in this show is a subtly nuanced balance of life and imitation with a stuffed bird and an image of a bird in the painting. His newer landscape series marks a departure toward direct observation of Nature. The results are quite pleasing, and the scale of the work creates an intimate relationship with the viewer for places found in and around the Lisle, Illinois area, but they also extend east and west to the US southwest. These landscape include no man-made object or person, and have the feeling of a 19th century English landscape like John Clayton Adams. The work is intimate, in a break with traditional landscape painting where Scarlato's colleagues would attempt to describe a larger vista. Here, Scarlato delves into the complexity of an deceptively simpler space. The work is quietly contemplative.

Artist books by HaiRi Han and Karen Brooks demonstrate a variety of media and material with this ever popular art form. Han, who is head of the Graphic Art and Design program, shows an excellent accordian style book, called "We Are Family". Brooks, whose mastery is calligraphy, combines her interests in book-making and hand-printed imagery to produce a booklet of tender communication between lovers.

The large scale painting by artist/art therapist Stacy Jo Barber brings a breeze of fresh air to the exhibit. The subject (cropped image here)is herself reflected in her husband's sunglasses. This joyous double portrait is a triumph for the artist.

Ever the consummate professional photographer, Vincent Lucarelli catches the viewer's attention with his "Cool Choke". Lucarelli has built a reputation for experimentation and perfection of his craft. His photographs as in this piece size up the singular subject and analyze it, but he turns it on its ear and gives the viewer an unexpected solarized surprise. The works by Mesa Arizona's Harold Lohner and Susan K. Davis round out the exhibition with her Nature-based drawings and watercolors, and his monoprint of cactus people.

Finally, the scene-stealer of the show is the work of Michael Tole, who teaches at Benedictine University's Mesa Arizona campus. Tole's "Circle" painting on board is rich, sumptuous and wonderfully fleshy. The intertwined figures elegantly crowd the tight composition and seem to move between the realm of the living with the realm of the imagined or ghosts of the past. His technical prowess is evident and his figures happily hover somewhere between being solid mass and/or vaporous. The exhibit at Komechak Art Gallery will run October 9 through November 12. For more information on the artists, please contact the gallery at tparker@ben.edu or call 1-630-829-1874. www.ben.edu/artgallery

Eleanor Spiess-Ferris and Her Magical Realism

Well, if Komechak Art Gallery was to start off an exhibition season with a smash up painting show, Eleanor Spiess-Ferris would have to be the logical choice. Her work is stunning, engaging, curiously quirky and richly painted. The woman's subjects range from swans, to women morphing into other animistic forms and flowers and birds abound.

The delightful way in which Spiess-Ferris engages her audience is a classic game of cat and mouse. The audience is seduced by her subject and color, and caught in the cat's clutches with her mastery of the painting process, which in this case is oil and gouache. Spiess-Ferris knows her animals and birds. Many of her works include species indigenous to the Midwest, and her purpose in describing them so accurately is to preserve the wildlife around us. The same is true when she describes flowers. Their delicate blooms are handled gently by her feminine subjects.

Spiess-Ferris has been moving toward a smaller composition in this exhibit, using intricately woven painted borders around the subjects. They have a woven, protected feel from the elements, and the figures are securely placed centrally in the compositions.

I enjoy the way Spiess-Ferris' female subjects emanate out of watery bodies, and move lithely through a river. They carry the gifts of Nature (flowers and birds' nests) on their heads like crowns, or on their arms one finds a swan wrapped around the figure's body. Curous little bugs and creatures morph into one another easily, and one cannot imagine a world where this kind of things does not exist. Spiess-Ferris' imaginaiton allows the viewer to transport to her world, and we do not care if we return to our own world. The places she paints are far too interesting to leave.

Her sense of magical realism is based upon her own upbringing in New Mexico and the visual and literary influences of Latin America. That sense of a special place where things are not quite real, but surreal, is where Spiess-Ferris' own images come from.

Spiess-Ferris was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1941. As a recognized artist, Spiess-Ferris’ work incorporates influences of the Spanish and Native American cultures of Northern New Mexico. She earned her B.F.A. degree at University of New Mexico, and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Her works blend mythological, spiritual, psychological, environmental and feminist themes in dreamlike contexts. She plays with the ideas of Symbolist art by morphing figures of women into roots, trees, leaves and birds, and her work integrates elements of surrealism, symbolism and expressionism. Spiess-Ferris teaches at the The Art Center of Evanston, Illinois. She has received numerous major art awards and citations including Artist-in-Residence grants at Anchor Graphics and Paper Press, Chicago, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Grant and a Vielehr Award from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Public Collections: Benedictine University, Lisle, IL Block Museum at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL James R. Thompson Center, Chicago, IL Portland Museum of Fine Art, Portland, OR Wustum Museum of Fine Art, Racine, WI

CAVA comes to the Komechak Art Gallery

The Fr. Michael E. Komechak, O.S.B. Art Gallery is pleased to present its latest exhibition for the summer , May 1st – July 30th. The exhibition features a juried member competition of over fifty works of art, in a variety of media and style, by the group formerly known as Senior Artists’ Network(SAN). SAN was formed twenty-five years ago, in Chicago. Its purpose was to showcase the work of elder artists over the age of fifty-five, and present venues for them to display their art. Many of these artists have had long, productive careers in the arts, whereas some are exploring their creative muscles.

The group recently changed its name to the Chicago Alliance for the Visual Arts (CAVA) and is opening up its membership to include younger artists. Patricia O'Malley., former Director of the Renaissance Court Gallery in the Chicago Cultural Center, and SAN co-founder, helped to coordinate the competition. This year's jurors were Teresa Parker, Curator of the Komechak Art Gallery, and Jennifer Scavone, adjunct faculty at Benedictine University.

Works were selected for their vision, excellence of execution and originality.

Artists interested to join should look at their webpage at http://www.wearecava.org/

For more information regarding the art on campus at Benedictine University, see www.ben.edu/artgallery