Art & Artist

There was a time when it was practically a rite of passage for young artists to make a pilgrimage to Paris. Many stayed. Others descended on the city, imbibed the “ism” of the day, and moved on. In 1948, Eduardo Chillida, a native of San Sebastián, Spain, began a four-year sojourn in France. An architecture

When Anna Murphy sees a large exterior wall without windows, she imagines it as a canvas. In the last 10 years, she has emerged as one of Chicago’s preeminent muralists—something she evolved into after years of perfecting her craft as a traditional oil painter. “Although much of my early training was in oil painting, I

On first view, Chicago artist Yvette Mayorga’s ornate creations seem a fantasy in sugary pink, there just for the fun of it. Balloons bob, roses twirl, and cherubs fly like massive cake toppers in a patisserie dream. But as the intricate swirls and filigree draw you in to study the jaw-dropping detail, you realize there’s

One doesn’t immediately think of “risk-taking” when it comes to ceramics. After all, clay most commonly finds its way to us in the form of dinnerware, tile work, and vessels for the garden. But there are those, like the 19th-century potter George Ohr and the contemporary Los Angeles-based sculptor Julia Haft-Candell, who’ve taken their medium

Contemporary art isn’t always easy to take. Even the most adventurous gallery-goer has been stumped by something that looks more like an accident than a composition. Yet, paintings by Kenilworth’s Adam Siegel are proof that powerful art doesn’t need to transgress to stimulate one’s imagination and challenge the conscience. Siegel has been an artist all