CHAMPAIGN — This month, the walls of the Giertz Gallery at Parkland College come to life with the work of artists from around Central Illinois.
“Around the Block V: Artists from Our Neighborhood” is the fifth installment of a partnership between the college and 40 North, the Champaign County Arts Council. This year, the exhibition runs from June 9 to July 24, with an opening reception on June 12 and a closing reception on July 24.
Lisa Costello, the college’s gallery director, said the idea started a decade ago when she wanted to give local artists an opportunity to showcase their work.
“I really wanted to do a community exhibit and so I reached out to [40 North],” she said. “I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off by myself with the gallery, so we’ve been collaborating every year since.”
Even though the partnership is 10 years old, the exhibition is not an annual event, said Costello.
“It gives us kind of a chance to make it a little bit more special, so it’s not an annual event. It’s something that brings the community together periodically,” she said.
The team at 40 North helps promote the event and call for entries. Costello said they also help determine the exhibition’s jurors.
Josh Fairbanks is this year’s juror. He is the assistant director of exhibitions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Parkland College alum who had his start at the Giertz Gallery.
“Early in my career, I was interested in what galleries looked like, and the Gertz Gallery is an amazing resource in that area to help emerging arts and professionals learn about exhibitions or how to display artwork,” he said. “And that’s exactly what I had the opportunity to do.”
As the gallery juror, Fairbanks reviewed more than 200 entries and selected the final works. In selecting the pieces, he said he wanted to capture a wide variety of perspectives, identities and ideas that reflect the area.
Visitors will find pieces that are playful, challenging, personal and even surprising in their use of material, Fairbanks said.
“My hope is that folks who come to the exhibition approach the show with openness and care and willingness to spend time with work — even if it seems a little unfamiliar to them,” he said.
This year’s exhibition features the work of 84 artists from central Illinois, making it the largest Around the Block show, said Costello.
Zoya Wu, from Urbana, is one of this year’s featured artists. After attending Parkland College, Wu said she moved to Minneapolis to continue her education but returned to the area a couple of years ago.
She said she submitted her artwork to reconnect with other local artists.
“There’s a lot of complex emotions that I have towards this place and I have a tendency to isolate,” she said. “I feel like this is me trying to explore what it could be to maybe try and join a community, you know. It’s scary, but it’s exciting.”
Wu’s painting in the exhibit is titled “Devotion.” It is a watercolor and gouache painting that Wu said represents the emotions she felt while in a long-distance relationship.
“It is about that kind of yearning of wanting to stay together, but also this distance and this fear of what the future will bring,” she said.
Wu said she often uses animals in her work as visual metaphors to represent her emotions and experiences in different stages of her life. She said she finds that using animals helps people visualize themselves in her work.
Wu said she hopes the exhibition sparks curiosity and makes people want to explore the art around them.
“Everyone has their own personal world that they express. Some people express it through visual art, some people express it through the written word,” she said. “It kind of gives you that feeling that maybe there is magic just around the corner. There is something beautiful and exciting that you didn’t even know was there.”