Women artists from age 21 to 93 share self portraits made over passage of time.

Marisa Boyd
Sally Fama Cochrane
Magdalene Gorecki
Antonia Ruppert
Sara Peak Convery
Penelope Thrasher
Cara Therrio
Beverly Alice Nash
Gladys Becker

This exhibition is organized  by Sara Peak Convery

About the Artists:

Gladys Elizabeth Bayster nee Becker (1921-2014) received a scholarship straight out of high school to the Harrison Commercial Art School. She got a job with printer on Dearborn Street doing that era’s equivalent of clip art in the form of pen and ink drawings. World War II saw her devoting her time at the Auditorium Theater’s USO where she created literally hundreds of portraits of the soldiers and sailors over a three year period. After her son was in high school, she began to take night school classes again at the American Academy of Art in downtown Chicago where she took up the medium of watercolor. Over the next twenty years she began entering her work in many regional exhibitions eventually becoming a member of several art leagues including, Mt. Prospect, Oak Park, Park Ridge, and West Suburban.

Beverly Alice Nash (70) didn’t realize that she was an artist until late in life. She began her art career as a fiber artist. She currently works in acrylics and oil on canvas. Teachers at the Lill Street and Evanston Art Centers helped her find her calling as the painter of every day things. She is a member of the Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists (CAVA).

Cara Therrio (65) studied classical techniques during the 80s focusing primarily on the human form. Currently she is working in photo collage with an interest in patterns and repetition.

Penelope Thrasher (62) is a Chicago artist who has been active for many years. In recent years she has taken part in national and international residencies and in many group and solo exhibitions. Her 2- and 3-D work has been commissioned by private collectors, businesses, and for theatrical and musical productions.

Sara Peak Convery (b. 1967) is an Iowa born Chicago based visual artist, filmmaker and curator. She received her BFA in Painting from University of Iowa (1989) and MFA in Photography from University of Illinois at Chicago(1995). After working for several years in the wedding industry, Convery returned to painting. Her documentary I Never Said I Wasn’t Happy (2013) screened at numerous festivals in the US and overseas. Self portraiture has been something she often returns to.

Antonia Ruppert (43) After growing up in some of Chicago’s tougher communities, making art is a solace and a way of expressing –or testifying–about things hard to explain. Many of her figurative paintings – including her self-portraits – testify to perseverance.

Magdalene Gorecki (38) Born in Krakow, Poland, Magdalene moved to Chicago at the age of 9, just after the fall of communism. She attended the University of Iowa in studio art and later earned her Masters in Art Education. She teaches high school art in Park Ridge. Her exhibited paintings are an investigation of the female gaze turned upon itself, inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi.

Sally Fama Cochrane (b. 1988) graduated from the University of Chicago in 2011 with a BA with honors in the History and Philosophy of Science. While in college, she studied part-time at the School of Representational Art under Bruno Surdo, where she first discovered her passion for the atelier method, a curriculum for drawing and painting based on the École des Beaux-Arts of nineteenth-century France. After college she studied at the Grand Central Atelier in New York City, and subsequently worked as a Resident Artist there. She has recently returned to her hometown of Chicago. Her paintings focus on issues of science and medicine using techniques of classical realism.

Marisa Boyd (b. 1995, Blue Island, IL) is currently pursuing her BFA in Painting at Illinois State University. Primarily a painter, she has expanded her inquiries over the past year to blind contour drawings and more recently experimentation with performance.

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Tags: Antonia Ruppert, Beverly Alice Nash, Cara Therrio, Gladys Becker, Magdalene Gorecki, Marisa Boyd, Penelope Thrasher, Sally Fama Cochrane, Sara Peak Convery