Join us for a Collector Conversation in conjunction with the Hyde Park Art Center’s Not Just Another Pretty Face exhibition!

The conversation will feature Mayumi Lake and Raissa Bailey, and Jonathan Castillo and Heather Kendrick, who will speak to their experience participating in this commission based project and exhibition. Featured artists will give insight about their practice and their process creating commissioned work and how the final product was produced. Collectors will speak about their journey as a collector, how they chose which artist to work with, and their personal connections to the final produced artworks. Guests will also have the opportunity to explore the exhibition as well as the Art Center.

Not Just Another Pretty Face is the Art Center’s matchmaking commissioning program for artists and potential art buyers, facilitating lasting relationships between artists and patrons, a new base of support for artists, and investment in the vitality of Chicago’s cultural community.

This program is part of the inaugural Chicago Exhibition Weekend (CXW) taking place September 29–October 1.

CXW is co-presented by EXPO CHICAGO, the International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, and Chicago-based cultural agency Gertie.

About the Artists and Patrons:

Artist: Mayumi Lake

Patron: Raissa Bailey

Mayumi Lake (b. Osaka, Japan) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose work explores the ideas of time, memory, and floating between the real and imaginary. She works across the mediums of photography, sculpture, sound, moving images, and installation to expand her narrative into more complex layers. Mayumi has exhibited nationally and internationally at Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, Asia Society, Art in General, Artists Space, New York; Chicago Artists Coalition, Hyde Park Art Center; Lubeznik Center for the Art, Michigan City, IN; Fotograpie Forum International, Frankfurt; Cornelius Pleser Galerie, Munich; Galleria PaciArte, Brescia, Italy; FOTOAMERICA, Santiago; Witzenhausen Gallery, Amsterdam; Setouchi Triennale, Takamatsu. She has published two monographs with Nazraeli Press Poo-Chi and Ex Post Facto. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Art Institute of Chicago, Asia Society, DCASE/City of Chicago, Video Art World, Joy of Giving Something Foundation, and Facebook. Mayumi received a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Raissa Bailey maintains an active studio practice in Evanston, IL. Her work explores femininity and spirituality and her recent Venus series has evolved from suggestive form through abstraction in painting to textile, mixed media, sculpture, photography, digital images and storytelling all while focused on Paleolithic Venus figurines. Raissa is influenced by her travels around the world and her own diverse background. In recent years, her process of creation has gained importance as a spiritual practice of reflection and connection. Sources such as the I Ching and shamanic studies influence the work by encouraging a visual and conceptual depth. Her artistic influences include nature, prehistoric art, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo and Lavar Monroe as well as the theory of Biocentrism by Dr. Robert Lanza and Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series. Raissa graduated from DePaul University with a BA and holds a certificate in Studio Art and Design from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She also is a professional Creative Director and leads a team of Designers for the Bradford Exchange.

Artist: Jonathan Michael Castillo

Patron: Heather Kendrick

Jonathan Michael Castillo is a visual artist, photographer and educator based in Chicago. He was the 2019-2021 recipient of the Diane Dammeyer Fellowship in Photographic Arts and Social Issues. Castillo was included in the 2021 Hyde Park Art Center’s Ground Floor Biennial and was a finalist for the WMA Commission in Hong Kong. His work has been featured with The New Yorker, Wired, The Chicago Tribune, CBS: Los Angeles, and Brazil’s G1 Globo. He has appeared on the radio to discuss his photography on the BBC’s “World Update” and local Los Angeles public radio programs KPCC and KCRW. Castillo was recently commissioned to create a large-scale permanent installation of his work at O’Hare International Airport as part of the new Terminal 5 expansion project and separately commissioned to make work for the city of Chicago’s We Will Chicago citywide planning initiative. His work has been exhibited at the Art Institute Chicago, Photo LA 2020, the Center for Creative Photography, Aperture Gallery, House of Lucie, Filter Photo Gallery, Ralph Arnold Gallery and the California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks. Castillo is represented by Samuel Maenhoudt Gallery in Belgium. His education includes a BFA from California State University, Long Beach and a MFA from Columbia College Chicago.

Heather Kendrick, a Talent Acquisition Manager at IMC, has spent the past decade helping financial services companies build high-performing teams globally. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Miami University and a SPHR certification. Her community outreach includes active participation in several professional organizations and her role as a board member of the Children’s Research Fund.

Heather’s mission is to empower individuals to reach their career potential by facilitating access to opportunities and resources.

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Tags: Chicago, Heather Kendrick, Hyde Park, Hyde Park Art Center, Jonathan Castillo, Jonathan Michael Castillo, Lavar Monroe, Mayumi Lake, Not Just Another Pretty Face Conversations on Collecting, Raissa Bailey