Sunday Dinner is a family meal, usually served midday on Sunday after church and typically centered around some kind of roast meat. This definition of a Sunday dinner certainly represents the meal my family gathered around in the days of my childhood. Now, those times are embedded in my memories: adults at the dining room table and children seated in the kitchen – an arrangement we preferred (as sitting with the grown-ups was boring). Inevitably, there would be differences of opinions and clashes in personalities that we could hear from our little kitchen cafe.

Repurposed needlework portraits, sculptural objects of porcelain and fabric, and interrupted domestic furniture are juxtaposed in this domestically inspired installation. I use these materials as a foundation for the re-invention of the decor of my childhood home and as a reflection on the labors of my mother and grandmother.

Sunday Dinner emphasizes the fraught connections within our families, the things we choose to reveal and the things we don’t, our perceived flaws, the feelings we hide, and the thoughts that remain unspoken. Through aggressive and cathartic manipulation of domestic materials, I am expressing the complexity of lived experiences, the messiness of relationships, and the fragility of our bodies. My sculptural objects become repositories of memories and emotions.
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Bobbi Meier is a Chicago-based visual artist. Life’s frustrations, joys, and fears are embedded into her abstract sculptures, drawings, and installations through provocative use of materials including pantyhose, spandex, porcelain, and found home furnishings. Meier’s work is in the permanent collections of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Kohler Foundation. She has been awarded residencies at John Michael Kohler Arts/ Industry Program, Ragdale Foundation, Anderson Ranch, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist’s Residency, and The Vermont Studio Center. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at The Hyde Park Art Center, International Museum of Surgical Science, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Roots & Culture Contemporary Art Center, Evanston Art Center, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Hyde Park Art Center, Manifest Gallery, The Franklin, and Miami Basel Art Week. She was a finalist for the Artadia Chicago 2023 award. Meier served as a member and director of ADDS Donna artist collective, Chicago. She earned both her MA in Art Education and MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Tags: Albany Park, Bobbi Meier, Carlson Tower Gallery, Carlson Tower Gallery | North Park University, Chicago, North Park University, Sunday Dinner