Free and open to everyone.

On Creative Practice brings together two artists in conversation to discuss studio practices, materiality and creation, and what it means to be a working artist today. Join us for this intimate conversation with Betsy Odom, current Elevate artist at 21c Chicago, and transdisciplinary artist Alex Chitty.

Betsy Odom (b. Amory, Mississippi, 1980) is an artist, curator, and educator based in Chicago. They received their MFA from Yale University School of Art and their BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. They have exhibited internationally in group- and solo- exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at the DePaul Art Museum, 4WPS, ThreeWalls Gallery, Hyde Park Art Center, and WomanMade Gallery. They have also exhibited at venues such as Gallery 400, LVL3 Gallery, Journal Gallery in Brooklyn, Corbett vs. Dempsey and Western Exhibitions in Chicago, Amel Bourorina Gallery in Berlin, and Barry Whistler Gallery in Dallas, TX. Odom has been the recipient of several fellowships including an Illinois Arts Council Grant, a Chances Dances Critical Fierceness prize, and two grants from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Their work is part of the West Collection, the Cleve Carney Museum collection, and the collection of the DePaul Museum of Art.

Alex Chitty (b. 1979, Miami, FL) is a transdisciplinary artist based in Chicago. Chitty received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Smith College and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Recent exhibitions include: Dialogues (2023), PATRON, Chicago, IL; Bright day will turn to night, my love (2023), Tiny Table Gallery, Chicago, IL; Amuleto (2023), Mayfield, Forest Park, IL Figs break open of themselves (2022), PATRON, Chicago, IL; Both And (2021), Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL; State of the Art II (2020), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK; Becoming the Breeze: Alex Chitty with Alexander Calder (2019), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; In the Hot Seat, KMAC Museum (2019) Louisville KY; pulling flavor from the dirt (2018), PATRON, Chicago, IL; After (the sun-drenched neutral that goes with everything) (2018),The Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Living Architecture (2020), 6018 North, Chicago, IL; They will bloom without you (2017), Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst IL; Small Sculpture (2017), Corbett Vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL; Stranger Things (2017), DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL; Objectifying the Photograph (2017), NIU Art Museum, DeKalb, IL; slight pitch (2016), LUCE Turin, Italy, the sun-drenched neutral that goes with everything (2016), PATRON Chicago, IL; Turning Spoons into Forks (2016), Hyde Park Art Center Chicago, IL; Theory of Forms (2015), PATRON, Chicago, IL; Orchid (2014), ADDS DONNA, Chicago, IL; Almost Ergonomic (2014), Studio 424, Chicago, IL; Codification (2014) LVL3, Chicago, IL; Alex Chitty: Recent Work (2013), Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL and Ella Hatchet (2013) at Roots and Culture, Chicago, IL.

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