McHenry County College is thrilled to host a Visiting Artist Talk + Artist Reception for Olivia Zubko’s solo exhibition, “Sanctum.”

Artist Talk & Reception: Wednesday, September 10
2:30 p.m. — Artist Talk in the MCC Conference Center, A213 | In-person and presented virtually on Zoom: https://mchenrycc.zoom.us/j/92476759203
3:30 p.m. — Reception in Gallery One, A212x

Exhibition:
August 11 – September 12, 2025
McHenry County College | Galleries One & Two
8900 U.S. Highway 14, Crystal Lake, IL 60012

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ARTIST STATEMENT

This body of work, thematically centered around the bathroom and other private or domestic environments, employs cast replicas of fixtures and found materials to create sculptures that evoke the viewer’s personal memories and associations with these intimate spaces. The objects being reproduced and manipulated in the work are significant in their role in daily ritual. They are designed to be lived with and touched or utilized every day and, in a way, become extensions of the body. The work investigates the nuanced relationship between these objects and the human body, as well as the broader dynamic between the individual and the domestic sphere of private space and personal intimacy.

Psychologically, the bathroom is a complex space, often imbued with visceral associations. It may evoke vivid recollections, such as childhood experiences of bubble baths, illness, or retreats for solitude during social gatherings, as well as discordances with body image, identity, and development. These associations, deeply rooted in personal experience, render the bathroom a significant site for daily rituals, personal intimacy, and “self-care.” It occupies a paradoxical space that can be both familiar and distant, public and private, safe and unsafe, sterile and emotional. The viewer’s interaction with this work is contingent on their own personal memories and individual narratives.

The work also draws reference from the long and expansive history of depicting “bathers” in both art and mythology and examines the voyeuristic and often objectifying nature of the theme. Bathers, as a subject, have been celebrated and at times fetishized tropes throughout art history since ancient times. Whether in a tub, basin, or outdoor body of water, the humble bather has served as a muse above all the rest. This work conflates historical depictions with modern sentiments toward private space and personal intimacy and focuses on the negative space surrounding the bather while still invoking the sense of a body or its absence.

The pieces often take form as compound objects, made up of both vague and familiar elements from the bathroom and domestic landscape. The merging and interaction of these elements enhance their resonance with the human form. Through gentle gestures in porcelain and stoneware, the sculptures seek to evoke that which is simultaneously strange, beautiful, and perhaps, awkward as the body itself.

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BIO

Olivia Zubko (b. 1995) is a Chicago-based artist who works primarily in sculpture, utilizing ceramic, fibers, and found materials. She received her BFA in sculpture in 2020 from Northern Illinois University. Her work has recently been exhibited at DeGroot Fine Art (Chicago, IL), LEFT FIELD (Los Osos, CA), The Bridgeport Art Center (Chicago, IL), NADA House 2023 (New York, NY), NADA Miami 2023 (Miami, FL), Cleaner Gallery + Projects (Chicago, IL), and Rockford University (Rockford, IL). Her work has also been featured in Create! Magazine and Red Skate Mag. She is a current fellow at The Arts Club of Chicago. For more information about Zubko, visit www.oliviazubko.com and her Instagram page @oliviazubko.

IMAGE CREDIT: Olivia Zubko, “Hygieia II,” 2025, Porcelain, found mirror

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Tags: Chicago, Crystal Lake, McHenry County, McHenry County College, Olivia Zubko, Visiting Artist Talk + Reception