January 28, 2023 @ 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM 

Join Regarding the Missing Objects exhibition artists Julia Klein, William J. O’Brien, and Jaclyn Mednicov, to discuss the role that identity plays within their creative practices. The artists will discuss the complexities of the Jewish identity, including the context of belonging to a larger group of people within an individualistic society, the performance, burden, and relational aspects tied to identity, and what that means through the lens of art. Moderated by Ruslana Lichtzier.

Join on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86545233508

Julia Klein Bio

Julia Klein (she, her) is an artist and publisher. She has exhibited her work nationally in venues including Vox Populi (Philadelphia, PA);  Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (Detroit, MI);  Shirley Fitterman Art Center (NYC, NY); and, International Museum of Surgical Science, , Weinberg/Newton Gallery, andThreewalls (Chicago, IL). Past residencies include the Terra Foundation Summer Residency in Giverny, Sitterwerk Kunstbibliothek, and Vermont Studio Center. Klein received an MFA in Sculpture from the Bard College Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts and a BFA from the University of Michigan She is a member of Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago,  and since 2009 she has run Soberscove Press, through which shepublishes  books about art and culture.

William J. O’Brien Bio

William J. O’Brien (he, him) is an artist who works in multiple media: drawing, painting, ceramic, metal sculpture, installation, and assemblage. Inspired by Modernism, as well as the history of material usage of Outsider Art, O’Brien’s multidisciplinary practice is a search for identity and genuine expression through material and process. O’Brien has held solo exhibitions at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (Madison, WI), Renaissance Society (Chicago, IL), KMAC Museum (Louisville, KI), MAD Museum (NYC, NY), Witte De With (Rotterdam, Netherlands), and The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City (Overland Park, KS), among others. In 2014, O’Brien had his first major museum survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago curated by Naomi Beckwith. He has held residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the U-Cross Foundation. O’Brien has received awards from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and Artadia. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Clinic, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Miami Art Museum, Pérez Art Museum, Hammer Museum, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Art Institute of Chicago. O’Brien is also a professor and the Chair of Ceramics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jaclyn Mednicov Bio

Jaclyn Mednicov (she, her) is a Chicago-based artist, whose work combines painting, printmaking, sculpture and installation. She has her BFA from University of Kansas, MA from Eastern Illinois University, and MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Mednicov has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Ragdale Foundation, and The SEA Foundation in the Netherlands. Her work has been exhibited in recognized galleries including Mixed Greens Gallery (NYC, NY). The Franklin (Chicago, IL), Northern Illinois University Art Museum (Dekalb, IL), Paris London Hong Kong (Chicago, IL), Heaven Gallery (Chicago, IL), The SEA Foundation (Tilburg, Netherlands), and more. She has won awards such as a 3Arts Make a Wave Grant, a Netherland-America Cultural Grant, and an NEA grant. Her work has been published in New American Paintings and Sheridan Road Magazine. Mednicov is a Lecturer in the Painting and Drawing Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Moderator:

Curator of Regarding the Missing Objects, Ruslana Lichtzier (she/her) is a doctoral student in Art History, a Mellon Fellow in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and in Critical Theory at Northwestern, as well as a curator, educator, and critic. Past selected fellowships include Core, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, and Red Bull Arts, Detroit. Lichtzier directed Triumph School Manual Project, in Triumph, Illinois, the project space Triumph, Chicago (in collaboration with Ryan Coffey), and the Jewish Artist  Fellowship at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. Recent curatorial projects include  the group exhibitions An Echo, She Is (Chicago Manual Style, Chicago, IL), Four Flags Chicago (Chicago Manual  Style, Chicago, IL (in collaboration with Stephanie Cristello)), The Dangerous Professors (Flatland Gallery,  Houston, TX (with the support of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)). Lichtzier has contributed to  numerous exhibition catalogs and international art publications; her essays have appeared in English,  Hebrew, Spanish, and Korean. Lichtzier is a Lecturer in the Art History, Theory, and Criticism Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.