West Gallery

January - December 30, 2025

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Curators Statement:

“Even in stillness, there is movement.” – Anonymous

 

Visitors can embark on an artistic odyssey with "Harmonizing Dimensions," a curated collection delving into the intricate interplay of motion, time, and rhythm. This transformative exploration shapes and defines the creative landscape, leaving an enduring imprint on the ever-evolving art world.

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As we navigate the swift tapestry of the 21st century, our understanding of motion, time, and rhythm in art undergoes a profound transformation. Technological advancements and global connectivity dissolve traditional boundaries, providing artists with new realms to explore.

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Step into this odyssey at the Blanden, where artworks come alive dynamically, transcending conventional expressions. Let the masterpieces converge in your mind, facilitating a harmonious dialogue between motion, time, and rhythm. Across diverse mediums, artists showcase how movement breathes life into their works, time influences narratives, and rhythm orchestrates unique artistic experiences.

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Working in varied mediums, these artists share a profound grasp of the interplay among fundamental forces. Witness how motion is captured in brushstrokes, time in sculpture, and rhythm in the arrangement of forms and colors. The exhibition encourages an exploration of the dynamic relationship between the static and kinetic, tangible, and ephemeral, finite, and infinite – offering profound insights into the role of motion, time, and rhythm in shaping artistic expression.

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"Harmonizing Dimensions" invites you on a transformative journey where motion, time, and rhythm converge, unlocking uncharted realms of artistic expression. Celebrate the visionary contributions of artists worldwide as they entice us to delve into the profound mysteries within these elemental dimensions.

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May this exhibition inspire you to embrace the ever-shifting dynamics of life, fostering a deeper appreciation for the interconnected dance of motion, time, and rhythm in the realm of art.

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East Gallery

Feb1 - April 18, 2025

Artist Reception: Feb 15 2-4:30pm

 

ARTIST STATAMENT:

Resting in the shallow waters along the banks of the Mississippi River, these ubiquitous structures are common along the northwestern shores of Illinois. Existing for years as permanent structures, hunters were required to register their location and pay an annual fee for their use.  Their number are closely monitored by the Department of Natural Resources and they’re all constructed of natural materials.  Recently, the DNR has banned their use and all of these structures must be dismantled before the beginning of the next hunting season.  Permits will be issued for new temporary structures, but how much less impact on the environment will there be (if any at all) if hunters have to dismantle and rebuild them new every year?

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What drew me to document these structures was how each blind possessed a visual narrative that captured each maker’s own sensibilities, rendering each one distinctly different and unique from one another, even though each hunter had to adhere to the same basic principals of construction, using the same natural building materials. The end result, while utilitarian in purpose, are always playfully creative and original.  These photographs are an homage to their individuality.

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BIO:

Dave Jordano was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1948 received his degree in photography from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit in 1974. After moving to Chicago in 1977 he established a successful freelance commercial photography studio for 30 years. Specializing in food and product photography, he shot major campaigns for national and international clients. Since his return to fine art/documentary photography Jordano was awarded an honorable mention in the Houston Center for Photography’s Long Term Fellowship Project in 2003, and received the Curator’s Choice Award the following year.  In 2006, 2008, and 2013 he was shortlisted as a finalist in the Photolucia “Critical Mass” national book award in Portland, OR.  He was also selected for inclusion in “One Hundred Portfolios”, a competition sponsored by Wright State University, Dayton, OH, featuring the work of 100 leading photographers from around the world.  In 2009, his first book, titled “Articles of Faith” was published by The Center for American Places at Columbia College, which coincided with a major exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center.  

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His work is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art, at Northwestern University, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Harris Bank Collection and many corporate and private collections.  Jordano is represented by following galleries; Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA, Photoeye.com, Stieglitz 19 Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, and Zemma Agency in Moscow, Russia.

 

www.davejordano.com  

Second Floor Gallery

April 5 - June 21, 2025

 

“On July 17, 2023, my father Leif Lois Madsen, died.

I had been sleeping on the floor in the kitchen while my mom and wife took the only bed. Dad’s hospital bed took up most of the living room. We had moved several pieces of furniture out of the tiny apartment. I woke up early, mom was sitting next to his bed softly talking to him, my wife was still asleep. He had left in the night.

 

“Walk the Last Mile” is the record of three weeks in Denmark.  Roughly split into three sections of time: dad up and aware, dad down and actively leaving us… dad gone.

 

This record is an attempt to capture, the strange beauty that surrounds a good death. A good death being one where you’re home, surrounded by family, free of pain and fear. When you’re ready to say, it’s done now.

 

I hope I’ve made it mean something.“

- Hans Madsen

 

 

Embracing the Final Journey: A Reflection on Hans Madsen’s      Exhibit “Walk the Last Mile”

By Eric Anderson - Curator

 

The father was gone. His absence, profound and still, settled into the house. It lingered in the chairs where he once sat, in the air that no longer carried his voice. The silence now stretched, vast and holy, like a cathedral after the choir has left. In the final, humbling quiet of life’s last breath, when dust returns to dust and breath floats back to the divine, the words stammer forward in the wake of his passing—listening for his presence in the wind, in the hum of the walls, in the creak of the floorboards where his footsteps once lived. Hans Madsen’s Walk the Last Mile: A Journey with My Father captures the quiet mystery of this moment, transforming grief into art. Through the lens of his camera, Madsen, invites us to witness the raw beauty of both “I love you” and “goodbye.” Where the shutter speaks to eternity, freezing time to record life’s whisper. Each photograph becomes a hymn, a prayer, a poem, a fist raised against the inevitable.

 

Madsen’s photographs are more than just images; they are quiet dialogues between the soul and the viewer, reflections on the ephemeral nature of life, and the power of memory. Each           photograph in Walk the Last Mile is an echo of the soul, a frozen fragment of time that speaks of how we live and how we leave. They remind us that it’s not the end that matters, but the  journey—the body as a vessel sailing toward the infinite. His work compels us to reflect on our own paths, on the love we give, and on the marks we leave behind. Images that are a meditations on mortality, a reminder that life’s meaning doesn’t lie in its finality, but in the moments we share, the roads we travel, and the love we give along the way. It’s a snapshot of a life lived, a legacy forged in the quiet moments of farewell.

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• Rachel Mindrup - East Gallery 

  • Neurofibromatosis: The People (May 3 - July 19, 2025) 

• Small Works - Group Juried Show 

  • TBA