‘Focus on Don Seiden’ at Illinois State Museum
May 30, 2012 3:48PM
"Focus on Don Seiden" will take place June 3 at the Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery. | Mary Andrus photo
Maps
Updated: July 3, 2012 12:20PM
The opportunity to learn about the mixed-media work and lengthy career of Chicago artist Don Seiden will take place at 2 p.m. June 3 at the Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery.
Entitled “Focus on Don Seiden,” the presentation will be led by ISM Chicago Gallery curator Jane Stevens, who will explore how art has been a constant companion in Seiden’s thinking, feeling and sensory life.
This Talk & Tour program, which is part of the museum’s continuing Sunday Series, is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required, but seating is limited.
Seiden’s work is featured in the current exhibition “Focus 4: Four Solo Exhibitions.”
He has been a prominent professional artist and professor of art and art therapy for more than 50 years. Utilizing mixed media — paint, ink, metal, plaster, wood and found objects — Seiden explores life, art and the creative process through objects that speak to a range of subjects.
As a professor, Seiden first taught in the Chicago Public Schools system, but then went to teach at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he pioneered and founded what later became the first program in art therapy.
“Focus 4: Four Solo Exhibitions,” which runs through Oct. 5,also features the work of three other Illinois artists: Steven Robnett, Mario Trejo, and Rebecca Wolfram.
Elgin artist Robnett narrates the human experience from multiple perspectives in tightly rendered paintings and compositions of charcoal, pastel and colored pencil.
Seiden, who is also a painter and sculptor, explores life, art and the creative process.
Southern Illinois artist Trejo combines rigorous processes and acute attention to detail in compositions that resonate between calm fluidity and struggling chaos.
Chicago-based painter Wolfram delves into the effects of culture, custom and tradition as they reflect and shape social behavior and society.
Three more separate, one-hour informal presentations on the artists led by the individual curators are scheduled during the course of the exhibition: “Focus on Steven Robnett” by Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery director Jim Zimmer (July 15), “Focus on Rebecca Wolfram” by Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery curator Jennifer Jaskowiak (Aug. 19), and “Focus on Mario Trejo” by Robert Sill, Illinois State Museum assistant director of art (Sept. 9).
Later, there will be a chilling dramatic performance of Grimm’s fairy tales — some set to music and as they were originally intended for adults — by professional storyteller Judith Heineman and musician Daniel Marcotte (Sept. 30).
Presentations are free and open to the public.
The Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery is located on the first floor of the historic Norton Building, 201 W. 10th St., Lockport.
Museum hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays. The museum is closed Saturdays and state holidays. Admission is free.
Information, including scheduling a group tour of 10 or more: (815) 838-7400, www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/lockport.
The Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery is part of the Illinois State Museum system, which includes sites in Springfield, Rend Lake, Chicago, and Lewistown.
