Artwork by Shannon Cannings

Woman Made Gallery is proud to present a group exhibition by 29 women artists whose work addresses the hopes, promises, and prosperity of The American Dream as well as its inconsistencies and consequences. Included are paintings, sculptures, printmaking, photography, video, and performance.

Juror, Catherine Blackwell Peña writes, "It has been since the Founding Fathers declared in 1776 that, "all men are created equal," and we were granted the privilege of, "certain unalienable  rights" such as, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" that we began to search for the abstract notion of The American Dream. It is a philosophy that has grown out of the perspective of the people living it and has become as individual as those who still seek to pursue it and understand it."

Artists represented in this exhibition are Terry Berlier, Laura Brent, Lydia Brockman, Linda Brown, Elizabeth Bruno, Shannon Cannings, Natasia Chan, Yana Dimitrova, Jennifer Drinkwater, Alison Gates, Lindsy Halleckson, Erin Hudak, Jacqueline Kotz, Yvonne Kunz, Susan Lenz, Siew Lian Lim, Suzanne
Loechl, A.D. Loveday, Melina Martinez, Jessica Munguia, Sarah Page, Penny Perkins, Rachel

Perrine, Ann Porter, Alyson Provax, Dawn Roscoe, Sharon Shapiro, Stacie Weisse, and Lisa Wicka.

Project by Lisa Siders, Denise Burge, Tracy Featherstone, and Jen Ustick

"Outside America" is a curated exhibition with work by Amanda Checco, Jan Brown Checco, Sun Choi, Barbara Houghton, Terri Kern, Indira Freitas Johnson, Eleftheria Lialios, Fang Ling-An, and Lisa Siders in collaboration with Denise Burge, Tracy Featherstone, and Jen Ustik.

Curator Ruby Thorkelson notes: "In this age of economic and cultural globalization, American-centric
ideologies reach far and wide in various manifestations, both cultural and political. Still, the violence, romance, and overall exportation of all things Americana will never be ubiquitous. Both resistant and non-subversive existence will always persist across the globe."

"Outside America", seeks to explore the infinite aspirations, identities, and political and cultural expressions that exist outside of or in opposition to constructions and realities of American identity, politics, and culture.

Exhibition Curator: Ruby Thorkelson
in collaboration with Jan Brown Checco and Indira Freitas Johnson
Ruby Thorkelson is WMG's Gallery Coordinator. She is also a visual artist working in drawing and
book-making, as well as collaborative projects. She is a 2008 graduate of the Gallatin School of
Individualized Study at New York University with a BA in "Arts-Based Community Development".

Jan Brown Checco has 33 years of experience in studio art and design, and 13 years as an administrator of visual arts programming. Independent curatorial and project management activities take her around the world to a variety of cities where her work is held in public and private collections. Jan serves on the WMG Advisory Board.

Indira Freitas Johnson is is an artist and cultural worker from India, who has lived and worked in the Chicago area for over twenty years while maintaining close ties with India. The influences of her mother, a social activist and her father, an artist and a follower of Gandhi have been predominant in her life and art, where she continues to deal with the same issues that have preoccupied her for the last two decades - the growth towards a spiritual existence as an individual and as part of the human continuum. Indira is a WMG Advisory Board member. 

to view the exhibition online.

Exhibition Dates: January 21 - February 24, 2011