BIOGRAPHY
Connie is a Chicago-based artist whose practice centers on printmaking, drawing, and mixed-media installations. Growing up in a creatively inclined family, she developed a deep interest in the arts from an early age. Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Connie earned her BA in Painting from the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. After five years working as a graphic designer and expanding her printmaking practice, she pursued an MFA in Printmaking at Ohio University. During her graduate studies, she participated in two month-long study abroad programs in the United Kingdom and Italy, experiences that continue to influence her artistic perspective.
Since earning her MFA, Connie has taught college-level and community art courses in Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. She currently serves as a Department of Art & Architecture College Lab Assistant II at Harold Washington College in Chicago.
Connie’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo, invitational, and juried exhibitions, with venues in Brazil, Portugal, England, Russia, Italy, and China. She has received national recognition for her printmaking and completed a residency at the Vermont Studio Center. Her art and site-specific commissions are included in numerous public and private collections, such as the Racine Art Museum, the Janet Turner Print Museum, the Ekaterinburg Museum of Art, and collections of Sheldon Landy, Penny Brown, Northwestern Medicine, and several universities.
An active member of the Chicago Printers Guild, the International Mezzotint Society, the Mid-America Print Council, and Southern Graphics International, Connie continues to explore the intricate relationships between nature, material, and process through her multidisciplinary work.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In my time outdoors, I find inspiration in the subtleties, colors, and textures of natural environments—those quiet details that often go unnoticed. My work emerges as a response to getting lost within the complexity that nature presents. Through abstraction and enlargement, organic shapes and tonal structures transform these natural realities into obscured identities, inviting viewers to experience the familiar in unfamiliar ways.
My current body of work extends from the tranquility I discovered while spending time beneath blooming cherry blossom trees. The serenity of those moments revealed what I truly want my viewers to encounter in my art: a sense of peace. By emphasizing subtle shifts in shape and color and fostering an immersive experience, my work aims to evoke the same calm presence I feel in nature.
Recently, I have been creating mixed-media installations that function both as independent works and as sources of inspiration for my two-dimensional pieces. This process mirrors my experience of observing nature—where variations in light, time of day, and perspective reveal new dimensions of meaning. My drawings, prints, and paintings grow from these shifts, each reflecting the intricacies and quiet harmonies inherent in our environment.