April 25, 2019

[IOWA CITY, IOWA, APRIL 22, 2019] —Two award-winning artists pushing the boundaries in their fields are opening a two month-long exhibit at C.S.P.S. Hall Thursday, May 2 with a free reception from 5-8 p.m. Visitors are invited to view the work and speak with the artists, who are Grant Wood Fellows at the University of Iowa Grant Wood Art Colony. The 2018-19 visual art fellows are Eleanna Anagnos and Ryan Parker. All fellows are chosen by a committee of UI faculty for their ability to expose UI students to diverse practices and for their commitment to create work during their time at the university. “The artists’ practices all bring a unique perspective to campus, which they share through teaching and collaborations,” said Maura Pilcher, Grant Wood Art Colony director. “During their fellowship, the artists have experienced time to make work. This is a luxury for most artists—to have space and time to create. Eleanna and Ryan have taken advantage of this opportunity and have been quite prolific. Most if not all of the work to be displayed will have been created during their fellowship at the Grant Wood Art Colony.” While here, Eleanna worked closely with Tim Barrett and the Center for the Book to advance her papermaking technique. In addition to utilizing the university’s extensive printmaking studio, Ryan also collaborated with Home Ec., a local store, to hone his quilting skills.

The exhibition, entitled Studio Experiments, will display the artists’ variety of work and interest in expanding beyond their disciplines of painting, drawing, printmaking, and papermaking. “Each fellow’s practice veers into other media to accomplish whatever message he wants to achieve,” Pilcher said. Studio Experiments runs from May 2 to June 30. All are welcome to see this ongoing, free exhibition, Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, from noon to 4 p.m.

Studio Experiments Reception
Hosted by the Grant Wood Art Colony

Work by Eleanna Anagnos and Ryan Parker
Thursday, May 2, from 5 to 8 p.m.
C.S.P.S. Hall, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

No tickets are necessary for this event.

The Artists

Eleanna Anagnos, Gift of Tongues, 2019

Eleanna Anagnos (b. Evanston, IL) is a New York-based artist and curator. The core of her research aims to foster new ways of seeing, thinking and being.  She exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Eleanna has received awards from The Rauschenberg Foundation (2019); The Grant Wood Art Colony (2018); Yaddo (2017); BAU Institute (2016); The Anderson Ranch (2011), The Atlantic Center for the Arts (2009) and The Joan Mitchell Foundation (2011, 2009).  Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Artsy and Artnet, among others. Eleanna has been a Co-Director at Ortega y Gasset Projects, an artist-run gallery and curatorial collective located in Brooklyn, NY, since 2014. Her curatorial projects have been featured in the New York Times (2019), Art in America (2017), and the New York Observer (2015). She earned her MFA in Painting from the Tyler School of Art (2005) and a BA with honors and distinction from Kenyon College with a concentration in Women’s and Gender Studies (2002).

 

Ryan Parker, Untitled
Ryan Parker grew up in Florida and received his MFA in printmaking from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Rome, Italy and Philadelphia. In his printed works on paper and fabric, Ryan uses architectural drawing and motifs to explore psychological space. With an interest in how architecture frames and impacts an individual's experience, his prints present towering walls, endless mazes, uninhabitable structures, and computer screens cluttered with open windows—scenes reflecting the familiar and unknown in navigating daily life. Also influenced by travel, he has participated in artist residencies at Frans Masereel Centrum (Belgium), Cork Printmakers (Ireland), and Ballinglen (Ireland). Recently, he was awarded a 2017–18 Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship which brought him to India. His research included studying ancient architecture as well as the traditional, sustainable production methods of India’s fabric arts—in particular, block printing, hand painting (kalamkari), and the use of natural pigments. In addition to his artistic practice, Ryan has been working as a museum educator at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, instructing textile design and screen-printing in the Post-Graduate Apprenticeship.

Watch recent interviews about the artists' practices below.