2007 Winter Festival Curator's Choice Artist In Residence: John Kowalczyk
Around the Coyote Gallery - 1935 ½ W. North Ave. Opening Night Celebration: Thursday, February 8 from 8-midnight Exhibition Dates: February 8 - February 24, 2007
John Kowalczyk at work	Artist In Residence Chicago, IL- Around the Coyote, a non-profit arts organization focused on emerging art in Chicago's Wicker Park Neighborhood premieres an installation of Chicago's very own John Kowalczyk. Traditionally working in paint, Kowalczyk is now exploring the realm of three-dimensional sculpture in his giant "quilt" which you can find filling a niche in the gallery's southwest corner. Observing contemporary ways of life, Kowalczyk longs for the "good old days". Playing up the associations made with quilts, Kowalczyk addresses issues of nostalgia and community, while simultaneously questioning what he believes to be our society's current value system: consumerism and materialism. Through presenting a conventionally feminine craft constructed from wood and wire, the quilt additionally wrestles with our culture's pervasive gender issues.

Kowalczyk's finished installation will debut at the 2007 Winter Arts Festival Opening Party on Feb. 8, but throughout the month of January visitors will be able to come in and watch John develop his installation. The artist will be available to answer questions and discuss his piece at the gallery Monday through Friday 12-6 throughout January. Kowalczyk's work has been featured in multiple Curator's Choice exhibitions in conjunction with the Around the Coyote Fall and Winter Arts Festivals and has also been displayed at the Chicago Botanical Gardens, as well as in numerous galleries throughout Chicago. He is currently attending the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where he has been chosen by the city of Milwaukee to complete a public art installation in 2007.

Lisa Solberg

Scott Johnson

Curator's Choice Exhibition Our guest curator for the 2007 Winter Arts Festival is Matthew Teti, director of the NOVA gallery in the West Loop and Teti Gallery in Wicker Park. Teti has worked in Chicago since 2003, at Northwestern University, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Douglas Dawson Gallery. In addition to his curatorial and administrative roles in the visual arts, Teti has written for Afterall, sat on and chaired academic panels, worked as an art librarian and exhibited his own work in shows hosted by other galleries. As guest curator, Mr. Teti will curate an exhibition in the Around the Coyote Gallery of a selection of accepted festival artists. This exhibition is a subset of the Winter Arts Festival and will run throughout the month of February.

Selected Curator's Choice Artists: Maura Ahern Sam Balfour Liza Berkoff Helga Dangel Laura Davis Michael Franzese Philip Hartigan Scott Johnson Kristen Kaniewski Alysia Kaplan Michael Radziewicz Lisa Solberg Jessica Vaughn Matthew Winters Amy Zavaleta

Jessica Vaughn