Alicia Forestall-Boehm

In today's world of COVID-19, experiencing life virtually is our new normal. From classes to work to cultural events we are living our lives while sheltering in place. Temporary closings, limited openings and social distancing, have forced artists, art galleries, art museums, and art organizations to think outside the box to find new ways to present art exhibitions. With that in mind, I decided to create an online virtual art gallery that can host an exhibition that is engagin g and informative. One that is visually appealing as well as interactive.  A virtual art exhibition th at can be used by a single artist to present a solo show or a gallery or art group to pr esent a group or member show. I am pleased to present the virtual art exhibition #FusedAtHome , a collection of artworks by the artist members of FUSEDChicago. I designed and produced this interactive art exhibition. It uses an appealing art gallery background. The viewer can travel between the many gallery rooms to vi...

Not unlike many artists, I have had some challenges in the studio during this pandemic. While immersing myself in the creative process of art-making is calming and rejuvenating, it can be a difficult place to get to amidst all of the stress and anxiety of today's world. I have been taking online workshops and reading, reading, reading! My morning routine includes reading everything, well almost everything, in my many inboxes. This includes the New York Times and Washington Post, our local Chicago Tribune, and of course, many online art news subscriptions. A recent New York Times article " Faith Ringgold Will Keep Fighting Back " is worth recommending. In it, artist, author, and activist Faith Ringgold talks about how the pandemic, and the death of her husband, have blocked her creatively but the recent protests, spurred on by the murder of George Floyd, have inspired her to return to her studio. Sometimes we need to wait for inspiration, keeping our eyes and ears op...

On Friday, March 6th, I attended the opening of BUILD: A Sculpture Show at Oliva Gallery in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. Included in this show was a new sculpture that I created specifically for this exhibition . The idea of social distancing was just beginning to take hold, and while many of us in attendance at the exhibition opening were resisting hugging and shaking each other’s hands, none of us could have guessed that in just over a week, the gallery, and most businesses would be closed and we would all be sheltered at home. The resulting quarantine has put a pause on all of our lives. Many artists have created art for postponed or canceled solo and group shows that no one will see. Fortunately, many museums are offering virtual tours and many art curators and artists are creating virtual online art exhibitions. The Corona Sidestep: A Virtual Exhibition , curated by Joanne Mattera, is an excellent collection of artwork that offers “some visibility to ar...

I was thrilled to have had the opportunity for my first solo exhibition this past December. My show Transformed Spaces consisted of two sculptural installations; Infinite Possibilities and The Spaces We Inhabit.  It considered the symmetry of the urban landscape and explored the physical and mental boundaries of the public and private spaces we inhabit.      Infinite Possibilities is a wall installation consisting of 30 unique wall cubes, each utilizing similar and familiar materials yet each recognizing its own distinctive space .   Spaces We Inhabit is an installation of a dozen, twelve foot high columns of encaustic and fiber sculptures created by altering 2-dimensional paintings.   This transformation acknowledges another kind of space; one of visual repetitiveness and change.    Transformed Spaces was installed in the Art on Armitage Gallery window December 1, 2015 and was up throughout the month. ...

I often begin a new work from a sketched design.  The lower design in this image from my sketch book was the inspiration for a new sculpture.   Beginning with a circular wire support, I created a 3 dimensional version of this sketched image.  The problem was that, to me, the actual sculpture didn't please me as much as the sketched image.  So it sat in the back of my studio waiting for a creative revelation.  Then one day, as I studied this piece, I envisioned it "exploding" open, so I took an  knife to it and, leaving the circular wire armature intact, turned the single form into one that had five connecting sections.  This  alteration added interest and movement.  Hmmm, this certainly was a dramatic departure from the original sketch but it was a move in the right direction. Knowing that this piece was not finished, I returned it to it's spot in the back of my studio.  I lived with this new form, manipul...

With much of my time spent creating new works, I have expended little energy on submitting to summer exhibitions.  The Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana has had an annual exhibition for the past 69 years.  The 70th Annual Wabash Valley Juried Exhibition includes the work of artists residing in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio. Passages This year's exhibition was jurored by Carter E. Foster, the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings at the Whitney Museum of American Art.  The opportunity to position my work in front of this jurors eyes was all the motivation I needed to find the time to submit to this show. Unfulfilled Dream I entered three encaustic and fiber sculptures; "Unfulfilled Dream", "Passages" and "Living Together-But-Separate Lives". The first two were chosen and included in this exhibition.  Living Together-But-Separate Lives The exhibition runs from June 28-August 23, 2014. ...

In my last post I talked about my preparation for the exhibit "Spaces We Inhabit" and the two sculptural installations I created for this show.  This post is a collection of images from the exhibition.      "Spaces We Inhabit" at the Hairpin Arts Center, Chicago.                 Me with my installation Spaces We Inhabit .  It consisted of 7 ceiling-hung columns, each 15' long.  The cubes themselves vary in size from 1.5"x1.5"x1.5" to 4.5"x4.5"x4.5".                                            Infinite Possibilities on the wall to the left.    The Power of Place and   Make No Little Plans on pedestals.  On the wall - two paintings by...

  Back in November of 2013, artists Mary Zeran and Emily Rutledge approached me with the idea of putting together a proposal for an exhibition of our work.   What evolved was “Spaces We Inhabit: Sculptures and Paintings by Alicia Forestall-Boehm, Emily Rutledge and Mary Zeran” at the Hairpin Arts Center in Chicago.   I was familiar with Hairpin having exhibited my encaustic and fiber Vessels in the center’s inaugural exhibition “Come Together”.      Vessel 12, Vessel 14, Vessel 20 on shelves to the right. Mary Ellen Croteau's work to the left Come Together, Hairpin Arts Center   It is a beautiful light-filled windowed space situated in a historical building in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. In my last blog post "Winter Exhibition News" I mused about turning a new wall hanging sculpture, “Place”, into a multi-piece installation.   100+ feet of cotton rope for my ceiling hung sculpture, Spaces We Inhabit   M...

Place (detail)   I’m sending two of my newest sculptures to Florida this month.   I am especially pleased that both were accepted as it was the first time I had submitted either for an exhibition.   Place is the largest work I have created to date, measuring 6’7”, twice that if it is laid out from end to end.   I plan to pursue Place as a series that will be hung as a multi-piece installation. Place   6’7”hx8”wx4.5”d    e ncaustic, cheesecloth, cotton cord, foam    Passages has been a work in progress.   I made the base last year and it sat off to the side in my studio waiting for inspiration.   Over time this base changed shape until I came upon the decidedly boat-like form it is today.   It then returned again to that “place of contemplation” off to the side in my studio until one day I spied the roll of copper wire I had in a container of wire and cords.   I really like the combination of metal ...