Alicia Forestall-Boehm

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

Artist Talk, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois Last week I spoke to a group of art students at Western Illinois University.  I told them about my work, about myself and about the paths that I had taken to get to that moment.  When asked to offer up any words of advice that I might have for emerging artists, I told them to "simply get yourself out there...that you never know who would see your work and what opportunity that may bring".  I shared my story of how doing just that has led me to where I am now and to an art commission that currently covers every open surface in my art studio. In June of 2015 I received an email from Amy DeLap and Andrew Jendrzejewski of Art Space Vincennes . They were offering me a solo show at their gallery.  Now, to be perfectly honest, I had to Google Vincennes, not knowing where, exactly, it was located. Well, it turns out that Vincennes, is located in Indiana, our next door neighbor!  Founded in 1732 and home to Vincennes

Installing an art exhibition can be a fun and creative endeavor but it also requires A LOT of hard work.   Installing a show is a true labor of love.  It involves an eye for balance and harmony.   Deciding where a piece of art should be placed in an exhibit space is as important as the work itself.     Once a preliminary overview of what will be included in the exhibition is made, an initial placement of the works is made.   This helps to visualize how the show will look once it is hung.  A relationship of color and form is considered when determining the placement  of art in a space.    It is essential that there is breathing room so that each work can be individually appreciated. Another thing that is often essential is a ladder!   Some installations have unique challenges attached to them.     The ceiling height and duct work at ARC Gallery in Chicago required me to come up with an alternate way to hang the columns in my pie

As many of you know, I am a big fan of right angles.   Windows no. 34 My Windows Series consisted of small squares carved into square panels and my Tesserae paintings were created with many square-shaped encaustic tiles.  Tesserae II Moving Day I designed custom wood panel frames to house my mini encaustic and fiber cubes. detail, Spaces We Inhabit My mixed media cubes grew and were hung in columns from the ceiling. Perhaps my cube obsession culminated into the installation Infinite Possibilities .  Each one of these unique cubes is installed in a grid formation on the wall, hopefully by someone OTHER than me! Infinite Possibilities  In fact, you can find the square shape in many of my vessels and woven encaustic and fiber 3-dimensional works! Vessel 6 So when the opportunity arose to participate in an art exhibition that was titled The Dot Show I jumped at it! Dots!   They are not in any way, shape or form square!  

My blog posts are anything but frequent!  In fact my entire art-making has taken a back seat to, well, the rest of my life!  The irony of this slip in my online presence is that between my work for the clients of my own company, Chicago Social Media Marketers, and my relatively new position as the Marketing Manager for Northshore Concert Band in Evanston, Illinois, I have been focusing on the promotion of everyone and everything BUT myself and my own art work! Well, I am here to say that I am back...for now!  I will move forward with the best of intentions to post in a more regular fashion!  But, as any resolution, this goal may not be met and my conviction to consistently post to this blog may be short-lived.  Only time will tell!! Exciting News! Two publication announcements! Surface Design Journal The Tactile World Winter 2015-2016 Towards the end of 2015, I was contacted by Miles Conrad , director of the Conrad Wilde Gallery in Tucson, Arizona.  He was writing an