Gallery Sculpture
Outdoor Sculpture
About Vivian Visser
Statement
If we wrap our naked soul’s in the raw and mysterious power of nature, taking refuge, we would leave personal artifacts, vessels with the voice of nature.
I see the shelter form as embodying the souls desire to retreat into a comforting and protective environment. The human experience is explored through natural materials which bring the viewer away from the controlled man made world and into the raw and mysterious realm of Nature where I believe we are vulnerable and the most real.
Bio
I have been creating sculptural works exploring our spiritual relationship with Nature since the early ‘90’s.
With works in national shows (Sculpted Green in Bellevue Washington and Fertile Ground - Honoring Nature in Art at Imlay Fine Arts in Montclair, NJ) Local exhibits (Chicago’s Twelve-12 Artists Mobilizing for the Earth, Zhou B Art Center and Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, IL. and Feminist Ecology - Women and the Earth, at the Koehnline Museum of Art) and International exhibits (Cool Globes - Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet, which was at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen) I have attempted to share my ideas about our need to create a better relationship with Nature as a way to find peace within ourselves and each other.
Recently, I have completed a commission of interpretive public art work for the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve and created an environmental sculpture for the Guandu International Outdoor Sculpture Festival in Taiwan.
Chicago Tree Project. Green Briar Park, Chicago, IL
2014 Chicago Tree Project. Armour Square Park, Chicago
Oak Park Sculpture Walk, two installations, Oak Park, IL
2013 Seed & Life. Guandu International Outdoor Sculpture Festival, Guandu Nature Park, Taiwan.
CV
Environmental Installations:
2019
Turning Arts
Change Agents: Midwest Women Eco Artists, Hartmann Gallery, Bradley University, IL
Sunshine Playscape. Lincoln Park Conservancy, Chicago, IL
Dear Earth… Women Made gallery, Chicago, IL
2018
Evanston Arts Council Sculpture Leasing Program. Quinlan Park, Evanston
2017
Jens Jensen Formal garden Project. Humbolt Park, Chicago
Installation Nation. Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
2016
Chicago Tree Project. Berger Park, Chicago
Oak Park Sculpture Walk. Oak Park, IL
2015
Stone Quarry Sculpture Park. Cazenovia, NY
When Art & Nature Meet. Forest Preserve of DuPage County, Mayslake Peabody Estate, IL
Chicago Tree Project. Green Briar Park, Chicago, IL
2014
Chicago Tree Project. Armour Square Park, Chicago
Oak Park Sculpture Walk, two installations, Oak Park, IL
2013
Seed & Life. Guandu International Outdoor Sculpture Festival, Guandu Nature Park, Taiwan.
2012
Form In Flora III. Lincoln Park Conservatory, Chicago
Ragdale Artwork and Openhouse. Ragdale, Lake Forest, IL
Chicago’s Twelve - 12 Artists Mobilizing for the Earth. Zhou B Art Center and Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
2011
Form in Flora II. Lincoln Park Conservatory, Chicago. Curator
Openlands Lakeshore Preserve Interpretive Public Art. Permanent art commission. Highland Park, IL
2010
Form in Flora. Garfield Park Conservatory. Chicago. Curator
2007 - Current.
Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet. Traveled to Houston, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and the Climate Conference in Copenhagen and Geneva. Book
Solo Shows:
2017
Vivian Visser. Cultivate Urban Rainforest, Evanston, IL
2012
Vivian Visser. Kathrin Cawein Gallery of Art, picnic University, Forest Grove, OR
2011
The Nature of Things. Cliff Dwellers Club, Chicago
2010
Refuge. Ryerson Woods Gallery, Chicago
Selected Exhibitions:
2015
Sculpture Invasion. Koehnline Museum of Art, Des Plaines, IL
Convergence: The Poetic Dialogue Project. Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago
2012
Natural Connections. Christopher Art Gallery, Chicago Heights, IL
Ways of Making: Sculpture. Governors State University, University park, IL
6 to the Third. Expo Chicago, Chicago
2011
6 to the Third. Art Chicago, Chicago
Sculpture International Invitational. Hostetler Gallery, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL
2010 Artprize. Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI
Counter Currents. Art Chicago, Chicago. American Survey Award
Sculpture Invasion. Koehnline Museum of Art,Des Plaines, IL
Fertile Ground - Honoring Nature in Art. Imlay Fine Art, Montclair, NJ
2009
Summer Sculpture. Niemi Sculpture Garden and Gallery, Kenosha, WI
2008
Feminist Ecology - Women and the Earth. Koehnline Museum of Art, Des Plaines, IL
Let Us Examine the State of Our Environment. Phantom Gallery Installation Show, Garfield park Conservatory, Chicago
Sculpted Green. Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition, Bellevue, WA
2007
Sublime Climate I/III Addressing Global Warming. Thompson Family Gallery, Garthwaite Center for Science and Art,Weston, MA
2006
Niemi Sculpture Gallery. Niemi Sculpture Garden and Gallery, Kenosha, WI
2005
About-For-From Nature. Yahoo, the Korean Nature Art Association Traveling Exhibition. Permanent collection of the Nature Museum, Gong, Korea
Niemi Sculpture Gallery - Sculpture 2005. Uihlein Peters Gallery, Milwaukee,
Awards and Honors:
2019
“Art and Place,” Panelist, Midwest Women Artists Symposium, Bradley University, IL
2015
Stone Quarry Sculpture Park Residency, Cazenovia, NY Ragdale
2014
DCASE Grant, Chicago
2013
Guandu International Sculpture Festival, Taipei Taiwan
2011
Chicago Artist Month Featured Artist, Chicago
I-Park Residency, East Haddam, CT
2010
American Survey Award, Art Chicago
2009 The Puffin Foundation Grant, Teaneck, NJ
2006, 2009, 2010
Chicago Artist Assistance Grant, Chicago
Education:
1992
Center for Creative Studies - College of Art and Design. Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Sculpture.
Print:
2017
Louise Burton, Chicago Tribune, “See It Now - Art of the natural world and urban jungle populate a pair of gallery shows”. Jan ‘17
2012
Danijela Krucun and Charles McFadden, “Contemporary Sculptors -84 International Artists”, Atglen, PA, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
2010
Joseph Bechere, Grand Rapids Press. Review. “Expert tour of Grand Valley State University Pew Campus exhibition center: Urban sculpture park should be ‘applauded’” Sept.’10
2009
The London Times, Cover photo. Cool Globe - Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet show
in Copenhagen during the Climate Summit. London England.
2007
Imagination Publishing, “Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet”, Cool Globes coffee table book.
Don Parker, “Vivian Visser - Sculpted by Nature”, Chicago Wilderness Magazine, Fall
exhibits (Cool Globes - Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet, which was at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen) I have attempted to share my ideas about our need to create a better relationship with Nature as a way to find peace within ourselves and each other.
Recently, I have completed a commission of interpretive public art work for the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve and created an environmental sculpture for the Guandu International Outdoor Sculpture Festival in Taiwan.
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Got something you’d like me to work on? Or how about a friendly chat? Contact me today.
Address:
Chicago, IL, USA
Email:
Phone:
773-569-9246
Benjamin Franklin
"Well done is better than well said"