Current Exhibitions
Named 2024 ‘Artist To Watch’ by Comfort Station Logan Square
Very happy to announce that I was named a 2024 Artist to Watch by Comfort Station, Logan Square. Comfort Station launched an "Artists to Watch" database, designed to foster networking and showcase emerging talent. This dynamic platform serves as a hub for artists across various disciplines who’ve submitted to the Open Call before to showcase their work, allowing curators, collectors, and art enthusiasts to discover exciting new voices. By featuring a diverse range of artists and facilitating connections, Comfort Station aims to nurture a vibrant community that promotes collaboration, dialogue, and growth. The database not only serves as a vital resource for those seeking fresh perspectives, but also as a catalyst for meaningful connections that can lead to exhibitions, commissions, and other career opportunities.
"Saints' Rest" Selected for Oak Park Sculpture Walk 2024
My work was selected to be a part of the 2024 Oak Park Sculpture Walk. The sculpture is located across from the Lake Theater at 1025 Lake Street, in downtown Oak Park, IL and will be on view until May 2025.
“Saints' Rest” Bethany Cordero 2024 Steel, Polypropylene, Marine Jute, Wire, Paint, Exterior Fabric, and Thread
Writing & Work Featured in SURFACE DESIGN 2024 Summer Journal
Titled “In the Studio: Exploring Impermanence with Bethany Cordero”, the featured article in the 2024 Summer Journal of SURFACE DESIGN discusses her creative process and philosophical approach to art making.
Named Oak Park Art League’s ‘Artist-In-Residence’ September- December 2024
I was recently selected to be Oak Park Art League’s ‘Artist in Residence’ from September through December of 2024. During my artist residency, I will be focused on continuing my ongoing research into feminism, structuralism, and Gestalt theory as it pertains to the whole versus the disparate. I will use this time as an incubator of focused concentration to complete several sculptural weavings and armature works. I will also develop workshops and classes that integrate the concepts of memory, identity, and the impermanence of self into tactile, hands-on projects for participants of all ages. Keep an eye out for programming details to be announced shortly.
2024 Fall Bridge Program Cohort Hyde Park Art Center
I’m so happy to announce that I was selected to be a cohort of the 2024 Fall Bridge Program. The Bridge Program fosters generative dialogue among a select group of artists (10 artists max), in a seminar-style course designed to push your art practice into new realms. I’ll be working in an intensive, small-group setting to refine project ideas, to better articulate the central concerns of my practice, deepen the conceptual grounding of my work, and situate my practice within a wider art world context. I’ll be participating in critiques, writing sessions, essay discussions, online readings, and peer-to-peer visits. Excited to see how my work develops during this intensive program.
Artist Residency Exhibition
Join us for the culmination of my artist residency at the Oak Park Art League. This show will offer a glimpse into the sculptural work I've been developing, exploring themes of identity, impermanence, memory, and the transitory nature of being. I'm excited to share this journey with you and invite you to experience these new works up close. Please come by and see what I've been working on during my time at OPAL!
Beneath The Surface: Spirituality In Art Arc Gallery Curated by Indira Johnson
This show is a subtle examination of energy and spirituality through art. Through this exhibition, we hope to shine a light on the depth of the human condition to inspire greater spiritual awareness and empathy within this historical time. My work “The Duality of Being” will be included in this group exhibition. Hope you are able to attend.
Comfort Station Artist Talk for 2024 Artists To Watch
There will be an artist talk and networking event to introduce the 2024 Artist to Watch database. Each participating artist will have an opportunity to speak about their work and process. Please join us- Event is open to all!
https://comfortstationlogansquare.org/calendar/2024/7/27/artists-to-watch-networking-event
Liminal Space: Bethany Cordero and Deborah Newmark at Oliva Gallery
Bethany Cordero and Deborah Newmark
Bethany Cordero and Deborah Newmark
Cordero explores issues of identity, memory, and the impermanence of self. As we age, we are left with vestiges of thoughts- memories of a life that no longer exists. We are in a perpetual state of transition from one state of consciousness to the next. By grafting, binding, and welding these materials together, she uses the remnants to create sculptural assemblages that serve as a symbolic bridge between her selfhood of today into the liminal space of tomorrow. Each iteration is equally referential and abstract, and serve as containers for space, composition and the inherent congruency and contradictions between her past and the present.
Newmark is curious about where things touch, where one thought ends and another begins, what is left unsaid. What is important to her is that she acknowledges a moment in time, one that will never exist again. Newmark uses collage, drawing and mixed media, layering materials and gesture, finding beauty in surprising relationships; often improvised or accidental.
REVERIE:Art & Fashion Show
Promoted and organized by Vagabond Art’s Camilla Mikolajewska and Curatorial Associate Elissa Fertig. In dreams, the dreamer can create new realities, breakdown physical or psychic boundaries. Our mission as Vagabond Art is to connect with the broader arts community, exhibit artists of all disciplines and stages in their career, and discover new talent. With this artist call, we are trying to answer the question: how do you dream? What dreams push you as an artist to create new realities?
Vagabond Art is looking for fashion-inspired and textile-based visual artists for our fourth Chicago event in May, "REVERIE", that encapsulates dreaming. Broad interpretations of this theme are welcome. The program contains three events, culminating in a fashion show, and we are looking for visual artists to contribute.
Hope you are able to join us!
Little, but Bold! CSI Members Exhibit
Little, but BOLD! Is in celebration of all things unmonumental. Often flying under the radar, small things have the special ability to bridge private and public spaces. Within the sculpture field, there has been a projected narrative that bigger is better. We are here to assert that small things can hold the same importance as the largest monu
Small Works Members Show at Woman Made Gallery
CHICAGO–Woman Made Gallery (WMG) is proud to present its annual Small Works Members Show, juried by WMG’s Program Committee. One hundred twenty-one WMG member artists are exhibiting small works (up to 20 inches in length or width) in a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, mixed-media, printmaking, fiber, and photography. All artworks are for sale, with prices up to $400.
The opening reception will be held at WMG’s new location, 1332 S. Halsted St. in Chicago, on Saturday, December 2, from 4 to 7 p.m. Regular gallery hours are Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
POP! Bridgeport Art Center
POP! Art embraces a romance with popular modern culture while simultaneously critiques the commodity driven practices and values of consumerism. POP! Art is inspired by cultural icons, and personalities to fashion and design trends from commonplace objects. Bright eye-catching colors, innovative techniques and materials implemented from recognizable imagery such as signage, symbols, & branding, are adapted to produce mixed media / collage, painting / drawing / printmaking, photography / video, and installation / sculptural based art works. POP!, curated by Zak Blatt and Marci Rubin, features artwork that stimulates conversations regarding these popular cultural trends; past, present & future.
Opening Reception 4th Floor Gallery
November 17th, 2023 7-10 pm
Semi Annual Juried Exhibition at the Oak Park Art League
JURIST: Claire Barliant
Claire Barliant is a writer and artist who recently moved from Cambridge, MA, to Oak Park, IL. Her writing on art, architecture, and other subjects has appeared in several publications, including Apollo, Artforum, Art in America, East of Borneo, Icon, Metropolis, Modern Painters, No Tokens, and Triple Canopy.
From 2010 to 2013 Claire wrote short art reviews for the New Yorker’s “Goings On About Town" section. Claire has also contributed essays to several artist monographs and museum catalogues.
In 2014 Claire curated “As We Were Saying”, an exhibition at EFA Project Space, New York, about the return of identity politics in art, which was reviewed by Holland Cotter for the New York Times. Claire holds an MA in Curatorial Studies from Bard College, a BA in Comparative Literature from Smith College, and an MFA candidate in creative writing from Emerson College.
OPAL - Gallery720 W. Chicago Ave.Oak Park IL. 60302
Opening Reception: FRIDAY, OCT 13, 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Annual 6th Midwest Open
CHICAGO—Woman Made Gallery (WMG) is pleased to present its 6th Midwest Open juried by Kimberly Oliva. Forty-three artists from Illinois and six other Midwest states are exhibiting works in a variety of mediums from paintings, sculpture, mixed media installation to video. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 2, from 4 to 7 p.m. Regular gallery hours are Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
Exhibiting Artists: Libby Anson, Amal Azzam, Marcia Babler, Sophie Brennan Carlisle, Elizabeth Buchanan, Marianna Buchwald, Sara Peak Convery, Bethany Cordero, Jennifer Cronin, Eleana Grace Daniel, Lisa DeLuca, Sherri Denault, Victoria Engonopoulos, Amy Feigley-Lee, Karen Jean Fike, Anne Farley Gaines, Amanda Gentry, Anna Heinen, Ali Hval, Nanxi Jin, Pauline Kochanski, Jamie Kost, Kathleen Maltese, Jane Michalski, Wendi Napoli, Colleen O’Rourke, Lorraine Peltz, Emily Pfaff, Elizabeth Rhoads Read, Kathryn Rodrigues, Kathy Blankley Roman, Marci Rubin, Nadine Saylor, Brittany Sievers, Amanda Smith, Madison Sternig, Michelle Thomas, Nancy VanKanegan, Vivian Visser, Kathleen Waterloo, Emily Schroeder Willis, Charlotte Woolf, Qianwen Yu.
About the Juror: Kimberly Oliva received her Bachelor of Art degree from Loyola University in 2001. She is the owner of Oliva Gallery and co-founder of ALMA Art and Interiors in Chicago. Prior to opening ALMA, in 2021, Oliva Gallery exhibited at SOFA. Kimberly is a member of the Arts Club Chicago, founder of Mozart Park Mural program, and co-chair of Mozart Park Chicago Park District. With a diverse professional background ranging from interior design to jewelry to contemporary art, Kimberly has been immersed in the art scene for over two decades.
Alive Exhibition @ CSI Project Space
CSI Project Space Exhibit ALIVE
Opening: Friday, June 16, 2023 6 - 9PM
Exhibit Dates: June 16 - July 28, 2023
Hours: Friday through Sunday, 1 - 6PM or by appointment
What does it mean to be alive and a part of Nature?
All animal and vegetable tissues are made up of a complex collection of cells
endlessly at work generating energy for life. In this sense, there is no life without action.
All these little parts and drops of goodness ignite the living in our world illuminated
by the energy of the sun.
We are not mere observers taking measurements and making plans. We are a
structured and complex stimulus being, emerged within the patterns and cycles of Nature. These connections and patterns along with their cycles are expressed as a whole through the living. This experience of life, however interconnected and reliant upon parts both big and small, is inevitably singularly perceived.
Arc Gallery SCULPTURE : Motley Cruise Opening Reception, Friday, May 26, 5-8pm
Upcoming Group Exhibition; Sculpture: Motley Cruise