This September we are excited to host "The Spirit of Community" art exhibit with 2D/3D works by Lea Basile - Lazarus. Sept. 7-17, at 1100 Florence.

Opening Reception, Sept. 8, 5-8p & Artist Talk, Sept. 16, 3-5p

Lea Basile Lazarus photographed by Andrea Peterson

Artist Bio

Lea Basile Lazarus received her BA in Art Education from The College of New Jersey and her MFA, with a concentration in Printmaking, from the School if the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been teaching for 20 years. After teaching art for 16 years in Winnetka District 36, Lea retired from public school education and is currently at Beacon Academy, a Montessori High School in Evanston, teaching IB Visual Arts. Through her years of teaching, Lea has worked with Chicago public schools on collaborative social justice art projects. She has been a recipient of a Teacher Fulbright trip to Japan, spending three weeks abroad learning about Japan’s culture, art, and education system. And through a non-profit organization called Do Your P'Art, Lea was sent to Africa to visit Ghanaian schools and villages. These experiences have affected the images that she has created over the years.
Lea is a working artist making contemporary prints, paper pulp collages, and sculptures. She exhibits her work in the Chicagoland Area. Over the past couple of years, Lea has had one person shows at the Center of Halsted, Chicago, Lill Street Art Center, Chicago, and Curt's Café in Evanston. She has also participated in a two-person art and poetry show at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston.  Lea happily owns and operates a Conrad Printing Press, but a majority of her recent work has been created through using pigmented paper pulp.

The Spirit of Community Artist Statement

I have been deeply affected by the outcome of the 2016 Presidential Election. I have attended two Women’s Marches, the Science March, and two Immigration Marches. We, the community of people who gather at these events, are peaceful, but strong.  We stand united in causes that we feel passionate about and this stance reflects our own personal beliefs and values.

I have spent the last 18 months creating a body of work that reflects the awareness and power of strength in numbers. People have gathered together to express concern for issues that conflict with our communities’ beliefs and rights. There is a sharp sense of wanting to belong and to be proud of who we are, but also the need to embrace our differences and provide a safe environment in which we all can live.

As reflections of these concerns, expressive figures, text, and symbolic houses have become integral parts of my work. Words weave in and out of my images, sometimes hardly recognizable, other times up front to be read loud and clear. My figures have stepped off the paper and onto the wall, speaking out, not specifically identified, but representing us all. My figures stand united and strong, embodying the depth of concern that is being felt around the world. The house structures might interact with figures or replace them. This shape can symbolize a safe place or an expression of one’s personal identity. These structures also represent people uniting together to become a strong community, a force that seems unbreakable. Yet, this community that appears so strong, can be broken and suffer turmoil within. The frenetic marks that emerge are conversations, are unrest, and are a passionate expression of a desire or belief. The audience will determine the meaning, which becomes individual and personal.

As I have moved through this body of work, I have found that using pigmented paper pulp has been an effective way to express my ideas. Even though I have been a printmaker for many years, I was immediately attracted to the process of making images using contemporary handmade paper techniques. Like printmaking, this process has allowed me to work on several images at one time, moving from one to another, layering different stencils, colors, and ideas. Paper pulp painting is spontaneous; I am actively engaged in the process. My entire body is always moving, from mixing pigments in paper pulp, to cutting stencils, to making marks or writing words with syringes and turkey basters with the gestural movement of my arm. The mental and physical energy it takes to think, move, and react to the images that are emerging is what makes this process so exciting and invigorating. Recently, I have begun removing paper pulp from the wet surface, “tearing” the wet pulp and creating interesting negative space that has added depth to the meaning of the piece. Exploration of these materials and contemporary processes has allowed me to express artistically my feelings about our fundamental needs: to belong and to feel safe.

See more of Lea's work at leablazarus.com