ARC Members
Our Members work in all media, including performance and installation
Raissa Bailey
Raissa Bailey maintains an active studio practice in Evanston, IL. Her work explores femininity and spirituality and her recent Venus series has evolved from suggestive form through abstraction in painting to textile, mixed media, sculpture, photography, digital images and storytelling all while focused on Paleolithic Venus figurines. Raissa is influenced by her travels around the world and her own diverse background. In recent years, her process of creation has gained importance as a spiritual practice of reflection and connection. Sources such as the I Ching and shamanic studies influence the work by encouraging a visual and conceptual depth. Her artistic influences include nature, prehistoric art, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo and Lavar Monroe as well as the theory of Biocentrism by Dr. Robert Lanza and Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series. Raissa graduated from DePaul University with a BA and holds a certificate in Studio Art and Design from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She also is a professional Creative Director and leads a team of Designers for the Bradford Exchange.
Cait Hardie
Cait Hardie works in water based media on paper, with an approach that could be described as an intersection of drawing and painting. Her work was exhibited at Morpho Gallery in Chicago in 2018 and 2019.
Diane Jurado
I am a painter exploring both the physical act of painting and how meaning is created on canvas. Process is essential part of my painting practice. I work primarily with oil paint for its physical richness and manipulative quality. I make a lot of changes to a painting over an extended period of time by layering, scratching, drawing on and rubbing out the paint until I feel the work is finished.
Elyse Martin
Elyse Martin was born in Chicago and has lived there most of her life. With breaks for chasing down celebrities and enjoying disco, Elyse was immersed in art all her life, including a 7th grade Saturday Scholarship class at the Art Institute. Elyse thrived, and fueled her artistic expression with a love for art supplies, and spend hours at art stores with her father.
Randi Shepard
Randi Shepard is a photographer and printmaking artist from Chicago. After receiving her B.F.A in Visual Communications from The Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1983, she immediately broke into the commercial photography scene in Chicago, working with people photographers, such as her long-time mentor Jean Moss (as well as Steve Ewert, Joann Carney and Marc Hauser).
Michelle Williams
My work reflects an ongoing inner dialogue with myself and my materials. I am attracted to the reflective qualities of the glass beads, the interaction of materials and the historical implications of the materials. Due to the nature and slow process of beading there is much time during the art making process to reflect and let feelings surface. As a result of my process I am interested in the layers that compose each of us. Thus there are many layers within my sculptures.Each sculpture is thickly encrusted with beads.