Ginny Sykes

Cha 1
graphite on paper
24 x 18 in.

“For years I worked with vessels as metaphoric forms of containment and transformation. Recently I became interested in the energy held within the vessel, and began producing drawings and paintings that followed its release. Cha, the work in the exhibition, is an archetype of descent and rising, using a more expressive line to convey the energy that I discovered during these investigations.”

Ginny Sykes is an artist and arts educator who maintains a rigorous studio practice as well as develops public art projects informed by a commitment to local community activism. She has participated in over 30 public art projects throughout the city and region. Recent works include a globe for the 2007 Cool Globes Project at the Field Museum Campus, Transcultural Exchange’s international collaborative The Tile Project, 2005-2007, and On the Wings of Water, a glass tile and ceramic mural created for Chicago’s O’Hare airport in 2007. Rora, a glass mosaic on the Chicago River won an Honor Award from The American Society of Landscape Architects. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Pandora Meets Sarajevo and The Spain Paintings. A respected educator, Ms. Sykes has taught in the Museum and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, at Gallery 37, and in numerous elementary and secondary schools through the Illinois Arts Council.

© Ginny Sykes