SOLO SHOW: The Infinite Library, Lawton Gallery, University of Green Bay, WI, September 8 – October 6, 2022

Join us for an exhibition of old zines, new zines, and a space to enjoy them! Artist, writer, and cartoonist, Jessica Campbell brings the magic of Zines alive in her exhibition The Infinite Library.

GROUP SHOW: **CURB ALERT** Exhibition of Lawn Signs (Sudbury), Cosmos Carl, September 2, 2022

**CURB ALERT**
An exhibition of artist-made lawn signs. There are sixteen signs on display to view on September 2nd from 9am - 2pm. One day only. First come, first served, no calls please, in perfect condition, what you see is what you get, all parts included, it’s on the curb – just come and see it.

GROUP SHOW: Comic Sans, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, June 18 – October 2, 2022

Contemporary Canadian comics are created without limitations of subject matter, without stylistic constraints and sometimes even without words at all. Comic Sans focuses on the limitless artistic side of Canadian comics and celebrates a broad range of approaches to storytelling. Some of the stories in Comic Sans are biographical or autobiographical, some are familiar and others have sprung from the imaginations of their creators. Comics don’t need to be constrained within the square frame of a comic panel and the work in this show expands well beyond it and even well beyond the page. Comic Sans is a celebration of the endlessly creative medium of graphic narratives.   

Comic Sans is organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Chris Reyns-Chikuma, University of Alberta and Lindsey Sharman, Art Gallery of Alberta.

NEW BOOK: Rave, April 2022, Drawn & Quarterly

A queer coming-of-age story, complete with secret cigarettes, gross gym teachers, and a lot of church

It’s the early 2000s. Lauren is fifteen, soft-spoken, and ashamed of her body. She’s a devout member of an evangelical church, but when her Bible-thumping parents forbid Lauren to bring evolution textbooks home, she opts to study at her schoolmate Mariah’s house. Mariah has dial-up internet, an absentee mom, and a Wiccan altar—the perfect setting for a study session and sleepover to remember. That evening, Mariah gives Lauren a makeover and the two melt into each other, in what becomes Lauren’s first queer encounter. Afterward, a potent blend of Christian guilt and internalized homophobia causes Lauren to question the experience.

Author Jessica Campbell (XTC69) uses frankness and dark humor to articulate Lauren's burgeoning crisis of faith and sexuality. She captures teenage antics and banter with astute comedic style, simultaneously skewering bullies, a culture of slut-shaming, and the devastating impact of religious zealotry. Rave is an instant classic, a coming-of-age story about the secret spaces young women create and the wider social structures that fail them.

GROUP SHOW: Comic Sans, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, June 18 - October 2, 2022

Contemporary Canadian comics are created without limitations of subject matter, without stylistic constraints and sometimes even without words at all. Comic Sans focuses on the limitless artistic side of Canadian comics and celebrates a broad range of approaches to storytelling. Some of the stories in Comic Sans are biographical or autobiographical, some are familiar and others have sprung from the imaginations of their creators. Comics don’t need to be constrained within the square frame of a comic panel and the work in this show expands well beyond it and even well beyond the page. Comic Sans is a celebration of the endlessly creative medium of graphic narratives.   

Comic Sans is organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Chris Reyns-Chikuma, University of Alberta and Lindsey Sharman, Art Gallery of Alberta.

GROUP SHOW: In the Adjacent Possible, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan WI, April 5, 2022 - March 26, 2023

In the Adjacent Possible is a response to sociologist Ruha Benjamin’s suggestion to “imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within.”

Each of the five artists’ installations provides a vantage point for viewing the many potentialities that lie just beyond what we know. They conjure worlds that are not quite here, yet are within our grasp. They place us in the adjacent possible, a space where we can dream alternative ways of being in the world.

GROUP SHOW: Best Practices, Edgewood College Gallery, Madison, WI, March 30 – May 8, 2022

Noted artist Evan Gruzis teaches painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This exhibition focuses on Cognizance in the context of creative production, showcasing the work of 11 current graduate students and alumni of SAIC. 

Best Practices refers to adherence to rules and habits that optimize the correctness and efficacy of a particular profession. It should be mentioned that in art, however, there is no such thing as correctness. Nonetheless, an artist’s practice, life and material can intersect in such a way as to propagate the aesthetic profundity and cultural resonance of the objects they produce. In this exhibition I have selected artists who I have met in my teaching career, another domain subject to rules and habits. Some were students of mine, some were acquaintances along the way. All of them are recent MFA graduates who display notable cognizance about the challenges before them. Some adhere to convention, while others seek to destroy. Either way the waning generation of artists (myself included) can relax. The future of art is in good hands. —Evan Gruzis, Madison WI, March 2022

GROUP SHOW: Wheel of Life, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL, March 19 – July 2, 2022

Mysterious, novel, and internally optical, the zoetrope is a pre-cinema, spinning drum that when put in motion creates a quick analog animation. For this exhibition, guest curator and interdisciplinary artist Scott Wolniak invites 13 artists that don’t normally make moving image work to make new work to be activated by a custom-made zoetrope. The exhibition offers a visual metaphor of the notion that limitations can promote innovation and foster a unique viewing experience.

GROUP SHOW: CHICAGO COMICS: 1960s to now, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, June 19 – October 3, 2021

Chicago has been a center for comics for decades—a haven not only for making and publishing cartoons, but also for innovating on the medium. Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now tells the story of the art form in the influential city through the work of Chicago’s many cartoonists: known, under-recognized, and up-and-coming.

The exhibition traces the evolution of comics in Chicago, as cartoonists ventured beyond the pages of newspapers and into experimental territory including long-form storytelling, countercultural critique, and political activism. Chicago Comics examines styles, schools of thought, and modes of publication across six decades of cartooning, including works from artists who are changing the medium today. The exhibition seeks to bring to the fore artists of color who were previously under-recognized throughout their careers. In this pursuit, the exhibition features archival material previously not seen in museums and offers a revised history of the art form. Represented throughout this timeline are special sections that highlight key artists including Kerry James Marshall, Lynda Barry, and Chris Ware.

How do cartoonists work? How do they collaborate? What tools do they use to build rich worlds and characters? Alongside familiar three-panel cartoons, Chicago Comics showcases developmental sketches, dioramas, and even sculptures, offering a glimpse into the artistic processes of cartoonists. By tracing the relationships between these artists—as thinkers, makers, and often teachers—the exhibition reveals how Chicago emerged as a vibrant community and center for innovation in the medium.

Through deep research into the many communities of makers, Chicago Comics offers an unprecedented portrait of sixty years of cartooning and celebrates an artistic community that continues to thrive today—one that could have only been fostered here in Chicago.

The exhibition is guest-curated by Dan Nadel; organized for the MCA with Michael Darling, former James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator, and Jack Schneider, Curatorial Assistant; and designed by Norman Kelley. Exhibition stools provided by Jason Lewis. This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Gary Leib (1955–2021).

GROUP SHOW: 2021 Art Faculty Triennial, Bush Art Center, St. Norbert College, DePere, WI, October 4 - 28, 2021

This exhibition features recent work by St. Norbert College art faculty. Exhibiting artists are Brandon Bauer, Shan Bryan-Hanson, Jessica Campbell, David Carpenter, Debbie Kupinsky, James Neilson, Brian Pirman and Katie Ries.

SOLO SHOW: Jessica Campbell: Watching the Abandoned Blinds Store Across the Street, Baer Gallery, St. Norbert College, DePere, WI, August 30 - September 23, 2021

Jessica Campbell is a cartoonist, visual artist and writer who is interested in how combining seemingly disparate media, subject matter and tone can be a tool for research and the production of knowledge. Her satirical drawings, comics and textiles expose everyday experiences that reveal the sexism women have faced throughout history, and presently. She primarily uses carpet to create figurative works that visually mimic latch hook rugs but deviate from this medium’s precedent in their subject matter, depiction style and scale.