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American Academy of Art Exclusive Chicago Host to Society of Illustrators 2008-2009 Traveling Exhibition, March 19 – April 24th, 2009

Notable illustrators with works ranging from advertising to editorial on display at Academy’s Bill L. Parks Gallery

(CHICAGO, March 16, 2009) – The American Academy of Art (www.aaart.edu) will host the Society of Illustrators 2008-2009 Traveling Exhibition from the 50th Annual, March 19 through April 24th, at the Academy’s Bill L. Parks Gallery, 332 South Michigan Avenue. The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday – Thursday, from 11a.m. to 4p.m., or by appointment.  A special media and student preview will be hosted from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 19.

The touring exhibition consisting of 40 original works, selected from the Society’s Annual Exhibition, has toured U.S. colleges for the past 27 years (with all new works featured each year).   The 40 pieces included in the exhibit are only a representative sample of the best works in the six categories of the Annual, which include: sequential, editorial, book, advertising, institutional and un-commissioned.  This year’s featured artists include: Jim Cohen, 1983 graduate of the Academy, Brad Holland (who studied at the Academy), Sterling Hundley, Matt Mahurin, Jody Hewgill, Yulco Shimizu and Anitz Kunz.  While many of the exhibited artists are already well established, a significant number are among the art form’s rising stars.

The exhibition at the American Academy of Art represents the only Chicago-area event for the traveling show.  In fact, the exhibit is on tour at only four colleges in the United States from September 2008 through July 2009.  Academy officials hope the show will attract new visitors to the Bill L. Parks Gallery, which is located just a couple of blocks south of the Art Institute of Chicago and a short walk from the Chicago Cultural Center.

“We’re proud to host this exhibit at the Academy, given our long history of producing accomplished illustrators,” said the Academy’s President Richard Otto.  

For more information on the exhibit and the American Academy of Art, visit www.aaart.edu or call the Bill L. Parks Gallery at 312-461-0600.

Since its founding in 1923, the American Academy of Art has trained and educated some of the nation’s most notable and prolific fine artists and illustrators, including: Haddon Sundblom, illustrator of the original Coca-Cola Santa Claus; Gil Elvgren, famed for pin-up art during WWII;   T. Allan Lawson, fine-arts painter commissioned to paint the White House holiday card in 2008; and noted comic book and graphic novel artist Alex Ross, among dozens of other greats.

Click here to view the artwork of the
2008-2009 Society of Illustrators Exhibition.