The Chicago River Confluence marks where the main and north branches of the river merge to create the south branch, connecting the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Just like where the branches collide, the city attracts a wide range of unique voices and talents which inform and influence one another. The confluence is a physical location that marks the transition of the natural order of the flow of the Chicago River, where it was reversed through human intervention in 1900 from Lake Michigan into the Mississippi River.
Confluence, by definition, refers to geology. A more elaborate definition involves the act of merging. Just as the north branch and main branch of the river converge to create a new body of water (the south branch,) “Confluence” is a colliding of diverse artistic voices to form a cohesive group. The role of an artist has long been compared to the role of an alchemist; the artist as a person who is capable of transforming raw materials into something entirely new, but this alchemy is not limited to materials, it extends to ideas, to beliefs, and to our collective state of mind. It is particularly within intersectionality that empathy and introspection are made highly accessible; and it is particularly in these tepid times in which empathy and introspection is a necessity.
Art – whether visual, cinematic, or literary- has the ability to provide clarity, to create cohesion from diverse outlooks, to investigate our failures or successes. By forming an intersection of disparate, incendiary artistic voices, “Confluence” aims to create coherence from incoherence, and to find growth in the moments of disarray.
Laura Nicole Heldane. “Between the Spiritual & the Material :: Connecting with Land Marks as Self – Study 16 Width X 17 Dept x 16 Height Digital images (.jpeg) & Video (.mp4) on eMac – v 2002, Apple MAc OS x 10.1 (code names PUMA) Apple Pro Keyboard M7803 2002 USB Wired, Logitech Mouse M1000 USB Wired 2019-2020
Lauren Sullivan. ““Disney on Ice” Winnie the Pooh, Olaf, cbd oil, cooler, hard seltzer, bees, 2020
Claire Moore. “Clinch” 16′ X 12′ Gouache on wood panel, 2020
Claire Moore. “Chains” 16′ X 12′ Gouache on wood panel, 2020
Jess Bass. “Hot Glue Tests”. 12″ X 26” Hot glue, wheat paste, watercolor paper, fabric, 2020
Christina Ballantyne. “How do I know what I look like” 30 H X 38 W inch, Oil on canvas, 2020
Andy Hunt. “Untitled” 26″ X 40″, Acrylic, ink, wax, and resin on XPS, 2020
Jess Bass. “Cyanotype Collages” 12″ X 26″, Dye, ink, watercolor paper, 2020
Tony Duvall. “Time to Observe Ourselves on Top of City Bus”, 22″ X 28″, Oil on canvas 2020
Patrick Hubbell. “A Failed, Romanticized, Wild West Painting” 33 H X 24 W inch, Oil, acrylic, oil pastel, charcoal, canvas, wood, 2019
Tony Guo. “Untitled” 24″ X18, Oil on Canvas, 2019
Tony Guo. “Untitled” 24″ X18, Oil on Canvas, 2019