UIS Visual Arts Gallery to Present “Belly” by Rita Grendze

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery will present “Belly,” a solo exhibition by sculptor and installation artist Rita Grendze, from March 2 through April 9.

A public reception will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on March 5 at the UIS Visual Arts Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public.

“Belly” features an installation constructed from grocery bags collected during the pandemic and reassembled into oversized, sagging vessels intended to evoke empty stomachs and changing bodies. The work explores themes of nourishment and scarcity, examining how hunger — physical, emotional or existential — settles into the body over time.

Grendze is a sculptor and installation artist whose work draws on gathered materials and the contextual meanings embedded in place. Raised between rural Rosenfeld, Manitoba, and suburban Lakewood, Ohio, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in fiber from the Cleveland Institute of Art and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art. As a Fulbright scholar, she spent a year in Latvia studying symbolism in folk costume, research that continues to inform her practice.

She has taught at institutions including the Maryland Institute College of Art, Jersey City University and Waubonsee Community College. Since relocating to the Chicago area in 2001, she has worked with community arts programs and arts organizations throughout the region.

Her drawings, sculptures and large-scale installations have been exhibited widely, including at the Latvian National Library. Her work is held in private and public collections such as the National Museum of Applied Arts in Riga and the Schingoethe Center at Aurora University. She lives and works in Geneva.

The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is located in the Health and Sciences Building (HSB 201) on the UIS campus and is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. More information is available on the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website.