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Due to coronavirus outbreak, artist to give online talk about Aurora display

Artist Rita Grendze won’t let a pandemic deter her from talking about her art.

The Geneva-based Grendze was due to give a talk in person at the Pierce Art and History Center in downtown Aurora, where her display, “Synapsis 6: grief,” has been installed. When her talk was canceled due to the coronavirus crisis, she converted her talk to a virtual event on Aurora Public Art’s YouTube channel.

Aurora Public Art will offer a virtual chat with the artist on the department’s YouTube channel at 11 a.m. April 17.

Grendze will discuss the exhibit and her process of making art, then answer questions submitted by viewers using an online chat application. Photos of the exhibit may be viewed at ?bit.ly/APAC_Grendze?. Viewers may watch and ask questions at the following address: ?bit.ly/Grendze_APAC?, or by visiting the Aurora Public Art channel on YouTube.

“We are thrilled to offer this opportunity for the community, especially students who are participating in e-learning during school closures, to interact with our featured artist,” said Jen Evans, Aurora Public Art director.

Grendze’s installation “Synapsis 6: grief” is made from drinking straws, embroidery floss, surveyors’ twine, plastic tubing, cardboard tubes and cord. It occupies a space that is 16 feet tall by about 20 feet wide, and eight feet deep.

“The series grew from my interest in mapping how I think brain synapses look,” Grendze wrote. “My younger son has some mental health issues that have taught me a lot about how our brains process emotion. We are making order from chaos constantly. In the best situations, almost instantaneously.

“But in this piece, there isn’t a lovely crescendo and resolution with the emotions all sewn up. Instead, the installation is holding a space that is ordered and chaotic at the same time, defined, and yet fluid within the parameters.”

Grendze said this iteration is looking at her understanding of grief, both as an observer of grief in others and also her own grief, having recently lost her mother.

This event is free, and is sponsored by the city of Aurora.

Grendze received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts in fiber from Cleveland Institute of Art in 1987 and her master’s degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1994.

Immediately following her graduate work, Grendze received a Fulbright scholarship and spent a year in Latvia studying symbolism in Latvian folk costumes. Grendze has taught at Maryland Institute College of Art in the Fiber and Foundations departments, as well as at Jersey City University.

Since moving to the Chicago area in 2001, she has worked with Redmoon Theater creating costumes and props for outdoor spectacles, has taught community workshops in Kane County and been involved with Water Street Studios in Batavia.

slord@tribpub.com