Satellite City Transmissions

Formed in 2007, Satellite City Transmissions is a group comprised of a dozen Peoria-area artists from a wide range of visual mediums. While each artist brings a unique vision to his or her body of work, the group shares an approach that is edgy and experimental.

Their collaborative efforts seek to paint a picture of the urban-inspired art being created in the rural underground of Peoria.

The group has previously exhibited at Peoria’s WTVP Gallery, Bloomington’s Studio 222, 33 Collective Gallery in Chicago and the Fine Line Gallery in St. Charles. They are currently scheduled for an exhibition at the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria from July 12 to August 29, 2008.

 

Meet the Members:

Steph Van Doren - sculpture & painting

I am an environmental painter and sculptor. I am passionate about reducing carbon footprints, slowing or stopping waste streams, and quite simply, protecting the planet one piece of artwork at a time. I use reclaimed materials to create art that does not immediately say “I am recycled.” We have a tendency as a civilization to “hide” or deny our impact on this planet. Although not always immediately visually apparent, this theme creates the undercurrent that flows through each piece, and I hope will be felt by the viewer upon further contemplation of he work.

Jacob Grant - ceramics

My artistic vision and style is to create works of art which can be appreciated and acquired by not only the elite, but also by the common person. I also seek to create works of art which can be viewed by a larger audience through gallery and museum exhibitions. I attempt to achieve this through the creation of vessel forms that have no narrative concept. The concept behind my work is entirely about form. I hope to draw the viewer in to examine the object both visually and tactically, and to intimately connect with the form on a personal level.

Heather Brammeier - painting

My paintings focus on interlocking shapes and the resulting equivocation between figure and ground. Behind the interlocking shapes in my paintings is a desire for fullness and completeness. In my everyday life, I have an affinity for objects that are rounded and full, and that seem difficult to break. A new plant tendril sprouting from the earth is actually quite delicate, but the form itself could not be fuller, and the air around the perfect form cradles it with a sympathetic shape, making it feel unbreakable. It is only through painting and drawing that I feel close to achieving that same unbreakable quality.

John Tuccillo - painting

I am interested in a novel approach to landscape painting, which involves making site-specific molds and painted castings from those molds, mainly from the urban environment of Peoria. Essentially I select a site that offers an artifact, or interesting element in/on the ground, make a detailed mold impression of the site, cast parts from the mold and use the castings as bas-relief sculptures that are brought to life with a painted surface. The artifacts I select typically have some element of history, passage of time and a sense of former purpose that has been disturbed or is no longer functional, such as a set of doors from an early 20th century coal chute, a dilapidated manhole cover or the stump of a cut-down tree.

Jennifer Costa - sculpture

My work tends to be functional, being that it deals mostly with furniture. I enjoy working beyond the traditional boundaries of style and media when it comes to functional art. I want a patron to see the artwork for itself first and then recognize that there is a possible function to it as well.

Chris Hutson - drawing & printmaking

Often beginning from a nonobjective, gestural mark, I proceed into representational images of imaginary biomorphic objects, amalgamating piles of cloud intestines, mushroom bones, sausage meteors, meteor sausages, pet rocks and bonsai trees in moments of athletic extremis. My artwork is largely an omnivorous 21st century post-surrealism informed by mannerism, the baroque, science fiction and gastronomy. I hope to make people want to flip over rocks
and look for bugs.

Doug Goessman - mixed media & printmaking

My style very much combines Pop & Abstraction using simple imagery from popular culture. My art can be described this way: “It is what it looks like. I make my artwork accessible for anyone and everyone.”

Erin Robert - collage & mixed media

I can remember as a little girl being intrigued by little pieces of things I’d find lying in the street or stuck in the back of a closet—that interest sparks what I do now as a collage artist. I’m very nostalgic and love to explore the lifestyles of the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s, and am also very interested in history and society, how our values change depending on external influences and how all of this shapes marketing and logos. I tend to incorporate imagery that encompasses all these things into my work, and the results are pieces of art that are sort of like keepsakes from a bygone era.

Chad Ellison - sculpture & drawing

My work reflects a fascination with humanity—its pathos and triumphs. The anthropomorphic characters that I create represent a surreal outcome of a metamorphosis from human to animal. They are usually represented in narrative form, capturing the animalistic nature of the human spirit.

Richard Kirchgessner - scupture, painting, woodblock printing

I work in relief in clay, creating a negative mould with found objects that, after I pour plaster into the mould, creates a positive image. The resulting sculpture may have embedded objects in it, and at times, I will use welded steel to enhance its appearance. Combining different media such as wood, steel, plaster and plastic is something I am experimenting with. I would like those who see my sculptures begin to identify and relate to the found objects within the sculptures and form their own story about them. My work sometimes appears as though it was taken from an archeological dig—you never know what you are going to find hidden within until you go exploring.

Cheryl Dean - photography

I work with Polaroid films, image transfers and manipulations (not Photoshop). They give a painterly and dreamy effect to the photos. I want people to just enjoy them when they see them.

William Butler - painting & printmaking

For the last decade my work has been inspired out of a love of comic books and Pop Art. In the last few years, I have made a major shift in how I approach art that happens to align well with a movement called Pop Surrealism. I begin with automatic drawing, initially relying on the subconscious to direct me rather than planning everything out. As I progress, I make conscious design or color decisions, but I try to remain true to the initial impulse. In this new work, one can identify objects that look familiar, but they are altered and combined with symbols and shapes that are ambiguous. I like any art form that has mysterious imagery—I want viewers to be free to discover their own interpretation. Maybe someone can explain them to me, because the meaning of what I produce is hidden even from me!