Kate Conlon is a Chicago-based artist and educator. Her work, investigational in nature, usually begins with an earnest attempt to figure something out and invariably ends in a mess of paradox, incongruence, and doubt.  Conlon’s work has been exhibited at venues including The Grand Rapids Art Museum, the Terrain Biennial, in Oak Park, IL and Museu do Douro in Portugal. She has received grants and residencies from Kala Art Intitute, ACRE and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Conlon is founder and co-director of Fernwey Gallery and director of Fernwey Editions, an independent publishing house that collaborates with artists on limited edition prints and multiples. Learn more about Kate Conlon’s HATCH exhibition Three Hares.

Bobby Gonzales (b. Delran, NJ) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL, whose work explores the intersection of painting, performance, and photography. He received his BFA in painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and recently completed his MFA in photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Most recent exhibitions and performances include participation in Merce Cunningham’s “Field Dances” at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), group exhibitions at Das Institut für Alles Mögliche (Berlin, Germany), The Milwaukee Institute for Art and Design (Milwaukee, WI), The Galleries at Columbia University (New York, NY), Zurcher Studios (New York, NY) and solo exhibitions at Vox Populi artist collective, where he was an artist member from 2012-2014 (Philadelphia, PA). Learn more about Bobby Gonzales’s HATCH exhibition Three Hares.

Olivia Petrides, Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute, was awarded a Fulbright Grant to Iceland and an Artist Residency at the Reykjavik Municipal Art Museum in 1993. She revisited Iceland in 1994 on an American-Scandinavian Foundation Award. On Faculty Grants awarded In 1995 and 1998, Petrides returned to the subarctic North Atlantic, where she had residencies with the Faroe Islands Museum of Natural History. In 1999, she returned to Iceland. Most recently in 2001, with the support of the American-Scandinavian Foundation and a Faculty Grant, she traveled to Greenland. Petrides has been awarded other residency fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, the Roger Brown Studio, Yellowstone National Park and many residencies at the Ragdale Foundation. She has illustrated two volumes in the Peterson Field Guide Series, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, and four field manuals issued by Explorer Press. Her work is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; US National Park Service, Wyoming; Hafnarborg Institute of Art, Iceland; the Illinois State Museum and the Field Museum, Chicago, among others.

Image: “Polar Nights I,” (left), 75” x 356” Ink & gouache on paper; and “Polar Nights II,” (right), 75” x 260” Ink & gouache on paper, at Elmhurst College, 2016. 

(updated 2019)

Erin Smego​ ​is​ ​a​ ​post-minimalist​ ​sculptor​ ​who​ ​lives​ ​and​ ​works​ ​in​ ​Chicago. She​ ​received​ ​her​ ​Bachelor​ ​of​ ​Fine​ ​Arts​ ​from​ ​the​ ​School​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Art​ ​Institute of​ ​Chicago​ ​(SAIC)​ ​in​ ​2011.​ ​She​ ​has​ ​exhibited​ ​in​ ​the​ ​United​ ​States including​ ​group​ ​exhibitions​ ​at​ ​65Grand,​ ​THE​ ​SUB-MISSION,​ ​The​ ​Fulton Street​ ​Collective,​ ​and​ ​22.​ ​She’s​ ​had​ ​solo​ ​installations​ ​at​ ​The​ ​Hermosa Walls​ ​and​ ​Ignition​ ​Projects​ ​both​ ​located​ ​in​ ​Chicago​ ​in​ ​2017.​ ​​In​ ​2016​, ​she participated​ ​in​ ​a​ ​show​ ​at​ ​the​ ​Czong​ ​Institute​ ​for​ ​Contemporary​ ​Art​ ​(CICA) Museum​ ​in​ ​Gyenggi-do,​ ​South​ ​Korea.​ ​In​ ​2015,​ ​she​ ​was​ ​awarded​ ​the​ ​Edna L.​ ​Cushing​ ​Annual​ ​Memorial​ ​Prize​ ​in​ ​a​ ​juried​ ​show​ ​"Elements​ ​of Abstraction"​ ​at​ ​the​ ​St.​ ​Louis​ ​Artists'​ ​Guild. Learn more about Erin Smego’s HATCH exhibition Somewhere Behind Us.

Matthew Owen Wead (b. 1984, Chicago, IL) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores social hierarchy through verbal and written language. He received a BFA from Morehouse College (2006) and an MFA from University of Maryland (2009) with a focus on printmaking, sculpture and photography. His work often uses multiple-mediums and is constructed to be used as real-world objects and structures. This practice of creating physical objects/tools, reinforces that these objects are not to be seen as fictional objects or ideas, but as slight alterations to what is already being done/seen around us and to us as a society.