Sarah Hadley ~ Venetian Dreams
June 3 - July 24
Reception: Friday, June 6, 5:30-7:30

Gallery 180 of The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago presents the photographs of Chicago Artist, Sarah Hadley. Hadley currently works as a commercial photographer as well as fine artist. Her commercial credits include the Los Angeles "Time Out Guide Book" which is scheduled to be published in 2009. Her fine art credits include the "2007 Venice International Photo Exhibition" in Venice, Italy, "National Photography 2007" at the Main Street Gallery in Groton, New York, and the "Loyola National Works on Paper" exhibition at the Loyola University Gallery in Chicago. Most recently, Hadley took part in The Artist Project at the Merchandise Mart as part of the International Artropolis event.

The work exhibited at Gallery 180 comes from Hadley's "Venetian Dreams" series. The work documents "Venice as an illusory city filled with myth and intrigue." Hadley goes on to explain "I have chosen to make images that reflect and even enhance this vision of the city, deliberately shooting during the foggy days of winter or at night when there are few people about."

"Venice's endless maze of passageways and canals has fascinated me since I was a child. People appear and disappear over bridges and through tunnels, or glide down canals like characters in a spy novel. My images of water splashing on marble, ancient palazzos, and birds circling overhead, are meant to evoke a city which exists only in dreams or distant memory."

"There is something intangible about the best photographs, something that reminds us of the moment between wake and sleep, and of the beauty that we see and feel but cannot describe, and of our own mortality. These are the kinds of images I try to make."

The exhibition will be presented from June 3 to July 24, 2008. The reception will be on Friday, June 6, 5:30-7:30. The show is free to the public and the exhibited work is available for purchase.

Thomas Masters ~ Abstract Landscape
July 29 - September 4
Reception: Friday, August 8, 5:30-7:30

"...these are imagined landscapes outside the bounds of what we would never see in everyday life; yet they have clear references to natural scenes, heightening their emotive impact. In tense suspension between the world we think we know and a self-contained fantasy geography, I intend to draw the viewer back to the world with an enhanced sensibility rather than seducing the viewer to escape it. I hope to create a forceful mixture of beauty and sublimity that viewers cannot flee—if they are receptive—places that leave one awe-humbled, yet vitalized. In the end, I wish to convey that if we are to save ourselves from our self-destructive ways, we must embrace nature's indifferent majesty."

Maggie Meiners
September 9 - October 9
Reception: Friday, September 12, 5:30-7:30

"Though the purposeful use of fuzzy images seems to defy logic, the static of these images is meant to transfix and transport the viewer to a mind space where memories run wild. Upon arrival, colors are meant to take over, directing traffic as they issue their profound and proven impact on one's emotions. I named this series Childhood Contemplations after stepping into the role of the viewer myself and finding that the spectrum of colors recalls memories of my childhood. A colorful one indeed."

The Art of Real Estate ~ A Regional Juried Exhibition of Intrerior and Exterior Spaces
The Art of Real Estate prospectus
Postmark Entry Deadline: Friday, August 8
October 13 - November 6
Reception: Friday, October 17, 5:30-7:30

Remedy ~ the art of disease
A National Juried Invitational
Commissions to go to various associated charities
November 10 - January 8, 2009
Reception: Friday, November 14, 5:30-7:30