Oakton art museum to showcase 'Kindred Spirits' exhibit

Oakton Community College's Koehnline Museum of Art will display the works of a married couple who have collaborated in a studio for 10 years to support each other's creative thought process beginning Thursday, May 10, at the college's Des Plaines campus, 1600 E. Golf Road.

The public is invited to a free opening night reception for "Kindred Spirits: Recent Work by Kathie Shaw and Corey Postiglione" from 5 to 8 p.m.

Shaw's paintings are inspired by decorative ironwork, where the artisan creates fluidity from rigid material, making allusions to iron's strength. Postiglione uses the intertwined oval form as a metaphor for interconnected relationships on both a personal and global scale.

"In this period of intense commercialism, it seems difficult to justify an artistic process that investigates the individual's thought process and points to the ideas behind why artists need to create," Nathan Harpaz, museum manager and curator, said.

"Corey and Kathie have been fortunate to interact with each other about the practice of making paintings. They share ideas on all sorts of topics, including the 'why' behind what they are doing. Their art practices demonstrate the importance of collaboration."

Shaw earned her master's degree in fine art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and worked for several years at the Asian Department at the Art Institute of Chicago.

She later pursued her master's degree in architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Shaw also studied in Rome and attended the Drikung Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.

Born and raised in Chicago, Postiglione received his bachelor's degree in studio arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a master's degree in art history and critical theory from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

For more than four decades, Postiglione has exhibited professionally around the world in countries, including Scotland, Germany and India. In addition to his career as a practicing artist, his critical writing has appeared in Artforum, The New Art Examiner and Dialogue.

The exhibit runs through Thursday, June 21. The Koehnline Museum of Art is currently open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For details, call (847) 635-2633, or visit www.oakton.edu/museum.