Christine Ilewski 
{Acrylic & Mixed Media}

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Christine Ilewski’s work reflects her experiences as a woman, wife, mother, sister, daughter, and social justice advocate. With a studio overlooking the Mississippi River, her work reflects domestic and intimate scenes and is superimposed upon landscapes both real and imagined. Anything and everything may be incorporated to imbue the work with further depth, with special focus placed on fiber elements such as old quilts, handkerchiefs, aprons, doll clothes, embroidery, and other domestic labors of love. The varied media act as symbolic remnants connecting past, present, and future. Vivid colors also dance across the rich surfaces, drawing the eye and adding further intensity. Elaborate patterns, textures, and scenes play out. The further layering of media and exploration of evolving subject matter adds yet more intricacy. Ms. Ilewski’s art, both reflective and narrative, often uses the Mississippi river as a still point from which everything else revolves, a respite to her social justice work.

​

EDUCATION

• University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire: Bachelor of Fine Arts

• Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville: Bachelor of Science, Art Education, K-12 Teaching
  Certification

• Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville/ Lindenwood Univ. : Masters Work in Fine Arts

​​

WORK AND PROFESSIONAL ARTIST EXPERIENCE​

• Founder/Director: Faces Not Forgotten, www.facesnotforgottten.org, a 501(c3) non-profit organization creating portraits to memorialize young victims of gun violence. The Project is exhibited Nationwide at colleges and universities and has been noted in newspapers such as St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Belleville News Democrat and featured in television news broadcasts.​

  • Awards:​

    • 2022, 2023 Gold & Silver Anthem Awards: Education, Art & Culture, Special Projects, Product, Innovation, or Service Categories (Nonprofit)

    • 2021 Focus St. Louis What’s Right with the Region Award

    • 2021 Rizpah Network award.

    • 2013 Critical Mass Award

• Feature presentations: 

  • VoyageSTL, Rising Stars: Meet Christine Ilewski Huelsmann

    • https://voyagestl.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-christine-ilewski-huelsmann-of-alton-il-but-business-is-all-of-the-stl-region/​

  • AIGA St. Louis, STL By Design Episode 35 - Faces Not Forgotten: Part One

    • https://stlouis.aiga.org/stl-by-design-episode-35-faces-not-forgotten-part-one/

  • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),  2017/Director: Faces Not Forgotten, a501(c)3 organization 

    • https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-41041698/painting-faces-of-young-us-gun-victims

• Visiting Artist: Liquitex and Winsor Newton Artist Paints (1997-2023) Visit Midwest and national colleges and universities, teaching workshops using professional artist paints and related products.

​​

EXHIBITIONS​​

• MASS Design Corporate Gallery, The Gun Violence Memorial, Boston, MA - Faces Not Forgotten 2024-2025

• Margaret Harwell Art Museum, solo exhibit "Making Home", May-July 2024

• St. Louis Artist Guild, solo exhibit "Meditations in Color", April-May 2023

• Manhattan Arts International, online Associate Artist, 2022-23

• Ariodante Gallery, New Orleans, LA, featured artist 2016-present

• Guy Lyman Gallery, online, 1st Dibbs 2020-present

• St. Louis, MO, Art St. Louis, Of Nature 2023, Light, invitational 2022

• St. Louis, MO, Artist’s Guild, Still Point, solo 2023

• Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, IL, Cedarhurst Biennial, juried 2021

• IUPUI Gallery, IN - Faces Not Forgotten, 2021

• Chicago, Woman Made Gallery, Home, juried 2020

• Rutgers Univ. Gallery, Newark, NJ- Faces Not Forgotten 2018

• Univ. of MO, Taking it to the Streets, invitational exhibit, St. Louis, MO 2017

• Women’s Institute of Art, New Harmony, IN - solo exhibit, Winds of Change, 2016

​

PAINTING COLLECTIONS

• Margaret Harwell Art Museum, Poplar Bluff, MO , permanent collection

• St. Louis Art Academy, St. Louis, MO; "Life" artist Christine Ilewski

• Drs. Simckess, Followell and Hines, St. Louis, MO http://www.christahines.com/

• Alton History and Art Museum, Alton, IL, permanent collection

• St. Mary's Medical Center, Clayton, MO, lobby installation

• Harry's on Market and Best Western (airport) lobby installations, St. Louis, MO

• Jeanna Jackson's Yoga studio, St. Louis, MO