Clayco Salon Series
Supporting Artists
Every three months, Clayco hosts a significant and established artist for our Salon Series. We present the artist’s imaginative work with our employees, friends and clients. The evening encourages discovery and discussion. This community commitment touches upon our mission of hospitably sharing our offices with our partners and friends and our mission to support meaningful and relevant artists, many of who have worked with us on large scale architectural projects and share our vision for the Art and Science of Building. Our current and past artist exhibits are displayed below.
Tom Rossiter
Tom Rossiter’s new exhibit, Architecture Revealed, embraces the historical practice of the architectural analytic: a process of developing an exquisitely detailed elevation drawing of a facade, surrounded by the detailed decorative arrangement of drawing of important details and sometimes a plan or section of the facade.
Tom Rossiter, FAIA, is a photographer/filmmaker, registered architect, and a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He was a founding member of the design-build firm McClier where he served as President for many years. his fine art photographs have been in numerous gallery shows.
For more information about this artist, visit their website www.tomrossiter.com.
Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson is an artist who has been living and making art in Chicago for over forty years. After years of running the Chicago Furniture Design Association and working with the Chicago Artist’s coalition to create Chicago Artist’s Month and the Chicago Art Open (which he co-hosted from 1998 thru 2000.) It was at that time that he started making natural wood mosaics.
The “Twins” series was conceived in 2007. He learned to “gang cut” his wood mosaics to provide a “reflection in the mirror” image. The first mosaic took eight months to complete. He has subsequently constructed 16 sets.
For more information about this artist, visit their website tomrobinsonartist.com.
Sandro Miller
Sandro Miller is an internationally renowned photographer. Miller has worked closely with John Malkovich, Steppenwolf Theatre, Adidas, Allstate Insurance, American Express, Anheuser-Busch, BMW, Champion, Coca-Cola, Dove, Gatorade, Honda, Milk, Microsoft, Miller/Coors, Motorola, Nike, Nikon, Pepsi, Pony, UPS, the US Army and more.
For more information about this artist, visit their website www.sandrofilm.com or listen to an interview with Sandro here.
Brandin Hurley
Brandin Hurley a Chicago based installation artist with a background in Scenic Design, who has been practicing her art since receiving an MFA from Northern Illinois University in 2013. Although her mediums varies, her favorite element is light. She enjoys experimenting with light’s flexibility and ethereal effects.
For more information about this artist, visit their website: brandinhurleydesigns.com
Maurico Ramirez
Mauricio Ramirez is a visual artist creating contemporary murals, commercial, and fine art throughout the United States. His recent mural for Clayco’s A.M. 1980 project in Chicago’s Bucktown was designed to create a dialogue with the community by connecting them with a local cultural icon of the Logan Square Eagle. He wanted to incorporate the eagle into the mural but also create it new to reflect the energy of the A.M. 1980 project. For more on the project, click here.
For more information about this artist, visit their website: mauriciopaints.com
Jimenez Lai
Jimenez Lai is a faculty member at UCLA and a founder of Bureau Spectacular. Lai has worked for various international offices, including OMA. He is widely exhibited and published around the world, including the MoMA-collected White Elephant. His first manifesto, Citizens of No Place, was published by Princeton Architectural Press with a grant from the Graham Foundation. Draft II of the book has been archived at the New Museum as a part of the show Younger Than Jesus. Lai has built numerous installations as well as being widely exhibited and published around the world. In 2012, Jimenez Lai has been named a winner to the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects. Lai won the Debut Award at the Lisbon Triennale in 2013 and was represented in Taiwan for the 2014 Venice Architectural Biennale.
For more information about this artist, visit their website: bureau-spectacular.net
Theaster Gates
Theaster Gates is an American social practice installation artist and a professor. Since 2011, Gates has been the Director of Arts and Public Life at the University of Chicago. In this role, he oversees staff at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, a wide network of resident and visiting artists, community participants, programmatic partners, and friends. He is also a full professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he still lives and works.
For more information about this artist, visit their website theastergates.com or listen to an interview with Theaster here.
Carol Swartout Klein
The arts have always played a crucial role throughout history from being cathartic to challenging, allowing people to work through emotions and grapple with change in creative ways. In 2014, St. Louis became synonymous with one word, Ferguson.
The issues brought to light in Ferguson of racial inequity helped launch the national Black Lives Matter movement. Michael Brown’s death set off a spiral of events at the time. This led to community soul searching and protests, as well as property destruction affecting many minority and immigrant owned businesses and restaurants.
However, something else powerful emerged on these same streets – grassroots Painting for Peace movement. With boarded up windows that made businesses appear closed, many were struggling to survive in the upheaval. In response, several St. Louis artists gathered their friends and families armed with nothing more than a paintbrush, paint and an idea.
The miles of plywood that lined the streets of Ferguson and St. Louis City became a canvas for artists to process what they and the community were going through by telling stories, creating beauty, commenting on society and even demanding social change.
Recognizing the importance of this moment and the healing effect that the art was having, Ferguson native and writer, Carol Swartout Klein first captured the images and the story in the children’s book “Painting for Peace in Ferguson.” The nationally award-winning book, which donates all profits back to North County area art, education or youth-related non-profits.
