Solo Exhibitions
“Fiddlehead Suite, macro photography by Ilze Arajs,” curator Julia Kemerer, Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, Riverwoods, IL, October 1 - November 5, 2017, photography
“Unfurling Tender Vitality, macro photography by Ilze Arajs,” curator Louise Rosenberg, Cultivate Urban Rainforest & Gallery, Evanston, IL, April 8 - June 3, 2017, photography
“Emerge and Unfurl, photography by Ilze Arajs,” curator Alvaro Ramos, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, 2014, photography
“Unfurling Vitality,” Wellspring Integrative Medicine, Evanston, IL, 2007, photography
"Lifting Water up from the Earth," Unitarian Church of Evanston, IL, 1996, textile collage
"Underground Patterns," curator Lelde Kalmite, Beverly Art Center, Chicago, IL, 1995, textile collage
"Dancing Sprouts," curators Barbara Goldsmith and Chie Curley, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, IL, 1993, ink brush painting, textile collage
"Quickening Earth," curator Roger Vandiver, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois, 1990, textile collage
"Soil Rhythms/Root Patterns," C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, Evanston, IL, 1989, textile collage
"The Creativity of Tradition," DePaul University Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1986, wood and textile collage
Selected Invitational Exhibits
“Patterns of Nature," curator Lelde Kalmite, Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago IL, 2018, photography
"Sight Unseen,” curator Alan Leder, Noyes Cultural Art Center, Evanston, IL 2014, photography
“Multiple Exposures,” photography curated by Jane Fulton Alt and Lelde Kalmite, Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, 2013, Installation: “Holding Fast in Ebb and Flow,” photography
“Contemporary Art of the Latvian Diaspora,” Latvia, traveling exhibit 2008-2010, photography
“Botanica,” curators Barbara Goldsmith and Chie Curley, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, Illinois, 2007, photography
“Faculty Exhibits”, Evanston Art Center, 2003, 2001, 1999, 1997, 1995, 1980, textile collage, photography
“The Circle of the World,” The Parliament of World Religions, Chicago Cultural Center, 1993, large-scale brush performance assisting Kazuaki Tanahashi
“Concerns for Light,” Gallery of the Fine and Performing Art Center, Catonsville Community College, Baltimore, Maryland, 1992, textile collage
"Concerns for Light," UP Art Gallery, University of Pittsburgh, 1991, textile collage
"Nine on Nature," Beacon Street Gallery, Chicago, 1987, textile collage
"Open and Closed for the Season," Evanston Art Center, National Fiber Invitational (curator Anne Wilson), 1984, installation of textile collage folding screens
“Fern Spiral, Twilight to Dawn,” part of “Take-A-Peek” invitational, A.R.C. Gallery, Chicago, 1983, wood, textiles and light installation
"Linear Abstractions," Visual Arts Center of Alaska, Anchorage, 1982, textile collage
"False Face," N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, 1979, sculpture
“Faculty Exhibit,” Koehnline Gallery, Morton Grove, 1978, fabric collage
"Nine Alumni," Toledo Museum School of Design, Ohio, 1977, sculpture, photography
“Invitational,” Bowling Green State University Gallery, Bowling Green, Ohio, 1975, sculpture, photography
Juried Exhibitions
“View from Evanston,” Perspective Group and Photography Gallery, Evanston, IL, 2016, photography
“From Nature,” juror Charles Gniech, Art Center Highland Park, Highland Park, IL, 2015, photography
Latvian Song Festival Art Exhibit, Chicago, 2002, brush painting prints
Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, "Flora 96", 1996, textile collage
Latvian Song Festival Art Exhibit, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1983, textile collage, Award
The Art Institute of Chicago, Vicinity Show, "Works on Paper", 1978, collage
The Toledo Museum of Art, Vicinity Show, 1977, First Place Award, mixed media
The Dayton Institute of Art, "All-Ohio Graphics and Photo Biennial", 1977, drawing
The Art Institute of Chicago, The School of the Art Institute MFA Fellowship Show, 1975, mixed media and photography, Award
Education
1975 Master of Fine Arts, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1973 Graduate study, California College of the Arts, Oakland, California
1972 Graduate study, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
1971 Bachelor of Education (Art K-12), University of Toledo, Ohio
Teaching Positions
1993-2004 Instructor, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, Illinois
1988-1998 Instructor, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois
1992-1996 Visiting Artist, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1977-1984 Assistant Professor, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Painting and Drawing, Department of Fiber and Material Studies, Initiator and Coordinator of the Early College Program, Department of Continuing Studies
1977-1980 Drawing Instructor, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, Illinois
1978-1979 Studio and Art History Instructor, Oakton Community College, Illinois
1975-1977 Director, Gifted Art Program, Washington Local Schools, Toledo, Ohio
Curator
2000 “Lyrical Images in Fabric Collage”, Skokie Public Library, Illinois
1999 “Fabric Collage: Co-evolution ‘99”, Evanston Public Library, Illinois
Grants and Fellowships
1984 Illinois Arts Council Artist Grant
1975 Fred Foster Travel Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1974 Tiffany Grant, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Selected Lectures and Seminars
1990 Field Museum of Natural History, "Science and Art Cross-Fertilize"
1986 The Chicago Botanic Garden, "Color Theory and Plant Materials"
1984 The Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, "A View from the Lake"
1983 The Art Institute of Chicago, "Border and Field in Latvian Textiles"
Evanston, Illinois | ilze.arajs@gmail.com | www.ilzearajs.com