CV / Contact
b. 1980 in Austin, TX
Resides in Chicago, IL
For full CV or other inquiries, please email
alicia.d.chester [at] gmail.com
everyacconci.wordpress.com
visualandcritical.net
freelance portfolio
EDUCATION
Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2010
Thesis: Beholding Bodies and Embodied Beholders in Annette Messager's Mes vœux
Committee: Terri Kapsalis, Shawn Michelle Smith, Nathanaël Stephens
Certificate in Museum Studies, Northwestern University, 2005
Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2003
Exchange student in the atelier of Annette Messager, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, Spring 2002
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998-1999
EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Faculty in Photography, Graphic Design Department, Oakton Community College, August 2009–Present
Instructor, Digital Arts and Photography, Lillstreet Art Center, September 2011–Present
Collections Research Fellow, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, February 2011–May 2012
Early College Program Photography Instructor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Fall 2008 & Spring 2011
Teaching Assistant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2007–2008.
Photography, Art History, Early College Program, First Year Program
PUBLICATIONS
Coeditor and Contributing Author, Theorizing Visual Studies: Writing Through the Discipline, lead editors James Elkins and Kristi McGuire with Maureen Burns, Alicia Chester, and Joel Kuennen (Routledge, forthcoming late 2012)
Cofounder of Canon, a multiform journal by visual and critical studies graduate students, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Spring 2008
Art Criticism Staff Writer, F Newsmagazine, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2007-2008
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
Co-curator – Peripheral Views: States of America
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
July 13–September 30, 2012
Curatorial team includes Natasha Egan, Karen Irvine, and Allison Grant.
Co-curator – Quarterly Site #11, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
July 7–Aug 11, 2012
Guest curator for the Quarterly Site Series in the Twelve Galleries Project by Jamilee Polson Lacy. Curatorial team includes Kate Ruggeri and Karolina Gnatowski.
Curator – A Hirsute Affair, Gallery X, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Oct 14–31, 2008
SYMPOSIA and SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Creating Justice: Celebrating the Connections between Art and Activism, April 21, 2012. Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL.
Guest speaker in Shawn Michelle Smith’s “Thesis I” graduate seminar at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Presentation of master’s thesis followed by a discussion with visual and critical studies graduate students about the process of researching and writing a thesis, Sept 30, 2011.
"Performing the Absent Body: Looking to Be Touched," collaborative lecture written with Katherine Lennard and performed with Joel Kuennen in Savneet Talwar’s course “Archive and Everyday Life” at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Jan 31, 2011.
To Turn, To Tend Toward: Working Theses, Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies Symposium, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, May 2, 2009
Radical Intersections: Performance Across Disciplines, interdisciplinary graduate student conference, Department of Performance Studies, Northwestern University. Presented "Performing the Absent Body: Looking to Be Touched" with Katherine Lennard, Apr 24-26, 2009.
Disruptions: the Political in Art Now, participant in symposium workshop on “the event” led by Gregg Bordowitz. Hosted by the Open Practice Committee/Department of Visual Arts, University of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Oct 24, 2008.
Selected GRANTS and AWARDS
ACRE Residency, August 1–12, 2012
Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP) Grant, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, 2006 & 2007
Bachelor of Fine Arts Fellowship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2003
Dean’s List, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998–1999
EXHIBITIONS
2011
ID Show, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
The Nature Project, Brickton Art Center, Park Ridge, IL
Call and Response, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
Returning the Gaze, Northern Trust Bank, Chicago, IL
Disruptive Stillness, Jean Paul Slusser Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2010
PAGES: Book as Medium, Catalyst, and Venue, Paragraph Gallery, Kansas City, MO
ID Show, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
No Place Like Home: Examining Changing Landscapes in Our Lives, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
2009
ID Show, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
TOO BIG TO FAIL: Texts, Bodies, Objects, Images, APRIL Gallery, Twelve Galleries Project, Chicago
2008
A Hirsute Affair, Gallery X, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Women in the Arts: A Celebration, Effe Leven Gallery, Chicago, IL
Discipline Problems, curated by Joseph Grigely, Alogon Gallery, Chicago, IL
Picturing Mary: Contemporary Images of the Madonna, Orleans Street Gallery, St. Charles, IL
2007
Flash Theory: On the Archive, Around the Coyote Fall Arts Festival, Chicago, IL
Solo exhibition, Café Ambrosia, Evanston, IL
Chicago Art Open, Iron Studios, Chicago, IL
2006
Curator’s Choice Exhibition, curated by Tricia Van Eck, Around the Coyote Fall Arts Festival, Chicago
Curator’s Choice Exhibition, curated by Peter Miller, Around the Coyote Winter Arts Festival, Chicago
2004
Beyondmedia’s 1st Annual Art Auction ExtravaGOWNza, Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, IL
Figure | Body Selections, Hostelling International, Chicago, IL
2003
Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Gallery 2, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Movieside 14, The Prodigal Son, Chicago, IL
2002
Movieside Film Festival, Biograph Theater, Chicago, IL
Les Portes Ouvertes, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
2000
20 First, 162 North State Street Residences Student Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Artbash, Gallery 2, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1999
A Surrealist Primer, Allcott Undergraduate Gallery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Short Order Gallery Show, Chapel Hill, NC
Resides in Chicago, IL
For full CV or other inquiries, please email
alicia.d.chester [at] gmail.com
everyacconci.wordpress.com
visualandcritical.net
freelance portfolio
EDUCATION
Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2010
Thesis: Beholding Bodies and Embodied Beholders in Annette Messager's Mes vœux
Committee: Terri Kapsalis, Shawn Michelle Smith, Nathanaël Stephens
Certificate in Museum Studies, Northwestern University, 2005
Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2003
Exchange student in the atelier of Annette Messager, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, Spring 2002
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998-1999
EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Faculty in Photography, Graphic Design Department, Oakton Community College, August 2009–Present
Instructor, Digital Arts and Photography, Lillstreet Art Center, September 2011–Present
Collections Research Fellow, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, February 2011–May 2012
Early College Program Photography Instructor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Fall 2008 & Spring 2011
Teaching Assistant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2007–2008.
Photography, Art History, Early College Program, First Year Program
PUBLICATIONS
Coeditor and Contributing Author, Theorizing Visual Studies: Writing Through the Discipline, lead editors James Elkins and Kristi McGuire with Maureen Burns, Alicia Chester, and Joel Kuennen (Routledge, forthcoming late 2012)
Cofounder of Canon, a multiform journal by visual and critical studies graduate students, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Spring 2008
Art Criticism Staff Writer, F Newsmagazine, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2007-2008
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
Co-curator – Peripheral Views: States of America
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
July 13–September 30, 2012
Curatorial team includes Natasha Egan, Karen Irvine, and Allison Grant.
Co-curator – Quarterly Site #11, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
July 7–Aug 11, 2012
Guest curator for the Quarterly Site Series in the Twelve Galleries Project by Jamilee Polson Lacy. Curatorial team includes Kate Ruggeri and Karolina Gnatowski.
Curator – A Hirsute Affair, Gallery X, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Oct 14–31, 2008
SYMPOSIA and SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Creating Justice: Celebrating the Connections between Art and Activism, April 21, 2012. Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL.
Guest speaker in Shawn Michelle Smith’s “Thesis I” graduate seminar at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Presentation of master’s thesis followed by a discussion with visual and critical studies graduate students about the process of researching and writing a thesis, Sept 30, 2011.
"Performing the Absent Body: Looking to Be Touched," collaborative lecture written with Katherine Lennard and performed with Joel Kuennen in Savneet Talwar’s course “Archive and Everyday Life” at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Jan 31, 2011.
To Turn, To Tend Toward: Working Theses, Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies Symposium, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, May 2, 2009
Radical Intersections: Performance Across Disciplines, interdisciplinary graduate student conference, Department of Performance Studies, Northwestern University. Presented "Performing the Absent Body: Looking to Be Touched" with Katherine Lennard, Apr 24-26, 2009.
Disruptions: the Political in Art Now, participant in symposium workshop on “the event” led by Gregg Bordowitz. Hosted by the Open Practice Committee/Department of Visual Arts, University of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Oct 24, 2008.
Selected GRANTS and AWARDS
ACRE Residency, August 1–12, 2012
Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP) Grant, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, 2006 & 2007
Bachelor of Fine Arts Fellowship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2003
Dean’s List, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998–1999
EXHIBITIONS
2011
ID Show, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
The Nature Project, Brickton Art Center, Park Ridge, IL
Call and Response, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
Returning the Gaze, Northern Trust Bank, Chicago, IL
Disruptive Stillness, Jean Paul Slusser Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2010
PAGES: Book as Medium, Catalyst, and Venue, Paragraph Gallery, Kansas City, MO
ID Show, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
No Place Like Home: Examining Changing Landscapes in Our Lives, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
2009
ID Show, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
TOO BIG TO FAIL: Texts, Bodies, Objects, Images, APRIL Gallery, Twelve Galleries Project, Chicago
2008
A Hirsute Affair, Gallery X, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Women in the Arts: A Celebration, Effe Leven Gallery, Chicago, IL
Discipline Problems, curated by Joseph Grigely, Alogon Gallery, Chicago, IL
Picturing Mary: Contemporary Images of the Madonna, Orleans Street Gallery, St. Charles, IL
2007
Flash Theory: On the Archive, Around the Coyote Fall Arts Festival, Chicago, IL
Solo exhibition, Café Ambrosia, Evanston, IL
Chicago Art Open, Iron Studios, Chicago, IL
2006
Curator’s Choice Exhibition, curated by Tricia Van Eck, Around the Coyote Fall Arts Festival, Chicago
Curator’s Choice Exhibition, curated by Peter Miller, Around the Coyote Winter Arts Festival, Chicago
2004
Beyondmedia’s 1st Annual Art Auction ExtravaGOWNza, Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, IL
Figure | Body Selections, Hostelling International, Chicago, IL
2003
Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Gallery 2, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Movieside 14, The Prodigal Son, Chicago, IL
2002
Movieside Film Festival, Biograph Theater, Chicago, IL
Les Portes Ouvertes, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
2000
20 First, 162 North State Street Residences Student Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Artbash, Gallery 2, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1999
A Surrealist Primer, Allcott Undergraduate Gallery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Short Order Gallery Show, Chapel Hill, NC