Hyde Park Art Center is thrilled to welcome Susan Giles to the Jackman Goldwasser Residency as the 2014-2015 Chicago resident artist. Over the next year, Giles will be working in the studios toward a solo exhibition, which will open in the Main Gallery next Spring. The exhibition will comprise a series of large wooden sculptures that alter our perception of some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world as a way of understanding buildings as key signifiers of place and identity (Tokyo Skytree, Canton Tower, CN Tower, and Ostankino Tower). This work advances Giles’ investigation into tourism, architecture and the physicality of place by exploring aerial perspective and the individual’s relationship with these icons, the modern day megalith.

A century ago, the Futurists identified the aerial perspective as a source of visual power. The then-novel ability to peer down from a great height upon a city was considered to be both technologically and conceptually revolutionary. Today, cities continue to think vertically, building enormous towers not only to transmit signals for communications media, but as iconic architectural structures to express the city’s progressive status in a global context. The tourist easily recognizes these structures, which act as metonymic representations of place while offering stunning panoptic views from their observation decks. Scenic Overlook explores this ever-present desire to view ourselves, both literally and metaphorically, from above.

Susan Giles earned a Masters of Fine Art from Northwestern University in 2001 with an emphasis in sculpture and video, and a Masters of Art in Art Education: Studio Track from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997. She has completed multiple large-scale installations and solo exhibitions across Chicago including, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, The Elmhurst Art Museum, Kavi Gupta Gallery, and The Mission Projects, among others. Giles has received an award from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation in 2005 and a 1997 Fulbright Full Grant to Indonesia to study art and tourism. On a regional level, she has received a Fellowship Award from the Illinois Arts Council in 2009.

While in residence, Giles will hold Open Studio events welcoming the public to view work in progress.

For more information, please visit www.hydeparkart.org/the-jackman-goldwasser-residency/upcoming-residencies—2/susan-giles