Karen Reimer
5120 S. Harper, A-18
Chicago, IL
60615
773-752-2962
kreimer@uchicago.edu
EDUCATION:
1989
1982
MFA, University of Chicago
BA, Bethel College, North Newton, KS
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2012
Pending: Gahlberg Gallery, McAninch Fine Art Center, College of Dupage, and Gallery 400,
University of Illinois at Chicago
2011
The Domestic Partnership of Heaven and Hell, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
2008
Endless Set, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
2007
Embroideries 1999-2005, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
Endless Set, VONZWECK Gallery, Chicago
2005
Precursory Conditions and Operations, Riverside Arts Center, Riverside, IL
2004
Boundary Troubles, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
2003
Schopf Gallery on Lake, Chicago (with Scott Short)
2002
Goshen College Gallery, Goshen IN
2001
Cold Comfort, installation, collaboration with Constance Bacon, Hyde Park Art
Center, Chicago, IL
1999
Beret International Gallery, Chicago, IL
1998
Hesston College Gallery, Hesston, KS
MacPherson College Art Gallery, MacPherson, KS (with Gail Lutsch)
1996
Postcard, Beret International Gallery, Chicago, IL (with Tod Parola)
1995
Bethel College Fine Arts Center Gallery, N. Newton, KS
1994
Know Your Poodle, Beret International Gallery, Chicago, IL (with Sonny Venice)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2011
Bona Fide, Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada
2010
New Work, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
Let’s Talk About Love, Baby, a library curated by Chido Johnson, Traveling: Oakland
University Art Gallery, Rochester, MI; Asni Art Village, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;
National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare; Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection at the
Art Institute of Chicago; and Craft Alliance Gallery, St. Louis, MO
2009
New Wave: Artists’ Books in the 21st Century, School of Creative Arts, University of the
West of England, Bristol
Contemporary Works from the Cleve Carney Collection, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL
2008
VONZWECK at the Barn, 2845 W. Altgeld St., Chicago
The Matter At Hand, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN
Curiouser and Curiouser, McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, IL, curated by Alison
Hatcher
2007
Raised in Craftivity, Greenlease Gallery, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO, curated
by Maria Buszek. Travelling: Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga,CA
Group exhibition, Carleton College, Northfield, MN, curated by Laurel Bradley
2006
New Embroidery: Not Your Grandma’s Doily, Contemporary Crafts Museum, Portland Oregon,
curated by Namita Gupta Wiggers
Data Mining, Wallspace Gallery, NY, curated by Joe Scanlan
Takeover, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Not I: A Samuel Beckett Centenary Celebration, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago,
curated by Tricia Van Eck
POP: Contemporary Textiles Influenced by Popular Culture, Northern Illinois University
Art Museum, DeKalb, IL, curated by Christine LoFaso
but you gave me flowers, Illinois State University Galleries, Normal, IL
2005
Amorphous Solid, Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL
Pages, I Space: Chicago Gallery of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana,
Chicago, curated by Buzz Spector
Catalog, SOIL Art Gallery, Seattle, curated by Adriana Grant, Kristen Ramirez, and Dan
Rhoads
2004
Stalemate, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, curated by Domonic Molon
Baltimore/Chicago, Decker Gallery, Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD, curated by
Kerry James Marshall
Books and Shelves, Galberg Gallery, McAninch Fine Arts Center, College of Dupage,
Dupage, IL, curated by Barbara Weisen
Fitter Happier: An Exhibition Concerning Technology, DePaul University Art Museum,
Chicago, curated by Matthew Girson
2003
Pins and Needles, Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
Really, Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, curated by Tim Lowly
2002
The ArtCouncil Awards Exhibition, Gallery 312, Chicago, IL
The Devil is in the Details, Galberg Gallery, McAninch Fine Arts Center, College of
Dupage, Dupage, IL, curated by Anthony Elms
2001
Con/textual, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Doppelganger, Northern Illinois University Art Gallery in Chicago, IL
Spelling, The Rye Art Center, Rye, NY
2000
Homewrecker, moniquemeloche Gallery, Chicago, IL
Out of Line, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Artists We Like, Wall Street Project Room, New York, NY
Beret's Final Show, Beret International Gallery, Chicago, IL
Julie Laffin, Darrel Morris, Karen Reimer, Reicher Gallery, Barat College,
Lake Forest, IL
1999
Needle and Thread, Wendy Cooper Gallery, Madison, WI
Chicago, West Virginia State University Gallery, Morgantown, WV
The Other Book, Performance/installation, collaboration with Sally Alatalo and
Susannah Kite Strang, Cleveland State University Art Gallery, Cleveland, OH
1998
Quiet, 1545 W. Division St, Chicago, IL
Faculty Exhibition, Bethel College Fine Arts Center Gallery, N. Newton, KS
1997
N.E.W.S.: Jennifer Kraus, Karen Reimer, Levant Tuncer, Gallery A’pert,
Amsterdam, Netherlands
1996 Vorfruhling, Galerie cb, Vienna, Austria
Book-signing/performance, collaboration with Sally Alatalo and Erika Yoemans,
Printed Matter, New York, NY
1994
Photographic, N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, IL
Refried, Ruth Horwich Gallery, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
1993
In-flux, Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
Mixed Messages, Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO
Flora and Fauna, Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI
A Sequence of Forms, Installation, Illinois State Gallery, Chicago, IL
1992
Not Working in L.A., Nomadic Site, Pasadena, CA
Sicut Malum Est, Site-specific installation, collaboration with Norah Flatley, Raina
Grigg and Libby Wadsworth, Divinity School, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1991 Animal/Vegetable/Mineral, Installation, N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, IL, curated by
Gary Cannone
1990
Foxtrot, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL, curated by Lynne Brown
The Chicago Show, Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Altered States, Ruth Horwich Gallery, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
PUBLISHED WORKS:
2010
Cover of vinyl lp/cd I Know You, by Seval (Fred Lonberg-Holm, Sofia Jernberg, David
Stackenas, Emil Strandberg, Patric Thorman)
2007
Headline of ”On Language” column, by William Safire, New York Times Magazine, May 21
Cover of Tableau, Newsletter of the Division of the Humanities at the University of
Chicago, Autumn 2006/Winter 2007
2001
“Corruption”, in Chicago After Dark: A Mystery Anthology, Sara Ranchouse
Publishing, Chicago, IL
1996
Legendary, Lexical, Loquacious Love, Artist book, Sara Ranchouse Publishing,
Chicago, IL
Forgeries, postcard series, Sara Ranchouse Publishing, Chicago, IL
“Something is motivated when it is neither arbitrary or predictable,” in
Whitewalls: A Journal of Language and Art, #38, pp.21-26, Chicago, IL
GRANTS AND AWARDS:
2011
2010
2002
Center for Craft Creativity and Design
Graham Foundation, with Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago
Women’s Caucus for Art President’s Award
The Art Council Individual Artist Grant
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Individual Artist Award
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
2011
2010
Michael Milano, “Sarcastic Flowers: Karen Reimer and Conceptual Craft,” Bad at Sports,
Dec. 12. http://badatsports.com/2011/sarcastic-flowers-karen-reimer-conceptual-craft/
Gemey Kelly, Bona Fide: handmade and homemade, Mount Allison University, Catalogue
Abraham Ritchie, “Cohesive by Coincidence,” review of New Work at Monique Meloche
Gallery, artslant, http://www.artslant.com/chi/articles/show/20407
Colin Davies and Monika Parrinder, Limited Language: Rewriting Design: Responding to a
Feedback Culture, Birkhauser: Basel
2008
Judith Russi Kirshner, “Focus: Karen Reimer,” Frieze, September, Issue 117
Susan Snodgrass, Review of Endless Set at moniquemeloche gallery, Art In America, Dec.
Nadine Monem, Ed., Contemporary Textiles: The Fabric of Contemporary Art, Black Dog
Press: London
Jeremy Biles, review of Endless Set at moniquemeloche, Chicago Artists’ News, Vol XXXV,
No 6, June, p 12
Alan Artner, “Artist gave herself a system—and it paid off,” (review of Endless Set @
moniquemeloche), Chicago Tribune, May 16, Section 7, pg. 20
Karissa Lang, “Portrait of the Artist,” (review of Endless Set @ moniquemeloche), New
City, May 15, pg 15
Jessica Poser, “Contemporary Craft: The Look of Labor,” Art Education Journal, March
2007
Joan Livingstone and John Ploof, eds, The Object of Labor: Critical Perspectives
on Art, Cloth, and Cultural Production, School of the Art Institute of Chicago/MIT
Press
Jake Malooley, Review of Endless Set at ZONZWECK, Time Out Chicago, April 16-20, 2007
Dana Self, “Knit Happens”(review of Raised in Craftivity), The Pitch, September 20
2006
Shu Hung and Joe Magliaro, eds. By Hand, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006
Roberts, Prudence F. “New Embroidery: Not Your Grandma’s Doily” Selvedge, Issue 14
Bowie, Chas. “New Embroidery: Not Your Grandma’s Doily” Portland Mercury, Oct26-Nov1
Neugarten, Rachel. “Embroidery, with an edge” The Oregonian, Oct. 6
LoFaso, Christine. exhibition catalogue: POP! Contemporary Textiles Influenced by
Popular Cultural, Northern Illinois University Art Museum.
2005
Deb Wilk, “Six Artists to Watch,” Chicago Magazine, Nov.
Elms, Anthony. “Review: Pages,” Time Out Chicago, Nov. 17-24, p 56.
2004
Carla Dunham, “Reviews; Boundary Troubles, Karen Reimer, Monique Meloche Gallery,
Bridge, Issue 13, p.38
Margaret Hawkins, “Knit wit and abstract fun”, Chicago Sun-Times, November 24,2004
Alan Artner, “Karen Reimer’s ephemera transformed”, Chicago Tribune, November 5, 2004
Alan Artner, “Art Review: ‘Happier’ embraces technology through paintings, needlework”,
Chicago Tribune, April 8, 2004, Section 5, p.3.
2003
Interview by Julie Farstad, Mouthtomouth, Winter, 2003, Vol. 1, No.2, pp.30-38.
2002
Leah Finch, “Chicago Reviews: Constance Bacon and Karen Reimer”, New Art Examiner, Jan –
Feb. 2002, Vol. 29, No 3, p. 66.
Karen Reimer, “Reading Between the Lines”, Site of Big Shoulders.
http://sobs.org/art/karenreimer/KRindex.html
Regier, Ami. “Interview with Karen Reimer on language, legibility, and visual art”,
Bethel College News. Spring 2000. 32+
2001
Anthony Elms, “Borrowed Clothes Never Fit”. Exhibition brochure essay for Cold
Comfort, Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago)
Kevin Blasko, "Chicago Reviews: Doppelganger", New Art Examiner, May-June 2001, Vol. 28,
No. 8/9, p. 84
Catalogue: Northern Illinois University Art Gallery in Chicago, Doppelganger. (Chicago,
2001)
D. Dominick Lombardi, "At the Gallery/with Randall Davis: A Show of Works by Women That
Expand Language in Art", The New York Times, January 21, 2001, Section 14.
2000
Susan Snodgrass. "Review of Exhibitions, Chicago: Karen Reimer at Beret International",
Art In America, February 2000,Vol 88, No 2, p.134-35.
Olga Zdanovics. “Reviews: Karen Reimer, Beret International Gallery", New Art Examiner,
Dec/Jan. 1999/2000, Vol 27, No 4, p.50.
Alan G. Artner. "Art Review: Karen Reimer at Beret international,” Chicago Tribune, May
4,2000, Section 5.
Catalogue: The Chicago Cultural Center, Out of Line: Drawings By Illinois Artists.
(Chicago, 2000)
1999
Fred Camper. “Human Touches”. Chicago Reader, Sept. 30-Oct.6, Section 1, p.34.
Alan G. Artner. “Art Review”. Chicago Tribune, Thursday, Sept. 30, Tempo Section, p.2.
Margaret Hawkins. “Comic Reliefs”. Chicago Sun-Times, July 2, Weekend Plus Section.
Catalogue: Cleveland State University Art Gallery, The Other Book. (Cleveland, 1999)
1998
Buzz Specter. “Studioview: Karen Reimer”. New Art Examiner, Nov, Vol 26, No 3. p.44.
1996
Alan G. Artner. “Reimer, Parola Join Offbeat Sensibilities”. Chicago Tribune, March 21,
Tempo Section.
1990
Catalogue: The Hyde Park Art Center. Altered States. (Chicago, 1990)
Catalogue: The Chicago Cultural Center, The Chicago Show. (Chicago, 1990)
REPRESENTATION:
Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, IL