Michael Bolsinga is a self taught artist influenced by graphic design, political and rock posters, and pop art. Bolsinga uses acrylics and pen on various found medium to explore visual communication with patterns, colors and composition. Much of Bolsinga’s work focuses on the Political and the Environmental, as well as society’s reluctance/inability to make important decisions in both. Bolsinga currently resides and works in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago.

Mary Ellen Croteau is also avid supporter of artists through various projects in Chicago and internationally including curation of her ongoing window gallery:
Art on Armitage.

Mary Ellen Croteau is a visual artist whose work discusses current environmental topics often overlooked. She creates her work with materials removed from their eventual trip to the landfill.

“The function of the visual in consumer culture is to overwhelm and imprint,  rendering us passive vessels for received wisdom. Vast databases of disconnected facts, driven by arcane mathematical formulae rather than by a creative or logical progression of thought, do more to confuse and disconnect us from the information we need to control our world than they do to facilitate it. My work is an attempt to counter this trend toward disembodied “intelligence.”

"I firmly believe in the power of the visual, and my work is my voice: a social critique and a visual challenge to all the cultural detritus we are force-fed every day. My art is about looking at things in a slightly different way, and is intended to undermine the status quo with wit and humor.”

— Mary Ellen Croteau

Miguel Guzman is a Chicago-based artist who works in a combination of digital printing, collage and paint. He uses his own photos in addition to appropriated photos and prints his photographic images on unconventional surfaces such as aluminum, plexiglass, hand-made surfaces, cardboard, found papers and objects. He also incorporates paint as successive layers of transparent acrylic washes both before and after the printing.

“While I take advantage of the flexibility that digital technologies give me in terms of what I make and how I can make it, I also feel a need for a strong human element, to work with my hands, for direct physical involvement with the work. This way of working keeps things engaging for me because merging the hand-made with the mechanical creates the challenge of balancing control with unpredictability.”

“Nationalism, economic and military rivalry, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and environmental disaster are some of the subjects that find their way into my work. These works are an expression of both a sense of wonder and disenchantment with the state of the world.”

— Miguel Guzman

“It is by design that architectural systems can work in building communities and togetherness.”

— Chyanne Husar

Chyanne Husar is an explorer and creator who uses architecture and constructed form as a medium to bring awareness of social and environmental concerns to the public and future designers. Founded by Chyanne Husar in 2010, husARchitecture is as an outlet for her vision. Focused on engaging the community, she resides in Logan Square, Chicago and works to incorporate local issues into our built environment.

Recent projects include chiNAgo, an artist residency at the High Concept Laboratories exploring impacts of rapid urban development on communities; and nÜwaste an exhibit for the 2013 Guerrilla Truck Art Show exploring closed loop waste cycles to create a localized model of sustainable food, waste, and materials.

Tracy Kostenbader (co-curator) is a visual artist and also has active role in developing Chicago art culture as her role as an organizer for AnySquared Projects' exhibits, events and programs.

Alexandra Lee (ATYL) reinterprets materials by integrating and reinterpreting them in site-specific installations, collage, and other mediums.

“I work in a variety of medium, including photography, computer generated/3D images, sculpture, new media and video installations and painting and drawing, depending on the concept behind each piece and the best method of communication."

"Generally, my work is about time and being, and the compulsions of day-to-day living and of love. It is about temporal versus eternal, the interrelation of art and science, and between humans and their tradition/beliefs within the environments they live.”

— Alexandra Lee

Gary Lehman (co-curator) is a visual artist and landscape architect. He deals directly with environmental issues and presents them with strong visual gestures.

“My work captures metamorphosis of memorable events and visions. The event, person or landscape is reinterpreted to grasp and extract the underlying emotional interaction. The process extracts the essence of the experience by revealing a raw emotional interpretation in a fluid use of line, form and color. Though the form and line are dominate, additional expressive layers with words or textures are added to refine the primary expression and tie closer to the memory.”

— Gary Lehman

Stephen Manka is a public artist. He expresses his work in the public environment with strong architectural projects.

“Public Art is a form of Acupuncture. It amplifies our public spaces and our shared experiences in these spaces. My main goal with public art has been to provoke a meaningful engagement with the community. The concepts need to react to a specific place and the unique situations. This exploration unlocks an array of materials and techniques, which often means opportunities for new collaborations.”

— Stephen Manka

Luis Sahagun adapts reclaimed materials into interesting forms that undergo a building and destructive process.

“My passion lies in creating paintings, sculptures, and objects out of repurposed street rubble such as; cardboard, concrete, metal, and wood. I enjoy replacing traditional tools such as paintbrushes and palette knives with reciprocal and circular saws. The objective is to use destruction/demolition as a vehicle to pursue a personal and unique artistic mark."

—Luis Sahagun