Announcing the solo shows that are in the Glass Case Gallery at The Waste Shed! The Waste Shed is Chicago’s premiere creative reuse store, specializing in art and craft materials, as well as supplies for teachers and general office supplies. They have diverted over 50 tons of useful stuff from the waste stream!
Their Glass Case Gallery has been on pause during the pandemic but it’s back and we’re delighted to show the art of four artists: Andrew Venell, Terry Clarbour and Bryan Northup. Plus a few pieces from me. There will be additional pieces in the Glass Case Gallery that are not in the mini galleries, will come back with pictures of those soon.
All of the artwork in these galleries is made from upcycled materials.
Here’s an image of each show and information about each artist!
Andrew Venell
Andrew Venell writes, “The collages in this exhibition are intended to work in dialogue with a larger body of works on paper and panel that I have been executing since 2019. They are composed partially of cuttings and test prints left over from that process, as well as found paper from old comic books and medical magazines, and are mounted on cardboard scraps. Both these and the larger works they distill are concerned with the shallow abundances of material culture and the ever-growing tension between what we need and what we are offered.”
Find Andrew at andrewvenell.com and @andrewvenell All artwork is Copyright Andrew Venell 2021.
Bio
Andrew Venell is an artist and writer living in Chicago. His work embraces digital collage, generative art, video installation, text and sculpture, frequently employing satirical forms to spotlight buried anxieties and appetites of American society, those ominous signs glinting outside the frame of current events.
Terry Clarbour

Rust series solo show by Terry Clarbour at the Angelica Kauffman Gallery. Wood sculpture by Elaine Luther.
Terry Clarbour writes, “One Soul’s trash is another Soul’s treasure. The Rust Series is built using bits of rust I’ve collected in my wandering coupled with left over shards smalti glass. Some of these images have come to me in the Dreamtime and others have presented themselves spontaneously in the creative process.”
Find Terry @McRuby1920. All mosaic artwork is Copyright Terry Clarbour 2021. Wood sculpture by Elaine Luther.
Elaine Luther
“I’ve collected rather a lot of scrap wood bits, largely from creative reuse stores. In about 2015, I made some sculptures with the old style of clothes pin and other bits, as part of my Balance and Tension series, but they just didn’t fit, didn’t quite work with that series. I set them aside and at last, they’re perfect at this scale, in the mini galleries.
I started the mini galleries in April 2021, as a late-pandemic project to do something fun and also interact with fellow artists. Often a show needs a little wood sculpture in the middle of it, so I’ve started making more of these small scale sculptures out of wood scraps. Sometimes I leaf them with copper leaf, but mostly, I like the look of the wood.”
Bryan Northup
Bryan Northup writes, “Micro plastics are the not-so-secret ingredients of our human tribe. Dependent, addicted, to say the least, we are toxic to our mother. Soon no one left alive will know what the world was before we poisoned it with our plastic potions. Recycling is our false hope. How many “next time’s” do we deserve? These tiny works are material incantations, invoking the end of our blindness towards our own incremental undoing.”
Find Bryan @bryan.northup and http://www.bryannorthup.com All artwork is Copyright Bryan Northup 2021.
Bio
Bryan Northup is a Chicago based environmental artist utilizing single-use plastic as art medium. Bryan creates abstract wall reliefs and sculptural works in an attempt to imagine how these very plastics are interacting with living systems at the deepest level.
Bryan has also worked as gallery director and marketing manager, art handler and exhibit preparator for Chicago area non-profit art organizations as well as private clients. He received his BFA in Fine Art Photography from California College of the Arts. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He was born in Los Angeles and currently resides in Oak Park, IL.
Where to see these art shows in person
These three mini galleries, plus additional work, will be on display for the month of June 2021 at The Waste Shed’s Glass Case Gallery! See their website or social media for open hours!
All work is for sale and each purchase supports the artist and The Waste Shed, a not for profit organization!
: ) Yes! Right up our alleys!
Thanks so much!
Yay! Another exciting tiny thing!