Marie Kavadias

Bright colors contrasting with dark backdrops permeate the work of Marie Kavadias, a talented Chicago artist. Simple features, such as frequently caught spiders and shattered light bulbs, illuminate questions of hurt, fear and frustration. Deliberate strokes paint themselves into pictures, emoting feelings that words cannot describe — for her symbols, her visions are her deepest, truest communication.

Marie's humble attitude towards her work represent this gifted talent. She considers it to be vital self-expression and means for emotional survival rather than art. A visual learner, Marie's ability
to draw manifested itself at an early age. As young as three years old, she remembers making "little drawings" as something she could always do. Emerging in art circles as a “outsider, twice-gifted,
artist” she has beat the odds of her past history and come out a survivor.

Growing up in Lemont, Illinois, and later moving to Chicago, has given this artist a well rounded environment to express herself in and respond to. She has exhibited at Judy A Saslow Gallery,
Chicago Labor and the Arts Festival, Chicago Cultural Center, Arc Gallery, and Liz Long Gallery in Chicago; as well as Lindsey Gallery in Oak Park, Northeastern Illinois University, a private show
for the Environmental Protection Agency and Urban Art Retreat in Portland, Oregon. Marie coordinated “Learning Disabilities and the Arts,” an art exhibition and lecture event which was featured on a special ABC tv news segment. She also produced “Offbeat Destinations,” a multimedia experience showcasing the work of five Chicago artists. Marie was selected to be in ABD 15 an international show held in Long Beach, CA at Gallery A. She was one of 43 artists chosen out of three hundred and fifty from Europe, Canada, and the United States.
Marie just returned from a successful opening reception in the Chelsea art district of New York "The Path to Abstraction," the most recent exhibition of the artist’s abstract work, is running through
June 27, 2006 at Agora Gallery.

To raise awareness of sexual assault she will donate $150 from the sale of an original or print as a fundraiser for RAINN. She has also created a series of artistic notecards featuring her designs on
the front and the National Sexual Assault Hotline number on the back. The cards may be purchased at RAINN's website: www.rainn.org and prints may be purchased at: www.mariekavadias.com

The Angela Shelton Foundation has commissioned the artist to create a piece for the Angela Shelton Foundation. You can check out more about the foundation at: www.angelashelton.org. The piece will be dedicated to the foundation.
Marie looks forward to her first international show in Italy in 2007. The International Scientific Committee, composed of art experts, reviewed her artwork and has invited her to participate in the
sixth edition of the Florence Biennale. This contemporary art exhibition will take place in Italy at the historic location of the Fortezza da Basso.

Artist's publicist Teri S. Hutchison
thutchisondesign@gmail.com