24th Evanston + Vicinity Biennial

I am very excited that Christina's Garden, 48" x 36" Oil on canvas, will be one of the works featured in this year's Biennial. People have asked me what inspired my garden series. Gardens have long been associated with women and their well-being. We seek a connection to the earth and what we can create from it. When so much in our lives seem out of control our connection to our gardens offers both beauty and respite. The garden also carries a personal connection for me with my grandmother. My grandmother, who immigrated to the United States from Russia after her husband was killed in a pogrom, found her peace and control in a family vegetable garden she created and tended. So many of my friends are connected to their gardens for a place of healing, refuge, and peace of mind. These paintings are the beginning of a series of portraits of my friends and their gardens. "Christina's Garden" is a portrait of a close friend, who designed and planted her garden shortly before a long illness that left her too weak to stand or walk for many months. You can see additional work at www.clneiger.com About the Biennial: the Biennial is one of the Midwest’s largest and most prestigious juried exhibitions, offering artists an opportunity to have their work viewed by three talented curators; Sergio Gomez, Curator and Director of Exhibitions, Zhou B Art Center, Aron Packer, Owner and Director, Aron Packer Projects and Therese Quinn, Associate Professor of Art History & Director of Museum and Exhibition Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.