Cortney Lederer, Guest Curator
Cortney Lederer is an art consultant and independent curator with sixteen years of experience managing an array of artistic programming for organizations and businesses. From 2011–14 she served as the Director of Exhibitions and Residencies at the Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC), where she designed and managed its two residency programs: BOLT Residency and HATCH Projects. While at CAC, Cortney curated and managed special projects for businesses such as tech incubator 1871, Patron Tequila, TOMS Shoes, Groupon and Taste of Chicago (DCASE). She has curated and produced hundreds of solo and group exhibitions during her tenure at CAC. As a result of her efforts, her programs were cited as producing some of the most promising emerging practitioners in Chicago in the Chicago Tribune (2011) and voted “Best opportunity for emerging artists” by New City’s Best of Chicago (2013). As of June 2014, Cortney launched CNL Art Consulting, which provides project-based consulting to organizations with a specialization in curating, project management, program design and development. CNL Art Consulting has worked with notable organizations such as 3Arts, Chicago Artists Coalition, Fashion Outlets of Chicago, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art (EXPO Chicago) Lillstreet Art Center, LinkedIn and Wilson Sporting Goods. In addition, Cortney works closely with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) where she is in process of curating her third Masters of Fine Arts exhibition featuring artists working across multiple mediums. She also teaches two graduate-level courses in the Arts Administration and Policy department and provides professional development workshops to artists. Ms. Lederer received her BA in Sociology from George Washington University (1999), a BFA from the University of Victoria (2002), and a dual Masters degree in Modern Art History, Theory and Criticism and Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2009).
Alden Burke, Graduate Curatorial Assistant
Alden Burke is a Master of Arts candidate (2018) at SAIC’s Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism. She received a BA in Journalism (2014) from Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Hunter. After graduating, Burke worked at Storm King Art Center, an outdoor sculpture museum that revealed her interests in narrative space and interpersonal relationships converge in the arts. Currently, her academic momentum draws from the parergon as a framing device in conceptual and performative practices, and how audiences act within the context of their environment. t, is a Master of Arts candidate (2018) at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism. She received a BA in Journalism (2014) from Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Hunter. After graduating, Burke worked at Storm King Art Center, an outdoor sculpture museum that revealed her interests in narrative space and interpersonal relationships converge in the arts. Currently, her academic momentum draws from the parergon as a framing device in conceptual and performative practices, and how audiences act within the context of their environment.
Adia Sykes, Graduate Curatorial Assistant
Adia Sykes is a Master of Arts candidate (2018) in SAIC’s Department of Arts Administration and Policy. She has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Chicago (2016) with a focus on material culture and museums. Her current research interests include examining the history and potential of curatorial practice as an advocacy tool for racial equity in the arts, as well as formations of racial and gendered identity in visual and performing arts and in popular culture.
Andrew Falkowski, Low-Res Graduate Coordinator and Core Faculty member
Andrew Falkowski is a painter who examines the different idioms, text, genres and pictoral conditions at work in contemporary painting as an epistemological platform. Using various painting languages and histories, his work considers the dispersed field of possibilities that makes painting so entangled and so appealing. His current work has expanded in materiality, incorporating collage, relief casting, collaborative installation and archival digital printing as alternative forms of ‘painted’ output. He received his MA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. He currently works in the Low Res Graduate department and the Art Theory and Practice Department at Northwestern University.