From the very beginning The Chicago Art Department has been run out of the studios of Resident Artists. The first CAD classes and exhibitions took place in the studio/loft of its co-founders. Today the Chicago Art Department operates out of a storefront studio/gallery in the Chicago Arts District (Pilsen) shared by seven artists (co-founders Nat Soti, Mike Nourse, former students Jen Rosenthal, KS Rives, Stacy Peterson and two independent artists Bridgette Buckley and Kerry Flaherty). It is these resident artists who not only provide the space for classes and exhbition, but they also sometimes teach our classes, or produce events and programs.

As aspiring emerging artists themselves they provide a unique approach to our mission because they are also the commuity we serve. They are not only able to share their knowledge, artistic inspiration, and practical experience, but they drive our work with their personal experiences, their needs and the real world challenges they face everyday to make art.

  • KERRY FLAHERTY
    Kerry Flaherty A Mingo Jct. Ohio native, Kerry received her degree in Illustration from the world-renowned Columbus College of Art and Design. Afterward, she jumped headfirst into video production before making her way to New York to pursue her true passion, toys. She began with action figures as one of the inmates/designers at Art Asylum. Having conquered collectibles, she left New York to pursue her passion in another form, infant toys and her current position as Product Designer for Learning Curve in Chicago. “I have a great passion for all forms of art. My illustrations have helped me tell stories and give personality to inanimate objects.”

    MIKE NOURSE
    Mike Nourse is a Canadian who has been working in video and design in Chicago for 10 years. He is known for his video work that explores the deconstruction of popular media. Mike has worked with time-based festivals as a contributor, panelist, and curator and his videos have been shown in festivals worldwide. In 2002 Mike graduated from SAIC with an MFA, and started a video and design company called 01Projects. Mike has taught media studies at DePaul University, SAIC, and now Marwen. Mike has worked with students in grade school, undergraduate students, graduate students, to continuing education. In 2003, Mike co-founded The Chicago Art Department. In the summer or 2006 Mike joined the Marwen Foundation as manager of studio programs.

    website: http://mikenourse.com

     

    STACY PETERSON
    Stacy Peterson loves to travel. With her love for adventure and curious nature, she often finds herself in precarious but memorable situations. Every picture is a story, a thought, a moment, a memory. She loves the fast pace of urban life, but after growing up in South Dakota, also navigates to the calm and peacefulness of rural life. Stacy is a graphic designer by trade, but also a photographer, illustrator and mixed media artist. She loves the whimsical nature of the toy industry, but has her feet rooted in grit. She is inspired by graffiti, textured stone, cracks in the wall, signage and the wonderment of each new experience.

    ks rives
    ks rives is a native Kansan who has been in Chicago for 10 years. Her training is in fine arts, interior architecture, and furniture design. She was greatly affected and inspired by her studies and travels in Scandinavia. ks has contributed to many artistic projects in the Chicago area, many for charitable organizations. She is a concerned environmentalist and all of her art work is focused on garbage and recycling. You might catch her out and about on her bike when she is not working on her art. She is enjoying working at and helping run CAD. ks currently works as a graphic designer at Time Out
    Chicago.

    website: http://ksrives.com

     

    JEN ROSENTHAL
    Indiana native Jen Rosenthal moved to Chicago in 2000 after graduating from the Illinois Institute of Art with a degree in some sort of multimedia/digital-arts/animation discipline. After a short stint working for a “dot.com”, she transitioned into the extremely lucrative and glamorous gambling industry where she designed slot machines (yes, the type you see in Vegas) for the next five years. About three years ago, Jen stumbled upon the Chicago Art Department and found that their welcoming attitude coupled with a love of interdisciplinary art making was the perfect fit to her slightly introverted facade and multiple personality art form. Currently a resident artist at CAD, Jen is attempting to “figure it all out” – well, her art that is. Her interests include video remixing, the by-product of visual feedback, repetitive symbolism, and slightly out of focus photography.

    NAT SOTI
    Nat Soti is a co-founder of the Chicago Art Department and produces videos for businesses, non-profits, and arts organizations under the name Zero One Projects. Nat is an intermedia artist who brings together video, graphic arts, writing, sound and music, painting and drawing. Having completed his undergrad in political science and his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Nat is interested in the pursuit of making art, but also the social and political context in which art is made. Nat co-created Outersound.com, a resource for independent musicians, and helped develop arts collectives such as the Conjugate Projekt and Transamoeba. He has also taught at DePaul University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

    website: http://natsoti.com

     

    DJ TAPEDEK (resident DJ)
    My name is Christian Hales. I’m a graduate of Saint Xavier University (2006) with a BA in Computer Studies and a minor in Graphic Design.
    Aside from being a lover of art, wine, and cheese, I am also the resident DJ at The Chicago Art Department and run Anti-Matter Media, a small multimedia company. I have a sharp sense of humor, which usually gets me in trouble…
    I also carry a sketchbook and markers everywhere, play soccer, and listening to jazz music with good beer!
     

    NATHAN PECK (resident instructor)
    Nathan Peck is a digital art prof at Saint Xavier University and maintains a relentless exhibition schedule in a wide range of art media. Nathan graduated from the intermedia program at the University of Iowa and has since employed the philosophy of cross-media-hybridization especially in terms of site-specific and process-based approaches to art making. He has been an active member of many collaborative and performance art groups in the last 5 years in Chicago and is a co-founder of the Chicago Art Department.

    website: http://www.sxu.edu/~peck