Eleanor Spiess-Ferris

Eleanor Spiess-Ferris (born July 3, 1941) is an American symbolist painter cited as a significant surrealist, narrative figurative and feminist artist. Her numerous visual works display powerful influences of the Spanish and Native American cultures of Northern New Mexico, where she grew up. They often reference Penitentes (New Mexico), retablos, Kachinas and Native American fetishes and frequently incorporate themes of feminist spirituality, Indo-European mythology and personal memory.

Life

Spiess-Ferris was born on July 3, 1941, in Las Vegas, New Mexico and raised on a small farm there. Her mother, Harriette, descended from early Spanish settlers in the territory. Her father, Waldo Spiess, was an attorney of German/Irish/Mexican heritage who became Chief Justice of the New Mexico Appellate Court. She earned her BFA at the University of New Mexico and attended the Chicago Art Institute.

Work

Spiess-Ferris has created a large body of widely shown works in oil, gouache and Conté crayon over a span of more than four decades, and have included ceramics in her later period.

Her work integrates elements of surrealism, symbolism and expressionism and cites Hieronymus Bosch, Paul Delvaux and James Ensor among disparate artists who have influenced her artistic development.

Spiess-Ferris is a Figure Painting and Drawing instructor on the faculty of The Art Center of Evanston Illinois.

Awards Spiess-Ferris has received numerous major art awards and citations including Artist-in-Residence grants at Anchor Graphics and Paper Press, Chicago, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Grant and a Vielehr Award from Art Institute of Chicago.

Major exhibitions 2014: "Inside the Outside Imagism," Chicago Hyde Park Art Center 2013: “Fecundity,” Packer Schopf Gallery 2012: “Ophelia’s Gardens” Printworks, Chicago, “Ophelia’s Garden, JRB Gallery, Oklahoma City. 2011: “Shallow Waters,” Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 2010: Elgin Community College, Safety-Kleen Gallery One, Elgin, Illinois - Sketches, Orchards & Dark Ponds – Catalog – essay by Ed Krantz. “Paintings of a Suffering Planet” – Western Illinois University, Macomb, Ill. 2009: “Sorrows of Swans” – Printworks Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, Gouache on Paper. “Sorrows of Swans” – Chicago Cultural Center, Mich. Ave. Gallery, Chicago, Oils on Linen, “Sorrows of Swans. Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois, Sorrows of Swans – Catalog - essay by James Yood 2006: “Water and Other Wise” – Packer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. “The Magpie Chronicles” – Robert T. Wright community Gallery of Art, College of Lake County, Grayslake, Illinois The Magpie Chronicles – Catalog – essay by Garrett Holg 2002: “Regeneration” – Zaks Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1999: “New Works” – Zaks Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1996: “The Goddess Series” – Shircliff Gallery of Art, Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana 1994: “Works on Paper” – Zaks Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1992: “The Goddess Series” – Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan, “Eleanor Spiess-Ferris: An Artist’s Journey” - University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, Green Bay, Wisconsin. “Eleanor Spiess-Ferris: An Artist’s Journey” – Charles Wustum Museum – Racine, Wisconsin . "Eleanor Spiess-Ferris: an Artist’s Journey" – Catalog – essay by Estella Lauter 1990: “New Works” – Zaks Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1989: Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, Missouri. University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, La Crosse, Wisconsin 1987: “Beamish Mummery” – Chicago Cultural center, Chicago, Ill 1984: “New Works, Eleanor Spiess-Ferris” – van Stratten Gallery, Chicago, Illinois