Hypersurface of the Present: Olive Stefanski & Jewlya Sturtevant

For Hypersurface of the Present, Olive Stefanski will present over 20 new works that encompass a cross-disciplinary offering of sculpture, wall pieces and installation through processes of fiber art (weaving, natural dyeing, spinning yarn, wax resist), drawing, glass and metalwork. For the past several years, Olive’s work has been grounded in the study of Jewish ideas and texts related to mysticism, creation, cosmology and divinity. These investigative threads are continued in this exhibition in many ways (both known and unknown to the artist at the time of this writing), particularly as it relates to the unfolding of the singular as part of a multiplicitous whole.

Jewlya Sturtevant’s paintings combine emotions and lived experiences translated through intuitive image-making, encoding Sturtevant’s daily thoughts and feelings into a language of vivid symbolism. The resulting pieces act as quiet confessions, capturing tacit moments of vulnerability. Created from January to November 2024, this series is inspired by the emblematic Midwest winter and considers the physical and conceptual spaces we inhabit during this time. These works serve as meditations, exploring melancholia, intimacy, and self-concept.

Olive Stefanski (they/she) is a queer Jewish visual artist working in Chicago. They have had solo exhibitions at Roman Susan Art Foundation (2021) and Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago (2023). Recently, Olive’s studio has been awarded the Chicago DCASE Individual Artist Program grant (2023) and Creative Catalyst Grant (2024) from the Illinois Arts Council. Olive is currently a 2024-2025 fellow for the New Jewish Culture Fellowship and they will be a Digital Weaving Lab Artist-In-Residence at Fiber Praxis Workshop in March of 2025. Their work is held in private collections across the United States and Europe. 

Jewlya Sturtevant is a contemporary artist from Massachusetts who lives and works in the Chicago Metropolitan area. She is a figurative painter working primarily in oil and acrylic on canvas. Her paintings are recognized for their visceral depictions of the figure and their exploration of gender performance, stereotypes, and dysfunction. Sturtevant began studying art in Boston, Massachusetts, and completed her BFA at Indiana University in 2022; one of her paintings remains in the permanent collection of the university’s northwest campus. She has curated and exhibited throughout the Midwest, with notable shows including Our Delicate Armor at Stasia’s Gallery in Chicago, Berserk Through a Flower Field at Grace Jane Gallery in Chicago, and How to Turn into a Frog at South Suburban College in South Holland, IL.