Meet Kristen
Kristen currently resides in nature near many lakes halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Growing up in the Midwest, after graduating from The University of Iowa with a Communications major, she began painting and creating collages in the evenings after work while sitting on her living room floor. Kristen’s artwork combines mixed materials, including acrylic and oil paint, pencil, paper, fabric and fragments of wood.
Selected exhibitions include James May Gallery in Milwaukee, WI; The Robert Wright Gallery of Art at College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL; The Saw Room Gallery in Evanston, IL; The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Barnsdall Art Gallery in Los Angeles, and Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, and many art pop-up exhibitions in local businesses and libraries. She’s a member of Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists, Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art, Evanston Made, Adler Art Center and Woman Made Gallery. Each November, Kristen also curates the small and mighty Up North Art Pop-up Show.
Also skilled in image archiving, permissions and photo research, Kristen’s job experience includes Getty Images, Warner Bros. Entertainment Media Archives, and HMH Education.
My work is a dialogue between time and material, where history is not a backdrop but a living participant. I collect found objects—fragments of the discarded, the forgotten, the once-cherished—and reassemble them into layered collages that function as portals. These portals are not merely visual; they are conceptual thresholds that invite viewers to step into alternate narratives, to reimagine the past through the lens of the present.
Each object carries its own memory, a residue of human touch and context. By juxtaposing these elements—rusted metal beside faded photographs, handwritten notes layered over industrial textures—I aim to disrupt linear storytelling and instead evoke a sense of temporal simultaneity. The collage becomes a site of excavation and invention, where personal and collective histories converge.
Through this practice, I explore how memory is constructed, how meaning is layered, and how art can serve as a vessel for time travel—not through fantasy, but through the tangible echoes of what once was.
-Kristen Neveu
I'm an artist member of CAVA - Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists, Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art, Adler Arts Center, Woman Made Gallery, Evanston Made, and Grayslake Arts Alliance.
Selected exhibitions include: The Robert T. Wright Gallery at College of Lake County, The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Evanston Art Center, James May Gallery (Algoma/Milwaukee), Barnsdall Art Center (Los Angeles) and Woman Made Gallery.
I also enjoy exhibiting at local businesses, libraries, and pop-up alternative spaces, in addition to supporting theater productions and live music.
Upcoming Shows & Events
Chicago Alliance of Visual Art (CAVA) - The Natural World - Mayslake Peabody Estates, Oakbrook, IL - August 4 - September 20 - Opening August 13
Lure of the Local - Group Show - Mudelein, IL - October 17-November 16 - Opening October 17
Up North Art Pop-up Show - Bramble Arts Loft in Andersonville - Chicago, IL - Saturday, November 22, 12-4
CV
Education
The University of Iowa. B.A., Communication Studies and Anthropology, 1992.
Self-taught artist.
Solo Exhibitions
2020 - 1100 Florence, The Quiet Underneath art in windows, Evanston, IL.
2017 - Swell Gallery, Clearing, West Dundee, IL.
2017 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL.
2016 - Creative Co-Working, Past and Future Blooming, Evanston, IL.
2016 - Gather, Evanston, IL.
2015 - Gallery 1501, Des Plaines Public Library, Des Plaines, IL .
2015 - Hazel, Happy Good Morning (100 collaged salvaged plates), Chicago, IL.
2015 - Uncommon Ground, Chicago, IL.
2014 - Adventureland Gallery, American Gardens, Chicago, IL.
2006 - Hazel, Wonderland, Chicago, IL.
2004 - Lobby Gallery, Autonomous, Chicago, IL .
2003 - Iowa State University Memorial Union, Wistful, Ames, IA.
2002 - ATC Space, Solace – Garden of 500 Salvaged Tin Can Sculptures, Chicago, IL.
Selected Group Exhibitions and Fairs
2025 - Mayslake Peabody Estate Gallery, The Natural World Exhibition featuring Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists, Oak Brook, IL.
2025 - Blue Moon Gallery, Visual Storytelling: A Multi-media Art Exhibition About Women’s Stories featuring Women’s Caucus for Art members, Grayslake, IL.
2025 - Lake Villa District Library, Lake Villa, IL.
2025 - Waukegan Public Library, Waukegan, IL.
2025 - James May Gallery, Art of Water VIII, Milwaukee, WI.
2024 - Lure of the Local, Mundelein, IL.
2024 – Robert T. Wright Gallery of Art, Recent Works 2022 Juried Exhibition of Art from Tri
County Artists, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL.
2023 - James May Gallery, Art of Water VII, Milwaukee, WI
2023 - Highland Park Art Center, What Does Freedom Look Like, Highland Park, IL
2023 - Woman Made Gallery, Windows to the Inside: Expressions of Mental Health, Chicago, IL
2022 – Robert T. Wright Gallery of Art, Recent Works 2022 Juried Exhibition of Art from Tri
County Artists, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL.
2022 - Blue Moon Gallery, Feeling Blue, Grayslake, IL.
2021- 2022 - James May Gallery, Art of Water, Milwaukee, WI.
2020 - Creative Co-working, Evanston, IL.
2019 - James May Gallery, Beyond Earth and Sky, Algoma, WI.
2019 - James May Gallery, Art of Water, Algoma, WI.
2018 - The Saw Room @ The Alley Gallery, Overlap, Evanston, IL.
2017 - A Red Orchid Theatre Evening at the Talkhouse, Chicago, IL.
2017-2020 - Artruck, Evanston, IL.
2017-2019 - Evanston Made, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL.
2013-2017 - Ravenswood Art Walk, Chicago, IL.
2013 - King Art Collective, Chicago, IL.
2010 - Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Deconstructed Applications, Los Angeles, CA.
2010-2011 - Beverly Hills Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA.
2009 - Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA.
2006 - Bucktown Arts Fest, Chicago, IL.
2006 - Bridge Art Fair, represented by Ai Gallery and Unit B Gallery, Chicago, IL.
2006 - Commerce Street Artist Warehouse, Six Flags: Polvo est. 1996, Houston, TX.
2005 - Polvo, Chicago, IL.
2004 - The School of the Art Institute 1926 Exhibition Studies , Crosswalk, Chicago, IL.
2002 - Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Midwestern Biennial, Fort Wayne, IN.
2002 - Judith Racht Gallery on Lake, Three Chicago Artists, Chicago, IL.
2001 - ARC Gallery, National I Exhibition, Chicago, IL.
Grants and Awards
2012 - Ucross Artist Residency, Ucross, WY.
2010 - Best in Show. Beverly Hills Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA.
2006 - Best in Show. Bucktown Arts Fest, Chicago, IL.
2001-2003 - City of Chicago Community Artists Assistance Program Grant
Related Experience
Photo Archivist, Photo Researcher, Photo Specialist with over 25 years experience
Companies include: HMH Education, Warner Bros., Getty Images