Pause: Julieta Beltrán Lazo, Steven Carrelli, Jason Dunda, Sofía Fernández Díaz, Xiaohan Jiang, Tulika Ladsariya, James Kao, SaraNoa Mark, and Connie Noyes | May 18 - June 21, 2025

Xiaohan Jiang | Shy Sky, 2024, Oil on velvet over panel, 8 × 10 inches

Opening Reception: Sunday, May 18, 2025, 3:00 - 6:00 PM

Exhibition Dates: May 18 - June 21, 2025

Exhibition on view: Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 1:00 – 5:00 PM

Artist Talk and Closing Reception: Saturday, June 21, 2025 at 3:00 PM

The Riverside Arts Center is pleased to present Pause, a group exhibition of art by Julieta Beltrán Lazo, Steven Carrelli, Jason Dunda, Sofía Fernández Díaz, Xiaohan Jiang, Tulika Ladsariya, James Kao, SaraNoa Mark, and Connie Noyes, curated by Joanne Aono. Please join us for a reception for the artists on Sunday, May 18th from 3 - 6pm. An artist talk and closing reception will be held on Saturday, June 21st at 3pm. The exhibition will be on view Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 1-5pm through June 21, 2025.

Connie Noyes | Ridge, Plaster and glue on repurposed canvas, 10 × 10 inches

Julieta Beltrán Lazo is a visual artist residing in Guadalajara and Chicago. Working primarily in painting but incorporating writing, fibers and performance, Beltrán Lazo’s material exploration looks for the points of tension between desire and discomfort, creating layers or “second skins” that simultaneously protect and efface the figure, giving way for the artist's subconscious to emerge. She has held solo exhibitions at Palma Galería. Guadalajara, Mexico; Déficit Pintura. Barrio de Analco, Jalisco, Mexico; This is Now Art Gallery, Lima, Perú; and Espacio Cabeza. Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Group exhibitions include Proxyco, New York, NY; Museum of Mexican American Art, Chicago, IL; Oklahoma Center of Contemporary Arts, Oklahoma City, OK, and Palazzo Cenci, Rome, Italy. Beltrán Lazo is the recipient of the Higher Education Scholarship from the Jumex Art Foundation. She will have received her Master of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2025 and a BFA in Painting and Drawing from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2020.
https://julietabeltranlazo.com/

Steven Carrelli is a visual artist and writer based in Chicago. His artwork employs close observation and the contemplative nature of craft to explore the instability of perception and the poetics of representation as a means of interpreting our relationships to place, time, labor, and history. He holds an MFA in Painting from Northwestern University and a BA in Studio Art from Wheaton College. Carrelli's work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, and is included in the collections of the Illinois State Museum, Elmhurst University, Northwestern University, and DePaul University, among others. His works have appeared in many publications, including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Reader, New American Paintings, Art Scene Chicago 2000, and Time Out Chicago. Awards include a Fulbright Grant to Florence, Italy, as well as grants from the Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Union League of Chicago. He lives in Chicago and teaches in The Art School at DePaul University.
http://stevencarrelli.com/

Jason Dunda is a Chicago-based Canadian painter who also creates sewn and carved objects. His work deals with intersections of power, labor, and humor, usually through depictions of figures and the spaces they occupy.  He has exhibited in Chicago, New York, Sweden, Iceland, Kuwait, France, and Canada and his work is represented in the collections of Todd Oldham, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre and the Doris McCarthy Gallery at the University of Toronto. Recent projects include “A Hall of Unflattering Portraits,” a solo exhibition at the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie, Ontario, Canada and “Highly Illogical,” a two-person collaborative installation at langeroverdickie in Chicago.  International exhibits include the Heine-Onstad Art Centre in Oslo, and the Kuwait Art Foundation in Kuwait City. Recent residencies include the Haystack School of Craft in Deer Isle, Maine, and a four-month research and production residency in Paris sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts. He holds the position of Assistant Professor of 2D Fundamentals at the Wonsook Kim School of Art at Illinois State University.
https://www.jasondunda.com

Sofía Fernández Díaz is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator from Mexico City. Her experimental, process-driven practice combines meditative labor, repetition, and intuition with traditional fiber and craft techniques she has learned through working alongside Mexican artisans. Her art has been exhibited at Goldfinch, Co-Prosperity, Dominican University, and EXPO in Chicago; Mexico City/Berlin gallery Lagos at the Volta Art Fair in Switzerland; and proyecto ACE in Buenos Aires among others. Awards include the Joan Livingston scholarship, a Spark grant from the Chicago Artist Coalition, a Radicle Studio Residency at the Hyde Park Art Center, and she was named a Newcity 2025 Breakout Artist. She holds an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and a degree in Art Anthropology from CIESAS in Mexico City. She is a lecturer at SAIC and a Resident and teaching artist at Lillstreet Art Center.
https://www.sofiafernandezdiaz.com/

Xiaohan Jiang is a painter and poet born in Hebei, China currently based in Chicago. Her work explores the intersection of painting and poetry, drawing from the pastoral landscapes of her childhood in Northern China. Themes of redemption, rebirth, and identity are central to her practice, reflecting her ongoing quest to reconcile personal and cultural dualities. Her work has been exhibited at venues including Patient Info Gallery, Chicago, IL; Art Clvb, Detroit, MI; Unveil Gallery, Irvine, CA, 4C Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; and Bonian Space, Beijing. She held her first solo exhibition at Août Gallery in Beirut, Lebanon. She has been awarded the New American Paintings Emerging Artist Grant and has been featured in Women United Art Magazine, Suboart, and Artsin Square Magazines. Xiaohan will have received her MFA in Painting and Drawing in 2025 and her BFA in 2022 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
https://www.xiaohanjiang.com/

Tulika Ladsariya explores connections using tenderness and nurturance to discuss beauty, identity, and history. Using an interdisciplinary practice of painting, ceramics, and installation, she creates work that explores threads that link multiple worlds. Born in Mumbai, India and having spent the last decade in Chicago, she has exhibited at the Hammond Museum, NY; Ralph Arnold Gallery, Loyola University; Shingoethe Center,Aurora University; Heaven Gallery, Chicago; Collar Works, NY; EXPO Chicago; Jamaat Art Gallery, Mumbai; and Kalakriti Gallery, New Delhi and Hyderabad. She is a member of the Spaceshift Collective, a cultural community group for South Asians in Chicago; Praxis, an artist collective in the Midwest; and the Midwest Clay Guild. She was a resident at the Hyde Park Art Center and a BOLT resident at Chicago Artists Coalition. She is a recipient of the In-Session Fellowship for Threewalls Foundation and a DCASE grant.
https://www.tulika.art/

James Kao is a Chicago-based artist who makes paintings and drawings. Selected one-person exhibitions include China Projects, San Francisco, CA; Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA; Adds Donna, Chicago, IL; Lloyd Dobler Gallery, Chicago, IL; and Sears Peyton Gallery, New York, NY. He has attended various artist residencies including: Marina Abramovic Institute-West, San Francisco, CA; White Mountain National Forest Artist in Residence, Center Sandwich, NH; Catwalk Institute, Catwalk, NY; The Alfred and Trafford Klots International Program for Artists, Lehon, France; Jentel Artist Residency, Banner, WY; and Montello Foundation, Montello, NV. Kao is co-founder and co-director of 4th Ward Project Space in Chicago, IL. He holds MFA and BFA degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago. He is Associate Professor of Art at Aurora University in Aurora, IL.
www.jameskao.org

SaraNoa Mark pursues a drawing practice that investigates traces left by time, as they exist in landscapes and in collective memory. Her work has been supported by a Fulbright research fellowship in Turkey along with grants from Artadia, the Harpo Foundation, U.S. Embassy Mission Grants Program in Turkey, Luminarts Cultural Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, DCASE, West Collection, and others. Mark's residencies include the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Chicago Artists Coalition, Montello Foundation, the Hyde Park Art Center, and in 2025 at Yaddo, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, and Dieu Donné. Recent exhibitions include the Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Daniel Faira Gallery, Toronto, CA; The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, ME; Davis & Langdale, NY; 5533, Istanbul, among others. She co-directed the 4th Ward Project Space in Chicago from 2017-2023. Mark was named a Newcity magazine Breakout Artist in 2021. Her work has been reviewed in Hyperallergic, ARTNEWS, ArtAsiaPacific, and more.
https://www.saranoamark.com/

Connie Noyes is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores grief, cultural memory, and collective emotional growth. Noyes earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MA in psychology from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. Her practice is further informed by her training as a death doula and her studies in Butoh, both of which shape her approach to embodiment, mourning, and ritual. Her work has been exhibited internationally in cities such as Paris, Innsbruck, Munich, Dubai, and Bangi. She has participated in Art Abu Dhabi, Art Bahrain, and the Biennale Internationale d’Art non-objectif in France. Her solo exhibitions include Compound Yellow, Oak Park, IL; Evanston Art Center, Wedge Projects, Chicago, IL; Abel Contemporary, Stoughton, WI; N’Namdi Contemporary, Miami, FL; and Blanc Gallery, Chicago, IL. Noyes has participated in residencies around the world, including in Berlin, Germany; Haukijärvi, Finland; Aulus-les-bains, France, New York, NY; Abu Dhabi, UAE; and Cape Town, South Africa.
https://www.connienoyes.com/