Dann Nardi Education: Illinois State University Awards: 1988 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Grant; 1987 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Grant; 1986 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Grant; 1983 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Grant. Statement: "And as I work I think of these things, those that remain, those that return. It is not necessarily linear thinking, it is more like circular feeling. I am haunted (in a way) by the gray area, the location that exists and is created between things, this space which occupies the middle, and rides the line between the two. It is on one hand a location of tension, on the other it is one of sharing. Within this space I look for balance...for symmetry...and I think about tolerance, and those things regarding loss and gain. As a kid I worked in a cemetery in the summers. We dug graves by hand. I thought a lot about life and death, earth and sky, above and below. I thought about the surface of the earth...its plane, the line of division between two worlds, two realities. It was a time for consideration, a time for considering time. I think about both sides of the two, I want to question each, I want to understand each. Somewhere between the two...amidst the push and the pull...opposites attract. I am looking for an equilibrium, for a union. We look back to our past and ahead to our future, and we move along in the middle, and we end as we began. You are here You are You TI VOUS USTED DU JER NI YOS YIOU JIJ DERE YOU VOI WY oag TU ANATA TY VI SITH OEIG DU SHENG OE JG HSIEN YOU WA oag TU YOU" Dann Nardi--"Middle Ground" Description of art from the artist's biographical summary:"Characterized by subtle elegance of materiality and form, Dann Nardi's sculpture resonates at second glance. Using commonplace materials deployed in a simple structural syntax, Nardi's work doesn't scream for our attention, but viewers receptive to its quietude encounter an art of elemental dignity and unexpected emotional impact."--Buzz Spector (from "Dann Nardi: Dichotomies, Differences, and in Between..." in "Dann Nardi Middle Ground", Illinois State University, exhibition catalog)

Exhibitions: Nardi's art work has been exhibited internationally and is in numerous public and private collections. A selected list of recent solo exhibitions includes: University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL; Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, IL; Merwin Gallery, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL; Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
Recent group and invitational exhibitions include: 1994 "Chicago-The Third Dimension", Invitational Group Exhibition, The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL; "USA Within Limits", Invitational Exhibition, Documenta Galeria de Arte, San Paulo, Brazil; "Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition", Klein Art Works, Chicago, IL; 1993 "Abstract Chicago", Klein Art Works, Chicago, IL; "Sculpture In the Garden", Invitational Exhibition, Gwinnett County Civic and Cultural Center, Atlanta, GA; 1992 "Sculptors on Paper, Invitational Drawing Exhibition, University of Milwaukee Art Museum; Open Surface: Abstractions by Nardi, Sensemann and Tinsley", Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, IL (curated by John Heintzman); Contemporary Visual Art Invitational, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL; "Few and Far Between", Invitational Sculpture Exhibition, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL; Concepts/Contemporary Outdoor Sculpture Proposals, Invitational Exhibition, West Bend Gallery of Fine Arts, West Bend, WI; 1990 "Monuments and Memorials", State of Illinois Gallery, Chicago, IL; "The Outdoor Sculpture Show: Chicago Artists from Illinois Galleries", Klein Art Works, Chicago, IL; "Partners in Purchase/Selected Works 1976-1987", Lakeview Museum, Peoria, IL; 1989 "Working in Wood", Group Sculpture Invitational Exhibition, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA; "Gallery Artists", Group Exhibition, Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, IL; "Glen Ellen Imagery Series", Invitational Drawing Exhibition, Simon James Gallery, Berkeley, CA; 1988 "Dann Nardi/Anne Wilson", The Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, Chicago, IL (catalog); "Sculpture in the Landscape: Large-scale Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition", Paine Art Center and Arboretum, Oshkosh, WI; "Il Bronzetto", Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; "Vis-a-Vis", Exhibition of selected faculty and alumni from Illinois State University, Superior and Huron Gallery Building Chicago, IL; 1987 "Sculpture Chicago Alumni Exhibition", Printer's Square, Chicago, IL; "Sculpture Tour", 1987, Invitational Exhibition of Large-Scale Sculpture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (catalog) 1986-87 "Sculptors Drawings", Invitational Traveling Exhibition, Sonoma State University, CA, University of Idaho, California Polytechnic State University Redding Museum and Art Center, CA, California State University, Stanislaus, CA (catalog); 1986 "Architectural Images in Art", Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA; 1985 "Abstract Art in Chicago", Lakeview Museum, Peoria, IL; "Collections Artists Select", State of Illinois Center Gallery, Chicago, IL (catalog); "Chicago Sculpture", Clark Art Center, Gallery, Rockford College, Rockford, IL; 1984 "Chicago Sculpture International/Mile 3", Navy Pier, Chicago, IL; "Painting and Sculpture Today 1984", Indianapolis, IN (catalog)

Commissions: All projects are site-specific installaions:
1994-95 "Within Without", cast concrete, earth, plantings. Location: University of Illinois, Chicago, IL. Art-in-Architecture Program, State of Illinois;
"Dividing Time", cast concrete. Location: University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, IL. Art-in-Architecture Program, State of Illinois.
1993 "World Piece", cast concrete, (indoor). Location: University of Illinois, Urbana, IL. Art-in-Architecture Program, State of Illinois; "Elemental Tables", cast concrete, earth, plantings, (outdoor). Location: Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL. Art-in-Architecture Program, State of Illinois;
1992 "Metiri", cast concrete, earth (outdoor). Location: Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc., Collegeville, PA.
1991 "The Balance of Equality", cast concrete, earth, planting, (outdoor). Location: Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. Memorial sculpture for Martin Luther King, Jr.
1989 "In Time of Awakening", cast concrete, earth, (outdoor). Location: Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA.
1985 "On The Eclipse", cast concrete (outdoor). Location: Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL. Art-in-Architecture Program, State of Illinois;
1984 "Vermillion Exchange", cast concrete (outdoor). Location: Private Collection, Pontiac, IL
1982 "In Southern Crossing", cast concrete, earth (outdoor). Location: Lytle Park, Mattoon, IL.

Collections: Phillip Morris Company, New York, NY; Prudential Insurance Company, New York, NY; Coca-Cola Corporation, Atlanta, GA; Home Box Office Corporation, New York, NY; U.S. Equities, Inc., Chicago, IL; Arthur Andersen Corporation, Chicago, IL; Saks Fifth Avenue Corporation, New York, NY; Paine Art Center and Arboretum, Oshkosh, WI; Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, IL; University of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, MN; University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL.

(biographical information last updated on September 28, 1999)