About

Krista Wortendyke (b. 1979, Nyack, New York) is a Chicago-based conceptual artist. She received her MFA in Photography from Columbia College in 2007. Her ongoing work examines violence through the lens of media. Her works are a result of a constant grappling with the mediation of war and brutality both locally and globally. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Schneider Gallery and Weinberg/Newton Gallery in Chicago, The Griffin Museum in Boston, and many other venues across the United States. Additionally, Krista’s work is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

CV

b. Nyack, NY 1979

EDUCATION
2007 MFA Photography Columbia College Chicago
2002 BFA Photography Southampton College of Long Island University
Areas of Specialization: Photography, History of Photography, Installation Art

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2021 – 2023 Manger of Student Programs, Arts Education Department, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, IL
2018 – 2021 Arts Coordinator, Senn High School, Chicago, IL
2016 – 2018    Adjunct Faculty, Loyola University, Chicago, IL
2015 – 2018     Project AIM Teaching Artist, Center for Community Arts Partnerships, Chicago, IL
2008 – 2018   Adjunct Faculty, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL
2013 – 2015     Digital Media Mentor, Convergence, Center for Community Arts Partnerships, Chicago, IL
2012 – 2014     Adjunct Faculty, North Eastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL
2011 – 2014     Teaching Artist, TEAM, Center for the Community Arts Partnerships, Chicago, IL
2006 – 2009 Teaching Assistant, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL

AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS
2017 Part-Time Faculty Development Grant, Center for Teaching and Education, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
2016 Part-Time Faculty Development Grant, Center for Teaching and Education, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
2016 Communicator Award for Killing Season Chicago
2016 Webby Award Nominee in the NetArt category for Killing Season Chicago
2016 Part-Time Faculty Development Grant, Center for Teaching and Education, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
2015 Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50
2015 John Gutmann Fellowship Nominee
2015 Review Santa Fe Participant, Santa Fe, NM
2015 Puffin Foundation Artist Grant
2014 Convergence Academies Faculty Fellows Program Award, Columbia Community Arts Partnerships, IL
2014 Part-Time Faculty Development Grant, Center for Teaching and Education, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
2014 LRNG Grant, National Writing Project, MacArthur Foundation & Show Me Campaign
2013 Transforming Education through Arts & Media (TEAM) Fellowship, Columbia Community Arts Partnerships
2011 CIT Technology Fellowship, Columbia College Chicago
2006 – 2007 Graduate Teaching Fellowship Award
2006 Union League Civic & Arts Foundation Scholarship
2004 Graduate Opportunity Award, Columbia College Chicago

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
VOTE (in collaboration with Senn High School students), The Violet Hour, Chicago, IL
What Now? (in collaboration with Casey Murtaugh), 1340 West Madison Street, Chicago, IL

2018
Heat.xmp, Gallery of Art & Design, Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, NE
#mass_observation, Filter Space, Chicago, IL

2017
Interventions, FotoIstanbul, Turkey (curated by Coşar Kulaksiz)
Killing Season Chicago, Folk Hall Gallery, The University of Akron, Akron, OH
HEAT.xmp, Arrowhead Gallery, Waubonsee Community College Chicago, Sugar Grove, IL

2016
Interventions, OFF_Festival, Bratislava, Slovakia (curated by Dušan Kochol)
#Mass_Observation, The Violet Hour, Chicago, IL
Interventions, Technology Rotunda Gallery, SUNY Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY
Killing Season Chicago, Heuser Art Center, Bradley University, Peoria, IL
Killing Season Chicago, 9th Floor Project Space, Columbia College Chicago, IL
Killing Season Chicago, Robert F DeCaprio Art Gallery, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, IL
(re): media, Griffin Museum, Winchester, MA

2015
Killing Season Chicago, Public Display, Logan Square, Chicago, IL

2011
Killing Season Chicago 2010, Mess Hall, Chicago, IL
Killing Season Chicago, The Violet Hour, Chicago, IL

2010
(re): media, Moo’s Gallery, Hudson, OH

2009
(re): media, Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago, IL

2002
Cognizance, Avram Gallery, Southampton, NY

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
Dissonance & Resonance: Four Photographers, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS (curated by Terry Evans)

2019
Size Matters, Sparks Gallery, San Diego, CA (curated by Kai Caemmerer)
Midwest SPE Multi Caucus Exhibition, Art Center Gallery at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Furtive, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL (curated by Jennifer Murray)
Gravity of Perception, Center for Visual Art, Denver, Colorado (curated by Cecily Cullen, Hamidah Glasgow & Natascha Seideneck)

2018
Bad News, Ralph Arnold Gallery at Loyola University, Chicago, IL (curated by Betsy Odom & Rafael Vera)
Next: Filter Photo’s 2nd Annual Members Exhibition, Doug Fogelson Studio, Chicago, IL (curated by Jon Feinstein)
Gun Ballet: The Aestheticization of Violence in Video Games, VGA Gallery, Chicago, IL (curated by Jonathan Kinkley)
Pink Noise: Works by the Stella Collective, Catholic Theological Union Mary-Frances and Bill Veek Gallery, Chicago, IL

2017
In Accuracy, Unsmoke Systems Artspace, Braddock, PA
We Like Small Things, Filter Space, Chicago, IL (curated by Jennifer Keats)
Faculty Works, Hokin Gallery, Chicago, IL

2016
This Heat, Weinberg/Newton Gallery, Chicago, IL (curated by Meg T Noe)
Critical Mass Top 50, Arts Inkubator, Łódź, Poland (curated by Alison Nordström, Fotofestiwal Artistic Director, Łódź, Poland)
What Lies Beneath, Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL
StrangeFire Collective: AGENCY, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO (curated by Hamidah Glasgow)

2014
All the Days and Nights, Alumni on 5 Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, IL (curated by Lisa Lindvay)

2013
Chicago Style, David Weinberg Gallery, Chicago, IL (curated by Matthew Avignone)
Picturing a World without Prisons, Human Thread Gallery, Chicago, IL (curated by Mariame Kaba)
The Ex-Photo Show, 56 Avenue C, New York, NY (curated by Jeremy Zini)
Northeastern Illinois University Faculty Show, Chicago, IL
ARGUS: Organic Visual Archive, Johalla Projects, Chicago, IL

2011
Crime Unseen, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL (curated by Karen Irvine)
Returning the Gaze: Contemporary Portraits by Women, Northern Trust Bank, Chicago, IL (curated by Lily Mayfield)
Necessary Fictions, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
Critical Encounters: Images & Implication, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
Gift Of Gift Of, Spacetaker, Houston, TX 2010
Critical Encounters: Fact & Faith Faculty Exhibition, Columbia College Chicago

2009
Critical Encounters: Fact & Fiction, Columbia College Chicago, IL
Involving Violence, School 33, Baltimore, MD
Faking It, The Art Center, Highland Park, IL

2008
Who Gets What: A Political Show, David Weinberg Gallery, Chicago, IL (curated by Aaron Ott)
Experiencing the War in Iraq, multiple venues, RI & MA
Violence Transformed, Massachusetts State House, Boston, MA

2007
Chicago Artists Coalition Art Open (curator’s choice), Chicago, IL
Involving Violence, Lasso Gallery at the Butcher Shop, Chicago, IL
13th Annual Women’s Exhibition, SoHo20 Gallery, New York, NY
Gameplay: Video Games in Contemporary Art Practice, Around the Coyote Gallery, Chicago, IL (curated by Jessica Cochran)
Emerging Illinois Artists ’07, McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, IL
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL

2006
Union League Club Civic & Arts Foundation Scholarship Exhibition, Chicago, IL

2005
Upstate Photo Competition, “working” Gallery, Schenectady, NY
Annual Juried Exhibition, ArtCrave Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Light Within, Dolan Center Gallery, Locust Valley, NY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• “Workshop with Artist in Residence Encourages Questions from Children,” Salina Post, July 15, 2021

• “Four Photographers Share Personal Focus in Dissonance & Resonance Exhibition,” Salina Journal, May 20, 2021

• “Review: The Month of Photography Has Developed Into a Major Event,” Westworld, February 27, 2019.

• “Memory, Disrupted,” Photo District News, February 5, 2019.

• “From Young Women to Famed Painters, Art Deals with Pain,” Chicago Tribune, November 11, 2016.

• “Class of 2020 Collaborates with Artists to Change Social Injustice,” Roberto Clemente Community Academy (blog), September 26, 2016.

• Kelli Connell, “Krista Wortendyke: The States Project: Illinois,” Lenscratch, September 21, 2016.

• Tom Renner, “Nyack Native Puts New Spin On Ghastly Images At Rockland CC Exhibit,” Orangetown Daily Voice, September 19, 2016.

• Robin Dluzen, “This Heat at Weinberg/Newton Gallery,” Art Ltd, September 2016.

• Bob Chiarito, Interview, “Chicago Artist Krista Wortendyke Uses Her Camera to Speak About Chicago Violence,” The Chicago Ambassador, August 2016.

• Leslie Renken, “Artists Address Social Justice and Political Engagement in Displays at Bradley,” The Peoria Star Journal, August 12, 2016.

• Alison Bowen, “Artwork on Gun Violence Can’t Keep Up with Chicago’s Shootings,” Chicago Tribune, July 20, 2016.

• Mark Feeney, “Bullets and Photographs at the Griffin,” The Boston Globe, January 25, 2016.

• Elin Spring, “Hitting the Mark,” What Will You Remember (blog), January 19, 2016.

• Paige Fumo Fox, “Photo Exhibit Quiet Memorial to Chicago’s Homicide Victims,” Daily Southtown of the Chicago Tribune, January 4, 2016.

• Jess T Dugan, Interview, “Q&A: Krista Wortendyke,” Strange Fire Collective (blog), November 12, 2016.

• Jonathan Blaustein, “Chicago’s Filter Photo Festival – Part 2,” aPhotoEditor (blog), October 30, 2015.

• Elin Spring, “Breaking Views From Filter Photo Festival,” What Will You Remember (blog), October 1, 2015.

• Paul Biasco, “Chicago’s ‘Killing Season’ Graphed in Murder Scene Photos Along Mega Mall,” DNA Info, August 10, 2015.

• Christy Karpinsky, “Interview,” F-Stop Magazine, Issue #61: Cities, October 2013.

• Zach Clark, “Killing Season Chicago,” Composite Arts Magazine, Issue #12: Pattern, (Summer 2013). 64-78.

• Theo Constatino, Interview, “An Innate Drive to Explore Ideas,” Paradigm Magazine, January 22, 2013.

• Jason Foumberg. “Breakout Artists: Chicago’s Next Generation of Image Makers,” New City, (May 3, 2012): 6-10.

• Tara Kelly. “Artist Krista Wortendyke’s (re): media’ Explosion of Collages Examine Perceptions of War,” Huffington Post, January 24, 2012.

• Olivia Solon. “In Pictures: Collages Question Our Perception of War,” Wired Magazine (wired.co.uk), January 18, 2012.

• Philip A Hartigan. “Can We Trust a Photograph?” Hyperallergic, November 25, 2011.

• Jason Foumberg, “Eye Exam: On Happiness and Violence,” New City, (November 17, 2011): 8.

• Lauren Viera, “Killing Season Yields Public Art,” Chicago Tribune, (July 21, 2011): 68-69.

• Jeff McMahon, “Keeping Chicago’s Body Count in the Killing Season,” True/Slant (blog), July 5, 2010.

• Michael Weinstein. “Review Krista Wortendyke/Packer Schopf Gallery,” New City, July 20, 2009.

• Michael Weinstein, “Tip of the Week – Who Gets What: A Political Show,” New City, (September 11, 2008): 14.

• Jason Foumberg, “A Mirror at the Event Horizon,” New City, (August 20, 2007): 14.

PUBLICATIONS
From Fact to Fiction: War Reportage Transforming. Chicago: Columbia College Chicago, 2007.

RADIO/TELEVISION
"Artistic Messages of Hope Appear on Plywood in Front of Stores After Unrest,”CBS News Chicago, Chicago, IL, July 7, 2020
Elizabeth Brackett, Interview, “Artist Documents Chicago Murders,” WTTW11-TV, Chicago Tonight, Chicago, IL, August 15, 2012
Richard Steele, “Photographer Aims to Document Summer Murder Scenes,” WBEZ Radio, Eight Forty-Eight, Chicago, IL, June 7, 2010

VISITING ARTIST LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS/CRITIQUES
2021 Lecture & Workshop, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS
2019 Lecture, Midwest Society for Photographic Education Conference, Milwaukee, WI
2019 Presentation, Chicago Public Schools Department of Arts Education Conference, Chicago, IL
2018 Lecture, Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, NE
2017 Lectures & Critiques, Point Park University, Pittsburg, PA
2017 Lecture & Critiques, The University of Akron, Akron, OH
2017 Lecture & Workshop, Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, IL
2016 Lecture, SUNY Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY
2016 Lecture & Graduate Critiques, Slane College of Communications and Arts, Bradley University, Peoria, IL
2016 Lecture, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, IL
2012 Lecture, SUNY Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY
2011 Panel Discussion, Filter Photo Festival, Chicago, IL
2011 Lecture, DePaul University, Chicago IL
2010 Lecture, Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, OH

ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2021 Artist Residency, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS
2010 Artist Residency, ACRE, Steuben, WI
2008 Artist Residency, Harold Arts, Chesterhill, OH

EXHIBITIONS CURATED/JURIED
2016 I Witness: Activist Art & Social Movement Politics, Heuser Art Gallery & Hartmann Center Gallery, Bradley University, Peoria, IL (juror)
2011 Manifest B.A. + B.F.A. Exhibition, Columbia College Chicago, IL (curator)
2007 Relative Closeness, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL (curatorial assistant)

COLLECTIONS
Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Museum of Contemporary Photography