In 2014, Elmhurst College received an extremely generous gift of eight important paintings from the estate of New York and Chicago-based painter Ellen Lanyon (1926-2013). Often identified with the Chicago Imagists, Lanyon’s Surrealist “dreamscapes” combine plants, animals and everyday objects into compositions that reflect her own private mythology.

Beginning on Nov. 4, Elmhurst College will exhibit the entire body of work that Lanyon bequeathed to the College. The exhibit is a onetime opportunity to view all of the paintings in one venue—due to limited space, after this exhibit only individual paintings can be displayed in the permanent collection at the A.C. Buehler Library.

A public reception for the exhibit will feature a panel of artists and close friends who will discuss and celebrate Lanyon’s life and art. The panelists include: • Lynne Warren, curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago • Phyllis Bramson, Chicago artist, professor emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago • Richard Lanyon, brother of Ellen Lanyon, scientist, author, retired director of the Chicago Water Reclamation District The moderator is Suellen Rocca, an artist and the curator and director of exhibitions for Elmhurst College. The fall art exhibition of Lanyon’s work begins on Saturday, Nov. 4, and ends on Saturday, November 18.

A public reception will be held on Saturday, Nov. 4, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace (200 block of West Park Avenue, Elmhurst, elmhurst.edu/campusmap). The panel discussion begins at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free to the exhibition and reception.

This exhibition is one of about a dozen art shows that Elmhurst College hosts each academic year in two campus venues. In addition, the College’s A.C. Buehler Library permanently houses the College’s unparalleled collection of Chicago Imagist and Abstractionist Art, which explores the vibrant, often outrageous, yet precisely crafted works of Chicago artists between 1950 and the present.

For more information, please contact Suellen Rocca at (630) 617-6110 or srocca@elmhurst.edu.

Elmhurst College is a leading four-year college that seamlessly blends liberal learning and professional preparation to help students reach their full potential. Elmhurst offers more than 60 undergraduate majors, 15 graduate programs, degree-completion programs for adults and the Elmhurst Learning and Success Academy for young adults with developmental disabilities. Elmhurst College is one of the Top 12 Colleges in the Midwest, according to U.S. News & World Report; and U.S. News, Money and Forbes magazines consistently rank Elmhurst as one of the Midwest’s best values in higher education.