Staff

Alexis Lee Ortiz. After graduating in 2001 Alexis traveled extensively throughout Southern Mexico and Central America working with Save the Children and several independent NGO's focused on the educational integrity of rural schools and community responsability. He is a Native Chicago Artist dedicated to serving his younger creative counter-parts, exploring the collaborative imagination process; through practice and play and looking forward to sharing what he has learned from his travels and within. "Ive spent a long time detached from what many would claim as their culture and have realized that I am nothing I may profess to be if I'm not a teacher first and foremost. A lot, if not all of my Art (even before I knew it to be such) is a testament to my having been, found and reunited with the graces of our collectively vast heritage in all its beauty, darkness, colorful and loud expressions. Que sigue y sigue!"


Volunteers & interns

Rosanna Diaz, teaching & administrative
Diana Kast, administrative
Brian Nalnassy, teaching
Christa Rolf, grants & research


Artist-teachers


Adam Rust received his Bachelor of Science in Art from the University of Wisconsin in 2001, and his Master of Fine Art from Columbia College Chicago in 2005.

While studying at the University of Wisconsin, Adam began his now widely published off-beat, pop-culture/political satire comic strip “Adam's Rust” in a local independent newspaper. Eventually the comic began to appear in both print and on-line publications across the country and world. Most notably, Adam contributes comic work to Mad Magazine, The Funny Times, Z Magazine, and is included in a book of Alternative American Cartoonists titled “Attitude 3-The New Subversive On-line Cartoonist”.

Adam's Fine-Art was based in painting and drawing as an undergrad, but since earning a graduate degree, has expanded to sculptural installation and object making. Topics dealt with include aging, gender, technology, sex, art, history, the future, consumerism, society and politics. Some of Adam's signature work includes unconventional materials such as food an animals as a medium.


Leah Schreiber attended Illinois State University from 1997-2002 where she received her Bachelor of Fine Art with a focus in painting, as well as her Bachelor of Science with a focus in studio ceramics. While at Illinois State, Schreiber received multiple awards including the School of Art Tuition Waiver and the MJ Scholarship/Grant. Her work, invested in her relationship with feminism, gained attention from the Women’s Studies Department, resulting in Schreiber’s participation as a presenter at the 2002 Women’s Studies Symposium. She was also recognized by department faculty with an appointment to the national painting faculty search committee.

In 2002, she was awarded with a Marshall Frankel Foundation Fellowship to attend a residency at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT.

Schreiber has upheld an active exhibition record including shows in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. She has had multiple solo exhibitions and was recently recognized by the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, IN. Leah currently resides in Chicago, IL where she is the Technical Director of the Children’s Program as well as an instructor at Lillstreet Art Center. In addition to her work at Lillstreet, she is an Artist-Teacher at The Marwen Foundation and has been a guest artist in multiple Chicago Public Schools.


Eric L. Wood studied fine arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received his BA in English at Arizona State University with a focus in creative writing. He taught Latin and Ballroom dancing for three years at Chicago Dance, and presently offers private dance lessons throughout the city. He currently teaches drawing and painting for Lillstreet Art Center, a mural painting program for After School Matters, as well as a mural painting class for Artscape Chicago. Eric is in the process of creating a visual book composed of his writings and drawings.

Roz Adams
Melanie Brown
Skye Enyeart
Lariza Fenner
David Trost


Board of Directors

Bruce Robbins, founder & board president
Pamela Miller, treasurer
Barbara Coughlin
Thomas Lucas
Suzanne Oboler


Advisory Board

Roz Adams, Lillstreet teacher’s liaison