Temperatures were brutal all week in Chicago. But instead of keeping people away from the Thursday evening Artist in Residence lecture by Kate McQuillen, artists suffering from cabin fever packed into the studio, enjoying lively conversation, idea-swapping, and the talk by McQuillen.

Kate was a CBPA summer resident in 2010, where she worked in the paper studio with then-MFA Kaitlin Kostus. Her Anchor residency ran from January 2-25, during one of the coldest stretches of Chicago weather in recent memory. But what better way to spent the polar vortex than inside Anchor Graphics’s warm and cozy studio, making art?

In her lecture Kate talked about the genesis of her imagery, the influences on her work, and how her mark-making has changed since her earlier “smoke” drawings. “What I am drawn to in my recent work is the juxtaposition of representational forms, combined with abstracted shapes,” said Kate. “I’m enjoying using the printmaking and collage processing to create imagery that references movement and figuration, but without being too literal.” McQuillen often uses methods of collage, portraiture, and landscape to discuss the self and mortality in relation to both the individual citizen and the collective imagination.

In February Kate will be visiting artist at Lake Forest College, working with an installation class as they create two large-scale installations from monoprints. The show, No Such Agency, will open in the Durand Art Institute’s Albright and Sonnenschein Galleries on February 27. McQuillen will deliver an artist talk at 4:00 p.m. and the opening reception will begin at 7:30 p.m.

For more about the artist, click here.