BORN        1960, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

EDUCATION
1989        M.F.A., The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1988        AICA New York Studio Program, New York, NY.
1986        Post-Baccalaureate Studio Certificate, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1983        B.S., University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

ONE AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2008    Visual Research, Finestra Art Space, Chicago (Deborah Adams Doering)
2007    The Artist Project, Art Chicago
2006    Outlaw A, Nova New Art Fair, Chicago, with Jackie Kazarian
2003    Inspiring Guns Tank Afghan War Rug, 741 Carpet, Art Chicago, Navy Pier / Rhona Hoffman Gallery
1999    Gumdrop Trees in Skokie, North Shore Sculpture Park, Skokie, IL
1998    GriGri 4 Spring, in conjunction with Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
1997    Buddha at the Hot Dog Stand, Ten in One Gallery, Chicago
1996    Sampler, Westwerk e.V., Hamburg, Germany
1995    Ten in One Gallery
1992    Ten in One Gallery
1989    The Correct Time,  Gallery 2, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1987    Barbara Koenen: Strange Attractors, The Charleston, Chicago.
1986    Barbara Koenen, The Last Exit, Seattle, WA.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2008    Gestures of Resistance, Gray Matters Gallery, Dallas (Shannon Stratton)
2007    Mapping the Self, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (Tricia Van Eck)
            The Emergency Show, POLVO, Chicago (Miguel Cortez)
            To Fear or Not to Fear, HIghland Park Art Center (Vesna Rebenak)
2006    POLVO at the Pool Art Fair, Miami Beach (Edra Soto)
            Silk Road Exhibition, 72 E. Randolph Gallery, Chicago (Nathan Mason)
            Stitched in Time, Mess Hall, Chicago
2005    Juried Show 2005, Center for Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA (Mark Dion, J.Morgan Puett)
            Faker, LIPA, Chicago
            Bridge Magazine Shoebox Series, 2005
2004    Summer Summit, Ptujskem gradu Galerija with LIPA, Ptuj, Slovenia   
2002    Memento Mori, LIPA, Chicago (Vesna Rebenak)
            Chicago Sculpture Now, Part 2, Columbia College Glass Curtain Gallery (Adam Brooks, Corey Postiglione)
            She-bang, Three Arts Club, Chicago (Lisa K. Erf)
            Knotty Dotty Witty Gritty, LIPA, Chicago
            Du Sable Park:  Hidden in Plain View, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Chicago (Laurie Palmer)
2001    3 Acres on the Lake, Gallery 312, Chicago (Laurie Palmer)
2000    Millenium Fusion Project, ARC Gallery, (Adelheid Mers, Shuko Wada and Mark Gengrich)
1999    Cows on Parade, Chicago Cultural Center
            Butter, Margin Gallery, Chicago (Nathan Mason)
            Gri-Gri, installation for Hyde Park Art Center auction
            Bookmarks, Benefit Auction for Whitewalls Magazine, NIU Gallery, Chicago
1998    Not in My Lobby, You Don't, Hyde Park Art Center, (Chuck Thurow/Ruth Horwich)
            You Need to Bring a Gift to Attend this Exhibition, Tough Gallery, Chicago (invited by Adelheid Mers)
            Gri-Gri, installation for Hyde Park Art Center auction
            Bookmarks, Auction for Whitewalls Magazine, NIU Gallery
1997    I Paid $25 To Be In This Show, Beret International Gallery
1996    Plane Speak, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago. (Ed Maldonado).
            ART Chicago 1996, Uncomfortable Spaces.
            Bookmarks 5, NIU Gallery
1995    Art Chicago 1995, Uncomfortable Spaces, Chicago, IL
            PUBLIC/PRIVATE (Women Artists Negotiate the Terrain, NIU Gallery, (Susan Snodgrass)
            St. Valentine's Day Exhibition, NAME Gallery
            Bookmarks 4, NIU Gallery, Chicago
1994    The Uncomfortable Show, Ten in One Gallery, Chicago. (Joel Lieb)
            Pages, 450 Broadway Gallery, New York.  (curated by Elisabeth Condon.)
            Beret's Worst Show, Beret International Gallery, Chicago.
            Good Works, St. James Episcopal Center, Chicago. (curated by Nathan Mason)
            Target Choice '94, Chicago, IL
            Bookmarks 3, NIU Gallery, Chicago.
            SHAPE, The Peace Museum, Chicago.
            St Valentine’s Day Exhibition, NAME Gallery, Chicago.
            Erotic Wicker Park, Flat Iron Gallery, Chicago.
1993    Official Pictures, Ten in One Gallery, Chicago. (Joel Lieb)
            Dias de los Muertos, NNWAC Flat Iron Gallery, Chicago
            Categories of Robert Smithson, NAME Gallery, Chicago, IL.  (Stephen Lapthisophon.)
            Paper, Near Northwest Art Council, Flat Iron Gallery, Chicago, IL.
            Emerging Chicago Abstraction, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL. (Keith Struve, Peter Baldaia.)
            Faculty Exhibition, Marwen Gallery, Chicago.  (Antonia Contro).
            St. Valentine's Day Invitational Exhibition, N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago.
1992    Grit and Polish/Art and Space, State of Illinois Gallery, Chicago. (Robert Sill.)
            Bookmarks Exhibition & Auction, NIU Gallery, Chicago.
            Masters as Motif, Northside Cultural Center, Chicago. (Georgianne Scholz.)
            The Sentimental Show,  Beret International Gallery, Chicago.
            Migration, The Dome Room, Chicago.
1991    itch, N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, (Irene Tsatos, John Pakosta.)
            Intuition, The Dome Room, Chicago (Gail Forrest.)
            St. Valentine's Day Exhibition, N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago.
1990    Pornographic Poem, performance for Petty Crimes for the Common Good",
              (series curated by Adam Brooks and Cheryl Bailey.), Club Lower Links, Chicago.
            Art Against Homelessness, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago.
1989    Bookchin, Hogin, Jacob, Koenen, Gallery 2, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
            MFA Thesis Exhibition, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
            AIDS: Responsible and Responding, Axe St. Arena Gallery, Chicago.
            Lasting Impressions, SAIC, Chicago.
1988    Say It, SAIC, Chicago.
            Artists Against Homelessness, Chicago.
            AICA New York Studio Show, New York, NY
1987    4 Painters from Chicago, Davis Gallery, Pocatello, ID. (Joyce Fernandes.)
            1987 Traveling Fellowship Exhibition, SAIC, Chicago.
            Paper Products, SAIC, Chicago.
            Bucktown Art Show, Chicago.
1986    First Annual Post-Bacc Exhibition, SAIC, Chicago.
            Good Art, SAIC, Chicago.
1985    Post Alley Expose, Post Alley, Seattle, WA.

GRANTS,  AWARDS
1999-2008  Residency, Acadia Summer Art Program, Acadia, Maine
1996            Residency, Westwerk e.V., Hamburg, Germany.
                    Chicago Artists International Program Travel Assistance Grant.
1993            Community Arts Assistance Program Grant, City of Chicago.
1986-89      Merit Scholarship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1987            Traveling Fellowship Honorable Mention, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1979-          Dean's List, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

SELECTED MEDIA ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mojica, Jason.  Mapping the Self, TimeOut Chicago, 2/14/08
Klein, Paul.  Art Letter, 11/02/07
Klein, Paul.  Art Letter, 4/6/07.
Pusaliek, Leah.  TimeOut Chicago, November 16, 2006
www.iconoduel.org  NOVA review
Artner, Alan.  Chicago Tribune. April 25, 2005.
_______.“Spicy Artwork” Chicago Sun-Times May 2003 (photograph).
Artner, Alan.  “Preserving passing cultures,” Chicago Tribune, July 12, 2002
Noll, Damien.  “Why we live downtown,”  Chicago Journal, May 2, 2002 (illus.)
Camper, Fred "Spring Fever" The Chicago Reader, February,12 1999
_______. “Using art to enhance economic development” The Baltimore Sun, June 24, 1999 p.16A
Williams, Kevin.  “What’s Wrong with this Picture?”  Chicago Sun-Times, October 24, 1999.
Secunda, Allegra.  “Bull”  Gravy Magazine, October, 1999.
Grabner, Michelle.  "Abstraction in Chicago", New Art Examiner, September, 1998. (illus.)
Williams, Kevin.  "Tripping on Art: Artist Koenen not just marking time" Chicago Sun-Times 6/12/98. (illus)
Camper, Fred.  "True Grid", Chicago Reader, 12/12/97 p. 42 (illus.)
Hixson, Kathryn. "Plane Speak at Chicago Cultural Center", New Art Examiner, March 1996.
Snodgrass, Susan.  "Chicago: Barbara Koenen at Ten in One,"  Art in America, March 1996.
Michely, Viola.  "Zwischen Unruhe, Konfusion und Aufbruch/Die Art 1995 Chicago" Kunst Forum International, Bd. 131 Aug-Oct 1995, p.447.
Artner, Alan. "Heroic Painting," The Chicago Tribune, November 16, 1995, sec. 5, p. 7.
Williams, Enos.  "Artbreak", New City, November 2, 1995, p. 26 (illus.).
Leming, Warren.  “Paper,” NNWAC Newsletter, January, 1994.
cCracken, David.  The Chicago Tribune, November 6, 1992.
Herrmann, Andrew. "Timely piece of art has 720 tales to tell," Chicago Sun-Times, 10/16/89, p. 2. (illus.)
_________.  "Can you spare a minute?," The Globe, June 20, 1989 (illus).
Grisko, Carolyn.  WBEZ Radio interview, March 30, 1989.
WGN Radio interview,  February 14, 1989.
McNamee, Tom.  "720 broken clocks would not alarm her,"  Chicago Sun-Times, 2/12/89, p. 38 (illus.)

SELECTED WRITING BY THE ARTIST
2002    A Force of Nature: The Life and Work of Jens Jensen, gallery guide, Chicago Cultural Center
1997-2002  Chicago Tribute Markers of Distinction
1996    The Public Art of Bronzeville, City of Chicago Public Art Program.
1994    Target Choice '94 auction catalogue.
            SHAPE, catalogue essays, The Peace Museum, Chicago, IL
            Stained Glass from the E.B. Smith Collection, catalogue essay, Chicago, IL.
            N.A.M.E. Gallery auction catalogue.
1991    PRIMER, "Sour Grapes", issue #5, collaborative publication, Chicago.
1990    PRIMER, "Fame and Ecology", issue #4.
1989    American Architects, Associate Editor, American References, Inc., Chicago.
            PRIMER, issue #3.
            PRIMER, issue #2.
1988    Chicago Art Review, Gallery Editor, American References, Inc., Chicago.
            California Art Review, Reviewer/Biographer, American References, Inc., Chicago.
            American Artists, Reviewer/Biographer, American References, Inc., Chicago.
1987    New York Art Review, Gallery Editor, American References, Inc., Chicago.

EXHIBITIONS CURATED
2007    Consuming War, Hyde Park Art Center 
2002    A Force of Nature: The Life and Work of Jens Jensen, exhibition coordinator, Chicago Cultural Center
1999    Capturing Sunlight: The Art of Tree Studios, Chicago Cultural Center, with Tim Samuelson and B. Faist
1996    The Public Art of Bronzeville, permanent installation, Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, IL
1994    Target Choice '94  benefit auction for Personal PAC
            Chicago Stained Glass, Selections from the Mr. & Mrs. E.B. Smith Collection, O’Hare International Airport,                 International Terminal 5
            ALTERniture, Lorenzo Rodriguez Gallery, Chicago
1993    Paper, Flat Iron Gallery, Chicago, IL  Summer 1993

RELATED  ACTIVITIES
2003-present        Exhibitions Committee, Hyde Park Art Center
1997-2002           Founder, Chicago Roundtable
1999                     Recipient, Driehaus Foundation grant for Artistic Board-up Project
1996-97               Board President, Whitewalls

BUREAUCRAT

1997 – present  Project Director, Cultural Planning Division, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
                        Projects include:

1995-97    Project Coordinator, Public Art Program, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs 

  • The Public Art of Bronzeville, 1995-96