Maggie Meiners
Maggie Meiners (b.1972, Chicago) is an artist and photographer whose work investigates American culture. Through deconstruction and appropriation of art, artifacts and various sub-cultures, she recreates the narrative from her perspective. Born and raised outside of Chicago, she holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Colorado-Boulder and a Masters in Education from DePaul University in Chicago. Maggie has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and currently, her work is being exhibited at the American Embassy in Uruguay. Her work also resides in the permanent collections of the Illinois Institute of Art, Wheaton College, Harrison Street Lofts, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Lowey, LLP and an extensive number of private collections. Maggie has been involved in numerous art and photography organizations including the Museum of Contemporary Photography and Filter Photo and is also a member of the photography group, f/8 Collective and founding member of Chicago Women in Photography. Most recently, Maggies current studio space with the artist, Justine Bianco. Together they run, Platform, a non-commission based exhibition space for artists to show experiential work. Maggie grew up outside of Chicago and has an affinity for all things Midwestern. She lives in the small town where she grew up with her two sons and her husband, whom she likes to describe as a Renaissance man. She is devoted to life-long learning and daily picture taking and making. Maggie’s work is represented by Anne Loucks Gallery in Glencoe, IL.
Stories from Maggie Meiners
Maggie Meiners & Walt Disney Magnet Elementary School
Project Overview
Students at Disney Magnet are exploring the use of Theme and Variation in many art forms through the lens of emotion. Through studying color and effect in Photography and tempo, pitch, and instrumentation in Music, students are learning how various of forms of media can be manipulated to evoke specific emotions. The objectives of this unit are focused on students using a main theme and then varying it to the emotions that describe their identity.
I can statements:
1. I can change the pitch of a theme to create a variation that evokes an assigned emotion.
2. I can change the instrumentation of a theme to create a variation that evokes an assigned emotion.
3. I can change the tempo of a theme to create a variation the evokes an assigned emotion.
4. I can change the color of photo to create a variation that evokes an assigned emotion
5. I can add effects to a photo create a variation that evokes an assigned emotion
Disney Magnet worked closely with CSO and Civic Orchestra Fellows to present a concert with numerous other schools, including Swift, Agassiz, and several others. The Disney students’ musical work, performance art, and digital portraits were showcased during this event.
Here is a clip from ABC News.
The students were assigned a specific genre of music that ranged from Hip Hop to Jazz to Salsa and were asked to create a short musical melody using elements from that specific era. Once the music portion was complete Maggie Meiners from CPS LIVES introduced the 8th grade class to several movements in art as they related to the music genres studied and themes and variations. She took portraits of each student and then the students were given the opportunity to digitally manipulate their portraits to best represent the genre of music they were working on. The portraits were used as a backdrop to their performance with CSO.
