Steven Schroeder is a poet and visual artist who lives and works in Chicago. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1982 and — after three years as a social worker, family counselor, and organizer in the Texas panhandle — taught religious studies, philosophy, and humanities at universities in the United States and China until retiring from teaching in 2016.
I think of my work as an intersection of chance with design — a collaboration with the media, painting with light while celebrating the way(s) pigment takes to surface, not showing or telling so much as opening a space for a play of possibility.
Solo Exhibitions
Learning to See Nothing. Eleanor Hays Art Gallery, Northern Oklahoma College, Tonkawa, Oklahoma (2018) | A Gift of Fire. Chalice Abbey Center for Spirituality and the Arts, Amarillo, Texas (2018) | In the Path of Totality. The Grandview Gallery, Ada, Oklahoma (2018) | A Cloud of Witnesses. Fremont Public Library, Mundelein, Illinois (2018) | Circle Dance. Arlington Green Executive Center, Arlington Heights, Illinois (2017) | In A Landscape. Meet Chicago Northwest, Schaumburg, Illinois (2017) | Inflections. Rolling Meadows Library, Rolling Meadows, Illinois (2017) | A Mime Face on Memory. Blackstone Library, Chicago (2017) | Epiphany: what light does on edge. Chalice Abbey Center for Spirituality and the Arts, Amarillo, Texas (2017) | Dispersed Cities: Recent Work on Paper and Canvas, The Paper Crane Gallery, Canyon, Texas (2015) | Slow Light: Recent Work on Paper and Canvas, Conrad Sulzer Regional Library, Chicago (2013) | Works on paper and canvas, 2nd Avenue Art Guild, Dodge City, Kansas (2012)
Selected Group Exhibitions
At Buttonwood Art Space, Kansas City: Visions of the Flint Hills (2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013); Rhythm and Reveal (2022); Abstract HeART For All (2022); Home (2021); Art for the Animals (2021); Nature’s Bounty (2021); Connection (2020); Art of Kindness (2020); Celebration (2019); Beautiful Light. Hope. Healing. Wellness (2019); TA-DA! Inspire. Discover. Transform (2019); Bloom (2018); Resilience: the 4 Seasons (2018); World Visions, (2017); Urban+Abstract (2017) | At Springfield Art Association, Springfield, Illinois: Liturgical and Sacred Art Exhibit (2022, 2020, 2018, 2016) | At the Creamery Art Center, Springfield, Missouri: Pure Enjoyment (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014); Music to My Eyes (2017) | At Arts Illiana Gallery, Terre Haute, Indiana: Landscapes (2021); The Crow Show (2020, 2018); The Road Show (2018); Arts Illiana Gallery Juried Exhibition (2018, 2016) | At Tall Grass Arts Association Gallery, Park Forest, Illinois: Symmetry (2020); Pentimento (2019) | At the St. Louis Artists' Guild, St. Louis, Missouri: Ann Metzger Memorial National All Media Exhibition (2019, 2017); Regional Summer Exhibition (2014) | At Eide/Dalrymple Gallery, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, South Dakota: To Reform: Artists Respond to the Reformation (2017) | At Mildred M. Cox Gallery, William Woods University, Fulton, Missouri: Light and Shadow (2017) | At Sulzer Regional Library, Chicago: for the International Day of Peace (2016) | At Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Annual All Media Exhibition (2015) | At Community Arts Center, Danville, Kentucky: Horizon: Contemporary Landscape (2015, 2014, 2013) | At Freeport Art Museum, Freeport, Illinois: 11th Annual Regional Juried Exhibition (2014) | At Riverside Arts Center, Ypsilanti, Michigan: 5th Annual Small Works Exhibit (2014) | At Tomahawk Ridge Community Center, Overland Park, Kansas: The Abstract Exhibition (2014); Art of the Center (2014) | At K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, Texas: Third Coast National (2014)
Ph.D. University of Chicago · Ethics & Society · 1982
M.A. University of Chicago · Divinity · 1976
B.A. Valparaiso University · Psychology · 1974
