Molly Dillon holds both an M.A. and M.F.A. from Northern Illinois University, majoring in painting and drawing with a minor emphasis in 2D and 3D design. Dillon has had a 35 year career in print media, graphic design and marketing, and currently teaches as an adjunct at Rockford University. Dillon owns and operates Mad Dog Designs, in business since the early 1990s, specializing in graphic design needs for small businesses, not-for profit organizations, and sole proprietorships. Dillon has exhibited art in galleries in the Midwest, but has also shown across the U.S., as well as in Canada. Much of her art includes imagery and influences from sources ranging from advertising, movies and comic books / cartoons, to primitive, folk, and tribal art /designs from all across the world.
Dave Menard is a printmaker, painter, and educator based in northern Illinois, where he is an associate professor at Rockford University. Over the past thirty years, he has developed a diverse body of work—including drawing, collage, painting, and printmaking—exhibited nationally and internationally. Menard holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. He is also a collaborator with the collective FATHERLESS, contributing graphics, installations, and murals. Their work has been featured in publications such as People of Print and Time Out London and exhibited at Fountain Art Fair in Miami and Moniker Art Fair in New York. Menard’s practice integrates collage, drawing, and traditional printmaking techniques, using appropriation and figuration to explore culture, politics, and social justice. Guided by abstraction and improvisation, his visual language reflects influences from the Chicago Imagists, rock-and-roll youth culture, and a DIY ethos.
Ari Norris is an artist primarily working in sculpture. His work utilizes a variety of processes and materials in what generally result in the duplication of real-world objects, aimed at exploring the boundaries between the ordinary and the phenomenal. Norris received an MA from Northern Illinois University in 2021, and has exhibited solo shows in Chicago at David Salkin Creative, Artruss, and The Plan. Norris has been included in exhibitions at Left Field Gallery (Los Osos, CA); ANDREW RAFACZ (Chicago, IL); South Bend Museum of Art (South Bend, IN); among other locations including Michigan, Missouri, New York, Florida, Texas, and Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Reviews of the artist’s solo exhibitions have been published by both Chicago Spleen and Newcity, and his work has been included in publications such as Chicago Gallery News, Bad at Sports, Artdose, and Whitewall. In 2025, Norris was awarded the Luminarts Visual Arts Fellowship.
Philip Soosloff is a Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Rockford University in Rockford Illinois where he teaches ceramics, 3-D Design and sculpture. He received an MFA from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois in 1993. His work has been shown in galleries and museums across the United States for over 30 years. Recent exhibitions include the S.O.F.A. (Sculpture Objects Functional Art) Chicago Art Expo at Navy Pier from 2003-2017. His work has also been exhibited at SOFA New York, SOFA Sante Fe and Art Miami. He lives in Plato Center, Illinois in a remodeled farmhouse with his wife Laura and dog Lucy. His studio is a converted machine shed on the property.
Chris Sisson is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Art & Art History at Rockford University, where he teaches graphic design and studio art. He holds an M.F.A. in Painting and a B.F.A. in Illustration from Northern Illinois University and has worked for more than twenty-five years as a designer, illustrator, and educator. His work has received recognition from organizations including GDUSA, UCDA, AIGA, STA, HOW, and Creative Quarterly.
Sisson’s practice includes mixed media painting, drawing, digital image-making, and typographic exploration. His work examines narrative, visual association, and the psychological processes that shape how people interpret and remember what they see. Story acts as a catalyst for the development of visual form and meaning, while typography operates as both language and image; a form of meta-communication that shapes how messages are perceived and understood.
