For “Night House,” McQuillen will swath the front of the two-story suburban home at 817 S. Highland Avenue in Oak Park, IL with a printed image of a glittering, star-filled night sky. During daylight hours, passersby will experience something normally only seen at night: velvety dark sky glittering with stars. At dusk and throughout the evening, the home’s street-facing facade will gradually appear to fade into the surrounding sky, all but disappearing into the background except for windows gently illuminated by interior lamplight—a round paper lantern located on the first floor office will appear as a small, moonlike glow. The home is owned by Claudine Isé, a curator, writer, and UIC visiting clinical assistant professor in the School of Art and Art History at UIC. Sited specifically within the suburban setting of Oak Park, McQuillen’s “Night Sky”sparks considerations of cosmic themes and outsized aspirations held by the families who live behind these ordinary suburban homes. The star-wrapped house conjures the enduring sense of wonder that the natural world evokes. McQuillen’s piece also reminds all who view it that humankind’s fascination with the night sky has inspired knowledge, exploration and insight throughout the ages, from Italian astronomer Galileo’s pioneering astronomical observations, which laid the groundwork for modern physics, to Dutch post-Impressionist Master Vincent van Gogh’s indelible painting of the view from his asylum window, “The Starry Night.” The Earth’s nocturnal skyscape also provides the map by which sailors across the ages have navigated the globe, and today, it continues to inspire astronauts worldwide to go where no human beings have gone before.

Kate McQuillen is a Chicago-based artist working in printmaking and installation, and is represented by O’Born Contemporary in Toronto. Her group exhibitions include the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Galerie Art Mûr in Montréal, and the Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis. She has been the recipient of grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, among others, for her large-scale installations. Her work has received press in news outlets such as The Chicago Reader, Hyperallergic, and Printeresting, and has been included in publications by Poetry Magazine and Rutgers University. In recent years, she attended residencies in the U.S. and abroad:Ox-Bow (Michigan), Open Studio (Toronto), Frans Masereel Center(Belgium), the Center for Book & Paper Arts (Chicago), the RagdaleFoundation (Lake Forest, IL), Elsewhere Artist Collaborative(Greensboro, N.C.), and Lillstreet Art Center. She has received visiting artist teaching positions at Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY, and at Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, IL, and was elected Director of the Chicago Printer’s Guild for two consecutive years. In 2009, she received her M.F.A. in Visual Arts from York University.

Claudine Isé is a Chicago-based writer, educator, and curator. She is a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Art and Art History at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC), where she teaches in the Museum and Exhibition Studies Program. Most recently, Isé was Executive Director of Woman Made Gallery, a feminist contemporary art space in Chicago. Isé has nearly two decades of experience working in the field of contemporary art, and has written extensively about contemporary practices for publications including the Chicago Tribune, Chicago magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Art Papers, Artforum.com, artltd., New City, Bad at Sports, and the Art 21 Blog, for which she also served as Blog Editor. Ise has contributed monographic essays for numerous museum exhibition catalogs, most recently, "War Studies" in Alison Ruttan: If All You Have Is a Hammer Everything Looks Like A Nail at the Chicago Cultural Center;  "Crossing Lines: Kendell Carter" in Kendell Carter at University Galleries at Illinois State University College of Fine Arts, and “This House is Not a Home” in Anders Ruhwald: The Anatomy of a Home - Saarinen House at Cranbrook Art Museum. Prior to moving to Chicago in 2009, Isé held the posts of Associate Curator of Exhibitions at the Wexner Center for the Arts, and Assistant Curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. She holds a Ph.D. in Film, Literature and Culture from U.S.C., and an M.A. in Critical Studies in Film, also from U.S.C.