Barbara Crane: Schisms

University Galleries of Illinois State University is pleased to present Barbara Crane: Schisms from March 9 through March 25, 2026.

Barbara Crane (1928-2019) was a prolific Chicago-based artist and educator known for experimental and process-based photographic methods. Rather than offering narrative through documentary images, Crane focused on visual exploration by taking an abstract approach to her subject matter, whether architecture, people in crowds, industrial machinery, or nature.

This exhibition presents selections from Crane’s series Coloma to Covert: Schisms, which are promised gifts to University Galleries’ permanent collection. For each of these works, she spliced two panoramic photographs of nature into a single, new image. Crane took these photographs of the land, forest, and coastline between the towns of Coloma and Covert, Michigan, where she had a cabin as a retreat from the city. Originally intended as individual photographs, the artist later merged near-microscopic views of mushrooms, grass, or sand with sweeping views of tree canopies, sunrises, and sunsets, all during different seasons and times of day.

The term “schism” evokes historical events and often references friction among religious or political institutions. In Crane’s Schisms, division is visually present, but her combination of formerly separate photographs brings balance. Some works create near-mirror images of one another; some sit side-by-side; and some merge together. As with some historical schisms, something new takes shape in Crane’s joined photographs. Tree branches and icicles from different seasons meld and melt together, while the early-morning sky meets shadows cast on the sand another day.

Crane paired the photographs during the post-visualization phase of photography: after the images were processed and printed. As a result, the works demonstrate her meditation on the matter, forms, colors, and textures of the natural world and offer that consideration to the viewer. In her Schisms series, Crane combines her careful observations with unconventional techniques to challenge both photographic and human ways of seeing.

Barbara Crane: Schisms is organized by Holly Filsinger (gallery assistant), Lisa Lofgren (registrar), Kendra Paitz (director and chief curator), and Zo Russell (student gallery assistant). Exhibition text written by Holly Filsinger.

Exhibition Images

• Friday, March 20, from 6:00 to 7:00
  Independent drawing hour. Spend time looking closely at artworks in the exhibition and drawing at your own pace. Materials provided.
• Saturday, March 21, from 11:00 a.m. to noon
  Sensory-friendly art-viewing hour. The lights will be dimmed, and video volumes will be turned down.