Loyola University Chicago

Gallery Staff

Betsy Odom, Co-Director

Betsy Odom received her MFA from Yale University School of Art and her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is a full time Professor in Sculpture and 3D Design in Loyola’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts. Betsy has worked as an exhibition coordinator for the Department of Exhibition and Performance Spaces at Columbia College Chicago, and interned at the Yale University Art Gallery and at the Berkeley Art Center. She has curated several exhibitions, including Near at Hand at the Ralph Arnold Gallery, Tomboy at Glass Curtain Gallery in Chicago, and was the juror for Woman Made Gallery’s 20 in their 20’s. 

Odom has exhibited widely and is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a DCASE Grant, Illinois Arts Council Artist Grant, and West collection Acquisition Prize. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Let’s Be Honest at 4th Ward Project Space in Chicago, Oh No at Terrain Projects in Oak Park, IL, and Freedom Culture at The Journal Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

Contact: eodom1@luc.edu 

Rafael E. Vera, Co-Director

Rafael E. Vera received his BFA and MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he was a recipient of the Edward L. Ryerson Fellowship Award and the George L. and Roman Siegel Fellowship Award. In 2013, he received the 3Arts Ragdale Residency Fellowship. He currently teaches Painting, Drawing and Printmaking at Loyola University Chicago.  ­

Recent exhibitions, curatorial projects and publications include New American Paintings, issue 107; Rafael E. Vera: Artist in Residence, Tarble Arts Center, IL, 2022; The Visitor, in collaboration with composer Victor Marquez-Barrios, Doudna Fine Arts Center, IL, 2022; the 23rd Evanston and Vicinity Biennial, where he received the 2017 Exhibition Award; the LA Art Show 2016 and 2018, Los Angeles, CA; Transient Visitant (with marimba, clarinets, body and chair) in collaboration with composer Victor Marquez-Barrios, Truman State University, MO; Present Standard, Chicago Cultural Center; Bad Editions (1st, 2nd and 3rd edition), Ralph Arnold Gallery, NEIU Art Gallery and Arrowhead Gallery, IL; Mutual Dealings, Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago; The Moments Between: New Work by Rafael E. Vera, Averill and Bernard Leviton A+D Gallery, Chicago.

Rafael E. Vera was born and raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and presently lives with his wife and two kids in the city of Chicago.

Contact: rvera@luc.edu