Connie Noyes received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1981) and her Masters in psychology and art therapy from Notre Dame de Namur University in California (1994). She gained international recognition as a selected artist for Art Abu Dhabi and Art Bahrain, representing Salwa Zeidan Gallery in the UAE. She has exhibited at galleries in Paris, Grenoble, Innsbruck, Munich, San Francisco, and Chicago. Recent exhibits include an interactive installation and sound work on Governors Island in New York, "Untied|United, (2018), and "we are built in water" in Evanston, IL (2022). She was awarded the Cabins Haystack Residency Fellowship, Norfolk, CT, (2022) and received Department of Cultural Affairs Artist Grants from the City of Chicago in (2018 and 2019) and her "Under the Freeway" project was featured during Chicago Artists Month (2015). Noyes' work is in the collections of The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; The Ekstrom Library of Photographic Archives Special Collections, Louisville; Rhode Island School of Design and the Greenville County Museum.
Statement
My work explores the social constructs of idealized beauty and the subjective value of objects. Through multi-layered, sculptural paintings that simultaneously reveal and obscure what lies beneath, I ask: What defines beauty and worth?
I manipulate discarded materials—ripping, burning, crushing—then embellish them with steel, enamel paint, and resin. The resin’s glossy surface encases the raw energy and experimentation beneath, preserving and transforming what was once deemed worthless into something new, polished, and often unrecognizable.