{"id":419346,"date":"2026-01-19T13:57:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T13:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/419346\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T13:57:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T13:57:18","slug":"evanston-artists-deeply-personal-show-explores-trauma-memory-and-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/419346\/","title":{"rendered":"Evanston artist’s deeply personal show explores trauma, memory and forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"olderJerri Zbiral in front of the window of Gallery 901 Credit: Alan Teller<\/p>\n

An exhibit of 15 assemblage shadowboxes is on view at Gallery 901, Open Studio Project, 901 Sherman Ave. The artist, Jerri Zbiral, is an Evanston resident of 33 years, a former documentary photographer and a curator of photography and works on paper.<\/p>\n

The show<\/a>, titled \u201cBakke Kakke\/Baking Cake & Other Things in Life,\u201d is personal, dealing with family, generational and personal trauma, memory, depression, conflict, forgiveness \u2014 and the story of a life lived as a refugee, a three-time immigrant, an outsider.<\/p>\n

Zbiral was born Jaroslava Zbiral in Czechoslovakia after World War II. She grew up with stories of the total destruction of her mother\u2019s village and the mass murder and enslavement of its inhabitants. Fleeing to a German refugee camp when her mother refused to join the Communist Party after the war, the family emigrated from there to Norway where they spent a few idyllic years before moving on to Montreal, Canada.<\/p>\n

\"olderJerri Zbiral talks about one of her works. Credit: Larry Lundy<\/p>\n

\"B&WAn artwork by Jerri Zbiral referencing a childhood incident Credit: Alan Teller<\/p>\n

There, trauma once again emerged, she says. Family survival became crucial. As a child, she had feelings of otherness and trauma that were ignored. Now in her later years, Zbiral says she feels fortunate to be an artist, to be able to open herself up and expose herself, that others might understand how one person deals with trauma.<\/p>\n

Zbiral has a graduate degree in photography although her undergraduate work was in the field of psychology. From 1992 to 2000, she and her photographer husband, Alan Teller, worked on a stunning documentary, In the Shadow of Memory<\/a>, about the trauma of wartime for residents of her mother\u2019s village. (A group wishing to screen the film can contact Zbiral at jerrizbiral@yahoo.com).<\/p>\n

In this exhibit, some of that subject is revisited, but others, more personal, are included and have become the focus. She half-jokingly credits her husband with \u201cgiving her permission\u201d to do this self-revelatory exhibit of assemblage. Teller had an exhibit<\/a> at the same venue in the spring of 2024. Their daughter Emma Zbiral-Teller works there as an art therapist.<\/p>\n

Bakke kakke is Norwegian for baking cake. \u201cThe title came about when I was putting this exhibit together,\u201d Zbiral said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to show or what my \u2018theme\u2019 should be. My thoughts were jumbled. In conversations with OSP [Open Studio] staff, I was asked what I liked to do. I immediately thought of myself as a little girl in Norway, playing in the sand: \u2018Bakke kakke,\u2019 I said, baking cake. From there, the show started to take form.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has always collected \u201cstuff,\u201d the artist says \u2014 her house is full of it. Every item \u2014 every bead, every stone \u2014 in her artwork is placed with deep intention, every item has meaning, she says.\u00a0Sometimes she will keep an image in mind for years before she brings it to fruition. \u201cI like to make things. Anything \u2026 out of fabric, wood, clay \u2026 blending things together like a cake \u2014 adding different ingredients to make the finished product. A metaphor for life, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"olderJerri Zbiral speaking of her artwork at Gallery 901. Credit: Larry Lundy<\/p>\n

Zbiral topped off her recent artist\u2019s walk-through with a large, delicious, almond layer cake she baked for her visitors and guests. The filling was chocolate whipped cream.<\/p>\n

Gallery 901 at Open Studio Project features community organizations and artists whose work reflects the OSP vision that art is a path to well-being. Exhibitions are designed to foster dialogue, reflection and connection. \u201cBakke Kakke,\u201d the current exhibit at 901 Sherman Ave., closes Jan. 30. 847-475-0390. Street parking and city lot at 727 Main St. <\/p>\n

\n\tRelated Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jerri Zbiral in front of the window of Gallery 901 Credit: Alan Teller An exhibit of 15 assemblage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[175945,76,354,355,49,48,356,75,175946,175947],"class_list":["post-419346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-alan-teller","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-jerri-zbiral","tag-open-studio-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}