Staff

Bryan Northup (Grayson), (he/him) is a queer eco-artist and writer with a multidisciplinary background in 3D visual arts and poetry. He received his B.A. (Fine Art Photography) at California College of the Arts.
Since 2015 Bryan has created sculpture, abstract wall reliefs and installations with single-use plastic as art medium.

Bryan’s artwork has been exhibited both nationally and abroad in galleries including Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) in South Korea, Epiphany Center for the Arts, Bortolami, Berry Campbell Gallery, South Bend Museum of Art and the International Museum of Surgical Science. In addition to his studio practice, over the past 20 years, Bryan has worked as gallery director, content creator, marketing manager, curator and exhibition preparator for art organizations as well as private collectors.

Bryan relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to Oak Park in 2008 where he and his husband became the adoptive parents to four young men over the span of 6 years.
In that time, Bryan joined the staff at OPAL and from 2009 to 2018, worked in many capacities;  creating in-house and graphic design, monthly member newsletter, web design and maintenance, social media marketing and planning, coordinating and installing monthly exhibitions.

Phoebe Hurd (they/them/ze/hir) is a Chicago based artist, educator, and amateur flaneur who has been creating work since 2014. Born and raised in Connecticut, Phoebe attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY where they studied Art History and Studio Art. Phoebe has had the opportunity to study under great visual artists such as Vera Ilitova and Yvegeniya Baras, and writers such as Jacob Slichter.

In their art making practice they investigate the mundane aspects of life and search for the inherent divinity of the everyday. In both their writing and visual art Phoebe utilizes repeating patterns to examine both their queer identity and the ecological spaces they inhabit, as well as collecting discarded ephemera to catch glimpses into the lives of others in order to push past dividing characteristics to the core of humanity as society encourages the dehumanization of the ‘other’. 

Phoebe has been featured in several OPAL exhibitions in ‘23 and ‘24 including: Abstracted Abstractions, Social Awareness, New Year/New Work, Inner Orbits: Abstract Exhibition, and Little x Little. They have also exhibited at The Chicago Art Salon and currently have a solo exhibit 8888 at Little Broken Things in Chicago IL. Their writing has been featured in several publications including The Prairie Review as well as The Ground Is Uneven.