Lucie Van der Elst is a french visual artist living and working in Chicago since 2016.
Born in 1987 in Paris, she spent almost every weekend walking in the woods of the Bois de Vincennes or making friends with rocks in the Fontainebleau forest.
Throughout childhood, long summers were spent looking at art and nature books and drawing all kinds of monsters.
She honed her observational drawing skills in the École Estienne, eventually switching to three dimensional objects by majoring in Product Design at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, where she received her diploma in 2010.
During her studies she realized how form was not only wedded to function, but also inextricably mixed with the humanities, geopolitics and economics.
She also joined a brass band and toured the world, designed a funeral urn, wrote a thesis about design-induced feelings of loneliness in the subway, explored glass-blowing in Denmark and adopted a cat.
She met her now husband Nick while backpacking in the United States and was introduced to the vibrant indie comics scene of Chicago.
Upon her return in France she joined forces with Marie Aubry and Julien Croyal, directing three anthologies and produced events under the label En Scred in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
In 2010, she also started working with paper in installations and window displays.
She now works and lives in the Windy City, where she illustrated an award-winning children’s book, painted dozens of murals, and became a very efficient studio organizer and production manager.
Since November 2021 she is part of Itty Bitty Mini (m)art, a team of multi-faceted miniaturists with a serious sense of humor .
Throughout this wide variety of life events and projects, she never stopped sketching in her notebook.
While considering herself as an eternal explorer of new media, she has found solace in drawing - a home, even.
/// école Estienne, Paris, 2005
// Erasmus program at the DenmarksDesignSkole (glass blowing and ceramics), Copenhagen, 2009
/// ENSAD (National School of Decorative Art) - Major in Product Design, Paris, 2010
May 2023 / 11th Annual Juried Competition / Bridgeport Art Center / Chicago, IL, USA
May 2023 / Hell No! Group show, official program for Art Spring Berlin / Gallery Arnarson & Sehmer / Berlin, Germany
Mar. 2023 / Blood Sweat & Tears, group show / Grace Jane Projects / Chicago, IL, USA
Feb. 2023 / Portals, group show / Mind’s Eye Gallery / Chicago, IL, USA
Jan. 2023 / Final Girls /Atelier rue Lesage / Paris, France
Nov 2022 - Apr 2023 / Free and Open, group show / Chicago Design Museum / Chicago, IL, USA
April 2022 / Extraordinary Times of Sorrow and Hope, group show /Mind’s Eye Gallery / Chicago, IL, USA
March 2022 / Typeforce 12 /Co-Prosperity Sphere / Chicago, IL, USA
feb. 2021 / The Color Red /Fulton Street Collective Gallery / Chicago, IL, USA
jan. 2021 / Group Show /Grace Jane Projects / Chicago, IL, USA
july 2020 / Bird, Nest, Nature / group show / Bedford Gallery / Walnut Creek, CA, USA
oct. 2019 / The Living Dead Art Show / group show with 12 local Chicago Artists/ Space Oddities / Chicago, IL, USA
sep. 2017 / PEAK, multi-media installation / Gogolfest / Kyiv, Ukraine
dec. 2016 / Soular System /group show curated by Dulce Maria Diaz / Gallery Thirty Five / Chicago, IL, USA
nov. 2016 / In-Between Panels, group show /CHI PRC / Chicago, IL, USA
sep. 2016 / Drawing in Progress , group show / le 100 ecs / Paris, France
apr. 2016 / Nuages, expo solo / centre social CAF Tanger (curated by Fanatikart) / Paris, France
mar. 2016 / [SIC]#3 "Grosse Éclate", group show and launch party / Les Grands Voisins / Paris, France
sep. 2015 / Décharge – dessin évolutif en trois volets / galerie À Côté / Paris, France
apr. 2015 / Bonhommes / Café L’Olive / Paris, France
dec. 2015 / Combien j’ai de Droits? duo art show with Colinepointg / Centre des Amandiers / Paris, France
jan. 2015 / Trendspace Breaking the rules/ Playtime Paris - the children and maternity tradeshow / Paris, France
oct. 2014 / magazine [SIC]#2 "monde rural du rétro-futur" / in Paris and St-Jean Brévelay, France
may 2014 /“Ouishapes” photobooth with Jenni Ottilie Keppler/ OuiShare Fest / Paris, France
oct. 2013 / [SIC] magazine launch party and group show / Chez les Artistes / Paris, France
sep. 2013 / Window Display "Saint Germain"/ La Hune bookstore / Paris, France
jul. 2013 / Adieu Veaux Vaches, solo show /Les Idiots / Paris, France
nov. 2012 / In Other Worlds, group show/ Holland Gallery / Reno, NV, USA
apr. 2012 / V.R.A.C, group show / l’Ecurie, / St Jean Brévelay, France
mar. 2012 / L’Envers et L’Endroit, group show, Retrospective ENSAD / Le 104 / Paris, France
jun. 2011 / Friendly parasites, duo show with Rozenn LG / Cailles de Luxe / Paris, France
may 2022 / Escape Artist, self-published and distributed by Zine-a-Month
2021 / Nkemdiche, Why We Do not grow Beards, an Igbo folktale - written by Obiora Nwazota, published by Okpara House
2021 / Humana Obscura, spring/summer issue
jul. 2020 / Journal Errratum- Building zone
may 2020 / Isolation! Stories for shut-ins for non essential - a comics anthology by Kevin Budnik and Alex Nall
Winter 2019 / Positively Moomin, a comics anthology / edited by Liz Yerby/ Sound Grounds Wreckin’ Crew / Portland OR
dec. 2019 / Lucie’s High anxiety coloring book - self published
nov. 2018 / QUERTIE - comics reading for Prism Putty
2018 / French liquid - an anthology of french indie illustrators and artists (editor) - self-published
2018 / A field guide to domestic insects - first edition - self-published
2016 / Human Broth, observations in the subway - self-published comic
2015 / SIC#3 - Grosse Éclate, an illustration, essays and poem anthology - published by Editions EnScred
2014 / SIC#2- Monde rural du Rétro-futur- published by Editions EnScred
2013 / SIC#1 - Chronique du livre Malade- published by Editions EnScred