About the Artist
 

“For this portrayal of the Ada Ladies Literary Club, I draw on historical imagery, local archives, and art historical references to construct a composition rich with design, symbolism, and allusion. My process weaves together individual and collective narratives, embedding subtle visual cues that point to the cultural, intellectual, and social impact of these women.

The slow, labor-intensive nature of the work mirrors the act of historical recovery itself. Through scale, detail, and duration, the drawing becomes both a monument and an act of witness—inviting viewers to engage with a deeper, multilayered understanding of the past and its continued resonance. While I derive much of the visual information from source imagery—in this case, a photograph of the Ada Ladies Literary Club from over a century ago—the work is not documentary. Through artistic, aesthetic, and narrative decisions that extend beyond the source, I aim to construct a new visual narrative, one that resonates with the literary traditions and imaginative space the club itself represents.” - Chris LaPorte


Chris LaPorte is a figurative artist working in large-scale graphite drawing. His practice is grounded in sustained observational labor, producing monumental works that document collective human experience — crowds, ceremonies, and civic life rendered with extraordinary precision and density. LaPorte has exhibited nationally and regionally, with solo exhibitions at Reynolds Gallery at Texas A&M University, Batdorff Gallery in Big Rapids, Michigan, and venues throughout the Midwest. His honors include First Place at ArtPrize, the Grand Valley Artists Award, the Lowell Arts Partnership Award, and the Roulet Medal from the Toledo Museum of Art. His work is held in the permanent collections of Amway International Headquarters, the State Masonic Lodge Charitable Foundation of Michigan, the Dominican Sisters of Aquinas at Marywood, and the City of East Grand Rapids. LaPorte serves as Associate Professor of Art at Aquinas College, where he has twice held the position of Interim Chair of the Art Department. He lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan.