West Town, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, Kinzie Corridor, Humboldt Park

West Town

Wisconsin

IL • MI • IN

West Loop, Fulton Market, East Garfield Park

West Loop and West Side

Evanston, The North Shore, Northern, Western and Southern Suburbs

Suburbs

Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Uptown, Edgewater, Andersonville, Rogers Park

North Side

Michigan Avenue, Streeterville, The Gold Coast, The Loop, and South Loop

Michigan Avenue

Pilsen, Bridgeport, Chinatown, plus Hyde Park, Jackson Park/Dorchester, and Bronzeville

South Side

Superior and Franklin streets, West Chicago Ave, and down to Merchandise Mart and the River

River North

Please join us in a viewing and conversation around works in the MoCP permanent collection on&nbsp;the topic of autonomous power in photography. Works presented include photographic practices of Black, Indigenous,&nbsp;and queer artists to expand topics presented in the exhibition, Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography&nbsp;In Dialogue with the MoCP Collection. This discussion will be led by MoCP Curatorial and Education Assistant, Kyli Hawks.*This program will be held in the MoCP print study room.&nbsp;

Photos at Noon: Autonomous Power in Photography

Join us in the gallery on Sunday, August 10, 2025 for an Artist Talk with Jasmine Elizabeth as she discusses work in her exhibition: Love, Lies, and Everything Else We’ve Ever Done Wrong. It can be compelling to think we understand something, to assert that we understand what a story is, and have that be what defines us. Art should never be clear. It should never have an easy conclusion. Love, Lies, and Everything Else We’ve Ever Done Wrong implores the viewer to look closer than is comfortable. Subjects reduced to their most basic forms narrate the quiet moments: moments of contemplation, otherness, and selfhood. In this series of paintings, the amount of visual information stripped away in each painting varies, allowing the viewer to bring in their own conclusions about what they are seeing.

ARTIST TALK: Jasmine Elizabeth

Saturday, August 16, 2-5 pm,&nbsp;Collage and Thinking: a Writing Workshop&nbsp;with Dale Pesmen at Oliva Gallery&nbsp;Dale Pesmen, a painter, collage and encaustic artist, author, and PhD in Cultural Anthropology, has run creative nonfiction writing workshops for over ten years in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and Serbia. Influenced by dadaist techniques, the workshops are inspired by the principle that making art can be thinking. In this 3-hour session, we will do exercises to demonstrate to ourselves how it feels when unexpected jumps, ideas, and images emerge in the process of wordplay. ﻿Image Credit Dale Pesmen

Collage and Thinking: a Writing Workshop with Dale Pesmen

Oliva Gallery invites you to experience&nbsp;Holding Space, a group exhibition featuring artists Jan Nakao, Laurie LeBreton, and Macus Alonso. Each artist approaches their work as a form of care, reflection, and experimentation in holding space for complex emotions and cultural memory.The exhibition brings together painting, sculpture, and installation to ask how we process what we carry, and how materials help us release, remember, or transform. Rooted in each artist’s distinct background,&nbsp;Holding Space&nbsp;centers process over polish and meaning over spectacle.Jan Nakao: Painting from the Unconscious&nbsp;Jan Nakao, trained as a Jungian psychoanalyst, creates paintings guided by images from the collective unconscious. Her practice draws from decades of work in the field of psychological trauma and is shaped by intuition and the internalized “third hand”. The result is a body of abstract work rich with emotional depth and symbolic resonance. Nakao holds a Diplomate in Jungian Analysis from the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago (2005) and degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Champaign-Urbana.Laurie LeBreton: Sculptural Forms of Renewal&nbsp;Working with handmade paper and natural materials, Laurie LeBreton constructs large-scale installations that reference ritual garments, natural growth, and inner transformation. Her sculptural work operates in the space between delicacy and resilience. These forms test the boundaries of material and meaning, offering viewers meditative entry points into the emotional and spiritual dimensions of healing.Macus Alonso: Geometry, Body, and Cultural Memory&nbsp;Macus Alonso’s geometric abstractions investigate structure, rhythm, and movement through color and form. A central theme in Alonso’s practice is the relationship between the body and spatial construction, drawn from multicultural influences and grounded in personal narrative. Her use of layered paint and structural patterning encourages a dialogue between spiritual exploration and material experimentation.About Oliva GalleryOliva Gallery is dedicated to showcasing exceptional work by contemporary artists with roots in the Midwest and beyond. Through exhibitions spanning painting, sculpture, and mixed media,the gallery fosters critical dialogue, interdisciplinary exploration, and inclusive cultural engagement.

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