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

Kenny Schachter, chickens Maura and Margaret (UK), Jiji and Henrietta (US)Curated by Bianca BovaOn view August 14 - September 21 Old Friends will host a conversation between Kenny Schachter and Bianca Bova on September 17th at 6pm, with a reception to follow. The event is free and open to the public; no RSVP necessary. Following&nbsp;Chicken Stingel,&nbsp;a performance and exhibition at the Connelly Family Project Space in London in May 2025, Old Friends presents Kenny Schachter’s&nbsp;Chicken Stingel: The Sequel. The jumping off point for&nbsp;Chicken Stingel&nbsp;is a series of Rudolf Stingel works begun in 2002, utilizing large-scale panels of Celotex Tuff-R insulation. The panels were affixed to gallery and museum walls where viewers were encouraged to graffiti them via scratching, writing, or otherwise leaving marks on the malleable surfaces. A decade later the artist readdressed the brittle pieces by casting them in electroformed copper plated in nickel and gold, preserving for posterity an archive of the public’s interactions.&nbsp; Schachter engages Stingel’s process, exchanging chickens for the public as his collaborators. For the production of the works, a group of micro-sized canvases are coated in edible adhesive, covered in feed, and placed on a wooden workspace structure Schachter has constructed within the participating chickens’ coop. The works that result from the hens’ consumption of the feed from the surfaces of the canvases are then digitally scanned, cast, and coated in silver and gold finishes.&nbsp; Chicken Stingel: The Sequel&nbsp;encompasses an exhibition of the cast works from the initial performance by Maura and Margaret (London), and will include the initiation of a second series of works with a performance by Jiji and Henrietta (Chicago). By bringing this work to completion in the American heartland, Schachter (who is himself not a stranger to farm life, having worked on one managing its chicken enclosure after graduating from high school early) brings into consideration the multifaceted nature of the animal. They are foodstuffs, undeniably, but also themselves the producers of foodstuffs; companionable collaborators; an intrinsic part of the Midwestern landscape integral to its identity and inhabitability.&nbsp; — Bianca Bova Chicken Stingel: The Sequel&nbsp;will be on view at Old Friends August 14th through September 21st. The gallery is located at 3405 N. Paulina St. Chicago, IL, 60657, and is open Thursday through Saturday, 12-6pm, or by appointment. Please email&nbsp;office@oldfriendsgallery.com&nbsp;with questions and inquiries. pictured:&nbsp;Untitled (Chicken Stingel: Casts),&nbsp;2025Electroformed copper, plated nickel and gold. Unique.4 x 4 inches

Conversation between Kenny Schachter and Bianca Bova 

Complete details and schedule available <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagomosaicschool.org/intersections-symposium" target="_blank">here</a>From September 15 to 21, 2025, CMS will host the 1st International Mosaic Arts Symposium to celebrate their 20th anniversary, remaining the only art school of its kind outside of Europe.Intersections Symposium will serve as a round-table for shaping the future of Mosaic Arts education and engaging international artists. CMS Visiting Artists, who are both leaders and renowned experts in mosaic art and education, will conduct short workshops, lectures, presentations, and exhibitions in Chicago. The Details:<ul><li>Gallery Exhibitions</li><li>Opening and Closing Receptions</li><li>Tours showcasing public mosaics in Chicago</li><li>Workshops run by acclaimed visiting artists</li><li>Public discussions and lectures including</li></ul> Additionally, the purchase of the Intersections Package for $1,500 gets you access to 7 full days of events:Walking Tour, Welcome Reception, Artist Workshops, Panels, Lectures, Closing Reception!For the visiting artist workshops, you will build your own class schedule for each day. Please respond to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:info@chicagomosaicschool.org" target="_blank">info@chicagomosaicschool.org</a> confirmation email with your chosen workshop(s) to secure your spots.Important information: we have several&nbsp;half-day&nbsp;workshops as well as the full day workshops. Therefore you may pick two(2) half day workshops or one (1) full day. Please look closely at the schedule so it aligns with your availability.All of our workshops and activities below can be purchased A La Carte, or you can purchase in <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagomosaicschool.org/intersections-symposium-events/p/intersections-package" target="_blank">ONE BUNDLED PACKAGE</a> <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagomosaicschool.org/s/Symposium-Calendar-1.pdf" target="_blank"><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1755632573/mvhbow3bduochv6yhfy2.webp"></a>

First International Mosaic Arts Symposium

old friends is honored to present&nbsp;Chicken Stingel: The Sequel,&nbsp;works by Kenny Schachter, and chickens Maura, Margaret, Jiji, and Henrietta. On view August 14 - September 21, 2025. Curated by Bianca Bova.&nbsp; Following&nbsp;Chicken Stingel, a performance and exhibition at the Connelly Family Project Space in London in May 2025, Old Friends presents Kenny’s Schachter’s&nbsp;Chicken Stingel: The Sequel.&nbsp; The jumping off point for&nbsp;Chicken Stingel&nbsp;is a series of Rudolf Stingel works begun in 2002, utilizing large-scale panels of Celotex Tuff-R insulation. The panels were affixed to gallery and museum walls where viewers were encouraged to graffiti them via scratching, writing, or otherwise leaving marks on the malleable surfaces. A decade later the artist readdressed the brittle pieces by casting them in electroformed copper plated in nickel and gold, preserving for posterity an archive of the public’s interactions.&nbsp; Schachter engages Stingel’s process, exchanging chickens for the public as his collaborators. For the production of the works, a group of micro-sized canvases are coated in edible adhesive, covered in feed, and placed on a wooden workspace structure Schachter has constructed within the participating chickens’ coop. The works that result from the hens’ consumption of the feed from the surfaces of the canvases are then digitally scanned, cast, and coated in silver and gold finishes.&nbsp; Chicken Stingel: The Sequel&nbsp;encompasses an exhibition of the cast works from the initial performance by Maura and Margaret (London), and will include the initiation of a second series of works with a performance by Jiji and Henrietta (Chicago). By bringing this work to completion in the American heartland, Schachter (who is himself not a stranger to farm life, having worked on one managing its chicken enclosure after graduating from high school early) brings into consideration the multifaceted nature of the animal. They are foodstuffs, undeniably, but also themselves the producers of foodstuffs; companionable collaborators; an intrinsic part of the Midwestern landscape integral to its identity and inhabitability.&nbsp; — Bianca Bova

Chicken Stingel: The Sequel

Cabinet of Curiosities Absentee bids are now being accepted. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.potterauctions.com/auctions/upcoming" target="_blank">Live bidding for this session begins on 9/27/2025 at 10:00 AM CDT</a> Join us this September for an auction replete with the rare, the odd, and the unusual. From medical curiosities and tattoo flash, to sideshow imagery and carnival&nbsp;wheels, horror classics by Stephen King and movie posters for sci-fi thrillers, this is a seasonal sale of the macabre and the magnificent. A diverse grouping of vintage automatons from the Parisian workshops of Labert, Vichy, and Roullet &amp; Decamps will also be part of this exceptional, can't-believe-it offering.&nbsp;

Cabinet of Curiosities

Oliva Gallery invites you to experience 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, Holding Space centers process over polish and meaning over spectacle.Jan Nakao: Painting from the Unconscious 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 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 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 inthe Midwest and beyond. Through exhibitions spanning painting, sculpture, and mixed media,the gallery fosters critical dialogue, interdisciplinary exploration, and inclusive culturalengagement.

Holding Space

The Art Center Highland Park, in partnership with Oliva Gallery, proudly announces Facades, a powerful new exhibition opening August 8, 2025, that foregrounds three influential voices in contemporary Midwestern art: Nikki Renee Anderson, Aaron Becker, and the late Molly Schiff. Through sculpture, color, and dynamic form, Facades confronts themes of identity, visibility, and public space, inviting audiences to consider how we construct, obscure, and reveal ourselves in a constantly shifting social landscape. These three Chicago-based artists—each rooted in a distinct material language—deliver an experience that is visually compelling and emotionally resonant, shaped by Midwest sensibilities and a commitment to community dialogue. Nikki Renee Anderson, known for her ceramic sculptures and immersive installations, brings a tactile intimacy to the exhibition. Her works challenge static notions of femininity and identity, drawing on personal history to create forms that are at once soft and assertive, playful and deeply psychological. Anderson’s practice reflects a career of national and international acclaim, with exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center, Hyde Park Art Center, and the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy. A professor and leader in ceramic education, Anderson’s work reclaims the domestic and decorative as spaces of feminist resistance and self-exploration. Aaron Becker engages viewers with a sculptural language that distorts familiarity. Trained in ceramics, Becker constructs imagined environments through abstract form and geometric composition, asking us to examine the energies that shape our perception of place. His work, which often pairs the functional with the conceptual, explores the thresholds between domesticity and disorientation. His installations provoke questions about presence, interiority, and what it means to occupy space. Molly Schiff (1927–2018), a visionary Chicago modernist, rounds out the exhibition with vividly colored paintings that channel emotional immediacy through abstraction. A lifelong creative force who began painting after a career in the garment industry, Schiff earned multiple degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and exhibited widely across Illinois. Her works exemplify a blend of expressive form, bold palette, and open invitation to interpretive intimacy. She remains a cherished figure in Chicago’s art history and her legacy continues to influence new generations. Together, Anderson, Becker, and Schiff present a multi-generational conversation on form, identity, and the surface tensions that define civic life. Facades is more than an exhibition, it is a reflection on visibility, vulnerability, and the connective power of art in public discourse. Opening Reception: August 8, 2025 | 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM&nbsp; Exhibition Dates: August 8 – September 2025 Note: this exhibition takes place at The Art Center of Highland Park (1957 Sheridan Rd Highland Park, IL 60035) <a style="color: rgb(49, 95, 195);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://rkcgwygbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001pQCTLAZWoLcf8QKJ7bW0UTmQQvLi8QCbGnkKtsql4i6I9ZL64t5o-ClLO30U4qlgbzz1_RMl0TnO4ySsyGSgn5p0R6WKlrHrsVsqKwvj43J5pwb-3qIzuQdxhUrAKrZZeE5lQN-624hOFVumazIUgXhjCn3B9ybpA0oJH7BBUbjNK8knTWgzan41fTzp867IrUp_dYhlprGi3zshErrhVtkvEbFk1r-jYLNoXfuO-1T4w1MaGVWcu38dRLUkgnbQSMKVKwDyfDfky2mTo8On3eMZ4nEXLlOhQ443AHZ73Zx9Tpvau5sDr0_uylojA8TswWV5fJL37D3cj1bKBq8FOFhm93ReWXo-qaAGtYHf84c=&amp;c=IJzV2jz8yvZtX5CTPVPXoMUDippq0o1jIRBZpwu4VeFXp_eCnKxnzg==&amp;ch=kzLhgOqA5aEWuRf34Ovhff1OQt3YOA0ZU-fCxhD596BhhhFEKh0xXw==" target="_blank">Learn more</a>

Facades

CSI Project Space: By Degrees IV

Absentee bids are now being accepted. Live bidding for this session begins on 10/9/2025 at 10:00 AM CDT

Belonging: The Art of American Fraternal Societies

Oliva Gallery presents&nbsp;Verdastro&nbsp; Opening October 3 5-9&nbsp; Thru Nov 1, 2025&nbsp;

Verdastro: Carolyn Cronin Hughes 

Oliva Gallery is proud to present Found in Place, an exhibition of new abstract oil paintings by Chicago-based artist Tiffany Stronsky and ceramic installations by sculptor Carolyn Cronin Hughes, running&nbsp;from October 3 through November 1, the exhibition opens with a reception on Friday, October 3, from 5:00 to 9:00 PM. Found in Place explores the ways belonging reveals itself in fragments, through familiar sights such as the lines of a porch, the shadow of a tree, or the glow of late afternoon light across a neighborhood street. Stronsky translates these impressions into layered, abstract compositions where brushstrokes act as gestures of recognition, each canvas becoming a meditation on seeing, staying, and claiming space.Through her vibrant palette and richly textured surfaces, Stronsky transforms the everyday into expressive landscapes of memory and presence. The works invite viewers to consider their own connections to place, tracing the quiet beauty of what surrounds them and reflecting on the resonance of home. About the ArtistTiffany Stronsky is a Chicago-based painter whose work investigates memory, perception, and place. Known for her layered oil technique and expressive use of color, she creates abstract works that draw viewers into an active relationship with the canvas.

Found in Place – Tiffany Stronsky’s Abstract Exploration of Belonging

September 27 - Nov 9 Evanston Art Center: CSI Biennale

Evanston Art Center: CSI Biennale

ARTIST TALK:&nbsp;Saturday, Nov. 15th, 2025 – 3-5pm Timeless Bodies interprets the human form through sculptural realism and abstraction. Throughout history, the human form has been symbolized as a container of life, emotion, and spirit, reflecting both fragility and resilience. How does the body hold and convey our stories, memories, or cultural history? Artists were encouraged to celebrate the interplay of form and storytelling in clay.&nbsp;Juror &amp; Curator:&nbsp;Nancy Pirri is an artist from Chicago, working primarily in ceramics and creating figures of all sizes. Pirri has won awards from the Beverly Arts Center and the Rockford Art Museum, including work published in ‘500 Figures in Clay’ V2. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including SOFA in Chicago representing women's rights anniversaries, and has acquired collectors from all over the world.&nbsp;She has exhibited with numerous galleries in the Midwest and is currently represented by Oliva Gallery, J. Petter Galleries (MI), Design at 329/Primitive/The Stalls, and Inner Haven Gallery.&nbsp; Image: Linda Marcus

Timeless Bodies Artist Talk

The Chicago Printmakers Collaborative is pleased to open the gallery season with a Reception on September 6th from 5-8pm with a gallery show focused on architecture. Join us on September&nbsp;6th to meet some of the remarkable artists participating in this exhibition and take a first look at this selection of gorgeous prints. Foundations: Architecturally Themed Prints will be on view through November 16th, 2025. Image:Top (left to right: Art Werger, Dan MacAdam, Kouki TsuritaniBottom (left to right): Thessalia Stephanou, Dennis O'Malley, Joanna Anos, Hiroshi Ariyama

Foundations: Architecturally Themed Prints

Oct. 11 – Nov. 21 CSI Project Space: Group Exhibit - Curator Chris Wubbena ﻿Oct Sculpture in the Parks: New Installations Photo credit: Chris Wubbena

CSI Project Space: Group Exhibit

Our fall show,&nbsp;A New Season: A Small Group Show featuring Jennifer JL Jones and Karl Pilato,&nbsp;opens on Thursday, September 18th with a reception in the gallery from 5-7 pm. We hope you'll join us for an evening of arresting art, engaging conversation and light refreshments!A New Season&nbsp;will be on view through November 22nd.

A New Season: A Small Group Show featuring Jennifer JL Jones and Karl Pilato

Dec 6 &amp; 7, 11am-7pm: opening of 36th Annual Small Print Exhibition &amp; Holiday Sale

36th Annual Small Print Exhibition & Holiday Sale

FIGURE DRAWING:&nbsp;Sunday, Dec. 7th – 3-6pm. Live Model - FEE: $20 Timeless Bodies&nbsp;First Annual Midwest Ceramic Exhibition&nbsp;Timeless Bodies interprets the human form through sculptural realism and abstraction. Throughout history, the human form has been symbolized as a container of life, emotion, and spirit, reflecting both fragility and resilience. How does the body hold and convey our stories, memories, or cultural history? Artists were encouraged to celebrate the interplay of form and storytelling in clay.&nbsp;Juror &amp; Curator:&nbsp;Nancy Pirri is an artist from Chicago, working primarily in ceramics and creating figures of all sizes. Pirri has won awards from the Beverly Arts Center and the Rockford Art Museum, including work published in ‘500 Figures in Clay’ V2. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including SOFA in Chicago representing women's rights anniversaries, and has acquired collectors from all over the world.&nbsp;She has exhibited with numerous galleries in the Midwest and is currently represented by Oliva Gallery, J. Petter Galleries (MI), Design at 329/Primitive/The Stalls, and Inner Haven Gallery.&nbsp; Image: Susan Volk

Timeless Bodies Figure Drawing Class

Timeless Bodies&nbsp;First Annual Midwest Ceramic Exhibition&nbsp;OLIVA GALLERY<a style="color: rgb(66, 133, 244);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/3618+W.+Armitage+Ave.,+Chicago,+IL+60647?entry=gmail&amp;source=g" target="_blank">3618 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL 60647</a>847-922-5736Nov. 7-Dec. 13, 2025 Opening Reception:&nbsp;Friday, Nov. 7 - 5-9pm, 2025 PROGRAMMING:&nbsp;<ul><li>ARTIST TALK – Saturday, Nov. 15th, 2025 – 3-5pm</li><li>FIGURE DRAWING – Sunday, Dec. 7th&nbsp;– 3-6pm.&nbsp;&nbsp;Live Model - FEE: $20</li><li>CLOSING: Saturday, Dec. 13 - 5-9pm</li><li>HOLIDAY/GIFT PARTY – Friday, Dec. 19th, 2025 – 5-9pm</li></ul> Gallery Hours:&nbsp;Friday 5–8 PM, Saturday 12–4 PM, or by appointment Timeless Bodies interprets the human form through sculptural realism and abstraction. Throughout history, the human form has been symbolized as a container of life, emotion, and spirit, reflecting both fragility and resilience. How does the body hold and convey our stories, memories, or cultural history? Artists were encouraged to celebrate the interplay of form and storytelling in clay.&nbsp;Juror &amp; Curator:&nbsp;Nancy Pirri is an artist from Chicago, working primarily in ceramics and creating figures of all sizes. Pirri has won awards from the Beverly Arts Center and the Rockford Art Museum, including work published in ‘500 Figures in Clay’ V2. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including SOFA in Chicago representing women's rights anniversaries, and has acquired collectors from all over the world.&nbsp;She has exhibited with numerous galleries in the Midwest and is currently represented by Oliva Gallery, J. Petter Galleries (MI), Design at 329/Primitive/The Stalls, and Inner Haven Gallery.&nbsp; ARTISTS EXHIBITING:Nikki Renee AndersonMonica BalcLynn BasaAaron BeckerSharon BladholmDebbie BurkLisa FarrisAutumn HorwathLynda Lawson KarrJayne KingDawn LiddicoattLinda MarcusJohannah Tomita MartinAmber MatthewsSuzanne MauroCarole McCurdyBobbi MeierArny NadlerAndryea NatkinAlexis Lee Ortiz-DuarteRoberta Ulrich-de OliveiraSusan VolkChristopher WilliamsRunhui XuThomas Zamiar Image: Arny Nadler (associate professor of Art Sam Fox School of Art and Design at Washington University St Louis Mo )&nbsp;&nbsp;

Timeless Bodies

Timeless Bodies&nbsp;First Annual Midwest Ceramic Exhibition&nbsp;OLIVA GALLERY<a style="color: rgb(66, 133, 244);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/3618+W.+Armitage+Ave.,+Chicago,+IL+60647?entry=gmail&amp;source=g" target="_blank">3618 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL 60647</a>847-922-5736Nov. 7-Dec. 13, 2025 PROGRAMMING:&nbsp;<ul><li>ARTIST TALK – Saturday, Nov. 15th, 2025 – 3-5pm</li><li>FIGURE DRAWING – Sunday, Dec. 7th&nbsp;– 3-6pm.&nbsp;&nbsp;Live Model - FEE: $20</li><li>CLOSING: Saturday, Dec. 13 - 5-9pm</li><li>HOLIDAY/GIFT PARTY – Friday, Dec. 19th, 2025 – 5-9pm</li></ul> Gallery Hours:&nbsp;Friday 5–8 PM, Saturday 12–4 PM, or by appointment Timeless Bodies&nbsp;interprets the human form through sculptural realism and abstraction. Throughout history, the human form has been symbolized as a container of life, emotion, and spirit, reflecting both fragility and resilience. How does the body hold and convey our stories, memories, or cultural history? Artists were encouraged to celebrate the interplay of form and storytelling in clay.&nbsp;Juror &amp; Curator:&nbsp;Nancy Pirri is an artist from Chicago, working primarily in ceramics and creating figures of all sizes. Pirri has won awards from the Beverly Arts Center and the Rockford Art Museum, including work published in ‘500 Figures in Clay’ V2. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including SOFA in Chicago representing women's rights anniversaries, and has acquired collectors from all over the world.&nbsp;She has exhibited with numerous galleries in the Midwest and is currently represented by Oliva Gallery, J. Petter Galleries (MI), Design at 329/Primitive/The Stalls, and Inner Haven Gallery.&nbsp; ARTISTS EXHIBITING:Nikki Renee AndersonMonica BalcLynn BasaAaron BeckerSharon BladholmDebbie BurkLisa FarrisAutumn HorwathLynda Lawson KarrJayne KingDawn LiddicoattLinda MarcusJohannah Tomita MartinAmber MatthewsSuzanne MauroCarole McCurdyBobbi MeierArny NadlerAndryea NatkinAlexis Lee Ortiz-DuarteRoberta Ulrich-de OliveiraSusan VolkChristopher WilliamsRunhi XuThomas Zamiar Image: Arny Nadler (associate professor of Art Sam Fox School of Art and Design at Washington University St Louis Mo )&nbsp;&nbsp;

Timeless Bodies, Closing Event

HOLIDAY/GIFT PARTY:&nbsp;Friday, Dec. 19th, 2025 – 5-9pm Timeless Bodies interprets the human form through sculptural realism and abstraction. Throughout history, the human form has been symbolized as a container of life, emotion, and spirit, reflecting both fragility and resilience. How does the body hold and convey our stories, memories, or cultural history? Artists were encouraged to celebrate the interplay of form and storytelling in clay.&nbsp;Juror &amp; Curator:&nbsp;Nancy Pirri is an artist from Chicago, working primarily in ceramics and creating figures of all sizes. Pirri has won awards from the Beverly Arts Center and the Rockford Art Museum, including work published in ‘500 Figures in Clay’ V2. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including SOFA in Chicago representing women's rights anniversaries, and has acquired collectors from all over the world.&nbsp;She has exhibited with numerous galleries in the Midwest and is currently represented by Oliva Gallery, J. Petter Galleries (MI), Design at 329/Primitive/The Stalls, and Inner Haven Gallery.&nbsp; Photo credit: Suzanne Mauro

Timeless Bodies Holiday Gift Party

Scott Burton: Shape Shift, a&nbsp;critically acclaimed exhibition surveying the seminal—and subversive—art of Scott Burton (1939-1989), opens on Friday,&nbsp;October 3, 2025, at&nbsp;Wrightwood 659 in Chicago.&nbsp;&nbsp;Burton,&nbsp;who once&nbsp;described his work as “sculpture in love with furniture,”&nbsp;was a true American original. By the time of his death at the age of 50 from an AIDs-related illness, he had succeeded as sculptor, public artist, performance artist, social choreographer, art critic, and exhibition curator.&nbsp;This landmark exhibition&nbsp;spans that career,&nbsp;bringing together&nbsp;works from the 1960s to the ‘80s, including some 30 sculptures and more than 40 photographs, drawings, and ephemera.&nbsp;The exhibition is installed on Wrightwood 659’s third and fourth floors.As the most comprehensive survey of the late artist’s work ever mounted in the United States,&nbsp;Scott Burton: Shape Shift&nbsp;is curated by Jess Wilcox, independent curator, and Heather A. Smith, Assistant Curator, Pulitzer Arts Foundation. It premiered last fall at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis,&nbsp;and is presented at Wrightwood 659 by&nbsp;Alphawood Exhibitions.The ExhibitionRather than progressing chronologically, the installation of&nbsp;Shape Shift&nbsp;responds to the architecture of Tadao Ando, as did the Pulitzer Arts Foundation’s presentation in 2024. The Pulitzer Prize winning architect designed both art spaces, the Pulitzer in 2001, and Wrightwood in 2018.Among the highlights of the fourth floor are two groupings of chairs that illustrate Burton’s ideas about community. Placed in front of a curtain glass wall looking out to the street is a tableau of steel chairs—among them two curved chairs installed face-to-face and a solo minimalist take on the wire bistro chair. In another grouping, Wrightwood brings together a variety of Burton’s chairs for visitors to sit on.On the third floor, the visitor encounters&nbsp;Two-Part Chair&nbsp;(1986/2002), a pair of granite polygon slabs balancing one atop the other for mutual support. Although highly abstract, when viewed in profile the sculpture loosely resembles two bodies in a sexual embrace.&nbsp;On the same floor, the sculpture and performance element&nbsp;Bronze Chair&nbsp;(1972/75) is displayed next to a photograph showing it on a cobbled-stone street in New York City’s Soho neighborhood in the early ‘70s. Burton had found the Queen Anne-style armchair abandoned in an apartment, cast it in bronze, and put it outside on the street, where it sat enigmatically against a brick wall. At Wrightwood, this installation is echoed&nbsp;by the brick wall of Tadao Ando’s gallery.Burton’s anthropomorphizing of furniture was linked to his study of proxemics, the inquiry into the relational systems and nonverbal cues inherent in social spaces. As he once said, “You could say that people are like furniture. They take different poses and suggest different genders.” In&nbsp;Shape Shift, this dictum is illuminated in an array of furniture forms, each conveying a distinct character and connotation through form, material, surface finish, scale, and stylistic lineage.Demonstrating Burton’s radical, but elegant, formal inventions is&nbsp;Two-Part Chaise Lounge&nbsp;(1986-87),&nbsp;where&nbsp;a pair of V-shaped pieces of&nbsp;pink Rosa Baveno granite, setflush with each other, transform into&nbsp;stable seating. In an example of the expressiveness of finish, the visitor will find&nbsp;Spattered Table&nbsp;(1974-1977), a simple wooden table that Burton found, splattered with primary colors, and exhibited atop a large horizontal pedestal, transforming it into minimalist sculpture. As Burton intended, Wrightwood 659 will display the work so that visitors will be able to glimpse its white underbelly, which playfully contrasts with its Abstract Expressionist-inspired outer surfaces.&nbsp;Installed nearby is&nbsp;the diminutive&nbsp;Child’s Table and Chair(1978), which could be an example of a Bauhaus playroom set, were it not for its scale and red, blue, and yellow stretchers and splats.Still another play on the formal possibilities of a vernacular form is seen in&nbsp;Onyx Table&nbsp;(1978-1981), a Parsons-style table so massive and heavy that it morphs from a piece of furniture into a work of art. At once opulent in its fine surface and luminosity and humorous in its mixed functionality, it anticipates the materiality and approach of Burton’s later public works.A star of&nbsp;Shape Shift,&nbsp;the spectacularly extroverted&nbsp;Five-Part Storage Cubes&nbsp;(1982), dominates a landing leading from the third to fourth floor. The&nbsp;stack of large yellow, red, orange, blue, and green cubes will be displayed with one of its doors open.The artist continually riffed off the American vernacular, seen here in homages to the Adirondack chair, including one&nbsp;fabricated in yellow Formica and&nbsp;others conceived as abstract experiments—like&nbsp;Aluminum Chair&nbsp;(1980-1981), where the shape echoes the Adirondack sloping form, but the chair is constructed from&nbsp;triangular aluminum plates punctured by large circular apertures.Scott Burton: Shape Shift&nbsp;features an array of little- or never-before-seen video, photographs, Polaroids, a poster, notes, and sketches related to Burton’s proscenium performances. These include an oak table found and altered by Burton and repurposed as a performance prop; sketches that diagram movement and directions for performances; and&nbsp;Individual Behavior Tableaux&nbsp;(1980), the only known video of Burton’s performance oeuvre, which documents the artist’s last performance before he turned to furniture/object making full-time. Shot at the Berkeley Art Museum, the video captures the glacially slow enactment of a variety of gestures, poses, and behaviors. The poses stem not only from Burton’s study of nonverbal communication but also allude to the bodily cues that signal sexual availability within gay cruising culture.Wall and case displays document Burton’s writings for&nbsp;Art in America&nbsp;magazine and other publications; seminal performances, including his early, site-specific installationFurniture Landscape&nbsp;(1970) at the University of Iowa where he brought pieces of furniture outdoors; the exhibition he organized of works by Brancusi at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (1989); and his own sculpture, installed in MoMA’s sculpture garden (1989).&nbsp;The MoMA garden installation featured his Parallelogram chairs, two of which have been added to the Wrightwood showing.&nbsp;Finally, a slideshow presents views of Burton’s many public art installations, including major works on the grounds of the Des Moines Art Center, Princeton University, the University of Houston, and the Waterfront Plaza at Battery Park City, in New York.&nbsp;The ArtistRemembered as an artist, critic, and curator, Scott Burton was born in 1939 in Greensboro, Alabama, spent his formative years in Washington, DC, and received a BA degree from Columbia University (1962) and MFA from New York University (1963).His critical writing appeared regularly in&nbsp;ARTnews&nbsp;and&nbsp;Art in America&nbsp;and in exhibition catalogues, including that for Harald Szeemann’s landmark post-minimalist exhibition,&nbsp;Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form&nbsp;(1969 Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland).By the early 1970s, Burton was exhibiting in New York City, first with like-minded artists on the street, then in galleries and museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, P.S. 1, and, in a solo exhibition, Artists Space. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Burton created an array of performances, furniture as sculpture, and public art environments inspired by his studies of body language, art history, and design. He also curated the inaugural exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art’s now-lauded Artist’s Choice series. Burton died of an AIDS-related illness in 1989.His work is in dozens of collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Tate, and the Walker Art Center. Almost all of the archival photographs, diagrams, drawings, and ephemera in the exhibition are on loan from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Archives, which maintains the Scott Burton Papers, its largest single-artist holding.Performances and Special EventsOn October 24 and 25 at Wrightwood 659, the New York-based founder of the Center for Experimental Lectures, Gordon Hall, will present a performance meditating on the condition of waiting and Burton’s legacy.&nbsp;Public programs will also include a talk by art historian David J. Getsy, author of&nbsp;Queer Behavior: Scott Burton and Performance Art&nbsp;(University of Chicago Press, 2022). Getsy’s lecture will take place at the Art Institute of Chicago at 6pm on October 9. Getsy will co-lead a tour ofScott Burton: Shape Shift&nbsp;the following day with the exhibition’s curator Jess Wilcox. (Registration to come.)PublicationScott Burton: Shape Shift, the accompanying publication, is expected to serve as an essential source for scholars, artists, and others interested in the intentions and legacy of Scott Burton. The volume features essays by David J. Getsy and Jess Wilcox; writings by the artists Brendan Fernandes and Gordon Hall; contributions by Jeremy Johnston and Heather Alexis Smith; and a never-before-published excerpt from the transcript of a 1988 lecture by Burton.&nbsp;The volume is co-published by the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and Alphawood Exhibitions and distributed by Yale University Press. Price $50.Also on View at Wrightwood 659The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S.&nbsp;is a large-scale exhibition celebrating the rich history of The Joffrey Ballet and the life of Robert Joffrey. The exhibition premiered at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in 2024, marking the first major retrospective of the company. Drawing from the Joffrey archive, acquired&nbsp;by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in 2017 as the Library’s largest acquisition in a decade, the exhibition offers an in-depth look at the Joffrey’s contributions to ballet in the U.S. Highlights include rare film from the original performance of the groundbreaking ballet&nbsp;Astarte&nbsp;and Anna Sokolow’s&nbsp;Opus 65,&nbsp;as well as costumes, props, pointe shoes, posters, correspondence, and other ephemera from the company and Robert Joffrey’s life.&nbsp;The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S.&nbsp;is organized by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and curated by Dr. Julia Foulkes with assistance from Nicole Duffy. It is presented at Wrightwood 659 by Alphawood&nbsp;Exhibitions.Ellen Altfest: Forever&nbsp;is a selection of 15 oil paintings by the American representational painter Ellen Altfest, known for her painstakingly labor-intensive canvases and her observation of things in the world often overlooked in art. From roughly tactile rocks, tangled branches, and tree bark, to the smoothness of houseplants, fabric, and men’s skin—she condenses everyday essences into expressions of absolute clarity and intensity. Her paintings are characterized by surprising pairings of subjects, unorthodox cropping, and, perhaps most notably, scrupulously rendered naturally occurring textures and intricate surface features. Working directly from observation without photographic sources or references, she often spends months—and sometimes more than a year—on a single painting.&nbsp;Ellen Altfest: Forever&nbsp;is organized by the Frist Art Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, where it premiered earlier this year, and is curated by Mark Scala, Chief Curator, Frist Art Museum.&nbsp;Ellen Altfest: Forever&nbsp;is presented at Wrightwood 659 by Halsted A&amp;A Foundation.About Wrightwood 659Wrightwood 659 hosts exhibitions on socially engaged art and architecture, on issues facing LGBTQ+ communities, and on Asian art and architecture. Located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood in a building transformed by Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando, Wrightwood 659 encourages visitors to engage with pressing issues of our time in an intimate and beautiful space.&nbsp;For additional information, please visit<a style="color: blue;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/___https:/wrightwood659.org___.YzJ1Om5ld3N3ZWJsbGM6YzpvOjkxNmUxZTI1MGM2ZWQyZjc3MDI3ZjM5MDk0MDAxNzBjOjY6MjcwMjo2MjhjZDA1ZDgwMzI1MTE5ZDdkNThkYmQ3N2YzYzg1NDQyOTgwMmQyMDlkOTA1ZWM3ZDg4OTYwYmMzZGNlYTFhOnA6VDpG" target="_blank">wrightwood659.org</a>. Hours of Operation and TicketsWrightwood 659 is open Thursdays 12 noon-7 pm; Fridays 12 noon-7 pm;&nbsp;Saturdays 10 am-5 pm.&nbsp;Tickets for the trio of exhibitions opening October 3 go on sale Thursday, September 4. Admission is $20 and is available online only at<a style="color: blue;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/___https:/tickets.wrightwood659.org/events___.YzJ1Om5ld3N3ZWJsbGM6YzpvOjkxNmUxZTI1MGM2ZWQyZjc3MDI3ZjM5MDk0MDAxNzBjOjY6ZTM3NTo1ODVkZTEzMTZkZTNkMTU1ZTU4MTZhNmM5ZjI5N2I3NTQzODExNGFmNjY5MTllMDUzZWZmNWQwNGU5ZDgwMThkOnA6VDpG" target="_blank">https://tickets.wrightwood659.org/events</a>. Please note, admission is by advance ticket only.&nbsp;Walk-ups are not permitted.

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