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

Join a 1-hour guided tour of Theaster Gates: Unto Thee, led by Smart Museum Fellow, Ian Brundige. The event will take place at The Smart Museum of Art on Friday, October 24th, from 1 - 2 pm. The tour is part of the Unto Thee programming at the Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago.

Unto Thee Tour

ConcertTickets available <a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=73ce00d699&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank">Here</a>Composer, musician, and producer Faten Kanaan uses counterpoint as a narrative tool to create music that is mysterious, smudgy, and deeply melodic. As she draws on the repeating structures of modern minimalism and early music/baroque influences, amid textural ebbs and flows, there is a warmth in her use of synthesizers, live keyboards, and other electronic instrumentation. Her new album Diary of a Candle is a consoling melodic suite, minimal and nuanced, featuring woodwinds and richly-layered strings, with the hazy atmospheres of certain films from the 1970s and 1980s. Written while looking out at her garden in Amman, Jordan, where she recently relocated after twenty years in New York, her new songs are infused by this new, yet familiar, topography.&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=9084e14b91&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank">Learn more</a>. Image: Faten Kanaan, photo by Olena Shkoda.

Faten Kanaan: Diary of a Candle

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">Hyde Park Art Center</a>, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, announces&nbsp;Yasmin Spiro: Cornerstone,&nbsp;the first major solo exhibition of the Chicago-based Jamaican artist, and related free public programming. Inspired by Spiro’s background, the exhibition presents the artist’s ongoing exploration of the intersections between land, body, memory, and architecture, inviting the audience to contemplate the physical and psychological effects of histories of migration and colonialism. Layered with aspects of Jamaica’s ecology, architectural structures, land ownership, and socio-political history,&nbsp;Cornerstone&nbsp;emphasizes the hybridity of the island's culture and people, via immersive new works including sculptures, sound and scent work, and weavings.&nbsp;Yasmin Spiro: Cornerstone&nbsp;is curated by Allison Peters Quinn and runs&nbsp;from April 19 to November 2, 2025; admission is free. The title work&nbsp;Cornerstone&nbsp;is a new, towering fort-like structure made with cast forms and textile walls designed for visitors to enter. In construction, the cornerstone refers to the first-laid stone of a building, to which all other stones are positioned in relation. Set up at the center of the gallery, the installation—created during Spiro’s 2024 Jackman Goldwasser Residency at the Art Center—connects to three surrounding bodies of work in the gallery, serving as a metaphor for home and the feeling of being grounded in an identity that is shaped by a homeland. Combining burlap, wood, rope, mixed-media cast, and ceramic forms, video, and rural sound, Spiro composes a sensorial environment that elicits comfort and belonging. The three related bodies of work combine old and new elements from Spiro’s practice within texture, muted organic tones, and sensory-rich materials. The north end of the gallery will feature a 17 ft. long burlap weaving embedded with handmade ceramic bells, found driftwood, and rope that projects a complex lattice of shadows on the wall, offering a new perception of space. On the west wall, six mounted panels align rope compositions next to flesh-toned ceramic tiles made during Spiro’s Arts/Industry residency at Kohler Co. Finally, ropes descend from the ceiling on the south end of the gallery and extend outward, forming a suspended alternative architecture. Through these works, Spiro contemplates the fluidity of land and water, and how people’s relationship to land is shaped by migration, colonial histories, and national identity. To the artist, buildings are not simply physical structures, but spaces that anchor human experiences, culture, and history. “Materiality is central to the meaning of the work,” explains Spiro. “The cast forms in&nbsp;Cornerstone&nbsp;create an organic, almost fossilized presence that simultaneously emerges from and erodes back into the earth, reflecting how landscapes shift and histories accumulate over time. Pigmented in shades of pink, their fleshy, shell-like tones correspond to the cast porcelain on the walls, referencing the natural landscapes of Jamaica and the layered histories embedded in them. These forms speak to the way places shape us and how we carry them within us.” This exhibition is part of an ongoing annual series of large-scale artworks commissioned by Hyde Park Art Center, which in the past included new works by Edra Soto, Faheem Majeed, and Lan Tuazon among others. The exhibition will be documented and enhanced through a publication with essays by critic and writer Seph Rodney and curator Allison Peters Quinn. A series of public programs will offer opportunities for audiences to further engage with the exhibition.&nbsp;Yasmin Spiro: Cornerstone&nbsp;is generously supported by the Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Charitable Foundation Research and Production Fund. Related free public programs include: Artist-led Exhibition TourTuesday, April 22, 5:30 p.m.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">Yasmin Spiro leads an exhibition tour as part of EXPO Chicago’s South Side Night.</a> Yasmin Spiro in conversation with Seph RodneyThursday, May 15, 6 p.m.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">Writer and critic Seph Rodney joins Yasmin Spiro in conversation to discuss her exhibition</a>&nbsp;in relation to colonial and post-colonial Caribbean culture, land, body, and identity. Panel discussion: Geographies of Belonging: Land, Identity, and Collective MemorySaturday, June 21, 1-2:30 p.m.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">Artists, architects, archaeologists, and historians discuss how human bodies relate to land and space, exploring themes of displacement, rootedness, and identity.&nbsp;</a> Cornerstone Performance in collaboration with Neila EbanksThursday, October 9, 6 p.m.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">A performance developed in collaboration with Jamaican choreographer Neila Ebanks that explores themes in the exhibition through movement and dance. Ebanks is the co-founder of dance collective Enkompane and Director of Dance Studies at Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston.</a> ABOUT THE ARTIST<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica by a family from multiple geographies, the interdisciplinary artist&nbsp;</a><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.yasminspiro.com/" target="_blank">Yasmin Spiro&nbsp;</a>approaches cultural identity with a unique perspective. Through her sculptures and installations, she addresses issues of socio-economic imbalance within the framework of urban development and architecture – often through the lens of Caribbean culture. Spiro works in a variety of media from wood, ceramic, natural and synthetic fibers and textiles to performance and video, exploring materiality while investigating the relationship between the body, nature, and the built environment. She attended Pratt Institute and held residences at the Dora Maar Foundation, The Kohler Arts and Industry residency, Vermont Studio Center, and the Chicago Artist Coalition. She currently resides in Chicago. ABOUT THE HYDE PARK ART CENTER<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">Hyde Park Art Center, at 5020 South Cornell Avenue on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, serving as a gathering, production, and exhibition space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks. Since its inception in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center has grown from a small collective of artists to establishing a strong legacy of risk-taking and experimentation, emerging as a unique Chicago arts institution with social impact. Today, the Art Center offers a diverse suite of programs for artists and art lovers of all backgrounds, ages, and stages in their careers including: contemporary art exhibitions in six galleries; an open-access community-based school with 2,000 annual enrollments; weekly arts education to 1,000 elementary school students in public schools; weekly and summer teen programs for 100 teen artists; professional-advancement programs for artists; a local and international artist residency; and public programs that connect residents with Chicago art and artists. The Art Center’s Oakman Clinton School + Studio is the nation’s first fully contribute-what-you-can visual art school for all ages. The Art Center functions as an amplifier for creative voices of today and tomorrow, providing the space to cultivate new work and connections. For more information, visit&nbsp;www.hydeparkart.org</a>.

Yasmin Spiro: Cornerstone

Tickets available<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=91d033c02c&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank"> </a><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=91d033c02c&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank">Here</a>For the exhibition Nine Lives at the Renaissance Society, in fall of 2020, artist and Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon created a new score in his ongoing American Ledger series. Inspired by journalist and activist Ida B. Wells, American Ledger No. 3 is written for two choirs of women who meet in a public place, like a field, street, or town square. Unable to be staged at the time of the exhibition in the early days of the pandemic, this outdoor performance now makes its Chicago debut, co-presented by UChicago Presents and the Renaissance Society.Gather at the Logan Center courtyard on the University of Chicago campus, as the two groups of singers converge for this evocative work, which links past and present and takes on new resonance today, joined by the sound of drums, glockenspiels, and coins.<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=b9264ef9a9&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank">Learn more</a>. Image: Raven Chacon, photo by Neal Santos.&nbsp;

Concert: Raven Chacon

4TH FLOOR GALLERYThe Mystical, The Magical, &amp; The Macabre exhibition features multimedia artworks conjuring a sense of mystery,&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(44, 44, 44);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=91d96d1078666b06&amp;sxsrf=AHTn8zoZ-y9-Af_FE_6dgSrJhajKODTWvQ:1737940808946&amp;q=awe&amp;si=APYL9bs_8Z8EiYn94N7SXgdYMoT-tC4WUs46oix8XvMzUdARAlAasm-5hqGMESeatAbFLJlQ0xm2Qn2gcWc3tr3W8Cgb46P-fg%3D%3D&amp;expnd=1&amp;sa=X&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjLg7uE3pSLAxVBhIkEHZBHKaYQyecJegQIPBB6" target="_blank">awe</a>, and&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(44, 44, 44);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=91d96d1078666b06&amp;sxsrf=AHTn8zoZ-y9-Af_FE_6dgSrJhajKODTWvQ:1737940808946&amp;q=fascination&amp;si=APYL9btEN2SiQ9h4o5Ckf6vYFXRY6tdt3qjkDX-QBqpADLVCGPLr2S5ECI3EGs1YjiAqRp5ITqDfEYl_NKxlHI_szOEp1L1RW_V4gRZzFkVK7hNgCCpsz9c%3D&amp;expnd=1&amp;sa=X&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjLg7uE3pSLAxVBhIkEHZBHKaYQyecJegQIPBB7" target="_blank">fascination with&nbsp;</a>the darkness. Artists investigate the dark through their chosen media by finding aesthetic beauty in the shadowy depths of our complex existence. While darkness can be associated with feelings of fear, anxiety, or sadness, the darkness also provides a place of comfort, quietude, introspection, romance, and peace. The Mystical, The Magical, &amp; The Macabre, curated by Marci Rubin, showcases artworks that delve into what is lurking and lost in the shadows of the human experience.&nbsp;Mystical realities that&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(44, 44, 44);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/seemingly" target="_blank">seem</a>&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(44, 44, 44);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/inexplicable" target="_blank">inexplicable</a>&nbsp;and are not immediately apparent to the senses or the mind, invite artists to attempt an explanation of the unexplained and travel along alternative spiritual paths. These non-comprehensive or unexplainable events that are sensed and felt are made tangible through the artist’s work by their awareness and comprehension of an extraordinary or otherworldly power. Artistic endeavors exposing a hidden mystical understanding, create visual alchemy while conceivably shining a light in the darkness.&nbsp;The practice of harnessing supernatural or mystical powers influencing and manipulating events to achieve phenomenal results is magic. Dazzling and delighting their audience, visual artists employ magic to create works of art possessing wonder, surprise, and excitement. Used to explore the subconscious, and tap into a realm that is both familiar and strange, artists like magicians produce illusions and spectacles challenging and manipulating traditional perceptions of reality.&nbsp;Involving dismal themes of death, decay, and darkness, The Macabre can be quite unsettling and gruesome. Ghastly, gloomy, and grim motifs explored in the artist’s dark depths evoke a visceral response from the viewer, thinning the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead.&nbsp;

The Mystical, The Magical, & The Macabre 

Memorial Exhibition Bridgeport Art Center | Chicago, IL Turtel Onli was a trailblazing visual artist, educator, theorist, and publisher whose innovations helped shape the fields of indie comics and Black cultural aesthetics. This memorial exhibition honors his profound contributions through a comprehensive display of original Rhythmistic fine art, along with his independent Black Age comics &amp; graphic novels.Held in the historic Bridgeport Art Center, the show will span six weeks and feature two Third Friday Open Studio events, as well as community projects &amp; live programming. Visitors will encounter the depth of Onli’s philosophy of Rhythmism—his visionary aesthetic theory fusing African iconography, science fiction, and metaphysical inquiry—as well as his tireless commitment to independent Black creative expression.This is more than a retrospective—it’s a celebration of a movement, a mentor, and a mind that dared to imagine beyond boundaries. Life in the Rhythmic Zone invites audiences of all ages to engage with a rich legacy that continues to inspire generations of artists, educators, and visionaries.IMAGE: “The Alchemist” Acrylics on canvas 2000: By Turtel Onli:Shown in the magical process of turning worthless into precious. A possible metaphor for so many a thing. The full painting shows the Mystic From Kemet turning slabs of lead into bars of gold.

Turtel Onli: Life in the Rhythmic Zone

Presented by VibrantCastColor can be loud. It can be defiant, joyful, electric—or quiet, haunting, and contemplative. In&nbsp;Echoes of Color, artists wield color as more than just a visual element,it becomes a pulse, a voice, and a channel for emotion.This curated group exhibition brings together a bold mix of contemporary works that speak through pigment, contrast, and composition. Drawing inspiration from the city itself, its movement, murals, signage, graffiti, and grit, many of the pieces in this collection hum with the energy of the streets. Others take a more introspective turn, using layered textures and softened tones to reflect memory, identity, or personal mythology.What sets this show apart is its interactive format. Each work is paired with a scannable label that invites viewers to hear the artist’s voice. Through short audio reflections, artists share the personal stories, inspirations, or emotions behind their pieces, offering a rare window into the creative process. It also invites the viewer to slow down, to feel, and to listen.In a time when headlines overwhelm and everything moves too fast, this show offers something rare: a vivid pause. A space to reflect. A moment to reconnect with beauty, emotion, and the language of color.IMAGE: It Wears Me Out, My Fake Plastic World is 48 x 71 2024 made by repurposed plastic from an old State Farm sign. Acrylic

Echoes of Color

Woman Made Gallery is pleased to announce&nbsp;Finding My Way, a curated exhibition featuring the work of undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in universities in Illinois and Indiana, as well as Spring 2025 graduates. The exhibition will run from October 11 through November 8, 2025, with a public artist reception on Saturday, October 11, 2025, from 4–7 PM, and an Artist Walkthrough on Saturday, November 8, 2025, from 2–4 PM.Finding My Way explores the profound transformations that shape our lives—especially the pivotal journey from childhood to adulthood. Through this theme, the exhibition invites artwork that captures the physical, emotional, and psychological changes defining these formative years.The diversity of student voices creates a compelling portrait of resilience, vulnerability, and discovery. All mediums are represented, from painting, drawing, and photography to sculpture, mixed media, and installation.&nbsp;Exhibiting Artists:&nbsp;Vianée Anahil, Presley Baldwin, Elan Bareket, Summer Boezeman, Celeste Botello, Cait, Lucas Cordes, Dashi, Lulu Franke Barker, Rosalie Gengras, Julia Goldberg, Lily Gregoire,&nbsp;Kennedy Hardy, Sophia Hasmonek, Brianna Ho, Myrkul Holly-Meadowcroft, Cherin Kim, Ilhana Kisija, Becca Krusza, Jen LaMastra, Maddie Lee, MAC, Katelyn Nee, Samaya Norman, Avery O’Brien, Fumika Okumura, Emy Ori, Madeline Penzel, Abigail Potter-James, Maryam Rodgers, Mia Rose, Josie Ross, Ted Roth, Abigail Svitko, Nehir Uslu, Step Walkowiak, Elise Wentzel, Jozlyn Skye White, Nia Wilson, Huiqi ZhouCuratorial Team:&nbsp;Finding My Way&nbsp;is made possible through the collaborative efforts of Corinne Pompéy and Diana Vallera, co-creators of&nbsp;For Women, By Women&nbsp;at Columbia College Chicago, together with Rebekah Baker, Gallery Director at Woman Made Gallery.&nbsp;Woman Made Gallery thanks&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://northwest.iu.edu/" target="_blank">Indiana University</a>&nbsp;for sponsoring the&nbsp;Finding My Way&nbsp;exhibition program.View the exhibition online:&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://womanmade.org/finding-my-way/" target="_blank">https://womanmade.org/finding-my-way/</a>

Finding My Way

Woman Made Gallery (WMG) is proud to present “Drawing Resistance: The Artist’s Dilemma in Political Conflict,” a virtual group exhibition that explores the tensions artists face when navigating their creative practice in politically charged environments. The title plays on the dual meaning of “drawing”—as both a visual act and a metaphor for tracing boundaries, beliefs, or courage. In a world increasingly shaped by political unrest, censorship, and global crises, artists are often confronted with a critical question: What is my responsibility in the face of conflict? Must art speak truth to power—or is silence also a choice? Selections by WMG’s Program Committee include works that confront, reflect on, or challenge political realities—whether global or deeply personal.Exhibiting Artists:&nbsp;Ellis Angel, Lucy Aragon, Amal Azzam, Jenny Balisle, Jesper Beckholt, Carol Bivins, Blackmedu$a, Sally Jane Brown, Lulu Luyao Chang, Violet Costello, Rosemary Ann Davis, Graciela DeAnda, Mary Rose Deraco, Jena Doolas, Julianna Finch, Claire Flath, Shawna Gibbs, Julie Glass, Renee Golway, Farah Art Griffin, Deborah Hirshfield, Joanna Hoge, Maggy Hovden, Doina Mihaela Iacob, Meg Katherine Johnson, Tumí Johnson, Elizabeth Kelly, Helen Klebesadel, Kim Laurel, Michelle Louis, Ruth Marchese, Kristen Martin-Aarnio, Clarissa Martinez, Lineadeluz, Heather Mawson, Lori McCoy, Angela A. McElwain, Shanna Merola, Amy L Misurelli Sorensen, Jacie Morgan, Ena Mork, Yue Nakayama, Kelsey Nichols, Laura O’Connor, Olivia Outlaw, Monika Andrew Poray, Nina Rastgar, Ippy, Kathy Sayad Zatari, Mary Senter, Rosa Silver, Sarah Sipling, Talon, Alexandra Rey, Susanne McKenzie Swanson, Jacqueline E. Tirey, Rhonda Urdang, Ria Vanden Eynde, Vikkokoro, Denise Weaver Ross, Lisa Wright, Denise Yaghmourian, Jane Zich.

Drawing Resistance: The Artist's Dilemma in Political Conflict

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">Hyde Park Art Center</a>, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, hosts its <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/gala/" target="_blank">2025 Gala "Artists at the Center</a>”&nbsp;&nbsp;activating the entire building on&nbsp;Saturday, November 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with an afterparty that goes till&nbsp;11:30 p.m.&nbsp;The lively event honors arts leader&nbsp;Esther Grimm&nbsp;and artist&nbsp;Amanda Williams,&nbsp;and is packed with hands-on art activities, commissioned performances, open studios, art auctions, and DJs from Lumpen Radio. The gala co-chairs are&nbsp;Mirja Spooner Haffner, Founder of The Laksmi Project,&nbsp;andChristy MacLear,&nbsp;President of&nbsp;Good Chaos. The Gala after-party is hosted in partnership with Lumpen Radio, with standalone tickets at $75 available for purchase on the Art Center’s website. Guests may RSVP and make donations at&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.hydeparkart.org/gala." target="_blank">www.hydeparkart.org/gala.</a> With a “creative cocktail” dress code, the evening will feature a cocktail party running from 5:30-7:00 p.m., followed by a seated dinner with remarks by Art Center leadership and artists. With a reputation as one of the city’s most “hands-on” art parties, the Gala will feature an after-party in collaboration with Lumpen Radio from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. that includes the popular Interactive Artist Interventions, resident artist open studios, performances, DJs, late-night bites, and more.&nbsp; Interactive Artist Interventions have been a highlight of past Art Center Galas, where guests were engaged in inventive interactions, such as getting inked by a tattoo artist and eating cake off a wall. The 2025 Gala will feature artist interventions by:&nbsp;Rabbit Foot Puppetry, an lgbtqia+ troupe that creates spectacle puppet shows;&nbsp;Cristal Sabbagh&nbsp;and&nbsp;Scott Rubin&nbsp;who will present an interdisciplinary performance of improvised music and drawing;&nbsp;Gabriela Estrada Loochkartt&nbsp;with an eco-feminist performance;&nbsp;Madeleine Aguilar&nbsp;with a musical activation and windchime workshop; and&nbsp;Regin Igloria&nbsp;with a bookbinding workshop.&nbsp;For more information on participating artists, visit<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://hydeparkart.org/gala" target="_blank">hydeparkart.org/gala</a>. The three DJs from Lumpen Radio are:&nbsp;DJ Colocha, who specializes in Cumbia and other Latin genres, drawing inspiration from both her New York upbringing and her Mexican heritage;&nbsp;DJ AfroQbano, an eclectic record collector, music producer, radio host, and founder of Future Rootz Records whose work is deeply rooted in the rhythms and traditions of the African diaspora, infused with the pulse of his Afro-Cuban identity; and&nbsp;DJ Logan Bay, a life long advocate for underground party scenes who has rocked parties across the globe for over 25 years. Gala tickets are available for $750 with host committee sponsorship levels beginning at $2,500. Guests may RSVP and make donations at<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.hydeparkart.org/gala" target="_blank">hydeparkart.org/gala</a>. For more information on sponsorship levels, please contact Samantha Foster at&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:sfoster@hydeparkart.org" target="_blank">sfoster@hydeparkart.org</a>. About the honoreesEsther Grimm&nbsp;has a career-long work in the arts that spans philanthropy, museum education, arts education, and executive coaching. From 2002 through 2024, she was the Executive Director/Founder of 3Arts, a social justice-based grant-making and arts service organization that advocates for and supports artists, including women artists, artists of color, and Deaf and disabled artists working in the performing, teaching, and visual arts in the Chicago area and in Southern Illinois. Since 2019, after earning her&nbsp;accreditation from the International Coaching Federation, Grimm has been working as a leadership coach with National Arts Strategies and as an independent life and leadership coach through Now Voyager, supporting arts, nonprofit, and culture leaders and artists at every stage of their careers. In 2020, she was appointed to the Cultural Advisory Council, completed National Arts Strategies’ Leadership Coaching Training Program, and was presented with the Diversity Award on behalf of 3Arts from the College Art Association. In 2017, She received the Kathryn V. Lamkey Spirit of Diversity Award from the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee of Actors’ Equity Association. Esther also received the Wren Award in honor of women in theater from Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, and the Women Who Make a Difference Award from Lakeside Bank. Amanda Williams&nbsp;is a visual artist who trained as an architect. Her breakthrough series,&nbsp;Color(ed) Theory, was recently named by the New York Times as one of the twenty-five most significant works of postwar architecture in the world. Williams has exhibited widely, including the Museum of Modern Art in NY, the Venice Architecture Biennale, the MCA Chicago, and a public commission at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis. She is co-designer of a forthcoming permanent monument to Shirley Chisholm in Brooklyn NY and part of the Museum Design Team for the Obama Presidential Center. Williams has garnered critical acclaim and been recognized as a USA Ford Fellow, a Joan Mitchell Painting and Sculpture grantee, a 3Arts Next Level awardee, and is the inaugural Artist-In-Residence at Smith College. She is a highly sought-after lecturer, including a mainstage 2018 TedTalk. Williams sits on the boards of the Graham Foundation, The Black Reconstruction Collective, and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Her work is in several permanent collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her projects have recently been published in ‘Black Futures’ and ‘Radical Architecture of the Future’. Williams lives and works on the south side of Chicago. About Lumpen RadioLumpen Radio, WLPN-LP Chicago 105.5FM, launched in 2016 and broadcasts 24/7. WLPN-LP is operated by a community of curators working to connect audiences with music and ideas. Lumpen’s aim is to spotlight the hidden parts of the city by amplifying its voices and sounds. Lumpen promotes open media, uniting communities and magnifying the hard work of artists, musicians, activists and cultural workers. WLPN is a project of Public Media Institute (PMI). PMI is a non-profit 501(c)3, community-based art and culture organization located in the city of Chicago since 2001. PMI’s mission is to create, incubate and sustain innovative cultural programming through the production of socially engaged projects, festivals, spaces, exhibitions, and media. About Hyde Park Art CenterHyde Park Art Center, at 5020 South Cornell Avenue on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, serving as a gathering, production, and exhibition space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks. Since its inception in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center has grown from a small collective of artists to establishing a strong legacy of risk-taking and experimentation, emerging as a unique Chicago arts institution with social impact. Today, the Art Center offers a diverse suite of programs for artists and art lovers of all backgrounds, ages, and stages in their careers including: contemporary art exhibitions in six galleries; an open-access community-based school with 2,000 annual enrollments; weekly arts education to 1,000 elementary school students in public schools; weekly and summer teen programs for 100 teen artists; professional-advancement programs for artists; a local and international artist residency; and public programs that connect residents with Chicago art and artists. The Art Center’s Oakman Clinton School + Studio is the nation’s first fully contribute-what-you-can visual art school for all ages. The Art Center functions as an amplifier for creative voices of today and tomorrow, providing the space to cultivate new work and connections. For more information, visit<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">www.hydeparkart.org</a>.

The Art Center 2025 Gala

Tickets available <a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=9a8094508d&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank">Here</a>Lyra Pramuk, an American multidisciplinary artist based in Berlin, has conceived a unique form of devotional music that harmonizes the open-ended potential of the human voice with the magic of technology as it rapidly evolves. Following the success of her last album Fountain, Pramuk’s expansive new release, Hymnal, is her own book of transformational worship songs, drawing from folk, house, techno, gospel and her formal classical education to construct a symphonic universe. A passionate live performer, Pramuk prefers staging her shows in churches, cathedrals and purpose-built theaters, embracing the space as an integral part of the experience, while using delay, feedback, reverb and pitch-shifting and pedals to alter her voice. For this performance in Bond Chapel, Pramuk brings Hymnal to Chicago.&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=7df26e2dd3&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank">Learn more.</a> Lyra Pramuk, Photo by Leonardo Scotti.

Lyra Pramuk

Apparent Paths&nbsp;brings together a new series of weavings by&nbsp;Emily Frances Winter. These building portraits utilize the textile language of plaids, stripes and gradients to render sky, earth and architecture. Woven while in residence at the Icelandic Textile Center (Blönduós, Iceland) and Praxis Fiber Workshop (Cleveland, Ohio), the works represent a series of singular moments when light and form and shadow lined up in such a way as to bring the simultaneous specificity and universality of the built environment into view. These building portraits deploy the material qualities of thread and woven structure to address questions of space, light, and volume and a certain type of observation made possible by attention and patience and presence.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://oq8cplyab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001qN7C5MC1MKO26JFpc-Z7s3qARqx8-wDlTd2g1OfsVdW6rFZqSNrcTTYw-d9rdQc-zEQt8v0NEchmef55vn0xwNQljxW9rQqN9546uWDEz57UmwdfQVkGMzQ0W00zzRnxK5ehGMigtoeSjNXTLydp6ta2tJvvsB89qmNFA5PZ3xFpU4bG42dwGUC5fG0vRCN6B3G_oZVedDhfmj1evBHXPSxlswx4MSp25R6Uhv9_eAc=&amp;c=VE1pMnxRc_25qd3r0J13n6ETpf00E4h05M_mSX32i6nUkwnGJttMeQ==&amp;ch=rO_GT9QZ_7EquiEoc4K3l_8dwwD5PjmFcamBCJKhUj6IXaD91Vxe4g==" target="_blank">Read More</a> Image: Emily Frances Winter,&nbsp;Detail of&nbsp;SHED 1,&nbsp;2023, Linen, cotton, and wool.

Emily Frances Winter: Apparent Paths

Diego Marcon, an artist known for his radical rethinking of cinema, sound, and space, makes his U.S. debut at the Renaissance Society this September. Marcon’s practice is rooted in entertainment and structural cinema—eschewing traditional storytelling to explore the mechanics of filmmaking itself. His works challenge the hierarchy between subject and image, dissolving narrative into abstraction. For this exhibition, Marcon presents&nbsp;Krapfen, a newly commissioned musical dance film that stages an encounter between the kid, performed by dancer Violet Savage, and four characters represented by costume props: gloves, foulard, trousers, and pullover.&nbsp;Krapfen&nbsp;is also an encounter between the golden age of American animation and Italian opera. The choreography—a mix of contemporary dance, classical ballet, and popular entertainment forms—reflects the juxtaposition of traditional and digital filmmaking processes, a hallmark of Marcon’s practice. Curated by Myriam Ben Salah. Lead support for this exhibition at the Renaissance Society is provided by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation. Diego Marcon’s&nbsp;Krapfen&nbsp;is co-commissioned and made possible by Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Lafayette Anticipations, New Museum, the Renaissance Society, and The Vega Foundation with additional support from Sadie Coles HQ, London, and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne/New York. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=a0683e9dae&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank">Learn more</a>THIS PROGRAM WILL HAVE REALTIME CAPTIONING. Image: Diego Marcon,&nbsp;Krapfen (Gloves), 2025 © Diego Marcon. Courtesy Diego Marcon. Produced by Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Lafayette Anticipations, New Museum, the Renaissance Society, The Vega Foundation. Photo: Brigida Brancale.

Diego Marcon: Krapfen

An innovative choreographer, Moriah Evans creates performances for a wide variety of contexts, from museum spaces to the stage, while exploring the “knowledge our bodies hold” and the political undercurrents of movement. This winter, the New York-based artist spends two weeks at the Renaissance Society with a small ensemble of dancers. For this expanded edition of the&nbsp;Intermissions&nbsp;series, which features a longer time frame than usual,&nbsp;Evans explores&nbsp;the&nbsp;possibilities of dance in a more open and durational form&nbsp;through this&nbsp;new work, letting it take shape beyond the boundaries of a single&nbsp;event. Balancing a mix of private rehearsals and public presentations, Evans and the ensemble will offer different expressions of the project at different times.&nbsp;Curated by Karsten Lund.&nbsp;Launched in 2017,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28258b64874e626df0979c0de&amp;id=77671601cf&amp;e=375d06b725" target="_blank">Intermissions</a>&nbsp;is an ongoing programming series devoted to performance and other inventive time-based works, staged in the Renaissance Society’s empty gallery in between exhibitions. This recurring platform features two artists every year, supporting a wide variety of live projects.Image: Moriah Evans,&nbsp;Remains Persist,&nbsp;2022, Performance Space New York, NY. Pictured: Lizzie Feidelson, Sarah Beth Percival, Anh Vo, Varinia Canto Vila. Photo: Rachel Papo.

Intermissions: Moriah Evans

Hyde Park Art Center announces a group exhibition curated by&nbsp;Dr. Rikki Byrd&nbsp;from its first Radicle Curatorial Residency. Inspired by Toni Morrison’s canonical text&nbsp;Beloved, the exhibition’s title&nbsp;Mark Me, Too&nbsp;reflects on how the marks of legacy and heritage are imprinted on the identities of five Black femme/nonbinary artists, told through their personal histories. Spotlighting works by Lisa DeAbreau,&nbsp;Ciarra K. Walters,&nbsp;Lex Marie,&nbsp;Natasha Moustache, and&nbsp;Lola Ayisha Ogbara, the exhibition runs from&nbsp;August 9 through December 14&nbsp;in the Kanter Family Foundation Gallery on the second floor of the Art Center. Admission is free.Drawing on their connections to Nigeria, Seychelles, the Caribbean, the Philippines, and the United States, these artists bring a diasporic point of view to mining the marks imprinted on their respective identities. While artists such as Lex Marie and Natasha Moustache offer distinct perspectives to tracing maternal connections and African American histories of motherhood, respectively, Ciarra K. Walters offers an exploration of what she calls "daughterhood," and how it informs her own self-making. Lola Ayisha Ogbara stretches this further in her work, drawing on adornment practices of Black girls and femmes, using acrylic nails, mannequin heads, and jump ropes, offering Black beauty as a form of critique, as well as an art form. Continuing the consideration of maternal lineage, Lisa DeAbreau draws on motifs of respectability and architecture to reflect on memory-making and archival encounters.Taken together, the artists' responses to the tradition of mark-making are twofold: through the representation of their own hand in the work, as well as marks of migration, movement, hybridity, legacy, and identity. By extending brushstrokes, threads, and unlikely materials––from birthing blankets to egg shells––the artists repurpose materials to reflect on how they carry these marks through their practice. The final works leave seams visible, overturn popular emblems, or obscure materials only to make them palpable under the surface, bringing forth the ways the past is never the past, what Morrison called "rememory."An opening reception will take place on&nbsp;Saturday, August 9, 2 - 4 p.m., free and open to all with no registration required.Mark Me, Too&nbsp;and Dr. Rikki Byrd’s residency are made possible due to the generosity of the Guida Family Fund for Creativity. The Radicle Curator is rooted at the Art Center for a sixteen-month period to participate in programs with the cohort of resident artists, conduct studio visits with artists around Chicago pertaining to their curatorial interests, and be in critical dialog with the Exhibitions and Residency team to curate an engaging group exhibition that addresses pressing civic issues of the time. ABOUT THE CURATORDr. Rikki Byrd is a writer, educator, and curator. She is the founder of Black Fashion Archive and the co-founder of the Fashion and Race Syllabus, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Visual Culture Studies at the University of Texas at Austin in the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Art and Art History.&nbsp;Across&nbsp;her writing, teaching, and curatorial projects, she draws connections between Black aesthetic practices, including 20th and 21st century art, fashion studies, and performance.

Mark Me, Too: Five Artists

Carnival&nbsp;brings together a new body of work by&nbsp;Vesna Jovanovic, inspired by her interest in medieval French carnivals and other festivals from around the world in which social ranks and identities are ignored and concealed, allowing participants to connect through food, dance, laughter, and sexual expression.In the group of paintings exhibited, all created in the past three years, the artist playfully renders invented spaces in which the body is both setting and subject—collapsed into unexpected relationships with objects that bring joy and pleasure. Jovanovic’s process begins by pouring diluted ink onto sheets of Yupo (a synthetic paper made of polypropylene). Once the ink is dried, the artist responds to the texture by painting candy, sparklers, confetti, sex toys, jingles, and much more across the fleshy surfaces–prioritizing relationships that evoke attraction, repulsion, laughter, and recognition.Vesna Jovanovic: Carnival&nbsp;is generously supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The Joyce Foundation.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://oq8cplyab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001PJYLVNiDB7A9vrLEOEkMwwdrLOQHYs5wnQw8B1j2Ddgbha1FMMQjokmM7WJKL84BM1U86zmz9A81pqIAUecB11DVdDIImSSvNk73Aq6l9qAw_IR2nJsOEqQoPKPLzxY0ZONQstxvnePXog8Y9aTIQUWw837lE7ZzaFyyzRJMpS_TSJC52cqXVPV9PsMh_j8oHtCelsdF0USOGIGxsBtl8fsivDr0hVN6&amp;c=hd0i12lQQuwiMf0-FG223xXIxNKsUM6Ao7tdjfxCTz3sCu84GzvAMw==&amp;ch=MNljekYVKY4pHmTITHTfROfz_WNZMjsoaLhcCLCoQyJ2PQKNBhQciQ==" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Vesna Jovanovic: Carnival

Smart to the Core: Wise to Power examines questions about the formation of political communities, the organization of economic lives by political society, and individual navigation of society. The exhibition integrates visual art with foundational texts of modern social and political thought spanning nearly four centuries. It addresses themes familiar yet deeply connected to specific political, economic, and cultural histories. Wise to Power is the fourth installment of “Smart to the Core,” a series fostering collaboration with the University of Chicago’s Core undergraduate curriculum and exploring the role of art across disciplines. The exhibition is drawn primarily from the permanent collection and organized by the Smart’s Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry with UChicago’s Social Sciences Core, “Power, Identity, Resistance.” Support is provided by the Smart Museum’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Endowment, Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry Fund, and SmartPartners, with special thanks to Jack Shainman Gallery and The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections.

Smart to the Core: Wise to Power

Opening Weekend Celebrations: October 4th - 5th, 2025 ﻿The Smart Museum of Art presents&nbsp;Theaster Gates's first&nbsp;solo museum exhibition in his hometown of Chicago. A self-designated “keeper of objects,” the artist Theaster Gates investigates the value of things and their potential to hold layered meanings. He has been dedicated to investing in the care of these objects as a way to nurture stories and voices – often Black stories and voices – largely overlooked by history or institutional structures. The exhibition&nbsp;Theaster Gates: Unto Thee&nbsp;is rooted in several core collections of objects that have been part of Gates’s artistic practice which he acquired through the University of Chicago, where he is Professor of Visual Arts. Ranging from the Department of Art History’s glass lantern slides and&nbsp;display vitrines from the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (formerly the Oriental Institute), to paint-stained concrete from the floors of Midway Studios and wooden pews made for Bond Chapel, all objects have been discarded and identified as no longer needed. In creating new works with them over the years – and, as will be done again, in new installations at the Smart – Gates challenges that notion of stasis by instead excavating more histories, more stories. These installations will be accompanied by Gates’s more recent work including paintings, ceramics, film, and pieces incorporating the archive of the Johnson Publishing Company. Rooted in materials and Gates’s interest in the process of making,&nbsp;Unto Thee&nbsp;embodies the relationships Gates has fostered within the University of Chicago, local communities, the South Side and broader Chicago. It underscores the artist’s unassailable belief in the potential of art to connect with and transform communities. The exhibition is accompanied by a site-specific installation as part of the Museum’s Threshold Lobby Series, which will be on view through July 2026. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://uchicago.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=aba2086a45b4ee8391b89447b&amp;id=6d81ba16bf&amp;e=a6ad3ea4a5" target="_blank">Read the Exhibition Listing</a>

Theaster Gates: Unto Thee

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">Hyde Park Art Center</a> announces&nbsp;Mutuality, a group exhibition of new works culminating the Art Center’s biennial&nbsp;Center Program, a professional development program for the elevation of emerging and mid-career artists, now in its 11th edition. Curated by writer, curator, and art administrator&nbsp;Teresa Silva, this exhibition will occupy the entire first floor galleries from&nbsp;December 12, 2025 – March 8, 2026, featuring works by twenty artists from Center Program’s 2025 cohort.The&nbsp;Mutuality&nbsp;exhibition brings together artists whose diverse works were created in a rigorous and continual context of self-reflection and dialogue over the course of nearly a year:&nbsp;Bethany Cordero,&nbsp;Amethyst J. Davis,&nbsp;Caitlyn Doran,&nbsp;Josué Esaú,&nbsp;Richard Gessert,&nbsp;Jalen Hamilton,&nbsp;Juan Molina Hernández,&nbsp;Amay Kataria,&nbsp;Millicent Kennedy,&nbsp;Deborah Kraft,&nbsp;Dawn Liddicoatt,&nbsp;Charlotte Mays,&nbsp;Kelly McKaig,&nbsp;Gabriel Moreno,&nbsp;Vida Sačić,&nbsp;Carlos Salazar-Lermont,&nbsp;Eugene I-Peng Tang,&nbsp;Carina Vargas-Nuñez,&nbsp;Frank Vega, and&nbsp;Katie Vota. Artworks in the exhibition represent a multitude of disciplines ranging from painting and drawing to sculpture and installation to photography and video to fiber and printmaking to performance and sound.The exhibition defines mutuality as demonstrating mutual care and interest as artists and people to think about how intentions, works, and practice impact the world. Throughout the program, mutuality guided the weekly presentations and conversations among the artists to take their work to a new level. The exhibition gives shape and form to mutuality as a creative process, emphasizing that dialogue and connection drive inspired development.&nbsp;About the curatorTeresa Silva&nbsp;is the Chicago co-director of the national artist-run cooperative, Tiger Strikes Asteroid. In 2020, Silva curated&nbsp;Luis A. Sahagun: Both Eagle and Serpent,&nbsp;the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition, at the Chicago Cultural Center. Other recently curated exhibitions were presented at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Mana Contemporary, and 6018North. Her curated exhibitions have received support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Art Design Chicago, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Silva has won wide praise for her art leadership, having served as a Visual Arts Panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts in 2020; and, lauded in 2019 and 2022 in Newcity’s&nbsp;Art 50: Chicago’s Visual Vanguard&nbsp;for her influence and contributions to the city’s art and culture. Previously, Silva was the Director of Exhibitions and Residencies and subsequently the Executive and Artistic Director at the Chicago Artists Coalition, from 2014-2022. About Center ProgramA long-time professional development program for Chicago artists who are ready to raise their practice to the next level, Center Program offers the unique opportunity to develop new work, receive feedback from art professionals in the field, and work towards an exhibition at the Art Center. Over the course of a year and half, a supportive peer network, guest artists, gallerists, critics, and professionals push artists to answer tough questions and evolve their practice.&nbsp;&nbsp;About Hyde Park Art CenterHyde Park Art Center, at 5020 South Cornell Avenue on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, serving as a gathering, production, and exhibition space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks. Since its inception in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center has grown from a small collective of artists to establishing a strong legacy of risk-taking and experimentation, emerging as a unique Chicago arts institution with social impact. Today, the Art Center offers a diverse suite of programs for artists and art lovers of all backgrounds, ages, and stages in their careers including: contemporary art exhibitions in six galleries; an open-access community-based school with 2,000 annual enrollments; weekly arts education to 1,000 elementary school students in public schools; weekly and summer teen programs for 100 teen artists; professional-advancement programs for artists; a local and international artist residency; and public programs that connect residents with Chicago art and artists. The Art Center’s Oakman Clinton School + Studio is the nation’s first fully contribute-what-you-can visual art school for all ages. The Art Center functions as an amplifier for creative voices of today and tomorrow, providing the space to cultivate new work and connections. For more information, visit<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hydeparkart.org/" target="_blank">&nbsp;www.hydeparkart.org</a>.&nbsp;

Mutuality

The Center Program offers artists who are ready to raise their practice to the next level the opportunity to develop new work, receive feedback from art professionals, and work towards an exhibition at the Art Center over the course of eight months. This eleventh iteration of the program will feature the work of 20 artists guest curated by Teresa Silva, an independent curator and writer based in Chicago.

Center Program

In partnership with Chicago Housing Authority, during the summer of 2025 Hyde Park Art Center carried out a mural production program. Artist and educator&nbsp;Dorian&nbsp;Sylvain led a select group of young adults to design and complete a mural on the exterior of Hyde Park Art Center’s building. The education of individuals of all ages and backgrounds is core to Sylvain’s practice, with a particular focus on students within the age group of 18 – 25 years old. Sylvain’s teaching and leadership with this group centered on developing artistic skills and professionalism, while working with Art Center community to carry out a design process towards a finished mural. Through hands-on experience, this summer cohort were provided with materials, resources, and instruction to complete a large-scale mural while being exposed to professional artists, public art in Chicago through, and the Art Center’s expansive community.

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