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

Winter Series 2026:&nbsp;Collaboration Wednesdays, 1:00 pm&nbsp;|&nbsp;Online: 1/14, 1/21&nbsp;|&nbsp;In-Person:&nbsp;2/11, 2/18 Join Joanna Pinsky for two Zoom programs and two in-person museum visits exploring different concepts of what it means to collaborate on the production of art, including creating work with another individual, partnering within oneself to portray different aspects of one’s interior, and incorporating communities into the art-making process.

Winter Series 2026: Collaboration

Register&nbsp;for the Virtual Artist's&nbsp;Talk&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://perspectivegallery.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=04a588cae42ffc5c2d944d823&amp;id=020083e0ac&amp;e=d73170d386" target="_blank">here</a>Starting the new year off on a strong note, Perspective Gallery is pleased to host&nbsp;Fugue, a solo exhibition of new photographic works by acclaimed music composer and visual artist&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://perspectivegallery.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=04a588cae42ffc5c2d944d823&amp;id=98d326fa9f&amp;e=d73170d386" target="_blank">William&nbsp;Harper</a>.In this striking series, Harper explores the visual equivalent of musical counterpoint through motion-intensive photographic techniques including time lapse, burst&nbsp;sequencing and&nbsp;drone-based imaging.&nbsp;"In&nbsp;Fugue, I see these images much as I hear music; both create a space where multiple lines can coexist on counterpoint, diverging, conflicting and resolving into&nbsp;a single structured event," Harper explains.Rather than the&nbsp;decisive moment of traditional photographic techniques, these images record subjects moving through space and time with cameras that&nbsp;are, themselves, sometimes in motion.&nbsp;The work&nbsp;captures the dynamic patterns of landscapes and natural phenomena, revealing hidden harmonic relationships within movement. Each image or sequence become a "voice" interacting with others to create a visual polyphony.The exhibition opens Friday, January&nbsp;2&nbsp;and runs through Sunday, February 1, 2026. An&nbsp;opening reception will be held on Saturday, January 10, from 5-7pm.A virtual artist's&nbsp;talk will take place&nbsp;on Thursday, January 15&nbsp;at 7pm. This Zoom event is free to join but preregistration is required. You can sign up for the talk&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://perspectivegallery.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=04a588cae42ffc5c2d944d823&amp;id=2bb0478350&amp;e=d73170d386" target="_blank">here</a>.

Artist's Talk (virtual) with William Harper

The Art Center's Annual Members and Faculty Exhibition.

In View 2026

The Lewis University Department of Art and Design and the Wadsworth Family Gallery present the 9th Annual High School Art Invitational. Artwork from local high school students will be featured in this annual exhibition.

9th Annual High School Art Invitational 

During the month of January, the gallery will host a group exhibit on Saturdays only&nbsp;featuring the work of several local artists.&nbsp;Each artist will be exhibiting work that while not similar in subject matter, presents contrast with focus on light and shadows, positive and negative space, and color vs. its absence. The variety of work will allow visitors to experience a wide breadth of artistic styles, mark making, and expression within the exhibit.&nbsp; Image: David Keel, "The Hummingbird."&nbsp;

January 2026 Featured Exhibitor: Gallery Artists

Triptych: Kate Berry-Brown, Vanessa Filley, and Darren Oberto&nbsp;&nbsp;Opening Reception: Saturday, January 10th&nbsp;from 4 to 7 PM&nbsp;&nbsp;Exhibition Dates: January 10th&nbsp;to Saturday, January 31st, 2026&nbsp;The points of convergence between the work of Berry-Brown, Filley and Oberto are a place of mystery that demands inquiry and invites contemplation. With practices as disparate as figurative photography, pencil based portraits and works of oil on canvas these three artists come from varied approaches, but continual probing investigation and a turn towards the abstract links their work together.&nbsp;Through a wide-range of subject&nbsp;matter as disparate as motherhood and the weight of belonging, relationship to place and environment, the cosmos, historical allusions and conversations with artists across time these artists navigate through life with the necessity to make.&nbsp;Each of them mulls what it is to exist in the here and now and how one might grapple with the complexity of being, often finding synthesis and answers in geometric abstraction. There is a profound interest in mark making, foundational craft-based skills, and acts of repetition&nbsp;that show up in the practices of all three, as well as a willingness and curiosity to experiment with materials and explore what medium might best support or express an idea. For these artists, each endeavor influences the direction of future projects, prompting subtle course corrections toward new horizons. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1766857477/yoyyg8ltvkzjnhh732qp.jpg">Darren Oberto <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1766857478/mvu1bn4n17fpjbgxp9rh.jpg">Vanessa Filley Top image: Kate Berry-Brown

Triptych: Kate Berry-Brown, Vanessa Filley and Darren Oberto

Virtual Artists’ Talk:&nbsp;Thursday, January 15th, 2026 at 7 PM | <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://perspectivegallery.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=04a588cae42ffc5c2d944d823&amp;id=e288dd61d3&amp;e=49b9939ea4" target="_blank">Register here</a> Perspective Gallery is pleased to announce&nbsp;Fugue, a solo exhibition of new photographic works by acclaimed music composer, and visual artist William Harper, opening January 2, 2026. In this striking series, Harper explores the visual equivalent of musical counterpoint through motion-intensive photographic techniques, including timelapse, burst sequencing, and drone-based imaging.The exhibition features work that capture the dynamic patterns of landscapes and natural phenomena, revealing hidden harmonic relationships within movement. Each image or sequence becomes a “voice,” interacting with others to create a visual polyphony.Fugue&nbsp;invites viewers to experience time, movement, and structure in a photographic decisive moment.

William Harper: Fugue

Exhibition KeynoteTeresa Montoya’s Tó Łisto (Yellow Water)Saturday, February 7, 2PM, In-Person, FREECelebrate the opening of&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://northwestern.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=904f932038284b4d9eea69636&amp;id=f6508446e8&amp;e=64540e863b" target="_blank">Teresa Montoya’s Tó Łisto (Yellow Water): Ten Years after the Gold King Mine Spill</a>. The exhibition explores the impact of the 2015 Gold King Mine spill on Diné (Navajo) communities in the Animas and San Juan watersheds. Combining documentary photographs with scientific data and poetic reflection,&nbsp;Tó Łitso&nbsp;invites viewers to consider water as a life-sustaining resource and as a conduit for histories, stories, and harm.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://northwestern.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=904f932038284b4d9eea69636&amp;id=a446e0cfea&amp;e=64540e863b" target="_blank">RSVP FOR OPENING KEYNOTE</a>

Exhibition Keynote: Teresa Montoya’s Tó Łisto (Yellow Water)

Watercolorist Michael Ireland (b.1952) challenges the norms traditionally associated with the medium. Often working on a large scale, Ireland explores how technique and texture impact color. Ireland’s creative studies began at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and he has continued to explore the possibilities of painting and watercolor while navigating a fruitful and diverse artistic career path. Ireland&nbsp;is a member of the National Watercolor Society and the Illinois Watercolor Society.

Different Strokes

The Evanston Art Center (EAC) is excited to welcome the public to&nbsp;Evanston Art Center’s Faculty Exhibition. The exhibition will be on display from January 14 – February 15, 2026 in our First Floor Gallery and will be free and open to the public.The Evanston Art Center boasts over 90 accomplished artists as faculty members teaching in ten visual art departments. This January, we spotlight our talented instructors in this biennial exhibition, displaying the breadth and depth of our faculty's artistic abilities. The biennial EAC Faculty Exhibition is a visual testament to the dedication and professionalism of our faculty who both teach and maintain their own artistic practice.Evanston Art Center, a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization, is dedicated to fostering the appreciation and expression of the arts among diverse audiences. The Art Center offers extensive and innovative instruction in broad areas of artistic endeavor through classes, exhibitions, interactive arts activities, and community outreach initiatives.

Evanston Art Center’s Faculty Exhibition

Saturday, February 21, 2PM, In-Person, FREE﻿The thirty portraits in the exhibition&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://northwestern.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=904f932038284b4d9eea69636&amp;id=2a032550f6&amp;e=64540e863b" target="_blank">Hamdia Traoré’s “Des marabouts de Djenné” and Muslim Portraiture in Mali&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;reflect the artist's intimate connections to the city’s people and deep history. Learned and devout, marabouts teach in Jenne’s over 50 Qur’anic schools, offer spiritual guidance, and treat ailments through their knowledge of the Qur’an. This public program will discuss Hamdia Traoré’s portraits of marabouts in relation to an earlier generation of Muslim portraiture, and will also consider the role of archives in preserving the history of West African photography.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://northwestern.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=904f932038284b4d9eea69636&amp;id=81c7a85e25&amp;e=64540e863b" target="_blank">RSVP FOR OPENING KEYNOTE</a>

Hamdia Traoré’s "Des Marabouts de Djenné," West African Portraiture and the Archive

Join us this Sunday, January 11, to celebrate the beauty of Lake Michigan. Beginning in September of 2015, artist Lincoln Schatz began taking lake pictures, dedicating a month to photographing the lake each day in morning or evening. These daily trips to photograph the lake continued past that first month. One month became two, two became three, and the project has continued ever since. Those first lake photos are now the foundations of the Lake Series, a serial exploration of the landscape of Lake Michigan through photography. The reception opens at 1:00 pm at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods. The program begins at 1:30 pm with an artist talk, and will conclude at 3:00 pm. Light refreshments will be provided. Can't attend the opening? Lake Series will be on display through February 22.

Lake Series: Photographs by Lincoln Schatz

Perspective Gallery presents&nbsp;"HOLD,"&nbsp;Perspective Gallery’s 2026 Invitational Exhibition featuring works by selected BFA students from the School of the Art Institute.&nbsp;Curated by Aimee Beaubien, Professor &amp; Chair in the Department of Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,&nbsp;"HOLD" features work by six emerging artists currently pursuing their BFA, and working within the Department of Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Abigail Brooke Ackles, Ethan Kunoff, Isabel Lim, Collin Lust, Sarah Price, Dev Kili Stolkiner.The&nbsp;Opening Reception&nbsp;will be held on Saturday, February 7th, 2026 from 5-7pm at Perspective Gallery. Guests will have the opportunity to experience the art firsthand and meet the artists. On Thursday, February 19th at 7 PM, Perspective will host an&nbsp;Virtual Artist’s Talk&nbsp;via Zoom on February 19th, 2026.The curator and the exhibiting artists will be present to answer your questions and discuss their work.&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://perspectivegallery.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=04a588cae42ffc5c2d944d823&amp;id=a5bc6d2433&amp;e=49b9939ea4" target="_blank">Register here</a>&nbsp;for the Artists’ Talk.&nbsp;"HOLD" is a meditation on loss, distance, identity, and memory. This exhibition reflects the many ways images attempt to grasp what is already slipping away. Together, these works ask us toconsider what we keep, what we return to, and what holds us. We are invited to enter this space of continuum, where photographs become conduits between generations, between past and present, between the remembered and the reconstructed.

Hold

The Evanston Art Center (EAC) is excited to welcome the public to our upcoming exhibition by Eli Williamson,&nbsp;Fellowship.&nbsp;The exhibition will be on display from January 24 - March 1, 2026.In&nbsp;Fellowship, South Side Chicago native and photo essayist Williamson&nbsp;visually&nbsp;explores the sacred spaces where Black men and boys learn, grow, and heal in each other’s presence. Through imagery, the exhibition asks: Where are the rituals that teach manhood?&nbsp;Fellowship&nbsp;is an installment of Williamson's ongoing series,&nbsp;The Four Virtues,&nbsp;a four-part monograph that cements the virtue of Black men and boys through images and writing.Fellowship&nbsp;will be exhibited in the Lobby Gallery of the Art Center. The opening reception is free and open to the public. This exhibition is partially funded by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the EAC’s general membership.Evanston Art Center, a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization, is dedicated to fostering the appreciation and expression of the arts among diverse audiences. The Art Center offers extensive and innovative instruction in broad areas of artistic endeavor through classes, exhibitions, interactive arts activities, and community outreach initiatives.

Eli Williamson: Fellowship

ESSENCE&nbsp;witnessed by clouds&nbsp; Eight black artists. Seven men, one woman. Seven Nigerian, one American. Through spirit, story, emotion, nature, and culture, ESSENCE reflects the truth that every human being carries within them a light that gives life value, direction, and meaning, and gives voice to the desire to leave something meaningful behind. Opening Reception: February 21, 2026, 5-9 PM ShadowBoxX Gallery, 116 Washington St, Waukegan IL Zoom Collectors Preview/Artist Talk: Friday February 20, 9 AM

Essence

Perspective Gallery is pleased to announce LENS 2026, our 16th annual juried international exhibition of fine art photography. Photographers are invited to submit work for possible inclusion in the exhibition. All subject matter and photographic processes, except AI, are welcome.

LENS 2026

Pareidolia - Here's Looking at YOU 3/21/26, 6-9PM - 4/11/26, noon-3PM Opening reception 3/21/26, 6-9PM # Have you ever been just minding your own business…when suddenly you notice the dishwasher or that weird mark on the ceiling looking back at you?&nbsp; Yeah. That’s PAREIDOLIA - patterns, faces, or forms that we see in otherwise unremarkable, unrelated objects. ShadowBoxX is assembling a group of artists from across the country who have captured this phenomenon in their works. Pareidolia will feature paintings, drawings, carvings, stitchwork, assemblage, and prints. No digital, no AI, just hands and materials, juried by the ShadowBoxX Collective. This show is for you if you've experienced pareidolia too! Opens March 21, 2026.

Pareidolia - Here's Looking at YOU

This Winter, the&nbsp;Elmhurst Art Museum&nbsp;presents&nbsp;Living with Modernism: Kelli Connell.&nbsp;Presenting two series by the Chicago-based artist, Connell’s nationally traveling exhibition&nbsp;Pictures for Charis&nbsp;responds to the iconic photographs of Highland Park-born artist&nbsp;Edward Weston&nbsp;through a queer, feminist lens. Her second major body of work—Double Life—explores the evolution of intimate relationships shaped by the changing nature of identity over time, and features new commissions responding to the architecture of the&nbsp;Mies van der Rohe-designed McCormick House. The exhibition marks the largest presentation of Connell’s work in Chicago, placing queerness, power structures, and shifting ecologies in the twenty-first century in conversation with two giants of modernism. The exhibition is curated by&nbsp;Allison Peters Quinn, Executive Director and Chief Curator, and will be on view at the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 South Cottage Hill Avenue in Elmhurst, from&nbsp;January 24 to April 27, 2026. Peters Quinn says, “The Elmhurst Art Museum is honored to present the arresting photographs of nationally acclaimed photographer Kelli Connell in the Chicagoland area, where she has rooted her art practice and mentored dozens of artists for over a decade. Following its extensive US tour, we have expanded the&nbsp;Pictures for Charis&nbsp;exhibition to include an additional series,&nbsp;Double Life&nbsp;by Connell. Connell’s commitment to exploring the everyday moments in relationships with ourselves and loved ones encourages us to cherish both the beautiful and the difficult times in our lives. Chicago is a crucial center for contemporary photography, and we are proud to highlight this through&nbsp;Living with Modernism.” An exhibition in two parts, Connell explores the psyche of human relationships and our connection to nature and architecture. The main galleries will feature 45 photographs from her series&nbsp;Pictures for Charis, a tender and emotional sequence of work placing Connell in dialogue with one of the most innovative American photographers of the 20th Century, Edward Weston (1886-1958). For this body of work, Connell revisited the sites of Weston’s black-and-white landscapes and portraits of his partner of 11 years, writer Charis Wilson, in&nbsp;California and the West&nbsp;(1934-45), to photograph her own former longtime partner, artist Betsy Odom. Connell’s work is presented alongside 48 original prints by Weston on loan from the Center for Creative Photography (Tuscon) and text excerpts from Charis. Shining new light on Weston’s subject, Charis, the installation bridges eighty years of ecological and social shifts with a feminist perspective.The McCormick House gallery features the latest chapter in Connell’s ongoing series&nbsp;Double Life, which the artist began in 2002. For this series, Connell explores long-term relationships with others and the self. The digital images document the fictional relationship of two women, both played by collaborator Kiba Jacobson. Connell describes&nbsp;Double Life&nbsp;as “an honest representation of the fluidity of the self in regard to decisions about intimate relationships, sexuality, gender, family, belief systems, and lifestyle options.” For&nbsp;Living with Modernism, the Elmhurst Art Museum commissioned Connell to respond to the architecture of McCormick House designed by Mies van der Rohe. Connell chose to photograph the site - and incorporate poetry from its former owner Isabella Gardner (niece of the Boston arts patron by the same name) - to generate new works adding to the perpetual&nbsp;Double Life&nbsp;narrative. Connell says,&nbsp;“I am beyond thrilled to show&nbsp;Pictures for Charis&nbsp;and&nbsp;Double Life&nbsp;together at the Elmhurst Art Museum. Both projects portray my commitment to uncovering forgotten histories. Making new work in the McCormick House, a space where the work will also be shown, was a unique opportunity for me to think about architecture and its impact on people and the relationships we have with each other in these spaces.” Pictures for Charis&nbsp;is co-organized by the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, at the University of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona Board of Regents; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Pictures for Charis&nbsp;is curated for each museum by Rebecca Senf, Ph.D., Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, at the University of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona Board of Regents; Barbara Tannenbaum, Ph.D, Curator of Photography and Chair of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Cleveland Museum of Art; and Gregory J. Harris, the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta and Allison Peters Quinn, Executive Director &amp; Chief Curator of the Elmhurst Art Museum.This project is made possible by Teiger Foundation. Photographs by Edward Weston are courtesy of the Edward Weston Archive at the Center for Creative Photography. Additional support for&nbsp;Living with Modernism&nbsp;and related programs are provided by the Illinois Arts Council and individual donors. ABOUT THE ARTISTKelli Connell&nbsp;(b. 1974) is a photographer based in Chicago. Through her images, she addresses issues of sexuality, identity, and self-perception. Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, J Paul Getty Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, among others. Publications include&nbsp;Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis&nbsp;(Aperture and Center for Creative Photography, March 2024),&nbsp;PhotoWork: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice(Aperture),&nbsp;Photo Art: The New World of Photography&nbsp;(Aperture), and the monograph&nbsp;Kelli Connell: Double Life&nbsp;(DECODE Books). Connell has received fellowships and residencies from The Guggenheim Foundation, MacDowell, PLAYA, Peaked Hill Trust, LATITUDE, Light Work, and The Center for Creative Photography. ABOUT THE ELMHURST ART MUSEUMThe Elmhurst Art Museum is located at 150 South Cottage Hill Avenue in Elmhurst (IL), 25 minutes from downtown Chicago by car or public transportation (Metra). On the museum’s campus is the McCormick House, a single-family home designed in 1952 by Mies van der Rohe, one of the great architects of the 20th Century. The McCormick House is one of only three residences designed and built by Mies in the United States – and one of only two open to the public. The Museum is open Wednesday and Thursday from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Friday through Sunday, 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Regular admission prices are $18 for adults (ages 18+), $15 for seniors, $10 for students, and $5 for children. For more information, please call 630.834.0202 or visit <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.elmhurstartmuseum.org/" target="_blank">elmhurstartmuseum.org</a>.Images Kelli Connell,&nbsp;Surf, Point Lobos, 2015, courtesy the artist.

Living with Modernism: Kelli Connell

The storied city of Djenné, a center of Islamic learning, study, and scholarship since the twelfth century, is the hometown of Bamako-based photographer&nbsp;Hamdia Traoré&nbsp;(b. 1992, Mali).&nbsp;The thirty portraits in Traore’s series&nbsp;Des marabouts de Djenné (Marabouts of Jenne)&nbsp;reflect his intimate connections to the city’s people and deep history. Learned and devout, marabouts teach in Djenné’s over 50 Qur’anic schools, offer spiritual guidance, and treat ailments through their knowledge of the Qur’an.Made during a time of political and social upheaval in Mali, these portraits reflect enduring cultural resilience. Each image depicts a marabout seated with the tools of his practice—books, Qur’an boards, amulets, and prayer beads—framed by the architecture and atmosphere of Djenné. The consistent format underscores their collective identity, while individual poses and captions highlight personal roles and neighborhoods.Traoré’s work will be shown alongside mid-20th-century black-and-white portraits of marabouts by Malian photographers&nbsp;Mamadou Cissé, Abdourahmane Sakaly, and&nbsp;Tijani Sitou. Drawn from the Archive of Malian Photography, these earlier images share visual parallels and deepen the historical context.&nbsp;Together, these images illuminate evolving perspectives on spiritual authority, identity, and visual representation in Mali.This exhibition is developed in collaboration with the artist and professor Candace Keller, co-founder of the&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://amp.matrix.msu.edu/" target="_blank">Archive of Malian Photography</a>.

Hamdia Traoré’s “Des marabouts de Djenné” and Muslim Portraiture in Mali

2025 Master of Fine Arts degree candidates — present their thesis projects and conclude their residencies in the Department of Art, Theory, and Practice at Northwestern University.This exhibition and the associated events are co-organized by the Department of Art, Theory, and Practice and the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University. Support provided by the Norton S. Walbridge Fund; the Myers Foundations; the Jerrold Loebl Fund for the Arts; and the Alsdorf Gallery Endowment.

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