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

The Language We Create&nbsp;speaks directly to the role of artists in the world of visual communication.&nbsp;Throughout the diversity of their explorations, these 11 artists, all cohort residents of Chicago Artists Coalition, remain in dialogue with one another. Each work brings its own context, the clear signature of its creator - a story crafted through the artist’s uniquely defined language. These pieces, while distinct, have common threads that link them one to another.&nbsp;We see a vocabulary built on textures, colors, and shapes, layered with movement and light in the same way nouns, verbs and adjectives are traditionally woven together in prose. These combinations as envisioned by the artist craft their narrative, document their reality.Language however, is an inherently social tool used to enhance relationships, for expression and connection. While the work is its own being, it asks the viewer to bring their own interpretation to the experience, linking themselves to the piece as well.

Chicago Artist Coalition: The Language We Create

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://experience.mcachicago.org/7252/7257" target="_blank">Get Tickets</a> Admission is free to Family Day attendees. What does your heart beat for? Honor passion, textiles, and those who came before us. Designed for children under 12 and their grown-ups, MCA Family Days invite our youngest visitors to be the museum’s artists, thinkers, and collaborators. Image: Family Day | Screen Time, MCA Chicago, November 9, 2024. Photo: Ricardo Adame.

Family Day | Heartstrings

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.newberry.org/calendar/mapping-outside-the-lines" target="_blank">Details</a> Lines are foundational to how maps communicate. They guide you home from a new restaurant, tell you how tall a mountain is, and warn you not to stray too far in the wrong direction. They sometimes even tell you about the life a map has lived. Over centuries, mapmakers have developed (and abandoned) an amazing variety of ways to use lines to bring our world to life. This exhibition follows lines on maps to their extremes in examples from mundane textbooks to avant-garde art. Through these lines, maps rationalize their world view, even as they reveal perspectives that are neither universal nor neutral. Mapping Outside the Lines&nbsp;is generously supported by Rand McNally. <h3>Curator</h3>David Weimer, Robert A. Holland Curator of Maps and Director of the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography <h3>Exhibition-Related Programming</h3> Public Programs at the Newberry&nbsp;are free and open to all. Registration required in advance. <a style="color: rgb(91, 92, 87);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.newberry.org/calendar/folded-map-project" target="_blank">Folded Map™ Project Screening and Discussion, November 6, 5:30pm</a>Join us for a screening of&nbsp;Folded Map™ Project – The Movie&nbsp;followed by a discussion led by Tonika Lewis Johnson. <a style="color: rgb(91, 92, 87);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.newberry.org/calendar/mapping-migrations" target="_blank">Mapping Migrations, November 15, 11am</a>Artist, Sandy Rodriguez, and Newberry Curator of Maps, David Weimer, will lead an artmaking workshop exploring how you can repurpose maps to make your own map of Chicago. <h3>Exhibition-Related Adult Education</h3> Adult Education classes at the Newberry&nbsp;require registration in advance and a modest fee. <a style="color: rgb(91, 92, 87);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.newberry.org/calendar/how-maps-work" target="_blank">How Maps Work, four sessions, starting November 4, 2pm</a>Taught by David Weimer, this class will trace the development of maps and mapping in Europe and the Americas by looking at what, at different points in the last 500 years, has made a map a map. In conjunction with the exhibition, we will engage with some contemporary artists’ work with maps to think about why maps continue to matter to us in the digital age.

Mapping Outside the Lines

Kim Storage Gallery is pleased to present Balance a solo exhibition featuring Chicago artist Susan Hall. Her oil paintings reverently explore nature. Hall’s animal subjects —often deer, birds, rabbits, and other woodland creatures — are rendered with the gravity and presence of portraiture. Sometimes a human figure joins the animal in quiet communion. A lace or crochet pattern runs throughout many of her pieces, veiling the subject to create a dreamlike atmosphere while also suggesting a delicate connection. Hall’s work is informed by meditations on coexistence, vulnerability, and the powerful harmonies that sustain the natural world. Susan Hall was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has been a Chicago area resident since 1993. She has exhibited her work throughout the United States, including shows at Lyonswier Packer Gallery in New York City, Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago, and Butters Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Her honors include an Illinois Arts Council grant, a Georgia Council for the Arts grant, and Best in Show at the Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society's Animal Images exhibition juried by Ed Paschke. Hall received her MFA from the University of Georgia and her BA from Connecticut College. Image: Watcher, Oil on panel,&nbsp;43 x 48”

Susan Hall: Balance

An Installation of Works by Michael x. Ryan, 1979-2025Thursday, January 22nd | 5:30 PM | Lecture with exhibiting artist | FreeRockford Art Museum | 711 N Main St. RockfordJoin us for a free public opening and gallery walk with exhibiting artist Michael x. Ryan on Sunday, October 19th at 2 PM at Rockford Art Museum. The gallery walk will begin at 2 PM.Chicago-based artist Michael x. Ryan gathers the quiet imprints we leave behind — from sidewalk stains and river paths to shower puddles and fallen tree limbs — and gives them form, weight, and voice. Through drawing, mapping, wood relief, and 3D printed objects, Ryan captures traces of human presence — the edge of a river, the imprint of a wet body, the marks on a street — and renders them as physical forms that evoke movement, memory, and place.This exhibition brings together key installations spanning over four decades, from early works shaped by the Ox-Bow landscape to large-scale reliefs inspired by the streets of Chicago to one tree of interest on the family property in Woodstock, Illinois. By drawing attention to overlooked details, Ryan invites us to consider how our everyday movements shape the spaces we inhabit — and how those spaces, in turn, record and reflect our presence and passage through time.

Echoes of Presence and Place

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

Female Force&nbsp;celebrates 16 female artists from Rockford Art Museum’s permanent collection. Featuring works by Alice Aycock, Susanna Coffey, Julia Fish, Michelle Grabner, Christine LoFaso, Michiko Itatani, Gladys Nilsson, Nereida Patricia, Ann Rogula, Amy Rueffert, Hollis Sigler, Diane Simpson, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, Margaret Whiting, and Mary Lou Zelazny, this exhibition reflects the museum’s long-standing commitment to collecting women artists and the significant impact their work has made on the art world.

Female Force

Carnival&nbsp;brings together a new body of work by&nbsp;Vesna Jovanovic, inspired by her interest in medieval French&nbsp;carnivals&nbsp;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. Eye of Providence, 2025, Ink, vinyl paint, and acrylic pen on polypropylene, 60 x 60 inches.

Vesna Jovanovic: Carnival

Eli Keszler is a Grammy-nominated artist, composer, and percussionist based in New York. Whether performing an improvised solo set at the drum kit or writing an electro-acoustic score for a film, he brings an agile experimentation to his work. For this site-specific appearance, Keslzer performs live in the gallery space in the afternoon light. Within this unique architectural and acoustic setting, he offers his own take on some of the dynamics at play in Leah Ke Yi Zheng’s exhibition, including change and variation, iterative multiplicity, and logics of impermanence. Visit&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://renaissancesociety.org/" target="_blank">renaissancesociety.org</a>&nbsp;for more information.

Performance: Eli Keszler

"Sabina Ott: all this and not ordinary" is the first solo exhibition of the artist’s work since her death in 2018, presenting 33 works created in the final years of her career. The exhibition’s title is drawn from a poem in Gertrude Stein’s "Tender Buttons" (1914), a text that remained a pivotal source of inspiration for Ott throughout her life. Employing materials such as polystyrene and spray foam, Ott transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary, constructing works of art that are at once imaginative and dreamlike. For Ott, art offered a space of transformation, a means of turning trauma inside out and reshaping it into forms of play and wonder. This exhibition highlights the depth of her experimental practice and affirms her enduring legacy as an artist who expanded the possibilities of material and meaning.

Sabina Ott: all this and not ordinary

Epiphany Hall | 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607 "Maureen Muldoon, Jae Green and Robinlee Garber offer exactly the kind of uplift these heavy times call for. Muldoon’s storytelling and Green’s poetry cut through the noise with clarity, humor, and heart, while Garber’s folksy‑meets‑torch sound wraps the room in warmth. Like a collective hug, they create a space where people can breathe, laugh, feel, and remember they’re not alone. You’ll leave with your heart feeling a little brighter." -Julie Carpenter, WMG Board of Directors<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://womanmade.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=77610ec6940e4a7c0d652a863&amp;id=c3c00cdc5c&amp;e=a3993dd90f" target="_blank">About Winter Torch:</a> Step out of the cold and into candlelight.&nbsp;Winter Torch, presented by Woman Made Gallery, brings sisterhood to life through Robinlee Garber’s folksy torch songs and the stirring stories of Maureen Muldoon and Jae Green.Curated by Julie Carpenter, we’ll also&nbsp;premiere&nbsp;a preview of WMG’s virtual exhibition,&nbsp;Quiet Piggy: We Cannot Be Silenced,&nbsp;alongside&nbsp;music, poetry, and shared voices, offering a chorus of resilience and connection.Come sing along, feel the nostalgia, and help sustain Woman Made Gallery. Plus: a feminist pop-up art sale, with proceeds supporting WMG.Find out more about the talent and the venue:&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://womanmade.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=77610ec6940e4a7c0d652a863&amp;id=3621a335e6&amp;e=a3993dd90f" target="_blank">Maureen Muldoon</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://womanmade.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=77610ec6940e4a7c0d652a863&amp;id=50e7a3855d&amp;e=a3993dd90f" target="_blank">Robinlee Garber</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://womanmade.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=77610ec6940e4a7c0d652a863&amp;id=24698d29dd&amp;e=a3993dd90f" target="_blank">Jae Green</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://womanmade.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=77610ec6940e4a7c0d652a863&amp;id=7339255fad&amp;e=a3993dd90f" target="_blank">Epiphany Center for the Arts</a> Tickets: General Admission – $30.13 ($25 + $5.13 fees, including tax)&nbsp;Age Requirement:&nbsp;Must be 21+ with a Valid ID‘Service charges apply to ALL ticket purchases (online and box office)’ – Credit card only at door<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://womanmade.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=77610ec6940e4a7c0d652a863&amp;id=43c8d7ba94&amp;e=a3993dd90f" target="_blank">Buy Tickets Here!</a>&nbsp;

Winter Torch

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

Sale 6455<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6455-available?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">Collect: European Furniture &amp; Decorative Arts</a> Feb 18, 2026&nbsp;10:00AM CT Online / Chicago

Collect: European Furniture & Decorative Arts

In this special edition of our Third Wednesday series, violist James Kang presents a program showcasing the versatility and expressivity of the viola in the Driehaus Museum Ballroom.

Third Wednesday: Violist James Kang

<a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=1ce199c26b&amp;e=95b957c616" target="_blank">Concert | A Birthday Celebration for Yoko Ono</a> Museum of Contemporary Art ChicagoFeb 18, 2026 | 7:30 pm On her 93rd birthday and coinciding with the close of&nbsp;Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, an array of performers come together for an intimate tribute to Ono's life and legacy. Iconic instruction-based artworks, including&nbsp;Sky Piece to Jesus Christ&nbsp;(1965), will be enacted, culminating in a musical set. Northwestern University's Contemporary Music Ensemble, led by renowned conductor Alan Pierson, will perform.

Concert | A Birthday Celebration for Yoko Ono

For its debut at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center,<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://jmkac.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=972c21ce29cd75dcf33b15668&amp;id=698ac464ec&amp;e=62e89a6c87" target="_blank"> Red Clay Dance Company</a> will present their latest compelling work that highlights the company’s commitment to artistry, activism, and community. Rest.Rise.Move.Nourish.Heal, choreographed by Vershawn Sanders-Ward, is a site-responsive dance ritual and embodied journey of reclamation, healing, and spiritual return. Drawing from Black/African-Indigenous traditions and ancestral technologies of nourishment, the work confronts the legacies of food apartheid and racial inequity while envisioning a decolonized practice of collective care and agency. The program offers audiences an evening of resilience, memory, and transformation.Run time: 65-minute performance followed by post-performance discussion.

Rest.Rise.Move.Nourish.Heal

Place your bids now at&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 48, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://url2796.potterauctions.com/ls/click?upn=u001.Xrkv5MDx4JU-2BcO33dbI1-2BQkLeC4Nhem9skMoCbF6bGTlMpvd2axwZTvc5s4Oz2NRU7Oh0eZgvyu-2FMgZ1o1EWknb8wJ8hEj6UHWsA9cUJ0W9YcNSqRLoSK00NAuW7JaEyg8gzvi0sL-2BC7u2W-2Bcq-2Bnjz0zvM34kGUPp0gdu2T5eSA-3Dz0Yo_F-2B18IOO1ZU6iY4K-2F9Q9GBGu5rvP-2BL20ZUrVQMSgnAy2dkeZXZkSsnZVlr-2Bsr2mNTUSMMfJD2V-2FRPtVrL8NfH4ILMYwsK9ogN1UWuI8cYMXPCRzaFI8NVy57I61JV9uVmKEgaclilHR-2FgQhl-2BRvBE2OeFe8TqsXDKBjkQjF7pMSYowzcduK-2FngKzCgCkUihFpn8vIywc-2B3AYk4BwlpH5x6fdBLNylqGJsBLi-2FPu9V8w6mpxwGN1may5h56LWgnkBhUNHYXfW-2F9tM5OZp9TGEuCqyQxDPyBpYj7b-2B3l7D1Y6U6JIgwzirZB-2Fv4xhI0rO4B" target="_blank">POTTERAUCTIONS.COM</a><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://url2796.potterauctions.com/ls/click?upn=u001.Xrkv5MDx4JU-2BcO33dbI1-2BQkLeC4Nhem9skMoCbF6bGTwWvV7W6IocFx6yAX4Lr8y5Skx7M5G-2B4Pgmfgpym8LjQ-3D-3Ddnre_F-2B18IOO1ZU6iY4K-2F9Q9GBGu5rvP-2BL20ZUrVQMSgnAy2dkeZXZkSsnZVlr-2Bsr2mNTUSMMfJD2V-2FRPtVrL8NfH4ILMYwsK9ogN1UWuI8cYMXPCRzaFI8NVy57I61JV9uVmKEgaclilHR-2FgQhl-2BRvBE2ABW2eUMGrKaDoRQ7cxirFMRvVlOxR-2F20y88KpwuNoiee0LwEoEtUt-2F6CAKiTIR4fAhSTnLPKpDswqgFqtqDB5wS5iprwrVB-2FOgEbIrcmgb-2BR41syP5B1tQUbK3iklVPRhXcWXcMugEdfCywI2PkI8nsqX-2FKBrmnAO0xNY752h7o" target="_blank">Register now</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://url2796.potterauctions.com/ls/click?upn=u001.Xrkv5MDx4JU-2BcO33dbI1-2BQkLeC4Nhem9skMoCbF6bGTwWvV7W6IocFx6yAX4Lr8ysLJDk6xWcmZMLAkQMEZtkA-3D-3DQAYR_F-2B18IOO1ZU6iY4K-2F9Q9GBGu5rvP-2BL20ZUrVQMSgnAy2dkeZXZkSsnZVlr-2Bsr2mNTUSMMfJD2V-2FRPtVrL8NfH4ILMYwsK9ogN1UWuI8cYMXPCRzaFI8NVy57I61JV9uVmKEgaclilHR-2FgQhl-2BRvBE2L5fnBJE5-2FKGqUKckg1Py21Al6dyt6YI7oER-2FhQHuL6saYQqjcS8uIC0D7RUXQJ9MREHpJMDKn7LIApsP43RFLR9lKsrYvOBroL8cU8HDz3cIIioK36maN9Rryez1i-2F-2BN12HFxEGbSJFpmE0TRSVXqaHDxzsilX17VgNPLQe2D9I" target="_blank">Sign in</a>&nbsp;below.&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:info@potterauctions.com?subject=&amp;body=" target="_blank">EMAIL</a>&nbsp;us or call 773.472.1442 to leave phone or absentee bids.

The Games We Play: Puzzles, Games, & Playing Cards

RECEPTION AND GALLERY TALK: FEBRUARY 19, 7PMCelebrate Women Artists at the Field with Rebecca Banasiak, Peggy Macnamara, and Adrienne Stroup, whose work bridges art and science in bold, imaginative ways. Inspired by the museum’s collections and mission to connect all of us to the natural world, their creations reveal the beauty of discovery and the power of visual storytelling. Join this visionary collective during Women’s History Month, February–March 2026, in celebration of STEAM and creativity.

Gallery Talk: Women Artists in the Field

Opening at the Racine Art Museum (RAM) on March 12, 2025,&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(247, 143, 57);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.lVpDCVeqdBsS0YynwBNnWsI6uzjI-2B9jc-2BcioV3sOeK-2FjDPvzcE-2F0N1PM-2BTx4Y3zd7FZ-2Bd1Ua-2FLcgXQzE0mtRbw-3D-3D_2Re_a1zzESVdmgLIQ4rlql6kbXT9QXaGGWYBxHAPtO1QqWO5GLp4idxebnEhHBD62PapFGhVibvX636tV4VNXI9Yc1fC3t6I93nvs128KylNuVSG4w8b6TD-2BSQhnOlpvnvnpFtzUMvSCikhZbhybTpfD-2B0ndfu50xgxCFjZQzQqK1fOcTlhX-2BRrO0O4nAgDPUkTGaehksClVOLINAXSjtnUzXR8ZKWwGh0QTjvG3iPLVYcP1XK0LCRdt1sQ26HiP09DlJp7-2BEeaYHrmf0yLvpEVBeX27-2Bo4o3I15g1nbUfpCnnAFVTVTkMvPT9eRTmr7HrsmEnIs7xUu4UKb0NikvQZYBcM7YnX8adZ3hMT5S-2FGRV2eXnUDwiTvGWMtJfSk2gec7x5dVdBaKQpeUrJDHQPJFhg-3D-3D" target="_blank">RAM Showcase: Bodies</a>&nbsp;features works created from clay or washi paper that explore the human body as form and content. This exhibition will remain on display through February 21, 2026.The human figure is often used to tell stories, symbolize existence, and represent the human condition. Featuring works from RAM’s collection,&nbsp;RAM Showcase: Bodies&nbsp;reflects people’s desire to study, analyze, and respond to the notion of the human body, with pieces on display that underscore the enduring artistic interest in the body as subject. The&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(247, 143, 57);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.lVpDCVeqdBsS0YynwBNnWsI6uzjI-2B9jc-2BcioV3sOeK9KXaQ6SLoxPqPiJ1ykV514-2B1mdaYq5n3BVmc6w-2B-2FQgWQ-3D-3Df65z_a1zzESVdmgLIQ4rlql6kbXT9QXaGGWYBxHAPtO1QqWO5GLp4idxebnEhHBD62PapFGhVibvX636tV4VNXI9Yc1fC3t6I93nvs128KylNuVSG4w8b6TD-2BSQhnOlpvnvnpFtzUMvSCikhZbhybTpfD-2B0ndfu50xgxCFjZQzQqK1fOcTlhX-2BRrO0O4nAgDPUkTGaehksClVOLINAXSjtnUzXR8ZKWwGh0QTjvG3iPLVYcODwwQL4fAtoF-2Fq7rWfMz4fjDbJH6uf8-2BsEl7BV4h2Gv7UTGoLpb8LGW7ObuWGLPZzA2KwFMqauzqimyjGEyNVrI-2Bb9eBa6z-2B5RT5h4d-2Bqaysd-2Bh1Dnn72ToJnaCvH1mJcLs6EAPT-2BTclF92v-2BlNnPF0uVT7slnEOdQZbLt-2BmZVvA-3D-3D" target="_blank">RAM Showcase&nbsp;exhibition series</a>&nbsp;at RAM and its second campus, RAM’s Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, focuses entirely on the work of contemporary artists of color. The fact that all of the works in&nbsp;RAM Showcase: Bodies&nbsp;were made by artists of color is a significant additional layer to the subject matter and ways it is depicted. This distinction is critical for some contemporary artists of color, as their work adds narratives to art histories that generally marginalized or excluded them.Individually, the artists represented in this exhibition explore a wide range of issues, including social and cultural dynamics, the sensual body, emotions, the connection between human beings and animals, history, and relationships between duality and otherness. Sometimes self-portraits, sometimes not, the subjects portrayed are envisioned or recorded through flat, drawn images or sculpted forms and reflect vibrant voices and engaging perspectives. Exhibitions at Racine Art Museum are made possible by:&nbsp;Platinum Partners—The Estate of Karen Johnson Boyd, David Charak, Judith and David Flegel Fund, Ron and Judith Isaacs, Racine Community Foundation, United Way of Racine County, Windgate Foundation;&nbsp;Diamond Partners—Ruffo Family Foundation, Ruth Arts Foundation, Diane Zebell;&nbsp;Gold Partners—Anonymous, A. C. Buhler Family, Robert E. Kohler Jr. Fund, Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation, Reliance Controls, Trio Foundation of St. Louis, W.T. Walker Group, Inc., Wisconsin Arts Board;&nbsp;Silver Partners—Anonymous, Sandy and Gus Antonneau, Baird, Lucy G. Feller, Ben and Dawn Flegel, Sharon and Tom Harty, Dave and Judy Hecker, Paula Kalke, Horizon Retail Construction, Inc., Johnson Financial Group, Lang Family Foundation, Dorothy MacVicar, Jan Serr &amp; John Shannon, Sandra Shove, Willard and Mary Walker;&nbsp;Bronze Partners—Carol Baylon, Rose and Peter Christensen, Dave’s Wine Garage, Educators Credit Union, Patricia and Richard Ehlert, Express Employment Professionals, Deborah Ganaway, Carol Griseto, Hitter’s Baseball, SC Johnson, Bill and Debbie Keland, Nancy and Nick Kurten, Susan Manalli, Norbell Foundation, JoAnna Poehlman, Rasmussen Diamonds, Harold and Lois Solberg, Kathy Stanghellini, Tito's, Twin Disc, Janna Waldeck, Barbara Waldman;&nbsp;Media Sponsor—Radio Milwaukee. The two campuses of the Racine Art Museum—RAM in downtown Racine at 441 Main Street and the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts (Wustum) at 2519 Northwestern Avenue—are located in Racine, Wisconsin, a historic community on the shores of Lake Michigan. RAM is home to the largest contemporary craft collection in North America and has a reputation for its award-winning architecture and nationally recognized exhibition program. Wustum is home to the organization's diverse, award-winning art education programs and has presented significant art exhibitions since 1941. Both campuses of the Racine Art Museum are currently open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Admission rates are $10 for adults; $8 for students, seniors (62+), and veterans; and free for RAM members, children under 12, active military personnel, and NARM, ROAM, and AAM members.

RAM Showcase: Bodies

Image: Mie Kongo, AFPP No. 13, 2025, Ash flooring planks, oil paint, 19 x 13 x 1 inches, Image credit: Holly Murkerson

Mie Kongo: Straight Lines and Fragments of Elliptical Lines

The conversation with Ivy Wilson, Associate Professor of English at Northwestern University, and John Corbett about Duke Ellington's 1939 U.S. passport&nbsp;has been postponed. Please join us on&nbsp;Saturday, February 21&nbsp;at&nbsp;2pm&nbsp;to dive into this fascinating artifact, the significance of personal documentation in periods of international crisis, and the status of ephemeral material culture in African American history.

In conversation with Ivy Wilson

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

Featuring student artists from Districts 112 &amp; 113

February's Youth Art Month Exhibitions

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago&nbsp;will become the&nbsp;exclusive U.S. venue for "Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind,"&nbsp;a comprehensive solo exhibition dedicated to the artist, musician, and activist Yoko Ono (b. 1933, Tokyo, Japan; currently residing in New York, NY),&nbsp;opening in October 2025.Traveling from Tate Modern in London, where it achieved record-breaking attendance, and developed in close collaboration with Ono’s studio, this&nbsp;groundbreaking retrospective spans seventy years&nbsp;of Ono’s innovative&nbsp;career. The&nbsp;exhibition features over 200 works, including participatory instruction pieces and scores, installations, a curated music room, films, music, photography, and archival materials.The exhibition highlights&nbsp;significant works from throughout Ono’s decades-long career, including the landmark performance piece "Cut Piece"&nbsp;(1964), a foundational work in performance and feminist art; her&nbsp;collaborations&nbsp;with&nbsp;prominent musicians&nbsp;such as&nbsp;John Cage,&nbsp;Ornette Coleman, and her late husband,&nbsp;John Lennon; selected activations of instruction-based artworks from her influential book&nbsp;"Grapefruit"(1964); innovative films from the 1960s and 1970s such as&nbsp;"FLY" (1970–71) and the once-banned "Film No.4 (Bottoms)"&nbsp;(1966–67), which she created as a "petition for peace"; recent works like her ongoing installation "Wish Tree" (1996–present); and public artworks emblematic of Ono’s enduring commitment to peace activism.On Saturdays, Sundays, and select Tuesdays throughout the full run of&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://visit.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/yoko-ono-music-of-the-mind/" target="_blank">Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind,</a>&nbsp;performers from all walks of life will activate Ono's deceptively simple "event scores" from her groundbreaking 1964 book&nbsp;Grapefruit. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/tca-zinefest-2025-the-power-of-prints/" target="_blank">Teen Creative Agency | Zine Fest 2025: The Power of Prints</a>Museum of Contemporary Art ChicagoDec 20, 2025 | 1–6 pmThe MCA’s&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.org/learn/youth/tca" target="_blank">Teen Creative Agency (TCA)&nbsp;</a>is celebrating fourteen years (and counting) of DIY publications by teens! This event showcases the original artwork, activism, and social practice of Chicago-area youth in zine form. Join the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Teen Creative Agency for an afternoon of events and activities highlighting the past, present, and future of print making by Chicago teens. Visitors are invited to participate in activities organized by the TCA, such as zine making and on-site merch giveaways. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/six-scores-for-yoko-ono/" target="_blank">Six Scores for Yoko Ono</a>Kovler AtriumNov 4, 2025 | 6 pmExperience the musical context of Yoko Ono’s early work with performances of five 1960s scores—by Mieko Shiomi, Nam June Paik, Takehisa Kosugi, and George Maciunas—and a new commission by MCA Chanel Fellow, Andrew Hansung Park. The performances track the destruction of a violin, smashing boundaries between everyday sound and music. The&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://visit.mcachicago.org/introducing-the-mca-dna-research-initiative" target="_blank">MCA DNA Research Initiative</a>&nbsp;is a multi-year curatorial program, supported by the CHANEL Culture Fund, that invites early-career curators and writers to the museum for interdisciplinary research projects related to the institution’s collection. Focused on the intersection of visual art and performance, this initiative surfaces overlooked art historical narratives within the organization’s history while foregrounding the cross-disciplinary ethos that has been integral to the museum since its founding in 1967.Image: Yoko Ono with&nbsp;Glass Hammer, 1967, from&nbsp;Half-A-Wind Show, Lisson Gallery, London, UK, 1967. Artwork © Yoko Ono. Photo © Clay Perry.

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