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

Wine Reception 6:00 pm | Concert 6:30 pmThe Arts Club of Chicago is thrilled to be partnering with At the World’s Edge, a spring festival forging new creative pathways between Aotearoa New Zealand, the UK and Chicago. Join us for&nbsp;Ængles, an evening of chamber music and the festival’s second program.The Old English word for the Germanic people who settled in Britain,&nbsp;Ængles&nbsp;is a playlist program exploring over 330 years of music from the UK and its close cultural connections.Hear music from the 16th century to the present day, with iconic works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Percy Grainger, a heart-wrenching piano Pavan by Tudor-era composer Thomas Tomkins, an Irish melody string quartet by late 19th century composer Frank Bridge, and works by living composers Huw Watkins and Eve de-Castro Robinson.Sliding Scale Tickets available from $5 to $20.For more information about this performance and the full AWE Chicago Festival 2026, visit&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://artsclubchicago.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=502da7c1672081e981f967563&amp;id=05660fbc83&amp;e=e3c33543d7" target="_blank">awemusicfoundation.org/chicago-2026</a><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://artsclubchicago.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=502da7c1672081e981f967563&amp;id=a3854858a1&amp;e=e3c33543d7" target="_blank">Register Here</a>

Evening Public Program: At the World’s Edge

The title of the exhibition is&nbsp;Her Story. The "her" of the title is our daughter, Temma Day Lowly. The title is also a bit of a feminist twist on "history." The&nbsp;Her Story&nbsp;project consists of vertical format black &amp; white paintings, each of which will be accompanied by a text (title + essay, poem, dictionary entry, etc.) written by my partner (and Temma's mother) Sherrie Lowly.&nbsp;Concurrently with paintings of the&nbsp;Her Story&nbsp;project I will be showing a current collaborative project, the&nbsp;Trio Mandorla. This large drawing also depicts Temma, but with her mother Sherrie and caregiver Ellen Herbert). Begun 3 years ago, this project involves a collaborative component wherein people who are interested can draw onto the 2 parts of the drawing that depict quilts. I have exhibited this project previously, and numerous people have joined in the participatory compontent of the piece.

Her Story

The Evanston Art Center (EAC) is excited to welcome the public to&nbsp;Ruth Poor: Beatrice. The exhibition will be on display from February 21 to March 18, 2026, in our Second Floor Atrium Gallery and will be free and open to the public.Beatrice&nbsp;is the culmination of a nearly year-long study and performative execution of "grief-work" as a means to ground oneself amidst the shared loss of environmental sanctity, bodily autonomy, and community from rising authoritarianism, Christo-fascism, and consumerism.&nbsp;Ruth L. Poor, an interdisciplinary artist, embraces an evolving process of creation rooted in research and journaling/sketching as observation. Often implementing or commenting on spiritual/religious practice and ritual as it intersects with the macrocosm of American history and politics, alongside the parallelism of the personal.&nbsp;

Ruth Poor: Beatrice

Sale 6476<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6476-e0742266-a20d-4d56-aada-46e7b4f9b92c?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">Important Jewelry</a> Mar 18, 2026&nbsp;10:00AM CT<h2> </h2>Live / Chicago

Important Jewelry

BASE: Create and Sip - Felt FlowersWednesday March 18 &amp; Thursday, March 19 | 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods | $20&nbsp;Create &amp; Sip is a monthly workshop hosted at Brushwood Center where participants can explore fun projects using supplies and tools from the Brushwood Art Supply Exchange, BASE. It’s an opportunity to get creative, try something new, and enjoy the company of fellow art enthusiasts in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.&nbsp;This month, Brushwood's Director of Arts and Administration, Julia Kemerer, will guide participants in making a felt flower bouquet,&nbsp;ready to brighten up any space in your home or serve as a heartfelt gift for a loved one. Plus, you'll take home newfound skills and inspiration to continue your crafting journey beyond the class.&nbsp;&nbsp;This month, we're offering TWO sessions to give more scheduling options.&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 140, 149);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://u42186243.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.zxVNEzr3j7bKoUk7A4NXGcpGwMfj6vJ4WEjrTTKzH3Hvvj8VcdtwW2gUBiT0QxGwTpxBl-2BH9RKdGWlQL5X7-2BKf4Emi39pL-2FijqxRYgFcjt4-3DN3-q_0g5QiKQ3ANfCkWXxwzczn1phIok0-2FnBF8GNWXrNhq2-2B4ftGj9DI8Jn4AfRAGeAJV6p50DTUtccMTuJzCj5PiKqNJ-2Fq1PCq6ajZtG-2Bhv9JzGstHV66aqJKMzF1zEpjnbLOzAt0IWllenWNm72BdZHIM756FSXiU3UVl-2F9nGeZTlDejTY4W6zRTHxH7Ob8T-2FyCRjWaJYKuBVwsBLTdopxHvdDyLCsQY3ZOF6aBTzd14yEuH140qQosJM1alfTR0tAG8Clp1djg9kN94rpnVUPPxlJUrcc356DnLVfT49K3nSk2hW4PvfpaYwgf1hgWcYtc9pj8W3fyjyJyP6UvAla6oVPPBYeONY9kGjGudUOh5PxKqj6Xvpt-2FWoW5LKCFVw6u" target="_blank">Register for March 18</a> <a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 140, 149);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://u42186243.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.zxVNEzr3j7bKoUk7A4NXGcpGwMfj6vJ4WEjrTTKzH3Hvvj8VcdtwW2gUBiT0QxGwBlx32qhDvSY5w7JStpUEB6buBK0D-2BALzDO0V-2FvU2COWgFi4TrbYB3qW53DTrrQVDo6BK_0g5QiKQ3ANfCkWXxwzczn1phIok0-2FnBF8GNWXrNhq2-2B4ftGj9DI8Jn4AfRAGeAJV6p50DTUtccMTuJzCj5PiKqNJ-2Fq1PCq6ajZtG-2Bhv9JzGstHV66aqJKMzF1zEpjnbLOzAt0IWllenWNm72BdZHIM756FSXiU3UVl-2F9nGeZTlDejTY4W6zRTHxH7Ob8T-2FyCRjWaJYKuBVwsBLTdopxHvdDyLCsQY3ZOF6aBTzd14yGXRtDrC04phOaelJthD9XwF5a8R9viXlbUwo4hOcdRK5TR1N5wzdHuRJjb-2FagdVkVkVSSjiczhtVoiglZHO3KKPsEwYIfYS1s6ebFKPwxvInMQMRpqT7spOdjAylvyRubKchG4C5kVxCTNJ5-2F7X5-2Be" target="_blank">Register for March 19</a>

BASE: Create and Sip - Felt Flowers

Sale 6477<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6477-the-collected-library?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">The Collected Library</a> Mar 19, 2026&nbsp;10:00AM CT<h2> </h2>Timed Online / Chicago

The Collected Library

Join Joe Becherer, director of the Raclin Murphy Museum and curator of sculpture, for a focused tour of&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://t.e2ma.net/click/1bplzl/td1dw8/9tcm8cb" target="_blank">Bridging Time and Place.</a>&nbsp;Becherer will highlight works that expand and deepen the Museum’s collection of Modern and Contemporary art.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://t.e2ma.net/click/1bplzl/td1dw8/pmdm8cb" target="_blank">Read more⇒</a>

Curator-led Tour of Bridging Time and Place: Modern and Contemporary Art

The Italian Design Day reaches its 10th edition in 2026, with the theme RE-DESIGN: Regenerate spaces, objects, ideas, relations which aims to offer an opportunity for reflection on the role of design and architecture in improving everyday living spaces and the well-being of communities. On this occasion, Prof. Alessandro Rotta Loria, Louis Berger Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, will introduce the project Underground Climate Change, presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. Developed through a study by the Subsurface Opportunities and Innovations Laboratory (Northwestern University), GEOEG, and ENERDRAPE, the project examines the effects of underground infrastructure and services in cities and the resulting creation of heat islands. This phenomenon, known as an underground climate change, is causing ground temperatures to rise by up to 2.5°C per decade, with local anomalies exceeding 70°C. These temperatures pose risks to building foundations, underground transportation systems, public health, and the environment. However, underground climate change also presents valuable opportunities to retrofit building envelopes and deploy geothermal technologies to reduce the diffusion of waste heat in the urban subsurface and enhance the sustainability of cities. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://iicchicago.esteri.it/en/gli_eventi/calendario/italian-design-day-underground-climate-change-with-prof-alessandro-rotta-loria/" target="_blank">Free event with registration</a>

Italian Design Day / “Underground Climate Change” with prof. Alessandro Rotta Loria

BASE: Create and Sip - Felt FlowersWednesday March 18 &amp; Thursday, March 19 | 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods | $20&nbsp;Create &amp; Sip is a monthly workshop hosted at Brushwood Center where participants can explore fun projects using supplies and tools from the Brushwood Art Supply Exchange, BASE. It’s an opportunity to get creative, try something new, and enjoy the company of fellow art enthusiasts in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.&nbsp;This month, Brushwood's Director of Arts and Administration, Julia Kemerer, will guide participants in making a felt flower bouquet,&nbsp;ready to brighten up any space in your home or serve as a heartfelt gift for a loved one. Plus, you'll take home newfound skills and inspiration to continue your crafting journey beyond the class.&nbsp;&nbsp;This month, we're offering TWO sessions to give more scheduling options.&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(0, 140, 149); color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://u42186243.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.zxVNEzr3j7bKoUk7A4NXGcpGwMfj6vJ4WEjrTTKzH3Hvvj8VcdtwW2gUBiT0QxGwTpxBl-2BH9RKdGWlQL5X7-2BKf4Emi39pL-2FijqxRYgFcjt4-3DN3-q_0g5QiKQ3ANfCkWXxwzczn1phIok0-2FnBF8GNWXrNhq2-2B4ftGj9DI8Jn4AfRAGeAJV6p50DTUtccMTuJzCj5PiKqNJ-2Fq1PCq6ajZtG-2Bhv9JzGstHV66aqJKMzF1zEpjnbLOzAt0IWllenWNm72BdZHIM756FSXiU3UVl-2F9nGeZTlDejTY4W6zRTHxH7Ob8T-2FyCRjWaJYKuBVwsBLTdopxHvdDyLCsQY3ZOF6aBTzd14yEuH140qQosJM1alfTR0tAG8Clp1djg9kN94rpnVUPPxlJUrcc356DnLVfT49K3nSk2hW4PvfpaYwgf1hgWcYtc9pj8W3fyjyJyP6UvAla6oVPPBYeONY9kGjGudUOh5PxKqj6Xvpt-2FWoW5LKCFVw6u" target="_blank">Register for March 18</a>﻿<a style="background-color: rgb(0, 140, 149); color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://u42186243.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.zxVNEzr3j7bKoUk7A4NXGcpGwMfj6vJ4WEjrTTKzH3Hvvj8VcdtwW2gUBiT0QxGwBlx32qhDvSY5w7JStpUEB6buBK0D-2BALzDO0V-2FvU2COWgFi4TrbYB3qW53DTrrQVDo6BK_0g5QiKQ3ANfCkWXxwzczn1phIok0-2FnBF8GNWXrNhq2-2B4ftGj9DI8Jn4AfRAGeAJV6p50DTUtccMTuJzCj5PiKqNJ-2Fq1PCq6ajZtG-2Bhv9JzGstHV66aqJKMzF1zEpjnbLOzAt0IWllenWNm72BdZHIM756FSXiU3UVl-2F9nGeZTlDejTY4W6zRTHxH7Ob8T-2FyCRjWaJYKuBVwsBLTdopxHvdDyLCsQY3ZOF6aBTzd14yGXRtDrC04phOaelJthD9XwF5a8R9viXlbUwo4hOcdRK5TR1N5wzdHuRJjb-2FagdVkVkVSSjiczhtVoiglZHO3KKPsEwYIfYS1s6ebFKPwxvInMQMRpqT7spOdjAylvyRubKchG4C5kVxCTNJ5-2F7X5-2Be" target="_blank">Register for March 19</a>

Join us on Thursday, February 12, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, for an exhilarating evening as we unveil a captivating new show at the Kavanagh Gallery!&nbsp;Meet some of the artists and other members of your Fine Line community and view the incredible art.This reception, like all Fine Line receptions, is free and open to everyone. Light refreshments will be served. Artists' talks and award presentations will begin at 6.30 pm.

Paper

Working with shaped canvases, he breaks the rectangle, giving his works a sense of floating in space. We love their physicality…&nbsp;his practice goes far beyond painting realistic objects; he fabricates “canvases” that trick the eye.This marks Sechor's breakthrough exhibition.&nbsp;Over the past year, VSG's quarterly releases of his train cars have sold out every time.&nbsp;For this show, we're releasing nine new works — seven already placed through strong collector outreach. The two remaining cars are below.

Authorized Entry: Sechor & Akiva Listman

DOCUMENT Chicago is delighted to present a two-person exhibition of photographs by Jimmy DeSana and Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Opening on January 9, the exhibition will remain on view through March 21, 2026. This intergenerational dialogue between the work of Jimmy DeSana (b. 1949, Detroit, MI – d. 1990, New York, NY) and Paul Mpagi Sepuya (b. 1982, San Bernardino, CA) unfolds as a set of carefully matched pairings. Both artists use photography to engage with queer bodies and the politics of representation, implicating the viewer as much as any figure who appears in the frame. Closely associated with New York City’s No Wave and downtown art scenes in the late 1970s and employing a rich array of photographic processes, DeSana drew on Surrealism in presenting bodies in confusing entanglement with everyday objects as well as one another. Anticipating the sexual anxieties of the imminent AIDS crisis, he infused queer erotics with equal parts absurdity and dread. Beginning his career in the mid-2000s, Sepuya’s work comes from his intimate involvement and collaboration with queer communities on both U.S. coasts. The desiring gaze can only take in Sepuya’s bodies via fragmentation, mirroring or the clever reproduction of his previous photographs; effects meticulously produced by Sepuya in the studio rather than by any digital manipulation. Side by side, DeSana and Sepuya remind us that queer aesthetics—much like queer liberation—is a continual process, never far from the lived, corporeal world. Image: Paul Mpagi Sepuya,&nbsp;Darkroom Mirror (0X5A0752), 2019. Archival pigment print; 51 x 34 in.

Jimmy DeSana and Paul Mpagi Sepuya

SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art presents&nbsp;“Beneath an Economy of Sky”&nbsp;featuring&nbsp;the&nbsp;artwork of Jack Poker, a Chicago-based artist who blends painting and collage to make unique and moving works. The exhibition&nbsp;opens Friday, February 20, 2026, at SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art, 1527 N. Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL and continues through March 21, 2026. There will be an Opening Reception on Friday, February 20 from 6-9 pm and an artist talk on Sunday, March 1 from 2:00 - 3:30 pm.Jack Poker is a Chicago-based artist whose work examines memory and how it is tied to the history of a place. His current body of work explores the economic and environmental impacts on communities of removals of buildings and transformations of spaces. Jack’s paintings, collages, and sculptures depict what happens to abandoned or demolished buildings, city blocks, suburban neighborhoods, and commercial sites as urban and rural landscapes change with economic development or neglect.&nbsp;This exhibition also includes several pieces from his Majorette series, which playfully invite the viewer to question the cultural meaning and metaphorical role of these figures in contemporary society. In both the Removal and Majorette series, Jack's paintings depict how histories, without context, are fragmented and distorted until the artist reconstructs them and the viewer gives them meaning.“Jack came to my attention when we were planning a group show with Tony Fitzpatrick in the months before Tony passed“ said Laura Botwinick, SoNa Chicago gallery owner and director. “Tony encouraged me to look at Jack’s work and when I visited his studio, I immediately offered him a solo show.”&nbsp;Tony said of Jack, “For my money he is the most underrated and little-known artist in Chicago. For all of the attention being paid to collage as well as combinations of painting and drawing and collage, Jack has flown under the radar, bringing his own sensibility to ideas of landscape, map-making, place, and poetry… He is only like himself.”Before moving to Chicago in 1995, New Mexican-born Jack Poker spent his youth in Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. He studied history and anthropology at the University of Missouri-Columbia before moving to Seattle, Washington, where he divided his time between work and art. He lived in Alaska briefly, where he worked on a fishing boat in the Bering Sea.&nbsp;He participated in group shows in and around Chicago until 2004 but continued to paint and sculpt full-time, selling his work to private collectors.&nbsp;In 2011, he was forced to take a hiatus from painting after his studio, along with his belongings, were destroyed in a flood.&nbsp;&nbsp;This is Jack Poker’s first solo show in Chicago. The opening reception is on Friday, February 20 from 6-9 p.m. An artist talk is scheduled for Sunday, March 1, from 2 – 3:30 p.m. For more information about the upcoming exhibition, contact Laura Botwinick at 773.513.4436 or by email at&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:Lkbotwinick@gmail.com" target="_blank">Lkbotwinick@gmail.com</a>.&nbsp;Go to&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.sonachicagoart.com/" target="_blank">www.sonachicagoart.com</a>&nbsp;for additional details.&nbsp;

Jack Poker: Beneath an Economy of Sky

Amira DiawAva PetersonRebekka FederleOlivia Porter A house is never only a structure. It is a sequence of movements, arrangements, and experiences: arrivals and departures, objects placed then replaced, rooms slowly infused with life through use. Housewarming, Elise Seigenthaler Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, brings together a group of artists whose works consider the domesticity as a site of memory, projection, and emotional investigation.&nbsp;Throughout the history of art, interiors have offered a framework for thinking through personal environments and the quiet pressures of everyday life. Neither purely private nor entirely fixed, the home emerges as a place shaped by negotiation: between self and other, permanence and impermanence, outside and inside, care and neglect. The works in&nbsp;Housewarming&nbsp;engage with these tensions, approaching domestic space not as a static backdrop but as an active and evolving habitat.&nbsp;Across painting, beaded work, and sculpture, familiar elements of the home are loosened from their functional and traditional roles. Ornate decor dissolves into shimmering strokes of abstraction, rooms register absence as much as occupation, and wooden objects become affective substitutes for pets. The components and meaning of an interior are revealed as something constructed, vulnerable, and deeply entangled with personal and cultural histories.&nbsp;As the gallery’s first exhibition,&nbsp;Housewarming&nbsp;reflects a moment of arrival. The exhibition extends its attention inward and treats the gallery itself as a space in the process of becoming. The works gathered in this show trace their own paths through memory, material, and imagination, offering the gallery as a provisional interior, newly occupied and still taking shape. Amira Diaw&nbsp;(b. 2002 in&nbsp;Houston, TX)&nbsp;is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. Her paintings serve as an archive of their history, capturing moments from the 1970s through the early 2000s that lend a stranger-like quality in the realm of the family or kinship space. Diaw has exhibited her work with John St Gallery, Point Blank Gallery, and Gure. She is a BFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2026).&nbsp;Rebekka Federle&nbsp;(b. in&nbsp;Chicago, IL) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. Federle received her MFA from the University of Chicago (2025). Federle’s work was recently exhibited in the solo shows&nbsp;The Liberators, Chat About x CWAC Exhibition Series&nbsp;(Cochran Woods Art Center, IL) and&nbsp;In Your Dreams&nbsp;(Topo, ME) and&nbsp;GOODUNANIMOUSBAD BADUNANIMOUSGOOD(Logan Center, IL)&nbsp;Ava Peterson&nbsp;(b. 2002 in Columbus, OH) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. Peterson received a BFA in Studio Art from Denison University (2024) and is an MFA candidate in Painting &amp; Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2026). Notable exhibitions include the solo shows&nbsp;House &amp; Garden&nbsp;(Incubator Gallery, IL) and&nbsp;Clear the Kitchen Table&nbsp;(Bryant Arts Center, OH) as well as the group show&nbsp;In a Child's Place&nbsp;(Purple Window Gallery, IL). Peterson has also received the Nan Nowik Memorial Award for Outstanding Artistic Expression (2024) and was a Luminarts Visual Arts Fellowship Finalist (2025).&nbsp;Olivia Porter&nbsp;(b.1995 in Los Angeles, CA) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, CA. Porter received her BA from Kenyon College (2018). Recent exhibitions include&nbsp;The Last Notice Show&nbsp;(Rusha &amp; Co., CA) and&nbsp;Garden 2022(Ladie’s Room, CA).&nbsp;

Housewarming

Get to know Chicago's galleries and the contemporary art world at large with our interactive Weekend Art Walks! On March 21, we'll view and discuss sculptures, photographs, embroidery, and more in four West Town locations: Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Western Exhibitions, Document Gallery, and the newly-opened Elise Seigenthaler Gallery. Learn more or register at <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artencounter.org/weekend-art-walks" target="_blank">artencounter.org/weekend-art-walks</a>.

Weekend Art Walk: West Town Galleries

Western Exhibitions is thrilled to present Spaces for People, Systems for Spaces, a group show about the built environment — cities, buildings, structures, urban planning — featuring 15 artists from across the States who make art about architecture.&nbsp; Kim BeckJohn BehnkeMarshall BrownCourttney CooperShir EndeEdie FakeJazmine HarrisR.J. JuguilonMakayla LindsayAya NakamuraBrian PetroneDeb SokolowRyan StandfestMarvin YoungJoe Zaldivar Image: Joe&nbsp;ZaldivarKohls Department Store in Upland, 2024marker and watercolor on paper18h x 24w in

Spaces for People, Systems for Spaces

Zolla/Lieberman Gallery is pleased to present Rhonda Gates: Beneath Hyperion's Sky, a series of landscape paintings shaped by observation of atmosphere, weather, and terrain. Drawing on the mythic figure of Hyperion, the Titan associated with heavenly light and cyclical time, the exhibition considers how illumination and temporal change structure both the natural world and human perception. Working in layers, Gates builds her surfaces through repeated applications of color and line, translating direct observation of the Midwestern landscape into meditative compositions. Circles, grids, and linear progressions organize the canvas, mapping shifts in light, horizon, and seasonal change. These formal elements register the passage of time and the changing atmosphere, so that the landscape emerges not as a descriptive view but as an ordered system. Situated between abstraction and representation, her work invites reflection on ecology, memory, and shared experience, positioning landscape as a site of connection within a time of environmental and cultural uncertainty.

Rhonda Gates: Beneath Hyperion's Sky

Zolla/Lieberman Gallery is pleased to present Inflorescence, a new body of work that expands Cecilia Beaven's ongoing investigation of invented mythology within the ecological landscape of Chicago. Drawing on visual references from the natural world and her upbringing in Mexico City, the exhibition introduces hybrid plant, animal, and human forms that operate as symbolic structures through which cultural identity is understood as adaptive and continually shaped by environment and experience. Working across painting, drawing, murals, and ceramics, Beaven constructs staged surreal environments that extend beyond the picture plane and emphasize the relationship between personal history and broader cultural narratives. Her multidisciplinary approach examines how stories are formed, revised, and circulated, offering a framework for reconsidering established representations of Mexican identity beyond folklore.

Cecilia Beaven: Inflorescence

Zolla/Lieberman Gallery is pleased to present&nbsp;El Jardin, a body of large scale paintings that emerge from the intimate pen and ink drawings first shown in Aguirre's recent exhibition&nbsp;El calor de las hojas. While the earlier drawings functioned as a space of reflection and discovery, the paintings extend those narratives into physical form, transforming quiet observation into architectural scale. Through layered paint and sculpted surfaces, Aguirre renders doors, walls, trees, and streets as sites marked by memory and absence.&nbsp;The works confront the ongoing realities of violence affecting Chicago's inner city communities, drawing from what the artist has seen, witnessed, and carried from youth into adulthood. Figures often recede, leaving deserted rooms, empty streets, and fragile traces of human presence that hold grief and remembrance. In this way, the garden becomes both memorial and offering, honoring lives lost while insisting that they are not forgotten.&nbsp; Image: Herman Aguirre,&nbsp;¡Ni uno mas!, 2023, Oil and oil/acrylic skins on panel, 63" x 98" x 4.5"

Herman Aguirre: El Jardin

Not a Soft Thing is a multifaceted exhibition by 15 artist/mothers spanning diverse cultural backgrounds, disciplines, and stages of caregiving. Together, this artist collective challenges the idealized narratives of motherhood, exposing the strength, struggle, and resilience that shape both art making and parenting. Through the media of painting, photography, ceramics, text, and installation, this exhibition explores the question: “What does it mean to create in the margins of care?” Some pieces are resolved and refined; others remain raw, incomplete, or in-process by design, revealing the realities of creating art in stolen moments. Collectively, the works reflect the fragmented time, emotional labor, and radical tenderness inherent in caregiving. Born organically through an interconnected community of artist mothers, this collective was founded as a space of solidarity. Not a Soft Thing is not only about their identity, but also about how they keep showing up—building community with and for one another creating, caring, and telling stories that shape contemporary art and culture. This exhibition is both a call to action and an invitation—to recognize caregiving not as a barrier to creativity, but as a powerful, generative force within it. Included in the exhibition are artworks uniquely designed to be kid-friendly and serve as an open invitation for audience participation, creating space for meaningful, memorable interactions for all generations. Exhibiting artists include A.Martinez, Angela Lopez, Aubrey Ingmar, Bobbi Meier, Connie Noyes, Cydney M Lewis, Jenny Halpern, Jihae Park, Katie Kirk, Keeley Haftner, Noelle Garcia, Orr Menirom, Sarana Mehra, Tulika Ladsariya, and Yemisi Oyeniyi.

Not a Soft Thing: A Group Exhibition by Artist Mothers

The KIA is pleased to present the annual&nbsp;Young Artists of Kalamazoo County&nbsp;exhibition, celebrating the artistic achievements of students in grades K–8. Nearly 70 art educators carefully select each featured work, creating a highly-anticipated partnership with our community’s exceptional teachers. This yearly highlight offers visitors of all ages a dynamic and uplifting experience.This show is open to K-8 students attending school in Kalamazoo County. Teachers are able to choose works from their students to be displayed at the KIA. The number of works that a teacher is able to submit is determined by the number of students attending their school.&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kiarts.org/yakc-teachers/" target="_blank">View info for educators here.</a>

2026 Young Artists of Kalamazoo County

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

Join Chris Patrello, associate curator of the Americas and Africa, for a focused tour of&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://t.e2ma.net/click/1bplzl/td1dw8/xkhm8cb" target="_blank">Bridging Time and Place.</a>Patrello will highlight works that expand and deepen the Museum’s collection of Indigenous art of the Americas.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://t.e2ma.net/click/1bplzl/td1dw8/ddim8cb" target="_blank">Read more⇒</a>

Curator-led Tour of Bridging Time and Place: Indigenous Art of the Americas

DiscussionSpecial Guests of the ArtistWith Danny Bredar, Gaylen Gerber, and Oscar ZhengSun, Mar 22, 2pm For this informal discussion in the gallery space, Leah Ke Yi Zheng is joined by three people from her close circle: artists Danny Bredar and Gaylen Gerber, and her son Oscar Zheng. Each of them brings an intimate familiarity with her practice and a deeply personal perspective on her work. In an impromptu, unscripted exchange, they surface aspects of Zheng’s exhibition that might not emerge in a formal artist talk. Their conversation mirrors the spirit of the&nbsp;I Ching&nbsp;itself, which, according to Zheng, absorbs all aspects of life. Visit&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://renaissancesociety.org/" target="_blank">renaissancesociety.org</a>&nbsp;for more information.

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