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

Chase Gallery

American Tapestry Biennial 

Tim Anderson: Stay the Course

Image: Akemi Nomo,&nbsp;LifeTime ( 人间，人間 )Photo credit: Industry of the Ordinary

Industry of the Ordinary Summer Residency 2025 Exhibition 

A group exhibition in partnership with Oliva Gallery that foregrounds three influential voices in contemporary Midwestern art. Through sculpture, color, and dynamic form,&nbsp;Facades&nbsp;confronts themes of identity, visibility, and public space, inviting audiences to consider how we construct, obscure, and reveal ourselves in a constantly shifting social landscape. Featured artists: Nikki Renee Anderson, Aaron Becker, and the late Molly Schiff. <a style="color: rgb(49, 95, 195);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://rkcgwygbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001pQCTLAZWoLcf8QKJ7bW0UTmQQvLi8QCbGnkKtsql4i6I9ZL64t5o-ClLO30U4qlgbzz1_RMl0TnO4ySsyGSgn5p0R6WKlrHrsVsqKwvj43J5pwb-3qIzuQdxhUrAKrZZeE5lQN-624hOFVumazIUgXhjCn3B9ybpA0oJH7BBUbjNK8knTWgzan41fTzp867IrUp_dYhlprGi3zshErrhVtkvEbFk1r-jYLNoXfuO-1T4w1MaGVWcu38dRLUkgnbQSMKVKwDyfDfky2mTo8On3eMZ4nEXLlOhQ443AHZ73Zx9Tpvau5sDr0_uylojA8TswWV5fJL37D3cj1bKBq8FOFhm93ReWXo-qaAGtYHf84c=&amp;c=IJzV2jz8yvZtX5CTPVPXoMUDippq0o1jIRBZpwu4VeFXp_eCnKxnzg==&amp;ch=kzLhgOqA5aEWuRf34Ovhff1OQt3YOA0ZU-fCxhD596BhhhFEKh0xXw==" target="_blank">Learn more</a>

Facades

RAM is thrilled to announce the return of its premier annual fundraiser! Save the date for&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://4ltow9bab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001y0giOV3dXHrLhen9at4PNcklNHOzPl_vaqBypfu1Q-V5d-iUsMvwQRr6mvA6k4mklrQ7XF6k4BqidlJm66F1G33BGmqptz_XFcknW7cgl_sczMha0XnUEU3VtV7fN89e95_1BzmaUUEy6q9YgS8FYoaQ2e47F5Q9sf4bLQuXeZo=&amp;c=eQ3Qa_yjxb4scjUBTP0IXBto9mTjOgcLtVUhdIYyhIxPAUKGOOmQ-A==&amp;ch=0TOspyf_bnH7P8b-IKCzAj3A0JH3ujz_Y0LtzasHFbT1inmLu9I_eA==" target="_blank">SAVOUR 2025</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;Saturday, September 27, 5:30 – 10:30 pm at RAM's Wustum Museum.This year's extravaganza is set to be the most artistic, stylish garden party you have ever seen.&nbsp;SAVOUR 2025: Garden Gala—Cultivating Creativity&nbsp;will be filled with music, dancing, delicious food, and gorgeous flowers.Stay tuned to RAM's newsletter and social media channels—including&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://4ltow9bab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001y0giOV3dXHrLhen9at4PNcklNHOzPl_vaqBypfu1Q-V5d-iUsMvwQankUkxJP55PcuriLK2QMO8cJOFolTlTHeFZsAmhMvtc-NgJDfyOgIpiO_rLl3jithrZO-W_47vPe6fDUSTB3msRVw_W_j4MdLXb-vm5VE1qOhU13P6sCm-i4BrUl5-tF654bJprg_Ij&amp;c=eQ3Qa_yjxb4scjUBTP0IXBto9mTjOgcLtVUhdIYyhIxPAUKGOOmQ-A==&amp;ch=0TOspyf_bnH7P8b-IKCzAj3A0JH3ujz_Y0LtzasHFbT1inmLu9I_eA==" target="_blank">Instagram</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://4ltow9bab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001y0giOV3dXHrLhen9at4PNcklNHOzPl_vaqBypfu1Q-V5d-iUsMvwQcm9wp1HNFJJJ-vJROOFIIOuNwJU2TNt4qeLon78JyxheAT_bAoTfYrXnGQmBp2nT18VWyecAP_pU2rpUtTARu-y8iOR52GhK1cztqfOo3HFLIKkWlKUYttKRDwc1h0Ev-XB830SdgRZ&amp;c=eQ3Qa_yjxb4scjUBTP0IXBto9mTjOgcLtVUhdIYyhIxPAUKGOOmQ-A==&amp;ch=0TOspyf_bnH7P8b-IKCzAj3A0JH3ujz_Y0LtzasHFbT1inmLu9I_eA==" target="_blank">Facebook</a>—to learn more about this un-bud-lievable event when more details are released.

SAVOUR 2025

September 27+2810am to 5pm both days 1341 W Randolph StChicago, IL Indoor &amp; Outdoor Chicago’s world-famous European style antique and vintage market festival returns September 27+28, 2025! Named Top Ten USA Markets by Travel &amp; Leisure, Architectural Digest, goop, USA Today and more!

Randolph Street Market Festival 

Arts of Life makes a triumphant return to Art on the MART,&nbsp;the world’s largest permanent digital art projection.&nbsp;In collaboration with students from the University of Chicago, we will introduce our artists’ work to a broad audience of locals and visitors on this iconic Chicago building along the riverwalk. Location: Merchandise Mart (72 E Randolph St Floor 1, Chicago, IL 60601)

Art on the MART

Sept 13 – Oct. 3 CSI Project Space: By Degrees IV

CSI Project Space: By Degrees IV

Location: Epiphany Center (201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607) Join us at our 25th Anniversary Annual Benefit Auction and Dance Party. Enjoy a lively evening complete with music, cocktails, mingling with our artists, not-to-be-missed silent and live auctions, and&nbsp;a dance party. Come&nbsp;be part of a celebration dedicated to art and community at our Silver-themed celebration!&nbsp;

25th Anniversary Benefit Auction

Impressionist artist Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894)—known and beloved by many Art Institute visitors for his monumental painting&nbsp;Paris Street; Rainy Day—takes center stage in this major exhibition exploring the very personal interests and relationships that shaped his world. Caillebotte was unique among his Impressionist peers. At a time when modernity was synonymous with fashionable young women and new forms of entertainment, he focused instead on a more intimate and individualized sphere: his family and friends, his fellow sportsmen, the bourgeois pedestrians strolling in his neighborhood, and the workers who came to his house or whom he observed in the street. Despite being born into the wealth built by his father, Caillebotte resisted the idleness associated with the leisured class. He was not only an active member of the Impressionist group but also participated in several activities as a high-level amateur, including rowing, gardening, and sailing. In all of his pursuits, Caillebotte gave his all, taking on the role of leader, organizer, and sometimes financier; he also captured these passions in paint, whether documenting the toil of boating, the serenity of tending a plant, or the concentration of a card game. Caillebotte was equally invested in his personal relationships, both familial and non-familial—and again these relationships, especially with the males he interacted with as son, brother, employer, colleague, and friend—are the focus of many of his artworks. One sees in multiple paintings his two brothers and other family members as well as a wide circle of friends, often depicted in Caillebotte’s own home—in a favorite chair, by a recognizable window, or on an often-portrayed sofa. Most intimately, and most unusually for the time, Caillebotte also painted nude men in the privacy of their bath.&nbsp; This exhibition, which opened at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris in October 2024, includes more than 120 works—paintings, works on paper, photographs, and other ephemera from throughout Caillebotte’s career. In addition to recognizable works like&nbsp;Floor Scrapers&nbsp;and the Art Institute’s&nbsp;Paris Street; Rainy Day,&nbsp;the show presents lesser-known but pivotal works like the Musée d’Orsay’s recent acquisition,&nbsp;Boating Party, and the Louvre Abu-Dhabi’s&nbsp;The Bezique Game, as well as many works from private collections that are rarely seen by American audiences.&nbsp; Together, these works open a new window onto Caillebotte—as a complex figure with many interests, as an Impressionist who painted like no other Impressionist, and as an artist who captured his own, very distinct Paris. Image: Gustave Caillebotte, Boating Party, about 1877–78. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Purchased thanks to the exclusive patronage of LVMH, 2022, RF MO P 2022 5. Photo courtesy of GrandPalaisRmn (Musée d’Orsay) / Sophie Crépy Read CGN's spring interview with Gloria Groom in the spring/summer 2025 magazine.

Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World

Modern Vintage ChicagoFashion &amp; Home October 510am to 5pmRavenswood Event Center4025 N Ravenswood Ave.Chicago, ILIndoor See and shop a stunning selection of vintage clothing, jewelry, furniture, handbags and accessories from 1890’s-2000’s as well as global goods, decorative arts, vinyl and more! <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://randolphstreetmarket.com/schedule/#" target="_blank">Details</a>

Modern Vintage Chicago

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.

Cornerstone Performance in collaboration with Neila Ebanks

September 5 - October 11, 2025 Opening reception:&nbsp;Friday, September 5th -&nbsp;4pm to 7pm Main / Office Galleries

Lora Fosberg

September 5 - October 11, 2025 Opening reception:&nbsp;&nbsp;Friday, September 5th -&nbsp;4pm to 7pm South Gallery

Audrey Niffenegger

Catherine Sollman

Flourish: Embracing Indigenous and Scientific KnowledgeSupport Brushwood's impact&nbsp;at the 42nd Annual Smith Nature SymposiumHonoring author, scientist, mother, professor, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer Saturday, October 11, 2025Chicago Botanic Garden1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL 60022 Smith Nature Symposium Co-Chairs:Lois Morrison and Janea Harris About the Smith Nature Symposium 2024 Environmental Leadership Award winner Dr. Mona Hanna with emcees Bill Kurtis and Donna La Pietra at the Smith Nature Symposium Awards DinnerThe Smith Nature Symposium is Brushwood’s largest fundraising event of the year, and all funds raised from the Smith Awards Dinner directly benefit our programs for youth, families, and Veterans across our community.&nbsp;&nbsp;On May 6, 1984, more than 350 people gathered for the first Smith Nature Symposium featuring Roger Tory Peterson. Organized under the leadership of Barbi Donnelley, Symposium Co-Chair, this jam-packed convening of nature-lovers became the first of four decades of annual Symposia memorializing the significant civic legacy of Hermon Dunlap and Ellen Thorne Smith, who donated their land and cabin to help form Ryerson Woods. About Robin Wall Kimmerer Robin Wall Kimmerer&nbsp;is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of&nbsp;The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants&nbsp;and&nbsp;Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses.&nbsp;She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. The Serviceberry As Indigenous scientist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most?&nbsp;Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival.&nbsp;&nbsp;As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.” Braiding Sweetgrass As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In&nbsp;Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).&nbsp;Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.&nbsp;&nbsp;In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

42nd Annual Smith Nature Symposium Awards Dinner

ABOUT THE DRIEHAUS MUSEUMThe Driehaus Museum engages and inspires the global community through exploration and ongoing conversations in art, architecture, and design of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its permanent collection and temporary exhibitions are presented in an immersive experience within the restored Nickerson Mansion, completed in 1883, at the height of the Gilded Age, and the Murphy Auditorium, built in 1926. The Museum’s collection reflects and is inspired by the collecting interests, vision, and focus of its founder, the late Richard H. Driehaus. For more information, visit<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.driehausmuseum.org/" target="_blank">driehausmuseum.org</a>&nbsp;and connect with the Museum on&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Driehaus-Museum/362867207176025" target="_blank">Facebook</a>,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://twitter.com/DriehausMuseum" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/driehausmuseum/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>. ABOUT THE CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA&nbsp;&nbsp;Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the world’s great orchestras. In April 2024, Klaus Mäkelä was named the Orchestra’s 11th music director, and&nbsp;he&nbsp;will begin an initial five-year tenure as Zell Music Director with the 2027/28 Season. Riccardo Muti, the Orchestra’s&nbsp;distinguished 10th music director from 2010 until 2023,&nbsp;became Music Director Emeritus for Life at the beginning of the&nbsp;2023/24 Season. Daniil Trifonov is the CSO Artist-in-Residence for the 2024/25 Season. The CSO commands a vast repertoire, from baroque through contemporary music. Its renowned musicians perform more than 150 concerts annually, in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in downtown Chicago and each summer at the Ravinia Festival in suburban Highland Park. The ensemble regularly tours nationally, and since 1892, has made 64 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents.&nbsp;&nbsp; Patrons around the globe enjoy weekly radio broadcasts of CSO concerts and recordings via the WFMT Radio Network and online at&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cso.org/experience/csoradio/" target="_blank">cso.org/radio</a>. Launched in 2007,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cso.org/experience/curation/cso-resound/" target="_blank">CSO Resound</a>&nbsp;is the ensemble’s Grammy Award–winning independent record label, featuring live performances with world-class conductors and guest artists. Since 1916, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus have amassed an extensive discography that has earned 65 Grammy awards from the Recording Academy.&nbsp; The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA), which also includes the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Symphony Center Presents, and the Negaunee Music Institute. The&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cso.org/about/chicago-symphony-chorus/" target="_blank">Chicago Symphony Chorus</a>, founded by Margaret Hillis in 1957, is the country’s largest professional chorus. Founded by second music director Frederick Stock during the 1919/20 Season, the&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cso.org/education-community/musician-training/civic-orchestra-of-chicago/" target="_blank">Civic Orchestra of Chicago</a>&nbsp;is a training ensemble for emerging professionals with Ken-David Masur serving as its principal conductor.&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cso.org/about/scp/" target="_blank">Symphony Center Presents</a>features guest artists and ensembles across an expansive array of genres, including classical, jazz, world and contemporary. The&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cso.org/education-community/negaunee-music-institute/" target="_blank">Negaunee Music Institute</a>&nbsp;offers community and educational programs that annually engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages and backgrounds throughout the Chicagoland area.&nbsp; Through the Institute and numerous other activities — including annual free community concerts in Chicago neighborhoods — the CSO is committed to using the power of music to strengthen bonds with its longtime patrons and create connections with new audiences.&nbsp; The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association is supported by thousands of patrons, volunteers and institutional and individual donors. The Negaunee Foundation provides generous support in perpetuity for the work of the Negaunee Music Institute.&nbsp;For more information, visit<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.cso.org/" target="_blank">&nbsp;cso.org</a>.

CSO Chamber Music: Tiffany: Beyond the Shade

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=18663075f4&amp;e=95b957c616" target="_blank">Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me</a> opens February 1 and runs through October 19, 2025.Indulge Me is a major survey of renowned artist Wafaa Bilal (b. 1966, Najaf, Iraq; lives in New York, NY). Crucially, the exhibition will take a comprehensive look at Bilal’s myriad practice, highlighting the development of his work across decades and placing it in conversation with broader art histories. It will also explore cultural cannibalism—that is, how culture (specifically the culture of the other) is used, disassembled, and consumed.Working in performance, sculpture, and with online and interactive technologies, Bilal’s interdisciplinary practice investigates the dynamic between international and interpersonal politics while highlighting the tension between the United States, which he has deemed the “comfort zone,” and the “conflict zone” of Iraq. Through methods such as using his own body to interrogate notions of power and using innovative technologies to rectify acts of cultural destruction, Bilal shows us what it means to consciously engage across cultures while highlighting negative global implications of consumption, exploitation, and profiteering.The exhibition will be organized into five immersive sections, each of which focuses on a major work from Bilal’s practice. Artworks on display include a reconstruction of a room in Chicago’s FLATFILE Gallery that the artist confined himself to for a month-long performance in Domestic Tension (2007). During this performance, Bilal invited the audience to shoot at him with a paintball gun that was operated virtually by viewers who could also interact with him via camera feed and live chat. Over the course of thirty days, a total of 60,000 shots were fired by "shooters" from 128 countries. Also included in the MCA exhibition is a large-scale, towering video displaying images from Bilal’s year-long performance 3rdi (2010–11), wherein Bilal surgically implanted a camera into the back of his head that, every minute on the minute, captured photographs. The photos included in the MCA display will correspond to the minute, hour, and day they were taken.&nbsp;Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me will also present Thumbsat Satellite (2024), which comprises a golden bust of Saddam Hussein fixed to a satellite and launched into Earth’s orbit as part of the exhibition. Developed as a critique of the former Iraqi president’s rumored desire to launch a bust of himself into space, the work will also feature a number of in-gallery components, including a model of the satellite and bust and a way for visitors to track the artwork’s location through live-captured images before it is destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere.&nbsp;Additionally, the exhibition will feature In a Grain of Wheat: Cultivating Hybrid Futures in Ancient Seed DNA, Bilal’s response to ISIS’s destruction of the Winged Bull of Nineveh sculpture, or Lamassu, in 2015. The piece involves inserting high-resolution 3D scans of the sculpture into the DNA of heirloom Iraqi wheat seeds. A commission by the MCA will see the project activated in a new, sculptural form, which will consider if it is possible for a wheat seed to transform terrorist violence into restorative agency.&nbsp;The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication, the first to survey multiple projects by the visionary artist.&nbsp;A series of exhibition-related programs will be announced closer to the opening.&nbsp;Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me is curated by Bana Kattan, Pamela Alper Associate Curator, with Iris Colburn, Curatorial Associate.&nbsp;Image: Wafaa Bilal (b. 1966, Najaf, Iraq; lives in New York, NY), Rendering of Thumbsat Satellite, 2023. © Wafaa Bilal. Courtesy of the artist.

Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me

Pistachios is collaborating with Precious Collective to host an exhibition titled Things Unsaid, which will be at Pistachios from August 14, 2025 to October 26, 2025 before traveling to Munich Jewelry Week in 2026. The exhibition features 35 members from Precious Collective, an international community of artists that are bound together by their ambiguous definitions of what exactly ‘precious’ is in relation to jewelry. Conceptually, the exhibition will explore: What is a tangible manifestation for the things unsaid? How can we extend the voice of materiality through acts of making? Where does the metaphysical influence the language of jewelry? This is the first time Precious Collective will be featured in the United States. On Thursday, August 14, 2025 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm we'll be hosting a reception to celebrate the exhibition with Lynne Speake, the Founder and Creative Director of Precious Collective, in attendance.&nbsp;

Things Unsaid

New Works by Vidvuds Zviedris

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, Sept 12, 2025 5-8pmOn view Sept 12 through Nov 1, 2025Group Exhibition -&nbsp;Misha Goro: Images of the City. Oil paintings on aluminum.

Misha Goro: Images of the City

<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

Legacies on Display: The Forbidden and Venerated Arts of BurmaTaking Museums to the Streets:&nbsp;Using Fine Art for Protest, Courtesy of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.politicalgraphics.org/" target="_blank">www.politicalgraphics.org</a>

Legacies on Display: The Forbidden and Venerated Arts of Burma

September 27 - Nov 9 Evanston Art Center: CSI Biennale

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