Art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object.&nbsp;

Conceptual / Performance

<h3>Developed during the Italian Renaissance, primarily for aesthetics or beauty, the highest art was that which allowed the full expression and display of the artist's imagination.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – Pre 18th Century

<h3>Graphic Art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional. It includes calligraphy, photography, painting, typography, computer graphics, and bindery.&nbsp;</h3>

Graphic Art

Works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects.

Artists' Books

The exploration of video art and music or sound set, including visual music, abstract film, audiovisual performances and installations.

Video / Sound

The objects produced by shaping pieces of clay that are then hardened by baking, or the skill of making such objects.

Ceramics

An artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are carved, modeled, casted, and constructed into a three-dimensional art object.&nbsp;

Sculpture

The process of creating artworks by printing, typically on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints that have an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting.

Printmaking

<h3>Something made in an earlier period that is collected and considered to have value because it is beautiful, rare, old, or of high quality.</h3>

Antiques and Artifacts

Imagery where the subject matter centers around a view or depiction of Chicago.&nbsp;

Chicago Scenes & Regionalism

Old Masters refer to any painter of skill who worked in Europe before about 1800.

Old Masters

Socio-Political art is used to help the public understand a particular social or political issue.

Socio-Political

<h3>The attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, or implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements.</h3>

Realism

<h3>Artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real objects and is representational.</h3>

Figurative

<h3>Individual works of art that are substantially or wholly made of glass. Glass art ranges in size from monumental works and installation pieces, to wall hangings and windows, to works of art made in studios and factories, including glass jewelry and tableware.</h3>

Glass

<h3>Artwork that often deals with Rococo, the Enlightenment, Neoclassicism, and Romanticism.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – 18th & 19th C.

From the Tate Museum's website: Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment with the experience and values of modern industrial life. Building on late nineteenth-century precedents, artists around the world used new imagery, materials and techniques to create artworks that they felt better reflected the realities and hopes of modern societies.

Modernism

<h3>Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that continue to challenge boundaries.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – Contemporary

<h3>Art that is concerned with the design and decoration of objects that are chiefly prized for their utility, rather than for their purely aesthetic qualities including, ceramics, glassware, metalware, furniture, textiles, clothing, and more.</h3>

Furniture & Decorative Arts

<h3>Emerging art is work by artists who are still building their artistic careers and have not yet reached a more established and widely recognized status.&nbsp;</h3>

Emerging

<h3>Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labour on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility.</h3>

Fiber Arts / Textiles

The quality of dealing with ideas rather than events. Freedom from representational qualities in art.

Abstraction

<h3>Art by African-American artists.</h3>

African-American

<h3>The art and science of designing and making buildings, or the style of a building.</h3>

Architecture

<h3>Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, an emphasis on light and its changing qualities, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience.</h3>

Impressionism

From the Tate Museum's website: Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often characterized by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity.

Abstract Expressionism

Numismatics

Relating to Africa or people of African descent.

African

Eastern European art is a product of recent history. It can be traced to the division of Europe into the Western and Soviet spheres of influence of the allied victory over Germany in World War two.

Eastern European

LGBTQIA+

Feminist

Considered one of the most influential periods of art, featuring movements including Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism.

Early 20th Century

Skill and experience, especially in relation to making objects by hand.

Craft

<h3>The skill of making plans, drawings, or arrangements to show how a building or product is made.</h3>

Design

Asian art is diverse and rich, spanning thousands of years and dozens of countries. It is known for its ritual bronzes, beautiful ceramics, calligraphy, jades, textiles, painted landscapes, garden design, pagodas and stupas, and woodblock prints.

Asian

Italian

<h3>An artistic genre of three-dimensional works that often are site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space.</h3>

Installations

An art form that combines visual art with dramatic performance.

Performance

Some of the most prominent, highly influential artists, who challenged preconceptions and pushed the limits of visual art, shaping the art world of our time.

Modern Contemporary Masters

Created in accordance with the vision of the artist as a photographer, using photography as a medium to bring something to life that only lives in the artist's mind.

Photography

The design movement in interior, product, graphic design, architecture, and urban development from roughly the 1930's to 1965.

Mid-Century

A movement in art and literature that flourished in the early 20th-century. Surrealism aimed at expressing imaginative dreams and visions free from conscious rational control.&nbsp;

Surrealism

An innovative discipline which seeks to unify a large range of art forms. This is creatively achieved by combining an array of artistic insights and crafts such as film, literature, performance, music and sound, drama, visual arts, or design.

Multi-Media

<h3>The depiction of landscapes in art—natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composition.</h3>

Landscape

Plein air is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look.

Plein-air

Printed 2-D artwork which is designed to be affixed to a vertical surface, may consist exclusively of images, or images and text.

Poster / Lithography

<h3>A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.</h3>

Portraits / Portraiture

<h3>These works are often stunningly beautiful, and encourage the viewer to engage with the rich history of research and experimentation that led to the piece’s conception.</h3>

Scientific

<h3>The Art of the American West is defined by geographical subject, consists of historic and contemporary works of art which focus on varying expressions of individuals, landscapes, ideals, and myths of the American West.</h3>

Western (The American West)

<h3>Borrowed from Wikipedia: In visual arts, music, and other mediums, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. It derives from the reductive aspects of modernism and is often interpreted as a reaction against abstract expressionism and a bridge to postminimal art practices.</h3>

Minimalism

<h3>Occupying the space between fine art and the everyday, functional art refers to aesthetic objects that serve utilitarian purposes. The genre is remarkably inclusive, it encompasses everything from furniture and lighting to dishes and even books.</h3>

Functional Art - Jewelry / Fashion

A range of artistic practices encompassing both historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types of works.

Wildlife / Nature

Watches & Timepieces

Sports Collectibles

3-Dimensonal

Rare Books / Manuscripts

Western European art represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from antiquity until the present time. Until the mid-19th century it was primarily concerned with representational and Classical modes of production. After the mid-19th century modern, abstract and conceptual forms gained favor.

Western European

Comics

Large Scale (over 6')

Visual art created in public locations, usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues. Common forms and media include spray paint graffiti, stencil graffiti, poster art, sticker art, street installations, and sculpture.

Pop / Street Art / Graffiti

Indigenous & Native

Chicago Imagists

East Asian

Medieval / Renaissance 

Non-Western

Southeast & South Asian

<h3>Art produced by self-taught or naïve art makers. Typically, those labeled as outsider artists have little or no contact with the mainstream art world or art institutions. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates extreme mental states, unconventional ideas, or elaborate fantasy worlds.</h3>

Folk / Outsider / Self Taught

American Regionalism

Literary Arts

Mosiac

Includes manuscripts, prints, drawings, collages, and paintings on paper.

Works on Paper

Prints and Drawings

West Asia  & North Africa

Middle Eastern & Islamic

Land Art

<h3>Artistic expression of Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, as well as Latin and Hispanic Americans living in other regions. Latin American art has roots in the many different indigenous cultures that inhabited the Americas before European colonization in the 16th-century.</h3>

Hispanic/Latinx

The International Currents Gallery of the John David Mooney Foundation exhibits and offers residencies to international artists whose challenging work push boundaries and explore new territories.&nbsp;Lectures, workshops, and Master Classes are interwoven into Chicago’s diverse creative communities; exhibitions run concurrently in three galleries, each 4,000 sq. ft.&nbsp;Since 2022, the Foundation’s Art Bridge Fellowships have supported “At-Risk” artists from war-torn countries, including 16 Ukrainian artists and one Palestinian artist from the West Bank.&nbsp;The Albert I. Goodman Collection of wartime paintings, posters, and drawings from the 1960 and 70’s is on view in the third-floor gallery.&nbsp;This unique and important Collection serves as a study center for Chicago colleges and universities engaging in cross-cultural investigations.&nbsp;Ongoing are the Foundation’s environmental projects helping to control Climate Change in vibrant new ways through Art. The JDMF is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 educational arts organization. All events are free and open to the public. Image: Performance:&nbsp;Daria Holovchanska,&nbsp;“Night Call I,” January 21, 2024. Photo by JDM.

John David Mooney Foundation

Located one block east of the historic Water Tower, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has been at the forefront of showcasing new and experimental work since its inception in 1967. Be inspired by their ever-changing, provocative exhibits and programs; indulge in&nbsp;innovative cuisine crafted by one of the city’s foremost chefs at their restaurant, Marisol; and shop at one of the best gift stores in Chicago. Visit the MCA’s <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.mcachicago.org/" target="_blank">website</a> to plan your next visit. The MCA offers&nbsp;FREE admission for&nbsp;anyone under 18 all&nbsp;year long. Photo: T. McDonald&nbsp;Photography (@tmcd.chi)

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)

Since 1916, The Arts Club of Chicago has been a preeminent exhibitor of international art, a forum for established and emerging artists, and a celebrated venue for performers from around the world. For over 100 years, The Arts Club has opened its membership to artists and patrons of the arts, and its exhibitions to the public.&nbsp; Image: Haegue Yang, artist. Photo: Michael Tropea

The Arts Club of Chicago

The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago presents contemporary art exhibitions, events, and publications. “The Ren”—as we are known by many—is an independent, non-collecting museum driven by an uncompromising commitment to artists and their ideas.For artists, we offer an unfettered platform for bold experimentation.&nbsp;Our work with artists frequently results in newly commissioned art, and these&nbsp;presentations in our gallery at the University of Chicago spur further scholarly&nbsp;and creative reflections in our publications and public programs.&nbsp;Events—including artist talks, lectures, screenings, concerts, readings, and more—offer further&nbsp;opportunities for discovery and discussion.&nbsp;All exhibitions and events are free to attend.#Join The Ren's mailing list <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://renaissancesociety.org/about/" target="_blank">here.</a>The Renaissance Society is a registered 501(c)(3). We are a member of Mod/Co, Common Field, and UChicago Arts, and we are an independent affiliate of the University of Chicago.Image: Diego Marcon,&nbsp;Krapfen, 2025, installation view, the Renaissance Society&nbsp;at the University of Chicago. Photo by Bob.

The Renaissance Society

Founded in 1992, Woman Made Gallery (WMG) is a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to uplifting women and non-binary artists through exhibitions, mentorship, and community engagement. For over three decades, WMG has presented more than 475 exhibitions featuring over 10,000 artists from local, national, and international communities. Each show invites viewers to experience art that challenges, inspires, and reflects the world through a feminist lens. Beyond the gallery walls, WMG nurtures a creative network of 350+ member artists and connects with 15,000+ supporters through workshops, artist talks, and panel discussions that spark conversation and build connection. Whether you’re an art lover seeking discovery or a donor passionate about equity in the arts, Woman Made Gallery offers a chance to be part of something meaningful — a movement where creativity drives change and every voice matters. Image: Artist: Tara Sabini

Woman Made Gallery

What’s inside the Block? It depends on how you look. The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University is an engine that drives questioning, experimentation, and collaboration across fields of study, with visual arts at the center. We do this by activating art’s power as a form of insight, research, and knowledge creation that makes human experience visible and material. Fueled by diverse perspectives and ways of knowing, we create shared encounters with art and with one another to deepen understandings of the world and our place within it. Through exhibitions, classes, programs, screenings, and initiatives, The Block convenes bold conversations that explore the relevance of art to our lives and that deepen our thinking. We are as committed to exploring what art can do as we are to studying what art is. Always free and open to all. Image: Block Museum&nbsp;Student Associates tour The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto, 2023

Block Museum of Art

PATRON is a contemporary art gallery in Chicago created by Julia Fischbach and Emanuel Aguilar in 2015. PATRON is founded on the defining characteristics of a patron of the arts: a person chosen, named or honored as a special guardian, protector or supporter. With this foundation set as a cornerstone, the gallery hopes to help open new avenues for audiences to engage with and find access to contemporary art. Member Art&nbsp;Dealers Association&nbsp;of America (ADAA). Image: Ian Vecchiotti&nbsp;&nbsp;

PATRON 

moniquemeloche was founded in October 2000, with its debut exhibition&nbsp;‘Homewrecker’ at Meloche’s home, and officially opened to the public in May 2001. Diverse and inclusive since its inception, the gallery promotes politically minded contemporary art, aiming to be a bellwether for artistic talents early or under-recognized in their careers. Working with an international group of emerging and established artists in all media, the gallery presents conceptually challenging installations in Chicago and at art fairs internationally, with an emphasis on curatorial and institutional outreach. Represented artists include: Luke Agada, Candida Alvarez, Sanford Biggers, Antonius Tín-Bui, David Antonio Cruz, Brendan Fernandes, Dan Gunn, Sheree Hovsepian, Rashid Johnson, Lavar Munroe, Ben Murray, Maia Cruz Palileo, Ebony G. Patterson, Cheryl Pope, Karen Reimer, Joel Ross, Arocha-Schraenen, David Shrobe, Arvie Smith, Jake Troyli, Nate Young Image:&nbsp;Installation of Luke Agada,&nbsp;To Translate is to Move Across.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1762735452/hb9g4rpr92ghhpk3ylwd.png">&nbsp;

moniquemeloche

Chicago Sculpture International - CSI is a non-profit organization with over 300 local, national and international members. Since 2004, CSI has been&nbsp;championing sculptors and the creation of sculpture, with local and regional exhibitions,&nbsp;large-scale public art, and educational&nbsp;outreach. 2026 CSI Exhibits: <ul><li>12th Year of Sculpture in the Parks and The Chicago Tree Project in collaboration with the Chicago Park District</li><li>Outdoor Exhibitions at Big Marsh Park, Miller Beach, Evanston and more</li><li>Indoor Exhibitions at Indiana University (Kokomo Art Gallery), Leslie Wolfe Gallery, Chicago and more.</li><li>Ongoing exhibitions of artwork by CSI members and AALANA-BIPOC fellowship recipients at CSI Projet Space</li></ul> We offer a broad range of programs for our members and for the public that include: + <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagosculpture.org/sculpture-in-the-parks" target="_blank">Sculpture in the Parks:</a> 20 large- scale sculptures by CSI members in 20 different parks throughout Chicagoland in collaboration with the Chicago Park District + <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagosculpture.org/exhibitions-events" target="_blank">Project Space Group Exhibitions:</a> Juried CSI member&nbsp;exhibitions at CSI Project Space, Evanston Art Center, Koehnline Museum of Art, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, the Beverly Arts Center, Epiphany Center for the Arts, among others. • Little, but BOLD!&nbsp;– Holiday Group Show: December 13, 2025 – January 30, 2026• AALANA-BIPOC Fellowship Exhibit: March 6 – 27, 2026• Whispers from the unfamiliar – CSI Group Exhibit: May 16 – June 18, 2026• Abstract Expressionism&nbsp;– CSI Summer Group Exhibit: July 18 – September 11, 2026• By Degree V&nbsp;– Emerging Artists: September 26 – October 23, 2026• Artist Spotlight&nbsp;– CSI Members: October 30 – November 30, 2026• Little, but BOLD!&nbsp;– Holiday Group Show: December 12, 2026 – January 29, 2027 + <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagosculpture.org/csi-project-space" target="_blank">Educational Outreach with Project Space:</a> Experimental art space for CSI emerging artists and community outreach programs like free public art making workshops for youth, adults and seniors&nbsp;We believe in creating community through sculpture. Become a member and exhibit your work, Support us with a Donation, or Learn more about upcoming events and workshops at <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://chicagosculpture.org" target="_blank">chicagosculpture.org</a>&nbsp;Image: (left)&nbsp;Healing HeArts&nbsp;by Michael Alfano at Berger Park;&nbsp;(left) “Pyx” by&nbsp;John Upchurch <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1763092937/dcc5itadzifpvahau7fh.jpg">

Chicago Sculpture International (CSI)

Conceived with the vision to return Epiphany to a place for people to once again congregate, the shuttered historic Church of the Epiphany has been preserved and adapted into an iconic cultural hub ‘For the Good of Art, Entertainment and Events. Thoughtfully designed, the exemplary 42,000 square foot campus boasts three distinct venues and a stunning array of amenities, including eight art galleries, a commercial and catering kitchen, cafe and bar, VIP suite and a collection of artistically appointed outdoor spaces: a charming quarter-acre courtyard, spacious terrace and stunning patio with lounge seating. Epiphany’s diverse and inclusive arts programming serves to unite artists, while bringing the community together at Chicago’s newest cultural destination for art, music, and entertainment. For more information about art exhibitions and events, contact <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:art@epiphanychi.com" target="_blank">art@epiphanychi.com</a> Photo: Tom McDonald

Epiphany Center for the Arts

Sawhorse is an artist-run gallery and curatorial project in Hermosa. Founded in 2025, the gallery presents artwork and speculations by emerging and mid-career artists with a program motivated by craft, community, curiosity, &amp; collaboration. Photo courtesy of Sawhorse, Exterior view of Morality Play (Daniel Champion &amp; Jeffrey Charles)

SAWHORSE

Founded by interdisciplinary artist and curator Brenda Torres-Figueroa, El Schomburg | Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo is a Chicago-based platform for contemporary art, performance, and cultural research rooted in Puerto Rican and Caribbean diasporic experiences. The space hosts exhibitions, residencies, and public programs that center decolonial practices and intergenerational dialogue. Inspired by the legacy of Afro–Puerto Rican historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, El Schomburg reimagines the archive as a living, communal site—one where art, memory, and resistance converge to build new languages of belonging and visibility. Artist:&nbsp;Brenda Torres-Figueroa. Photo: Chloe Kirchmeier/MSU Broad Art Museum

Conceptual / Performance

Other Specialties

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