“The arts were always central to all of the other projects of social reform at Hull-House and . . . that part of our history hasn’t really been told.” — Jane Addams Hull-House Museum Director Liesl Olson
Jacqueline WayneGuite of the Chicago Reader profiles Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s exhibition Radical Craft: Arts Education at Hull-House, 1889-1935, the first all-encompassing presentation of Hull-House’s groundbreaking arts education practices. With room-by-room descriptions, WayneGuite’s article points to the variety of arts and crafts taught at Hull-House—drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles, bookbindery, ceramics, metal, woodworking, and basketry—and the works created by both well-known artists and community members whose names have been lost to time.
“A lot of our focus has shifted to who was living in the neighborhood, who was participating in programs at Hull-House, how there was that social connection with the community…”- Hull-House Education Manager Nadia Maragha
The article describes the Museum’s commitment to partnering with many organizations on programming, including the traveling “Weaving Stories” series. Organized by Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, and Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, with support from the Terra Foundation for American Art as part of Art Design Chicago, the series invites participants to connect shared stories of heritage and culture while learning weaving techniques and contributing to a collective weaving project.
Radical Craft: Arts Education at Hull-House, 1889-1935 is on view at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum through July 27, 2025.
