Longstanding artist, educator, and designer Robert Earl Paige believes beauty should be accessible all around us for everyone to experience. This exhibition presents a survey of textiles, drawings, tiles, prints, […]

As part of The United Colors of Robert Earl Paige, the Hyde Park Art Center presents this companion exhibition in an adjacent gallery that features the works of local artists […]

Architecture creates an indelible mark on the landscape; buildings speak to the culture of the people. We are tied together by the stories of our lives and the places we've […]

Presented by South Asia Institute and guest curated by Shelly Bahl, this multifaceted project documents the history of South Asian art and artists in Chicago and shares this history through […]

Chicago activists in the 1960s and ’70s used design to create powerful slogans, symbols, and imagery to amplify their visions for social change. Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of […]

This exhibition makes visible the photograph collection of Japanese photographer Akito Tsuda, who documented Chicago's Mexican American Pilsen neighborhood in the early 1990s while attending art school at Columbia College. […]

Comfort Station presents La Casa de Todos / Everyone’s Home, an exhibition by Chicago-based artist Edra Soto. Soto’s practice draws from her Puerto Rican roots to instigate conversations about history, diasporic […]

Presented by the Center for Native Futures, the only all-Native artist-led arts non-profit organization in Chicago, Gagizhibaajiwan considers depth, duality, and paradox in Anishinaabe art as expressed through images of […]

Persistence examines the migration of Puerto Rican student-artists to Chicago beginning in the 1920s to study fine arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  The exhibition present […]

Andrea Carlson (b. 1979, Ojibwe/European descent; based in northern Minnesota and Chicago, IL) considers how landscapes are shaped by history, relationships, and power. Her artworks imagine places that are “everywhere […]

Building on artist Dawit L. Petros's ongoing exploration of links between colonization, migration, and modernism related to Italy, East Africa (especially in Eritrea and Ethiopia), Libya, and North America, this solo exhibition examines […]

Over the last century, Chicago has led the nation in progressive arts education for K-12 students, as teachers and their students linked art education to movements for social justice, access, […]

Radical Craft, an exhibition, catalog, and workshop series, celebrates the work of immigrant artists and reformers at the country's most important social settlement. The exhibition showcases Hull-House’s rarely exhibited textile […]

Part of a multifaceted initiative developed in a partnership among the Newberry, representatives from several tribal nations, and Native community members in Chicago, this exhibition explores Indigenous history in Chicago […]

Edgar Miller (1899–1993) arrived in Chicago in 1917, and over the next fifty years established a successful career as multi-hyphenate creative practitioner. He worked as an architect, artist, craftsperson, curator, […]

Over the last nine years, artist Theaster Gates has been the steward of the Johnson Publishing Company’s ephemera, periodicals, furniture, inventory, and architectural fragments originally housed at the Johnson Publishing […]

Since the time of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago's Black culture has been defined by its creative ethos of resourcefulness. Thinking ecologically before there was an environmental movement, generations of […]

During the 1970s, craft emerged as a powerful tool for artists advocating change within the art world and society. These creators aimed to dismantle rigid categorizations, enlighten societal perceptions, and elevate appreciation for individual expression and identity. These issues persist today, prompting a renewed examination of their contemporary relevance. Primarily focused on fiber, ceramics, jewelry, […]

Myth of the Organic City presents an historical and contemporary overview of Chicago’s design and land use, from its Indigenous roots through 20th century infrastructure projects to present-day developments. The exhibition includes maps, landscape designs, installations, wall drawings, sculptures, and multimedia works by more than 25 artists. The exhibition features artwork by Alexandra Antoine, Rebecca […]

For the Smart Museum’s 50th anniversary, South Side artist Robert Earl Paige creates a multi-part pattern-based installation and sprawling public art project that invites communities into a collective experience of space. Give the Drummer Some! is rooted in Paige’s decades-long practice as an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator who bridges cultural boundaries. A lifelong resident of the […]

Exploring identity and place through the diverse work, perspectives, and legacy of three immigration periods of Lithuanian artists in Chicago, this exhibition and its associated programs and publications consider the causes and consequences of immigration/migration, including displacement, colonization, trauma, and assimilation. The cost of belonging is choosing what to leave behind. Its reward: creating new […]