The Social Justice Sewing Academy: Connecting Generations through Cloth

May 28 – August 22

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

From quilts supporting abolition and temperance to signature quilts made to raise money for war efforts to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, quilts have long expressed political beliefs and supported social causes. As quilt scholar Marsha MacDowell said, “Many people think of quilts as a warm, fuzzy domestic art. Yet we see time and time again, artists have used this particular medium to make strong statements that address human rights issues.” Most often, quilts with a message are made by adults, but, today, the tradition of quilting for social justice is being introduced to young artivists—or artist-activists—who pick up a needle and thread for the first time and learn to see quilts in a new way.

Jeffrey Gibson: Sweet Bitter Love

May 28 – September 18

Newberry Library

Sweet Bitter Love presents Jeffrey Gibson’s reflections on representations of Indigenous people in cultural institutions. Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, responds to nineteenth-century portraits of Indigenous people in the Newberry Library’s collection. His paintings and wallpaper refute ethnographic symbolism with vibrant, glittering layers.

Theaster Gates: How to Sell Hardware

May 28 – July 31

Gray Warehouse

How to Sell Hardware tells the story of Theaster Gates’s ongoing engagement with a family-owned True Value hardware store formerly located on Chicago’s South Side. Once a lively central space for local commerce, the True Value store shared in the growth and prosperity of a thriving community during the 1970s and 80s, filling its practical and social needs. The hardware store similarly mirrored the neighborhood’s downturns as business slowed in the 1990s with the emergence of big-box stores which drastically changed the needs and habits of the once-prosperous Chicago neighborhood.

Susan Hall and Allison B. Cooke: Beneath the Surface

Opening: Friday, May 28, 6 – 9 pm

Lily Pad | West

Midwest artists Allison B. Cooke and Susan Hall explore the concept of transformation via the energetic addition and subtraction of materials. While Susan Hall peels away lace designs from hardened gesso to allow her phantasmic figures to take form, Allison B. Cooke combines years' worth of gathered parchments and pigments to build dreamlike renditions of remembered places and times.

PLAIN AIR

May 29 – July 17

Carrie Secrist Gallery

Carrie Secrist Gallery is thrilled to announce our first in-person opening reception of 2021 for Plain Air, a group exhibition featuring nine artists exploring the traditional genre of landscape. Please join us this Saturday May 29th from 12 - 5 PM at our gallery space located at 900 W. Washington BLVD, Chicago, IL.*

This exhibition will also be viewable in person by appointment through July 17, 2021. To make an appointment in person, please visit the Reservation page on our website. Our online viewing room for Plain Air will go on view Saturday morning, May 29 at 10AM (CST). 

Virginia Carstarphen: Wanderings, Maps and Memories

Opening: Saturday, May 29, 4 – 5 pm

ARC Gallery