June 2023: Summer Art Preview
Olga Ziemska: Of the Earth
The Morton Arboretum
May 26 thru 2025
Five large-scale sculptures by Polish American artist Olga Ziemska have been created exclusively for a new exhibition at The Morton Arboretum, Of the Earth, opening Friday, May 26, 2023.
The exhibition explores the artist’s expression and philosophy that, she says, “We are nature.” Ziemska said that her aim is to remind people that “everything in life is derived from the same basic elements that form everything in nature, including ourselves. There is no separation.” In Polish, Ziemska means “of the earth.”
The artist’s work was created from reclaimed and pruned tree branches and other natural materials gathered from various locations throughout the Arboretum’s 1,700 acres. “I am giving reclaimed natural materials a new life and transforming them from nature into new forms,” Ziemska said.
Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop / Works From the Bank of America Collection
Cleve Carney Museum of Art
Jun 3–Sept 10, 2023
The Warhol Exhibition includes 94 works from Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop/Works from the Bank of America Collection on loan through Bank of America’s Art in our Communities program, and over 11,000 sq. ft. of interactive experiences including a Biographical exhibit, Video installation, 150+ photos taken by Warhol, Children’s Print Factory, Studio 54 experience and a Central Park-inspired outdoor space.
The Art of Elizabeth Catlett, From the Collection of Samella Lewis
Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI
Jun 10–Sept 3, 2023
Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) was an African American sculptor and printmaker best known for her bold depictions of the Black experience in the 1960s and 70s. The Art of Elizabeth Catlettpresents a selection of the artist’s work from the collection of her student, fellow artist, educator, and lifelong friend Samella Lewis. Sculpture, art prints, and protest banners by Catlett tell the story of her life: her early arts education in the US, her move to Mexico and membership in Taller Gráfica Popular, her continual involvement with the Civil Rights movement in both countries, and the flow of influence between her and her peers. Artworks by Samella Lewis as well as Catlett’s husband, Fancisco Mora, will also be on view.
Gary Simmons: Public Enemy
Museum of Contemporary Art
Jun 13–Oct 1, 2023
Gary Simmons: Public Enemy is a comprehensive survey of the richly layered work of Gary Simmons (b. 1964, New York, NY). Among the most respected artists of his generation, Simmons has played a key role in situating questions of race, class, and gender identity at the center of contemporary art discourse since the late 1980s. He is notable for his early application of conceptual artistic strategies involving the critical deployment of pop-cultural imagery toward the aim of exposing and analyzing histories of racism inscribed in US visual culture. Over the course of his career, Simmons has revealed traces of these histories in the fields of sports, cinema, literature, music, architecture, and urbanism while drawing heavily on popular genres such as hip-hop, horror, and science fiction.
This exhibition—the most in-depth presentation of Simmons’s work to date—covers thirty years of highly disciplined production, encompassing sculptures, paintings, works on paper, and installations, as well as a number of large-scale wall drawings the artist will create on- site. The selected works will offer audiences a timely opportunity to gain a holistic understanding of the complex and profoundly moving work of this groundbreaking and influential artist.
Hector Guimard: Art Nouveau to Modernism
Begins Jun 22
Hector Guimard: Art Nouveau to Modernism, an exhibition exploring the life and work of Hector Guimard (1867-1942), the French architect and designer whose name is synonymous with the French Art Nouveau movement. Bringing together approximately 100 works including furniture, jewelry, metalwork, ceramics, drawings, and textiles from collections worldwide, Hector Guimard: Art Nouveau to Modernism is the first major American museum exhibition devoted to Guimard since the retrospective organized by the Museum of Modern Art in 1970.
