The Tarble Arts Center is the teaching museum on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL. With an artist-centered approach, the Tarble presents an annual program of rotating exhibitions that provide experiential encounters with art of international significance and local relevance. An onsite Education Lab, Design Lab, and Collection Lab are hubs for transdisciplinary activity, positioning art as a primary tool for research, advancing knowledge, and interpreting the world we live in. The outcomes of this experimentation produce projects, publications, and opportunities that reach EIU students, community members, regional partners, and international collaborators both in the museum and wherever they are. The Tarble’s ongoing stewardship of a permanent collection of contemporary art, American Regionalism, and folk art provides opportunities for study and reflection to students of all ages.

Image: Jenny Kendler and Andrew Bearnot, "Whale Bells," 2023. Courtesy the artists