Art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object.&nbsp;

Conceptual / Performance

<h3>Developed during the Italian Renaissance, primarily for aesthetics or beauty, the highest art was that which allowed the full expression and display of the artist's imagination.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – Pre 18th Century

<h3>Graphic Art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional. It includes calligraphy, photography, painting, typography, computer graphics, and bindery.&nbsp;</h3>

Graphic Art

Works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects.

Artists' Books

The exploration of video art and music or sound set, including visual music, abstract film, audiovisual performances and installations.

Video / Sound

The objects produced by shaping pieces of clay that are then hardened by baking, or the skill of making such objects.

Ceramics

An artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are carved, modeled, casted, and constructed into a three-dimensional art object.&nbsp;

Sculpture

The process of creating artworks by printing, typically on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints that have an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting.

Printmaking

<h3>Something made in an earlier period that is collected and considered to have value because it is beautiful, rare, old, or of high quality.</h3>

Antiques and Artifacts

Imagery where the subject matter centers around a view or depiction of Chicago.&nbsp;

Chicago Scenes & Regionalism

Old Masters refer to any painter of skill who worked in Europe before about 1800.

Old Masters

Socio-Political art is used to help the public understand a particular social or political issue.

Socio-Political

<h3>The attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, or implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements.</h3>

Realism

<h3>Artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real objects and is representational.</h3>

Figurative

<h3>Individual works of art that are substantially or wholly made of glass. Glass art ranges in size from monumental works and installation pieces, to wall hangings and windows, to works of art made in studios and factories, including glass jewelry and tableware.</h3>

Glass

<h3>Artwork that often deals with Rococo, the Enlightenment, Neoclassicism, and Romanticism.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – 18th & 19th C.

From the Tate Museum's website: Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment with the experience and values of modern industrial life. Building on late nineteenth-century precedents, artists around the world used new imagery, materials and techniques to create artworks that they felt better reflected the realities and hopes of modern societies.

Modernism

<h3>Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that continue to challenge boundaries.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – Contemporary

<h3>Art that is concerned with the design and decoration of objects that are chiefly prized for their utility, rather than for their purely aesthetic qualities including, ceramics, glassware, metalware, furniture, textiles, clothing, and more.</h3>

Furniture & Decorative Arts

<h3>Emerging art is work by artists who are still building their artistic careers and have not yet reached a more established and widely recognized status.&nbsp;</h3>

Emerging

<h3>Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labour on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility.</h3>

Fiber Arts / Textiles

The quality of dealing with ideas rather than events. Freedom from representational qualities in art.

Abstraction

<h3>Art by African-American artists.</h3>

African-American

<h3>The art and science of designing and making buildings, or the style of a building.</h3>

Architecture

<h3>Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, an emphasis on light and its changing qualities, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience.</h3>

Impressionism

From the Tate Museum's website: Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often characterized by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity.

Abstract Expressionism

Numismatics

Relating to Africa or people of African descent.

African

Eastern European art is a product of recent history. It can be traced to the division of Europe into the Western and Soviet spheres of influence of the allied victory over Germany in World War two.

Eastern European

Considered one of the most influential periods of art, featuring movements including Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism.

Early 20th Century

Skill and experience, especially in relation to making objects by hand.

Craft

<h3>The skill of making plans, drawings, or arrangements to show how a building or product is made.</h3>

Design

Asian art is diverse and rich, spanning thousands of years and dozens of countries. It is known for its ritual bronzes, beautiful ceramics, calligraphy, jades, textiles, painted landscapes, garden design, pagodas and stupas, and woodblock prints.

Asian

<h3>An artistic genre of three-dimensional works that often are site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space.</h3>

Installations

An art form that combines visual art with dramatic performance.

Performance

Some of the most prominent, highly influential artists, who challenged preconceptions and pushed the limits of visual art, shaping the art world of our time.

Modern Contemporary Masters

Created in accordance with the vision of the artist as a photographer, using photography as a medium to bring something to life that only lives in the artist's mind.

Photography

The design movement in interior, product, graphic design, architecture, and urban development from roughly the 1930's to 1965.

Mid-Century

A movement in art and literature that flourished in the early 20th-century. Surrealism aimed at expressing imaginative dreams and visions free from conscious rational control.&nbsp;

Surrealism

An innovative discipline which seeks to unify a large range of art forms. This is creatively achieved by combining an array of artistic insights and crafts such as film, literature, performance, music and sound, drama, visual arts, or design.

Multi-Media

<h3>The depiction of landscapes in art—natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composition.</h3>

Landscape

Plein air is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look.

Plein-air

Printed 2-D artwork which is designed to be affixed to a vertical surface, may consist exclusively of images, or images and text.

Poster / Lithography

<h3>A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.</h3>

Portraits / Portraiture

<h3>These works are often stunningly beautiful, and encourage the viewer to engage with the rich history of research and experimentation that led to the piece’s conception.</h3>

Scientific

<h3>The Art of the American West is defined by geographical subject, consists of historic and contemporary works of art which focus on varying expressions of individuals, landscapes, ideals, and myths of the American West.</h3>

Western (The American West)

<h3>Borrowed from Wikipedia: In visual arts, music, and other mediums, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. It derives from the reductive aspects of modernism and is often interpreted as a reaction against abstract expressionism and a bridge to postminimal art practices.</h3>

Minimalism

<h3>Occupying the space between fine art and the everyday, functional art refers to aesthetic objects that serve utilitarian purposes. The genre is remarkably inclusive, it encompasses everything from furniture and lighting to dishes and even books.</h3>

Functional Art - Jewelry / Fashion

A range of artistic practices encompassing both historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types of works.

Wildlife / Nature

Watches & Timepieces

Sports Collectibles

3-Dimensonal

Rare Books / Manuscripts

Western European art represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from antiquity until the present time. Until the mid-19th century it was primarily concerned with representational and Classical modes of production. After the mid-19th century modern, abstract and conceptual forms gained favor.

Western European

<h3>Artistic expression of Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, as well as Latin and Hispanic Americans living in other regions. Latin American art has roots in the many different indigenous cultures that inhabited the Americas before European colonization in the 16th-century.</h3>

Latin American and Hispanic

Comics

Large Scale (over 6')

Visual art created in public locations, usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues. Common forms and media include spray paint graffiti, stencil graffiti, poster art, sticker art, street installations, and sculpture.

Pop / Street Art / Graffiti

Medieval / Renaissance 

Non-Western

<h3>Art produced by self-taught or naïve art makers. Typically, those labeled as outsider artists have little or no contact with the mainstream art world or art institutions. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates extreme mental states, unconventional ideas, or elaborate fantasy worlds.</h3>

Folk / Outsider / Self Taught

American Regionalism

Literary Arts

Mosiac

Includes manuscripts, prints, drawings, collages, and paintings on paper.

Works on Paper

Prints and Drawings

Located one block east of the historic Water Tower, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has been at the forefront of showcasing new and experimental work since its inception in 1967. Be inspired by their ever-changing, provocative exhibits and programs; indulge in&nbsp;innovative cuisine crafted by one of the city’s foremost chefs at their restaurant, Marisol; and shop at one of the best gift stores in Chicago. Visit the MCA’s <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.mcachicago.org/" target="_blank">website</a> to plan your next visit. The MCA offers&nbsp;FREE admission for&nbsp;anyone under 18 all&nbsp;year long. Photo: T. McDonald&nbsp;Photography (@tmcd.chi)

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)

Founded in 1940, South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) is the nation’s first Black art institution, dedicated to amplifying the voices of contemporary Black artists. SSCAC is a dynamic cultural space where Black art, thought, and radical creativity thrive on Chicago’s South Side. Here, we embrace art as a living, evolving language, one that speaks to resilience, imagination, and the complexities of Black identity in our time. SSCAC is both a platform and a sanctuary—a place where emerging creators stand shoulder-to-shoulder with seasoned visionaries, and where every exhibition, workshop, and performance is an invitation to explore and challenge. Our commitment is to showcase bold, current perspectives that resonate with the realities of today while honoring the legacy that brought us here. Join us as we nurture the future of Black art, creating space for innovation, dialogue, and profound cultural expression. January 2025–March 2029: Beyond Frames: Black Women Collectors Shaping&nbsp;Cultural Heritage in Chicago Image: South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC), the nation’s first Black art space, forging the future on Chicago’s South Side.&nbsp;Design: Jada-Amina / Photo Credit: Lennell Davis, Jr.

South Side Community Art Center

Dragonfly Gallery, established in March 2020 and located in East Garfield Park, is committed to fostering inspiration and providing essential resources and opportunities for artists and the community. We host monthly exhibitions featuring a diverse array of artists, from new and emerging to established, focusing on BIPOC artists. In addition, our gallery includes a curated retail space that showcases local artisans, jewelry makers, and vendors. Dragonfly Gallery offers workshops, seminars, and classes for artists and families to engage the community further.&nbsp; All exhibitions are available for online viewing and purchase, ensuring accessibility for all.&nbsp; Opening receptions are on the first Saturday of each exhibition. Subsequent viewings available online and by appointment only.&nbsp;&nbsp;Image: View of gallery, courtesy Dragonfly Gallery&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Dragonfly Gallery & Creative Spaces

The premiere home for arts and culture on the North Shore. Exhibits, Wedding and Events Venue, Classes for All Ages and Skill Levels.&nbsp;Located in the boutique town of Highland Park, The Art Center Highland Park presents museum-quality galleries with ever-changing exhibitions of local, international, emerging, and established artists. Vibrant programming has everything from annual events to monthly artist talks and collaborations with other local cultural arts providers. Your home for creative exploration on the North Shore of Chicago. Check our website for Calls for Artists entry dates and details throughout the year.&nbsp; Image: 2022 Exhibit Fiber • Fashion • Feminism in the Center Gallery at the Art Center Highland Park

The Art Center Highland Park

Zolla/Lieberman Gallery was established in 1976 by Roberta Lieberman and Robert Zolla within a then-desolate industrial neighborhood now known as the River North Gallery District. They transformed a vacant industrial space into a hub for contemporary art, laying the foundation for the thriving art community that the area is today.&nbsp; Now located at 325 W Huron St, William Lieberman continues to uphold the legacy of quality and professionalism established since the gallery’s founding. Z/L represents a diverse range of artists and genres that offer a dynamic view of contemporary art in Chicago. They are dedicated to providing personal attention to both beginning and established collectors, as well as other art professionals. Member Art&nbsp;Dealers Association&nbsp;of America (ADAA). Image: Deborah Butterfield, Lucky, 2021, cast bronze,&nbsp;87 x 110.5 x 24.5 in.&nbsp;

Zolla / Lieberman Gallery

Bridgeport Art Center (BAC) is home to artists, woodworkers, sculptors,&nbsp;fashion designers, architects, interior designers, attorneys, counselors, therapists, non for profits, for profits, and many other professionals.&nbsp;BAC features 3 galleries, Fashion Design Center, Shared Floor Ceramics, Chicago Maritime Museum, and Base cafe.&nbsp;BAC is home for creative minds, emerging artists, and evolving professionals in Chicagoland. Visit Bridgeportart.com for a complete 2025 exhibition schedule and to see what we offer. For information on leasing, please call us at 773–843–9000. The office and galleries are open Monday–Saturday, 8am–6pm, Sunday, 8am–12pm. Visit <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.bridgeportart.com" target="_blank">bridgeportart.com</a> for a complete 2025 exhibition schedule.&nbsp; Join us every third Friday of the month from 7–10 pm when artists open their studios to the public.&nbsp;&nbsp;Image: Alberto Villegas&nbsp;

Bridgeport Art Center

Woman Made Gallery (WMG) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating, promoting, and supporting the work of women and non-binary artists through dynamic exhibitions, memberships, and community-focused programs. WMG welcomes women and non-binary artists, including trans women and femme-identifying genderqueer individuals, from local, regional, and global communities. Since its founding in 1992, WMG has showcased the work of over 10,000 artists in more than 475 exhibitions. Annually, WMG hosts up to nine juried group shows and maintains a membership of over 350 artists. Through professional development workshops, networking events, and online promotion, WMG connects its members to a community of over 15,000 supporters. WMG provides a platform for conversations on topics that matter to women and that seek to interpret the world through a feminist lens. Public programs such as artist talks, panel discussions, and poetry readings foster dialogue and inspire meaningful community engagement. Image:&nbsp;Gallery view during the 7th Midwest Open Exhibition, September 2024

Woman Made Gallery

Hyde Park Art Center will be&nbsp;CLOSED from December 23 to January 5 Hyde Park Art Center, on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, serving as a gathering, production, and exhibition space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks. Since its inception in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center has grown from a small collective of artists to establishing a strong legacy of risk-taking and experimentation, emerging as a unique Chicago arts institution with social impact. Today, the Art Center offers a diverse suite of programs for artists and art lovers of all backgrounds, ages, and stages in their careers including: contemporary art exhibitions in six galleries; an open-access community-based school with 2,500 annual enrollments; weekly arts education to over 1,000 public elementary school students; weekly and summer programs for 250 teen artists; professional-advancement programs for artists; a local and international artist residency; and public programs that connect residents with Chicago art and artists. The Art Center’s Oakman Clinton School + Studio is the nation’s first fully contribute-what-you-can visual art school for all ages. The Art Center functions as an amplifier for creative voices of today and tomorrow, providing the space to cultivate new work and connections.&nbsp; All exhibitions and events are free and open to the public. Visit our <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.hydeparkart.org" target="_blank">website</a> for updated hours and info. Image: Installation view,&nbsp;The United Colors of Robert Earl Paige, Hyde Park Art Center, 2024. Photo by Tom Van Eynde&nbsp;

Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC)

The Chicago Cultural Center is a historic and architectural gem located in the heart of downtown Chicago. Originally built in 1897 as the city’s first public library, the Cultural Center is a stunning example of neoclassical architecture, featuring a grand marble staircase, magnificent Tiffany stained-glass dome, and ornate mosaics throughout the building.&nbsp; The Cultural Center is a vibrant hub of arts and culture, offering a wide range of free public programs, exhibitions, and events. Visitors can explore the building’s many galleries, performance spaces, and event rooms, which showcase a diverse array of visual art, music, dance, and theater. Whether you’re a local resident or a visitor to the city, the Cultural Center offers an enriching and inspiring experience that celebrates the power of art to unite and inspire. Image: rendering of Kerry James Marshall mural on the back of the Chicago Cultural Center on Garland Court, fall 2017

Chicago Cultural Center

Bert Green Fine Art exhibits emerging, mid-career, queer and underrepresented artists. We present smart, challenging work and site-specific exhibitions, and publish original limited edition prints in various media.&nbsp; Email sign-up on our <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.bgfa.us" target="_blank">website</a>. Image: BGFA is located in the Willoughby Building on Michigan Avenue; exterior view pictured above.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Bert Green Fine Art

Check website for hours and opening dates and they are subject to change throughout the year. The Stony Island Arts Bank is a hybrid gallery, media archive, library and community center –&nbsp;and a home for Rebuild’s archives and collections. Designed by William Gibbons Uffendell and built in 1923, the bank at 68th Street and Stony Island Avenue was once a vibrant community savings and loan. By the eighties, the branch had closed and the building remained vacant and deteriorating for decades. Reopened&nbsp;in October 2015, the radically restored building serves as a space for neighborhood residents to preserve, access, reimagine and share their heritage – and a destination for artists, scholars, curators, and collectors to research and engage with South Side history. The Arts Bank collections include:<ul><li>Johnson Publishing Archive + Collections: Books and periodicals donated by the Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony and Jetmagazine.</li><li>University of Chicago Glass Lantern Slides: Over 60,000 slides of art and architectural history from the Paleolithic to Modern eras</li><li>Edward J. Williams Collection: 4,000 objects of “negrobilia” – mass cultural objects and artifacts that feature stereotypical images of people of color</li><li>Frankie Knuckles Records: “Godfather of House Music,” Frankie Knuckles’ vinyl collection</li></ul> For more information contact <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:info@rebuild-foundation.org" target="_blank">info@rebuild-foundation.org</a>&nbsp;

Stony Island Arts Bank

DOCUMENT Chicago will be closed on winter break from December 22, 2024 through January 1, 2025. Save the date for our next exhibition opening:&nbsp;Friday, January 10 from 5-8pm.﻿ DOCUMENT is a contemporary art gallery located in Chicago and Lisbon with a focus on image-based practices, sculpture, and installation art. Since its inception in Chicago in 2012, the gallery has organized over 100 exhibitions. In 2017, DOCUMENT relocated to West Town and has since anchored its program as a conversation between emerging voices and established figures. The gallery has developed a reputation for championing artists and exhibiting challenging works across disciplines. In 2022, the gallery opened a second location in Lisbon, Portugal. Operating conjointly as a professional printmaking studio, DOCUMENT facilitates the production of works by artists from the region and beyond, making a wide range of printing techniques available for gallery artists to realize their works. Image:&nbsp;Paul Mpagi Sepuya: Infinite Like Night, installation view at DOCUMENT Chicago, 2024

DOCUMENT

moniquemeloche was founded in October 2000, with its debut exhibition&nbsp;‘Homewrecker’ at Meloche’s home, and officially opened to the public in May 2001. Diverse and inclusive since its inception, the gallery promotes politically minded contemporary art, aiming to be a bellwether for artistic talents early or under-recognized in their careers. Working with an international group of emerging and established artists in all media, the gallery presents conceptually challenging installations in Chicago and at art fairs internationally, with an emphasis on curatorial and institutional outreach. Represented artists include: Luke Agada, Candida Alvarez, Sanford Biggers,&nbsp;Antonius-Tín Bui, David Antonio Cruz, Brendan Fernandes, Dan Gunn,&nbsp;Sheree Hovsepian, Rashid Johnson, Kajahl, Lavar Munroe, Ben Murray,&nbsp;Maia Cruz Palileo, Ebony G. Patterson, Cheryl Pope, Karen Reimer, Joel Ross,&nbsp;David Shrobe, Arvie Smith, Jake Troyli, Nate Young. Image:&nbsp;Courtesy of the Artist and Monique Meloche Gallery &nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1736094178/zxmczl4k7a89vxsii5tq.png">&nbsp;

moniquemeloche

South Shore Arts has been improving the quality of life along the South Shore for over 80 years. It all started in the hat department of the Minas Department Store in downtown Hammond, Indiana with an annual exhibit of regional artists, known today as the Annual Salon Show.&nbsp; Located in the Center for Visual and Performing Arts, in Munster, Indiana, South Shore Arts has one branch location at Substation No. 9, an inner-city art center in downtown Hammond. South Shore Arts offers quality exhibitions, programming, education programming and outreach in Northwest Indiana. Image: Installation of Joanne Aono “Ghost Harvest,” Graphite, colored pencil, marker, crop cover cloth, wood, paint, cord

South Shore Arts

SECRIST | BEACH, located in the West Town neighborhood at the corner of Wood and Hubbard Streets, occupies a double bow-truss, sky-lit 10,000 sq. ft. space that features an expanded approach to contemporary exhibition experiences. Our reinvigorated programming presents solo artists’ exhibitions alongside curated surveys by like-minded creators, elaborating the dialogue around related topics.&nbsp; Additional programming includes panel discussions, lectures, curatorial invitationals and other events. As we dive into our third decade we offer a revitalized mission as a gift to engage our art community locally and at large.&nbsp; Image: Installation view: Hilma's Ghost. Photo by Nathan Keay.&nbsp;

Secrist | Beach

For over 20 years, the Judy Ferrara Gallery in Three Oaks, MI, has been dedicated to helping clients transform their lives and homes through the power of art. With an understanding of aesthetics and a vast inventory of paintings and sculptures, we assist clients in finding art pieces that resonate with them. Located in the charming town of Three Oaks, MI, our gallery is situated 75 miles east of Chicago, 35 miles west of South Bend, and seven miles east of Lake Michigan. We invite you to visit us and discover art that speaks to you. Please see CGN lising or gallery website for 2025 dates and details. Image: Gallery view

Multi-Media

Other Specialties

Chicago Gallery News