Celebrating Juneteenth: Norman Lewis
In celebration of Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, let’s honor Harlem Renaissance (ca. 1920s–1930s) (and beyond) artist Norman Lewis, one of the earliest African American artists to embrace abs ...
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Curator's Corner
Gem for Pride Month 2023: Anne Ryan
Our Gem for this Pride Month is Anne Ryan, an artist who was one of the first women who dedicated a large portion of her body of work to collage. She was one of the many gay artists who were active ar ...
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Curator's Corner
Pride Month 2023: Ellsworth Kelly
Let’s celebrate the life of one of the pioneers of the Color Field movement in American modernism, Ellsworth Kelly, to mark the beginning of LGBT Pride Month. Kelly was one of the many gay artis ...
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Curator's Corner
AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Chan Chao
Photography was a groundbreaking art form when it was first introduced. Quite soon after its development, numerous Western photographers explored photography for documentary and journalistic purposes. ...
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Curator's Corner
AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Walasse Ting
One of the great things about America is the fact that, since colonial times, awesome artists from all over the world have come here and made amazing contributions to American art history. As time has ...
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Curator's Corner
AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Miyoko Ito
Let’s recognize a true original in Chicago abstract painting to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month: Miyoko Ito. There were two strains in painting that characterized th ...
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Curator's Corner
Gems of the Month: Contemporary Japanese Tea Bowls
This month’s gems are contemporary artworks that serve the ages-old Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu or sado). Tea drinking was first introduced in Japan during the Nara period (710–794) aft ...
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Curator's Corner
May Day Artist Birthday: Cecilia Beaux
The American Renaissance was a period when more American artists traveled to Europe in order to enrich their artistic vision. They brought back such styles as Impressionism, Dark Impressionism, B ...
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Curator's Corner
Spring Green from Gary Hume
In my ongoing celebration of spring, I’m featuring British artist Gary Hume. His Spring Angels series of eight screenprints sets just the right tone with their vibrant colors. In some of the pri ...
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Curator's Corner
A Young Wheat Plant for Spring: Hamada Shōji
As an avid learner of the thousands of years of Japanese ceramic arts history, I am always excited to contemplate an artist’s work that I had never studied carefully before. Shōji Hama ...
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