Forget the stereotypes about art aficionados. Chicagoans need not don an eye monocle or beret to appreciate current and upcoming exhibitions since the following shows are geared to various ages with vast interests.
For example, the Chicago History Museum invites visitors to travel back 131 years when the city’s famed “L” car took guests to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in L Car No. 1 First Look (through June 30). The exhibit offers artifacts from the exposition, period music and information on headliners at the fair.
More than 200 pieces of rare jewelry from the late Renaissance to the present will be on display in Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective (May 23-Sep. 23) at the Driehaus Museum. “The exhibition brings audiences closer to a very personal art form – jewelry – to show how history can add new perspectives to our everyday lives. Audiences will be thrilled to experience, up close, incredible works of wearable art and revel in the artistry of this universal art form,” says the museum’s executive director Lisa Key. “Chicago Collects has a broad thesis that allows us to show a variety of jewelry from across centuries, but what all the works have in common are their origins — they all come from Chicago collectors,” says jewelry historian and author Elyse Zorn Karlin, who organized the show. “Many of the pieces have never been shown publicly before and they illustrate a number of periods and styles in jewelry history.”
Thanks to Greektown Chicago, Halsted Street from Monroe to Van Buren Streets will be adorned by The Dance of Psyche. The outdoor exhibit showcases 26 butterfly sculptures throughout spring, with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 2. “Most everywhere in the world the butterfly symbolizes beauty and grace and this delicate creature carries a deeply spiritual meaning in many different cultures. We’re sure this butterfly art display will enchant both children and adults as they walk through Greektown for the enjoyment of dinner, drinks or other treats,” explains Commissioner and Arts Committee Chair Eve Moran of Greektown SSA #16 which sponsored the display in partnership with the Chicago Greektown Educational Foundation.
Earthlings of all ages are invited to venture into seven galleries of space alien artifacts in Area 51 Encounter (June 7-Aug. 4). Located on the first floor of the John Hancock Center, this immersive exhibition includes interactive recordings of UFO sightings, an alien laser shooting game and virtual reality moon explorer. “We couldn’t be more excited to share this unforgettable experience with the people of Chicago for the first time ever,” says Brian Bouquet, president of The Event Agency, Inc. “In a world where the possibility of life beyond Earth is becoming more plausible thanks to recent revelations of classified U.S. government files on UFO sightings and human-alien contact, Area 51 Encounter offers an unparalleled in-person experience that will ignite your curiosity and spark discussions about our place in the universe.”
David Bowie’s Low, Aladdin Sane and Hunky Dory albums, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road double album, and the cover art on other iconic LPs from the 1970s are recreated by painter Holly Farrell in her online exhibition The Album Project. “All of my work is tethered to memory, how it shapes us, how things common to us all, like music, continue to hold sway over us,” explains the artist. “I like that a song can pull out long forgotten ‘things’ — memories that are attached to feelings, faces, places. Typically I paint Still Life, but it seemed a natural progression to go through my vintage vinyl collection and want to do paintings of the records I grew up with. I wanted to paint in the physical history of these records — the sleeves, the wear, the patina, the softened corners — the impression of the vinyl within pushing out onto the cover. All evidence of long lives these past 50 or so odd years.”
Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy Pictures present Designing Donkey Hodie: From Make-Believe to Someplace Else (May 18-Aug 12) at the Elmhurst Art Museum. The family-friendly exhibition is accompanied by children’s programs, including a puppet workshop, as well as the outdoor art installation Monsters in Wilder Park: A Kid-Powered Art Show by illustrator Dave Pryor, who designs for the PBS KIDS series Donkey Hodie (2021-2023).
On April 27, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago will host Día del Niño (Day of the Children) featuring family-focused programs about migrant experiences. “Families are at the heart of our community, and their well-being is our top priority,” says 25th Ward Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez. “As we celebrate the Day of the Children, let us acknowledge the rich diversity that defines our youth. In nurturing an inclusive educational environment, we sow the seeds for a future where every child’s unique background has the ability to build bridges of understanding that will strengthen the fabric of our global community,” adds Ambassador Reyna Torres Mendivil of the Mexican Consulate in Chicago.
Testimonies from Survivors and descendants of genocides in Armenia, Guatemala, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, and Burma are offered in the Spagat Family Voices of Genocide exhibition which opens on May 1 at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie. “We know genocide does not just happen, which is why we must understand and educate about how genocide occurs and why. Through the Voices of Genocide, visitors will learn about the common conditions that exist across genocides and how knowing these warning signs can provide an agency to work toward intervention and prevention,” says Kelley Szany, Museum SVP of Exhibitions & Education. “The world has changed since the Holocaust, but the human capacity for inhumanity has not. We need only look at the continuation of genocide, past and present, that still threatens the security, well-being, and lives of people across the globe. This is why Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center was founded and continues its groundbreaking efforts: to remember the past so we can transform the future,” adds Bernard Cherkasov, Museum CEO.