Created in collaboration with The Visualist, Chicago’s leading visual arts calendar, Sixty’s Art Picks is a wide selection of Midwest arts events, handpicked for our audience of artists, cultural workers, and curators, prioritizing the spaces and events of historically marginalized peoples. Our list is broad but by no means comprehensive; please look at venue calendars to find more events.
All times are listed in Central Standard Time unless otherwise noted. Click here to get our Art Picks and latest articles delivered to your inbox monthly. You can find Art Picks from previous months here.
Before attending any in-person events, we hope you’ll read this open letter cowritten by a group of disabled queers to the Chicago party community, demanding COVID-safe protocols and mindful gathering to protect the most vulnerable members of our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of this letter is to reach organizers who plan events and cultivate spaces for queer community building and joy. Please remember to mask; the pandemic is on-going.
Pao Houa Her: The Imaginative Landscape
March 15–August 31, 2025 at John Michael Kohler Art Center, 608 New York Ave
(Sheboygan, WI)
Rachel Hausmann Schall: Leave the Doors Open
July 11–August 15, 2025 at No Instructions Gallery, 2124 E Rusk Ave. (Milwaukee, WI)
Really Big Prints
August 20–October 18, 2025 at Center for Visual Arts, 427 North Fourth Street (Wausau, WI)
*SEPTEMBER SNEAK PEEK*
September 4 – 7, 2025 in Wausau, WI
Wausau’s Artrageous Weekend:
Birds in Art Opening Weekend Experience + Wausau Festival of the Arts
Click a button below to jump to a specific week of events.
August 1-30, 2025
Protean Bodies, Translucid Decay by Sarah Knight
St. Louis Artists’ Guild: 12 N Jackson Ave, St. Louis, MO
Free
August 1-October 25, 2025
Tyrrell Winston: HORSE: A Game for Everyone
Library Street Collective: 1001 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI
Free
Friday, August 1, 11-11:45am
Wonder Walk: Summer Stroll
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts: 314 S. Park St., Kalamazoo, MI
Free
Friday, August 1, 10am-12pm
Living Without the Gods: Art, Absence, and Afterlife | Online Webinar
South Asia Institute: Online
Free
Friday, August 1, 5-8pm
Perennial Hug 3 Chicago and Vicinity
Circle Contemporary: 2010 W Carroll Ave, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 1, 5-8pm
ATHENA FUND EXHIBITIONS: Jasmine Percell, Jessica Swank, Rivers Qinnan Zhu
ARC Gallery: 1463 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 1, 6-9pm
Renee Robbins: WUNDERKAMMER
Epiphany Center for the Arts/Sacristy Gallery: 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 1, 6:30-8:30pm
Jane Thorn & Jessie Mott
Center on Halsted: 3656 N Halsted St, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 1, 7-10pm
Sofia Saavedra: Crossing into Dreams
Agitator Gallery: 3851 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 1, 9pm-1am
digitalth0t at Dorothy
Dorothy: 2500 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 2, 10:30am-12pm
Make the River Present Gathering: Eads Bridge
East Riverfront Metrolink Parking Lot (East St. Louis): Bogy Ave, East St. Louis, MO
Free
Saturday, August 2, 11am-7pm
North Lawndale Arts Festival
Douglass Park Cultural & Community Center: 1401 S Sacramento Dr, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 2, 12-1pm
Re-Presencing Soundwalk by Norman W. Long
Jackson Park: 6401 S Stony Island Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 2, 2-4pm
The Learning Studio: Workshop with Artist Victoria Martinez
DePaul Art Museum: 935 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 2, 2-6pm
Connie Noyes: Dispatched: Closing Reception with a special performance by Victor Sanders!
Compound Yellow: 244 Lake St, Oak Park, IL
Free
Saturday, August 2, 4-6pm
Akojopo Presents: South Side Sisters, Sounds, and Stories
Kennicott (Jonathan) Park: 4434 South Lake Park Ave, Chicago
Free
Sunday, August 3, 2-5pm
Dan S. Wang: Finding Our Way (through a triple double)
Chinese American Museum of Chicago: 238 W 23rd St, 4th Floor, Chicago
Free
Sunday, August 3, 3pm
OPTION: Lula Asplund
Experimental Sound Studio: 5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago
Free
August 7, 2025-January 9, 2026
Black Defined 1: Ceramics
Bronzeville Center for the Arts: 507 W. North Ave, Milwaukee, WI
Free
Thursday, August 7, 7-9:30PM
Aida Shahghasemi & Friends (w/ Anna Johnson)
Berlin: 204 N First St, Minneapolis, MN
Free
Friday, August 8, 12-1PM
Photos at Noon: Autonomous Power in Photography
Museum of Contemporary Photography: 600 S Michigan Ave, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 8, 4:30-5:30PM
Panel Discussion for Project 1612 “Ripples: The 10th Anniversary Invitational”
Project 1612: 813 E Jefferson St, Morton, IL
Free
Friday, August 8, 5-9PM
Chantal Danyluk: Poikilotherm
Art City: 1400 N Halsted St, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 8, 6PM
Sena Clara Creston: Fortitude
Dragonfly Gallery and Creative Spaces: 2436 W Madison St, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 8, 6-8:30PM
Closing Reception: Image, Voice, and Placemaking, 11 Years after Ferguson
Chicago Justice Gallery: 1344 S Halsted St, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 8, 7-11PM
Home Grown (Vol. II)
Heaven Gallery: 1550 N Milwaukee Ave, 2nd Floor, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 8, 8pm
Blood and Marrow
International Museum of Surgical Science: 1524 N Lake Shore Dr, Chicago
$10-15
Friday, August 8, 9pm-1am
DJ Ca$h Era at Dorothy
Dorothy: 2500 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
Free
August 9-30, 2025
Natural Dyeing for Beginners
IC Press Co-op at PS1 Northside: 225 N Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA
Free
Saturday, August 9, 10AM-12PM
Repair Cafe: Forward Chicago
Sulzer Regional: 4455 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 9, 1-4PM
2025 Sonic Pavilion Festival
Jay Pritzker Pavilion: 201 E Randolph St., Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 9, 2-5PM
John Marks and Crystal Myslajek: Permanent Fixture
Roman Susan: 1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 9, 2-6PM
Juliann Wang: My Little Realities
Compound Yellow: 244 Lake St, Oak Park
Free
Saturday, August 9, 5-8PM
Katherine Kaminski: Light Refreshments
Studio Break Gallery: 1N046 Ridgeland Ave, West Chicago, IL
Free
Saturday, August 9, 6-8PM
Crosscurrents
Library Street Collective: 1260 Library Street, Detroit, MI
Free
Saturday, August 9, 6:30-8:30PM
Quimby’s Show & Tell with Marc Fischer of Public Collectors
Quimby’s Bookstore: 1854 W North Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 9, 6:30-8:30PM
Erotic Photography Workshop
Leather Archives & Museum: 6418 N Greenview Ave, Chicago
$10
Saturday, August 9, 6-9PM
The Haunting of a Place that Longs for Your Arrival
LVL3: 1542 N Milwaukee Ave #3, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 9, 6-9PM
Speak of the Devil
Joy Machine: 4148 N Elston Ave, Chicago
Free
Sunday, August 10, 3PM
OPTION: DoYeon Kim
Experimental Sound Studio: 5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago
Free
Sunday, August 10, 4-5:30PM
Josh Rios – Pass the Aux: A Collective Sharing and Listening Session
Unity Park: 2636 N Kimball Ave, Chicago
Free
Sunday, August 10, 7-9PM
NEW YORK CITY INFERNO: A Bijou Video Screening
Leather Archives & Museum: 6418 N Greenview Ave, Chicago
Free
Tuesday, August 12, 9-3PM
Lincoln Quilters Guild: August workshop
International Quilt Museum: 1523 N 33rd St, Lincoln, NE
$50-60
Thursday, August 14, 6-10PM
NMC 67th Season Kickoff
The Royale: 3132 S Kingshighway Blvd, St Louis, MO
$10-15
Thursday, August 14, 7PM
Hayley Elizabeth • Anne Helen Wells • LIIAN • OnlyFerns
Cactus Club: 2496 S Wentworth Ave, Milwaukee, WI
$10-15
Friday, August 15, 6-9PM
Poor Man’s Paradise
Project Onward: 1200 W 35th St, 4th Fl, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 15, 7-9PM
Benjamin Luebkemann: The Circus
Roman Susan: 1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 16, 2-3:30PM
Cripping the Galleries | Matt Bodett
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago
Sold Out
Saturday, August 16, 5:30PM
Appalachian Shibboleth and Other Southern Trail Trees
KIOSK: 3054 N Sheffield Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 16, 7-10PM
Fetish Film Forum – The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Leather Archives & Museum: 6418 N Greenview Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 16, 9PM-1AM
Yannaa Lynette at Dorothy
Dorothy: 2500 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
Free
Sunday, August 17, 3PM
OPTION: BCMC (Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay)
Experimental Sound Studio: 5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago
Free
Friday, August 22, 5-7:30PM
WORKROOM Celebration and Closing Reception
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education: 1010 W 35th St, Suite 697, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 23, 10:30AM-12PM
Deirdre Harrison with Katie Mazzini: Tune In, Take Turns
Columbus Park: 500 S Central Ave, Chicago
Free
Saturday, August 23, 11AM-2PM
Play Reading Club – “She Kills Monsters” by Qui Nguyen
Gerber/Hart Library and Archives: 6500 N Clark St, 2nd Fl, Chicago
Free
Monday, August 25, 8PM
International Anthem Presents: 11 of 11
Hungry Brain: 2319 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
$20.72
August 28-31, 2025
Chicago Jazz Festival
Chicago Cultural Center: 78 E Washington St, Chicago & Millennium Park: 201 E. Randolph St, Chicago
Free
Through August 10
The Founding Gifts: General Federation of Women’s Clubs
South Dakota Art Museum: 1036 Medary Ave, Brookings, SD
Free
Through August 14
Into the Hourglass
National Museum of Mexican Art: 1852 W 19th St, Chicago
Free
Through August 24
The Floating World and Beyond: 200 Years of Japanese Prints
Joslyn Art Museum: 2200 Dodge St, Omaha, NE
Free
Through August 24
The Gun Violence Memorial Project
MOCAD: 4454 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI
Free
About the image maker: Ian Carstens (he/him) is a writer, filmmaker and curator based in the Midwest. His work explores temporality, non-human aliveness, multiplicity, as well as critiques of the archive, lens-based art forms and cultural institutions. He is the lead curator/filmmaker of Glass Breakfast, an ongoing archival project. His work has been published with Burnaway, Sugarcane, The Pulp, Ruckus Journal, Fugue Literary Journal and Sixty Inches From Center.
