Our Art Picks are created in collaboration with The Visualist, Chicago’s leading visual arts calendar, and cross-promoted through Windy City Times, one of the longest locally-published LGBTQ weeklies with a national reach. Click here to get our Art Picks and latest articles delivered to your inbox monthly.
This is a growing list, so check back often for new additions.
December Art Picks
Fri, December 1, 5-7:30pm
Variety Hours: t/here and the/n
The Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Ave)
Free with Museum Admission
Fri, December 1, 6pm
T-POP
Plus Gallery Chicago (1800 W 18th St, 1R)
$5
Fri, December 1, 6-9pm
All That Glitters, Meghan Borah (Opening Reception as part of Handmade Holidays)
Lillstreet Art Center, Print Room, 3rd Floor
Free
Fri, December 1, 6-9pm
Rebecca Shore and Michael Cline: Night Paving
Corbett vs. Dempsey (1120 N Ashland Ave)
Free
Fri, December 1, 6-9pm
Preview 7: The whole is always smaller than its parts
Chicago Artists Coalition (217 N Carpenter St)
Free
Fri, December 1, 6-9pm
Rites
Chicago Artists Coalition (217 N Carpenter St)
Free
Fri, December 1, 6-9pm
Mounting Tension
ACRE Projects Gallery (1345 W 19th St)
Free
Fri, December 1, 6-9pm
Scott Wolniak: Drawings, 2012 – 2015
CircaModern (1114 N Ashland Ave)
Free
Fri, December 1, 6:30-9:30pm
Tony Smith
South Side Community Art Center (3831 S Michigan Ave)
Free
Fri, December 1, 7-11pm
The Finger is Also Pressed by the Stone
Heaven Gallery (1550 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Fri, December 1, 7-11pm
The Alchemist
Heaven Gallery (1550 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Fri, December 1, 6-11pm
Ode to the National Parks
Sector 2337 + The Green Lantern Press (2337 N Milwaukee Ave)
$15-105
Sat, December 2, 10am-5pm
The Good Goods: A Winter Market
F4F (2846 W 21st St)
Free
Sat, December 2, 1pm
Organizing Strategies for Black Liberation
Roosevelt University (430 S Michigan Ave)
Free
Sat, December 2, 6pm
QUEER FILM Series: Episode 4: Part I
Hume (3242 W Armitage Ave)
Free
Sat, December 2, 4-7pm
The Homestretch screening and panel discussion
Hairpin Arts Center (2810 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Sat, December 2, 6-9pm
Art of Sight, Sense of Feeling
The Franklin (3522 W Franklin Blvd)
Free
Sat, December 2, 6-9pm
When the cabbage fights the goat
Slow (2153 W 21st St)
Free
Sat, December 2, 6-9pm
Fall 2017 Season Send-Off and Holiday Party
High Concept Labs (2233 S Throop St)
$10
Sat, December 2, 8pm-12:30am
The Sick Muse #9
Archer Beach Haus (3012 S Archer Ave, Apt 2)
$10
Sun, December 3, 12-5pm
Bubbly Dynamics Open Studio
Bubbly Dynamics (1048 W 37th St)
Free
Sun, December 3, 1-3pm
Admission of Aggregate: Closing Reception
Roman Susan (1224 W Loyola Ave)
Free
Sun, December 3, 2-3:30pm
Hungry for Stories #10: Make Magazine #16, “ARCHIVE”
Read/Write Library Chicago (914 N California Ave)
Free
Sun, December 3, 2-4pm
Meg Duguid: Production of Nuclear Winter
The Back Room at Kim’s Corner Food (1371 W Estes Ave)
Free
Sun, December 3, 5-7pm
AACM Great Black Music Annual Kwanzaa Concert
Stony Island Arts Bank (6760 S Stony Island Ave)
Free
Sun, December 3, 4:30-9pm
3rd Annual Decolonization Dinner at SAIC
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (112 S Michigan Ave)
Free
Sun, December 3, 7pm
Trade Routes: Mitsu Salmon and Michael Sakamoto
Links Hall (3111 N Western Ave)
$10-40
Sun, December 3, 7-10pm
Uptown Poetry Slam: Mario Writes Poems? Still?
Green Mill Cocktail Lounge (4802 N Broadway)
$7
Sun, December 3, 7-8:30pm
Every house has a door: This is not a dream
The Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Ave)
Free with Museum Admission
Mon, December 4, 5-7pm
Eclipsing Workshop: Protecting the Body—The Queen of Swords as Sentinel
Links Hall (3111 N Western Ave)
$5
Mon, December 4, 7-9pm
avery r. young and de deacon board
Currency Exchange Café (305 E Garfield Blvd)
Free
Tues, December 5, 6-7pm
Day With(Out) Art: Alternate Endings, Radical Beginnings
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Ave)
Free
Tues, December 5, 6-8pm
Performances in The Hysterical Material
Smart Museum of Art (5550 S Greenwood Ave)
Free
Wed, December 6, 6-7:30pm
Lynne Tillman in conversation
University of Chicago’s Classics Department (1010 E 59th St)
Free
Wed, December 6, 6-7:30pm
Quraysh Ali Lansana
Oakton Community College (1600 E Golf Rd, Des Plaines)
Free
December 7-8, 2017
TRADE Routes: ATOM-r and Upended Teacups
Links Hall (3111 N Western Ave)
$10-40
December 7-10, 2017
Twyla Tharp: Minimalism and Me
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Ave)
$10-45
Wed, December 7, 5-8pm
The Color Of Law
Chicago Teachers Union Center (1901 W Carroll St)
Free
Thu, December 7, 5-6:30pm
On Black Publics and Counterpublics: (Re) Situating the Queer and Feminist Work at the Margins of the Black Public Sphere
Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (5733 S University Ave)
Free
Thu, December 7, 8-11pm
AMFM Juice Open Mic
AMFM Gallery (2151 W 21st St)
$5
Fri, December 8, 4-6pm
Gurumbe: Afro-Andalusian Memories
Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (5733 S University Ave)
Free
Fri, December 8, 5-7pm
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Elmhurst Art Museum (150 S Cottage Hill Ave)
Free
Fri, December 8, 6-8:30pm
Outside Jokes / to Home
DEMO Projects (732 N 4th St, Springfield)
Free
Fri, December 8, 6-10pm
Subversive Involvement
Uri-Eichen Gallery (2101 S Halsted St)
Free
Fri, December 8, 7-9pm
Festival of Poets Theater
Sector 2337 + The Green Lantern Press (2337 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Fri, December 8, 7:30-8:15pm
Felicia Holman: Wassup w/that ‘Yac?!
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Ave)
Free with Museum Admission
Sat, December 9, 6-9pm
Creating Frontlines: Emergent Resistance Art & Performance
The Poetry Foundation (61 W Superior St)
Free
Sat, December 9-10, 12pm
Vends + Vibes 2017: An Arts Marketplace
Arts Incubator in Washington Park (301 E Garfield Blvd)
Free
Sat, December 9, 1:30-3pm
Body/Mind/Funk/Time Master Class with Michael Sakamoto
Links Hall (3111 N Western Ave)
$20
Sat, December 9, 7-10pm
Blanket Statements
The Overlook Place (3323 W Armitage Ave)
Free
Sun, December 10, 11am-3pm
Artist Workshop: Edra Soto
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Ave)
Free
Sun, December 10, 2-5pm
Robin Hustle: SLIT WAVE SHEATH HEARTH
The Back Room at Kim’s Corner Food (1371 W Estes Ave)
Free
Sun, December 10, 3-6pm
The Flatfiles Show
Goldfinch (319 N Albany Ave)
Free
Sun, December 10, 3-5:30pm
Resist: What Do We Mean? How Do We Do It?
The Bronzeville Incubator (300 E 51st St)
Free
Sun, December 10, 3-6pm
Natalie Jacobson: Seeing Things: the difference between you and me
Riverside Arts Center Freeark Gallery + Sculpture Garden (32 E Quincy St, Riverside)
Free
Mon, December 11, 6-10:30pm
WeFest
Pride Arts Center (4139 N Broadway Ave)
$10-15
Tues, December 12, 6-7:30pm
In Progress: Leonard Suryajaya
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Ave)
Free
Fri, December 15, 5-9pm
Especially Now
DfbrL8r (1463 W Chicago Ave)
Free
Fri, December 15, 8:30-10:30pm
Melanin Voices for Puerto Rico
The Breathing Room Space (1434 W 51st St)
$10-20
Sat, December 16, 12-1pm
Amanda Williams Touch Tour
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Ave)
Free with Museum of Admission
Sat, December 16, 4-6pm
New Holiday Spirit: Sit on a Polar Bear’s Lap!
Goldfinch (319 N Albany Ave)
Free
Sun, December 17, 6:30-7:30pm
Women Your Mother Warned You About: Resistance & Resilience
Women & Children First Bookstore (5233 N Clark St)
Free
Fri, December 22, 6-7pm
Mykele Deville and Jeffrey Michael Austin
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Ave)
Free with Museum of Admission
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Featured Image: An outdoor scene in a lot with blue, white and red tents across the street from several warehouse buildings. Four percussionists at the left of the image, three sitting, two standing, playing music for an audience of people and children gathered next to them, to the right of the image.
From Creating Frontlines: Emergent Resistance Art & Performance happening December 9th at the Poetry Foundation, organized with #LetUsBreatheCollective as part of the Poetry Foundation’s current exhibit, Signs of Resistance, for which Chicago poets, artists, and organizing communities were invited to contribute signs of resistance: posters, banners, and other ephemera of direct action in response to social unrest.
