December Art Picks

If you’ve followed us for a while, you know that our Art Picks offer a wide scope of events that are relevant to our audiences because we and the artists, cultural workers, curators, spaces, and projects we support live full lives that know no boundaries. We maintain expansive practices and work toward justice for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disability communities in Chicago and the Midwest.  

If this is your first time coming across this list, welcome. We’re glad you’re here and we hope this list sparks discovery, curiosity, and a demand for justice if you weren’t openly demanding that already.

Created in collaboration with The Visualist and adapted for social-distancing due to COVID-19, this list offers online exhibitions, streaming events, a list of online collections from Black and LGBTQIA+ archives, and other ways to spend time in the virtual space. 

Also, in support of our friends, our communities, ourselves, and abolition/liberation efforts, we’re prioritizing events that uplift and fight for Black Lives and celebrate Black Queer Lives because the fight for Black Lives is the fight for Black artists, our Black Trans family, our Black Queer family, and the many branches of these communities. 

Featured image: A view of the Dr. Margaret S. Burroughs gallery, which will benefit from Raise It Up! (December 5 & 6), a fundraiser driven by the Chicago Printers Guild in support of the South Side Community Art Center. Photo by Jacob Hand for the national trust for historic preservation.

This is a growing list, so check back often for new additions.

Tues, December 1, 12-1pm
Chicagoland Shorts: Go Go, Boy!
Mana Contemporary: Online
Free

Tues, December 1, 12-6pm
Miami in Chicago
Vertical Gallery: 1016 N Western Ave
Free

Tues, December 1, 8pm
Classical Concert: 5th Wave Collective String Quartet
Heaven Gallery: Online
Free

Wed, December 2, 5-6pm
Building Connection in Artist-Run Spaces
Mana Contemporary: Online
Free

Wed, December 2, 6pm
Artists Nate Young & Ayanah Moor in Conversation with Nyeema Morgan
DePaul Art Museum: Online
Free

Wed, December 2, 6-7pm
Lecture in Photography: Mimi Plumb
Museum of Contemporary Photography: Online
Free

Thurs, December 3, 12:30-1:30pm
In Conversation: scott b. davis & Arpad Kovacs
Catherine Edelman Gallery: Online
Free

Thurs, December 3, 6-7pm
The Deportation Machine: A Conversation with Adam Goodman and Carlos Ballesteros
Pilsen Community Books: Online
Free

Thurs, December 3, 7-8pm
Halley Sutton & Layne Fargo
Women & Children First Bookstore: Online
Free

Thurs, December 3, 7-8pm
Exhibit B: December Reading
Guild Literary Complex: Online
Free

Thurs, December 3, 7:30-10pm
Poetry & BYOBiscuits with Lisa Fishman, Rodrigo Toscano, and Genya Turovskaya
Black Ocean: Online
Free

Fri, December 4, 2020
“Warm Violet: A compilation for Chicago community jail support” goes live!
$15

Fri, December 4, 12pm
LatinXAmerican Podcast with Ivan LOZANO of Archives & Futures, Episode 1: Errol Ortiz
DePaul Art Museum: Online
Free

Fri, December 4, 6-9:30pm
FridayJazzattheQuarry – Live Jazz at The Quarry Supper Club
The Quarry Event Center: 2419 E 75th St
$15-30

Fri, December 4, 7pm
RenBen: Wildcard 2020 presents Renaissance TV
The Renaissance Society: Online
Free

Fri, December 4, 7-8pm
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore with T Fleischmann: The Freezer Door
Women & Children First Bookstore: Online
Free

Fri, December 4, 7-9pm
19 in 2021: A Drone’s Eye View: Reading and Artists Talk
Chuquimarca: Online
Free

December 5, 2020 – January 16, 2021
Fever Dream
Aspect/Ratio Projects: 864 N. Ashland Ave.
Free

December 5, 2020 – June 5, 2021
First Saturday Evanston Art Events December
Evanston Made: 922 Davis St, Evanston
Free

Sat, December 5, 10am-9pm
Raise It Up! Chicago Printers Guild Fundraiser for South Side Community Art Center
Chicago Printers Guild: Online
Free

Sat, December 5, 11am-1pm
Racial Healing for BIPOC Womxn that identify as LGBTQIA+
FitLife Revolution: Online
Free

Sat, December 5, 11am-4pm
Ricky McEachern: MOTEL Pop-up Art Show
Gallery Studio OH!: 4839 N Damen Ave
Free

Sat, December 5, 12-2pm
Virtual Music Box Orchestra with Sadie Woods
Heaven Gallery: Online
$35

Sat, December 5, 12-5pm
Vertical Project Space: GRAND OPENING!
Vertical Project Space: 2006 W Chicago Ave, #1R
Free

Sat, December 5, 1-2pm
Photobook Publishing from the Inside Out
Filter Photo: Online
Free

Sun, December 6, 11am
Neighborhood Memorial for Victims of Police Violence
PO Box Collective: 6900 N. Glenwood Ave
Free

Sun, December 6, 1-5pm
Virtual Center Sunday
Hyde Park Art Center
Free

December 7- 14, 2020
Home Comforts: An Auction of Commissions
Comfort Station Logan Square: Online
Free

Tues, December 8, 6:30-7:30pm
Queer Activism Exhibit Panel and Virtual Tour
Gerber/Hart Library and Archives: Online
Free

Tues, December 8, 6pm
First Women: A Gender and Electoral Politics Panel Discussion
DePaul Art Museum: Online
Free

Tues, December 8, 3-4pm
Native Studies in the Apocalypse
Newberry Library: Online
Free

Tues, December 8, 7:30-8:30pm
Gray Sound: Damon Locks
Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry: Online
Free

Wed, December 9, 4-5pm
Transnational Series Presents: On Tove Jansson
Pilsen Community Books: Online
Free

Wed, December 9, 6-7:30pm
The Chicago Public Library Foundation Awards
Chicago Public Library: Online
Free

Thurs, December 10, 12pm
Susan Giles, Mie Kongo, and Yvette Mayorga in Conversation
DePaul Art Museum: Online
Free

Thurs, December 10, 6-7pm
The Taste of Sugar: Marisel Vera and Alyssa Vera Ramos
Pilsen Community Books: Online
Free

December 11, 2020 – January 24, 2021
Cups and Swords and Eyes
Heaven Gallery: 1550 N. Milwaukee Ave. #2
Free

Fri, December 11, 12-12;30pm
Mercy in the Museum: Online Collection Tours
Block Museum: Online
Free

Fri, December 11, 5-5:45pm
Bisa Butler and Tonika Johnson
The Art Institute of Chicago: Online
Free

Sat, December 12, 12pm
Paolo Cabal in Conversation w/Janine Mileaf
The Arts Club Chicago: Online
Free

Sun, December 13, 12am-11:59pm
QTVC Live! 24-Hour Sales Marathon
QTVC Live!: Online
Free

Sun, December 13, 1-2:30pm
Monthly Mindfulness and Photography
LATITUDE: Online
Free

Mon, December 14, 7-8pm
Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham – “Black Futures” – Eve L. Ewing
The Seminary Co-op: Online
Free

Mon, December 14, 6-7pm
Chicagoland Shorts: Live with Sofía Alfaro and Oriana Oppice
Mana Contemporary: Online
Free

Tue, December 15, 8pm
BraveFutures 2020 Awards Show
OTV – Open Television: Online
Free

Tue, December 15, 7-8pm
Open Door Series Online: Beth McDermott & Maya Marshall
Poetry Foundation: Online
Free

Wed, December 16, 4:30pm
Propositions 2: Megha Rapalti, Teresa Silva and Cortney Lederer
SAIC Performance: Online
Free

Wed, December 16, 7-8pm
Online Release Party for Mairead Case’s TINY
Pilsen Community Books: Online
Free

Wed, December 16, 1pm
You’ve Changed: Virtual Walkthrough w/Jessica Stockholder
Logan Center Exhibitions: Online
Free

Thurs, December 17, 6pm
Casey Carsel: Knobl Hearts: Artist Talk
Co-Prosperity Sphere: Online
Free

Fri, December 18, 7-8pm
Virtual Trolley Tour 2020!
Bronzeville Art District: Online
Free

Sat, December 19, 8pm
Mini Concierto: Madame Ur y Sus Hombres
National Museum of Mexican Art: Online
Free

Sun, December 20, 7pm
Taiko Legacy 17: Streaming Live
Japanese Culture Center – 日本文化会館: Online
Free

December 21, 2020 – January 3, 2021
Emilio Rojas: Resistance Exercises
Roman Susan: 1224 W Loyola Ave
Free

Write For Us:
Sixty welcomes writers and artists to contribute through traditional and experimental arts writing around ideas, topics, and practices that are relevant to Chicago’s cultural landscapes. Priority will be given to writing by, about, and for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists, artists with disabilities, and the long list of writing, art-making, and cultural practices that have been neglected in mainstream conversations and canons about art and culture. If you are interested in pitching an idea or covering one of the listed art events, contact us at WriteForSixty@sixtyinchesfromcenter.org. See full pitch guidelines here.