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.
Inyan Wakan: Artwork by Marty Two Bulls
Now – March 15 @ the Visual Arts Center, Washington Pavilion (Paid admission)
Being | Jinsik Yoo
Opening Reception on February 13, 6-8 pm @ Ipso Gallery at Fresh Produce (Free)
Hooks, Juke the Tiger, Gavin Johnson
February 21, Doors open at 7pm @ the Old Courthouse Museum ($10 at doors / All ages)
Click a button below to jump to a specific week of events.
Sunday, February 1, 1:30-3:00PM
Tobias Zikmund
The Rourke Art Gallery + Museum, 521 Main Ave, Moorhead, MN
Free
Sunday, February 1, 3-6PM
Ross Sawyers: The Future Still Isn’t What It Used to Be
Riverside Arts Center: 32 E Quincy St, Riverside, IL
Free
February 2-May 31, 2026
The Black Gold Tapestry
Stanley Museum of Art: 160 W. Burlington St, Iowa City, IA
Free
Tuesday, February 3, 11:45AM-12:30PM (EST)
Show & Tell: Joshua Mulligan Art
CCS: Online
Free
Tuesday, February 3, 5-8PM
Stories Sewn
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education: 1010 W 35th St, Suite 697, Chicago
Free
February 4-June 14, 2026
Hamdia Traoré’s “Des marabouts de Djenné” and Muslim Portraiture in Mali
Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University: 40 Arts Circle Dr, Evanston, IL
Free
February 5-22, 2026
Limited Time Only | 2026
North Dakota Museum of Art: 261 Centennial Dr, Stop 7305, Grand Forks, ND
Free
February 5-March 16, 2026
Earthen Dreams
Art’s House: 108 E Maple St, River Falls, WI
Free
Thursday, February 5, 6-8PM
A Meadow in the Clouds
the Shepherd: 1265 Parkview St, Detroit, MI
Free
February 6-July 20, 2026
Boro: Traditional Mended Textiles from Japan
International Quilt Museum: 1523 N 33rd St, Lincoln, NE
Free
Friday, February 6, 12-1PM
Cultural Exchange in the Art of Mexico and the African Diaspora
Saint Louis Art Museum: One Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park, St. Louis, MO
Free
Friday, February 6, 5:30-8:30PM (EST)
Threads of Identity
Scarab Club: 217 Farnsworth St, Detroit, MI
Free
Friday, February 6, 6-8PM
Art from the Inside Out
PS1 Close House: 538 S Gilbert St Iowa City, IA
Free
Friday, February 6, 6-9PM
Faylita Hicks : The Digital Archives of the Unseen: Poetry and Portraits from the Age of Censorship
Walls Turned Sideways: 2717 W Madison St, Chicago
Free
Friday, February 6, 6-9PM
Hai-Wen Lin & Ivan David Ng: Mountain Call
Roots & Culture: 1034 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Free
February 7-May 17, 2026
Never Spoken Again: Rogue Stories of Science and Collections
Weisman Art Museum: 333 E River Road, Minneapolis, MN
Free
Saturday, February 7, 5-7PM
Nebraska Now
Museum of Nebraska Art: 2401 Central Ave, Kearney, NE
Free
February 11-June 10, 2026
REMNANT: Works by Cora Nimtz
International Quilt Museum: 1523 N 33rd St, Lincoln, NE
Free
Thursday, February 12, 6:30PM
Something in the Water: Afrofuturist Short Films
FilmScene at the Chauncey: 404 E College St, Iowa City, IA
Free
Friday, February 13, 12-1PM
Casting Data in Glass: Data Visualization as Art with Norwood Viviano
The Catalyst, University Library: 1805 Center Drive, Ames, IA
Free
Friday, February 13, 6-9PM
Nehir Uslu: Holding Space
Art City: 1400 N Halsted St, Chicago
Free
Friday, February 13, 6-9PM
On The Same Planet at The Same Time
The Beautiful Cat Gallery: 1070 W Granville Ave, Chicago
Free
Friday, February 13, 6-9PM (EST)
FIGHT SONG
SPACES: 2900 Detroit Ave, Cleveland, OH
Free
February 14-May17, 2026
Honey, You’re a Wonderful Model: Maria Lassnig’s Animated Films
Des Moines Art Center: 4700 Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA
Free
Sunday, February 15, 10AM-2PM
Ceramic Tile Carving Workshop
WHAT Art School: 101 N Washington St, Saint Croix Falls, WI
$52-65
Sunday, February 15, 10AM-3PM
Stop-Motion Animation
PS1 Close House: 538 S Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA
$30-100
Sunday, February 15, 4-5:30PM
Winter Torch: A Gathering of Warmth & Resilience
Epiphany Center For The Arts: 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago
$30.13
Sunday, February 15, 7-9PM
Night School
Kiosk: 3054 N Sheffield Ave, Chicago
Free
February 19-June 28, 2026
Street Nihonga The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
Spencer Museum of Art: 1301 Mississippi St, Lawrence, KS
Free
February 20-April 18, 2026
First Artistic Steps: Annual School Art Exhibition
Charles H. MacNider Art Museum: 303 2nd St. SE, Mason City, IA
Free
Friday, February 20, 6-9PM(EST)
Broad Underground X MSU Latinx Film Festival: Performance and Video Art with LA 18
MSU Broad Art Museum: 547 E Circle Dr, East Lansing, MI
Free
Monday, February 23, 6PM
Mosaic Series
Gerber/Hart Library & Archives: 6500 N Clark St, Chicago
Free
Wednesday, February 25, 12-1PM
Art Walk: Geometry of Nature
Jischke Honors Building: 603 Farm House Ln, Ames, IA
Free
Thursday, February 26, 10AM-12PM
Viva la Vida: Linocuts
National Museum of Mexican Art: 1852 W 19th St, Chicago
Free
February 27-April 14, 2026
Over/Under
HAW CONTEMPORARY: 1600 Liberty St, Kansas City, MO
Free
February 28-July 26, 2026
Flex: Masculinities in the Arts of Global Africa
Stanley Museum of Art: 160 W Burlington St, Iowa City, IA
Free
Through February 3, 2026
Ghosts of Smoke and Water
Wave Pool: 2940 Colerain Ave, Cincinnati, OH
Free
Through February 7, 2026
Sanctuary: Sculptural Selections from the Collections
South Dakota Art Museum: 1036 Medary Ave, Brookings, SD
Free
Through February 8, 2026
Tengo Lincoln Park en mi corazón: Young Lords in Chicago
DePaul Art Museum: 935 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago
Free
Through February 8, 2026
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: A Want for Nothing
DePaul Art Museum: 935 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago
Free
Through February 13, 2026
Beth Lipman: Middle of the Story
Christian Petersen Art Museum Campbell Gallery: 1017 Morrill Hall, Ames, IA
Free
Through February 14, 2026
The Uncivil Canvas: Art in the Age of Discord
Woman Made Gallery: 1332 S Halsted St, Chicago
Free
Through February 20, 2026
Adversidades Cromáticas – Chromatic Adversities
Latino Arts, Inc: 1028 S 9th St., Milwaukee, WI
Free
Through February 22, 2026
Theaster Gates: Unto Thee
Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago: 5550 S Greenwood Ave, Chicago
Free
Through February 27, 2026
Multicentered and Reverberating
Circle Contemporary: 2010 W Carroll Ave, Chicago
Free
Through February 27, 2026
Faculty Biennial
Tweed Museum of Art: 1201 Ordean Ct, Duluth, MN
Free
Through February 28, 2026
Lui Shtini: Capo Testa
Corbett vs. Dempsey: 2156 W Fulton St, Chicago
Free
Through February 28, 2026
Brian Calvin, Maureen Gallace, Diane Simpson
Corbett vs. Dempsey: 2156 W Fulton St, Chicago
Free
About the image maker: Ireashia M. Bennett (they/them) is a Philadelphia-based Black, queer, and disabled filmmaker, writer, and photographer. They have over five years of work experience in journalism, interdisciplinary research, and film. Their work takes the form of new media, short and experimental films, as well as written and multimedia essays. They view filmmaking as a medium with the power of visibility and memory. As such, they wield this medium intending to celebrate and amplify stories and lived experiences that have been omitted or silenced. With this in mind, their films serve as sites of truth-telling, liberation, re-imagination, and reclamation. They are a recipient of the two-year RaD Lab + Outside the Walls fellowship at Threewalls and the SPARK Grant from the Chicago Artists Coalition. Their artistic roots are in Chicago, where their creative work has been exhibited in art spaces such as the Sullivan Galleries, Arts Incubator, Stony Island Arts Bank, and the Chicago Art Department in Chicago.
