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.
Click a button below to jump to a specific week of events.
Tues, July 2nd, 12pm – 1pm
Photos at Zoom: Art and the Anthropocene
Museum of Contemporary Photography: Virtual
Free
Tues, July 2nd, 12pm – 1:30pm
The Mask of Prosperity Artist Roundtable
Gallery 400: Virtual
Free
Wed, July 3rd, 6 – 7 pm
Thương Hoài Trần: Cho Gia Đình: For Family: Virtual Artist Talk
NEIU Fine Art Center Gallery: Virtual
Free
Fri, July 5
PATTERN RECOGNITION – Cooperative Aesthetics: Pattern, Method and Material
ARC Gallery: 1463 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL
Free
Fri, July 5, 5 – 8 pm
Maybe you need time for your eyes to adjust to the dark
Chicago Artists Coalition: 2130 W Fulton St, Unit B, Chicago, IL
Free
Fri, July 5
Collin van der Sluijs
Vertical Gallery: 2006 W Chicago Ave #1R, Chicago, IL
Free
Fri, July 5, 6 – 9 pm
UNTOLD MYTHS
Columbus Cultural Arts Center Main Gallery: 139 W. Main St, Columbus, OH
Free
Fri, July 5
Missouri Ink Tattoo
Foundry Art Centre: 520 N. Main Center, St. Charles, MO
Free
Sat, July 6, 7 – 9 pm
SYS: Sara Zalek, Johanna Brock, Emily Beisel, Caroline Jesalva, Allen Turner, Tina Lafauve
Compound Yellow: 244 Lake St, Oak Park, IL
$15
Sat, July 6, 11 am – 9 pm
Pride for South Side Festival
DuSable Museum: 740 E 56th Pl, Chicago
Free
Sun, July 7, 1 – 8:30 pm
Humboldt Arboreal Society
Humboldt Park, Chicago
Free
Sun, July 7, 2 – 5 pm
Storytelling of Queer Exploration with Linye Jiang
Chinese American Museum of Chicago: 238 W 23rd St, 4th floor, Chicago
Free
Sun, July 7, 1 – 4 pm
Michael Litewski: Finding Space & Other Stories
Evanston Art Center: 1717 Central St, Evanston, IL
Free
Sun, July 7, 1 – 5 pm
Alina Nazmeeva: Bug In My Software
Chicago Gamespace: 2418 W Bloomingdale Ave, Chicago
$0-8
Sun, July 7, 1 – 4 pm
MATERIAL MATTERS: UNCOMMON APPROACHES TO MIXED MEDIA | DEAN HABEGGER
Evanston Art Center: 1717 Central St., Evanston
Free
Tues, July 9, 5:30 – 8 pm
Tuesdays on the Terrace | Shaun J. Wright
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago
Free
Thurs, July 11, 5 – 8 pm
John Himmelfarb: How Things Stack Up
Koehnline Museum of Art: 1600 E Golf Rd, Des Plaines, IL
Free
Thur, July 11, 6 pm
Guns, Godzilla, and the Atomic Age: Niki de Saint Phalle and American Art in the 1960s
Nelson Atkins Art Museum: 4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO
$10-15
Fri, July 12, 7 – 11 pm
Be of Love: Care in an Age of Discontent
Public Works: 2141 W North Ave, Chicago
Free
Fri, July 12, 7:00 pm
A Skeptic & A Bruja
Fonseca Theater: 2508 W Michigan St. Indianapolis, IN
$10-20
Fri, July 12
Connor Stephenson | Diamond Young | Mallory Plink
ROY G BIV: 435 W Rich St, Columbus, OH
Free
Sat, July 13, 5:00 – 8:00pm
July First Friday
LUX Center: 2601 N 48th Street, Lincoln, NE
Free
Sat, July 13, 5 – 8 pm
Artist Panel & Mixer | Around the Bend
South Bend Museum of Art: 120 S Dr Martin Luther, King Jr Blvd, South Bend, IN
Free
Sat, July 13, 11 am – 6 pm
Low-Residency MFA Thesis Exhibition
SAIC Galleries, 33 E. Washington, Chicago
Free
July 13 – 14
24th Annual BARRIO ARTS FEST
The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture: 3015 W Division St, Chicago
Free
Sat, July 13, 4 – 7 pm
Connectivity
Woman Made Gallery: 1332 S Halsted St, Chicago
Free
Sat, July 13, 12 – 1 pm
Artist Talk and Exhibition Tour with Salvador Campos
Harold Washington Library Center: 400 S State St, Chicago
Free
Sat, July 13, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Cathy Hilegas
Harrison County Arts: 113 E. Beaver St, Corydon, IN
Free
Sat, July 13, 1 – 4 pm
The Urban+Nature Sonic Pavillion
Experimental Sound Studio: Millennium Park, Chicago, IL
Free
Sat, July 13, 10:30 – 11:30 am
Drag Story Hour with Prince Brentlee and Aqua Marie!
Indy Reads: 1066 Virginia Avenue, Indianapolis, IN
Free
Sat, July 13
(ha)kirinąk / to return home by Henry Payer
Miller Art Museum: 107 S 4th Ave, Sturgeon Bay, WI
Free
Sun, July 14
Rose B. Simpson: Strata
Cleveland Art Museum: 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH
Free
Sat, July 20, 10 – 11:30 pm
Werk: Chicago’s Premiere Queer Comedy Show
The Lincoln Lodge: 2040 North Milwaukee Avenue Chicago
$12-16
Sat, July 20, 9 pm
Almafuerte
Hungry Brain: 2319 W Belmont Ave, Chicago
$15
Sun, July 21, 2 – 5 pm
Why We Are Here
The Greystone Collective: 120 East Erie Street, Chicago
Free
Sun, July 21
Picturing the Border
Cleveland Art Museum: 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH
Free
Wed, July 23/Thur, July 28
Indy Shorts International Film Festival
Heartland Film: 8950 Otis Avenue, Indianapolis, IN
$15-179
Wed, July 24, 7:30 – 10 pm
Sofar Sounds
Dorothy Downstairs: 2500 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago
Free
Wed, July 24, 8 – 11 pm
Swappin’ Boots Hosted: A Queer Two-Step Night
Judson & Moore Distillery: 3057 N Rockwell St, Building 5, Chicago
$12
Thur, July 25, 6 – 8 pm
Indiana Green 15th Year Anniversary
THELMA Sadoff Center for the Arts: 51 Sheboygan Street, Fond du Lac, WI
Free
Sat, July 27
On the Grid
Riffe Gallery: 77 S. High St, Columbus, OH
Free
Sat, July 27, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Paint a Pink Pig Portrait with Barry at the Stephenson County Fair
Freeport Art Museum: 121 N Harlem Ave, Freeport, IL
$31.50-35
Mon, July 29, 8 pm
Sapphic Serenade: Dorothy’s Karaoke Night hosted by E.
Dorothy Downstairs: 2500 W Chicago Avenue, Chicago
Free
About the illustrator: Summer is a printmaker, illustrator, and graphic designer from Chicago. Her work is inspired by the art nouveau movement, religious/spiritual imagery and concepts, music, and various types of literature. For her, the enjoyment of creation is the patience and trust it requires her to practice.
