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June Art Picks

A list of exhibitions, talks, screenings, performances and other events to get your summer started.

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.

June Art Picks

Through Sept 24, 2017
Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Av)
Free with museum admission (Free on Tuesdays and for teens)

Through Oct 29, 2017
Cauleen Smith: Human_3.0 Reading List
Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Av)
Free with Museum Admission

Thurs, June 1, 6-8pm
Sidebar: Anthony Elms and Jan Verwoert
Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry (929 E 60th St)
Free

Thurs, June 1, 6-9pm
The POWER Project: POWER Potluck Kickoff 
Comfort Station Logan Square (2579 N Milwaukee Ave)
Suggested Donation: $10

Thurs, June 1, 6-10pm
Day ONE: Rapid Pulse 2017 Vernissage
DfbrL8r (1463 W Chicago Ave)
Donation: $5-20

Thurs, June 1, 7-8pm
Harriet Reading Series: Harmony Holiday
Poetry Foundation (61 W Superior St)
Free

Fri, June 2, 12-6pm
The POWER Project: Intersectional Zine Library
Comfort Station Logan Square (2579 N Milwaukee Ave)
Suggested Donation: $5

Fri, June 2, 3-4pm
Lecture: Darby English
The Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Ave)
Free (ticket required)

Fri, June 2, 3-5pm
Thursdayboy on Friday
Currency Exchange Café (305 E Garfield Blvd)
Free

Fri, June 2, 5-7pm
Marc Making: Artists of Marcfirst
University Galleries of Illinois State University (11 Uptown Cir)
Free

Fri, June 2, 6-8pm
William Weege: Peace is Patriotic
Corbett vs. Dempsey (1120 N Ashland Ave)
Free

Fri, June 2, 5-8pm
Brian T. Leahy: Prop(House)
Chicago Gallery News (213 W Institute Pl, Suite 309)
Free

Fri, June 2, 6-8pm
Fresh Ayers: Kevin Coval – “A People’s History of Chicago”
The Seminary Co-op Bookstores (5751 S Woodlawn Ave)
Free

Fri, June 2, 6-9pm
hex yeah, Witches!
Plus Gallery Chicago (1800 W 18th St, 1R)
Free 

Fri, June 2, 6-9pm
Kate McCarthy: The Fantastic Nest
Matthew Rachman Gallery (1659 W Chicago Ave)
Free 

Fri, June 2, 7-10pm
Visitors From Another World: New Works by Three Chicago Artists
Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery (2780 N Lincoln Ave)
Free

Sat, June 3, 12-2pm
The POWER Project: Free School Session 001: Living in the Wake
Comfort Station Logan Square (2579 N Milwaukee Ave)
Suggested Donation: $5–15

Sat, June 3, 2-5pm
The POWER Project: ‘Black and Blue’ Indigo Dye Workshop
Comfort Station Logan Square (2579 N Milwaukee Ave)
Suggested Donation: $10-25

Sat, June 3, 6pm
Burrow // Corinne Teed and Valentina Zamifrescu
ACRE (1345 W 19th St.)
Free

Sat, June 3, 1-4pm
First Saturdays at Mana: June 2017
Mana Contemporary Chicago (2233 S Throop St)
Free

Sat, June 3, 2-9pm
Design & Art Series #10
Dock 6 Collective (2100 N Major Ave)
Free

Sat, June 3, 6-8pm
Fresh Ayers: Kevin Coval – “A People’s History of Chicago”
The Seminary Co-op Bookstores (5751 S Woodlawn Ave)
Free

Sat, June 3, 3-5pm
Closing: Celebrating Our Cultural Giants and Ancestors
South Side Community Art Center (3831 S Michigan Ave)
Free

Sat, June 3, 6pm
Pure Evil: Hidden in Plain Sight
Vertical Gallery (1016 N Western Ave)
Free

Sat, June 3, 8pm-12am
RISE UP!
18th & Racine
$10-15

Sun, June 4, 2pm
2nd Annual Open TV Friendraiser
Home of Dr. E. Patrick Johnson
$25-75, RSVP

Sun, June 4, 12-3pm
Sashay With and Without History
Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago (319 N Albany Ave)
Free

Sun, June 4, 1-5pm
The Transparency of Evil
South of the Tracks (4223 W. Lake St #430)
Free

Sun, June 4, 1-3pm
The POWER Project: Making In The Margins – A Zine Workshop
Comfort Station Logan Square (2579 N Milwaukee Ave)
Suggested Donation: $5–15

Sun, June 4, 3-6pm
The POWER Project: Beauty Breaks Session 13: Words We Carry
Comfort Station Logan Square (2579 N Milwaukee Ave)
Suggested Donation: $5–15

Sun, June 4, 7-10pm
Let The Hunter Be The Hunted
Elastic Arts (3429 W Diversey #208)
$10

Mon, June 5, 6-9pm
Afro-Latinx Presente!
Plus Gallery Chicago (1800 W 18th St, 1R)
Free

Mon, June 5, 6:30-7:30pm
We Real Cool: A Celebration of Gwendolyn Brooks’s 100th Birthday
National Museum of Mexican Art (1852 W 19th St)
Free

Wed, June 7, 7pm
Called to Serve: America in Transition Community Premiere Party
AMFM Gallery (2151 W 21st St)
Free

Wed, June 7, 8-10pm
The POWER Project: Stranded by the State
Comfort Station Logan Square (2579 N Milwaukee Ave)
Suggested Donation: $10

Fri, June 9, 6:30-10pm
Alexandra Antione: Diaspora/Dyaspora: Haiti to Chicago and Back Again (A Migration Story)
Rootwork Gallery (645 W 18th St)
Free

Fri, June 9, 7pm
LGBTQ Muslims in Conversation
Center on Halsted (3656 N Halsted St)
Free

Fri, June 9, 7-9pm
The Petty Biennial Film Program
Arts and Public Life (301 E Garfield Blvd)
Free

Fri, June 9, 8pm-1am
AMFM Presents The Jazz Series Anniversary Show
Subterranean (2011 W North Ave)
Free

Fri, June 9, 5pm
Gregory Bae in Conversation with Ruslana Lichtzier
The Mission (1431 W. Chicago Av)
Free

June 10, 6pm
LATITUDE Turns 5
Fulton Street Collective (1821 West Hubbard Street, Suite 307)
$25 – $100

June 10-June 30, 2017
Lucky Pierre: the old is dying and the new cannot be born
Roman Susan (1224 W Loyola Ave) 
Free

Sat, June 10, 5:30-8:30pm
Storytelling with Viktor Le. Givens
DuSable Museum of African American History (740 E 56th Pl)
Free

Sat, June 10, 6-10pm
CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE bbq
Cow House [Address provided on day of event]
Free

Sat, June 10, 11:59pm-2am
Hausu (aka House) in 35mm
Music Box Theatre (3733 N Southport Ave)
Free

Sat, June 10, 2-3pm
Songs and Stories: Folktales and Fun with Shanta
BING Reading Room (307 E Garfield Blvd)
Free

Sun, June 11, 4-11pm
Party Noire: Black Pride
The Promontory (5311 South Lake Park Av)
$10

Sun, June 11, 6:30-8pm
Publishing Prints: Artist in Dialog
Spudnik Press Cooperative (1821 W Hubbard, Suite 302)
Free

Tues, June 13, 6-7pm
MCA Talk: ASL Tour of Takashi Murakami
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E Chicago Ave)
Free

Wed, June 14, 8:30-11:30pm
Ace of Cups I
Elastic Arts (3429 W Diversey #208)
$5-10

Fri, June 15, 6pm
Black Radical Imagination
Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall (111 S Michigan Av)
Free

Thur, June 15, 6pm
West Side Arts: Rootwork, Girl Bands, and Activating Public Archives
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
Free, RSVP

Fri, June 16, 5-10pm
Afrotrak Presents: Nappi Hour
The Wild Hare (2610 N Halsted St)
$5-10

Sat, June 17, 1-8pm
Symposium: Why is Graffiti
Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S Cornell Ave)
Free

Sat, June 17, 3-6pm
Marginal Green
Goldfinch (319 N. Albany)
Free

Sat, June 17, 1-2pm
Garden Project Opening: Amanda Williams
The Arts Club of Chicago (201 E Ontario St)
Free

Sun, June 18, 11am – 5pm
Queer Care Day at Reunion
Reunion Chicago (2557 W North Av)
Free, RSVP for Yoga

Tue, June 20, 10am-6pm
Letterpress Affirmations with Flatlands & RAR RAR Press
Elephant Room Gallery (704 S Wabash Av)
Free

Tues, June 20, 6 PM
The Rear View Mirror Sessions: Chaka, The IKhan
Arts Incubator (301 E Garfield Blvd)
Free

June 23- August 5, 2017
Black Light
Gallery 400 (400 S Peoria St)
Free

Fri, June 23, 6-9pm
Jeffrey Michael Austin: Stay Alive
Chicago Artists Coalition (217 N Carpenter St)
Free

Fri, June 23, 5-8pm
Bold Disobedience
Weinberg/Newton Gallery (300 West Superior, Suite 203)
Free

Fri, June 23, 6pm
You Draw Like A Girl
Logan Square Tattoo (2352 N Milwaukee Av)
Free

Fri, June 23, 8pm
Slo’Mo Presents: Paradise, A Queer Pride Ball in Bloom
Michelle’s Ballroom (2800 W Belmont Ave)
$65+

Fri, June 23, 6-8:30pm
100 Canvas Fundraiser and Silent Art Auction
The Silver Room (1506 E 53rd St)
$25

Sat, June 24, 4-10pm
Silent Funny Open House
Silent Funny (4106 W Chicago Ave)
Suggested Donation: $25

June 24, 12pm
Kimono Exhibition
Japanese Culture Center – 日本文化会館 (1016 W Belmont Av)
Free

Tues, June 27, 5:50-8pm
Tuesdays on the Terrace: Maggie Brown
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E. Chicago Ave)
Free

Wed, June 28, 12-2pm
Riding and Striding, Reaching and Teaching: Gwendolyn Brooks
Poetry Foundation (61 W Superior St)
Free

Thurs, June 29, 12-2pm
Lecture: Helena Almeida—Work is never finished
The Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Ave)
Free

Thurs, June 29,
Spirit of 69 by Chema Skandal
IPaintMyMind (2545 W Diversey, Suite 255)
Free, RSVP

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Featured Image: From “Marginal Green,” featuring works by Stella Brown, Ellie Irons, Jaclyn Jacunski and Jenny Kendler and curated by Elizabeth Lalley at Goldfinch Gallery on June 17th. 

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