September Artist News
published: Aug. 27, 2025
Maria Gaspar, Disappearance Jail (excerpt; series) 2021-Ongoing. Perforated Archival Inkjet print on rice paper are available in the following states so far: IL, CA, VA, OH, and WA. 5” x 7”
NO ONE KNOWS ALL IT TAKES at Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art
On view now through December 20, Maria Gaspar is a featured artist in NO ONE KNOWS ALL IT TAKES at Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art. The exhibition invites four artists (Bryana Bibbs, Raoul Deal, Swoon (Caledonia Curry), and Maria Gaspar). “whose work explores the effects of concealed trauma and the inextricable ties between personal health and collective wellness.” Join the artists for an opening reception on September 11 (6pm CT), and on October 9 (5pm CT) for Disappearance Jail Wisconsin discussion and workshop with Maria Gaspar.
Talk and Book Signing | Dorian Sylvain at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
On September 9, join Dorian Sylvain for a Talk and Book Signing at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. In celebration of Dorian’s first solo exhibition in two decades, Raised In it!, and its accompanying publication, Dorain will discuss the arc of her creative practice and the historical antecedents that made it possible.
From September 10 (and through December 15), visit the Art Institute of Chicago to see Elizabeth Catlett: “A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies” and participate in The Artist’s Studio: Posters for Solidarity, a workshop created by Rebel Betty. This workshop is available daily and invites visitors of all ages to the Ryan Learning Center to make their own mixed media poster. Elizabeth Catlett: “A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies” explores the work of sculptor and printmaker, ardent feminist, and lifelong social activist Elizabeth Catlett as a defining artist of the 20th century.
In the Works Wednesday: Drop In Classes at the House of Lorde
On September 10, 14, and 24, Po’chop leads a series of drop-in classes; Po’ography: Drag King Edition (September 10), Quick & Dirty Act Development (September 17), Po’ography: Shimmy + Shake Edition (September 24). These sessions are designed to give participants the tools, inspiration, and skills to level up their burlesque and drag.
Lynne Jordan and the Shivers with Martha Cares at The Acorn
On September 12, The Acorn presents Lynne Jordan and the Shivers with Martha Cares, a “powerhouse night of jazz, blues, funk, and soul as Lynne Jordan and the Shivers light up The Acorn stage…” Sharing her craft with the community of Three Oaks, Michigan, Lynne is a Chicago legend with “soaring vocals and larger-than-life personality [that] captivate audiences across genres.”
Opening September 13 (and on view through October 31), Rodrigo Lara and Kellie Romany are featured artists in the NEPO Art Exhibition, an exhibition of artwork based on critique from a collective of Chicago artists. The exhibition is on view at 3808 S. Ashland Ave., was organized by Tony Lewis in collaboration with John Scmid, and features work from Bosco Baw, Robert Chase Heishman, Nate Young, Joe Reihsen, Kellie Romany, and Rodrigo Lara.
I MAKE MISTAKES! an introspective intensive with tiffany + peregrine
On September 14, Peregrine Bermas and Tiffany Wong lead I MAKE MISTAKES!, a workshop exploring “what pathways are available to us after making a mistake? How do we ground ourselves with integrity that honor ourselves and each other? How can identifying relational patterns help us lovingly tap into our agency? What rituals can we create that allow us to go at the speed of our bodies?” This is a BIPOC only, virtual workshop.
About Face Theatre and Silk Road Cultural Center Present: SAY GAY PLAYS
On September 20 the Goodman Theatre hosts a reading of four newly commissioned 10-minute plays by Chicago-based writers Hannah li-Epstein, Lani Montreal, Esho Rasho, and Emilio Williams. “In an era of state censorship, word policing, and criminalized identities, Say Gay Plays is a perfect antidote. A bold, unapologetic short plays initiative developed by NYC’s Voyage Theater that champions Queer joy, collective resilience, and personal triumph.” Tickets are free, reservations are strongly encouraged, seating is limited.
Chicago Performs: Curiosities of Wellness in Bodies of Grief and Joy at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
On September 20 artist Helen Lee invites audience members not just to witness but to engage—to sit with their own personal grief and cocreate a portal to joy. In collaboration with a dynamic group of collaborators including Cristal Sabbagh and Sara Zalek there will be two interactive sessions (at 10:30am and 3:00pm) for audiences who are curious about how emotions are processed and transformed in the body. Each session is limited to 20 participants each.
On September 20-21, Red Clay Dance Company’s Founding Artistic Director and CEO Vershawn Sanders-Ward offers a creative response to Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar, assembled by A Long Walk Home artists Scheherazade Tillet and Robert Narcisco. Red Clay Dance Company adapts the poignant and meaningful installation into an evening of dance and storytelling honoring this living altar to missing and murdered Black girls and women. The performance features new music by Jamila Woods.
Opening September 23 (and on view through December 13), Gallery 400 opens several new exhibitions featuring artists Ariella Granados, Sandie Yi, among many more.
Don’t mind if i do is a “collaborative experiment demonstrating how temporary changes in power structures create pathways of access for visitors, artists, and staff. Anchored by a conveyor belt that brings artworks to visitors who are invited to sit around comfortable furniture and engage with the objects, the exhibition features artworks by a selection of artists who have inspired Finnegan Shannon’s practice.”
Sandie Yi: Digital Technology is Sandie’s first solo exhibition in Chicago, reflecting on “how her craft produces objects and knowledge that foreground how she innovates technologies that have to do with how her body interacts with the world…The show includes a set of photographs demonstrating how she dons her couture, casts of her hands, which are used as props for displaying her jewelry, and sewn silk organza pouches holding callouses trimmed from her feet.”
In Ariella Granados: Like and Subscribe, Ariella explores “disability identity’s relationship to utopia through alter egos that borrow the visual language of Mexican television, YouTube vlogging, and world-building video games. With a keen interest in the uses of chromakey green screens to render space within cinema, Granados’ performances expand their body from the real world to the digital through playful diaristic narratives.”
Future Folk Festival at Hamilton Park
On September 24, The Old Town School’s Future Folk Festival includes Ben LaMar Gay as a featured performer. The Future Folk Festival aims to celebrate and expand understandings of folk traditions while also connecting forward-thinking folkloric musical styles across and within African, Caribbean, Latinx, and Indigenous diasporas.
Reading of The Last Senior Home in Bronzeville at Definition Theatre
On September 27, The Last Senior Home in Bronzeville debuts as a staged reading at Definition Theatre. Directed by Sydney Charles, The Last Senior Home in Bronzeville follows Daley’s Senior Home, the last of its kind in a rapidly gentrifying Bronzeville. “ With their beloved community vanishing before their eyes, the residents of Daley’s must decide: go quietly, or go out swinging— senior citizen style. A timely story of resistance, resilience, and the joyfully defiant spirit of those too experienced to be ignored.
On September 27-28, the Hyde Park Jazz festival returns with a dynamic presentation of jazz on the South Side of Chicago. The two-day festival’s lineup includes performances by Maggie Brown (2 Brown Sisters: Africa and Maggie Brown), Lauren Duetsch (Lauren Deutsch and Jonathan Woods’ Tangible Sound: An Immersive Experience of Great Black Music), Dee Alexander (Dee Alexander’s Evolution Ensemble Reunion), Ari Brown (Ari Brown Quintet), and many more.