February Artist News
published: Jan. 29, 2025
Installation view of Andy Slater: Paintings & Sculptures at University Galleries of Illinois State University. On view January 14 through March 26, 2025. All events are free and open to the public.
LUIS ÁLVARO SAHAGÚN NUÑO (202 3Arts/ Reva & David Logan Foundation Awardee)
On view now through March 7, Luis’ solo exhibition, In The Gaze Of Time: Ritual Portraiture, The Works Of Luis A. Sahagún, posits that “a portrait, like a ritual, is never just what it seems.” Displayed at the University of Chicago’s Laboratory Schools in the Gordan Parks Arts Hall, the exhibition bridges Luis’ “personal histories with broader cultural narrative, creating spaces for healing, connection, and transformation.”
A. MARTINEZ (2019 Make a Wave Awardee) and CYDNEY M LEWIS (2021 Make a Wave Awardee)
On view now through March 9, Let’s Be Real, an exhibition at Heaven Gallery features artwork by A. and Cydney. This group exhibition includes 14 artist parents at various stages of motherhood or grandmotherhood. “Drawing from diverse backgrounds, these artists offer a multifaceted, intimate exploration of the intersection between parenting and artistic practice, each providing a unique perspective. The exhibition showcases a wide range of media—fiber, ceramics, painting, video, and sound—while addressing powerful themes such as feminine myth, cultural memory, the body post-childbirth, rejecting domesticity, human connection, grief, humor, and self-discovery.”
ANDY SLATER (2024 Next Level Awardee)
On view now through March 26, University Galleries of Illinois State University presents a solo exhibition of Andy’s works titled Andy Slater: Paintings & Sculptures. The exhibition features Andy’s sound works and three-dimensional objects that “mimic the presentation and appearance of traditional artistic formats but engage senses other than vision. Meant to be touched or heard rather than seen, these ‘paintings and sculptures’ trouble the ocularcentrism that is at the core of the ‘visual’ arts.”
SYLVIA HERNANDEZ-DISTASI (2014 3Arts Awardee) and MICHEL RODRIGUES CINTRA (2013 3Arts/McCormick Family Foundation Awardee)
Showing now through March 30, Circus Quixote, created by Sylvia and starring Michel plays at the Lookingglass Theatre. Described as a titillating acrobatic dream of madness, the play is a new and inspired adaption of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quijote of La Mancha.
CANDACE HUNTER (2021 Next Level Awardee)
On view now through April 21, Candace’s work is featured in the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition. “This longest-running exhibition of African American art has been displayed annually at Griffin MSL since 1970. [The exhibition] features paintings, drawings, fine art prints, sculpture, mixed-media, ceramics and photography by African Americans, including youth artists between the ages of 14 and 17.”
REBECCA BEACHY (2019 Make a Wave Awardee), LUFTWERK (2019 Djerassi Resident Artists) and EDRA SOTO (2023 Next Level Awardee)
On February 5 (and on view through April 27), Rebecca, Luftwerk, and Edra’s work will be featured in A Tale of Today: Materialities, a group exhibition at the Driehaus Museum. The Driehaus Museum’s “Gilded Age-era Samuel Nickerson Mansion offers a rare opportunity to map important and often overlooked histories and genealogies….A Tale of Today: Materialities proposes to investigate more deeply the materials that comprise the very fabric of the building.” The exhibition is an invitation for artists to select a material from the Driehaus Museum and “engage in a new materialist dialogue….to uncover hidden cultural, historical, and ecological networks that bind the very fabric of the house…”
EMILY RACH BEISEL (2024 3Arts Awardee)
In February, Emily performs in multiple shows in Chicago. On February 6, they’ll perform in the Improvised Music Series at Elastic Arts. “Improvised Music Series brings the double trio trouble— up-and-coming players bring a fresh spin on the piano trio format, followed by a chamber trio whose amplifications promise to push their instruments to the edge.” On February 15, they participate in Homeroom’s fourth iteration of Physics for Listeners at Constellation, featuring new music and video performed by a live ensemble led by Homeroom Artistic Director Paul Giallorenzo.
CANDACE HUNTER (2021 Next Level Awardee)
On February 7 (and on view through March 27), chlee: OF GIRLS AND MEN will be on view at the Fourth Presbyterian Church. The exhibition will show works from Candace’s The Brown Limbed Girls, “a series of collage works that exhibited joy, mirth, and life,” and the Black Men/White Shirts series that honors her father and brothers.
DEE ALEXANDER (2012 3Arts/Southwest Airlines Awardee) and JUMAANE TAYLOR (2019 3Arts/Stan Lipkin & Evelyn Appell Lipkin Awardee)
On February 7 and 8, Dee and Jumaane perform at the Harris Theater. This collaboration brings Dee’s It’s All About Love, an exploration of long-form composition and jazz improvisation, and Jumaane’s Supreme Love, a performance of six tap dancers celebrating John Coltrane’s prolific record, to audiences for the first time. The February 8 matinee, with a call-and-response format geared towards children of all ages, is perfect for the whole family.
AYAKO KATO (2016 3Arts/ Reva & David Logan Foundation Awardee)
On February 8, 15, and 22, Ayako presents Art of Being: The Truth: Dance/Movement Workshop at Ebenezer Lutheran Church, offering “meditation, somatic and improvisational movement exercises, writing exercises, exchanging dialogue, some readings, and creating and sharing your own movement at the end.” These workshops accompany the release of Ayako’s artist book “Art of Being” through Emptiness, expressing her practical and philosophical theory on dance and life. To purchase the book, please contact Ayako at furyuayajp@gmail.com
DEE ALEXANDER (2012 3Arts/Southwest Airlines Awardee)
From February 13 through 16, Dee performs at Jazz Showcase with longtime collaborator John McLean as the Alexander McLean Project. “From a soft, sultry traditional ballad to a contemporary Jazz-Funk groove; from a high flying swing to a scat-filled romp, Dee Alexander delivers each style with a passion and love of music that comes across in each and every note, and with a style and grace that is truly her own.”
EDRA SOTO (2023 Next Level Awardee)
On February 18, Edra will speak at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Distinguished Alumni Lecture series. In the lecture, Erda will share details about her practice that “instigates meaningful, relevant, and often difficult conversations surrounding socioeconomic and cultural oppression, erasure of history, and loss of cultural knowledge.”
RICH ROBBINS (2024 3Arts/MSUFCU Community Awardee)
Every last Thursday of the month, Rich hosts Respect the Mic: Chicago’s most intimate open mic at Positive Space Studios. Each iteration features a new guest artist and local vendor.