Public Events

DPAM is closed to the public from Monday, August 5 through Wednesday, September 11 as we install our fall 2024 exhibitions: "Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967" and "The Spaces We Call Home." We appreciate your patience and look forward to seeing you for the opening events on Thursday, September 12.

Join us as we celebrate ten years of stewarding the legacy of artist Edgar Miller and advancing the appreciation of his life and work. Proceeds from the event will directly benefit the Edgar Miller Legacy (EML) and help us continue to preserve and educate the public about the art and design of Edgar Miller. A portion of the proceeds will also benefit DPAM, host of the gala and the exhibition Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click the link below. This event is open to all with a ticket purchase.

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Please join us for an in-person reception celebrating the opening of DPAM’s Fall 24/Winter 25 exhibitions Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967 and The Spaces We Call Home. Light refreshments will be served.

Images:

(Left) Edgar Miller, Celotex Building Products “The Architects Ball,” 1938. Printed program cover. Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of Paul and Janis Miller.

(Right) Ania Jaworska, Corner Light, 2021. Custom laminate, wood, mirror. Surface design in collaboration with Zack Ostrowski (Beverly Fre$h). Courtesy of Volume Gallery.

No registration needed for this event.

Over the course of his career, Edgar Miller realized numerous private and public commissions across the United States, with the largest concentration in the Chicagoland area. Many of these projects, which include architectural structures, large scale sculptures and reliefs, murals, stained glass, and other ornamental elements, are still extant or in situ today. In conjunction with DePaul Art Museum’s exhibition Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917–1967, please join us for a series of short presentations highlighting Miller’s commissioned work in public settings. Panelists include: Marin R. Sullivan, Jenn Marshall, Craig Lee, and Eliot Taillon. 

Image credits:

Postcard of the Normandy House Restaurant, c. 1940s. Courtesy of Edgar Miller Legacy.

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Stop by DPAM anytime between 10-1pm for Family Day! We partnered with the Chicago Mosaic School (CMS) for a hands-on workshop led by CMS faculty. We will create small mosaics inspired by Edgar Miller’s stained glass and design works featured in our exhibition Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967. 

The Chicago Mosaic School is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the fine art of mosaics and providing educational opportunities for comprehensive study with an academic, materially oriented approach to Mosaic Art. They aim to increase awareness and appreciation for the ancient art form, and create an open and inclusive community for learning, sharing expertise, while developing the medium within a contemporary context.

This program is intended for all ages and is part of DPAM’s Learning Studio initiative with the Stockyard Institute. Please register at the link below.

Image credit:

Courtesy of The Chicago Mosaic School.

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"Let’s Talk About Art" is an innovative hybrid learning program designed for older adults (65+) to explore and discuss visual and performing arts through both virtual and in-person experiences. This fall, participants will engage with exhibits at Chicago’s leading art institutions, including the Chicago History Museum, DePaul Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Photography, and Jane Addams-Hull House, culminating in art-making workshops at the Hyde Park Art Center. Each session includes lively discussions, Q&A with curators and teaching artists, interactive workshops, and collaborative art projects. The program fosters community engagement and intergenerational connections while enhancing artistic skills and knowledge. To register please click the link below or contact Victoria Sockwell. For special accommodations, please contact Rosé Hernandez.

Upcoming Sessions

• Chicago History Museum: September 16 - 19, 2024

• DePaul Art Museum: October 21 - 24, 2024

• Museum of Contemporary Photography: November 11 - 14, 2024

• Hull House: December 9 - 12, 2024

Time: Virtual sessions and Exhibition Visit run from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Art-Making Workshop is 1:00pm to 2:30pm

This program is supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

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DePaul Art Museum invites you to join a special presentation and conversation with visiting artist Ana Gallardo. Gallardo will present on her artistic practice spanning over three decades in the form of an artist talk followed by an intimate conversation with DPAM curator, Ionit Behar.

Join us for a guided tour of Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967 and The Spaces We Call Home with guest curator Dr. Marin R. Sullivan.

Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967 —the first retrospective and most comprehensive solo presentation of Miller’s work to date— highlights the achievements of the artist’s rich, multifaceted career, but situates his output within the broader cultural histories of Chicago and the creative communities in which he worked and lived.

The Spaces We Call Home features six artists and designers based in or with strong ties to Chicago whose work straddles, draws from, and complicates divisions between the fields of architecture, design, and fine art. Using a diverse array of materials, techniques, and traditions these creative practitioners grapple with the complexities of placemaking across time and space, interrogating and reflecting on the layered socio-spatial histories of built environments.

Marin R. Sullivan, PhD, is a Chicago-based art historian, curator, consultant, educator, and writer. She specializes in the histories of modern and contemporary sculpture, especially its interdisciplinary, intermedial dialogues with photography, design, and the built environment. Sullivan is the author of Alloys: American Sculpture and Architecture at Midcentury (Princeton University Press, 2022) and Sculptural Materiality in the Age of Conceptualism (Routledge, 2017) as well as numerous catalogs, essays, and articles.

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Throughout his career, Edgar Miller (1899-1993) was commissioned to create graphic designs for several major Chicago companies, including Marshall Field’s, WGN Radio, and the Container Corporation of America. Miller’s design work drew from a wide range of influences such as early expressionism, Mexican muralism, traditional and folk artistry, and abstract modernism, featuring his signature style of striking, modern layouts with highly detailed figurations. 

In conjunction with DPAM’s current exhibitions, please join us for a conversation about graphic design moderated by curator Marin R. Sullivan. Presenters are HOUR Studio, exhibition designers for Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967 and The Spaces We Call Home, as well as its accompanying publication; and Sunroom, who designed a zine as a whimsical interpretation of a tour of Miller’s interiors. 

HOUR is a design studio specializing in print, web, and environments. Composed by Tobey Albright and Mollie Edgar, HOUR collaborates with artists, architects, designers, and cultural institutions. 

Sunroom is a Chicago-based risograph print studio, independent label, and online archive developed and operated by Clare Byrne and Jacob Stolz. It serves as their collaborative vessel for visual art and music, providing them with a space to publish their boldest, exploratory, sometimes amorphous creative work. 

Image credits:

Collage of Edgar Miller interiors by HOUR Studio.

Photos: © 2008 Alexander Vertikoff | Alexander Vertikoff Archive.

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