Past Events

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.

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.

Join DPAM for another Lincoln Park Art Night, alongside Leslie Wolf Gallery, gallery 1871, Madron Gallery and Art on Sedgewick. Free shuttles will be provided for travel between the galleries. This project is part of Art Design Chicago, an initiative of the Terra Foundation of American Art. 

Join us at the DePaul Art Museum for a performative lecture and conversation with Mexico City-based artist Ana Gallardo in collaboration with live, Spanish-to-English interpreter and artist, Fabrizzio Subia. Gallardo will present on her artistic practice spanning over three decades including her current exhibition Tembló acá un delirio on view at MUAC in Mexico City. Ana Gallardo’s work includes drawing, video, social practice, and artistic interventions and is based on the need to make mourning a public process from a perspective that places the open wound of violence against women at the center. An intimate conversation with DePaul Art Museum’s Curator Ionit Behar will follow the presentation.

Born in Argentina and working in Mexico City over the last decade, Ana Gallardo's search as an artist and the vicissitudes of her private life have coexisted fully. She has dealt with different planes of violence as an artist and educator and is currently focusing on the violence of aging. Recent solo exhibitions include: A delirium trembled here, CA2M, Spain (2024) and MUAC, Mexico (2024); Bitácora Guatemalteca (I am looking for you by another name) 1987/2022, Julius Baer Award for Latin American Women artists, Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogota (2023), and School of Aging, Parque de la Memoria in Buenos Aires (2022). 

Gallardo will be visiting Chicago as part of the 2024-25 Collaboration Cohort of the Lit & Luz Festival, a cultural exchange between writers and visual artists from Mexico and Chicago, taking place in Chicago from October 26-November 2.

Presented in partnership with the Lit & Luz Festival and with additional support from the Department of Art and Architecture at DePaul University. 

"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 1:00pm to 2:00pm. Art-Making workshop is 1:00pm to 2:30pm.

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

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.

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.