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Monday 9am - 4pm Tuesday 9am - 4pm Wednesday 9am - 4pm Thursday 9am - 4pm Friday 9am - 4pm

Arts of Life

A collective space for artists with ID/D to expand their practice & strengthen their leadership. Non-Profit Arts Community

03/12/2026

We’re ready!!! The Threshold Varies, guest curated by Madeline Gallucci of Radar, opens tomorrow - here’s a little preview! Stop by the opening reception from 5-8pm.

ABOUT:
The Threshold Varies is a group exhibition featuring artists who engage in perception as something that is variable, contingent, and unstable. The works in the exhibition operate between containment and overflow, hovering at the limits of visibility and testing how intensity becomes legible.
 FEATURED ARTISTS: Elizabeth Allen-Cannon, Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez, Forrest Frederick, Ben Gould, Paul Heyer, Katrina Jackson, Will Krauland, Lawrence M., Susan Pasowicz, Noelia Towers, Lucy Walsh  WHEN: Opening Reception - Friday, March 13 5-8pm

WHERE:
Circle Contemporary - West Town 2010 W. Carroll Ave Chicago, IL 60612

FOR MORE DETAILS hit the events link in our bio or via our website events page.
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03/05/2026

Tim Stone
The Darkness After Time, 2025
Graphite on paper
19 x 24 in.
48.3 x 61 cm.

ABOUT: Tim Stone has cultivated a disciplined studio practice centered on the rigorous exploration of abstract grid systems. Although proficient in diverse media such as watercolor and acrylic, his current work prioritizes the physical manipulation of graphite to create monochromatic, burnished surfaces that record the passage of time. This labor-intensive methodology involves repetitive mark-making that fundamentally alters the paper’s topography, reflecting a steadfast commitment to his aesthetic vision. Beyond his personal output, Stone serves on the curatorial committee at Circle Contemporary, where he collaborates with guest curators to integrate studio residents into the broader contemporary art dialogue.

Check out Tim Stone’s The Darkness After Time now featured in the dual exhibition Parallel Acts, until April 25th, at Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S. Ashland Ave Chicago, IL.

03/03/2026

Bathtub, 2022 Chalk pastel and graphite on paper 7 3⁄4 x 10 1⁄4 in
Renata Berdes

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Renata Berdes’ persistence and focus in pursuit of her artistic outcomes is indomitable. Themes, or what she often calls “obsessions,” are pursued with much intention. When viewed collectively, her sculptural works suggest the assemblage of a new space that plays with scale and permanence. Individually her sculptures are imbued with the magic of what is possible; first there was nothing, and now by Berdes’ hands and imagination the object exists. Found objects are unified through an intimate connection with the sense of touch that manifests in rich textures. Berdes invites us to see the world from her perspective and delights viewers with her reinterpretation of what is.

“I really like art because you can see everything through art.”

Bathtub is on view now at LVL3 as part of the exhibition In Bloom which closes March 8th so don’t miss it!

WHERE:
LVL3
1542 N Milwaukee Ave 3rd floor
Chicago IL 60622

02/27/2026

💘 February photo dump 💕

02/25/2026

Our current Artist Spotlight, Ariée Carter, loves the Barbie universe! You can see it in her colorful painting “Barbie and the ImaginationTopia” as well as in her fashion drawings.

Check out more work by Ariée via the link in our bio.

Image 1:
Ariée
Barbie and the ImaginationTopia, 2025
Acrylic, paint marker, pen, marker and paper on canvas
48 x 36 in.
121.9 x 91.4 cm.

Image 2:
Ariee next to her surrealism style pink themed painting featuring a woman with an elongated neck and black and white stripe top and big yellow hair filled with various creatures, standing in water, under a pink sky, with unicorns and a smiling sun.
ImaginationTopia

02/21/2026

Parallel Acts: A Practice of Staying Featuring Tim Stone and Soo Shin opens tomorrow at the Epiphany Center. Join us from 2-5pm for the opening reception or come visit during Epiphany’s Golden Hour - more details below.

About the Exhibition:
Parallel Acts: A Practice of Staying brings together two practices that understand gesture as a durational condition rather than a singular event. In both bodies of work, movement is sustained over time, and repetition becomes a means of transformation rather than reproduction.

In Shin’s ongoing series, Pas de Deux, Soo Shin constructs a buoyant vessel that floats in the Pacific Ocean while tethered to her body. Paper and pigmented wooden balls move freely within the structure, allowing ocean currents to register motion across the surface. Gesture emerges through sustained presence and shared agency between body, material, and environment, recorded as residue over time rather than intention.

Tim Stone’s works are formed through repeated return to a single drawing. By tracing and retracing his own marks over extended periods, he allows accumulation to alter the surface. Through accumulation, the surface slowly transforms: compression builds, sheen develops, and the drawing shifts toward another material state. Staying with the same gesture becomes a means of altering both surface and substance.

Placed together, these practices unfold as parallel acts of staying—where movement persists, time accumulates, and matter becomes the record of duration.

DETAILS
Opening Reception:
Sunday, February 22nd, from 2:00-5:00pm.

Golden Hour at Epiphany:
Wednesdays thru Saturdays
5-8pm
Free live music, drink specials and a light bite menu

Exhibition Duration - February 22 - End: April 25

Venue:
Epiphany Center for the Arts
201 S. Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL

02/19/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out last week to the opening of Multicentered and Reverberating. It was a blast! In you missed it, we will be having Closing hours with curator Danny Floyd on Friday, February 27th from 5-8pm. Come Through!  All Featured Artists: Sonya Bogdanova – Kacie Lees – Melissa McClung – Susan Pasowicz – John Phelan – Carol Pyes– Tim Stone – Kevin Stuart – Amy Vogel
 Where:  Circle Contemporary – West Town 2010 W. Carroll Chicago, IL 60612

Read more details via our events link in our bio  - . . . 
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02/17/2026

We’re excited to announce our next exhibition!

Please join us on Friday, March 13th, 5-8pm for the Opening reception of The Threshold Varies, Guest curated by Madeline Gallucci of RADAR.

ABOUT THE THRESHOLD VARIES:
RADAR is pleased to present The Threshold Varies, a group exhibition featuring artists who engage in perception as something that is variable, contingent, and unstable. The works in the exhibition operate between containment and overflow, hovering at the limits of visibility and testing how intensity becomes legible.

In psychophysics, the idea of the ‘absolute threshold’ is defined by the minimum intensity required for a stimulus to be sensed. It is the the point at which sound, color, or light crosses from not perceived into perceptible. It is a boundary that is never fixed, as it shifts with duration, proximity, and expectation, and becomes blurred over time with continual exposure.

In image-making, these boundaries are seen as similarly uncertain. We trust the image as it exists, relying on what is before us, even as its edges remain contingent and provisional. The works in The Threshold Varies operate within this tension between containment and overflow, hovering at the limits of visibility and testing how intensity becomes legible.

RADAR is a curatorial platform supporting artists and their practices in the Midwest, founded by Madeline Gallucci. Learn more at

FEATURED ARTISTS:
Elizabeth Allen-Cannon – Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez – Forrest Frederick – Ben Gould – Paul Heyer – Katrina Jackson – Will Krauland – Lawrence M. – Susan Pasowicz – Noelia Towers – Lucy Walsh

Special thanks to Latitude for printing assistance

WHEN:
Opening Reception - Friday, March 13 5-8pm

EXPO ART WEEK Program - Saturday, April 11th from 5-8pm
During EXPO Art Week, join guest curator Madeline Gallucci—artist and founder of RADAR—for an inside look at the exhibition The Threshold Varies. Gallucci will share insights into the curatorial framework behind the exhibition and discuss RADAR’s mission to support Midwest artists through emerging and collaborative initiatives.

WHERE:
Circle Contemporary- West Town
2010 W. Carroll Ave
Chicago, IL 60612

02/14/2026

Will you be our valentine?? 💘 We made you a playlist! Check it out and let us know which song is your favorite!

xoXOxo,
Arts of Life

*Link to listen to playlist on our bio!

02/09/2026

Marvin Young becomes Arts of Life’s FIRST artist to exhibit a solo show in a museum - congrats Marvin!!

Impressions of a City, curated by Christina Stavros, will be on view starting April 9th at the Intuit Art Museum.

About the exhibition:
The City of Chicago and its people are celebrated in this exhibition of works by Chicago-based artist Marvin Young. A lifelong resident of Chicago’s South Side, Young joined Arts of Life (https://artsoflife.org/) ’s progressive studio for artists with intellectual and physical disabilities in 2024. Using graphite, colored pencil, crayon, pen and marker, Young creates vivid drawings that reflect his community and personal history, capturing imagined and remembered urban scenes alongside large-scale portraits. Young’s architectural landscapes feature vintage Chicago walk-ups, brownstones and high rises framed by bright skies and classic cars, taxi cabs, police officers and bustling city life. The exhibition showcases Young’s vision and prolific practice.

When:
Apr 9 – Aug 23, 2026

Where:
Intuit Art Museum
Douglas O. Robson Gallery
756 N Milwaukee Ave,
Chicago, IL 60642

02/05/2026

We’re all set up for tomorrow’s Opening Reception for 𝘔𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, guest curated by Danny Floyd! The opening is from 5-8pm - we hope to see you there!!! *Click through to get a quick preview of the exhibit.

ABOUT THE GUEST CURATOR:
Danny Floyd is an artist, researcher, curator, and educator based in Chicago. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor, Adjunct of Visual & Critical Studies, and the Undergraduate Division at SAIC. He also served as the Exhibitions Director for ACRE. He has been an active part of Chicago’s artist-run space community through two programs, Ballroom Projects and Adler & Floyd. He has held curatorial residencies with ACRE and Chicago Artists Coalition.

This exhibition is a thought experiment: is visual art doomed to visual space? Can visual artists escape the vanishing point and capture the multicentered and reverberating, non-hierarchical aspects of acoustic space?

FEATURED ARTISTS:
Sonya Bogdanova – Kacie Lees – Melissa McClung – Susan Pasowicz – John Phelan – Carol Peyes – Tim Stone – Kevin Stuart – Amy Vogel  Where:
Circle Contemporary – West Town 2010 W. Carroll Chicago, IL 60612  When: Friday, Feb 6, 5–8pm  . . . 

02/04/2026

We are excited to be participating in this year’s Valentine’s Day Pop-up Art Market at Intuit, featuring a host of one-of-a-kind art and handmade items, including jewelry, prints, ceramics and more, available only during the market. After you shop, take time to After you shop, be sure to check out Catalyst, featuring work by Arts of Life artists Guy Conners, Stefan Harhaj, and Aaron Kleeblatt .

VENDERS INCLUDE:

Amy Huske
Amy Marks
Arts of Life
J‑Bird Clay
Mary Sundstrom
Project Onward
Takara Design
WIRED Jewelry

WHEN:
Feb 14, 2026 12–5 PM

WHERE:
Intuit Art Museum
756 N. Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, 60642

Address

2010 W Carroll Avenue
Chicago, IL
60612

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 4pm
Tuesday	9am - 4pm
Wednesday	9am - 4pm
Thursday	9am - 4pm
Friday	9am - 4pm

Telephone

+13128292787

Website

http://www.artsoflife.org/

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