Past Events and Programs

Once again the front lawn of the Evanston Art Center has come alive with intriguing and beautiful site-specific works by local artists. Each artist was asked to reference the history, geography or architecture of this special place through concept or material.

It's not too late to buy tickets.

Saturday Night, May 17 at the Evanston Art Center.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening of auctions, dinner, and dancing in the galleries and under our tent on the evening of May 17. The weather even cooperated! We raised money to fund our arts programming, scholarships, and community engagement initiatives.

Design your own posters and promote your band, event, or fund drive! Nicolette Ross of Spudnick Press will be at the Art Center on Saturday, May 17 from 1 to 4pm. This is your chance to work with one of the most talented printmakers in the Chicago area as you explore two elements of relief printing (letterpress and linoleum block printing) through creating your own edition of broadside posters.

Text will be laid out using wood type and printed on the Line-O-Scribe cylinder press. Imagery will be incorporated through a hand-carved linoleum block. Explore the interplay between image and text while learning technical carving and printing skills.

You'll take home your own edition of posters, and we encourage a group share so you can also take home a poster from each of your classmates.

Get interactive! Come to the Art Center and join Northern Illinois University Professor, Steve Ciampaglia and artists from The Plug-In Studio for this extraordinary pop-up, drop-in art + technology workshop. Use electronic components and found materials to make interactive artworks that move, make sound, and light up.

FREE workshop. No registration is necessary, just drop in anytime and make something cool that moves. All ages welcome.

Saturday, May 10 from 1-4pm

We are pleased to welcome composer Howard Sandroff who will talk about the relationship between his sculpture (completed at the Evanston Art Center while studying with Matt Runfola) and his musical compositions. Sandroff will also discuss the modes operandi of "preverbal memory" and the muse, which inspires (or not) us all in the creation of art.  

We would like to thank all of those who presented and attended last night's program.

This special panel, organized Caitlin Bruce and Polly Solomon, was the second installment of a year-long project that explores the shared connections between contemporary circus and graffiti art in New York City and Chicago. With this exciting project, Bruce and Solomon seek to put into conversation graffiti artists and circus artists through discussions, workshop, and performance in order to investigate the ways in which both genres utilize publicity, spectacle, and movement.

What are your kids doing during spring break? They could be busy making art and learning new skills in the areas of mixed media, painting and drawing. The Evanston Art Center has provided high quality youth arts programming for decades. Our teaching artists have years of experience with youth audiences and are accomplished at introducing projects that improve critical thinking skills, creativity, collaboration, vocabulary, and are basically a whole lot of fun!

We've been very fortunate to have artist Ben Whitehouse as part of our Arts Center this winter. Ben has been working in our 2nd floor studio space and interacting with students and visitors throughout the week. He will be with us through April 13. We hope that the public will take full advantage of Ben’s time with us and stay alert for upcoming events and programs with him.

Our Living Studio residency is a new and ongoing program provides a meaningful platform for local and national artists to transparently make and share work. The residency focuses on artistic visibility and public engagement around contemporary artistic practices and processes. The Art Center views its residency as an investigation of openness, generosity and exchange while challenging traditional notions of art studio.

Monday January 20, 2014

Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Ave  Evanston, IL 60201

Join us on December 4th at the Evanston Public Library as we continue reading Arthur C. Danto’s acclaimed 1992 book Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective. Dialogic Communities: Repairing the Social Bond is an ongoing participatory education program facilitated by the Evanston Art Center Director of Education Keith Brown and Insight Arts Executive Director Craig Harshaw. Dialogic Communities was conceived to inspire thoughtful public dialogue, reinvigorate the spirit of community, and open up explorations in contemporary visual art all while serving as a productive social and informal public education model.

Inspiration for Dialogic Communities derives from Paulo Freire, Joseph Beuys, Jacques Ranciere and art historical public cultures.

To participate, buy the book and read:

pp. 147-248 for meeting 12/4

Used copies of this book start at $7.00. 

New copies start at $13.00

The Evanston Public Library  has 4 copies at 1703 Orrington Ave  Evanston, IL 60201

Sincere thanks to Matthew Ballou, Norbert Marszalek and Tim Vermeulen for exhibiting their paintings in EAC's main galleries. This was a well-attended exhibition that culminated in a special visiting artist workshop titled The Evocative Self-Portrait in Pastel taught by Ballou. Ten individuals registered for the workshop, which presented another opportunity for our students to interact with and learn from some of today's most talented teaching artists.

During the entire month of November, every time you eat lunch or dinner at Evanston's KOI, the restaurant will donate 20% of the sales from Table 23, minus tax and gratuity, to the Evanston Art Center. Additionally, EAC will receive 1% of edamame sales and $1 for all delivery and carryout orders when EAC is mentioned. Table 23 remains empty if it is not reserved specifically to benefit EAC.

Crab Tree Farm
Lake Bluff, IL
Saturday, June 29, 2013
10 am – noon
RSVP by Wednesday, June 26
Limit: 40 people
EAC Members $30

Over 250 guests attended Evanston Art Center’s Spring Benefit, and many left with a unique piece to bring home, funding the Art Center’s exhibition, youth outreach programs and scholarships. While viewing interesting and unique art pieces throughout the Art Center, guests also enjoyed food and appetizers as well as lively music and dance.

Take a graffiti workshop, watch the film "Louder than a Bomb" or a demonstration from the University of Hip-Hop at the Evanston Art Center. We're hosting a 3-day educational program from May 3 through May 5 around street art called Street Arts as Public Pedagogy: Learning From the Margins.

Dialogic Communities is an experimental multi-month participatory art and culture discussion series that is free and open to the public. In conjunction with Insight Arts’ Craig Harshaw Dialogic Communities seeks to inspire thoughtful dialogue and reinvigorate the spirit of community while serving as a productive social model. This informal discussion invites regional community members, scholars, and the public to discuss a range of topics in art and culture (e.g. contemporary art history, theory, criticism, unique artist projects, the everyday, and visual and material culture). 

Saturday's performance by artist and musician Scott Carter and his band mates Jesse Butcher and Alex Gartelmann was a smashing success! Over thirty audience members watched the artists/musicians play and ultimatley, destroy, the installation. The piece will be on view through this Thursday. Images from the performance will be in our Image Gallery later this week.