What are the opening hours?

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

Arts of Life

Call Directions Website

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

10/29/2026

Yeehaw! Another Award Show is in the books!

Congrats to all the award winners and a gracious thank you to all the Friends, Family and Supporters that came out to make this years Dolly Parton Country-themed Awards Show truly unforgettable.
Our Arts of Life community is the best. We seriously couldn’t do any of this without our awesome supporters. Thank you for coming out, dressing up, and celebrating with the artists at both our North Shore and West Town Studios!

10/28/2026

Please Join us in congratulating Vontrell Nunnas our latest Artist Spotlight recipient!!!

About Vontrell :
Vontrell’s pen and marker drawings capture a nostalgia for 90s cartoons, family gatherings, and friendship. His color placement is purposeful as is the composition of his chosen subject matter. Nunn creates an opportunity for us to reflect on what things leave lasting impressions and shape our views on life.

“I gotta visualize what to make in my thoughts. My thoughts tell me how to make this and make that. The most proud moment is I’ve got more to create. I’m smiling from the heart. The mind is trying to control over the heart. The heart controls your mind. The heart beats and beats and as long as it beats and beats you’ve got to protect it. You show your thoughts-sometimes bad thoughts can attack the mind. Don’t do it for other people, do it for yourself. Your ability comes from your mind. If you’re going to put that right thought in your mind. It’s there. You created it.”

10/22/2026

Hubert Posey - Untitled, 2018
Fabric, foam, cardboard, plastic, yarn and acrylic on tripod
36 x 21 x 15 in.
91.4 x 53.3 x 38.1 cm.

As a non-verbal artist, Hubert utilizes his art-making process as a tool for connection and communication with others. With the help of support staff and volunteers, Hubert builds multidimensional sculptures, amassing an array of materials collected from around the studio. His additive method of layering creates finished objects that are otherworldly. He can often be found laughing as he paints, opening himself up to the world around him and to the community of the studio. Hubert’s process is so intrinsically linked with his own personal exploration that his progress is a beautiful thing to observe. Born in Chicago in 1964, Posey’s work was recently included in Out 2021 at Galerie C.O.A. in Montreal, Do U Dig at Good Weather, and previously in In Good Company at the Chicago Cultural Center and All Well and Good at Circle Contemporary, among other exhibitions.

Untitled, 2018 is now on view through November 6 as part of the exhibition Walking on an Airy Road at Circle Contemporary, curated by Anna Kunz.

10/20/2026

📣COMING SOON!!
Arts of Life’s 2027 Wall Calendar - I think about the good things in life.
Cover artwork by Chris Austin. Title by David Krueger.

Playful and humorous artwork by featured Artist(s):
Marcus Imani Kennedy, Raina “Tokyo” Carter, Emory Jones, Stefan Harhaj, Noel Herrera, Violeta Martinez, Candace Turner, Chris Austin, Tatiana Adams, David Krueger with Ben Marcus, Bobby Nafisi, and Rocco DiCaro.

More details coming soon!!!

Marcus Imani Kennedy Raina Carter Emo! Noel Herrera Candace Turner Chris Austin David Krueger Monsterboy Roc

10/16/2026

We are super excited to announce that a few Arts of Life artists are featured in CORDIALLY INVITED at Make Studio in Baltimore. If you are in the Baltimore area, Stop By Oct 16 - Nov 23!

Featured Artists
Richard Auth – Christina Arnold – David Espinosa – Khristian Gillespie – Seth Jackson – Violeta Martinez

About
For nearly a decade, Cordially Invited has provided a platform for artists from these studios to share their work with the public, highlighting the creativity and diversity of disability arts while creating opportunities for local audiences to experience perspectives they may not otherwise encounter. This year’s exhibition features over 125 artists from 32 participating studios, hailing from as near as Rockville, MD and as far as Madrid, Spain. Details about exhibiting artists and participating studios will be featured on Make Studio’s website, along with the Cordially Invited digital exhibition of over 265 featured artworks.

When
Opening Reception:
October 17th, 2026
2:00 – 5:00 pm

Duration Oct 16 - Nov 23

Where
Make Studio
3326 Keswick Rd.
Baltimore, Maryland 21211

10/15/2026

Stop by our beautiful South Side location this weekend during Open House Chicago!

Have you been curious to check out our South Side location? We encourage you to explore the incredible architecture, history, and ongoing transformation of a landmark that has served Chicago for nearly two centuries. This studio uniquely enables our artists to work alongside fellow artists-in-residence and community organizing groups working in the building.

This weekend, there will be a dynamic program of contemporary arts and cultural activities. While our artists won’t be on-site, you may catch site-specific visual art installations, artist activations, live performances, open studios, chef-led culinary programming, and other community-centered experiences as part of First Church’s ongoing partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center through the Built on Belief initiative.

WHERE:
First Presbyterian Church of Chicago
6400 S Kimbark Ave Chicago, IL 60637

WHEN:
October 17–18, 2026
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

10/14/2026

It is with an unbearable sadness that I share that a beloved member of our West Town Studio, David Krueger, passed away peacefully in the nursing home where he had lived for many months on Saturday, October 10, 2026.

I’m not going to lie, this loss feels like a piece of Arts of Life is gone, never to be returned. If you knew Dave, you know exactly what I mean. It’s not that he meant more to our community than any other member, but that he gave so much to all of us. Every single person that I’ve shared this horrible news with has had an individual story of something Dave did for them, how he changed their perception of disability, of being an artist, of being a band member, and of being a human. We lost a colleague, a friend, a mentor, and a champion of Arts of Life, leaving us with a strong legacy to live up to.

The throughline to all of these stories is creativity, generosity, and joy. In a state that is one of the worst to fund programs for people with I/DD, David’s family ensured he had the life he wanted, full of family, friends, and creativity. One of the earliest stories I’ve been told is of Dave facilitating sidewalk chalk art with his neighborhood when he was still living at home. He had a natural ability to bring people together, especially around creating something, and he found joy in making art.

Dave has made art his whole life, sharing how his mother’s love of creativity sparked joy and led him to become an artist. This joy and never-ending imagination were special. Being in the orbit of Dave’s bursting creativity was contagious, and part of his legacy will be the mark he left on other artists, both in the Arts of Life community and the broader arts community – best exemplified by his Love Man collaboration with Chicago-based artist Ben Marcus.

Read the full Message from Denise Fisher via the link https://artsoflife.org/remembering-dave-krueger/

We are planning a celebration for our community and will share the details soon. The family will hold services open to the public on Thursday, October 22, with visitation beginning at 10am and the service at 1pm at Tohle Funeral Home.

10/09/2026

🦇 Are you ready for Halloween!!? We’ve got tricks AND treats for you in our Threadless shop. Check out these spooky featured designs by artists Emory Jones and Jean Wilson plus 20+ others in our Threadless shop.

Use the link in our bio, or visit our website and click on “ SHOP”.

🐺👻🎃🦇🍬

10/07/2026

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the opening reception of Walking on an Airy Road, curated by Anna Kunz and Carie Lassman! It was a fantastic turnout. If you missed it, the art exhibition will be on view through November 6, 2026. Make sure to schedule an appointment to reserve your spot!

About The Curators:
Anna Kunz received an MFA from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL and a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Kunz participated as an artist-in-residence in the Marie Walsh Sharpe Studio Program, Brooklyn, NY; The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME, and the Monira Foundation at Mana Contemporary, New Jersey. He work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in the public collections. Recent nominations include The Joan Mitchell Foundation and Anonymous was a Woman. Kunz lives and works in Buchanan, Michigan.

Carie Lassman is a Chicago-based painter consumed by color relationships, line, and surface history. Her work hovers somewhere between abstraction and representation—suggestions of landscapes, architecture, plaid—exploring how physical and emotional structures can both support and constrain, where messy personal histories are caught within structural systems. Each painting is a physical record of its own making.

WHEN:
Now till November 6, 2026

Closing hours with the curators:
November 6, 2026 5:00 – 8:00 pm

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

10/05/2026

Please save the date for our annual virtual Town Hall on Saturday, November 7 at 10 am. You can expect a State of the Arts of Life presentation and Q&A. Your input and expertise are valuable to our success, and we look forward to your participation.

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/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Arts of Life posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.