Exhibits

Current Exhibits

Cognitive Dissonance: A Surrealist’s Approach to Imagery

November 30, 2024-January 26, 2025

From artist Robert W. Hutchison: "How we perceive a work of art that includes two objects in the same context can either make sense or be nonsensical. The nonsensical situations create cognitive dissonance–an uneasy or confused feeling. Surrealist artists believed that cognitive dissonance would force viewers to try to understand the dissonance by creating some context in which the objects could reasonably coexist. This might then lead viewers to new modes of thought. I have tried, in much of my work, to follow these tenets of surrealist artistic practice. The two artists aligned with the surrealist movement who have had the most influence on my art are René Magritte and Hans Arp."

Event: Artist Reception, Thursday, December 12, 7-8:30pm

Past Exhibits

Kutbayin: A Reimagined Artistic Legacy of Ancient Philippines

October 18-November 16

Fred DeAsis's collection, a decade in the making, is a testament to the enduring power of Filipino heritage. His innovative fusion of traditional techniques and the ancient Baybayin script bridges past and present, inviting viewers to decipher hidden narratives within his intricate compositions. This work is a celebration of cultural resilience, a tribute to the artistry of the Filipino spirit, and a reminder of art's timeless ability to connect us to our past, present, and future. Each piece is a testament to Fred’s dedication to preserving and revitalizing ancient traditions. Through his work, Fred honors the legacy of his ancestors and inspires others to appreciate and celebrate their cultural heritage.

Faces of Nature

September 9-November 22, 2024

Photographer Carol Krofl hit an errant golf ball one day. When she looked to retrieve it, she saw what she thought was a gnarled face looking at her. From that moment, she has discovered “faces” everywhere in nature and has shared some of them in this collection of photographs. Perhaps you'll find faces, too, as you look more closely at the wonder and diversity of nature.

The Beginnings of Fair Housing in Skokie

Based on our online exhibit, library visitors can take in a physical exhibit exploring the origins and progress of fair housing in Skokie, starting in 1961 when the first Black family purchased a home in Skokie. Original materials courtesy of Skokie Heritage Museum.

Take the Shirt off My Back

June 1-August 15, 2024

To create the 35 quilts in this exhibit, members of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild were asked to find used shirts and create quilts using them. The goal for this challenge was to raise awareness and promote sustainability and repurposing. Our quilters expressed themselves in a wide variety of styles. Each quilt tells a story that some viewers will be moved by and others will smile at. The Chicago Modern Quilt Guild is an open, spirited, and inclusive community group, welcoming all. The guild believes that respecting different cultures and gender identifications enriches and enhances the guild.

Artistic Discovery Competition

April 15-May 13, 2024

High school students from the Illinois 9th Congressional District submit their work to Artistic Discovery, a Congressional art competition whose winner will be exhibited at the United States Capitol.

Magic in the Park

March 4-May 20, 2024

Priscilla Huang's art captures the essence of flora with a blend of precision and impression. Using bold brushwork and rich, vivid colors, she seeks to convey a sense of energy, crafting a world where reality and imagination intertwine. Drawing inspiration from organic forms in nature, her work aspires to tap into universal emotions.

The Niles Township High School District 219 Art Exhibition

February 5-March 25, 2024

This collaborative show features artwork from students currently enrolled in art courses at various levels at both Niles West and Niles North High Schools. Many students showcased here are from the AP and Advanced levels who are building portfolios for both the College Board and pursuit of a post-secondary scholarship to study varying fields in Art. Art courses at D219 allow students to gain a wide array of experiences, but focus on creative development through process, technique, exploration and experimentation.

Swiftcurrent

December 8, 2023-January 25, 2024

Sue Teller—artist and former library employee—was inspired by the waters of Swiftcurrent Lake and Creek and the surrounding landscape in Glacier National Park, MT, to create this exhibit of landscape abstractions.

Teller’s body of work melds both traditional and nontraditional materials and methods, including the use of found objects. Be sure to walk by the South Courtyard of the library to look at the two pieces installed within the wooden benches: Reflection – Time and Reflection – Memory. These two reflecting ponds are made from discarded CDs, found objects that were once considered the cutting edge of technology and are now considered obsolete.

As a visual artist, Teller creates material objects to discover a new and different kind of beauty.

Craftwork/Artwork: Woven Creations from The Chicago Weaving School

October 9-November 30

Weaving is an ancient, but ever-evolving craft, and its possibilities seem endless. What are hand weavers making today, and how does the practice of weaving affect daily, personal lives? The Chicago Weaving School is celebrating 20 years of people learning to weave and sharing their love of woven cloth.

For these weavers, the loom can be a respite–a space to relax, feel the thread, and connect with the natural flow of throwing the shuttle. The loom can also be a challenge, requiring patience or analytical rigor weavers didn’t know they were capable of.

For many, the loom offers safety and surety, a grid of warp and weft threads operating under known rules and clear expectations. For others, the loom is a playground of unknowns, and the grid is a waiting field of texture, rhythms, color, and discoveries.

Cloth can be as practical as a crisp linen towel, and as impractical as a disco-metallic, fringed and pleated wall hanging. Practical or impractical, all the forms of woven expression in this show are meaningful and necessary to the people who make them.

Lady Macbeth by Ariela Robinson

October 9-November 30

Having taught Shakespeare's play Macbeth more than 20 times to high school students, teacher Ariela Robinson used the text as an artistic inspiration last year, producing a portrait that brings new humanity to one of literature's most maligned women.

Bringing Words to Life with Arabic Calligraphy by Hassan Ghomrawi 

August 1-September 28, 2023 

Hassan vividly remembers being inspired by an elegant invitation card to a famous calligrapher’s art show. He sought the leading calligrapher in his hometown to teach him this rare art form. He learned two types of Arabic calligraphy and has continued teaching himself for more than two decades. Calligraphy is how he can beautify words to emphasize their meaning. Figuring out how to assemble the words, determining the size of the work, and choosing what colors to use is a labor of love, and the end product is always rewarding.

Where There Are Wild Things: Nature in Image and Poetry

August 1-September 28, 2023

Marcia Whitney-Schenck, a Chicago-based artist and novelist, is fascinated with the connections among words, images, and nature. How does one best reflect and express one’s encounters in nature? Is there a “best” way, or do the ways intertwine, inevitably?  Poets invite us to conjure up images through words; artists visualize those words by way of images. Using watercolor and acrylic, Marcia depicts the natural world using a wide-ranging visual vocabulary (abstraction, impressionism, expressionism) and pairs those images with poems. She invites us to slow down, as we do in the natural world, and read the poems that accompany her creations, by both famous and relatively obscure poets, to garner new insights as to how nature changes and molds us.

Propose an Exhibit

If you’d like to propose an exhibit to display at Skokie Public Library, please review our exhibit guidelines and submit this form. Unfortunately, because of the volume of proposals we receive, we’re not able to individually respond to each inquiry.