Art-Inspired Activities for Spring | The Art Institute of Chicago

Head over to Threaded Visions: Contemporary Weavings from the Collection on selected Saturdays to create your very own woven textile work inspired by the exhibition. This Saturday Studio takes place March 16, April 20, and May 11—drop in anytime from 12:00 to 2:00.

In his portraits, Picasso often distilled a sitter’s essence by refashioning their external features, evoking the styles of African masks. On March 21 at 6:00, join Suzanne Preston Blier, professor of fine arts and African and African American studies at Harvard University, for an exploration of the African influences in Picasso’s art. Registration is required.

On March 23 at 2:00, hear from two of the artists whose works are on view in Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan as Hosono Hitomi and Yamaguchi Mio sit with curator Janice Katz and catalogue editor Joe Earle to discuss their creative processes, techniques, inspiration, and thoughts on the current and future state of clay art. Registration is required.

Are you a teen who loves photography and lives in the Chicagoland area—or do you happen to know one? We’re currently accepting entries for My Chicagos: A Teen Photography Competition. Submissions are due by March 22 at 5 p.m., and winners will have their work displayed in the Ryan Learning Center’s McCormick Gallery beginning May 18. Stop by and check out the winning works later this spring!

Images: Michael Rohde. Winter/Lake Biwa, 2001. Nicole Williams Contemporary Textile Fund; Installation view of El Anatsui’s The Deluge, 2021. Private collection; Installation view of Richard Hunt’s Hero Construction, 1958. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold H. Maremont; Interior of Fullerton Hall, the Art Institute of Chicago, about 1900; Pablo Picasso. Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, autumn 1910. Gift of Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman in memory of Charles B. Goodspeed. © 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Left: Yamaguchi Mio. Shura, 2020. Carol & Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, Right: Hosono Hitomi. A Very Large Pine Tree Pool, 2019. Scottish National Museum. © 2023 Hitomi Hosono; Antonio Canova. Study of a Boy, about 1790–1800. Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova, Possagno, Inv. no. 21. Photography by Luigi Spina; María Dávila and Eduardo Portillo. White Dwarf, 2016. Nicole Williams Contemporary Latin American Textile Fund; Amanda Williams. Color(ed) Theory: Flamin’ Red Hots, 2014–15. Funds provided by the Architecture & Design Society.