In Pursuit: Artists’ Perspectives on a Nation Community Open House

Celebrate the opening of our summer exhibition, In Pursuit: Artists’ Perspectives on a Nation, with pay-what-you-wish admission during our spring Community Open House! Check out the exhibition and immerse yourself in the complex stories that shape and enrich the American journey. Spark your creativity at our Creation Station, including design-your-own buttons and a photo booth. Drop in for an interactive art-making workshop with exhibition artist Aram Han Sifuentes and put your hopes, desires, and demands for your community into action. 

12 pm – 3 pm 

Setting Hopes, Desires, and Demands: A Textile Workshop 

Join exhibition artist, Aram Han Sifuentes, for a hands-on, art-making workshop that explores and activates our visions for a better world. Design your own fabric square and fill it with your hopes, desires, and demands for yourself and your communities. Learn and utilize different textile art skills, such as embroidery, embellishment, and appliqué, to create a statement that you want to share with the world. When finished, put your designed statements into action – wear it as an accessory, wave it around as flag or banner, combine it with others to create a quilt, or display it in the Museum for others to view. 

All ages and skill levels welcome – no prior experience necessary. Visitors  may drop in and participate any time during the 3-hour workshop, but please note that space is limited. 

About Aram Han Sifuentes 

Aram Han Sifuentes is a social practice artist who creates participatory projects around themes of protest, voting rights, citizenship, and immigrant, racial, and economic justice. Solo exhibitions of her work have been presented at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum (Chicago), Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago), Chicago Cultural Center (Chicago), Pulitzer Arts Foundation (St. Louis), moCa Cleveland (Cleveland), and Skirball Cultural Center (Los Angeles). 

Han Sifuentes has facilitated workshops for her projects internationally including at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City), Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Zeeuws Museum (Middelburg, Netherlands), and Vetenskaps Festivalen (Gothenburg, Sweden). Han Sifuentes’s art works are included in various public collections including the Renwick Gallery of Smithsonian American Art Museum, Design Museum in London, Herbert Johnson Museum of Art, DePaul Art Museum, and Wing Luke Museum of Asian Pacific American Experience. 

Han Sifuentes has received numerous awards including 3Arts Award, 3Arts Next Level Award, Map Fund, Joyce Award, Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, Center for Craft’s Craft Research Fund Artist Fellowship, Asian Cultural Council’s Individual Fellowship Program, and Illinois Arts Council’s Artist Fellowship. She is currently a full professor, adjunct, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.