: invalid url input)
Make it Yummy
Kidrobot Yummy World Popup
March 3-April 2, 2017
Grand Opening Friday, March 3, 6-9pm
For the month of March we're excited to announce we're collaborating with our good friends at Kidrobot to showcase their wonderfully fun and tasty* Yummy World line of toys! We'll be transforming our gallery space into a popup shop we're calling "Make it Yummy" from March 3 until April 2nd.
Join us for the grand opening, March 3, 6-9pm and get the newest Yummy World releases, exclusive posters, and Yummy snacks plus visit Sprinkletree with our YummyWorld selfie photo backdrop for a chance to win prizes!**
* Do not eat, they're toys. Delicious looking, yes, but not actually tasty.
** Stay tuned for more details about how to win some Yummy prizes!
About Yummy World
With signature "googley" eyes and a dashed smile, Yummy World brings life to baked goods, fruits, vegetables, and beyond. Yummy World is a reminder that life is sweet, salty, and most of all, delicious. Yummy World is a exclusive Kidrobot brand and comes in plush versions, keychains and vinyl mini figures.
©2017 Kidrobot, LLC. Yummy World and Kidrobot are trademarks of Kidrobot. All rights reserved.
Join us and host Mary Ruth Butterworth (
@ruthietherobot) for a fun evening of drawing, sketching and doodling whilst enjoying your favorite adult beverages, BYOB. All skill levels are welcome!
Sweet Home Chicago
New Works by Cindy Scaife
February 3-26, 2017
BYOB Opening Reception Friday, February 3, 7-10pm
Cindy Scaife was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and she graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). For over 25 years Cindy has worked as a full-time professional artist, muralist and art educator.
Cindy is greatly influenced by the art, design and advertising illustrations of the Atomic Age. Drawing heavily from the colour palette and optimism of this era, Cindyʼs work reflects its own nostalgia and innocence. Cindy arrived at her style of art by way of the 1950ʼs advertising industryʼs development and use of the product mascot, an anthropomorphic character used to promote a companyʼs wares to a wide audience.
Her artwork has been exhibited in galleries in the Ontario, British Columbia and Los Angeles.
Sweet Home Chicago is a tribute to Chicago’s rich candy history. With this show Cindy continues her exploration of food and advertising mascots by creating anthropomorphic imagery that examines the origins, cultural influences, history and significance of a variety of food products.
While conducting extensive research into the food items that are specific and significant to the Chicago area, Cindy discovered the city’s unique and noteworthy connection to the confectionery industry. For over a century Chicago has been the candy manufacturing hub of the United States. With this exhibit, Cindy will be highlighting a selection of the candies that have become some of the most beloved and enduring sweets in the United States, all of which have Chicago roots.
Join us and Cindy for the opening reception on the evening of Friday, February 3, 7-10pm where we'll have snacks and beverages (BYOB if you want beer or wine), not to mention awesome music courtesy of DJ Sean Doe.
Works will be available to purchase at the gallery beginning at 11am on Friday, February 3 or via email starting at 2pm the same day for members of our Gallery Previews List (sign up here).
The 33 — A Cabinet of Curious Characters
New Works by BaM! (Bruce Bachelder and Mike Rende)
February 3-26, 2017
BYOB Opening Reception Friday, February 3, 7-10pm
“Check your ego at the door.” is the driving thought when Chicago-area artists Bruce Bachelder and Mike Rende (collectively known as BaM!) set out to create their collaborative art. The artists, both graduates of Northern Illinois University, each start a painting and then hand it to the other to complete. Sometimes they follow the original vision for the painting, but it’s always more interesting when they don’t.
The 33 – A Cabinet of Curious Characters is their newest series of paintings, inspired by a box of old "cabinet cards" that Bruce's mother found while cleaning out her basement. After pulling out all of the relatives she could identify, she planned to discard the remaining photos that were of people she did not know, but Bruce rescued them from that untimely fate and inspiration struck when he presented them to Mike.
Why not bring their ‘artistic misunderstanding’ to a more tangible format? Why not leverage a basic, clear, starting point and build on that? So they embarked on a challenge to create 33 new portraits, each based on a cabinet card from the basement find.
Join us, along with Bruce and Mike, for the opening reception on the evening of Friday, February 3, 7-10pm where we'll have snacks and beverages (BYOB if you want beer or wine), not to mention awesome music courtesy of DJ Sean Doe.
Works will be available to purchase at the gallery beginning at 11am on Friday, February 3 or via email starting at 2pm the same day for members of our Gallery Previews List (sign up here).
Unsolved Landscapes
New Works by Daria Tessler
January 6-29, 2017
BYOB Opening Reception January 6, 7-10pm
Born in Finland, Daria Tessler grew up in California where she studied printmaking and mathematics. Now living in Portland, Oregon, Daria is the creator of Animalsleep, a collection of silkscreened art, illustrations, children's books and comics.
For Unsolved Landscapes Daria has created a beautiful collection of graphite drawings on paper exhibiting her wonderfully surreal and playful style, plus we'll have some of her framed screenprints available.
Join us for the opening reception on the evening of Friday, January 6, 7-10pm where we'll have snacks and beverages (BYOB if you want beer or wine), not to mention awesome music courtesy of DJ Sean Doe.
Works will be available to purchase at the gallery beginning at 11am on Friday, January 6 or via email starting at 2pm the same day for members of our Gallery Previews List (sign up here).
a town…OF NINJAS!
A Decade-long Retrospective of Ninjatown by Shawnimals
January 6-29, 2017
BYOB Opening Reception & Ninjatown Eeensy Charms Launch Party
January 6, 7-10pm
This January Shawnimals and Ninjatown creator Shawn Smith will be filling our side gallery with a retrospective of his Ninjatown world...expect paintings, prints, rare Ninja of the Month plush and even some original Wee Ninjas from the Shawnimals Archive to be made available PLUS we'll be debuting Ninjatown Eeensy Charms, produced by Squibbles Ink + Rotofugi!
Join us for the opening reception on the evening of Friday, January 6, 7-10pm where we'll have snacks and beverages (BYOB if you want beer or wine), not to mention awesome music courtesy of DJ Sean Doe. Shawn Smith will be in attendance to chat with fans too!
Works will be available to purchase at the gallery beginning at 11am on Friday, January 6 or via email starting at 2pm the same day for members of our Gallery Previews List (sign up here).
A new month means new art in our main and side galleries! We're super excited to have a wonderful exhibit by two great artists, Lana Crooks and Andrew Bell, in our main gallery for December, plus Melissa Sue Stanley will be showing her wonderful stitched creations in the side gallery!
Night Fall
New Works by Lana Crooks & Andrew Bell
December 9-31, 2016
BYOB Opening Reception December 9, 7-10pm
Chicago-based artist Lana Crooks loves the antique, the creepy, the cute and the mysterious. Constructing creatures from fabrics and found objects, she is a purveyor of faux specimens and soft curiosities that are a blend of science and fantasy. Sought after for her pattern-making abilities, she frequently teams up with other artists to breathe three dimensional life into their illustrations, earning her two Designer Toy Awards. She enjoys drawing from real specimens in dusty back rooms of Chicago's natural history museums but, on an average day, you can find her in the studio surrounded by skulls, old books, aging fabrics, and a cat named Tanuki!
New York-based Andrew Bell enjoys working in a variety of mediums, from illustrations and paintings to toys and sculptures. His expressive characters embody a complex set of emotions, lending them a real sense of life and hinting at a deeper narrative. The work is tied together by a sense of humor that often belies a more serious and somber message.
Andrew draws inspiration from his travels, his dreams, and the diversity of life surrounding him in his home of Brooklyn, New York. Over the last 15 years he has published several books based on his “Creatures in my Head” series of illustrations and has released hundreds of prints, toys and products through his company Dead Zebra Inc.
His work has been featured in gallery shows and publications around the world including The New York Times, Wired, Newsweek and Fast Company. You may even have seen his famous Café Grumpy logo on HBO’s ‘girls’, or his Google Android toy on widely syndicated The Big Bang Theory. He has received three “Designer Toy Award” honors, including the 2015 Toy of the Year award!
Join us for the opening reception on the evening of Friday, December 9, 7-10pm and you'll have a chance to chat with both Lana and Andrew, plus we'll have snacks and beverages (BYOB if you want beer or wine), not to mention awesome music courtesy of DJ Sean Doe.
Works will be available to purchase at the gallery beginning at 11am on Friday, December 9 or via email starting at 2pm the same day for members of our Gallery Previews List (sign up here).
Dandelion Wine
New Works by Melissa Sue Stanley
December 9-31, 2016
BYOB Opening Reception December 9, 7-10pm
Melissa Sue Stanley creates paintings and soft sculptures in Chicago, IL. Her work is collected internationally and has been exhibited in galleries across the US.
Melissa draws her inspiration from life and experience in the Midwest. Memories of cicadas, storms, and endless fields are captured in drawings and paintings - with a twist of magical realism and using all the tools in her studio. Following this theme, Melissa also creates small creatures out of wool and wire. These monsters and spirits are stitched together from summer evenings. Both bright and dark, they offer colorful delights as well as dark mysteries.
Melissa grew up in the small towns of northern Illinois with lightning bugs, creek-beds, and dandelions. She studied drawing and painting, and continues to do so, in various weekly figure drawing sessions at local art leagues and studios.
Melissa also works with her partner, Max Bare, on comic books and small products. Together they manage and host the Chicago Drink & Draw Social Club, and are members of the OhNo!Doom Collective.
Join us for the opening reception on the evening of Friday, December 9, 7-10pm and you'll have a chance to chat with Melissa, plus we'll have snacks and beverages (BYOB if you want beer or wine), not to mention awesome music courtesy of DJ Sean Doe.
Works will be available to purchase at the gallery beginning at 11am on Friday, November 11 or via email starting at 2pm the same day for members of our Gallery Previews List (sign up here).
