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Past Exhibitions
Winter 2023-2024
Nov. 14 2023 through Feb. 17, 2024
What is for Supper? What is a Meal?
Rotunda and South Galleries
"What is for Supper? What is a Meal?" explores aspects of nurturing, socialization, health and sustainability. Geographic, cultural and economic differences may determine what is available to eat and what would be satisfying as a meal. The importance of food shared is a linchpin of hospitality and is an integral component for social dialogue to take place. Issues that threaten our food intake also threaten our greater well-being. This exhibition is curated by the NIU Art Museum Exhibition Advisory Committee.
The artists participating in this exhibition were selected from private and public collections, a national call for entry and by invitation and include: Rein Brooks, Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lochman, Sue Coe, Honoré Daumier, Evelyn Davis-Walker, Andrew DeCaen, J. J. Grandville, Daniel Grych, Henry Hargreaves, Tom Huck, Andrew Ellis Johnson, Christina Kang, Marina Kuchinski, Caitlyn Lawler, Laura Letinsky, Maureen O'Leary, Janelle O'Malley, JWP, Lisa Riedl, Dana Sherwood, Susanne Slavick, Neal Slavin, So Young Song, Sophia Varcados and Andy Warhol.
Food for the Soul: Belief and Healing in Burma
North Gallery
"Food for the Soul: Belief and Healing in Burma" is curated by Catherine Raymond from the Burma Art Collection at NIU. This exhibition features five sections that include explorations of food for well-being, merit-making, healing, spirituality and taboos.
Unsurpassed in Quality: Vintage Food Labels from the Collection of Peter B. Olson
Hall Case Gallery
This exhibit is in our hall case gallery and features a variety of lithographic food labels curated by the NIU Art Museum's assistant director.
Fall 2023
Aug. 29 through Oct. 14, 2023
Dialogue
The concept of dialogue allows for issue awareness and resolution through listening. Its goal is understanding. The artists whose work is displayed in this exhibition have worked on lens-based projects that have grown and developed organically over the years.
This exhibition will feature selections from "Lines of Authority" by Alan Cohen, "Black Box" by Michael Coppage and "The Folded Map Project" by Tonika Lewis Johnson.
The Remaining, Mourn…
"The Remaining, Mourn…" is a group exhibition addressing the experience of grieving as seen through the lens of nine artists’ practices. Through tactile artworks, they address both individual and collective loss. Holding materials as one would onto someone lost, these artists use various techniques to freeze a moment, allowing themselves time to process what remains as well as what is gone. Their materials, and the memories and emotions they evoke, become the "language" the artist use to create their own rituals to navigate grief/mourning and work toward healing.
The artists featured in this exhibition include Selva Aparicio, Michael Chambers, April Dauscha, Salvador Jiménez-Flores, Millicent Kennedy, Allen Moore, Monika Plioplyte, Nirmal Raja and Anne Wilson.
Spring 2023
March 30 through May 14, 2023
Americans in Burma: The Art of Collecting
From a sacred altar of Buddha images and manuscripts to musical instruments, textiles, silver, bronze, ivory, and lacquerware, the artworks on view tell individual American stories and their love for Burmese arts and crafts. The exhibition asks how these objects may reveal a “true” local tradition or respond by adapting to the western taste and growing souvenir market.
Local Visions II
Local Visions II is a sequel to the first Local Visions exhibition at the NIU Art Museum held in 2015. It will highlight the personal collections of objects that can be found in the homes of local residents. Many of these collectors started at a young age, making significant sacrifices to fuel their growing passion, including making down payments, paying in installments or trading either their own artwork or labor for artwork that would enrich their living environment.
- Children's Illustrated Suite (August 23 - October 15, 2022)
- Golden Legacy: Original Art from 80 Years of Golden Books
- Everyday People: The Art of James E. Ransome
Both shows organized and traveled by the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas - Burnishing the Medals of Children's Literature (organized by staff members of the NIU University Libraries)
- Stories From My Childhood (November 29 - December 17 and January 10 - February 17, 2023
- Ronald Gonzalez: As a Child I Sailed the World (November 29 - December 17 and January 10 - February 17, 2023)
- A Show of Hands: Recent Work by Ben Stone (January 10 - February 17, 2023)
- Biennial NIU Faculty Art Show (January 19 – May 14, 2022)
NIU School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial Continuum (January 14 – March 18, extended September 8 – November 14, 2020)
- Refugee Exhibition Suite (August 24 – November 12, 2021)
- “The Art of Surviving: The Journey of the Karen Refugees in Illinois” organized by the Center for Burma Studies at NIU
- Refuge and Refugee
- “Very Well, Thank You”: The Arts as a Means to Well Being (March 26 – May 15, 2021)
- “Well Enough, Considering…” Artists take a mid-pandemic look at COVID-19
- Narrative Art Exhibition Suite (January 12 – February 26, 2021) *These exhibitions contain mature content and may not be suited for all audiences.
NIU School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial Continuum (January 14 – March 18, extended September 8 – November 14, 2020)
- Exploring Aspects of War In and Through the Visual Arts (August 27 – extended through November 13, 2019)
- Data Exhibition Suite (March 28 – May 16, 2019)
- Data: BIG/-driven/Visualized…
- Graduate Museum Studies Student-curated Exhibitions
- Transparency Exhibition Suite (November 15 - February 15, 2019 closed university holidays)
- SWEET, Golden and Delicious…NIU Studio and Design Alumni Artists (August 28 - October 19, 2018)
- Imagery and Icons: Former Tenure and Tenure-track Faculty (September 18 - October 19, 2018)
- South Asian Traditions and New Directions Exhibition Suite (March 27 - May 18, 2018)
- NIU School of Art and Design Faculty Exhibition (November 16 - December 15, 2017 and January 16 - February 23, 2018)
- New to the Collection: Recent Acquisitions (November 16 - December 15, 2017 and January 16 - February 23, 2018)
- Objectifying the Photograph (August 29 - October 20, 2017)
- Reflections: Intimate Portraits of Iconic African Americans by Terrence A. Reese (August 29 - October 20, 2017)
- Vintage Cameras: A Snapshot of Photographic Technology (August 29 - November 12, 2017)
- Hand in Hand: The Visual Arts as a Means of Social and Political Propaganda, Protest and Commentary (March 28 - May 20, 2017)
- “What a Frightful Spectacle!”: Lithographs of Honoré Daumier
- Theoretical Mockery: Satirical Prints by Sidney Chafetz
- A Tale of Donkeys and Elephants; Satire with the Wink of a Fox
- Over the Top to Victory!
- (RE)PRESENTING GUATEMALA (January 17 - February 27, 2017)
- VISIONES E HISTORIAS: Maya Paintings from Guatemala
- REGINA JOSÉ GALINDO: Bearing Witness
- This exhibition contains graphic images not appropriate for children or sensitive viewers.
- HUIPILES: Maya Identity and Identifier
- Kaleidoscope of Burmese Art: Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Center for Burma Studies (August 23 - November 18, 2016)
- Journey Through Burmese Art
- Masterpieces from the Burma Art Collection at NIU
- From Tradition to Modernity: Art from Myanmar as Viewed by Contemporary Burmese Artists
- Donors and Collectors: A Legacy
- Art Deco Exhibition Suite (April 7 - May 20, 2016)
- Between the Wars: Contrasts, Parallels, Shifts and Patterns
- Beyond Gatsby: Common Luxury in American Art Deco
- The Chicagoan: A Publication of the Era
- NIU School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial (November 17, 2015 - February 20, 2016)
- Contemporary Artists Exploring Relevant Social Issues (August 25 - October 24, 2015)
- Embarrassment of Riches
- Unloaded
- Sustainability Practices and Research
- Traditions Transfigured: The Noh Masks of Bidou Yamaguchi (March 24 - May 22, 2015)
- Amerimanga! Convention and Expression (March 24 - May 22, 2015)
- Local Visions: Selections From Area Collections (January 6 - February 21, 2015)
- Dressing Difference: Exploring Ethnicities in Modern Burma (August 26 - November 15, 2014)
- Manly Men, Girly Girls and Everybody in Between (August 26 - November 15, 2014)
- Hoarding, Amassing and Excess (March 25 - May 23, 2014)
- Looting, Hoarding, Collecting (April 3 - May 23, 201
- NIU School of Art Faculty Exhibition (November 9, 2013 - February 15, 2014)
- On Watching and Being Seen (August 27 - October 19, 2013)
- OBJECTIVE/SUBJECTIVE: Mapping as Visual Language (March 19 - May 24, 2013)
- Mapping: Measuring Across Place and Period; Information, Navigation, and Geography (March 19 - May 24, 2013)
- Selections from NIU's Geography department regarding contemporary mapping techniques (March 19 - May 24, 2013)
- Vice + Virtue (January 8, 2013 - February 23, 2013)