SPRING ART WEEK 2026 — COMMUNITY REIGNS SUPREME

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Spring Art Week Chicago 2026: A Roundup We go deeper on specifics in later issues — this week, let the photos do the talking.

Pigment International’s Salon Talk convened artists, institution leaders, policymakers, and patrons for an intimate morning of dialogue on Saturday, April 11. The panelists were D. Lammie-Hanson, Valerie Francis, Founder**, Jane Carpenter Rock, Illinois State Representative Kimberly Du Buclet, Chair, Illinois House Museum, Arts, Culture and Entertainment (MACE) Committee and was moderated by **Dr. Lisa Coleman, President, Adler University

Jane Carpenter-Rock, Kimberly du Buclet, Lisa Coleman, D.Lammie-Hanson and Val Francis

William Blair — Expressive Journey

On Wednesday, at William Blair, Martha Wade debuted not just new work, but her work took new form when she created a chair. Wade’s calm, consistency and commitment to community shone through in her interview with Blair’s curator Isidora K. Lagos under the theme Expressive Journey.M The panel were all self-taught artists.

EXPO Opening Night

Thursday brought the opening night of Expo Chicago. The energy was immediate and it felt like being at home. The aisles were wider giving the show a more curated feel. The fair hosted 130 booths this year down from 170. Galleries from across the world and the prevalence of African art across all galleries was exciting. D. Lammie Hanson debuted her monumental “The Cathedral of Alvin” in Gold point and Indigo with Martha’s Vineyard based Knowhere Gallery. Galerie Myrtis from Baltimore showcased works by Devin Allen, Tawny Chatmon and M. Scott Johnson. Also exhibiting were Richard Beavers Gallery, Ebony/Curated, Gallery MOMO and Tanya Weddemire Gallery.

Touching Points

Friday began with stops at Edo & Dwight at Frame Chicago. Dwight White is deep in his cubist phase, and his works-in-progress are genuinely inspiring — former Northwestern baller giving us Ernie Barnes energy in the best possible way. Edo White emerged with his first print series centered on the iconic Grace Jones, complete with glitter. Reserve one now and visit Touching Points for the remainder of the month.

I Used to Live in Chicago

From there to Blanc Gallery, where Anefertiti Bowan curated her first Chicago show in over a decade — I Used to Live in Chicago — featuring Norman Teague, Max Sansing, Steve Bravo, Sura Dupart, Sland, and Patrick McCoy. The show carried emotional weight and intergenerational reach. Teague, as ever, thinking outside the box with furniture referencing the transit system. Sura Dupart’s marble bust gave a decided gravitas to the exhibition. We were glad to see Sansing works on canvas, something the art lovers in the city have been craving.

Work by Max Sansing

A Whole Lot Going On

Connect Gallery rounded out the Friday circuit with the debut of Barrett Keithley’s first solo exhibition A Whole Lot Going On. Keithley grew up in the Wild 100s — the same Chicago neighborhood as Robert “Yummy” Sandifer, the 11-year-old whose 1994 murder at the hands of his own gang members after being ordered to commit a killing became one of the city’s most haunting stories. Sandifer’s mug shot — the face of a child caught in something no child should ever know — made the cover of Time magazine and lodged itself into the conscience of a generation. For Keithley, it was personal. That image lived with him.

Barrett Keithley’s work depicting Yummy Sandifer

In the work, two renderings of Sandifer’s mug shot flank a central image of the current president pulling away a mask to reveal his own face — a man who has committed crimes and faced no consequence for them. The juxtaposition is precise and devastating: a Black child from the South Side who had no escape, and a powerful man for whom accountability simply does not apply. Keithley gives us no comfortable distance from that contrast. A Whole Lot Going On indeed.