February Artist News
published: Feb. 2, 2026
Cover art for Wanees Zarour's album Silwan. The cover is a commissioned painting by Chicago artist Barbara Kapp and cover design by Daliah Zarour.
What is the Poesis of Dis-Possession? Cartographies of Spirit and Signal at the University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery
On view now through February 19, What is the Poesis of Dis-Possession? Cartographies of Spirit and Signal, a new exhibition by Sherwin Ovid is featured at the University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery. “The exhibition presents recent works by Ovid that prompt the viewer to reconsider how the Caribbean has been historically imagined and represented as a region.” In conjunction with the exhibition, Ovid will be in conversation with curator Marissa H. Baker, visiting art history faculty in the Visual Arts Program on February 11. “The discussion will examine how art helps explain the experiences of people from the Caribbean who move to other parts of the world while maintaining connections to their culture.”
Eureka Day at Broadway in Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse
Showing now through February 22, Eureka Day, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, with sound design by Willow James, is a Tony Award-winning hit satire of progressivism, parenting, and public health. “Acclaimed as ‘a powder keg of debate, liberal niceties, and hidden agendas’ by The Daily Beast, Eureka Day is that rare combination—a ‘gaspingly funny’ (New York Magazine) satire that captures the absurdity of modern discourse in ways that are intelligent, insightful, and real.”
Birds of North America at A Red Orchid Theatre
Showing now through February 22, Birds of North America, directed by A Red Orchid Theatre Artistic Director Kirsten Fitzgerald, is an examination of the relationship of a father and a daughter over the course of a decade. “John and his daughter Caitlyn are birders. As they scan the skies over their backyard in suburban Maryland looking for elusive birds, years go by. Relationships begin and end. Children grow up and parents age. The climate and the world change in small and vast ways.”
Sight of Resistance at Center for Native Futures
On view now through February 28, Sight of Resistance is a group exhibition at the Center for Native Futures featuring work by Andrea Carlson, Debra Yepa Pappan, and Monica Rickert-Bolter.
Showing now through March 1, Holiday, featuring Rammel Chan as “Walter,” is a contemporary adaptation of Philip Barry’s play that centers the “wealth world of the Upper East Side.” The play is a “fresh new take on the eternal question: work to live or live to work?”
Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago at Intuit Art Museum
On view now through March 22, the exhibition Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago at the Intuit Art Museum features work by Pooja Pittie. The exhibition focuses on “the importance of immigration and migration in the genre of self-taught art…underscoring the creative contributions of migrants and immigrants, broadening the scope to include artists deserving of greater attention, while posing questions about access to the art world…”
2nd Annual Black History Festival of the Arts Rephrasis en Noir at Zhou B Art Center
On view now through March 15, Coco Elysses performs, and Renee Baker, Jennifer Hodges, Candace Hunter, Dorian Sylvain, Norman Teague, Sadie Woods, and Arthur Wright exhibit work in the 2nd Annual Black History Festival of the Arts Rephrasis en Noir at Zhou B Art Center.” Rephrasis en Noir brings the written brilliance of Black literature into visual form—an act of translation, homage, and expansion. This exhibition explores how artists draw upon the literary canon that has long examined, interpreted, and fortified Black culture.”
Chair-ish at the Cleve Carney Museum
On view now through April 11, Chair-ish, a new exhibition by Alex Chitty and Norman Teague is featured at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art. The works “create a conversation between the two artists who ‘examine the intimacy of objects we interact with daily.’” The artists’ practices “exist in the gray area where fine art and functional design overlap,” and the exhibition emphasize freedom and exploration as common themes.
Untitled Theatre Company No. 61 and Yara Arts Group: The Left Hand of Darkness
On February 1, experience this world premiere based on the 1969 novel by famed sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin, wherein a lone human emissary to an alien world tries to facilitate inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. To do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the newly encountered, completely dissimilar culture whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. Presented as part of the Chicago International Puppet Festival, Tom Lee leads puppetry and is the co-director of this piece featuring Chih-Jou Cheng.
Traces of Devotion at Julius Caesar
On February 1, 8, 14, 21 and 28, Leasho Johnson is an exhibiting artist in the group exhibition Traces of Devotion at Julius Caesar. Originally an inquiry into spirituality and figuration, Traces of Devotion “expanded into a meditation on presence itself: how the body and its form, echo, and even how absence can become an avatar for emotion and story, a vessel for belief, or a mirror for projection and recognition.”
Angel Bat Dawid: The Souls of Black Folk Suite and Kids Meet the Music 2 with D-Composed + Angel Bat Dawid at the Harris Theater
On February 10 and February 14, D-Composed, featuring Caitlin Edwards and Khelsey Zarraga, plays in two performances; Angel Bat Dawid: The Souls of Black Folk Suite (February 10) and Kids Meet the Music 2 with D-Composed + Angel Bat Dawid (February 14). Angel Bat Dawid: The Souls of Black Folk Suite brings together Angel Bat Dawid, D-Composed, and The Great Blk Music Infinity Ensemble “for a remarkable contemporary jazz experience— fusing music, history, and cultural expression.” Kids Meet the Music 2 with D-Composed + Angel Bat Dawid is an opportunity “for engaging explorations of the music of Black composers for kids and their families.”
Wanees Zarour & East Loop Album Release at Constellation
On February 13, Wanees Zarour celebrates the release of his new album Silwen at Constellation. Playing with his East Loopproject, the album brings his “Palestinian heritage, maqam traditions and aesthetic into a jazz framework.”
Africlassical Futures: Caitlin Edwards and John Bitoy- ‘Modern Roots’, Gabrielle Lochard at the Harris Theater
On February 15, Caitlin Edwards plays with John Bitoy in Modern Roots!, a program offering “a vibrant exploration of contemporary classical music, centering the voices of Black composers...” The concert with highlight the variety of aesthetic approaches, cultural perspectives, and compositional techniques in today’s classical landscape.
Visiting Artists Program at the School of the Art Institute
On February 17, Norman Teague and the Visiting Artists Program by the School of the Art Institute presents Norman Teague: Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series. Norman will share details about his practice, inspirations such as Chuck Harrison, the African American head of design for Sears Roebuck, and upcoming projects like the pavilion for Anna and Frederick Douglass Park with collaborator Dorian Sylvain.