Nearly two dozen artists are featured in the Intuit Art Museum’s “Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago” exhibit, which is being extended through March 22. The museum for self-taught and outsider art is also hosting a “community day,” when the museum is free to the public, on Feb. 7. The “Catalyst” exhibit, initially unveiled alongside the Intuit Art Museum’s grand re-opening in May, aims to highlight the creative contributions of migrants and immigrants, alongside the rise of self-taught art in Chicago during the 20th century. The 22 artists sought out for the exhibit offer art that touches on themes of belonging, labor, individual expression, bearing witness to history, assimilation and longing for homeland. The exhibit includes works across a wide range of mediums like drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, printmaking, textiles, ceramics and woodcarving. “Many of these artists, sometimes their labor practice — their work to earn money — you can see that reflected in the materials that they’re using or their techniques,” said Dana Boutin, independent curator and “Catalyst” exhibit co-curator. Intuit Art Museum chief curator Alison Amick said she and Boutin spoke with more than 200 people — artists, family members, historians, community figures — to learn more background information and gain a better understanding that would then inform the exhibit. “What it would mean to be an immigrant or migrant to the city was so unique to a particular individual,” Amick said. “Some of our exhibition labels have reflections from family members, or from the artists, or other writers that really add additional depth to understanding the work.” The Intuit Art Museum, located at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. in West Town, is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and until 8 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month. Admission is $20, but free for members, those 24 and younger and those unable to pay.
