Amazing Art Exhibits and Galleries to Explore Right Now In Chicago

Jan 30, 2025

If you’re itching to get out of the house but don’t want to spend your days in the freezing cold outdoors, we’ve got just the thing for you! These four exquisite art facilities invite you to explore your creative side, look at the world with a new perspective, and challenge your senses at every turn, all within the comfort of a temperature controlled indoor facility. Beat winter boredom and get your steps in at these four fantastic galleries and make some memories to last a lifetime! Check it out and let’s explore the arts in our own backyard.

The Exhibit House in Chicago is a 5,000 square foot facility featuring multiple curated exhibit spaces and installations with interactive photo ops. This art experience is located inside Water Tower Place, making it a great stop off on a day out. The current rotation of exhibits includes Disco Ball Dreamland filled with plenty of disco balls, sparkles, twinkling lights and more; the Mood Room with various stations designed to embody how color affects our emotions and an opportunity to try out guided meditation and mindfulness; the Secret Garden, featuring walls of visual and sensory enveloping floral walls and hidden messages with botanical aesthetics; Kite’s Ice Diner featuring a retro diner theme with bold, pops of color and checkerboard floor where you can snag some delicious themed drinks, snacks, and merchandise for purchase.

Color Factory Chicago offers you 14 uniquely immersive art exhibits to invigorate the senses and invite you to play and release your inner child. This imaginative display is fun for all ages and makes a great family trip out to see the city of Chicago in a whole new way. The Chicago Experience has a 2,600sq ft ball pit with two slides; a colorful horoscope display exhibit from astrologer Michele Bernhardt; a tantalizing tastebud theater where identify flavor and colors by using all of your senses; a Chicago flag themed confetti display with a special stars and stripes design; an exercise in color harmonies that invites you to connect with one another and create something beautiful together; and many more! Artists like Camille Walala, Adrian Kay Wong, Liz West, Edra Soto, Anne Patterson, Akilah Townsend, and more have come together to bring you a fully immersive, unforgettable experience.

The Intuit Art Museum in Chicago is currently under renovations, but will be opening at the end of April 2025. The museum established its first pieces in a permanent collection back in 2002, and has been growing ever since. You’ll find works on display from artists like Miles Carpenter, William Dawson, Justin McCarthy, Mr. Imagination, P.M. Wentworth, and so many more. The Henry Darger Room will also be reopening in Spring 2025, and will feature this eccentric outsider artist’s personal collection from his living and working space. The new facility will have expanded capacity in its 18,000 square foot space featuring an expanding collection of self-taught creatives from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Intuit’s mission is to preserve and inspire the universal instincts and human desire to create, make, and explore and ensure that art remains accessible and available to all!

The Cleve Carney Museum of Art in Glen Elyn honors the mission and passion of the late contemporary art collector Cleve Carney, and aims to encourage visitors to explore the meaning and creativity behind modern and contemporary art. The museum has a stunning collection of permanent exhibits including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, photographs, and even mixed media work. Currently through Mid February 2025, the Insert Coin exhibit will feature 15 playable arcade games that help tell the story of Midway games as you play their most celebrated selections. It chronicles the stories and work behind classic arcade games, behind the scenes footage, special art and conceptual pieces, and ephemera from the making of the beloved arcade classics. In Spring of 2025 there will be a special COD Faculty Spotlight and COD Student Exhibition, followed by a mesmerizing summer exhibit featuring Hokusai * Ukiyo-E The Floating World, from the Chiossone Collection.