This year, the Hull-House Museum will again be participating in Open House Chicago on Saturday, October 19 and Sunday, October 20. We will offer free tours of the museum and artist activations that bring alive the histories we tell in our newest? exhibition, Radical Craft: Arts Education at Hull-House, 1889-1935.?? ? 

A key component of the exhibition is the history of the Labor Museum (1900-1911), a program at Hull-House meant to foster intercultural respect and exchange between the different nationalities and ethnic groups living in the neighborhood at the time. Women would dress in traditional clothing and demonstrate craft expertise through?embroidery, knitting, cooking, and weaving. During Open House Chicago, we will connect this history with present-day practice through a demonstration by artist Emily Winter from The Weaving Mill. Winter will work on the same loom used by Danish weaver Susanna Sorensen, who taught at Hull-House. This loom has long held an unfinished weaving, to which Winter has recently added a bit of her own work. As Winter put it, “I feel like I am communicating with another weaver through time.”?? ?? 

Additionally, we’ve invited scholar and performer Fiona Maxwell to reimagine what it would have been like to experience the Labor Museum. A PhD candidate in History at the University of Chicago, and an experienced and animated performer, Maxwell has served as a consultant on Radical Craft and a contributor to its catalog. Maxwell has also created vivid, first-hand accounts about life in the settlement that she will perform in the historic Residents’ Dining Hall. We can’t wait, and we hope that you’ll join us

Hull-House Updates

In September we had a wonderful time celebrating the opening of our new Art Design Chicago exhibition, Radical Craft: Arts Education at Hull-House, 1889-1935.

Guests enjoyed a demonstration on our historic looms by our friends at The Weaving Mill, delicious cupcakes made by Hull-House’s very own Jazmyn Sotelo, and the first chance to grab our beautiful exhibition catalog.

We loved welcoming all our partners, collaborators, friends, family and colleagues into the Residents’ Dining Hall to join in the excitement. We look forward to welcoming visitors in a wide range of ways during the run of the exhibition.

September also launched the first of us Radical Mending workshops in partnership with The WasteShed. Visitors enjoyed a tour with Education Manager, Nadia Maragha, a meal from our favorite spot, CheSa’s Bistro and a sewing workshop led by WasteShed educators. One visitor shared with us that they “really felt an energy... and the spirit of community.”  

Join us for the next installment of the series, “Sewing Stories,” a workshop centered around the creation of a textile tapestry through which we will also share personal stories. Sewing and repairing garments communally can invite story sharing and encourage community and can help us form stronger connections with each other. For this workshop, visitors are encouraged to bring a textile object of significance to contribute to a collective tapestry.

BUY TICKETS

We are reveling in the success of Hull House Books! Thank you to everyone who has donned a custom-made pin or carried a fabulous new HHB tote bag across the city, country, and world. Our cool merchandise includes amazing ceramics crafted by historian and artist Julia Buck. We’ve got 2 more mugs from our collaboration arriving to the bookshop this month! Stop by soon to take a look. 

New Staff Announcement!

We’d like to announce our newest staff member, Fabrizzio Subia! He joins the Hull-House team as our Curatorial Assistant. Fabrizzio is a Chicago-based performance artist, poet, and museum professional from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Using tools such as video cameras, sand, pen and paper, and fire, he makes art that speaks to the experiences of migration, grief, and celebration. Fabrizzio has worked throughout Chicago’s arts and culture institutions, including the International Museum of Surgical Science, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. He is an Artist-in-Residence at Chicago Art Department, a member of radical art collective P.O. Box Collective, and the founder of the anarchist library Biblioteca Popular. He earned his BFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. On any day that’s warm enough, you can find him on particular sidewalks break dancing with his friends.

Exhibitions

Visit the companion exhibition to Radical Craft over at UIC’s Gallery 400, Learning Together: Art Education and Community. October 3rd, they’ll be hosting a panel and social hour. Visitors can join artists and educators Jorge Lucero, Olivia Gude, Silvia Gonzalez, Alice Costas, Janani Nathan, Alejandro Colunga, Jr., Vanessa Sanchez and Andrea Yarbrough for a conversation on the evolution of arts education in Chicago. Together, they offer insights into the diverse approaches and personal experiences that have shaped their practices.

Learn More

Upcoming events at Hull-House

Join us for Hull-o-ween Ghost tours starting October 3rd!

6:00 PM Tickets

7:00 PM Tickets

Join us for a special day of spooky stories, ghostly poetry, and silent horror films from the era of Jane Addams. Our team of educators will unearth the haunted histories of Hull-House—past and present— and feature screenings of two films from the 1920s. Popcorn and candy provided! We’ll be joined by Poems While You Wait, whose poets create poems-on-demand using their iconic typewriters. Come for an hour or stay the whole afternoon. This event is free but please register using the link below.

RSVP HERE

Mending Basics?is a workshop where arts-educators from The WasteShed will help visitors develop and practice basic sewing skills, and Hull-House educators will share stories of the people and histories of Chicago’s garment industry. Our September session is sold out but you can register for the January Session below.

RSVP for January Mending Basics