This Sunday, September 8th, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum will open Radical Craft: Arts Education at Hull-House, 1889-1935, an exhibition of work by oft-overlooked, early twentieth century Chicago immigrant artisans. The exhibition includes never-before-seen handcrafted textiles, as well as paintings, metalwork, ceramics, and handbound books from the Museum’s collection and UIC Special Collections. Showcasing work by better-known Hull-House artists including renowned Chicago painter Alice Kellogg Tyler alongside unnamed artisans, Radical Craft foregrounds the artistic labor of immigrants, especially immigrant women; pays homage to the restorative power of craft in a capitalist society; and uplifts the creativity and humanity of industrial workers while exploring the history and legacy of arts education as a tool for social reform.

Radical Craft presents work in the decorative and material arts across a wide range of cultural traditions including a never-before-seen textile collection comprised of unattributed and undated doilies, blankets, mats, rugs, scarves, and table runners believed to have been made at Hull-House by women immigrants. The exhibition also features works made at the Hull-House Kilns, Bookbindery, and the arts education center known as the Labor Museum (1900–11), from Irish weaver Honora Brosnahan; Danish weaver Susanna Sorensen; Russian coppersmith Falick Novick; and Mexican ceramicists Miguel Juárez, José Ruíz, Hilarion Tinoco, and Jesús Torres. Additionally, the exhibition includes several paintings by Hull-House teacher Alice Kellogg Tyler—known for her technical excellence and attention to figural expression—who painted several portraits of women at Hull-House and exhibited work in its Butler Art Gallery, which was Chicago’s first public art gallery when it opened in 1891. 

“Hull-House was founded with the belief that the practice of the arts is fundamental to what it means to be human, and this exhibition embodies that belief by uplifting the underrecognized artistry and experiences of immigrants who taught, learned, and practiced here,” said Liesl Olson, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum Director. “Radical Craft is a testament to the power of the arts and the idea that everyone should have access to culture and a high-quality arts education.”  

Liesl worked collaboratively with Ross Stanton Jordan, Hull-House Curatorial Manager, and the entire Museum staff to realize the exhibition. We’re so excited to welcome you in!

Hull-House Updates

With a new exhibition comes special, one-of-a-kind exhibition merch! Through our partnership with The Weaving Mill, Emily Winter has designed beautiful and playful  textiles, which you can purchase alongside our cloth-bound exhibition catalogu designed by Hour Studio and printed in Italy. Our catalog is a first in the museum’s history. In the spirit of fulfilling Ellen Gates Starr’s utopian dream to make beautiful books available to all, we’re offering the cataloge at a special solidarity price of $18.  

Also on sale will be a limited run of unique Hull-House-inspired mugs, designed by Chicago-based ceramicist and historian Julia Buck of Ceramic Archives. These hand-crafted mugs take inspiration from Hull-House’s architectural features. Available only in person at Hull-House Books, which re-opens September 8th.

Companion Exhibition

While you’re in the neighborhood visiting Radical Craft, we encourage you to visit its companion exhibition over at UIC’s Gallery 400, Learning Together: Art Education and Community.  

Over the last century, Chicago has led the nation in progressive arts education for K-12 students, as teachers and their students linked art education to movements for social justice, access, and self-determination. In the first broad telling of this history, Gallery 400’s?Learning Together: Art Education and Community?centers the progressive art pedagogy of a diverse group of Chicago artist educators from the mid-1960s through the 2010s, highlighting the unique pedagogical practices of educators working across Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. Artworks co-created by students and educators, sketchbooks, ephemera, and images of public artworks in situ in and around K-12 schools are paired with teaching artists’ artwork inspired by their work with Chicago’s youth. 

Learn More

New Staff Announcement!

We’d like to officially welcome the brilliant Cecilia Rossi to our team as Program Assistant! Cecilia recently earned her BA in History from UIC with a specialization in the social history of the United States and a minor in Museum Studies.  Her research interests include the intersections of labor, gender, and race, as well as the history of radicalism. She feels passionately about making history more accessible and engaging, and she is interested in learning more about Chicago’s communities. She is enthusiastic about Rummy 500 with friends and has an affinity for trinkets and cats. Cecilia joined our team as an intern in the spring and has already made an impact in her tenure as a full-time staff member. 

Upcoming events at Hull-House

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

The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum has partnered with Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Ukrainian Institute for Modern Art, and Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture to present Weaving Stories. This series of community-building weaving sessions will connect our shared stories of heritage and culture to material practice. The sessions will take place at three different locations over a year with the intent of meaningfully strengthening our social fabric

RSVP for Weaving Stories