On February 25, 2026, The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University hosted artist Jonathan Castillo for a conversation about his ongoing photographic project Immigrant Owned. He spoke with Myrna García, Associate Professor of Instruction in Latinx Studies, about the stories, processes, and questions that drive his work across Chicago and beyond. “I want people […]
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On March 5, 2026, The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University hosted the online conversation “From Lagos to Bamako: Biennales and Global Conversations in African Photography.” The webinar explored the influential role of the Rencontres de Bamako (Bamako Encounters)—Africa’s longest-running photography biennale—in shaping artistic exchange, professional networks, and critical discourse surrounding contemporary photography across […]
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On November 19, 2025, The Block Museum welcomed artists Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota) and Caroline Kent for an in-depth conversation on abstraction, artistic lineage, and the lived experiences that shape their practices. Co-presented with Northwestern’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR) as the Fall 2025 Indigenous Feminisms keynote, the program brought together […]
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On November 12, 2025, The Block Museum welcomed artists Anna Kunz and Soo Shin and art historian Lane Relyea for Printmaking in Process, an evening shaped by the spirit of experimentation at the heart of Pouring, Spilling, Bleeding: Helen Frankenthaler and Artists’ Experiments on Paper. Moderated by exhibition co-curator Stephanie S. E. Lee, the conversation […]
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On November 5, 2025, The Block Museum welcomed artist Chitra Ganesh for a public conversation celebrating the 2024–25 Student Acquisition: three prints from She the Question, her vivid series originally published as a 24-page comic book. Known for her subversive visual language, Ganesh draws from pop culture, science fiction, mythology, and Indian visual traditions to […]
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In late September 2025, members of The Block Museum of Art’s Board of Advisors traveled to New York and New Haven for two days of art-filled experiences, conversation, and connection. Led by Lisa Corrin, The Block’s Ellen Philips Katz Executive Director, the weekend offered participants a glimpse into the museum’s national network of artists, alumni, […]
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On October 17, 2025, The Block Museum welcomed art historian and Stanford University professor Alexander Nemerov for an evening keynote reflecting on Helen Frankenthaler’s life and work. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Pouring, Spilling, Bleeding: Helen Frankenthaler and Artists’ Experiments on Paper, the program invited audiences to consider what it means to be present […]
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On May 28, 2025, the Block Museum of Art hosted an evening devoted to the power of poetry, story, and language as part of the exhibition Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak / Chicagoland. In a program introduced by Erin Northington, Associate Director of Campus and Community Education and Engagement, and moderated by Northwestern English professor […]
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This April, the Block Museum of Art and the Center for Native Futures were honored to host two powerful evenings of artmaking and storytelling led by artist and culture keeper Kelly Church (Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi/Ottawa). As a collaborating artist in Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak/Chicagoland, Church brought to life two traditional Anishinaabe art forms—birchbark […]
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Artist Jordan Ann Craig and poet m.s. RedCherries joined curator Jordan Poorman Cocker at The Block Museum for a powerful keynote conversation exploring Indigenous abstraction, storytelling, and kinship, in celebration of the exhibition it takes a long time to stay here: Paintings by Jordan Ann Craig. Watch full talk online.
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