Art Events

Attend the closing reception for WERIEM’s L’esprit de Pierrot on Saturday, November 22nd, from 5:00-8:00pm.

This series of paintings and drawings explores the enduring spirit of Pierrot—the iconic French character who embodies poetic vulnerability, theatrical grace, and quiet melancholy.

L'esprit de Pierrot (The Spirit of Pierrot) is not a character study—it is an atmosphere. The works evoke fragility, introspection, and the unspoken drama of being. Each piece exists in a suspended moment between stillness and performance, between reality and reverie. Through subtle gesture and deliberate restraint, the artwork creates an emotional atmosphere that transcends literal representation. The compositions become mirrors, inviting viewers to project their own inner theater onto each image.

With this exhibition, WERIEM invites viewers to pause within these contemplative spaces, to feel the weight of unspoken emotion, and to recognize the delicate ways in which beauty, loss, and imagination intertwine in our daily performance of being human.

RSVP for this event.

Golden Hour at Epiphany:
Stop by Epiphany for Golden Hour beforehand for free live music, drinks and lite bites in the Café Bar! Doors open at 5pm with 1/2 priced bottles of wine and other specials until 7:00pm

Golden Hour Menu + Music Schedule

Please note that outside food or beverages are not permitted in the venue.

Attend the closing reception for Community on the Make  | Arts of Life 2000 – 2025 (part deux) on Saturday, November 22nd, from 5:00-8:00pm.

Following the closing of this exhibition at the Design Museum of Chicago, Epiphany Center for the Arts is happy to present Community on the Make | Arts of Life 2000 - 2025 (part deux)

“Yet once you've come to be part of this particular patch, you'll never love another... But never a lovely so real.” — Nelson Algren, Chicago: City on the Make

Nelson Algren’s raw love letter to Chicago speaks to the soul of a city made of equal parts beauty and struggle, resilience and reinvention. His words resonate deeply with the journey of Arts of Life—an organization born on the margins and grown into a transformative creative force. For 25 years, Arts of Life has built something “so real”: a studio collective where artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities lead with vision, passion, and purpose.

We quote Algren because his Chicago is our Chicago—not polished, but powerful. Not built for easy consumption, but built to last. And like the city he described, our community didn’t wait for permission to exist—we created our own space.

Community on the Make at the Design Museum of Chicago marks another meaningful milestone in claiming our place within the city's vast creative landscape. Design is about intention—about systems, structures, and the ways people move through the world. Our artists are not only makers of art—they are re-makers of culture. Together, they have designed a new model for what inclusive creative communities can be: one shaped by collective decision-making and rooted in our core values:

• INSPIRING Artistic Expression
• BUILDING Community
• PROMOTING Self-Respect
• DEVELOPING Independence

This group exhibition is a celebration of what we’ve accomplished—but also a provocation. It asks us to reconsider: Who is art for? Who gets to shape culture? And how can design become a tool of liberation? Community on the Make highlights artists, staff, and volunteers both past and present who have shaped our community while also allowing the public to contribute and engage in the exhibition. Community on the Make is not just a reflection on where we’ve been. It’s a declaration of where we’re going.

Featured Artists
Ariée, Chris Austin, Renata Berdes, Raina Carter, Guy Conners, Veronica Cuculich, Ted Gram Boarini, Stefan Harhaj, Noel Herrera, Nik Heusman, Marcus Imani Kennedy, David Krueger, Lawrence M, Ben Marcus, Mike Marino, Susan Pasowicz, Hubert Posey, Brian Reed, Alex Scott, Kelly Stone, Tim Stone, Maria Vanik, Chris Viau, Allison Wade, Jean Wilson, Marvin Young, Christina Zion

Arts of Life advances the creative arts community by providing artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities a collective space to expand their practice and strengthen their leadership.

RSVP for this event.

Golden Hour at Epiphany:
Stop by Epiphany for Golden Hour beforehand for free live music, drinks and lite bites in the Café Bar! Doors open at 5pm with 1/2 priced bottles of wine and other specials until 7:00pm

Golden Hour Menu + Music Schedule

Please note that outside food or beverages are not permitted in the venue.

Attend the closing reception on Saturday, November 22nd, from 5:00-8:00pm.

My 1.5 year old son says only a handful of words- wow, momma, daddy, ball, truck, fraise, ciao. The week I committed to this exhibition at Epiphany, he added a new word: birthday.

Birthday is about how scary it is to begin. The first scream, first smile, first word, first step, first fall. The moment my son was born I was certain I was dying. In the days and months that followed it still wasn’t clear as we existed in a new web of pain, euphoria and wonder. It helps to have something to hug, something to hold you up. A live camera is positioned above the crib and I watch my son sleep.

A birthday is a celebration, a renewal, but also a reckoning. Sometimes counting up feels like counting down, and the beginning is also an ending. The work in this show is holding on and letting go. The subject matter appears familiar, a stuffed animal, a lifejacket, stills from the baby monitor.  Materials in the show include silk, human hair and hair salon foils. Having grown up in a hair salon, these objects and images anchor me to my own childhood, my own history of birthdays and time passing. The week Birthday opens my son will turn 2.

RSVP for this event.

Golden Hour at Epiphany:
Stop by Epiphany for Golden Hour beforehand for free live music, drinks and lite bites in the Café Bar! Doors open at 5pm with 1/2 priced bottles of wine and other specials until 7:00pm

Golden Hour Menu + Music Schedule

Please note that outside food or beverages are not permitted in the venue.

Attend the closing performance for Liz McCarthy’s Imperfect Players on Saturday, November 22nd, from 5:30-6:00pm.

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Imperfect Players is a collection of ceramic vessels that can be performed as musical instruments and accompanied by drawings.

I worked at an auction house creating condition reports for fine and decorative art. These objects were valuable for their aesthetic, craft, and cultural histories. I often studied ceramic vases closely and under a black light to find the imperfections: cracks, chips, and many networks of hidden repair. They had their own material stories in the flaws of their production and accumulation of wear. These imperfections degraded their value, but also served as evidence of their authenticity. 

I am a similar vessel. My human body has sustained physical and psychological changes and damage, and I hold that with me as I function day to day. Especially after giving birth to my child, I was very aware of dramatic shifts to my mind and body, and I struggled to perform as I once did. Imperfect Players is a response to that corporal rift. These forms are adorned with their own broken and fused pieces, just as I hold onto memories and my material body holds scars and strain of the past. Although broken, these vessels are also instruments that can be played to make musical sounds.
Imperfect Players celebrates imperfect and broken vessels that disrupt the idealized form, and still function as instruments in the world.

RSVP for this event.

Golden Hour at Epiphany:
Stop by Epiphany for Golden Hour beforehand for free live music, drinks and lite bites in the Café Bar! Doors open at 5pm with 1/2 priced bottles of wine and other specials until 7:00pm

Golden Hour Menu + Music Schedule

Please note that outside food or beverages are not permitted in the venue.