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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Arts of Life Showcases 25 Years of Creativity and Opportunity for Artists With Disabilities
Marc Vitali | August 19, 2025, 3:36 pm
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
As the name suggests, Arts of Life makes lively artwork — rich creations abundant with imagination, vitality and unique points of view.
And much of it is for sale at affordable prices.
For 25 years, Arts of Life has been a place where creative people with intellectual and developmental disabilities produce works of art and earn an income.
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
Now their colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.”
“My first walk through the exhibition brought tears to my eyes,” executive director Denise Fisher told WTTW News.
Fisher co-founded Arts of Life with the late Veronica Cuculich, a self-taught artist with a passion for expression but no artistic home.
“I just wanted her to have the life that she wanted, so I asked her if she wanted to open a studio, and here we are 25 years later,” Fisher said. “We started with 10 artists and a couple of staff and now we have 80 artists on the roster.”
In Chicago, Arts of Life has a West Town studio and a Woodlawn location. On the North Shore, there are spaces in Glenview, Evanston and Highland Park.
Artists work independently or learn new skills from staff professionals who offer direct support and help to build the creative community.
“Every studio is different every day,” Fisher said. “Everybody has their own space, so they make work during the day and then we offer supplemental programming — networking opportunities, digging into a specific skill set, going on a field trip or just doing yoga on Zoom.”
Arts & Entertainment
Arts of Life Showcases 25 Years of Creativity and Opportunity for Artists With Disabilities
Marc Vitali | August 19, 2025, 3:36 pm
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
As the name suggests, Arts of Life makes lively artwork — rich creations abundant with imagination, vitality and unique points of view.
And much of it is for sale at affordable prices.
For 25 years, Arts of Life has been a place where creative people with intellectual and developmental disabilities produce works of art and earn an income.
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
Now their colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.”
“My first walk through the exhibition brought tears to my eyes,” executive director Denise Fisher told WTTW News.
Fisher co-founded Arts of Life with the late Veronica Cuculich, a self-taught artist with a passion for expression but no artistic home.
“I just wanted her to have the life that she wanted, so I asked her if she wanted to open a studio, and here we are 25 years later,” Fisher said. “We started with 10 artists and a couple of staff and now we have 80 artists on the roster.”
In Chicago, Arts of Life has a West Town studio and a Woodlawn location. On the North Shore, there are spaces in Glenview, Evanston and Highland Park.
Artists work independently or learn new skills from staff professionals who offer direct support and help to build the creative community.
“Every studio is different every day,” Fisher said. “Everybody has their own space, so they make work during the day and then we offer supplemental programming — networking opportunities, digging into a specific skill set, going on a field trip or just doing yoga on Zoom.”
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
Artists of the self-taught, intuitive variety (sometimes called “outsider artists”) have made a dramatic impact on the work of modern and mid-century artists, from Jean Dubuffet and the Chicago Imagists all the way up to 21st century art students.
“Every day we see these artists influence contemporary artists who’ve gone through art school,” Fisher said. “We feel like there’s a missed opportunity to not include artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the broader arts community.”
Artists earn a stipend for participating in the program, and they get bonuses based on the sale of their work.
These days, Arts of Life is fighting for funding.
“We’re like a weird Venn diagram of disability and art, so we’re keeping a close eye on things that are happening,” Fisher said. “We’re 50% funded by the state, and half of that is through Medicaid, so we’re concerned about Medicaid cuts and how Gov. Pritzker is going to fill that gap. His budget impacts our sector.”
And the National Endowment for the Arts?
“We did get the most recent NEA grant that we applied for, but we won’t apply again — we just don’t fit with the current administration’s call to art,” Fisher said. “Our artists just don’t make that kind of work, which is fine.”
The NEA’s latest guidelines said the top priority is artists “honoring the semiquincentennial of the United States” — the country’s 250th birthday.
Colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
Arts of Life celebrates its 25th anniversary with the new exhibition and the release of an oversized book that captures creative efforts. The exhibit runs through September, and then the work moves to the Epiphany Center for the Arts where there will be an art auction to benefit the artists and the program.
Fisher sees the anniversary show as a chance to expand their audience and perhaps create new collaborations.
“Artmaking is something that is both personal and collaborative,” Fisher said. “There’s a maker in everyone, and our artists are professionals — this is a career for them — so I hope that people who see the exhibition will be both excited by the visuals and inspired to explore art themselves.”
