Chicago
decade
1910s
1918
Charles White is born in Chicago.
1918
June Wayne is born in Chicago.
decade
1930s
1920s–30s 1930
Throughout grade school and high school, Charles White wins scholarships to attend Saturday classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.
1932
Charles White joins the Arts and Crafts Guild in Chicago at age fourteen and begins participating in their exhibitions.
1936
Barbara Kasten is born in Chicago.
1936
Charles White wins a scholarship to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
1938
Charles White graduates from SAIC.
1938–41 1938
Charles White is an active participant in the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago, where he teaches classes and serves as chairman of the Artists’ Committee.
1939–43 1939
Charles White paints murals in Chicago and New York as part of the Works Progress Administration.
1939
Judy Chicago is born Judy Cohen in Chicago and lives there for 18 years.
1939
Karl Wirsum is born in Chicago.
1939
Larry Bell is born in Chicago.
decade
1940s
1940
Gladys Nilsson is born in Chicago.
1942
Carlos Almaraz’s family moves to Chicago.
1943
Senga Nengudi is born Sue Irons in Chicago.
mid-1940s 1947
Karl Wirsum attends Saturday classes at the Art Institute of Chicago as a child.
1940s 1948
Judy Chicago attends classes at the Art Institute of Chicago as a child.
decade
1950s
early 1950s 1951
Gladys Nilsson receives a scholarship to attend junior school classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.
1954–58 1954
Gladys Nilsson attends Lake View High School in Chicago, where she minors in art.
late 1950s 1956
Jim Nutt briefly attends college at the University of Kansas, then the University of Pennsylvania, then Washington University in St. Louis. He eventually settles on the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where he meets his future wife, Gladys Nilsson.
1956–63 1956
John Outterbridge moves to Chicago and becomes very involved with various South Side arts organizations, including singing in a choir at St. Anselm Catholic Church.
1956/57
John Outterbridge attends the American Academy of Art in Chicago.
1957
Judy Chicago moves to Los Angeles to attend UCLA.
1957
Karl Wirsum is awarded a full ride to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
1958–62 1958
Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt meet at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), which they both attend.
decade
1960s
1961
Karl Wirsum earns his BFA from SAIC.
1960s 1962
Judy Chicago knows Billy Al Bengston from her days as a student at UCLA.
1962
Judy Chicago earns her BA from UCLA.
1962–64 1962
Billy Al Bengston teaches for a year at UCLA when Judy Chicago is in graduate school. Bengston’s studio is the first Chicago ever visits, and she considers him the first real artist she’s met.
1962–92 1962
Roy De Forest often hangs out at Adeliza McHugh’s Candy Store Gallery, where Nut artists and Hairy Who artists gather.
1963
John Outterbridge and his new wife, Beverly McKissick, leave Chicago for Los Angeles’s warmer weather and bigger art scene.
1964
Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt begin teaching children’s classes at Hyde Park Art Center.
1964
Judy Chicago receives her MFA in painting and sculpture from UCLA.
mid-1960s 1964
Judy Chicago enrolls in auto body school to learn airbrushing techniques. She begins to make works inspired by the car culture of California, much like the finish fetish school that includes Billy Al Bengston.
1965
Five recent SAIC graduates including Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum coin the term Hairy Who while working on a title for their group exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center. The name is in reference to Chicago radio station WFMT’s art critic Harry Bouras.
1965
1960s 1965
José Antonio Aguirre visits Chicago as a child during a summer vacation.
mid-1960s 1965
Judy Chicago moves into an apartment next to Joe Goode’s on Western Avenue.
mid-1960s 1965
Judy Chicago watches Billy Al Bengston race motorcycles and hangs out with the “Ferus gang” at Barney’s Beanery, although she acknowledges the machismo of the crew.
mid-1960s 1965
Judy Chicago participates in the La Cienega gallery walks on Mondays.
mid-1960s 1965
Judy Chicago shows at the Rolf Nelson Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard.
mid-1960s 1965
Rolf Nelson calls her Judy Chicago because of her thick Chicago accent.
late 1960s 1965
Don Baum recommends that Karl Wirsum be included in the exhibition Jim Nutt has proposed for the Hyde Park Art Center.
1966
The first Hairy Who exhibition opens at the Hyde Park Art Center and includes work from Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum.
1967
The Hairy Who group, including Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum, have their second exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center.
1968
Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the exhibition Now! Hairy Who Makes You Smell Good at the Hyde Park Art Center. It travels to the San Francisco Art Institute.
1969
Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Don Baum Says: "Chicago Needs Famous Artists" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
1969
Jorge Pardo’s family immigrates to Chicago.
1969
Judy Chicago has a solo exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of Art.
1960s 1969
Judy Chicago lives in Pasadena, California, around the corner from Bruce Nauman’s studio.
1969
Judy Chicago creates Fresno State College Atmosphere.
decade
1970s
1970
Jerry McMillan photographs Judy Chicago for her ad in Artforum announcing her name change.
1970
Jim Nutt is included in the group exhibition Three Famous Artists from Chicago at the Candy Store Gallery.
1970
Judy Chicago changes her last name from Gerowitz (married name) to Chicago.
1970
Judy Chicago has a solo exhibition at California State University, Fullerton, which is run by Dextra Frankel. Chicago has a name-changing ceremony as part of the exhibition.
1970
Judy Chicago takes out an ad in Artforum to announce her Fullerton exhibition and her name change. Jerry McMillan takes the photograph, which features Chicago in a boxing ring sporting a sweatshirt with her new name, her friend’s girlfriend standing behind her, and gallerist Jack Glenn crouching in the corner like a boxing manager.
1970
Judy Chicago creates Campus White Atmosphere for California State University, Fullerton.
1970
Judy Chicago founds the Feminist Art Project, a collaborative educational experiment, at Fresno State College (now California State University, Fresno) along with 15 aspiring women artists known as the California Girls.
1970
Larry Bell is included in the Art Institute of Chicago’s 69th American Exhibit.
1970
Miriam Schapiro meets Judy Chicago and invites her to cofound the Feminist Art Program at CalArts.
1971
Jessica Jackson Hutchins is born in Chicago.
1971
Judy Chicago creates Pink Atmosphere for California State University, Fullerton.
1971
Judy Chicago leaves Fresno and accepts a teaching position at the newly formed CalArts. She cofounds the Feminist Art Program at CalArts with Miriam Schapiro, and many of the Fresno students follow her there.
1971
Judy Chicago begins working on Womanhouse with Feminist Art Program participants.
1971
Karl Wirsum moves to the West to escape the Chicago Imagists’ newfound fame. During this time he teaches at Sacramento State College.
1971–72 1971
Miriam Schapiro participates in the historic Womanhouse installation with Judy Chicago and 21 other women artists, many of whom are students at the Feminist Art Program. For her contribution, Schapiro and her assistant create The Dollhouse using old liquor crates to create a six-room house featuring a parlor, a kitchen, a movie star’s bedroom, a harem room, a nursery, and an artist’s studio with a male model made of stuffed fabric and a miniature version of Sixteen Windows on an easel.
1971
Terry Allen has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
1972
Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Chicago Imagist Art at MCA Chicago.
1972
Judy Chicago is named a Tamarind Fellow.
1972
Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro host the first West Coast Women Artists’ Conference at CalArts.
1972
In January and February, Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, and 21 other women artists, many from the Feminist Art Program, participate in Womanhouse, a collaborative art installation staged in an abandoned Hollywood mansion.
1972
Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro host the first West Coast Women Artists Conference at CalArts.
1973
Judy Chicago experiences a hostile environment at CalArts. She bands together with Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and Arlene Raven to leave CalArts and create the Feminist Studio Workshop, an alternative art education experience for women.
1973
Judy Chicago, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and Arlene Raven cofound the Women’s Building, which opens on November 28. They first rent the former Chouinard Art Institute building, located at 743 Grandview Avenue.
1974
Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
1974
The Oakland Museum of California commissions A Butterfly for Oakland, one of Judy Chicago’s Atmosphere works.
1975
Amanda Ross-Ho is born and raised in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood.
1970s 1975
Karl Wirsum teaches at SAIC. Aaron Curry cites Wirsum as an important figure for him.
1976
Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt move back to Chicago.
1977
José Antonio Aguirre enrolls in the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.
1977
Melanie Schiff is born in Chicago.
1978
After visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, José Antonio Aguirre changes his focus and enrolls in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1979
Judy Chicago debuts The Dinner Party in March at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and travels to Chicago in December 1981.
decade
1980s
1970s–90s 1980
José Antonio Aguirre creates several murals in Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.
1981
Karl Wirsum has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago titled Hare Toddy Kong Tamari: Selected Objects by Karl Wirsum.
1982–84 1982
Jorge Pardo attends the University of Illinois at Chicago with a major in biology but switches to art after taking classes recreationally.
1982
José Antonio Aguirre earns his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1982
Judith Barry teaches a class about video and performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and creates the video Space Invaders with SAIC students at the home of Laura Kipnis.
1984
Judithe Hernández moves to Chicago.
1985
José Antonio Aguirre creates the mural Nuestra Esencia, Nuestra Presencia … , RCOCC at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
1985
Judy Chicago’s Birth Project is exhibited at the Frederick S. Wight Gallery, UCLA.
decade
1990s
1990
Gladys Nilsson accepts a teaching position at SAIC.
1991
Aaron Curry moves to Chicago.
1991
Rebecca Morris moves to Chicago and earns a Post-Baccalaureate Studio Certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1992.
1993
Kori Newkirk earns his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
1994
Gladys Nilsson is incuded in the Hyde Park Art Center’s 55th Anniversary Exhibition.
1994
Rebecca Morris earns her MFA from the SAIC.
1990s 1994
Rebecca Morris works in the Painting and Drawing Department at SAIC.
1995
Bruce Nauman has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago titled Bruce Nauman: Elliott’s Stones.
1996
Judy Chicago’s Birth Project is exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
1996
Ten in One Gallery in Chicago organizes Rebecca Morris’s first solo exhibition.
1996
Jessica Jackson Hutchins meets Rebecca Morris at SAIC when Morris was working in the Painting and Drawing Department.
1998
Amanda Ross-Ho earns her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
1999
Jessica Jackson Hutchins receives her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1999
Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at MCA Chicago titled Jim Nutt: Portraits.
1999
Sterling Ruby moves to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where he meets fellow student Aaron Curry.
decade
2000s
2000
Aaron Curry attends SAIC and receives his BFA in 2002 alongside friend and classmate Sterling Ruby. Curry fondly remembers teachers Barbara Rossi and Karl Wirsum.
2000
Sterling Ruby and Melanie Schiff become friends while students in Chicago.
2000
Rodney McMillian earns his Post-Baccalaureate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
2000s 2000
Sterling Ruby first learns how to work with ceramics in Chicago at a “free form” ceramics class.
2000s 2000
Sterling Ruby works at the Video Data Bank, an organization cofounded by SAIC. In Ruby’s words: “I wasn’t exposed to a lot of video art until I started my employment as a secretary at the Video Data Bank. Prior to Chicago, I studied at a four-year foundation program in Pennsylvania where I did figure and still life drawing for eight hours a day. Needless to say, there was no video art in the curriculum. After being promoted from the VDB front desk, I learned how to edit and wound up dubbing endurance-based performance art for eight hours a day. I was holding the [Vito] Acconci, [Lynda] Benglis, and [Bruce] Nauman master tapes and it was a nice opportunity to learn the history of video art in parallel to watching the history of performance art.”
2002
Melanie Schiff receives her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
2002
Sterling Ruby earns his BFA from SAIC.
2004
Larry Bell, Judy Chicago, Douglas Huebler, and Bruce Nauman are included in the group exhibition A Minimal Future? Art as Object 1958–1968 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
2004
Sterling Ruby’s first solo exhibition, Interior Burnout, is at 1R Gallery in Chicago.
2007
Judy Chicago, Mary Kelly, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Senga Nengudi, Miriam Schapiro, and June Wayne are included in the traveling exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
2000s 2009
Judithe Hernández donates much of her collection to the National Museum of Mexican Art, including several works by Carlos Almaraz.
decade
2010s
2011
Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at MCA Chicago titled Jim Nutt: Coming Into Character. It is accompanied by Seeing Is a Kind of Thinking: A Jim Nutt Companion, which included works by Nutt, Aaron Curry, Mike Kelley, Bruce Nauman, Gladys Nilsson, and Karl Wirsum.
2011
Judithe Hernández has a solo exhibition of new work at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago titled La Vida Sobre Papel. Hernández credits the president of the National Museum of Mexican Art with jumpstarting her artistic career again in Chicago.
2010s 2011
Kori Newkirk holds a dual teaching appointment at SAIC and Otis College of Art and Design.
2012
Aaron Curry and Sterling Ruby are included in the group exhibition Phantom Limb: Approaches to Painting Today at MCA Chicago.
2014
Judy Chicago has a solo exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California titled Judy Chicago: A Butterfly for Oakland.
2015
Aaron Curry, Gladys Nilsson, and Jim Nutt are included in the group exhibition Surrealism: The Conjured Life at MCA Chicago.
2017
Judy Chicago creates Be No More, a dry-ice installation, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as part of their new building’s opening celebrations.
2018
Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Hairy Who? 1966–1969 at the Art Institute of Chicago.
2018
Judy Chicago’s Birth Project: Born Again travels to the Pasadena Museum of California Art.
Related tags
- Billy Al Bengston
- Terry Allen
- Carlos Almaraz
- José Antonio Aguirre
- Judith Barry
- Larry Bell
- Judy Chicago
- Aaron Curry
- Roy De Forest
- Joe Goode
- Judithe Hernández
- Lynn Hershman Leeson
- Douglas Huebler
- Jessica Jackson Hutchins
- Barbara Kasten
- Mike Kelley
- Mary Kelly
- Jerry McMillan
- Rodney McMillian
- Rebecca Morris
- Bruce Nauman
- Senga Nengudi
- Kori Newkirk
- Gladys Nilsson
- Jim Nutt
- John Outterbridge
- Jorge Pardo
- Amanda Ross-Ho
- Sterling Ruby
- Miriam Schapiro
- Melanie Schiff
- June Wayne
- Charles White
- Karl Wirsum
- Albuquerque
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Barney’s Beanery
- Cal State, Fullerton
- Cal State, Sacramento
- CalArts
- California
- Candy Store Gallery
- Chouinard
- Ferus Gallery
- Fullerton
- Hyde Park Art Center
- Illinois
- Kansas
- La Cienega
- Los Angeles
- MCA Chicago
- Michigan
- Missouri
- National Museum of Mexican Art
- Oakland
- Oakland Museum of California
- Otis
- Pasadena
- Rolf Nelson Gallery
- SAIC
- SFMOMA
- Sacramento
- San Francisco
- San Francisco Art Institute
- South Side Community Art Center
- St. Louis
- Tamarind
- UCLA
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- Valencia
- Western Avenue
- Artforum
- Feminist Art Program
- Hairy Who
- Los Four
- Nut Art
- Womanhouse