Exhibitions

In our galleries..

The Adler Arts Center hangs a limited number of exhibitions per year ranging from juried exhibitions to curated shows, exploring a range of themes and mediums.  We welcome submissions of artists’ work and proposals for Group Exhibitions on a rolling basis.  Submissions are reviewied by the Exhibitions Committee.  Exhibitions are open to 2D and 3D works, ready to hang, and suitable for public viewing.

GALLERY HOURS:

Monday: 9:30 – 5pm
Tuesday, Wednesday (some monthly events on weds), Thursday: 9:30am – 8pm
Friday: By appointment only
Saturday:  9:30am – 2pm
 

Upcoming Exhibitions:

Annual Adler Artist Member Exhibit

January 17 - February 22, 2025

Artist Drop-off Dates: Saturday (1/11) 9am – 2pm,  Monday (1/13) 9am – 8pm, Tuesday (1/14) 9am – 8pm, Wednesday (1/15) 9am – 8pm

Exhibition Opening Reception: Friday (1/17) 6-8pm at the Adler Arts Center 

Artist Pick-up Dates: Monday (2/24) – Thursday (2/27) 9am – 8pm

ARTWORK SUBMISSION:

You must be a current Adler Artist  Member to participate. Sign up for an annual artist membership (if you haven’t already).  The deadline to sign up is January 10, 2025.  

ALL work must be framed and ready to hang and we prefer work that has not been shown at Adler before.  We will supply displays and pedestals for 3D works.

Youth Art Month Student Exhibit

March 2025

Echoes of Silence

April/May 2025

A solemn tribute to the lives lost during the genocide in Burundi in 1972.
Photographs by Viktor Gerasimovski
 
Through powerful artistic portraits and poignant survivor testimonies, experience the resilience and humanity that endured in the face of unspeakable tragedy.  The exhibit is a testament to the enduring quest for justice and healing in the post-genocidal societies, as seen from NEIUs GHRAD student and faculty study trip in Burundi, providing new insights into the ongoing pursuit of truth and reconciliation.

Past Exhibitions...

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October 11 - November 16

Myths & Miniatures

Opening Reception: Friday, October 11, 6-8pm
 
Featured Artists: Jeffrey Bowden, Richard Bruna, Aaron Call, Derek Clark, Bob Cohoon, Kyle Dalton, Dan Dugal, Ian Jung, Noel Meyer, Heather O’Neal, Aaron Schmidt, Simone Thomson, Anthony Wang
 

Myths & Miniatures is a presentation of thirteen local artists’ miniature model works. Many of the works on display have been handcrafted, 3D sculpted, or are stock models. All have been hand painted by their creators. 

This exhibit aims to explore modern myth and guide you from the art form’s tabletop gaming origins to its explosive growth as an expressive medium. Through each artists’ meticulous craftsmanship, devotion, belief, and individual connection to these stories, you will experience their artistic expression and style bring them to life.

Additionally, two of the displays in the gallery are open community contributions, showcasing the many local artists producing work in this medium today.

Past to Present: Lake County Art League 90th Anniversary

September 6 - 28

Opening Reception: Friday, 9/6, 6-8pm
Gallery Night:  Thursday, 9/19, 6:30 – 8pm
The Lake County Art League was founded in 1934 and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to creating more interest in art in Lake County and throughout the State of Illinois. The organization serves to develop a higher appreciation of visual art through art exhibitions, festivals, demonstrations of art techniques, lectures, critiques and sharing of ideas, inspiration and encouragement between members. The opening is free and open to the public. 
 

Native Plants in the Adler Woods & the Midwest

Reed-Turner Botanical Artists Circle

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May 3 - 31

Opening Reception: May 3, 7-9pm

The Reed-Turner Botanical Artists Circle of Illinois works to further the interests of botanical art, conservation, botany, education and horticulture at the local level.

Join the Adler Arts Center and the Reed-Turner Botanical Artists Circle as we highlight native plants in the Adler woods and Midwest in an exhibit that allows viewers to explore the work being done in the Adler Woods Restoration and throughout the Midwest.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Sue Widell, Barbara Klaas, Jane Sturgeon, Doris Gilbert, Kumie Kim, Rebecca Elliott, Sandra Lema-Stern, Jean Meilinger, Carol Jean Rogalski, Louise Daley, Christina Lovering, Stefanie Anastasia, Lyndsay Murphree, Joann Dinneen, Sylvie Vanhoozer, Ramiro Prudencia, Beverly Behrens, Claudia Lane, Charlene Riffer, Carol Buck, Christine Seidman, Irena Gintilas, Heeyoung Kim

The Fine Art of Color Pencil

Philip Schorn

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April 5 - April 27

Join Adler Artist Member and Faculty, Philip Schorn to celebrate the wonderful world of color pencil.  From floral renderings at Chicago Botanical Gardens, to expressive pencil paintings in the style of Monet, this show is the work of a master.

PHILIP SCHORN ARTIST STATEMENT:

My art is not just another drawing, it is a fine art. With color pencils, I have the ability to create the shape, color and detail I envision in my art.  I focus on realism and to put in as much detail as possible. I want the viewer to see more than they thought was there. I like to take what may be considered ordinary and make extraordinary.

I have done numerous group & solo shows, demonstrations, workshops and outdoor art fairs. I have published two books of my art with drawing techniques and tips, “Life is in the Details” and “Life is in the Details Vol II” My art has been featured in Art Publications, Newspapers and Television.

Youth Art Month Exhibition 2024

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March 8 - March 23

Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, 6-8pm

Every March, Youth Art Month is celebrated across the country to bring focus to the significance of art education and the value of the visual arts as a vital element of individual and community.  The Adler Arts Center is proud to present an exhibition of work from local youth artists as a part of our mission to support our area’s budding creatives.

Participating Schools:

Libertyville High School, Highland Middle School, Carl Sandburg Middle School, Adler Park School, Lake Forest Country Day School, Kildeer Countryside, Fremont Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary North, Village Green Montessori, Warren Township High School, Everett Elementary School, Lake Bluff Elementary School, Dearhaven, Lake Bluff Middle School, Hawthorne Middle School North, Prairie Crossing Charter School, Thompson Elementary School, Millburn Middle School

Adler Artist Member Exhibition 2024

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Friday, January 12 – Saturday, March 2

Opening Reception RESCHEDULED: Friday, January 19th   6-8 pm at the Adler Center.  

Holding on to the Small Hands of Details

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October 6 - November 20

Opening Reception: Friday, October 6, 7-9pm

Gallery Night: Thursday, November 2, 6:30 - 8pm

Anne Bernard-Pattis

“Holding on to the Small Hands of Details” is a collection of over one hundred pieces in porcelain, prints on paper, textiles, and stories that explores the companionship and the beauty details offer us.

It explores the personal vision of the artist, who like all of us, faces the expanse of our known and familiar world, and the infinity of the universe which becomes each day more present in our awareness. The artist reacts to the humbling complexity of our life’s minutia, as much as that of the unfathomable universe. 

Anne Bernard-Pattis attended the Ecole Superieure d’Arts Graphiques Penninghen in Paris. She received her Master’s Degree in Art History from the Sorbonne and her PhD  from Northwestern University.  She works at her home and in local studios.  Anne draws inspiration from her encounters with people, books, objects, landscapes, events and passing thoughts. 

People, Places, & Things

Jeff Hendricks & Cindi Sartain

April 7 - May 20

Opening Reception:  Friday, April 7, 7-9pm. Light snacks and beverages. Free.

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The why that lives within our creativity can be a curious thing.  This is the idea behind the receptive realism works of Cindi Sartain and Jeff Hendricks.  The work in this exhibition reflects the inspiration and indefinite impulses of two local Libertyville artists with similar aesthetic styles and subjects, brought together by their community. 

CINDI SARTAIN:

Cindi Sartain has been an artist for as long as she can remember.  She studied art in college, earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education.  From teaching art to elementary and middle schoolers, to creating her own artworks, she strongly believes that the process of creating has far reaching benefits beyond the finished product. 

Sartain’s work is often a mixture of mixed media, combining collage with acrylic, oil, and gauche. Most of her works are done from photograph’s she’s taken, then painted from the reference photo upside down to help her capture the detail of complex scenes.

jEFF HENDRICKS:

Jeff Hendricks is a Libertyville native, and former student of Ray Gossell at Libertyville High School.  He now works as a graphic designer but has continued painting since childhood. 

Hendricks’ works are typically representational oil paintings.  He sees his role as being open, listening, thinking, and then capturing the experience of whatever it is that finally moves him to paint.  Hendricks’ believes that art should always be a search for meaning and though it may never actually find meaning, it generally reveals something of value that wasn’t there before.

Youth Art Month Exhibition

March 13 - March 23

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Opening Reception:  Monday, March 13  6-8pm at the Adler Arts Center.  Light snacks and beverages. Free.

Every March, Youth Art Month is celebrated across the country to bring focus to the significance of art education and the value of the visual arts as a vital element of individual and community.  The Adler Arts Center is proud to present an exhibition of work from local youth artists as a part of our mission to support our area’s budding creatives.

Featured Youth Artists:

Milo Armstrong, Asa Best, Lucy Beyer, Alexandra Casper, Samantha Chen, Madeline Chiuve Vinci, Lillian Coughlin, Ryan Coughlin, Brandon Durietz-Leahy, Juliet Durietz-Leahy, Hannah Feltz, Elodie Fredman, Josette Fredman, Anders Goldsberry, Luca Gresh, Liam Hayman, Sara Johnson, Abeygale Killman, Hunter La Beau, Dayton Luoma, Sophia MacAyeal, Katie Mertz, Santiago Millan, Aarna Patel, Eloise Robinson, Gigi Robinson, Charlie Spisak, Darren Szell, Mila Tello, Ivy Tippett, Cole Wehde, Reid Wehde, Aidan Wu, Katie Wu, Fiona Zwingmann

Schools Represented:

Libertyville High School, Vernon Hills High School, Carmel Catholic High School, Copeland Manor School, Oak Grove School, Butterfield School, Roundout School, Half Day School, Lake Bluff Middle School, Quest Academy, Prairie Crossing Charter School, Kildeer Countryside, Millburn Middle School, Hawthorn Elementary North, Hawthorn Middle School, Woodland Elementary, Matthew Middle School Wauconda, Lake Forest Country Day School, Village Green Montessori, Warren High School

EXHIBIT PROPOSALS:

Exhibition Proposals:

PLEASE NOTE:   We are currently booked through 2024 and not accepting proposals.

The Adler Arts Center’s galleries (located in the ballroom, sunporch, and dining room spaces) provide a unique setting for displaying art.  The Adler Estate was the residence of architect David Adler until his death in 1949 and is on the Register for Historic Places.  The Adler Arts Center galleries surround exhibitions and guests with rich custom, intricate woodcarvings, and the light and warmth of a home setting from another era.

The Adler Arts Center hosts an annual winter Artist Member Exhibition and welcomes submissions of artists’ work and proposals for Group Exhibitions on a rolling basis.

Proposals must include:

  • Main contact: Name, Address, Phone, e-mail
  • Title of exhibition with a description and narrative of the proposed installation.
  • Names of participating artists, and if applicable, medium represented by each individual artist.
  • Estimated number of pieces in the exhibition with description of specific installation requirements (44-60 pieces max. depending on size of works).
  • Artist statement for each participating artist.
    • For each statement, include description of work including, medium, influences, stylistic definitions, content, message, etc.
  • Links to sample works online from each participating artist.

To submit an exhibition proposal please complete our online form which asks you for the above information.

Please Note:  The Adler Arts Center is a non-profit, community-focused organization with limited resources and funding.  We are not able to respond to every proposal and are unlikely to consider projects with high costs.

 We are currently booked through 2024 and not accepting proposals.