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.
GALLERY HOURS:
Upcoming...
Youth Art Month Important Information
Exhibition Dates
March 6–21
Opening Reception
Friday, March 6 | 5:30–7:30 PM
Students, families, and friends are welcome to attend.
Enjoy live music, a candy bar, and non-alcoholic drinks.
Art teachers are not required to attend the opening reception.
Artwork Drop-Off
Monday–Thursday, February 23–26 | 9:00 AM–8:00 PM
Saturday, February 28 | 9:00 AM–2:00 PM
Shuttle Artwork Pick-Up (for Schools)
Monday, March 2
Tuesday, March 3
To make participation as easy as possible, Adler Arts Center offers school-based artwork pick-up.
Art teachers who are unable to deliver student artwork may schedule a shuttle pick-up, and Adler Arts Center staff will come directly to the school to collect artwork.
Artwork Pick-Up After the Exhibition
Monday–Thursday, March 30 – April 2 | 9:00 AM–8:00 PM
Participation Details
Open to all students — all skill levels and ages welcome
Artwork does not need to be matted or framed
No size limitations — large-scale and unconventional work is welcome
Each piece must be clearly labeled with the artist’s name
Sales Information (Optional)
Artwork may be offered for sale, but this is completely optional
No commission will be taken on youth artwork sales
All sales proceeds go directly to the student artist
Currently in the gallery...
2026 Artist Member Exhibit
January 9 - February 14
Opening Reception: Friday, January 9, 6-8pm
The Adler Arts Center Member Artist Exhibition celebrates the creative vision, skill, and diversity of our artist community. This annual exhibition brings together works by Adler Arts Center members across a wide range of disciplines, media, and styles, offering a compelling snapshot of contemporary artistic practice rooted in curiosity, experimentation, and personal expression.
Presented within the historic David Adler Estate, the 2026 exhibition invites visitors to experience how today’s artists engage with tradition, place, and the present moment. From emerging voices to established practitioners, the Member Artist Exhibition highlights the vital role our members play in sustaining a vibrant arts ecosystem and reflects the Adler Arts Center’s ongoing commitment to supporting artists at every stage of their creative journey.
Participating Artists:
Leslie Armstrong, Linell Beaumont, David Bertaud, Sinéad Carus, Laura Castanos, Kiran Chouhan, Hannah Clinton, Leisa Corbett, Polly Greathouse, Ruth Hutter, Jeff Harold, John Hatlestad, Allison Hausladen, Mikka Jacobson, Liz Kalish, Shawn Killackey, Kendra Kett, John Kirkpatrick Jr., Daniel Kublank, Heather Krebs, Paula Kuehl, Promila Kumar, Michael Looby, Beth McKenna, Jean Meilinger, Oliver Steven Merriam, Genevieve Dawn Modlin, Glen Moss, Kristen Neveu, Laura O’Connor, Clarese Ornstein, Edie Ottoman Risher, Sara Parvinian, Melissa Pierson, Uta Raina, Cindi Sartain, Sandra Saxton, Philip Schorn, Les Scott, Jim Summaria, Jane L. Sturgeon, Lucinda Troester, Roberta Ulrich-de Oliveira, Sylvie Vanhoozer, Ellen Williams
Past Exhibitions...
Smash the Cis-tem
October 16 - December 13
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 16th, 7-9pm
hosted in partnership with lgbtq+ center lake county
Opening reception: thursday, october 16th 7-9pm
participating artists:
An Exhibition of Queer Voices, Bold Visions, and Radical Imagination
The Adler Arts Center is proud to present Smash the Cis-tem, a groundbreaking exhibition that amplifies LGBTQIA+ artists whose work dares to disrupt, reimagine, and expand how we see gender, sexuality, and identity.
This show brings together artists who refuse to fit into binaries—offering vivid, uncompromising expressions that challenge societal systems, celebrate queer lives, and provoke much-needed dialogue. From intimate portraits of self-discovery to explosive acts of resistance, the work on view highlights the transformative power of queer creativity.
Why Libertyville?
Situated in a community with deep histories of privilege, Smash the Cis-tem intentionally carves out space for voices that are too often marginalized or silenced. By presenting this exhibition here, we invite audiences to engage with art that unsettles assumptions, sparks conversation, and pushes toward a more inclusive future.
Experience the Exhibition
Visitors will encounter painting, photography, installation, ceramics, and mixed media works that refuse conformity and invite new ways of seeing. Together, these pieces create a vibrant and challenging dialogue—one that asks us to break down outdated systems and imagine what comes next.
Join us in celebrating queer brilliance, resilience, and imagination.
Echoes of Silence
April 18 - May 29
Photographs by Viktor Gerasimovski
At its core, Echoes of Silence is more than an art exhibit – it’s a movement. Through evocative portraits, behind-the-scenes images from field research, and intimate glimpses of community resilience, the exhibit challenges viewers to engage with histories often left in silence. Each photograph serves as both a personal testimony and a call to action, bridging the gap between artistic expression and social justice.
“Can a photograph spark social change? Can an image capture not just a face, but an entire history of resilience, pain, and hope? These are the questions that shape Echoes of Silence: Resilience and Reflection, inviting audiences to reflect on the power of photography as a tool for advocacy, education, and healing.
The exhibit is part of an ongoing research project focused on collecting testimonials from Burundian survivors from the genocide that took place in 1972. Originating from a transformative research trip to Burundi, the project has grown into a platform that amplifies voices often unheard – voices that refuse to be forgotten.
Echoes of Silence is rooted in the belief that art is not passive. It has the power to disrupt indifference, confront injustice, and inspire collective action. This exhibit invites audiences to move beyond observation – to witness, reflect, and engage in dialogue about resilience, memory, and the ongoing pursuit of social justice.
Annual Youth Art Month Exhibition
Friday, March 14 – Wednesday April 2
Opening Reception: Friday, March 14, 6-7:30pm 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 a pop-up exhibition of work from local youth artists as a part of our mission to support our area’s budding creatives.
The show is open and free to all students from pre-k through high school.
Annual Adler Artist Member Exhibit
January 17 - February 22, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, January 17, 6-8pm
Featured Artists:
Irene Adriano, Jacqueline Anderson, Leslie Armstrong, Linell Beaumont, David Bertaud, Olga Brazhnikov, Jenn Cameron, Sinéad Carus, Kiran Chouhan, Jeff Harold, John Hatlstead,Allison Hausladen, Liz Kalish, Kendra Kett, Shawn Killackey, Thomas Kosonen, Heather Krebs, Paula Kuehl, Promila Kumar, Rob Lancaster, Bob London, Beth McKenna, Jean Meilinger, Oliver Steven Merriam,Katherine Mertz, Kristen Neveu, Laura O’Connor, Michelle OConnor, Clarese Ornstein, Edie Ottoman Risher, Matthew Padilla, Kendall Passaglia, Melissa Pierson, Richard Pines, Priscilla Powers, Uta Raina, Adam Reh, SPARKER, Cindi Sartain, Sandra Saxton, Philip Schorn, Les Scott, Jane L. Sturgeon, Jim Summaria, Lucinda Troester, Roberta Ulrich-de Oliveira, Sylvie Vanhoozer, Ellen Williams
Myths & Miniatures
October 11 - November 16
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
Native Plants in the Adler Woods & the Midwest
Reed-Turner Botanical Artists Circle
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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