Exhibitions

New & Noteworthy!

Second Floor Corridor

New to the second-floor corridor: a hall monitor jacket and two CD albums from Sylvia Fedrick of Chicago, representing Sylvia’s journey from the “Most Talented” member of her senior class at Lindblom Technical High School to a Black Essence Award-winning recording artist.

The Illinois State Museum’s collections are always in development as new things are added and as we learn more about what we have. New and noteworthy objects are often featured in the lobby and/or on the second floor corridor. Keep checking back at the ISM to see what’s new!

Noir 5: Resilience

Family Gallery on the Lower Level

Artists use their work to celebrate and preserve Black culture, traditions, and values, fostering a sense of pride and belonging. Black art often emphasizes the importance of community and collective strength, highlighting the bonds that have helped Black people survive and thrive. Despite the challenges, Black art frequently conveys messages of hope, RESILIENCE, and the potential for positive change and transformation.

Nora Moore Lloyd: Interrupted Journey
First Floor Hot Science Gallery

This exhibition of photographs and journal entries by Nora Moore Lloyd (Ojibwe/Anishinaabe) provides a look into one artist’s ongoing work with bird rescue and release in the Chicago area. These photographs honor those birds whose lives have been interrupted by human activity. Lloyd’s work is rooted in her Indigenous perspective of mutual respect and relationship to the land and nature. 

Here, There: New Perspectives from the Collection 
Second Floor Gallery

This exhibit is a guest-curated exhibition featuring modern and contemporary artworks from the Illinois State Museum. Three guest curators, Mariela Acuña, Sheridan Tucker Anderson, and Allison Lacher were invited to explore and bring a fresh perspective to the museum’s nearly 100-year-old collection of Illinois and regional artists.