Expanding Visions: Spring 2026

When: Wednesdays, 11:30 am–1:00 pm and 1:30–3:00 pm, September 23–December 2, 2026
All registrants will be assigned a time slot to limit group sizes.
Where: Private collections, artist studios, and exhibition spaces throughout the Chicago area
Price: $350 for full series of eight sessions
Open to current Art Encounter members only.

Flexible pricing is available for anyone who inquires. Please email sarah@artencounter.org for our “pay what you can” registration form.

Andrea Fisher, Collector | September 23
Enjoy being surrounded by lively, brightly-colored paintings in this collector’s charming Gold Coast apartment as we decipher their suggested stories. We will view both large scale as well as small, mostly-figurative paintings, sculptures, and photography. Much of the work is by prominent Chicago artists including large pieces by Audrey Niffenegger, Jonathan Franklin, Karl Wirsum, Ed Paschke, Phyllis Bramson, and Garrett Duran. We’ll see work by Hollis Sigler as well as intriguing mixed media pieces by Margaret Wharton and an expressive dimensional wall piece by Montana Morrison.

Nina Weiss, Artist | September 30
Delve into the beauty and mystery of nature while we explore Nina’s landscape paintings in her Evanston studio. Discover how this artist creates paintings that are lush, but often have disquieting elements, through her process of layering vivid and muted colors with a variety of paint strokes. Find out what drew the artist, who was originally from New York, to settle in the Midwest after graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, and how the European landscape she sees leading summer workshops, has inspired her. Her paintings have been included in the TV series Chicago Fire and in two Hollywood films.

Barry Hammer and Lorri Richter, Collectors | October 21
Explore this stunning modern North Shore home owned by a custom home builder and an interior designer. The house is filled with art by contemporary, internationally-recognized artists with work in the collections of major museums. The collection includes many pieces bhy New York artists, including mixed media abstract work by Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, art relating to science by Tavares Strachan, and vibrantly-colored paintings by Stanley Whitney. We'll view photographs by Dawoud Bey and Abelardo Morell, a mystical painting based on fairytales by Natalie Frank, a set of butterflies by British artist Damien Hirst, and an immense photo collage by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.

Lindsay Adams, Artist | October 28
Encounter an up-and-coming young artist who has garnered institutional recognition including a major commission for the Obama Presidential Center. Immerse yourself in glorious color as we view her large-scale paintings and drawings in her solo exhibition at Chicago’s impressive space, Patron Gallery, in West Town. Lindsay will talk to us about how her layered and intuitive approach to abstract and representational work explores memory and her identity as a Black American with a disability. We’ll find out what inspired her to earn an MFA in painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago after receiving a BA in International Studies and Spanish.

Bruce Thorn, Artist | November 11
Investigate amazingly-complex abstract paintings by Bruce Thorn. The artist creates extremely detailed works covering the canvas with interlocking, complicated shapes and colors suggestive of seeing under a microscope. The shapes and colors indicate patterning while nothing actually repeats. Whether using oils, gouache, or print-making techniques, Thorn is extremely meticulous in his traditional approach to the materials. In his Horner Park Chicago Studio, we will find out what inspires him and how he develops his vast variety of shapes. Horn also composes music, and we'll find out how he relates his visual work to sound.

Dale Taylor and Angela Lustig, Collectors | November 18
You will not want to miss this opportunity to explore a fascinating collection of art by internationally-famous artists in this beautiful apartment overlooking Lincoln Park. Within a 20 year time span, Dale and painter Angela have collected works by major twentieth century artists including Fernand Léger; Abstract Expressionists Joan Mitchell, Hans Hofmann, and Robert Motherwell; Surrealists Max Ernst and René Magritte; and sculpture by Henry Moore and Alexander Calder. We'll also see work by contemporary artists Martin Mull, Manuel Neri, Vanessa German, and Angela Lustig herself, as well as a table made with reclaimed wood by the “futurist folk-art” artist Floyd Gompf.

Andrew Lidgus, Artist and Collector | December 2
Meet a visual artist, pianist, former gallerist and collector in his Park Ridge Home built in the 1890s. Andrew has decorated the house, which he shares with his wife and daughter, in a range of colors and different styles. We will explore Andrew’s mixed media artwork created from cut out matboard, collage images, found objects, and paint. In his collection, we’ll see an ancient work of painted stone pottery from the Han Dynasty along with work by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Raymundo Garcia, and Carol Summers, who is known for his unique woodblock printmaking technique.

Jeff Zimmermann and Jason Brammer, Artists | June 10
In celebration of the ten year anniversary of Art Encounter’s Evanston Mural Arts Program, we are concluding our fall series at the Humboldt Park studio of two nationally prominent muralists to investigate their smaller creations. In both his murals and his studio work, Chicago native Jeff Zimmermann focuses on a visual vocabulary of sharply-focused objects from pop culture, such as beer cans, candy, and high heeled shoes, as well as politically-charged images, like pistols and portraits political figures. Jason Brammer’s work shifts between detailed images of nature – including huge sea creatures, birds, and trompe l’oeil images – as well as mysterious, less-precise paintings of waterscapes. The artist also paints on found objects and creates wearable art.