Current Exhibition
Progressions
November 15th, 2024 - January 11th, 2025
Progressions is an exhibition honoring Maestro Verdiano Marzi and the influence his work and teachings have had on his students and practitioners. Marzi has been a compelling authority in the development of contemporary mosaics internationally and uniquely at The Chicago Mosaic School for over a decade. His sensitive and reflective approach to mosaic art elevates perceptions of the possibilities of the medium through color, texture, and light. The exhibition juxtaposes Marzis’ works with those of his longtime students of the Chicago Mosaic School.
The Chicago Mosaic School and its affiliate gallery, GoCM are dedicated to promote awareness and appreciation for the ancient art form of mosaics and create an open community for learning, sharing expertise, and developing the medium within a contemporary context.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Class Act, 2025
January 17th - March 1st, 2025
The Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics, Chicago is pleased to announce “Class Act 2025” an annual juried exhibition by works of past and present students of The Chicago Mosaic School (2005-present). The exhibition showcases the diverse works being created by local, national and international artists who have studied at The Chicago Mosaic School during their careers. The exhibition will illustrate the diverse scope of contemporary mosaic art voices and showcase students that have grown as artists through their educational experience(s) at CMS.
The Chicago Mosaic School and its affiliate gallery, GoCM, are dedicated to promote awareness and appreciation for the ancient art form of mosaics and create an open community for learning, sharing expertise, and developing the medium within a
contemporary context.
Opening Reception: Friday, 1/24, 7-9pm
Brick Mugs: Street Scenes from Chicago
March 7th - April 5th, 2025
Brick Mugs is an ode to Chicago brick streetscapes. It is an exhibition by and for Chicagoans, that brings scenes from our daily lives into the intimate space of a domestic household object: the ceramic mug.
In a city famous for its architectural attractions, this body of work instead focuses on ordinary experiences of our neighborhoods by calling on local artists who work in clay to notice and create their own rendition of the clay-based structures that surround us.
The artists celebrate the link between craft and place by creating unique pieces, variations on the theme of vernacular brick and terra cotta architecture. They do the double work of highlighting the labor that built Chicago as well as demonstrating the broad range of their own artistic voices. The artists’ interpretations of sites in their neighborhoods on the surfaces of their mugs are paired with reference photos and a map of locations from which they draw inspiration, to offer audiences multiple perspectives and multi-media impressions of the places we call home.
Brick Mugs blends many types of knowledge--trade, historical, design, architectural, craft, spatial--with a focus on sharing and the collective over an understanding of art or public space as the product of an isolated individual “genius.” We want to learn more about the versatility of our medium of clay from each other, both by seeing the techniques and perspectives different artists use to solve the same artistic problem, as well as studying the original buildings and the work of the bricklayer.
Brick Mugs includes an exhibition, a zine, and a public program. The exhibition invites artists from across Chicago to select a brick or terra cotta architectural feature somewhere in the city, and create a mug inspired by that surface. A panel of jurors, including architectural historian Will Quam (Brick of Chicago) and Jackie Townsend (Chicago Women in Trades), will select their favorites. The zine will feature reference photos and photos of the mugs, essays and interviews about Chicago brick and terra cotta, and maps of local architectural quirks, oddities, and wonders.
About the curator:
Ceramic Archives is a Chicago-based artist and educator who is inspired by vernacular architecture, urban histories, and unconventional, subversive, or funny uses of space. She uses her art as a way to think through theories on commemoration, erasure, and public space, that she interprets in the shapes of ordinary, useful vessels. She is dedicated to using her craft to create objects that make everyday rituals special and that consider different experiences of the built environment.
Her series of brick mugs started as a casual interest in the wide variety of bricked up windows visible from the El and from alleyways. It soon developed into a minor obsession that she shared with her cubicle-mate at work, and eventually everyone in her wing of the building. Her friends and former coworkers continue to send photos of their favorite bricked-up windows, years later. This appreciation for local masonry work has resulted in dozens of artworks, several exhibitions, and new connections with masonry workers and lovers of local residential and industrial architecture. Ceramic Archives designed this exhibition to encourage other Chicagoland potters to share their own impressions of the clay structures that surround us.
Opening Reception: Friday, 3/77, 7-9pm