Summer has just arrived and with it, seven recommended openings and events not to be missed in Chicagoland. The information below was taken directly from the event’s Facebook pages. Click to get all the details. See you around town!

FRIDAY, JUNE 24

1. Making the Invisible Visible- Live Art Demo

I AM Logan Square
2644 1/2 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60647

Please join Wind Flow Photography at the I Am Logan Square Gallery for a live art demo & see how to make the invisible visible!

The drop-in demonstration with Shirley Nannini and Candace Wark, the artists behind the exhibit Viewing Silence, will take place on Friday, June 24 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. and Saturday, June 25 from 2:00-7:00 p.m. You are invited to join the artists for a discussion, a special viewing of their newly-built portable wind tunnel, and to experience the exhibit Viewing Silence.

Viewing Silence is composed of organic images of wind that draw the viewer into the mystery of the unseen. There is something magical about exploring nature’s invisible force. We have all felt the effects of wind and have been witness to its power but few have seen the wind’s delicate dance. These images allure with their fleeting nature and like time, cannot be recreated. The artists seek to draw the observer into an evolving dynamic view of nature’s alchemy.

Featuring the sound design and music of Ryan M Harder – this is an event not to be missed!

2. Quest: Choose Your Adventure

Woman Made Gallery
685 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60642

“Quest” is a 2 part project, featuring a solo exhibit of art by artist, educator, and gamer Krista Hoefle, and a panel discussion about women in gaming with members of Not Your Mama’s Gamer and Sugar Gamers. Project is curated by Jessica Segal (me!) Exhibit will be installed in the lower level gallery at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, and will run June 24-July 28. Opening reception is Friday June 24, 6-9pm, and Panel Discussion is Saturday June 25th, 1-3pm.

Through physical manifestations of elements of game play, the exhibit explores several facets of video gaming including personalized characters and game design. Quest also delves into the culture of gaming—subverting the gendered nature of these spaces from a feminist point of view–and imparts the emotional impact games can have in/on real life.

This exhibit will run in conjunction with “Code/Switch” on the main level at Woman Made Gallery. This exhibit highlights a spectrum of code-based art that explores technology as subject and medium, and offers a survey of art that critically reflects on the creative use of tech, through a socio-cultural lens. This immersive and interactive exhibition brings together a range of artists, filmmakers, architects, designers, musicians and game developers, all pushing the boundaries of their fields using digital media.

3. It Figures: The Body in Art

ARC Gallery
2156 N Damen Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60647

At 7:30 on the evening of the opening reception, Friday, June 24, please join us for a performance work presented by David Perales Albert.

Selected exhibiting artists: Andrew Ackerman, Dohgyoung Ahn, Kiley Ames, Linda Andrei, Susan Case, Ashley Cassens, Yong Chen, Brian Christensen, Joe Ciaccio, Mark Dierker, Silvana D’Mikos, Mark Franz, Ghislaine Fermaux, Charity Henderson, Annick Ibsen, Susan Kachor Conlon, Martin Keey, Axelle Kieffer, Pamela Lee, Anna Liljas, DeCarlo Logan, Sarah Lovitt, Casey Lowry, Dan McCormack, Jennifer McNulty, Bobbi Meier, Erik Ohrn, Caroline Owen, David Perales Albert, Aldo Romeo, Ann Rosen, Judith Roth, Jessica Sebok, Amanda Shaw, Hyeyoung Shin, Alecia Teague, Jeremy Thurlby, Jac Tilton, Krista Varsbergs, Xiao Wang and Sun Yun.

4. Fourth Fridays at The Starline Gallery – June 24th Event

The Starline Factory
300 W. Front St., Harvard, Illinois 60033

Friday, June 24th’s “4th Fridays” at The Starline Gallery gains momentum every month as as the unique trailblazing art experience that connects community, regional artists, art collectors and people who think our renovated historic factory turned art and event complex is fun to hang out in. While maintaining credibility, “4th Fridays” also promises fresh + fun every event.

Juried mixed medium art exhibit in the main gallery, phenomenal photo contest exhibit upstairs and the featured artist solo exhibit by Chris Ramsey are just the beginning of this incredible night out. [And the “4th Fridays” Creative Team’s fresh art installation is always exciting.]

Live music, People’s Choice Voting, cash bar for wine, beer and mixed drinks, appetizer tables, open Starline artist studios, incredible interaction+community with regional artists, art enthusiasts, gallery owners, curators, collectors and simply awesome people… all in a renovated historic factory that will knock your socks off.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25

5. Joseph Noderer/William Eckhardt Kohler

Linda Warren Projects
327 N Aberdeen, Suite 151, Chicago, Illinois 60607

Linda Warren Projects is pleased to present our summer solo exhibitions: Joseph Noderer’s “Horse Hill Waugh and Other Views” and William Eckhardt Kohler’s “Alchemy + Elements”. Both of these gallery artists reveal the source of their intuitive practice through amalgams of landscape and figure, rendered in an expressive and gestural hand. While Noderer looks to his immediate surroundings – which now happens to be his hometown – as means of self-exploration, Kohler refers to alchemical structures to examine intimate and universal cultural systems.

6. Opening Reception: Jon Langford & Bob Schneider

Firecat Projects
2124 N Damen Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60647

Yard Dog Gallery and Firecat jointly present the latest work by artist/musicians Jon Langford & Bob Schneider.

Langford is a long-time Chicago resident, a solo recording artist as well as a member of the Waco Brothers and the Mekons, and an established visual artist. His paintings typically explore themes discovered in the dark recesses of American country music history and rework them with a Welsh working class sensibility.

Austinite Bob Schneider is a widely-known recording artist, with many albums under his belt, but has rarely shown his art outside of Austin. His mixed-media collages and digital art reveal a sophisticated visual language combined with a playfulness and willingness to explore new territory. This will be the first Chicago showing of Bob’s art.

7. Not Your Mama’s Gamer: Panel Discussion

Woman Made Gallery
685 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60642

The panel discussion portion of Quest will feature bloggers from Not Your Mama’s Gamer, a blog dedicated to empowering and educating female gamers, founded by students and instructors at Purdue. The topic of discussion will be gender and identity in gaming culture following Gamergate* focusing on issues of sexism and progressivism in video game culture. Input and questions from the audience are encouraged throughout. They will also gladly talk shop about video games with audience members. Panel will be moderated by curator Jessica Segal and Jennifer Justice (NYMG contributor and graduate student at Purdue). For more information about NYMG: http://www.nymgamer.com/

Don’t miss Sergio’s FREE online webinar and learn the Essential Tools to Manage and Grow Your Art Career. Two dates to choose from. Sign up at: http://www.theartistnextlevel.com/essentials