Abstract mixed-media painter Mary Lovelace O’Neal, a Civil Rights activist and influential artist known for her monumental canvases and inventive 'lampblack' works, died at age 84. The article also reports that Manhattan’s Neue Galerie will merge with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and covers the NADA New York art fair, Todd Gray's exhibition, and the Lehman College Art Gallery thesis show.
Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) opened "Freedom in Form: Richard Hunt" on July 11, 2025, running through November 15, 2025. Originally planned as a celebration of the renowned Chicago sculptor's career while he was still alive, the exhibition became a posthumous tribute after Hunt died on December 16, 2023, at age 88. The show originated at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in Springfield, suggested by Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker, and was later brought to LUMA in Hunt's hometown. It features sculptures, maquettes, tools, his personal workbench, and over 250 books from his library of 5,000 volumes, highlighting his seven-decade career and his role as an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University Chicago.
A new exhibition titled “Freedom in Form: Richard Hunt” opens at the Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago, exploring the 70-year career of the late sculptor Richard Hunt, who died in 2023 at age 88. The show includes his tools, workbench, personal books and photos, alongside key works such as “Hero’s Head” (1956), a welded bust created in response to the murder of Emmett Till, who was Hunt’s neighbor. The exhibition originated at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Museum in Springfield and was conceived in 2019, with curator Ross Stanton Jordan and director Lance Tawzer aiming to present Hunt as a young artist deeply engaged with Civil Rights history.
The Weatherspoon Art Museum has launched two concurrent exhibitions centered on the legacy of Southern Black quilters. "Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South," curated by Dr. Sharbreon Plummer, showcases 24 quilts from the collection of folklorist Roland L. Freeman, including works by UNCG alumna Gwendolyn Magee. Complementing this is "Harriet’s Powers," a site-specific immersive installation by artist Precious D. Lovell that pays homage to Harriet Powers, a 19th-century quilter born into slavery whose work is now held by the Smithsonian and the MFA Boston.
The DePaul Art Museum in Chicago has opened a new exhibition titled "Tengo Lincoln Park en mi Corazón: Young Lords in Chicago," curated by Jacqueline Lazú. The show explores the history and activism of the Young Lords Organization, a group that began as a Puerto Rican street gang in the 1950s and evolved into a civil rights advocacy group fighting against displacement and discrimination in Lincoln Park. The exhibition features objects like purple berets, protest art, and photographs, and is the result of decades of collaboration between DePaul University and the Young Lords.