“You Are Invited” Show, May 2024

Wall installation of artwork by Elaine Luther at DankHaus for You Are Invited, May-June 2024 at DankHaus Chicago. Photo by Kimmy Noonan.

For the past three years, a group of us having been putting shows together in Chicago, as part of the global Taking Up Space initiative, a movement that encourages women and non-binary artists to put up a show.

Three years ago, we had a show at Lillstreet’s Annex Gallery. That show was organized by Amanda Mulcahy and was called Creating Space.

Show card for Creating Space at Lillstreet Art Center, May 1-30.

The following year, the show was at Positive Space Studio and was organized by Jill Narhstedt.

Image of art by Elaine Luther seen through the window of Positive Space Gallery, and a screenshot of coverage of the show on Block Club Chicago.

Now back to this year’s show! JIll Narstedt organized this year’s show, which was held at DankHaus Chicago, the German American Cultural Center.  Though they’ve been in this space for years, they’ve just recently begun renovating the ground floor space which will be an art gallery and in the future, also a coffee shop.  Kimmy Noonan sent me these terrific photos of my art in this show – it’s almost 20 feet of space.

Detail, art installation by Elaine Luther as part of the You Are Invited show at DankHaus, 2024. Photo by Kimmy Noonan.

Art installation by Elaine Luther as part of the You Are Invited show at DankHaus, 2024. Photo by Kimmy Noonan.

While most of my art in this show had been exhibited before – in one of my solo shows in 2022 – this was the first time I tried out including both circles and squares and rectangles in one installation. Like previous installations, the work has varying depths, and includes works on canvas, works mounted on thin wood panels, metal forms, and pinned directly to the wall.

Detail showing prints of light reactive dye on fabric, mounted on wood. Circles are 5.88″. Large canvas is 24″ x 36″. Artwork by Elaine Luther. Photo by Kimmy Noonan.

Detail – Art installation by Elaine Luther as part of the You Are Invited show at DankHaus, 2024. Photo by Kimmy Noonan.

View of the entire wall of artworks by Elaine Luther, as part of the You Are Invited show at DankHaus Chicago, May-June 2024.

The opening reception for this show was on a Saturday afternoon in May, instead of the traditional Friday night. It was incredibly well attended and there were multiple interactive activities, some for all ages, some for kids. Here’s one created by artist Victoria Pater that got lots of play time.

Interactive Activity by Victoria Pater at the opening reception for You Are Invited. Parts can be moved around on the magnetic board, inspired by her artwork, which is visible on the wall behind.

Interactive activity by Victoria Pater.

This space is so very large, it was very appropriate for a show in the Taking Up Space initiative. There was so much great art in it! I think that’s part of why I didn’t do a blog post back when the show was up – I wanted to include everyone and it was just sort of an overwhelming task.

You can see more photos of the show on Jill’s Instagram.

And here’s a photo of the wonderful cut paper art by Marea Cordero. This is completely hand cut, no laser cutters involved.

Cut paper art by Marea Cordero at DankHaus Chicago. Photo by Elaine Luther.

Here’s the list of all the artists in the show:

Amanda Mulcahy, Kimmy Noonan, Jill Nahrstedt, Kathryn Rodrigues, Cathleen Cramer, Victoria Pater, Kelley Clink, Marea Cordero, Elaine Luther, Mary Kate Venturini.

Thanks to Jill for all of her curation and coordinating work, and thanks to Kimmy for her terrific photos!

And we’ll close out with a picture of some of us at the opening!

R to L: Jill Narhstedt, Alexandra Blom, Christina Cornier, Elaine Luther, at the opening reception.