Portrait of Amos Paul Kennedy Jr in his studio.
National Public Housing Museum, 919 S. Ada Street, Chicago, IL 60607
Schedule
5 pm: Doors open, reception, museum open for exploration
6 pm: Q&A with the artist in the Living Room
Exploding with color, dynamic typography, and uncompromising messages about race, equity, power, and protest, Kennedy’s prints are as joyful as they are provocative.
On view in the National Public Housing Museum, Housing for All, Art for All, Posters for the People connects the New Deal-era commitment to artists and cultural workers with the museum’s present-day commitment to arts, culture, and public policy. The exhibition links to the origins of public housing during the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with ongoing activism, protest, and civic dialogue about public health, public safety, and public education, and all that makes up our commonwealth. This exhibition, like all of Kennedy’s works, is rooted in movement building and committed to keeping printed matter accessible to all.
At this exhibition opening and poster release party, Kennedy will unveil a new installation that mixes past work with three newly commissioned housing posters. Kennedy’s new commission, along with a selection of his past works, will be available for museum guests to take away, for free.
FREE, scrumptious light bites and refreshments included. Space is limited. Please register in advance.
Related event
Chicago Humanities Festival:
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. in Conversation
Saturday, April 18, 2 pm at Co-Prosperity
Chicago Humanities Festival presents Kennedy in conversation around his trailblazing career dedicated to social justice and Black power. Learn more and get tickets »
About the artist
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. is an internationally recognized printmaker based in Detroit, Michigan. His work has been featured in major institutions, including the Library of Congress and MoMA. His boldly inked letterpress posters and handbills feature graphic typography, populist and poetic messages of social justice and Black power, and a human touch. For Kennedy, the press is a tool for resistance, for creating a more just world and for citizenship without borders.
Support
Posters for the People is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council.
No government program has left a more visible legacy on the American landscape than the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration. Along with the construction of hundreds of federally funded buildings, including the Jane Addams Homes, the program employed thousands of artists.
This vividly colored installation by Amanda Williams and Olalekan Jeyifous welcomes visitors to the National Public Housing Museum
Experience the enchanting seven-piece sculpture Animal Court by Edgar Miller, which has been lovingly restored and placed in our courtyard. The sculpture garden is free and open to the public during museum hours…
An all-ages afternoon of hip-hop, community building, and collaboration, hosted by rap icon and innovator MURS
