Chicago

Charles White is born in Chicago.

June Wayne is born in Chicago.

Throughout grade school and high school, Charles White wins scholarships to attend Saturday classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Charles White joins the Arts and Crafts Guild in Chicago at age fourteen and begins participating in their exhibitions.

Barbara Kasten is born in Chicago.

Charles White wins a scholarship to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

Charles White graduates from SAIC.

Charles White is an active participant in the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago, where he teaches classes and serves as chairman of the Artists’ Committee.

Charles White paints murals in Chicago and New York as part of the Works Progress Administration.

Judy Chicago is born Judy Cohen in Chicago and lives there for 18 years.

Karl Wirsum is born in Chicago.

Larry Bell is born in Chicago.

Gladys Nilsson is born in Chicago.

Carlos Almaraz’s family moves to Chicago.

Senga Nengudi is born Sue Irons in Chicago.

Karl Wirsum attends Saturday classes at the Art Institute of Chicago as a child.

Judy Chicago attends classes at the Art Institute of Chicago as a child.

Gladys Nilsson receives a scholarship to attend junior school classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Gladys Nilsson attends Lake View High School in Chicago, where she minors in art.

Jim Nutt briefly attends college at the University of Kansas, then the University of Pennsylvania, then Washington University in St. Louis. He eventually settles on the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where he meets his future wife, Gladys Nilsson.

John Outterbridge moves to Chicago and becomes very involved with various South Side arts organizations, including singing in a choir at St. Anselm Catholic Church.

John Outterbridge attends the American Academy of Art in Chicago.

Judy Chicago moves to Los Angeles to attend UCLA.

Karl Wirsum is awarded a full ride to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt meet at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), which they both attend.

Karl Wirsum earns his BFA from SAIC.

Judy Chicago knows Billy Al Bengston from her days as a student at UCLA.

Judy Chicago earns her BA from UCLA.

Billy Al Bengston teaches for a year at UCLA when Judy Chicago is in graduate school. Bengston’s studio is the first Chicago ever visits, and she considers him the first real artist she’s met.

Roy De Forest often hangs out at Adeliza McHugh’s Candy Store Gallery, where Nut artists and Hairy Who artists gather.

John Outterbridge and his new wife, Beverly McKissick, leave Chicago for Los Angeles’s warmer weather and bigger art scene.

Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt begin teaching children’s classes at Hyde Park Art Center.

Judy Chicago receives her MFA in painting and sculpture from UCLA.

Judy Chicago enrolls in auto body school to learn airbrushing techniques. She begins to make works inspired by the car culture of California, much like the finish fetish school that includes Billy Al Bengston.

Five recent SAIC graduates including Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum coin the term Hairy Who while working on a title for their group exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center. The name is in reference to Chicago radio station WFMT’s art critic Harry Bouras.

Jim Nutt earns his BFA from SAIC.

José Antonio Aguirre visits Chicago as a child during a summer vacation.

Judy Chicago moves into an apartment next to Joe Goode’s on Western Avenue.

Judy Chicago watches Billy Al Bengston race motorcycles and hangs out with the “Ferus gang” at Barney’s Beanery, although she acknowledges the machismo of the crew.

Judy Chicago participates in the La Cienega gallery walks on Mondays.

Judy Chicago shows at the Rolf Nelson Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard.

Rolf Nelson calls her Judy Chicago because of her thick Chicago accent.

Don Baum recommends that Karl Wirsum be included in the exhibition Jim Nutt has proposed for the Hyde Park Art Center.

The first Hairy Who exhibition opens at the Hyde Park Art Center and includes work from Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum.

The Hairy Who group, including Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum, have their second exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center.

Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the exhibition Now! Hairy Who Makes You Smell Good at the Hyde Park Art Center. It travels to the San Francisco Art Institute.

Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Don Baum Says: "Chicago Needs Famous Artists" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Jorge Pardo’s family immigrates to Chicago.

Judy Chicago has a solo exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of Art.

Judy Chicago lives in Pasadena, California, around the corner from Bruce Nauman’s studio.

Judy Chicago creates Fresno State College Atmosphere.

Jerry McMillan photographs Judy Chicago for her ad in Artforum announcing her name change.

Jim Nutt is included in the group exhibition Three Famous Artists from Chicago at the Candy Store Gallery.

Judy Chicago changes her last name from Gerowitz (married name) to Chicago.

Judy Chicago has a solo exhibition at California State University, Fullerton, which is run by Dextra Frankel. Chicago has a name-changing ceremony as part of the exhibition.

Judy Chicago takes out an ad in Artforum to announce her Fullerton exhibition and her name change. Jerry McMillan takes the photograph, which features Chicago in a boxing ring sporting a sweatshirt with her new name, her friend’s girlfriend standing behind her, and gallerist Jack Glenn crouching in the corner like a boxing manager.

Judy Chicago creates Campus White Atmosphere for California State University, Fullerton.

Judy Chicago founds the Feminist Art Project, a collaborative educational experiment, at Fresno State College (now California State University, Fresno) along with 15 aspiring women artists known as the California Girls.

Larry Bell is included in the Art Institute of Chicago’s 69th American Exhibit.

Miriam Schapiro meets Judy Chicago and invites her to cofound the Feminist Art Program at CalArts.

Jessica Jackson Hutchins is born in Chicago.

Judy Chicago creates Pink Atmosphere for California State University, Fullerton.

Judy Chicago leaves Fresno and accepts a teaching position at the newly formed CalArts. She cofounds the Feminist Art Program at CalArts with Miriam Schapiro, and many of the Fresno students follow her there.

Judy Chicago begins working on Womanhouse with Feminist Art Program participants.

Karl Wirsum moves to the West to escape the Chicago Imagists’ newfound fame. During this time he teaches at Sacramento State College.

Miriam Schapiro participates in the historic Womanhouse installation with Judy Chicago and 21 other women artists, many of whom are students at the Feminist Art Program. For her contribution, Schapiro and her assistant create The Dollhouse using old liquor crates to create a six-room house featuring a parlor, a kitchen, a movie star’s bedroom, a harem room, a nursery, and an artist’s studio with a male model made of stuffed fabric and a miniature version of Sixteen Windows on an easel.

Terry Allen has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Chicago Imagist Art at MCA Chicago.

Judy Chicago is named a Tamarind Fellow.

Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro host the first West Coast Women Artists’ Conference at CalArts.

In January and February, Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, and 21 other women artists, many from the Feminist Art Program, participate in Womanhouse, a collaborative art installation staged in an abandoned Hollywood mansion.

Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro host the first West Coast Women Artists Conference at CalArts.

Judy Chicago experiences a hostile environment at CalArts. She bands together with Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and Arlene Raven to leave CalArts and create the Feminist Studio Workshop, an alternative art education experience for women.

Judy Chicago, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and Arlene Raven cofound the Women’s Building, which opens on November 28. They first rent the former Chouinard Art Institute building, located at 743 Grandview Avenue.

Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

The Oakland Museum of California commissions A Butterfly for Oakland, one of Judy Chicago’s Atmosphere works.

Amanda Ross-Ho is born and raised in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood.

Karl Wirsum teaches at SAIC. Aaron Curry cites Wirsum as an important figure for him.

Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt move back to Chicago.

José Antonio Aguirre enrolls in the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.

Melanie Schiff is born in Chicago.

After visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, José Antonio Aguirre changes his focus and enrolls in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Judy Chicago debuts The Dinner Party in March at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and travels to Chicago in December 1981.

José Antonio Aguirre creates several murals in Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

Karl Wirsum has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago titled Hare Toddy Kong Tamari: Selected Objects by Karl Wirsum.

Jorge Pardo attends the University of Illinois at Chicago with a major in biology but switches to art after taking classes recreationally.

José Antonio Aguirre earns his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Judith Barry teaches a class about video and performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and creates the video Space Invaders with SAIC students at the home of Laura Kipnis.

Judithe Hernández moves to Chicago.

José Antonio Aguirre creates the mural Nuestra Esencia, Nuestra Presencia … , RCOCC at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Judy Chicago’s Birth Project is exhibited at the Frederick S. Wight Gallery, UCLA.

Gladys Nilsson accepts a teaching position at SAIC.

Aaron Curry moves to Chicago.

Rebecca Morris moves to Chicago and earns a Post-Baccalaureate Studio Certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1992.

Kori Newkirk earns his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

Gladys Nilsson is incuded in the Hyde Park Art Center's 55th Anniversary Exhibition.

Rebecca Morris earns her MFA from the SAIC.

Rebecca Morris works in the Painting and Drawing Department at SAIC.

Bruce Nauman has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago titled Bruce Nauman: Elliott's Stones.

Judy Chicago’s Birth Project is exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Ten in One Gallery in Chicago organizes Rebecca Morris’s first solo exhibition.

Jessica Jackson Hutchins meets Rebecca Morris at SAIC when Morris was working in the Painting and Drawing Department.

Amanda Ross-Ho earns her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

Jessica Jackson Hutchins receives her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at MCA Chicago titled Jim Nutt: Portraits.

Sterling Ruby moves to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where he meets fellow student Aaron Curry.

Aaron Curry attends SAIC and receives his BFA in 2002 alongside friend and classmate Sterling Ruby. Curry fondly remembers teachers Barbara Rossi and Karl Wirsum.

Sterling Ruby and Melanie Schiff become friends while students in Chicago.

Rodney McMillian earns his Post-Baccalaureate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sterling Ruby first learns how to work with ceramics in Chicago at a “free form” ceramics class.

Sterling Ruby works at the Video Data Bank, an organization cofounded by SAIC. In Ruby’s words: “I wasn’t exposed to a lot of video art until I started my employment as a secretary at the Video Data Bank. Prior to Chicago, I studied at a four-year foundation program in Pennsylvania where I did figure and still life drawing for eight hours a day. Needless to say, there was no video art in the curriculum. After being promoted from the VDB front desk, I learned how to edit and wound up dubbing endurance-based performance art for eight hours a day. I was holding the [Vito] Acconci, [Lynda] Benglis, and [Bruce] Nauman master tapes and it was a nice opportunity to learn the history of video art in parallel to watching the history of performance art.”

Melanie Schiff receives her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Sterling Ruby earns his BFA from SAIC.

Larry Bell, Judy Chicago, Douglas Huebler, and Bruce Nauman are included in the group exhibition A Minimal Future? Art as Object 1958–1968 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Sterling Ruby’s first solo exhibition, Interior Burnout, is at 1R Gallery in Chicago.

Judy Chicago, Mary Kelly, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Senga Nengudi, Miriam Schapiro, and June Wayne are included in the traveling exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Judithe Hernández donates much of her collection to the National Museum of Mexican Art, including several works by Carlos Almaraz.

Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at MCA Chicago titled Jim Nutt: Coming Into Character. It is accompanied by Seeing Is a Kind of Thinking: A Jim Nutt Companion, which included works by Nutt, Aaron Curry, Mike Kelley, Bruce Nauman, Gladys Nilsson, and Karl Wirsum.

Judithe Hernández has a solo exhibition of new work at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago titled La Vida Sobre Papel. Hernández credits the president of the National Museum of Mexican Art with jumpstarting her artistic career again in Chicago.

Kori Newkirk holds a dual teaching appointment at SAIC and Otis College of Art and Design.

Aaron Curry and Sterling Ruby are included in the group exhibition Phantom Limb: Approaches to Painting Today at MCA Chicago.

Judy Chicago has a solo exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California titled Judy Chicago: A Butterfly for Oakland.

Aaron Curry, Gladys Nilsson, and Jim Nutt are included in the group exhibition Surrealism: The Conjured Life at MCA Chicago.

Judy Chicago creates Be No More, a dry-ice installation, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as part of their new building’s opening celebrations.

Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Hairy Who? 1966–1969 at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Judy Chicago’s Birth Project: Born Again travels to the Pasadena Museum of California Art.